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
| 0.65086
| 0.34914
|
TWO ALPINE TOP TEN FINISHES: READ 6TH, MIELZYNSKI 9TH
Calgary, Alta. (December 29, 2016) – It was big day for Alpine Canada tech racers with a top ten finish on both the men’s and women’s teams. Erik Read lands another top ten to finish sixth in the Santa Caterina (ITA) alpine combined and Erin Mielzynski is back where she belongs, finishing ninth in the Semmering (AUT) slalom.
Calgary’s Erik Read does it again scoring another World Cup personal-best result this season, this time in the alpine combined discipline. The 25-year-old started in his first World Cup alpine combined race today and made a mark on the competition finishing in sixth-place. Read skied to a 29th-place finish in the super-G run, the first leg of an alpine combined race, and put down a killer second slalom run to move up 23 spots, finishing in sixth-place overall.
“It’s pretty icy, dark and bumpy here, making the super-G challenging since I haven’t trained that much super-G,” said Read. “I went into today’s super-G really aggressive and with some fire to do well. The super-G was a technical set that favoured the giant slalom skiers so I knew I could take advantage of that.”
In giant slalom and slalom, Read has been wracking up personal-best finishes and proving he’s the king of the second run, making massive gains every time. The technical specialist relied on that ability to dominate in the second half of today’s race scoring the second-fastest slalom run time of the day, just 0.03 from the fastest time.
“I didn’t have much time to think about the second run,” said Read. “I knew I could ski slalom fast and I had a good chance of moving up. I’m really happy with today’s result!”
Today’s finish marks Read’s third top-ten finish this season, his fourth personal-best finish and his first World Cup points in the alpine combined discipline.
France’s Alexis Pintaurault had the day’s fastest time, winning by 0.34 seconds. Austria’s Marcel Hirscher finished in second-place and Norway’s Aleksander Aamodt Kilde finished in third-place, 1.13 seconds back from Pintaurault.
Toronto’s Mielzynski is back in the top ten after a tough start to the season. The 26-year-old finished the first run sitting in 12th-place. Pushing hard in the second run, putting together aggressive turns, Mielzynski climbed three spots to finish the day in ninth-place, a season-best finish for the tech veteran.
"It feels amazing to be back in the top ten, but it felt really incredible to be comfortable on my skis and be able to start putting my race plan into action,” said Mielzynski. “I finally felt like myself and with that, I know I can push myself harder. I took a different approach to today’s race and simplified absolutely everything about my skiing. Today, I stood in the start and imagined that all of my loved ones were at the bottom and I was going to ski for them. The conditions were good today. Although the course was a bit bumpy, the bright night skiing lights make the visibility incredible and the course workers shovelled out every gate. I’m really happy to head into the New Year with this result under my belt.”
Quebec’s Marie-Michèle Gagnon finished the first run in 14th-place. Gagnon went onto to straddle a gate early in the second run, resulting in a DNF. Valèrie Grenier from Quebec narrowly missed out on qualifying for the second run, finishing in 31st place, just a few tenths of a second out of a qualifying time.
Today’s women’s podium saw a familiar face with U.S.A.’s Mikaela Shiffrin going three-for-three in Semmering (AUT), winning by 0.64 seconds. Slovakia’s Veronika Velez Zuzulova finished in second-place and Switzerland’s Wendy Holdener finished in third-place, 1.54 seconds back from the lead-time.
Today’s races mark the final ones on the calendar until the New Year.
Canadian men’s results
6 – Erik Read
38 – Tyler Werry
Full results here.
Canadian women’s results
9 – Erin Mielzynski
DNF 2nd run – Marie-Michèle Gagnon
DNQ – Valérie Grenier
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0009.json.gz/line589
|
__label__cc
| 0.72586
| 0.27414
|
Site Terms of Service, an Enforceable Legal Agreement.
As of 19th May 2016
These Terms of Service and our privacy policy (together the “Terms”) govern all use of http://andymaslen.com and that site’s services (together the “Site” or “Services”). The Site is owned by Sunfish Ltd, a corp.
The owners and contributors to the Site will be referred to as “we,” “us,” or “our” in these Terms. By using the Site or its Services, and/or by clicking anywhere on this Site to agree to these Terms, you are deemed to be a “user” for purposes of the Terms. You and every other user (“you” or “User” as applicable) are bound by these Terms. You and each user also agree to the Terms by using the Services. If any User does not agree to the Terms or the Privacy Policy, such User may not access the Site or use the Services. In these Terms, the word “Site” includes the site referenced above, its owner(s), contributors, suppliers, licensors, and other related parties.
User Prohibited From Illegal Uses
User shall not use, and shall not allow any person to use, the Site or Services in any way that violates a federal, state, or local law, regulation, or ordinance, or for any disruptive, tortious, or illegal purpose, including but not limited to harassment, slander, defamation, data theft or inappropriate dissemination, or improper surveillance of any person.
User represents and warrants that:
User will use the Services only as provided in these Terms;
User is at least 18 years old and has all right, authority, and capacity to agree to these Terms;
User will provide accurate, complete, and current information to the Site and its owner(s);
User will notify the Site and its owner(s) regarding any material change to information User provides, either by updating and correcting the information, or by alerting the Site and its owner(s) via the functions of the Site or the email address provided below.
TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW, THE SITE PROVIDES THE SERVICES “AS IS,” WITH ALL FAULTS. THE SITE DOES NOT WARRANT UNINTERRUPTED USE OR OPERATION OF THE SERVICES, OR THAT ANY DATA WILL BE TRANSMITTED IN A MANNER THAT IS TIMELY, UNCORRUPTED, FREE OF INTERFERENCE, OR SECURE. THE SITE DISCLAIMS REPRESENTATIONS, WARRANTIES, AND CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, WHETHER EXPRESS, IMPLIED, WRITTEN, ORAL, CONTRACTUAL, COMMON LAW, OR STATUTORY, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO ANY WARRANTIES, DUTIES, OR CONDITIONS OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, TITLE, NON-INFRINGEMENT, OR THAT MAY ARISE FROM A COURSE OF DEALING OR USAGE OF TRADE.
Liability Is Limited
THE SITE SHALL NOT BE LIABLE FOR INDIRECT, SPECIAL, INCIDENTAL, CONSEQUENTIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR PUNITIVE DAMAGES OF ANY KIND, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO LOST PROFITS (REGARDLESS OF WHETHER WE HAVE BEEN NOTIFIED THAT SUCH LOSS MAY OCCUR) OR EXPOSURE TO ANY THIRD PARTY CLAIMS BY REASON OF ANY ACT OR OMISSION. THE SITE SHALL NOT BE LIABLE FOR ANY ACT OR OMISSION OF ANY THIRD PARTY INVOLVED WITH THE SERVICES, SITE OFFERS, OR ANY ACT BY SITE USERS. THE SITE SHALL NOT BE LIABLE FOR ANY DAMAGES THAT RESULT FROM ANY SERVICE PROVIDED BY, OR PRODUCT OR DEVICE MANUFACTURED BY, THIRD PARTIES.
NOTWITHSTANDING ANY DAMAGES THAT USER MAY SUFFER FOR ANY REASON, THE ENTIRE LIABILITY OF THE SITE IN CONNECTION WITH THE SITE OR SERVICES, AND ANY PARTY’S EXCLUSIVE REMEDY, SHALL BE LIMITED TO THE AMOUNT, IF ANY, ACTUALLY PAID BY USER TO THE SITE OWNER DURING THE 12 MONTHS PRIOR TO THE EVENT THAT USER CLAIMS CAUSED THE DAMAGES.
The Site shall not be liable for any damages incurred as a result of any loss, disclosure, or third party use of information, regardless of whether such disclosure or use is with or without User’s knowledge or consent. The Site shall have no liability for any damages related to: User’s actions or failures to act, the acts or omissions of any third party, including but not limited to any telecommunications service provider, or events or causes beyond the Site’s reasonable control. The Site has no obligations whatever, and shall have no liability to, any third party who is not a User bound by these Terms. Limitations, exclusions, and disclaimers in these Terms shall apply to the maximum extent permitted by applicable law, even if any remedy fails its essential purpose.
Third party products, links, and actions
The Site may include or offer third party products or services. The Site may also have other users or members who interact with each other, through the Site, elsewhere online, or in person. These third party products and any linked sites have separate and independent terms of service and privacy policies. We have no control or responsibility for the content and activities of these linked sites, sellers, and third parties in general, regardless of whether you first were introduced or interacted with such businesses, services, products, and people through the Site, and therefore you agree that we are not liable for any of them. We do, however, welcome any feedback about these sites, sellers, other users or members, and third parties.
Changes to the Site and the Services
The owners and contributors to the Site will work to improve the Site for our users, and to further our business interests in the Site. We reserve the right to add, change, and remove features, content, and data, including the right to add or change any pricing terms. You agree that we will not be liable for any such changes. Neither your use of the Site nor these terms give you any right, title, or protectable legal interest in the Site or its content.
If your activity or any activity on your behalf creates potential or actual liability for us, or for any of our users, partners, or contributors, you agree to indemnify and hold us and any such user, partner, contributor, or any agent harmless from and against all claims, costs of defense and judgment, liabilities, legal fees, damages, losses, and other expenses in relation to any claims or actions arising out of or relating to your use of the Site, or any breach by you of these Terms of Use.
This site and some delivery modes of our product are built on the WordPress platform. For information about intellectual property rights, including General Public License (“GPL”) terms under which the WordPress software is licensed, see here http://wordpress.org/about/gpl/
The Site grants User a revocable, non-transferable, and non-exclusive license to use the Site solely in connection with the Site and the Services, under these Terms.
Copyright in all content and works of authorship included in the Site are the property of the Site or its licensors. Apart from links which lead to the Site, accurately attributed social media references, and de minimus text excerpts with links returning to the Site, no text, images, video or audio recording, or any other content from the Site shall be copied without explicit and detailed, written permission from the Site’s owner. User shall not sublicense or otherwise transfer any rights or access to the Site or related Services to any other person.
The names and logos used by the Site, and all other trademarks, service marks, and trade names used in connection with the Services are owned by the Site or its licensors and may not be used by User without written consent of the rights owners. Use of the Site does not in itself give any user any license, consent, or permission, unless and then only to the extent granted explicitly in these Terms.
All rights not expressly granted in these Terms are reserved by the Site.
Any information that you provide to the Site is subject to the Site’s Privacy Policy, which governs our collection and use of User information. User understands that through his or her use of the Site and its Services, User consents to the collection and use (as set forth in the Privacy Policy) of the information, including the transfer of this information to the United States and/or other countries for storage, processing and use by the Site. The Site may make certain communications to some or all Users, such as service announcements and administrative messages. These communications are considered part of the Services and a User’s account with the Site, and Users are not able to opt out of all of them.
Usernames, Passwords, and Profiles
If prompted, Users must provide a valid email address to the Site, at which email address the User can receive messages. User must also update the Site if that email address changes. The Site reserves the right to terminate any User account and/or User access to the Site if a valid email is requested but is not provided by the User.
If the Site prompts or allows a User to create a username or profile, Users agree not to pick a username or provide any profile information that would impersonate someone else or that is likely to cause confusion with any other person or entity. The Site reserves the right to cancel a User account or to change a username or profile data at any time. Similarly, if the Site allows comments or user input, or prompts or allows a User to create an avatar or upload a picture, User agrees not to use any image that impersonates some other person or entity, or that is otherwise likely to cause confusion.
You are responsible for protecting your username and password for the Site, and you agree not to disclose it to any third party. We recommend that you use a password that is more than eight characters long. You are responsible for all activity on your account, whether or not you authorized it. You agree to inform us of unauthorized use of your account, by email to legal@sunfish.co.uk. You acknowledge that if you wish to protect your interactions with the Site, it is your responsibility to use a secure encrypted connection, virtual private network, or other appropriate measures. The Site’s own security measures are reasonable in terms of their level of protection, but are not helpful if the interactions of you or any other User with Site are not secure or private.
We are based in Salisbury and you are contracting to use our Site. These Terms and all matters arising from your use of the Site are governed by and will be construed according to the laws of Salisbury, without regard to any choice of laws rules of any jurisdiction. The federal courts and state courts that have geographical jurisdiction over disputes arising at our office location in the Salisbury will be the only permissible venues for any and all disputes arising out of or in connection with these Terms or the Site and Service.
Notwithstanding anything that may be contrary within the “Disputes” provisions above, all matters, and all arbitrable claims within a multi-claim matter, including all claims for monetary damages, shall be decided by a single arbitrator to be selected by us, which arbitrator shall hold hearings in or near Salisbury, under the rules of the American Arbitration Association.
These Terms, including the incorporated Privacy Policy, supersede all oral or written communications and understandings between User and the Site.
Any cause of action User may have relating to the Site or the Services must be commenced within one (1) year after the claim or cause of action arises.
Both parties waive the right to a jury trial in any dispute relating to the Terms, the Site, or the Services.
If for any reason a court of competent jurisdiction finds any aspect of the Terms to be unenforceable, the Terms shall be enforced to the maximum extent permissible, to give effect to the intent of the Terms, and the remainder of the Terms shall continue in full force and effect.
User may not assign his or her rights or delegate his or her responsibilities under these Terms or otherwise relating to the Site or its Services.
There shall be no third party beneficiaries under these Terms, except for the Site’s affiliates, suppliers, and licensors, or as required by law.
Use of the Site and its Services is unauthorized in any jurisdiction that does not give effect to all provisions of these Terms, including without limitation this paragraph.
The failure of the Site to exercise or enforce any right or provision of these Terms shall not constitute a waiver of that right or provision.
Terms Contact
If you have any questions about these Terms, please address them to legal@sunfish.co.uk.
These terms were last updated on 19th May 2016
How to leave your book review on Amazon
Why “Write What You Know” is Such Bad Advice for Writers
Trailer for Hit and Run
Trailer for my free books offer
My promo video for the free books offer
Shirley Groves on How to leave your book review on Amazon
Kevin Maher on How to leave your book review on Amazon
Colin Rapp on How to leave your book review on Amazon
Paul Grantham on How to leave your book review on Amazon
Sherry Darling on How to leave your book review on Amazon
When everyone’s outside the law, the one who blinks first loses Detective Inspector Stella Cole only has one case. To find, and kill, the remaining members of a legal conspiracy who turned her world into ashes. But their leader, Adam Collier is her boss. And he’s pulling in friends from the underworld to take the fight to Stella. Chief among them, an Albanian drug lord nicknamed, The Shark".
Regrouping in Spain, Stella makes contact with an old adversary. A retired gangster named Ronnie “The Razor” Wilks. He proposes a deal that tests Stella’s resolve to the limit. The only problem? Stella is losing her mind to a second, unrelentingly brutal version of herself she’s dubbed “Other Stella”. As the violence escalates, the question is, which one will win?
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0009.json.gz/line592
|
__label__cc
| 0.513923
| 0.486077
|
A Building With Foundations
Anglicans have a number of ways of deciding what they believe, of defining the content of their doctrine. Like a tower with strong foundations, Anglican doctrine is built upon Scripture, the ancient creeds, distinctive ways of worship, doctrinal statements, important texts, and continuing discussion.
Thomas Cramner wrote and compiled the first two editions of the Book of Common Prayer, a complete liturgy for the English Church. With the assistance of several Continental reformers to whom he gave refuge, he changed doctrine in areas such as the Eucharist, clerical celibacy, the role of images in places of worship, and the veneration of saints. Cranmer promulgated the new doctrines through the Prayer Book, the Homilies and other publications.
The Bible is acknowledged as the 'ground' on which any expression of Christian faith must be founded.
The Ancient Creeds
Anglicans, like many other Christians, formally profess their faith in the words of the historic Christian creeds, which were formulated in the early centuries of the Christian Church. (The word ‘creed’ comes from the Latin ‘credo’ = ‘I believe’)
The Apostles’ Creed and the Nicene Creed are used very regularly in Anglican worship, the Athanasian Creed is used in worship less often, but is considered to set out the classic understanding of key Christian doctrines about the nature of God and the person of Jesus Christ.
Distinctive ways of worship
Lex orandi, lex credendi (Latin loosely translated as "the law of praying [is] the law of believing") refers to the relationship between worship and belief, and is an ancient Christian principle which provided a measure for developing the ancient Christian creeds, the canon of scripture and other doctrinal matters based on the prayer texts of the Church, that is, the Church's liturgy.
Unique to Anglicanism is the Book of Common Prayer (BCP), the collection of services that worshippers in most Anglican churches used for centuries. It was called common prayer originally because it was intended for use in all Church of England churches which had previously followed differing local liturgies. The term was kept when the church became international because all Anglicans worldwide used to share in its use.
In 1549, the first Book of Common Prayer was compiled by Thomas Cranmer, who was then Archbishop of Canterbury. It has undergone many revisions and Anglican churches in different countries have developed other service books, but the Prayer Book is still acknowledged as one of the ties that bind the Anglican Communion together.
Doctrinal statements
Among specifically Anglican statements of faith the Thirty-Nine Articles, dating from the Reformation period in the sixteenth century, has a particular historical importance.
Important texts
This includes sermons and books which have been given a defining role because a consensus about them has grown up over time. The 16th Century Homilies are an ancient example, as are Richard Hooker's The Laws of Ecclesiastical Politie.
Developments in the nineteenth century meant that there was a need to clarify certain aspects of Anglican belief and practice. The Chicago-Lambeth Quadrilateral was first formulated in Chicago in 1886 and then amended and formally adopted by the Lambeth Conference of 1888. It is still considered an important touchstone text defining Anglican identity. its four clauses refer to the acceptance of the Holy Scripture as the rule of faith; the Apostles' and the Nicene creeds; the sacraments of Baptism and the Lord's Supper; and the role of bishops in leading and governing the church.
There are also Catechisms in which a series of questions and answers are posed to young people or adults who seek Baptism or Confirmation normally set out, in the context of teaching, key beliefs which a professing Anglican might be expected to hold.
Examples of catechisms can be found as follows:
The catechism which appears in the 1662 book of Common Prayer
A modern catechism of the Church of England
A catechism adopted by the Anglican Church of Southern Africa
Continuing Discussion
The Lambeth Conferences, the Anglican Consultative Council, the Primates' Meeting and the Inter-Anglican Standing Commission on Unity Faith and Order all provide Anglicans/Episcopalians with an ongoing fora for discussing doctrinal issues.
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0009.json.gz/line594
|
__label__cc
| 0.677914
| 0.322086
|
A New World Information
Licensed Final Fantasy Intimate Chamber Music
The producers of the live orchestra performance phenomenon Distant Worlds: music from FINAL FANTASY are proud to announce an intimate FINAL FANTASY music experience.
We have taken the majesty and power of the symphony orchestra and distilled it down to its most intimate, achingly beautiful elements.
A New World: intimate music from FINAL FANTASY presents fresh arrangements of music from throughout the 25+ years of the FINAL FANTASY catalogue for a variety of chamber ensembles. The programs feature string quartets, piano and guitar solos, duos, trios and other mixed groups of instrumentalists to produce an immediate and personal encounter with the extraordinary FINAL FANTASY musical themes, characters and settings.
The new FINAL FANTASY arrangements are written by Arnie Roth and Eric Roth of AWR Music Productions, the critically-hailed team behind the Distant Worlds concerts, with additional arrangements by Shiro Hamaguchi, Uematsu's longtime collaborator on the FINAL FANTASY video game soundtrack recordings.
A New World joins Distant Worlds as an exclusive, officially licensed production with the renowned game developer SQUARE ENIX. A New World introduces audiences to the music from FINAL FANTASY on a personal and intimate scale that has yet to be experienced.
Anime Convention Guest Appearances
MomoCon 2019 - May 23-26, 2019 in Atlanta, GA
A-Kon 2018 - June 7-10, 2018 in Fort Worth, TX
Anime Central 2018 - May 18-20, 2018 in Rosemont, IL
San Japan 2017 - September 1-3, 2017 in San Antonio, TX
Otakuthon 2017 - August 4-6, 2017 in Montréal, QC, Canada
Anime Evolution 2017 - July 30, 2017 in Vancouver, BC, Canada
Naka-Kon 2017 - March 10-12, 2017 in Overland Park, KS
Otakuthon 2014 - August 22-24, 2014 in Montréal, QC, Canada
Tweets by ffnewworld
Add or Update Information for A New World
If you use information from this page, a link to AnimeCons.com would be very much appreciated.
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0009.json.gz/line595
|
__label__cc
| 0.639281
| 0.360719
|
The bill was drafted to close what is seen as a tax loophole -- one that has allowed online retailers to avoid collecting sales tax.
5 Types Of Bad Websites And How…
5 Reasons to Switch to Internet…
Will The Marketplace Fairness Act Affect Your Small Business?
By: Deborah Sweeney
In May, the Senate approved S.743, a bill dubbed the Marketplace Fairness Act, by more than a two-to-one margin. The bill was drafted to close what is seen as a tax loophole — one that has allowed online retailers to avoid collecting sales tax. If the bill makes it through the House, President Obama has indicated he will sign it into law. There has been a lot of debate thus far over the bill and I’ll try not to weigh too heavily with my own opinion. Many online-based small business owners, however, are not that interested in the political dealings of the Marketplace Fairness Act, and are instead wondering how this legislation will impact them, what they have to do to comply with the new act, and when they have to comply by.
There is a bit of a buffer between the act’s enactment and its enforcement
If and when this bill makes it through congress and the White House, section 2 (a) and (b) both specify an amount of time before a state can begin to enforce the provisions of the Marketplace Fairness Act and collect tax. If a state has already passed the a Streamlined Sales and Use Tax Agreement, which 22 states have (24 if you include associate members Ohio and Tennessee), it has to post that it is going to begin enforcement. After that, it has to wait for the first day of the financial quarter following a 180-day waiting period before beginning collection. Alternatively, if a state has not signed on for the streamlined agreement, it has to enact legislation that exercises the authority of the act, and then wait until the first day of the financial quarter following six months after that legislation is passed. In either case, the state must also ensure it only has one entity responsible for tax administration and remote audits, and set a uniform tax base among the state and the local taxing jurisdictions within it.
The act is applicable to any business making more than $1 million in out-of-state revenue
Section 2(c) of the act creates an exemption for remote sellers that have less than $1 million in gross annual receipts from remote sales. In other words, if your business isn’t making more than one million dollars in out-of-state sales, you will not have to collect anything new. However the one million dollar mark may negatively impact remote sellers who use a third-party site as their storefront — for example eBay sellers or independent Amazon stores — because the gross annual receipt calculation does not incorporate the transaction fees typically paid to third party sites. These fees usually range from five to 15 percent of the item’s final cost, so a seller that generates more than a million dollars in gross receipts may not, necessarily, be making as much money as the law thinks.
States are required to provide free tax software to remote sellers
Section 2(b)(2)(2)(D)(ii) stipulates that every state that requires sellers to collect sales and use taxes must provide remote sellers with free software that calculates all taxes due at the end of each transaction, files returns, and is updated to reflect any changes to tax rates. Further, a ‘certified software provider’ must provide the program. If the program or software provider makes any mistakes, the seller cannot be held liable for non-collection, effectively putting the burden squarely on the shoulders of the state. Unfortunately, there is again a pitfall to this provision. There is no uniformity to the software that the state chooses. Each of the 45 states that collect sales tax could, theoretically, use a unique form of software, which could create a logistical nightmare for a smaller business. Then again, if there is some uniformity and the software is intuitive, the integration process could be fairly simple.
The Marketplace Fairness Act is supposed to level the playing field between traditional brick and mortar storefronts and online stores. From the provisions in this act, it seems that both the smaller and larger businesses will be okay — smaller business are exempt, and the big names of online business can negotiate their own breaks and grants. It is more likely that mid-sized businesses are going to be most impacted; businesses that cannot afford a team of accountants and lawyers, and yet make too much to squeak by with an exception. A lot of online stores that were started years ago and are just now beginning to really pick up steam will be hit the hardest. The actual text that makes up this act is fairly straightforward, though as has been seen there are some serious concerns that need to be addressed. Where is this software coming from? Will the unique relationship between independent sellers and third-party sites like Etsy or eBay be taken into consideration? Is there any way to truly simplify the almost mind-bogglingly complex tax code of 45 separate states? I don’t think so, but hopefully the government can answer these questions and iron out the kinks before it places this burden on America’s online businesses — otherwise there may be some serious issues with enforcement.
Deborah Sweeney
Deborah Sweeney is the CEO of MyCorporation.com. MyCorporation is a leader in online legal filing services for entrepreneurs and businesses, providing start-up bundles that include corporation and LLC formation, registered agent, DBA, and trademark & copyright filing services.
Management Dashboards
All the Insights You Need to Help Your Business Succeed
Works with QBO & XERO
How Will The Affordable Care Act Affect My Small Business?
Michael Cahill
How the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act Will Affect Your Small Business
Eric Tyson
How the Movement to Mobile Will Affect Your Business
JT Ripton
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0009.json.gz/line597
|
__label__cc
| 0.66267
| 0.33733
|
The Arts Fuse
Boston's Online Arts Magazine: Dance, Film, Literature, Music, Theater, and more
You are here: Home / Books / Book Review: Seeing “Eternity’s Sunrise”—Understanding the Vision of William Blake
Book Review: Seeing “Eternity’s Sunrise”—Understanding the Vision of William Blake
In Eternity’s Sunrise, Leo Damrosch’s prose flows, filled with imaginative lucidity.
Eternity’s Sunrise: The Imaginative World of William Blake by Leo Damrosch. Yale University Press, 344 pages, $30.
By Susanne Sklar
Long ago I had the good fortune to study William Blake’s poetry and painting with Jean Hagstrum, a great professor at Northwestern University, whose book William Blake: Poet and Painter has been a fine guide to Blake aficionados for over 40 years. Hagstrum’s lectures were a winged joy, helping us understand Blake’s words and images with the eyes of our hearts. Never did I think to encounter again such clear and imaginative analyses, but as I read the first beautifully written chapters of Leo Damrosch’s Eternity’s Sunrise: The Imaginative World of William Blake, I was inspired to look even more carefully at Blake’s composite art. Professor Damrosch’s prose flows, filled with imaginative lucidity.
Leo Damrosch lets us know that his book is not a systematic biography; G.E. Bentley’s Stranger From Paradise is the authoritative one and Damrosch draws many of his aptly chosen anecdotes and details from that excellent tome. Calling Eternity’s Sunrise “an invitation to understanding and enjoyment” he guides our eyes through Blake’s illuminated work, carefully defining key terms (such as “Minute Particularity”); he discusses engraving and printing techniques, describes Blake’s personal and professional life, and interprets selected paintings and poetry in their historical and literary context.
The first half of Eternity’s Sunrise is superb, leading us (non-chronologically) from Songs of Innocence (1789) to Experience (1794) to The Marriage of Heaven and Hell (1790–91), followed by the “revolutionary prophecies,” America (1793), and Europe (1793). Initially, I was sorry not to encounter Visions of the Daughters Albion (1793) in this cluster of illuminated poetry, but Damrosch, like Blake, sometimes chooses to be non-linear in his explorations, inserting his interpretation of Visions in a later chapter about love and jealousy.
Damrosch reminds us that Blake’s Songs (of Innocence and of Experience) were meant to be sung, and though Blake’s renditions of them were greatly admired, no transcription of his melodies exists. I’m delighted by Damrosch’s ruminations about Blake’s pronunciation, demonstrating (by prosodic analysis) that his speech may have been akin to Mark Twain’s—as when “poor” rhymes with “more” (in Experience’s “Human Abstract”) and “g” is dropped from “sobbing” to rhyme with “robin” (in Innocence’s “Blossom” ). The poetry grows livelier when you try reading it aloud as if you were Tom Sawyer.
The world of Innocence becomes more palpable when Damrosch guides us through Blake’s organic designs, citing Erasmus Darwin’s Love of the Plants to show that sexual energy permeates all of life, every bud and blossom. Experience, of course is grimmer, but no less lively; Damrosch understands the importance of Blake’s contraries; the dynamic of joy and woe with which all must cope. He illustrates Blake’s main concerns about repressive patriarchy and social injustice with well chosen poems. The “mind forg’d manacles” of Blake’s “London” cripple us today. Throughout the world children live in terror and fear; religions create suffering; well-meaning people disregard injustice. Damrosch likens Blake’s understanding to that of the South African martyr Steve Biko who declared: “The most potent weapon of the oppressor is the mind of the oppressed.”
William Blake was not a political activist in the traditional sense. Though he admired America’s “Sons of Liberty” and was acquainted with Tom Paine as well as the radical publisher Joseph Johnson, Blake wanted to change the way we see, to alter basic assumptions. Liberty is spiritual and erotic, as well as political, and Blake’s print “Albion Rose,” depicting an exuberant man, nude, arms outstretched is, as Damrosch shows, Blake’s vision of Britain liberated as well as humanity (it might also be an idealized self-portrait). Liberation, however, comes at a cost in Blake’s America (1793) and Europe (1794) where the violence as well as the vitality of revolution is embodied in the character called Orc, bound naked on a rock like Prometheus.
“Blake’s symbols are dynamic, not iconic,” Damrosch observes, and this insight aptly illuminates the fluidity of revolutionary Orc (and by extension Blake’s other mythic characters). Blake’s fiery Orc can promulgate libidinal joy and/or terror; the streets of Paris ran with blood as Blake was engraving Europe. The oppressiveness of institutional religion may have been obliterated in France, but the worship of reason and material nature was dehumanizing. “In Blake’s view, the thinkers of the Enlightenment performed a necessary act of destruction,” Damrosch notes, “but they didn’t know how to reconstruct.”
From 1794 onward Blake’s writings grew increasingly complex. His symbolic characters, interacting on many levels, began forming their own mythopoetic system—from The Book of Urizen (1794) through The Four Zoas (1795–1804) to Milton (c. 1804), culminating in the illuminated masterpiece Jerusalem: The Emanation of the Giant Albion (1804–1821). Blake’s evolving system is as dynamic as Blake’s characters.
Damrosch is quite insightful about the nature of Urizen, the Zoa (life force) embodying reason. Fearing chaos (the sort promulgated by Orc) Urizen seeks stability, but he does so in totalitarian ways, as the jealous God of the Bible can do, promulgating “One command, one joy . . .one king, one God, one Law.” Totalitarian law stifles imagination and compassion, spreading misery throughout the earth. In Blake’s system imagination (embodied in Los/Urthona, a prophetic blacksmith), feelings and erotic energy (embodied in Luvah), and primal needs (embodied in Tharmas) must coinhere with reason, working together to serve divine vision, leading to life in what Blake calls “the Divine Body.” This is most apparent in Blake’s final prophecy, Jerusalem. And though Damrosch sensitively interprets the poem of that name that became a hymn, he, (like many intelligent critics before him) thinks Blake’s masterpiece is unreadable.
Damrosch is more comfortable with The Four Zoas, guided by its themes of love and jealousy, and with Blake’s Milton, a poem in which Blake clears psychological, erotic, and spiritual ground to unite with his poetic forbear. When commenting on Jerusalem, Damrosch likens it to both music and film, and alludes to critics who speak of “performing Blake.” William Blake lets us know that in his final non-linear prophecy, every word and every character is meant to suit “the mouth of a true Orator.” The poem is designed to be read aloud, and when read aloud in a group, with each reader cast as a different character, a montage of stories emerges. Blake’s fluid characters behave differently in different states of being (Ulro, Generation, Beulah, Eden/Eternity). Their fluctuating stories, layered with allusions as fascinating as the clues in the most difficult crossword puzzles, tell a composite tale.
William Blake’s “Jerusalem: Druid Rocks with pitying figure of Jerusalem.” Copy A, Plate 92, detail (British Museum).
Chapter One is about Albion’s fall and Jerusalem’s banishment; Chapter Two has to do with Los (Zoa of Imagination) attempting to rescue Albion (with help of Eternal Cathedral Cities), and with Erin (a wise crone) attempting to rescue Jerusalem. In Chapter Three’s cacophonies, Albion’s disease of Selfhood infects Los, Jerusalem loses her mind in Satanic mills, and war overspreads the earth. Chapter Four begins with Jerusalem’s lament; though devoured by a dragon she rises (in plate 91’s design) while Los intrepidly labors, disempowering his Spectre, not integrating with it as Damrosch suggests. (The spectre, a batlike creature, fills characters with negativity, infests them with Selfhood, and severs them from divine vision). This clears the ground for Albion’s great awakening in which all things (including the reader) enter Eternity, human and divine. Like Blake’s Jesus we are unconfined by space and time in the state called Eden/Eternity. The great problem is the disease of Selfhood, not just the “Female Will” (discussed by Damrosch in a later chapter); the furious Female Will arises after feminine characters are negated, repressed, and whipped.
Blake’s characters are often misogynistic, but Blake himself has created a compassionate heroine, Jerusalem, the erotically active bride of Christ, who can orchestrate a mutually beneficial multinational economic system. She’s repeatedly banished by Albion, who is crippled by fear and greed, symptoms of Selfhood—and by the fury of those who’ve been oppressed, including her own shadowy “sister,” Vala (who is also known as Rahab and/or Babylon). In one of Blake’s most eloquent and uncannily prophetic speeches, Jerusalem confronts the powers that be (plates 78–79); it is she who must be reintegrated in Albion, in every creature, even rocks and trees. She becomes what Jacob Böehme (one of Blake’s visionary progenitors) would call the “Signatura Rerum”; every thing is, in Eden/Eternity, imbued with her name, connected with her to life in the Blakean “Divine Body” (plate 99). I think her story is “the golden string” around which the other stories constellate.
To enter fully into Blake’s imaginative world it’s necessary to have an understanding of his illuminated Jerusalem. Leo Damrosch has excellent insights about Blake’s illuminations in the late prophecies, and it would be grand to spend time with him going through those books, plate by plate. Make no mistake: Eternity’s Sunrise, beautifully written, is a good book; a more thoughtful analysis of Blake’s profoundest work would have made it an extraordinary one.
Susanne Sklar, a member of the Cumnor Fellowship in Oxford, is the author of Blake’s ‘Jerusalem’ As Visionary Theatre (OUP, 2011). She writes and teaches at Oxford as well as Carthage College in Kenosha, Wisconsin. Her email: ssklar@carthage.edu.
By: Arts Fuse Editor Filed Under: Books, Featured, Review Tagged: English poetry, Eternity's Sunrise, Leo Damrosch, Susanne Sklar, The Imaginative World of William Blake, William Blake, Yale-University-Press
Music Review: Dead & Company — Rethinking the Grateful Dead Legacy Avoiding pat formulas and enlisting unexpected aides de... posted on June 24, 2019
Film Review: “Midsommar” — A Feminist Grimoire People versed in modern witchcraft or paganism may reco... posted on July 2, 2019
Theater Review: “Tea at Five” Doesn’t Deserve Faye Dunaway Faye Dunaway has chosen Tea at Five as the vehicle to b... posted on July 2, 2019
Classical Music Review: The Boston Philharmonic Youth Orchestra in Brazil, Part One The BPYO’s repertoire in Brazil is drawn from last year... posted on June 21, 2019
Film Review: Rolling Thunder Revue — A Bob Dylan Story by Martin Scorsese It’s worth pointing out that Martin Scorsese’s document... posted on June 25, 2019
jacqueline baird July 15, 2019 at 11:55 am on Theater Review: “Selling Kabul” — Those Who Remain BehindWOW AND DOUBLE WOW! I must have been having a bad hair day. You got all that from this production....
EILEEN July 13, 2019 at 7:23 pm on Book Review: “Where the Crawdads Sing” — Are the Rural Poor Noble Savages?This book was incredibly boring, badly written and contained multiple glaring errors about North Carolina's history, geography and its natural...
Judith E Marsh July 13, 2019 at 2:32 pm on Visual Arts Review: Play It Loud — Admiring the Tools that Made the TunesTo me, an important aspect of this show was that the focus of the accompanying explanations about the instruments were...
Chris Caggiano July 12, 2019 at 6:33 pm on Theater Review: “Tea at Five” Doesn’t Deserve Faye DunawayYeah, I thought of including those data in the review. I decided to focus on this production. I'm told act...
DB July 10, 2019 at 9:12 pm on Jazz Concert Review: The Montreal Jazz Festival Turns 40, Part OneI'm so sorry...I was not happy. I have never been to a jazz festival where there was no music..... We...
Like what you see? Donate to The Arts Fuse today!
Advertising/Underwriting
Boston’s online arts magazine since 2007. Powered by 70+ experts and writers.
Monthly Archives Select Month July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 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 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 May 2011 April 2011 March 2011 February 2011 January 2011 December 2010 November 2010 October 2010 September 2010 August 2010 July 2010 June 2010 May 2010 April 2010 March 2010 February 2010 January 2010 December 2009 November 2009 October 2009 September 2009 August 2009 July 2009 June 2009 May 2009 April 2009 March 2009 February 2009 January 2009 December 2008 November 2008 October 2008 September 2008 August 2008 July 2008 June 2008 May 2008 April 2008 March 2008 February 2008 January 2008 December 2007 November 2007 October 2007 September 2007 August 2007 July 2007 May 2007 April 2007 March 2007 February 2007 January 2007 November 2006 October 2006 July 2006 June 2006 May 2006 April 2006 March 2006 February 2006 January 2006 December 2005 November 2005 October 2005 September 2005 August 2005 July 2005 June 2005 April 2005 March 2005 February 2005 January 2005 December 2004 November 2004 October 2004 September 2004 August 2004 March 2003 March 2002 January 2002
Categories Select Category Arts and Sciences Books Classical Music Coming Attractions Commentary Dance Editorial Featured Film Folk Food Fuse News Interview Jazz Judicial Review Mentorship Program Music Opera Podcast Popular Music Preview Radio Review Rock Technology and the Arts Television Theater Uncategorized Video Games Visual Arts Webmaster News World Books World Music
"Use the point of your pen, not the feather." - Jonathan Swift
Copyright © 2019 · The Arts Fuse - All Rights Reserved · Website by Stephanie Franz
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0009.json.gz/line600
|
__label__wiki
| 0.576512
| 0.576512
|
Home News Asia News Dubai businessman organises photo-exhibition at space
Dubai businessman organises photo-exhibition at space
Asian Lite News
Dubai-based photographer Dr Hersh Chadha
Dubai-based businessman Dr Hersh Chadha was honoured at an event in Moscow for his contribution to help the cosmonauts/astronauts to link with Mother Earth during their expedition in the space through his avant-garde photographs. He managed to exhibit five photographs on Mother Earth at the space ship…reports Asian Lite News
Dr Chadha become the first person to organise a photography exhibition at space. He was invited to Star City in Moscow to meet the cosmonauts/astrounauts who recently returned from the International Space Mission 49/50.
The event of welcoming the returning cosmonauts/astronauts took place in YU.A. Gagarin Research and Test Cosmonaut Training Center. The event started with the traditional ceremony where the cosmonauts laid flowers at the footstone of the Yu.A. Gagarin Monument followed by the walk to the Concert Hall along with their families, Star City Members and Training Centre Officials.
The cosmonauts were greeted and presented with certificates/medals/awards by various Star City, NASA and other officials. Dr Chadha was the honorary guest at the ceremony and gave a speech showing his appreciation to the three cosmonauts who took his photographs to Space.
“I have managed to excel in the field of photography and I feel honoured when my pictures went to the International Space Station,” said Dr Chadha.
Dr Hersh Chadha with Col Valery
On 19 October 2016, Dr. Hersh Chadha sent five of his photographs of flowers to the International Space Station with the ISS 49/50 team comprising of Soyuz MS-02 Commander Sergey Ryzhikov, Flight Engineer Andrey Borisenko of Roscosmos and Flight Engineer Shane Kimbrough of NASA to be displayed there, making it as the first ever permanent photography exhibition in Space.
Dr Chadha’s photographs travelled 115,200,000 km (69,120,000 miles) in 6 months and thereafter keep adding to the mileage.
His message to the cosmonauts/astronauts was “To me a flower symbolises the beauty of life… Well, I can’t give you a flower to take to Space but I would like to give these pictures of flowers, that I took from around the world, so that when you look at them, even in space, you get that feeling and truly experience “your world”.
“Photography is a great medium of expression and my purpose of doing this was to let the human beings who live on the Space Station for so many months to be still connected to Mother Earth” says the photographer. And it was indeed so: “It was a part of the support that we had on board” – states cosmonaut Sergey Ryzhikov.
It all began more than 15 years ago, when Dr. Chadha went to study at Harvard Business School and his fellow student spoke to him about her late father, Stuart Allen Roosa, who was the Command Module Pilot for the Apollo 14 mission. Dr. Chadha was inspired by him and wanted to send his pictures to Space. He kept trying till Col. Valery Korzun from Star City in Moscow arranged for five of his pictures of flowers to be taken to Space last year. Finally Dr. Chadha’s dream had come true!
“I think I have achieved what I wanted to. I have managed to excel in the field of photography in my own view and this is because finally five of my pictures went to the International Space Station. I also want to share this with other people so that they can keep pursuing their dream, even if it takes 15 years to come true” said Dr Chadha.
Along with five photographs, Dr.Chadha has sent his book “Visions of Nature”, published by Assouline Inc., to Star City as a gift for the Training Centre. “It’s a very beautiful book with wonderful pictures that were taken by a real photo artist, and it is you. And if you give us your permission, your book will be used as a training manual for taking pictures of Earth from the ISS by the cosmonauts,” says Col.Valery Korzun , the chief for the 1st administration of Cosmonaut Training Center (TsPK).
Dr Chadha not only agreed to this but also gave a Hard Disk to Star City containing 500 of his pictures to be used for their training manual.
Dr Chadha is an eminent scholar, philanthropist and photographer, based in Dubai since 1987. During the course of his travels to more than 92 countries and over 279 cities, he has photographed landscape, architecture, portraits, flora and fauna and fashion. He is also an avid reader, visiting Professor of
Photojournalism, a keen economist and collector of objects d’art, besides being a co-producer of a few films. Feeling for people in need, Dr Chadha considers philanthropy as a necessary tool in contributing towards human development. Education is one of the focal points in the framework of his philanthropic activity. The Hersh Chadha foundation has sponsored the education of over 200 students worldwide across multiple universities, by providing them with scholarship grants.
He has worked with a number of wildlife agencies like the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), The Arabian Leopard Trust and the Environmental Research and Wildlife Development Agency (ERWDA) – and has made significant photographic contributions to these agencies.
Dr Chadha is a current member of The Royal Photographic Society of Great Britain, Emirates Fine Arts Society in Sharjah, UAE, Dubai Press Club, UAE and many more organizations worldwide.
Dr Chadha with cosmonauts
Previous articlePaediatric TB Diagnosis Delays in India
Next articleQatar Diverts Flight Routes
Gandhi-Mandela Peace Initiative launched in India
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0009.json.gz/line602
|
__label__wiki
| 0.831677
| 0.831677
|
Sun emits a mid-level solar flare on 24 August
NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center Press Release
NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory captured this image of a mid-level solar flare on the Sun — as seen in the bright spot in the lower centre of the solar disc on 24 August 2015. The image shows a subset of extreme ultraviolet light that highlights the extremely hot solar material, which is typically colourised in red. Image credits: NASA/SDO.
The Sun emitted a mid-level solar flare, peaking at 8:33am BST on 24 August 2015. NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory, which watches the Sun constantly, captured an image of the event. Solar flares are powerful bursts of radiation. Harmful radiation from such a flare cannot pass through Earth’s atmosphere to physically affect humans on the ground, however — when intense enough — they can disturb the atmosphere in the layer where GPS and communications signals travel.
To see how this event may affect Earth, please visit NOAA’s Space Weather Prediction Center, the U.S. government’s official source for space weather forecasts, alerts, watches and warnings.
This flare is classified as an M 5.6 class flare. M-class flares are a tenth the size of the most intense flares, the X-class flares. The number provides more information about its strength. An M2 is twice as intense as an M1, an M3 is three times as intense, etc.
M-class flare
NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory
NOAA's Space Weather Prediction Center
solar flare
The Sun could release flares 1,000x greater than recorded
3 December 2015 Astronomy Now
A binary star known as KIC 9655129 observed by NASA’s Kepler space telescope is known to produce superflares, thousands of times more powerful than those ever recorded on the Sun. Research led by the University of Warwick suggests the underlying physics of KIC 9655129’s superflares and solar flares might be the same, supporting the idea that our Sun could also produce such phenomena.
Astronomers collect spectra in search for Sun’s lost siblings
20 April 2018 William Harwood
Australian astronomers are in the process of collecting the spectra of a million stars across the Milky Way in a project to study galactic evolution. In the process, they hope to track down at least some of the sun’s lost siblings.
A research milestone in helping predict solar flares
An international team of researchers, led by Queen’s University Belfast, has devised a high-precision method of examining magnetic fields in the Sun’s atmosphere, representing a significant leap forward in the investigation of solar flares and potentially catastrophic ‘space weather’.
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0009.json.gz/line606
|
__label__wiki
| 0.821173
| 0.821173
|
Middle East update: November 2 2017
November 2, 2017 Posted in conflict update
Iraqi forces captured western Anbar’s large Akkas gas field from ISIS on Thursday. Akkas hasn’t yet entered production so while this is a significant recovery for the Iraqis it’s not a huge loss for ISIS–they weren’t selling the gas.
As for the Kurdish situation, little has changed since Baghdad declared an end to talks over border control with the peshmerga and the Kurdistan Regional Government earlier this week. Erbil is publicly complaining that the Iraqis would rather fight than make a deal, which is a bad sign, and its offer for joint control of border crossings has so far elicited nothing from Baghdad. We’ve apparently reached the point in the Iraqi-Kurdish fighting where we can start to assess damages, and the United Nations reported Thursday that the young conflict has already displaced 183,000 people, mostly Kurds and primarily from the Kirkuk region.
The UN also issued a report Thursday on the Mosul battle, finding that at least 2521 civilians were killed during that offensive. Of those, the UN says a majority were killed by ISIS, including at least 741 “executions,” some of ISIS’s many “war crimes” that the UN argues must be tried in an international forum. The report further insisted that the Iraqis investigate war crimes charges against their own forces and the US-led coalition that was supporting them. And while we’re on that subject, BuzzFeed has found that the coalition is not paying compensation to the families of the civilians it kills, even in the rare cases when it actually acknowledges killing them. Past American practice when killing Iraqi civilians has been to make “condolence payments,” which are characterized as expressions of sympathy but not acknowledgements of wrongdoing. But the coalition apparently forgot (oops!) to create a mechanism by which families could request condolence payments for deaths incurred during the ongoing anti-ISIS campaign. It’s called winning hearts and minds, folks.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said on Thursday that the Syrian army has taken full control over Deir Ezzor city. Reuters is reporting that there are still pockets of ISIS resistance in the city, however, per “a commander” in one of the allied units fighting with the army.
Russia’s deputy foreign minister, Mikhail Bogdanov, says Moscow hopes “that everyone who believes that the fate of [Syria], its unity, its territorial integrity and its sovereignty are important” will attend its November 18 Syrian “congress” in Sochi. But for some reason, the Syrian opposition seem to doubt Russia’s motives. The rebel High Negotiations Committee says it will “not participate in any events held outside the umbrella of the United Nations,” and I have to say I just can’t figure out why they’re not keen on some impartial Russian mediation. Why, just today Russia impartially told the US that it is “unacceptable to politicize” investigations into the use of chemical weapons in Syria, where “to politicize” means “to blame Bashar al-Assad for.” Seems pretty neutral to me, folks.
Damascus wants the UN Security Council to condemn Israeli airstrikes on its territory. One assumes at least the United States would veto any resolution like that. Also at the Security Council, the US is circulating a draft resolution to extend the investigation into the use of chemical weapons in Syria for another two years. Russia vetoed an extension last week, and it’s not clear what’s different about this one that would cause them to make a different choice. Moscow has proposed its own, six month (renewable) extension that essentially requires investigators to work really, really hard to find a way to attribute the Khan Shaykhun incident to something other than a Syrian government sarin attack.
Alexander Bick of Johns Hopkins argues that Syria is heading toward partition:
This reflects deep skepticism that Assad will be able to reunify the country and a recognition of the degree of fragmentation that’s already taken place. A quick glance at any of the open-source maps depicting areas of control in Syria reveals a complex patchwork of colors corresponding to discrete blocs held by the central government, armed opposition groups, Syrian Kurds and their allies, and ISIL. Damascus’ reach into these territories is deeper than many observers realize — for example, the government has continued to pay salaries to civil servants, even in areas outside its control. But over time, these blocs have become increasingly autonomous: Each flies its own flag, operates its own security, administrative, and judicial institutions, and has developed its own educational curricula.
As far as the map is concerned, he’s got a point:
Syria through October 21 (Wikimedia | Ermanarich)
(you should recognize the color scheme by now: red means government, white means Nusra/HTS/whatever, green means other rebel factions/FSA, yellow means Kurds/SDF, gray means ISIS, and that new blue bit reflects Turkish occupation)
Bick further argues that a managed partition at this point might be the least bad option, at least for Russia and the United States in terms of avoiding a conflict with one another in eastern Syria. He may well be right, but partition will also definitely freeze the conflict into something that might go on, albeit at a lower level, for decades to come. Not that the alternatives are any better, mind you, but when I say “least bad” I definitely mean “least bad.”
Congress is being righteous as always:
House leaders have neutered a bipartisan push to suspend US military support for Saudi Arabia’s campaign against the Iran-backed Houthis in Yemen.
Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., had planned to offer a resolution this week requiring President Donald Trump to cease US military involvement in Yemen except for “forces engaged in operations directed at al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula or associated forces.” A new resolution introduced Wednesday and obtained by Al-Monitor, however, eliminates that clause amid pressure from House leaders opposed to the motion.
In addition to eliminating the “removal of armed forces” clause, the new resolution calls on “all responsible countries to take appropriate and necessary measures against the government of Iran, including the interdiction of Iranian weapons to the Houthis.” It also urges an end to the obstruction of humanitarian aid while supporting “the Saudi-led Arab coalition’s commitments to abide by their no-strike list and restricted target list and improve targeting capabilities.”
Somehow they turned a resolution condemning Saudi Arabia’s systematic destruction of Yemen into a resolution calling for MOAR WAR WITH IRAN. You have to admire their singular devotion to that particular cause.
Ankara says that 39 people–eight of its soldiers and 31 militants–were killed on Thursday in fighting between the Turkish army and the PKK, in separate clashes in Turkey’s southeastern Hakkâri, Tunceli, and Şırnak provinces.
Lebanese analyst Halim Shebaya looks at Michel Aoun’s presidency as it heads into its second year:
In his inaugural speech, Aoun described himself as “a president who came at difficult times, and on whom high hopes are placed to overcome difficulties and not merely conform and adapt to them, and to ensure the stability that the Lebanese long for, so that their greatest dream is no longer the travel bag [to emigrate]”.
The question is how far Aoun has managed to live up to this vision and to “regain the trust” (the motto of the Hariri government) of the Lebanese public.
Aoun’s first year saw the passage of a budget and a new electoral law in addition to a significant military victory over extremist forces at Arsal, but he hasn’t been able to solve Lebanon’s corruption problem or to make any real progress on coping with the country’s difficult Syrian refugee situation. Though to be fair, it has only been a year, and those are both massive challenges.
The anniversary of the Balfour Declaration brought Palestinian protesters out into the streets of all the major cities in the West Bank, as it does every year. Israeli soldiers in Bethlehem responded with tear gas and rubber bullets.
GWU’s Scott Weiner explains why Kuwait’s government resigned en masse on Monday. The one-word answer is “austerity”:
The cabinet reshuffle allows Kuwait’s government to realign the parliament’s agenda toward austerity and create buy-in from MPs for this agenda. While it cannot prevent the prospect of future interrogations that grind parliament to a halt, the government can use the time between the resignation of the old parliament and appointment of a new one to come to an agreement with opposition figures over its policies.
Kuwait’s cabinet reshuffle is part of a renegotiation of the relationship between governments and citizens taking place across the Gulf Arab states in the wake of the sustained low price of oil worldwide. While austerity measures are necessary in these states, they are also unpopular. Implementing them will require changes to both the government and the opposition’s approaches.
The resignation was triggered by the Kuwaiti opposition’s plan to subject cabinet ministers to a series of “interrogations” and no-confidence votes over the government’s austerity measures, both as a way to stall further austerity bills and as a way to embarrass the government. Because Kuwait’s political system allows the prime minister to take as much time as he wants in appointing a new cabinet, he can now embarrass the opposition into being more compliant.
British Foreign Secretary and man whose hair bleach has clearly seeped into his brain Boris Johnson is heading to the US to lobby the Senate not to do anything that might wreck the Iran nuclear deal. This is a noble effort whose chances of success could only be exceeded if literally any other human being on the planet were undertaking it.
Hey, remember how CIA Director Mike Pompeo released a bunch of files from the bin Laden compound and gave the Foundation for Defense of Democracies early access so those guys could gin up a real good “al-Qaeda and Iran are in cahoots” story to sell to some credulous dupe reporters? Well, congratulations to the AP’s Jon Gambrell for being today’s credulous dupe. Hey, this yellow journalism isn’t going to write itself, you know? That’s why we keep people like Jon around.
On the plus side, the tranche of bin Laden documents includes video of Hamza bin Laden’s wedding, which probably took place in Iran because the Iranians were holding him captive at the time (pre-2008). It may be the only images anybody has of Hamza bin Laden as an adult. Hamza is getting the hard sell as al-Qaeda’s heir apparent in an effort to sex up the older of the two global jihad brands, but it’s not clear yet that he has a tremendous amount of credibility in that community apart from his name.
al-qaedaanbar provincebalfour declarationbashar al-assadboris johnsonchemical weaponscongressdeir ezzoriraniran nuclear dealiraqiraqi kurdistanisilisisislamic stateisraelisrael-palestinekurdistan regional governmentkurdskuwaitlebanonmichel aounmiddle eastpalestinepersian gulfpkkpoliticsrussiasaudi arabiasenatesyriasyrian civil warsyrian peace talkssyrian rebelsturkeyun security councilunited kingdomunited nationsUnited Stateswar in iraqyemenyemeni civil war
Previous: Previous post: Today in Middle Eastern history: the Balfour Declaration (1917)
Next: Next post: World update: November 2 2017
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0009.json.gz/line608
|
__label__cc
| 0.647628
| 0.352372
|
You are here: Home / Uncategorized / Ambivalent at the Olympics
Ambivalent at the Olympics
By Bev Schellenberg
The Vancouver Winter Olympics will open in six days, whether British Columbians like it or not. The other day I was sitting in a Burnaby chiropractor’s office across the waiting room from a white-haired lady when she suddenly blurted, “I don’t want the Olympics here. They never asked me.” I looked around, wondering who she was talking to; she wasn’t looking at me or the receptionist. Fortunately, the receptionist responded, “Well, too late for that! They are coming.” The other patient-in-waiting harrumphed and began to list the problems that are about to descend on the city of Vancouver: traffic back-up, pick-pocketing, and providing snow.
Based on what I’ve read and heard as the games approach, those problems are only the tip of a melting iceberg. Regardless of the challenges, many of us British Columbians, including me, celebrated when the International Olympic Committee chose us in 2003. We cheered again in 2006, when Vancouver’s then-mayor, Sam Sullivan, accepted the Olympic flag in Turin, Italy. Since then I’ve swung between unfamiliar patriotic pride, frustration, outright ambivalence, and a skewed sort of wonder as events unfold.
This mogul-strewn run of emotions began when the world watched B.C. and Canada represented at the closing ceremonies in Turin, Italy.
Other than snow, many British Columbians couldn’t see much in the way of standard British Columbian fare, such as bears, beavers, maple leaves, or our own First Nations’ distinctive traditions. It was entertaining, though, and Canadian, so most of us smiled and soldiered on in anticipation of the coming event.
Then, in 2005, Ilanaaq appeared, and we learned Inuit and discovered what an inukshuk is. Despite initial confusion, he’s been well-received, ultimately, as attested to by the appearance of a four-foot high stone inukshuk in the livingroom of a mom-of-five kids that I encountered recently. It’s still questionable what he had to do with British Columbia before now.
After that we got to see the 2010 Olympic Mascots revealed — characters based on First Nation creatures and designed by Meomi Design, a Vancouver company. Miga is a snow-boarding young sea bear who is part killer whale and part Kermode spirit, and Quatchi is the hockey-loving sasquatch who wants to be a goalie. Sumi, the animal guardian spirit, was revealed as the mascot for the Paralympic Games. The sidekick of all three is Mukmuk, a Vancouver Island marmot, who makes random appearances in Olympic paraphernalia but apparently isn’t really a mascot at all. Following the unveiling of the mascots and marmot, we heard a lot of talk of their similarity to Pokemon characters. Based on the number of sad-looking, overpriced mini-Migas, Quatchii, Sumies, and Mukmuks unsold in Zellers and Save-On Foods, I’m not sure how successful these characters have been in B.C. thus far. However, people did smile and point as full-sized mascots walked through Vancouver airport last time I was there, so perhaps size does matter.
Then came talk of traffic snarls and the shutdown of life for two weeks around the 17 Olympic game venues. Sites include Whistler, Vancouver, Cypress Mountain, and Richmond. As a resident of Surrey, a neighbouring city of Vancouver, I listened to the radio and read the newspaper with surprise as residents within those communities discussed leaving for two weeks to capitalize on sky-high price rental opportunities during the games and to avoid the Olympic experience entirely. Why would people want to leave? I wished I lived closer so that I could walk to venues and be in the center of the Olympic spirit.
No such luck.
After waiting for VANOC to alleviate computer problems in the “virtual waiting room” for newly released tickets, I was happy to finally check out what was available. Sadly, tickets were too expensive when multiplied by three, especially when the cost of the only bus allowed into Whistler was added. Or they were sold out. However, there was something in my own community as well as others called “Celebrations.” Something free. I eagerly researched the term, and discovered it meant that instead of sitting in the comfort of one’s own home watching Olympic curling, for instance, people will be able to join thousands of others at such Celebration Sites as Surrey’s Holland Park, to watch various Olympic events on screens, and wander through a “family-friendly” setting enjoying “sponsor showcasing, interactive pavilions, live performances, and recreational and cultural activities.” Surrey’s will feature “skating, sliding, curling, children’s activities, and performances in Holland Park.” As The Vancouver Sun‘s Best Guide to the Games so candidly points out: “Don’t have tickets? Here’s where you want to be to watch the Games.”
It sounds a bit like the overflow room at a wedding, where you watch the proceedings on a TV or simply hear them waft through an open door. Some fantastic free performances are upcoming, though, so I’ll be there to see the likes of Blue Rodeo and The Sam Roberts Band. Maybe my kids and I will even go “sliding,” whatever that is. But as I stare at the screen and check out sponsor advertising, I’ll be wondering how this great, chance-of-a-lifetime Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympic event I was so excited to experience in real life got reduced to a reality show, complete with commercials.
Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: Canada, Olympics, sports, Vancouver
Funny how things never seem to change. When the Olympics were in Atlanta years ago, we were complaning about the “strange mascot”, the over priced tickets and residents there were leaving to take advantage of the crazy rates people would pay to stay near the events. Parking was also something that the residents charged the outsiders for in areas where it was normally free. At least your mascot, has some small connection to the area. Nice to see that no matter where you are, the way the Olympics are viewed by outsiders and the host city never seem to change.
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0009.json.gz/line612
|
__label__wiki
| 0.817059
| 0.817059
|
Intestacy Lasting Powers of Attorney Wills dementia • intestacy • LPA's • Wills July 7, 2014 By Eli Pressman 0 Comments
Council have man jailed for sharing his late father’s compensation
The story of John Kennedy Jr on the BBC website provides a cautionary tale on the importance of making a Will and getting proper advice.
John’s father, John Kennedy Sr, died from asbestosis. He received £90,000 compensation because the dust and fibres which killed him were inhaled at the Cammell Laird shipyard in Birkenhead where he worked with asbestos.
Mr Kennedy senior advised his son that he wanted the money shared equally between his three sons and grandchildren.
The problems started because he didn’t make a will and relied on his son to follow his wishes. Mr Kennedy died intestate so the compensation passed automatically to his wife, Connie, who was now in a nursing home suffering from Alzheimer’s disease.
Because she had no property, and little savings, her care was funded by Liverpool City Council. Mrs Kennedy had a Lasting Power of Attorney (LPA) authorising her son John to make financial decisions on her behalf. John Jr used the LPA to ensure his father’s wishes were carried out. After a family meeting he took the money his mother had inherited and distributed it between himself and his brothers.
The council later found out that John Jr had given away his mother’s inheritance and, presumably under the “deprivation of assets” rules, took legal action against him to recover the money. These are anti-avoidance rules to stop a person from giving away assets to qualify for means tested state assistance.
Mr Kennedy was prosecuted and convicted of benefit fraud. Worse, because most of the money had been spent, Mr Kennedy could not afford to repay it all so he was then convicted under the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 and sent to prison for nine months. Doing “the right thing” has a high price.
This tragedy could have avoided. Had Mr Kennedy Sr made a Will distributing the compensation between his sons & grandchildren the money would not have entered his wife’s estate. Instead it would have been paid directly to them on his death. The council could not have argued that Mrs Kennedy’s estate had been given away in order to receive local authority funding for her care fees.
John Kennedy Jr should also have checked the terms of his mother’s LPA. Every LPA contains a statement confirming that the attorney is only allowed to make gifts out of the donor’s assets on customary occasions (such as birthdays or Christmas) and then only for “reasonable amounts”. It would have been pretty clear that a gift of £90,000 made by an elderly lady with few other assets was not a “reasonable amount”.
If Mr Kennedy Jr had taken proper advice he would have been told that making the gift exceeded his power under the LPA. It would also have been explained that there was a high probability that the council would challenge under the deprivation of assets rules and the potentially serious consequences.
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0009.json.gz/line615
|
__label__wiki
| 0.742449
| 0.742449
|
Policy Labs
Vision & Principles
Media & Outreach
Op-Eds & Articles
Policy BriefEconomics
Long Overdue: Alternatives to the Paris Protocol
by Nur Arafeh on February 27, 2018
In 1994, the Palestine Liberation Organization and the Israeli government signed the Paris Protocol. It established a “contractual agreement” to formalize economic relations, which had previously been determined by Israel, in the West Bank and Gaza Strip for a period of five years. Despite its expiration 19 years ago, the protocol still constitutes the basis…
If Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas is serious about distancing himself from reliance on US mediation and from collaboration with Israel he should look seriously at alternatives to the Paris Economic Protocol – the parameters for the economic relationship between Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT) signed in 1994. 1
Economic Collapse in East Jerusalem: Strategies for Recovery
How Israeli Settlements Stifle Palestine’s Economy
ICT: The Shackled Engine of Palestine’s Development
The Customs Union & Israel’s No-State Solution
Abbas had already asked US President Donald Trump’s Senior Advisor Jared Kushner to amend the protocol in August 2017, when the two sides were still talking. And no wonder: While a main premise of the protocol was that Palestinian-Israeli-regional economic cooperation would bring about Palestinian prosperity, the protocol has instead made Palestinians far more dependent on Israel. It has been the target of popular Palestinian anger, and even some PA officials have called for establishing a new agreement.
It’s extremely unlikely that Israel or the current US administration will do anything to change this status quo. The fact that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud Party recently approved a draft resolution urging the annexation of large parts of the West Bank demonstrates how far Israel has come in its disregard for Palestinian rights. As such, Palestinians must advocate for themselves and generate a new strategy with regard to the Paris Protocol based on a clear political vision that sets the stage for economic change.
This policy brief undertakes a critical review of the Paris Protocol for non-experts on the topic. It first demonstrates how the protocol has resulted in a captive Palestinian market heavily dependent on Israel, focusing in particular on trade relations and fiscal arrangements to highlight the protocol’s ramifications on the Palestinian economy. It concludes by presenting possible future economic arrangements that Palestinians can support as they work to bring about a just political and economic future. 2
A Captive Palestinian Market Dependent on Israel
In 1994, the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) and the government of Israel signed the Paris Protocol, which was attached to the Cairo Agreement and the Oslo II agreement. It established a “contractual agreement” to formalize economic relations, which had previously been unilaterally determined by Israel, in the West Bank and Gaza Strip for an interim period of five years. Despite the expiration of this period 19 years ago, the protocol still constitutes the basis of economic relations between the two sides, and is the main framework for the PA’s economic, monetary, and fiscal conduct.
The main goal of the Paris Protocol was to “lay the groundwork for strengthening the economic base of the Palestinian side and for exercising its right of economic decision making in accordance with its own development plan and priorities.” The protocol also aimed to establish “a sound economic base” for relations between the two parties, based on the view that the economic field represents a “cornerstone in their mutual relations.” The protocol contains 11 articles: two relate to its scope, framework, and a joint economic committee, and the nine others address trade, taxation, imports, banking, and labor arrangements, as well as policies relating to the agricultural, industrial, and tourism sectors.
Since the 1967 occupation and until the Oslo Accords were signed, the de facto trade arrangement between the Palestinians and the Israelis were akin to that of a customs union. In theory, a customs union is a trade arrangement in which the countries involved allow the free flow of goods among them and agree on a common external tariff with respect to imports from other countries. However, in the “customs union” relationship between Israel and the PA, both use Israel’s trade policy – that is, Israel’s customs rates and other regulations – apart from a few specific goods. 3 In other words, the Paris Protocol formalized a customs union in which Israel’s trade policy is imposed on the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
Further, the OPT’s Gross Domestic Product (in current USD) was 13.397 billion in 2016, a fraction of that of Israel – approximately 4.2% in 2016. 4 The fact that the protocol disregards the gap between the two economies is a major problem since the tariff structure required to build a weakened Palestinian economy is very different from the one that suits an industrialized economy like that of Israel. Therefore, even if the customs union had been implemented perfectly, as stipulated in the protocol, it would have adversely impacted the Palestinian economy, as it does not cater to its needs.
The inconsistent, one-sided implementation of the customs union by Israel has only made things worse for the Palestinian economy. On paper, the Paris Protocol has allowed movement of agricultural and industrial products between the two sides, and has permitted Palestinians direct trade links with other countries. However, in violation of the Paris Protocol, Israel has imposed restrictions on the movement of goods between Israel and the OPT since the 1990s, such that goods can only move freely from Israel to the OPT, and not vice versa.
The Occupied Palestinian Territory is a captive market for exports from Israel Click To Tweet
Israel has also imposed restrictions on the movement of goods within the OPT. Since 1997, Israel has sought to cut off the Gaza Strip from the West Bank, and the ten-year Israeli-imposed blockade on Gaza has further hindered trade relations between the two areas. Israeli closure policies have also disrupted trade relations within the West Bank itself. The ensuing fragmentation of the OPT economy into small and disconnected markets has increased the time and cost needed to transport goods – whether intermediate, final, local, or imported – from one area of the West Bank to another.
Moreover, Israeli-imposed closure policies and non-tariff barriers have also severely restricted foreign trade. Examples of such measures include: Israeli non-recognition of Palestinian certification of standards; long periods of testing standards compliance; and the “dual-use items” list – items that Israel claims can be used for military as well as civilian purposes and which are either banned or liable to lengthy security procedures. These Israeli measures are in violation of the protocol, which grants Palestinian exports/imports equal treatment to Israeli exports/imports.
As a result, the OPT has become a captive market for exports from Israel. According to a 2016 report from the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), Israel recently received 85% of Palestinian exports and “accounted for more than” 70% of Palestinian imports. Meanwhile, the OPT accounts for only 3% of total Israeli trade.
Adverse as it is to Palestinian interests, the customs union is unlikely to be replaced by any other trade system as long as Israel’s strategic interests remain the same. Indeed, the choice of a customs union rather than a free trade area, as Palestinians initially requested, was not guided primarily by Israel’s economic interests but rather by political interests in maintaining a “no-state solution.” As Amal Ahmad pointed out, a customs union requires neither the demarcation of borders nor the elimination of borders or integration. This has enabled Israel to postpone the issue of borders altogether by keeping them interim while furthering the containment and colonization of the OPT. Therefore, not only is the Palestinian economy suffering under a skewed system, but the superior power has no intention of changing it as long as it serves its interests.
Israel’s Control Over Palestinian Fiscal Revenue
The Paris Protocol formalized a clearance revenue system whereby Israel collects customs duties on imports from abroad that are destined for the Palestinian market but are required to go through Israel first. It also collects indirect taxes (value-added taxes [VAT] and others) on Israeli products sold to the Palestinian market and income taxes and social transfers from Palestinians employed in Israel or in the Israeli settlements. Israel is supposed to transfer these revenues, also known as clearance revenues, to the PA on a monthly basis, after collecting a fee of 3%.
While the clearance revenue system has granted the PA access to significant resources, because nearly all direct and indirect taxes paid by Palestinians in the OPT had been kept by Israel before signing the protocol, it has at the same time given Israel immense power over Palestinian revenue. For example, in the 2017 PA budget, clearance revenues represented 66% of the PA’s net revenues, meaning that Israel dominates about two thirds of the PA’s revenues. The Paris Protocol has in effect deprived the PA of its sovereignty over its fiscal revenues and thus over its very survival. Israel exploits this control by withholding Palestinian tax revenues as a punitive measure or to exert political pressure on Palestinians (see examples in Table 1).
Period of Israel’s withholding of clearance revenues Context
2006 Palestinian legislative elections and Hamas’s accession to power
November 2011 Palestinians’ efforts to seek diplomatic recognition from UNESCO
December 2012-January 2013 Palestine’s successful bid to become a non-member observer state at the UN
December 2014-April 2015 Palestinians’ bid to join the International Criminal Court
Another consequence of the Paris Protocol’s arrangements is fiscal leakage, or the withholding of fiscal revenue destined for the PA but kept by Israel. For instance, Israel only considers as imports those goods that are directly imported to the OPT via Israeli ports. Indirect imports (foreign goods that are first imported to Israel and then re-exported to the OPT) are not counted as imports, although their final destination is the same. As a result, import charges paid on these goods are collected by Israel without being transferred to the PA.
Further, purchase taxes and excises on Israeli-produced goods that are exported to the OPT are not transferred to the PA, except in the case of petroleum products, cigarettes, and alcoholic beverages. Finally, the transfer of VAT and other taxes from Palestinians’ direct purchases from the Israeli market is conditional on a clearance bill that proves the sale or purchase of goods between the two markets. Israel holds all revenues from these taxes in case of non-submission of clearance bills.
The customs union is unlikely to be replaced as long as Israel’s strategic interests remain the same Click To Tweet
The considerable drain of revenue has had severe repercussions on the Palestinian economy. A 2014 UNCTAD study confirmed over $310 million worth of leakage in 2011 as a result of importing from or through the Israeli market. The estimated cost of the leaked amount is equivalent to 17% of total tax revenue, and accounts for 4% in lost GDP and around 10,000 jobs a year.
Furthermore, it should be noted that the choice of a clearance revenue system in which Israel chooses to collect fiscal revenues and then transfer them to the PA is in line with Israel’s efforts to maintain a “no-state solution” in the OPT, just like its choice of a customs union, as described above. The clearance revenue system neither allows Palestinians to have control over their own borders and thus separate from Israel, nor does it allow their integration into the Israeli economy. Hence, a no-state solution.
Moving Beyond the Protocol
What could replace such an imbalanced trade system that bleeds the Palestinian economy and keeps Palestinians tethered to Israel’s exploitative interests? Two main paths are often put forth. The first is an improved customs union relationship with Israel. However, the trade regime as prescribed by the Paris Protocol has proved to be deleterious to Palestinian political and economic interests, since the problem is the structure of the protocol itself, not just Israel’s violations of its terms.
This has led an increasing number of researchers to conclude that amendments to the Paris Protocol would be futile and that Palestinians should break free of it. Therefore, an alternative path for Palestinians is to advance a new trade regime. Such a trade regime could involve two arrangements, either a free trade area (FTA) or a non-discriminatory trade policy (NDTP).
A free trade area allows for free trade between member countries. However, contrary to a customs union, each country has its own trade policy with respect to third-party countries, thus making economic borders a necessity. The establishment of an FTA, and thus of customs borders, would put an end to fiscal leakage and would allow the PA to design its own import policy that suits its development needs. In past negotiations, the PA showed a strong preference for this as it could allow for greater political independence.
The Paris Protocol has deprived the PA of its sovereignty over its fiscal revenues and thus over its survival Click To Tweet
In a non-discriminatory trade policy the PA would adopt its own trade policy unilaterally without offering or receiving preferential access to or from Israel. Therefore, unlike the customs union and the FTA, which facilitate the import of goods from preferential trading partners, under an NDTP the PA would set the same tariff on imports from all countries and thus ensure a more level playing field. Needless to say, the ability of the PA to adopt its own trade policy requires control over its borders.
In another option, a recent 2017 Palestine Economic Policy Research Institute (MAS) study proposed a new Palestinian tariff structure in line with Palestinian development interests, either through a continuation of the status quo while exploiting the Paris Protocol or via an independent non-discriminatory Palestinian trade policy that would be based on promoting industrialization. Such a separate trade regime, which would require Palestinian sovereignty and the establishment of well-defined hard borders between the Palestinians and the Israelis, is widely considered necessary in a future independent Palestinian state and economy, especially as it would allow for an autonomous Palestinian tariff regime on all imports that would reflect Palestinian economic and development needs.
In addition, further research is needed to explore how the agricultural and industrial sectors can be promoted as part of the struggle against Israeli land expropriation and can build a productive economy that reduces dependency on Israel. And since the boycott of Israeli goods can increase the cost of the occupation while protecting Palestinian products, efforts should focus on encouraging and subsidizing local production and ensuring the high quality of local products.
A clear-cut Palestinian economic vision and strategy that is guided by a political vision and interest must be developed Click To Tweet
However, for any such options to be fulfilled a clear-cut Palestinian economic vision and strategy that is guided by a political vision and interest must be developed. Indeed, the main question that needs to be answered for this economic vision and strategy is within which political framework it is to be advanced and what the frontiers of the “Palestinian economy” are.
In the pre-Oslo economic and development literature, the dominant understanding of economic development was geographically limited to the 1967 borders, and the economy was intrinsically linked to the political frontiers and the creation of a nation state. Hence, most researchers focused on the “economic viability” of a future Palestinian state.
However, in some of the post-Oslo academic literature (as opposed to that of international organizations) the Palestinian struggle is being re-conceptualized as an anti-colonial, rights-based struggle rather than a nation-state project. Many scholars are calling for transcending the limited focus on the West Bank and the Gaza Strip in order to reintegrate all human resources from the Palestinian body politic, including Palestinian citizens of Israel and Palestinians in the diaspora. How this reconceptualization of the Palestinian struggle would affect the understanding of “the Palestinian economy” and Palestinians’ future economic vision is a question that has yet to be answered.
Al-Shabaka publishes all its content in both English and Arabic (see Arabic text here.) To read this piece in French, Italian, or Spanish, please click here, here, or here. Al-Shabaka is grateful for the efforts by human rights advocates to translate its pieces, but is not responsible for any change in meaning. ↩
Part of the analysis in this policy brief is based on work done by the author when she was a researcher at the Palestine Economic Policy Research Institute (MAS). ↩
The Paris Protocol allows the PA its own import and customs policy with regard to limited quantities of specified commodities, such as small tools. ↩
Calculated by the author drawing on the World Bank database. ↩
Nur Arafeh
Al-Shabaka Analyst Nur Arafeh served as Al-Shabaka's Palestine Policy Fellow from 2015 - 2017. Nur is currently a Rhodes Scholar, doing her PhD in Economic Development at the University of Oxford. She previously worked as an Associate Researcher at the Palestine Economic Policy Research Institute (MAS), and as a Visiting Lecturer of Economics at Al-Quds Bard College. She has a dual BA degree in Political Science and Economics from the Paris Institute of Political Studies-Sciences Po and Columbia University, and holds an MPhil degree in Development Studies from the University of Cambridge.
An independent, non-partisan, and non-profit organization whose mission is to educate and foster public debate on Palestinian human rights and self determination within the framework of international law.
Contact al-Shabaka by email at:
Al-Shabaka: The Palestinian Policy Network
© 2010-2019 Al-Shabaka: The Palestinian Policy Network. All rights reserved.
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0009.json.gz/line617
|
__label__wiki
| 0.835198
| 0.835198
|
Team AIYAARY AT ALEGRIA
Team Aiyaary
– Akash Vetal, Greeshma Valath
Bollywood is known for its talent, music and movies. It’s just another religion in India. Star kids always have an upper hand in this industry. Very rarely do outsiders make it big or establish themselves in the industry. However, one such outsider to establish himself as a lead name in Bollywood is Sidharth Malhotra.
He started his modelling career at the age of 18 but switched to movies and direction. He started his film career as an assistant director for My name is Khan in 2010 and by 2012 Karan Johar cast him as one of his lead in Student of the Year thus giving his acting career a boost. SOTY went on to become a commercial hit, getting him the Stardust award for Best Debut in the process. He then played an aspiring businessman in the critically praised comedy-drama Hasee Toh Phasee in 2014, following which he starred as a hardened criminal in the romantic thriller Ek Villain (2014) and an aspiring author in the family drama Kapoor & Sons (2016). The latter two rank among Malhotra’s highest-grossing films, with a worldwide gross of 1 billion each.
On the other hand, the southern celebrity cluster too has won over the Hindi audience in very less time. One such star from the south Indian film industry is Rakul Preet Singh. Having been brought up in a Punjabi household, Rakul Preet started early in the industry. She began her career in modelling at the age of 18 much-awaited participating in Femina Miss India 2011. Rakul Preet’s acting debut was Gilli in 2009, after which she returned to the showbiz in 2011 with Keratam. Rakul Preet’s acting skills and overtly magnificent looks made her fan favourite in no time. She strengthened her foothold in the southern industry with 4 blockbusters even starring opposite industry heavyweights Jr. NTR and Allu Arjun.
Having worked in 4 different languages viz. Telugu, Tamil, Kannada and Hindi, she has become a known face in most households in the country. Add to all this, a cute smile and that brightness around her persona, Rakul Preet is definitely someone to fall for. A perfect blend of talent and looks, she is often touted as the next big thing in the film fraternity. Having debuted in Bollywood with Yaariyan, she has already sprinkled her bit of charm everywhere here.
Aiyaari- The much awaited film of early 2018 promises to be a complete blockbuster bringing both these powerhouses of talent in one frame. The film is being directed by Neeraj Pandey who has helmed epic movies like M.S. Dhoni – The Untold Story, Baby, Rustom, Special 26, A Wednesday which was loved by both the critics and the masses equally. Pillai college will be unveiling the banner of ALEGRIA 2018 in the presence of team ‘Aiyaary’ along with Sidharth Malhotra and Rakul Preet Singh on the 8th of January. Also, they’ll be shooting a music video at the campus Quad.
This is a great opportunity for all the college students to feature in the youth anthem of the year.
With the whole campus dressed in colours, we welcome team Aiyaary with open arms and a whole lot of passion and zeal!
Category: Buzz
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0009.json.gz/line619
|
__label__wiki
| 0.569779
| 0.569779
|
Voices July 09, 2019
By Alan Charlton
Toy Story 4 focuses on the need to find purpose, writes Alan Charlton. (CNS photo/Disney)
Amazingly, the newly released fourth film from the Pixar Toy Story franchise maintains and even exceeds the quality of the first three.
My personal favourite in the series remains the third feature, which develops the need to adapt to the passing of time. Toy Story 4, though, returns to the need to find purpose, as shown in the first two films. Woody (brilliantly voiced once again by Tom Hanks) proves to be the hero, with considerable aid from other familiar characters, including Buzz Lightyear (Tim Allen) and Slinky Dog (Blake Clark). Bo Peep (Annie Potts) is brought back, having virtually disappeared after the second film.
They are joined by a new character, Forky (Tony Hale), manufactured on the first day in kindergarten by a stressed-out Bonnie from a plastic spork, pipe cleaner, and tongue depressor. The gang of toys conspires to ensure that Forky stays with Bonnie (Madeleine McGraw), who has developed a love for Forky despite the latter’s determination to seek the nearest trash bin. As usual, this leads to a series of escapades, near disasters, and ingenious solutions to an ever more involved complex of problems.
Through the new character Duke Caboom (voiced by Keanu Reeves), the film also pays tribute to the fact that Canada can do, especially when it comes to the really big challenge.
Toy Story 4 clearly aims to please audiences of all ages. Children will delight in the lively action as directed by Josh Cooley, and the plentiful laughs, courtesy of several scriptwriters. The brilliant animation reaches new heights of creativity: one often wishes one could stop the film’s marvellously realized action just to inspect the richly detailed background.
This installment investigates loss and love, purpose and fulfillment. These toys experience fulfillment only when loved by an owner. With the aid of adults to discuss themes such as the need to belong, young viewers might well be encouraged to explore their own destinies and how to approach the challenges of life.
Without sacrificing any of charm and joy that have been familiar since the franchise’s first launch 24 years ago, the writers have made it more modern and relevant. In a more complex further development of the themes of the first two films, Bo Peep, unlike Woody, breaks away from the need to feel owned and instead becomes an action heroine: courageous, daring, and independent.
How this difference in the central characters’ approach to “life” is resolved not only offers a challenge to the youngsters viewing the film but clearly sets up the narrative for yet another sequel. I just hope that we do not have to wait another ten years after Toy Story 4 for that instalment – I’d like to be around to see another film with the same thematic complexity, beautiful artistry, and joyous entertainment value.
15th Sunday of Ordinary Time, Year C First Reading: Dt 30:10-14 Second Reading: Col 1:15-20 Gospel Reading: Lk 10:25-37 ...
Great in ambition, albeit modest in achievement, Yesterday sets for itself the apparently impossible task of making an...
Do you ever feel like you’re living in an alternate universe? If so, you can probably sympathize with Vancouver Councillor...
Canada Day, July 1, is often a time to celebrate immigration, as newcomers to this country take their citizenship oaths,...
At a shrine in the Ukrainian village of Zarvanytsia, visitors pray before a miraculous icon and swim in a pool fed by a reputed...
Blessed Enrico Rebuschini (1860–1938) suffered from depression and occasional nervous breakdowns, but his love for the sick...
Sun rays dappling the sidewalk. Evening bird calls. Summer months promise us fun and relaxation. And they definitely can be...
Archbishop J. Michael Miller, CSB, dedicated the new church and altar of St. Paul's Parish in Richmond June 18. Here is an...
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0009.json.gz/line629
|
__label__wiki
| 0.517154
| 0.517154
|
Mon, 03 Jun 2019 03:38:10 GMT
2017_SS1_Lecture_09
[ "article:topic", "authorname:facciottim", "notebene:yes", "showtoc:no" ]
BIS 2A: Introductory Biology (Facciotti)
2017_SUMMER_SESSION_1
Contributed by Marc Facciotti
Associate Professor (Biomedical Engineering) at University of California, Davis
Light Independent Reactions and Carbon Fixation
The Calvin Cycle: the reduction of CO2 to Glyceraldehyde 3-Phosphate
Stage 1: Carbon Fixation
Stage 2: Reduction
Stage 3: Regeneration
Additional Links of Interest
Khan Academy Links
Chemwiki links
Nucleotide structure
The nitrogenous base
The pentose sugar
The phosphate group
Double helix structure of DNA
Functions and roles of nucleotides and nucleic acids to look out for in Bis2a
Genomes as organismal blueprints
Determining a genome sequence
Diversity of genomes
Diversity of sizes, number of genes, and chromosomes
Structure of genomes
When we examine the frequency of repeat regions versus protein-coding regions in different species, we note large differences in protein-coding versus non-coding regions.
Dynamics of genome structure
The study of genomes
Metagenomics: who is living somewhere and what are they doing?
A short introduction
The general principle of carbon fixation is that some cells under certain conditions can take inorganic carbon, CO2 (also referred to as mineralized carbon), and reduce it to a usable cellular form. Most of us are aware that green plants can take up CO2 and produce O2 in a process known as photosynthesis. We have already discussed photophosphorylation, the ability of a cell to transfer light energy onto chemicals and ultimately to produce the energy carriers ATP and NADPH in a process known as the light reactions. In photosynthesis, the plant cells use the ATP and NADPH formed during photophosphorylation to reduce CO2 to sugar, (as we will see, specifically G3P) in what are called the dark reactions. While we appreciate that this process happens in green plants, photosynthesis had its evolutionary origins in the bacterial world. In this module we will go over the general reactions of the Calvin Cycle, a reductive pathway that incorporates CO2 into cellular material.
In photosynthetic bacteria, such as Cyanobacteria and purple non-sulfur bacteria, as well plants, the energy (ATP) and reducing power (NADPH) - a term used to describe electron carriers in their reduced state - obtained from photophosphorylation is coupled to "Carbon Fixation", the incorporation of inorganic carbon (CO2) into organic molecules; initially as glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate (G3P) and eventually into glucose. Organisms that can obtain all of their required carbon from an inorganic source (CO2) are referred to as autotrophs, while those organisms that require organic forms of carbon, such as glucose or amino acids, are referred to as heterotrophs. The biological pathway that leads to carbon fixation is called the Calvin Cycle and is a reductive pathway (consumes energy/uses electrons) which leads to the reduction of CO2 to G3P.
Figure 1. Light reactions harness energy from the sun to produce chemical bonds, ATP, and NADPH. These energy-carrying molecules are made in the stroma where carbon fixation takes place.
In plant cells, the Calvin cycle is located in the chloroplasts. While the process is similar in bacteria, there are no specific organelles that house the Calvin Cycle and the reactions occur in the cytoplasm around a complex membrane system derived from the plasma membrane. This intracellular membrane system can be quite complex and highly regulated. There is strong evidence that supports the hypothesis that the origin of chloroplasts from a symbiosis between cyanobacteria and early plant cells.
In the stroma of plant chloroplasts, in addition to CO2, two other components are present to initiate the light-independent reactions: an enzyme called ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase/oxygenase (RuBisCO), and three molecules of ribulose bisphosphate (RuBP), as shown in the figure below. Ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate (RuBP) is composed of five carbon atoms and includes two phosphates.
Figure 2. The Calvin cycle has three stages. In stage 1, the enzyme RuBisCO incorporates carbon dioxide into an organic molecule, 3-PGA. In stage 2, the organic molecule is reduced using electrons supplied by NADPH. In stage 3, RuBP, the molecule that starts the cycle, is regenerated so that the cycle can continue. Only one carbon dioxide molecule is incorporated at a time, so the cycle must be completed three times to produce a single three-carbon GA3P molecule, and six times to produce a six-carbon glucose molecule.
RuBisCO catalyzes a reaction between CO2 and RuBP. For each CO2 molecule that reacts with one RuBP, two molecules of another compound (3-PGA) form. PGA has three carbons and one phosphate. Each turn of the cycle involves only one RuBP and one carbon dioxide and forms two molecules of 3-PGA. The number of carbon atoms remains the same, as the atoms move to form new bonds during the reactions (3 atoms from 3CO2 + 15 atoms from 3RuBP = 18 atoms in 3 atoms of 3-PGA). This process is called carbon fixation, because CO2 is “fixed” from an inorganic form into an organic molecule.
ATP and NADPH are used to convert the six molecules of 3-PGA into six molecules of a chemical called glyceraldehyde 3-phosphate (G3P) - a carbon compound that is also found in glycolysis. Six molecules of both ATP and NADPH are used in the process. The exergonic process of ATP hydrolysis is in effect driving the endergonic redox reactions, creating ADP and NADP+. Both of these "spent" molecules (ADP and NADP+) return to the nearby light-dependent reactions to be recycled back into ATP and NADPH.
Interestingly, at this point, only one of the G3P molecules leaves the Calvin cycle to contribute to the formation of other compounds needed by the organism. In plants, because the G3P exported from the Calvin cycle has three carbon atoms, it takes three “turns” of the Calvin cycle to fix enough net carbon to export one G3P. But each turn makes two G3Ps, thus three turns make six G3Ps. One is exported while the remaining five G3P molecules remain in the cycle and are used to regenerate RuBP, which enables the system to prepare for more CO2 to be fixed. Three more molecules of ATP are used in these regeneration reactions.
3D animation of photosynthesis in plants
There are two types of nucleic acids in biology: DNA and RNA. DNA carries the heritable genetic information of the cell and is composed of two antiparallel strands of nucleotides arranged in a helical structure. Each nucleotide subunit is composed of a pentose sugar (deoxyribose), a nitrogenous base, and a phosphate group. The two strands associate via hydrogen bonds between chemically complementary nitrogenous bases. Interactions known as "base stacking" interactions also help stabilize the double helix. By contrast to DNA, RNA can be either be single stranded, or double stranded. It too is composed of a pentose sugar (ribose), a nitrogenous base, and a phosphate group. RNA is a molecule of may tricks. It is involved in protein synthesis as a messenger, regulator, and catalyst of the process. RNA is also involved in various other cellular regulatory processes and helps to catalyze some key reactions (more on this later). With respect to RNA, in this course we are primarily interested in (a) knowing the basic molecular structure of RNA and what distinguishes it from DNA, (b) understanding the basic chemistry of RNA synthesis that occurs during a process called transcription, (c) appreciating the various roles that RNA can have in the cell, and (d) learning the major types of RNA that you will encounter most frequently (i.e. mRNA, rRNA, tRNA, miRNA etc.) and associating them with the processes they are involved with. In this module we focus primarily on the chemical structures of DNA and RNA and how they can be distinguished from one another.
The two main types of nucleic acids are deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) and ribonucleic acid (RNA). DNA and RNA are made up of monomers known as nucleotides. Individual nucleotides condense with one another to form a nucleic acid polymer. Each nucleotide is made up of three components: a nitrogenous base (for which there are five different types), a pentose sugar, and a phosphate group. These are depicted below. The main difference between these two types of nucleic acids is the presence or absence of a hydroxyl group at the C2 position, also called the 2' position (read "two prime"), of the pentose (see Figure 1 legend and section on the pentose sugar for more on carbon numbering). RNA has a hydroxyl functional group at that 2' position of the pentose sugar; the sugar is called ribose, hence the name ribonucleic acid. By contrast, DNA lacks the hydroxyl group at that position, hence the name, "deoxy" ribonucleic acid. DNA has a hydrogen atom at the 2' position.
Figure 1. A nucleotide is made up of three components: a nitrogenous base, a pentose sugar, and one or more phosphate groups. Carbons in the pentose are numbered 1′ through 5′ (the prime distinguishes these residues from those in the base, which are numbered without using a prime notation). The base is attached to the 1′ position of the ribose, and the phosphate is attached to the 5′ position. When a polynucleotide is formed, the 5′ phosphate of the incoming nucleotide attaches to the 3′ hydroxyl group at the end of the growing chain. Two types of pentose are found in nucleotides, deoxyribose (found in DNA) and ribose (found in RNA). Deoxyribose is similar in structure to ribose, but it has an -H instead of an -OH at the 2′ position. Bases can be divided into two categories: purines and pyrimidines. Purines have a double ring structure, and pyrimidines have a single ring.
Attribution: Marc T. Facciotti (original work)
The nitrogenous bases of nucleotides are organic molecules and are so named because they contain carbon and nitrogen. They are bases because they contain an amino group that has the potential of binding an extra hydrogen, and thus acting as a base by decreasing the hydrogen ion concentration in the local environment. Each nucleotide in DNA contains one of four possible nitrogenous bases: adenine (A), guanine (G), cytosine (C), and thymine (T). By contrast, RNA contains adenine (A), guanine (G) cytosine (C), and uracil (U) instead of thymine (T).
Adenine and guanine are classified as purines. The primary distinguishing structural feature of a purine is double carbon-nitrogen ring. Cytosine, thymine, and uracil are classified as pyrimidines. These are structurally distinguished by a single carbon-nitrogen ring. You will be expected to recognize that each of these ring structures is decorated by functional groups that may be involved in a variety of chemistries and interactions.
Note: practice
Take a moment to review the nitrogenous bases in Figure 1. Identify functional groups as described in class. For each functional group identified, describe what type of chemistry you expect it to be involved in. Try to identify whether the functional group can act as either a hydrogen bond donor, acceptor, or both?
The pentose sugar contains five carbon atoms. Each carbon atom of the sugar molecule are numbered as 1′, 2′, 3′, 4′, and 5′ (1′ is read as “one prime”). The two main functional groups that are attached to the sugar are often named in reference to the carbon to whch they are bound. For example, the phosphate residue is attached to the 5′ carbon of the sugar and the hydroxyl group is attached to the 3′ carbon of the sugar. We will often use the carbon number to refer to functional groups on nucleotides so be very familiar with the structure of the pentose sugar.
The pentose sugar in DNA is called deoxyribose, and in RNA, the sugar is ribose. The difference between the sugars is the presence of the hydroxyl group on the 2' carbon of the ribose and its absence on the 2' carbon of the deoxyribose. You can, therefore, determine if you are looking at a DNA or RNA nucleotide by the presence or absence of the hydroxyl group on the 2' carbon atom—you will likely be asked to do so on numerous occasions, including exams.
There can be anywhere between one and three phosphate groups bound to the 5' carbon of the sugar. When one phosphate is bound, the nucleotide is referred to as a Nucleotide MonoPhosphate (NMP). If two phosphates are bound the nucleotide is referred to as Nucleotide DiPhosphate (NDP). When three phosphates are bound to the nucleotide it is referred to as a Nucleotide TriPhosphate (NTP). The phosphoanhydride bonds between that link the phosphate groups to each other have specific chemical properties that make them good for various biological functions. The hydrolysis of the bonds between the phosphate groups is thermodynamically exergonic in biological conditions; nature has evolved numerous mechanisms to couple this negative change in free energy to help drive many reactions in the cell. Figure 2 shows the structure of the nucleotide triphosphate Adenosine Triphosphate, ATP, that we will discuss in greater detail in other chapters.
Note: "high-energy" bonds
The term "high-energy bond" is used A LOT in biology. This term is, however, a verbal shortcuts that can cause some confusion. The term refers to the amount of negative free energy associated with the hydrolysis of the bond in question. The water (or other equivalent reaction partner) is an important contributor to the energy calculus. In ATP, for instance, simply "breaking" a phosphoanhydride bond - say with imaginary molecular tweezers - by pulling off a phosphate would not be energetically favorable. We must, therefore, be careful not to say that breaking bonds in ATP is energetically favorable or that it "releases energy". Rather, we should be more specific, noting that they hydrolysis of the bond is energetically favorable. Some of this common misconception is tied to, in our opinion, the use of the term "high energy bonds". While in Bis2a we have tried to minimize the use of the vernacular "high energy" when referring to bonds, trying instead to describe biochemical reactions by using more specific terms, as students of biology you will no doubt encounter the potentially misleading - though admittedly useful - short cut "high energy bond" as you continue in your studies. So, keep the above in mind when you are reading or listening to various discussions in biology. Heck, use the term yourself. Just make sure that you really understand what it refers to.
Figure 2. ATP (adenosine triphosphate) has three phosphate groups that can be removed by hydrolysis to form ADP (adenosine diphosphate) or AMP (adenosine monophosphate).
DNA has a double helix structure (shown below) created by two strands of covalently linked nucleotide subunits. The sugar and phosphate groups of each strand of nucleotides are positioned on the outside of the helix, forming the backbone of the DNA (highlighted by the orange ribbons in Figure 3). The two strands of the helix run in opposite directions, meaning that the 5′ carbon end of one strand will face the 3′ carbon end of its matching strand (See Figures 4 and 5). We referred to this orientation of the two strands as antiparallel. Note too that phosphate groups are depicted in Figure 3 as orange and red "sticks" protruding from the ribbon. The phosphates are negatively charged at physiological pHs and therefore give the backbone of the DNA a strong local negatively charged character. By contrast, the nitrogenous bases are stacked in the interior of the helix (these are depicted as green, blue, red, and white sticks in Figure 3). Pairs of nucleotides interact with one another through specific hydrogen bonds (shown in Figure 5). Each pair of separated from the next base pair in the ladder by 0.34 nm and this close stacking and planar orientation gives rise to energetically favorable base-stacking interactions. The specific chemistry associated with these interactions is beyond the content of Bis2a but is described in more detail here for the curious or more advanced students. We do expect, however, that students are aware that the stacking of the nitrogenous bases contributes to the stability of the double helix and defer to your upper-division genetics and organic chemistry instructors to fill in the chemical details.
Figure 3. Native DNA is an antiparallel double helix. The phosphate backbone (indicated by the curvy lines) is on the outside, and the bases are on the inside. Each base from one strand interacts via hydrogen bonding with a base from the opposing strand.
In a double helix, certain combinations of base pairing are chemically more favored than others based on the types and locations of functional groups on the nitrogenous bases of each nucleotide. In biology we find that:
Adenine (A) is chemically complementary with thymidine (T) (A pairs with T)
Guanine (G) is chemically complementary with cytosine (C) (G pairs with C).
We often refer to this pattern as "base complementarity" and say that the antiparallel strands are complementary to each other. For example, if the sequence of one strand is of DNA is 5'-AATTGGCC-3', the complementary strand would have the sequence 5'-GGCCAATT-3'.
We sometimes choose to represent complementary double-helical structures in text by stacking the complementary strands on top of on another as follows:
5' - GGCCAATTCCATACTAGGT - 3'
3' - CCGGTTAAGGTATGATCCA - 5'
Note that each strand has its 5' and 3' ends labeled and that if one were to walk along each strand starting from the 5' end to the 3' end that the direction of travel would be opposite the other for each strand; the strands are antiparallel. We commonly say things like "running 5-prime to 3-prime" or "synthesized 5-prime to 3-prime" to refer to the direction we are reading a sequence or the direction of synthesis. Start getting yourself accustomed to this nomenclature.
Figure 4. Panel A. In a double-stranded DNA molecule, the two strands run antiparallel to one another so that one strand runs 5′ to 3′ and the other 3′ to 5′. Here the strands are depicted as blue and green lines pointing in the 5' to 3' orientation. Complementary base pairing is depicted with a horizontal line between complementary bases. Panel B. The two antiparallel strands are depicted in double-helical form. Note that the orientation of the strands is still represented. Moreover, note that the helix is right-handed - the "curl" of the helix, depicted in purple, winds in the direction of the fingers of the hand if the right hand is used and the direction of the helix points towards the thumb. Panel C. This representation shows two structural features that arise from the assembly of the two strands called the major and minor grooves. These grooves can also be seen in Figure 3.
Figure 5. A zoomed-in molecular-level view of the antiparallel strands in DNA. In a double-stranded DNA molecule, the two strands run antiparallel to one another so that one strand runs 5′ to 3′ and the other 3′ to 5′. The phosphate backbone is located on the outside, and the bases are in the middle. Adenine forms hydrogen bonds (or base pairs) with thymine, and guanine base pairs with cytosine.
In addition to their structural roles in DNA and RNA, nucleotides such as ATP and GTP also serve as mobile energy carriers for the cell. Some students are surprised when they learn to appreciate that the ATP and GTP molecules we discuss in the context of bioenergetics are the same as those involved in the formation of nucleic acids. We will cover this in more detail when we discuss DNA and RNA synthesis reactions. Nucleotides also play important roles as co-factors in many enzymatically catalyzed reactions.
Nucleic acids, RNA in particular, play a variety of roles in in cellular process besides being information storage molecules. Some of the roles that you should keep an eye out for as we progress through the course include: (a) Riboprotein complexes - RNA-Protein complexes in which the RNA serves both catalytic and structural roles. Examples of such complexes include, ribosomes (rRNA), RNases, splicesosome complexes, and telomerase. (b) Information storage and transfer roles. These roles include molecules like DNA, messenger RNA (mRNA), transfer RNA (tRNA). (c) Regulatory roles. Examples of these include various non-coding (ncRNA). Wikipedia has a comprehensive summary of the different types of known RNA molecules that we recommend browsing to get a better sense of the great functional diversity of these molecules.
A genome, not to be confused with a gnome, is an organism's complete collection of heritable information stored in DNA. Differences in information content help to explain the diversity of life we see all around us. Changes to the information encoded in the genome are the primary drivers of the phenotypic diversity we see (and some we can't) around us that are filtered by natural selection, and they are thus the drivers of evolution. This leads to questions. If every cell in a multicellular organism contains the same sequence of DNA, how can there be different cell types (e.g., how can a cell in a liver be so different from a cell in the brain if they both carry the same DNA)? How do we read the information? How do we interpret what we read? How do we understand how all of the "parts" we identify in the genome functionally interrelate? How is all of this related to the expression of traits? How do changes in the genome lead to changes in traits?
The information encoded in genomes provides important data for understanding life, its functions, its diversity, and its evolution. Therefore, it stands to reason that a reasonable place to begin studies in biology would be to read the information content encoded in the genome(s) in question. A good starting point is to determine the sequence of nucleotides (A, G, C, T) and their organization into one or more independently replicating units of DNA (e.g., think chromosomes and/or plasmids ). For 30+ years after the discovery that DNA is the hereditary material, this was a daunting proposition. In the late 1980s, however, the advent of semi-automated tools for DNA sequencing were pioneered, and this began a revolution that has dramatically changed how we approach the study of life. Twenty years later, in the mid-2000s, we entered a period of accelerated technological progress in which advances in materials sciences (particularly, advances in our ability to make things on a very small scale), optics, electrical and computer engineering, bioengineering, and computer sciences have all converged to bring us dramatic increases in our capacity to sequence DNA and correspondingly dramatic decreases in the cost of numerous advances in our ability to sequence DNA. A famous example to illustrate this point is to compare the changes in cost to sequence the human genome. The first draft of the human genome took nearly 15 years and $3 billion dollars to complete. Today, 10's of human genomes can be sequenced in a single day on a single instrument at a cost of less than $1000 each (the cost and time continue to decrease). Today, companies like Illumina, Pacific Biosciences, Oxford Nanopore, and others offer competing technologies that are driving down the cost and increasing the volume, quality, speed, and portability of DNA sequencing.
One of the very exciting elements of the DNA sequencing revolution is that it has required and continues to require contributions from biologists, chemists, materials scientists, electrical engineers, mechanical engineers, computer scientists and programmers, mathematicians and statisticians, product developers, and many other technical experts. The potential applications and implications of unlocking barriers to DNA sequencing have also engaged investors, business people, product developers, entrepreneurs, ethicists, policy makers, and many others to pursue new opportunities and to think about how to best and most responsibly use this growing technology.
The technological advances in genome sequencing have resulted in a virtual flood of complete genome sequences being determined and deposited into publicly available databases. You can find many of them at the National Center for Biotechnology Information. The number of available , completely sequenced genomes numbers in the tens of thousands—over 2,000 eukaryotic genomes, over 600 archaeal genomes, and nearly 12,000 bacterial genomes at the time of this writing. Tens of thousands of more genome sequencing projects are in progress. With this many genome sequences available—or soon to be available—we can start asking many questions about what we see in these genomes. What patterns are common to all genomes? How many genes are encoded in genomes? How are these organized? How many different types of features can we find? What do the features that we find do? How different are the genomes from one another? Is there evidence that can tell us how genomes evolve? Let's briefly examine a few of these questions.
Let's start by examining the range of genome sizes. In the table below, we see a sampling of genomes from the database. We can see that the genomes of free living organisms range tremendously in size. The smallest known genome is encoded in 580,000 base pairs while the largest is 150 billion base pairs—for reference, recall that the human genome is 3.2 billion base pairs. That's a huge range of sizes. Similar disparities in the number of genes also exist.
Table 1. This table shows some genome data for various organisms. 2n = diploid number. Attribution: Marc T. Facciotti (own work—reproduced from http://book.bionumbers.org/how-big-are-genomes/)
Examining Table 1 also reveals that some organisms carry with them more than one chromosome. Some genomes are also polyploid, meaning that they maintain multiple copies of similar but not identical (homologous) copies of each chromosome. A diploid organism carries in its genome two homologous copies (usually one from Mom and one from Dad) of each chromosome. Humans are diploid. Our somatic cells carry 2 homologous copies of 23 chromosomes. We received 23 copies of individual chromosomes from our mother and 23 copies from our father, for a total of 46. Some plants have higher ploidy. For example, a plant with four homologous copies of each chromosome is termed tetraploid. An organism with a single copy of each chromosome is termed haploid.
Table 1 also provides clues to other points of interest. For instance, if we compare the pufferfish genome to the chimpanzee genome, we note that they encode roughly the same number of genes (19,000), but they do so on dramatically differently sized genomes—400 million base pairs versus 3.3 billion base pairs, respectively. That implies that the pufferfish genome must have much less space between its genes than what might be expected to be found in the chimpanzee genome. Indeed, this is the case, and the difference in gene density is not unique to these two genomes. If we look at Figure 1, which attempts to represent a 50-kb part of the human genome, we notice that in addition to the protein-coding regions (indicated in red and pink) that many other so-called "features" can be read from the genome. Many of these elements contain highly repetitive sequences.
Figure 1. This figure shows a 50-kb segment of the human β T-cell receptor locus on chromosome 7. This figure depicts a small region of the human genome and the types of "features" that can be read and decoded in the genome, including, but also in addition to, protein-coding sequences. Red and pink correspond to regions that encode proteins. Other colors represent different types of genomic elements. Attribution: Marc T. Facciotti (own work—reproduced from www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK21134/)
If we now look at what fraction of the whole human genome each of these types of elements makes up (see Figure 2), we see that protein-coding genes only make up 48 million of the 3.2 billion bases of the haploid genome.
Figure 2. This graph depicts how the many base pairs of DNA in the human haploid genome are distributed between various identifiable features. Note that only a small fraction of the genome is associated directly with protein-coding regions. Attribution: Marc T. Facciotti (own work—reproduced from sources noted in figure)
Figure 3. This figure shows 50-kb segments of different genomes, illustrating the highly variable frequency of repeat versus protein-coding elements in different species.
Attribution: Marc T. Facciotti (own work—reproduced from www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK21134/)
Suggested discussion
Propose a hypothesis for why you think some genomes might have more or fewer noncoding sequences.
Genomes change over time, and numerous different types of events can change their sequence.
1. Mutations are either accumulated during DNA replication or through environmental exposure to chemical mutagens or radiation. These changes typically occur at the level of single nucleotides.
2. Genome rearrangements describe a class of large-scale changes that can occur, and they include the following: (a) deletions—where segments of the chromosome are lost; (b) duplication—where regions of the chromosome are inadvertently duplicated; (c) insertions—the insertion of genetic material (note that sometimes this is acquired from viruses or the environment, and deletion/insertion pairs may happen across chromosomes); (d) inversions—where regions of the genome are flipped within the same chromosome; and (e) translocations—where segments of the chromosome are translocated (moved elsewhere in the chromosome).
These changes happen at different rates, and some are facilitated by the activity of enzyme catalysts (e.g., transposases).
One of the most common things to do with a collection of genome sequences is to compare the sequences of multiple genomes to one another. In general terms, these types of activities fall under the umbrella of a field called comparative genomics.
Comparing the genomes of people who suffer from an inheritable disease to the genomes of people who are not afflicted can help us to uncover the genetic basis for the malady. Comparing the gene content, order, and sequence of related microbes can help us find the genetic basis of why some microbes cause disease while their close cousins are virtually harmless. We can compare genomes to understand how a new species may have evolved. There are many possible analyses! The basis of these analyses is similar: look for differences across multiple genomes and try to associate those differences with different traits or behaviors in those organisms.
Lastly, some people are comparing genome sequences to try to understand the evolutionary history of the organisms. Typically, these types of comparisons result in a graph known as a phylogenetic tree, which is a graphical model of the evolutionary relationship between the various species being compared. This field, not surprisingly, is called phylogenomics.
In addition to studying the genomes of individual species, the increasingly powerful DNA-sequencing technologies are making it possible to simultaneously sequence the genomes of environmental samples that are inhabited by many different species. This field is called metagenomics. These studies are typically focused on trying to understand what microbial species inhabit different environments. There is great interest in using DNA sequencing to study the populations of microbes in the gut and to watch how the population changes in response to different diets, to see if there is any association between the abundance of different microbes and various diseases, or to look for the presence of pathogens. People are using DNA sequencing of environmental metagenomic samples to explore which microbes inhabit different environments on Earth (from the deep sea, to soil, to air, to hypersaline ponds, to cat feces, to some of the common surfaces we touch every day).
In addition to discovering "who lives where," the sequencing of microbial populations in different environments can also reveal what protein-coding genes are present in an environment. This can give investigators clues into what metabolic activities might be occurring in that environment. In addition to providing important information about what kind of chemistry might be happening in a specific environment, the catalog of genes that is accumulated can also serve as an important resource for the discovery of novel enzymes for applications in biotechnology.
Marc Facciotti
Embed NoteBene
© Copyright 2019 Biology LibreTexts
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0009.json.gz/line630
|
__label__wiki
| 0.902742
| 0.902742
|
MotorsScope.com
Back to Police Reports
Bonner County News of Record - May 4, 2019
Editor’s note: Some calls do not list numbered locations or other location details because that information was not listed on the log provided by Bonner Dispatch.
BONNER CO. SHERIFF
Deputies were assigned a information call in the 20000 block of Highway 41 in Spirit Lake at 6:44 a.m.
Deputies, EMS, and Selkirk Fire assisted ISP at the scene of an injury crash in the 1700 block of Bottle Bay Road in Sagle at 7:33 a.m.
Deputies responded to the Mcdonald Creek Road area of Blanchard for a welfare check at 7:33 a.m.
Deputies responded to the area of Kelso Lake and Spirit Lake Cutoff roads for a non-injury accident reported at 8:24 a.m.
Report of a juvenile problem in the 300 block Rhubarb Junction Road in Oldtown at 8:32 a.m.
Report of a citizen assist on Park Lane in Ponderay at 8:35 a.m.
Report of a citizen assist in the Sagle area on Silk Stocking Row at 8:49 a.m.
Report of a juvenile problem on Schissler Lane in Kootenai at 9:18 a.m.
A case was assigned to cover a felony warrant arrest in the area of Highway 95 and Lakeshore Drive in Sagle at 9:58 a.m.
A drug investigation was conducted in the area of Schweitzer Cutoff Road and Maddie Lane at 12:06 pm.
An out-of-state caller requested to speak with a deputy on Dockins Road in Careywood at 12:08 p.m.
Report of a civil dispute in the W. Fourth Avenue area in Clark Fork at 1:02 p.m.
Request for extra patrol on Riverside Road in Priest River at 1:03 p.m.
Report of a traffic hazard in the 2000 block Highway 41 of Spirit Lake at 1:39 p.m.
Deputies responded to the Moose Meadow Drive area of Priest River for a VIN inspection at 1:17 p.m.
Report of a citizen assist on Dufort Road in Sagle at 2:36 p.m.
Report of a traffic hazard on Old Highway 95 S. in Sagle at 2:46 p.m.
ISP responded for a follow-up report on Bottle Bay Road in Sagle at 3:36 p.m.
Report of a citizen assist in the Upper Pack River Road area at 3:52 p.m.
Report of a 911 hang-up on Porath Road at 4:26 p.m.
Report of a civil protection order in the 100 block of Gun Club Road in Sagle at 6:22 p.m.
A possible drunken driver was reported on Cavanaugh Bay Road in Coolin at 7:12 p.m.
Report of a civil dispute in the 400 block of French Road at 7:17 p.m.
Request for K9 deployment at a traffic stop in the 2000 block of Highway 2 in Oldtown at 7:27 p.m.
Report of information in the 477000 block of Highway 95 at 8:08 p.m.
Report of a traffic offense in the 100 block of Gun Club Road in Sagle at 8:48 p.m.
Report of a traffic hazard in the area of Highway 200 and Lower Pack River Road at 9:12 p.m.
Report of a weapons offense in the 200 block of Saragosa Road in Blanchard at 9:34 p.m.
Deputies, EMS, CC Fire and Priest Lake Ambulance responded to a report of an overdose/poison incident on W. Lakeshore Road in Priest Lake at 10:05 p.m.
Report of a reckless driver on Highway 95 near Algoma Spur Road in Sagle at 10:22 p.m.
Report of disorderly conduct in the 700 block of Brisboys Road in Sagle at 10:23 p.m.
Request for K9 deployment at a traffic stop in the 37000 block of Highway 41 in Oldtown at 10:54 p.m.
Report of information in the 2000 block of Lakeshore Drive in Sagle at 11:30 p.m.
Report of an unspecified traffic violation on Luby Bay Road in Priest Lake at 12:06 a.m.
Request for K9 deployment at a traffic stop in the 37500 block of Highway 41 in Oldtown at 12:08 a.m.
Deputies responded to the 4000 block of N. Boyer Road for information at 12:22 a.m.
Report of an attempt to locate in the Oldtown area on E. Fifth Street N. at 12:26 a.m.
Report of a 911 hang-up in the 700 block of S. Center Valley Road at 1:56 a.m.
Report of a 911 hang-up in the 3000 block of Lower Quartz Creek Road in Priest River at 2:15 a.m.
Deputies and EMS assisted Sandpoint Police on Bridge Street at 2:20 a.m.
A deputy assisted Ponderay Police in the 300 block of Fifth Street at 3:18 a.m.
SANDPOINT POLICE
Report of an agency assist in the area of Lakeshore Drive and Highway 95 near the Long Bridge in Sagle at 9:58 a.m.
Report of an alarm on Industrial Drive at 10:23 a.m.
Disorderly conduct was reported on N. Third Avenue at 10:40 a.m.
Report of a reckless driver in the area of Highway 2 and Ontario Street at 10:45 a.m.
Report of a non-injury accident in the area of Highway 2 and Ridley Village Road at 12:46 p.m.
Report of a reckless driver in the area of Highway 2 and S. Boyer Avenue at 2:58 p.m.
Report of a 911 hang-up on Olive Avenue at 6:05 p.m.
Report of harassment on Samuelson Avenue at 4:40 p.m.
Report of a drunken driver in the area of Fifth Avenue and Alder Street at 8 p.m.
An officer assisted Ponderay Police on Kootenai Cutoff Road at 9:50 a.m.
Report of a controlled substance incident in the area of N. Third Avenue and Oak Street at 1:21 a.m.
Officers responded to a call on Bridge Street at 2:20 a.m.
An officer assisted Ponderay Police in the 300 block of Fifth Street at 3:18 a.m.
PONDERAY POLICE
An officer assisted Sandpoint Police on N. Third Avenue at 10:40 a.m.
An officer took a report of an animal problem in the 400 block of Schweitzer Plaza Drive at 5:26 p.m.
An officer took a report of suspicious circumstances in the 800 block of Kootenai Cutoff Road at 5:41 p.m.
Information was relayed to law enforcement on Highway 95 at 8:08 p.m.
An officer responded to a family offense on Kootenai Cutoff Road at 9:50 a.m.
An officer took a report of a burglary in the 300 block of Fifth Street at 3:18 a.m.
PRIEST RIVER POLICE
Report of a 911 hang-up on E. Settlement Road at 10:04 p.m.
Report of a juvenile problem on Railroad Avenue at 12:43 a.m.
Read More Police Reports
Bonner County news of record — July 6, 2019
July 14, 2019 at 5:00 am | Bonner County Daily Bee BONNER CO. SHERIFF July 6 Suspicious activity in the 4000 block of Wrenco Loop was reported at 5:50 p.m. Deputies responded to a non-injury crash on U.S. Highway 95 near Athol at 6:58 a.m. A citi...
July 14, 2019 at 5:00 am | Bonner County Daily Bee BONNER CO. SHERIFF July 5 A deputy conducted follow-up on a previous call in the 200 block of Whispering Pines Road in Sagle at 5:08 a.m. Deputies responded to a non-injury crash on U.S. Highway 9...
Bonner County News of Record - July 4, 2019
July 12, 2019 at 5:00 am | Bonner County Daily Bee Editor’s note: Some calls do not list numbered locations or other location details because that information was not listed on the log provided by Bonner Dispatch. BONNER CO. SHERIFF July 4 Report ...
Sandpoint, ID 83864
©2019 Bonner County Daily Bee Terms of Use Privacy Policy
Bonner County Daily Bee
Fire Information
Pro Football U-Pick 'Em
Cutest Couple
Best Of Voting
Fire Reports
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0009.json.gz/line635
|
__label__cc
| 0.650281
| 0.349719
|
WhatsApp блог
Introducing the WhatsApp Business App
People all around the world use WhatsApp to connect with small businesses they care about — from online clothing companies in India to auto parts stores in Brazil. But WhatsApp was built for people and we want to improve the business experience. For example, by making it easier for businesses to respond to customers, separating customer and personal messages, and creating an official presence.
So today we're launching WhatsApp Business — a free-to-download Android app for small businesses. Our new app will make it easier for companies to connect with customers, and more convenient for our 1.3 billion users to chat with businesses that matter to them. Here's how:
Business Profiles: Help customers with useful information such as a business description, email or store addresses, and website.
Messaging Tools: Save time with smart messaging tools — quick replies that provide fast answers to frequently asked questions, greeting messages that introduce customers to your business, and away messages that let them know you're busy.
Messaging Statistics: Review simple metrics like the number of messages read to see what's working.
WhatsApp Web: Send and receive messages with WhatsApp Business on your desktop.
Account Type: People will know that they're talking to a business because you will be listed as a Business Account. Over time, some businesses will have Confirmed Accounts once it’s been confirmed that the account phone number matches the business phone number.
People can continue using WhatsApp as usual — there's no need to download anything new. And people will continue to have full control over the messages they receive, with the ability to block any number, including businesses, as well as report spam.
Over 80% of small businesses in India and Brazil say WhatsApp helps them both communicate with customers and grow their business today (Source: Morning Consult study). And WhatsApp Business will make it easier for people to connect with them, and vice versa, in a fast and simple way.
WhatsApp Business is available today and free to download on Google Play in Indonesia, Italy, Mexico, the U.K. and the U.S. The app is rolling out around the world in the coming weeks. This is just the beginning!
Скорешни постирања
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0009.json.gz/line640
|
__label__wiki
| 0.969392
| 0.969392
|
Infrared Cameras Debut in Baseball Telecast for World Series [Video]
By John Matson on October 20, 2011
With one out in the top of the ninth inning of last night's World Series game 1, Texas Rangers third baseman Adrian Beltre stepped to the plate. Down by one run with an elite power hitter at bat, Texas looked for a moment to have a chance of getting back into the game.
That chance was squandered when Beltre swung at the first pitch from St. Louis Cardinals closer Jason Motte, a 96-mile-per-hour fastball, pounding the ball down into the ground. As the ball bounced toward third base, Beltre hopped around the plate, as if the ball had hit his foot and was therefore foul. Fox Sports announcer Joe Buck thought it was foul, too. The umpire thought otherwise, and as Beltre stood waiting for a foul call that never came, Cardinals third baseman Daniel Descalso threw him out at first base. Motte then induced right fielder Nelson Cruz to fly out, sealing the victory for St. Louis.
Thanks to infrared cameras Fox debuted out for the game, television viewers—but not the umpires—soon learned that Beltre was no faker. The ball really did graze his left foot [see video of the play below], as evidenced by a fleeting thermal signature from friction between the ball and the toe of his cleats.
The high-speed infrared camera system, known as Hot Spot, is new to baseball telecasts but not to sports. "Hot Spot is a camera that's been used around the world for cricket, both for television and for officiating," says Michael Davies, vice president of field operations for Fox Sports. "What we're doing for the World Series is investigating what kinds of thermal stories we can tell for baseball."
Fox has three infrared cameras working during the World Series: one in center field filming home plate, and two cameras on the side of the field trained on first and second base. The idea of using thermal imagery on the bases is to try to pick up something in a bang-bang play that ordinary color cameras cannot see. "Maybe we would see a tag ahead of a runner sliding," Davies says. "Last night there wasn't a lot of that. You could certainly see the hot spot off of the bat, we've seen the ball when it gets fouled off of a player's body, and you could see the heat signature from a slide."
Much of the imaging technology for Hot Spot was developed for military applications, says Warren Brennan, managing director of BBG Sports, the Australian firm that developed Hot Spot. The demand from military organizations, Brennan says, has brought to the market infrared video cameras with frame rates high enough for television replay applications. Hot Spot operates at about 100 frames per second, which is faster than an ordinary on-field camera but slower than a super-slow-motion replay camera, Davies says.
Thermal imaging brings its own technological challenges, and Davies suspects that technology such as Hot Spot will probably only find use a few times per game. As an illustration, Brennan tells the story of a cricket match in which a spectator's actions inadvertently spoiled the infrared shot. "All of a sudden, in the background, a person walked past and it looked like a flashbulb went off," he says. "In the end we figured out that it was a guy smoking, and that changed the dynamics of the whole frame, because that was the hottest thing in the frame."
As imaging technology has progressed from what Brennan calls a "dark art," those kinds of flare-ups have become less of a pitfall. "Predominantly what we try to do is keep as much out of the shot as possible," Brennan says. "There are a couple companies now that make zoom lenses for infrared, so we've got more flexibility in framing that picture."
It remains to be seen if baseball's foray into the infrared will flame out or whether Hot Spot will join strike-zone monitors and football first-down markers as a regular part of the sports fan's viewing experience. "A lot of trying out new technology is seeing how it performs out in the wild," Davies says. "I think that every game we're learning what we're going to be able to see and what we won't."
Last night's disputed foul ball certainly showed that thermal imaging has some applications in baseball. "We might not get as good a shot as that for the rest of the matches," Brennan says. But, as with strike-zone monitors, what the television viewer sees does not always match up with the umpire's call, and it is the umpire's call that counts. Having lost game 1, vindication by Hot Spot will probably be cold comfort to Beltre and the Rangers.
John Matson
John Matson is a former reporter and editor for Scientific American who has written extensively about astronomy and physics.
Astronaut Chris Hadfield Covers David Bowie's "Space Oddity" in Space [Video]
Why It Is Impossible to Pinpoint the 1,000th Exoplanet
This Video Montage of Saturn’s Rings and Moons Is Simply Gorgeous [Video]
Go for Broke: How Bill Joy Handicaps "Greentech" Investments
By Larry Greenemeier on October 19, 2011
What Impact Could Gaddafi's Death Have on Arab Spring Unrest?
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0009.json.gz/line642
|
__label__cc
| 0.666535
| 0.333465
|
In the HuffPost, International Conference in Shared Parenting 2017
June 1, 2017 by Traci L. Slatton /Leave a Comment/ Filed Under: 5 star review, errors, healing, hope, kindness, maturity, missing people, parental alienation, politics, vulnerability, wholeness
International Conference Shared Parenting 2017
This week I took the train to Boston to attend the International Conference in Shared Parenting. This conference gathered together specialists in post-divorce child development from all over the world. I sat down with a very lovely Dr. Holstein to discuss the Conference, and I wrote about my experience in the HuffPost.
From my article:
…Despite advances in recognizing fathers’ fundamental rights to be equally involved in their children’s lives, the problem of not implementing that right continues within the legal system. At the same time, there’s a growing awareness that relegating one parent, whether father or mother, to second-class citizen parent status is not in the best interests of the child, when neither parent is actually abusive. There is a growing understanding that, post-separation, children need both parents to be fully present in their lives for optimal wholeness.
I sat down with Dr. Ned Holstein, the founder and chairman of the board of the National Parents Organization, at the International Conference on Shared Parenting in Boston. The National Parents Organization has a mission to preserve the bond between parents and children. To that end, at this conference, the world’s most renowned child development experts in the area of post-divorce parenting have gathered to share their research results. How do children fare with and without shared parenting post-divorce?…
“Court practices haven’t kept up with the growing research evidence on the benefits of shared parenting, so our intention was to gather all the world experts in one place at one time to compile the evidence that needs to be recognized as a basis for changing what our current practices are in the courts,” Dr. Holstein told me. “Based on the work of world experts at our conference today, ‘Best Interests of the Child’ means shared parenting for most children.”
Read the whole post here.
International Conference Shared Parenting
Latest HuffPo Piece: Ongoing Chicanery with the Gehry Memorial
December 12, 2014 by Traci L. Slatton /Leave a Comment/ Filed Under: anarchy, errors, Huffington Post, politics, Sabin Howard, special
Ongoing Chicanery with the Gehry Memorial
The editorial board of the New York Times is at it again, opining in high-falutin’ ways that show for the millionth time just how much this newspaper wants to set policy, rather than report it objectively.
This time the Editorial Board is commenting on the ghastly Gehry design which is supposed to honor our plain-spoken 34th president Dwight Eisenhower, but instead just serves to memorialize an aging architect’s vanity.
The august editorial board pronounced that Gehry’s “innovative and modernistic design plan…predictably raised the hackles of neo-classicists,” as if only neo-classicists would object to the appalling spectacle of a monstrous woven 80’-high metal curtain with two attached columns and two detached columns that look like smokestacks. It’s a sly piece of spin doctoring crafted to jam this dreadful design down the throats of the American people. It is a marketing sleight-of-hand to relegate criticism of these plans to the category of “raising the hackles of neo-classicists.”
After all, neo-classicists don’t matter, so no one should care what that insignificant group thinks. No worries, the New York Times will tell you who does matter.
But it’s not just benighted neo-classicists who are appalled by Gehry’s design. These ugly tapestries have been widely said to evoke concentration camps, not a great and humble leader who loved his country and his family—who surely would have wanted his family’s voices to be heard regarding his memorial.
At least in this press release Rocco Siciliano, Chairman of the Eisenhower Memorial Commission, isn’t openly sneering at the Eisenhowers. Instead, there’s a dismissive throwaway line, “Critics continue to object, including members of the Eisenhower family.”
At this point, I will repeat the disclaimer I included in my post last year, “The Problem with the Frank Gehry Memorial”: I am the wife of sculptor Sabin Howard, who was courted by Frank Gehry for the Eisenhower Memorial, told the sculpture gig was his and he would begin working on the project next week, and then suddenly dropped.
But this is the least of the ugly business surrounding this memorial project. There’s the misrepresentation in the editorial piece that the lengthy opposition to Gehry’s design is typical of the process for memorials in Washington. In fact, this is not true, and is another example of spin doctoring to achieve an objective.
Fifteen years of objections is not typical. The Vietnam memorial, for example, shows another way—a better way. An open design competition was held beginning in December, 1980. Maya Lin’s breathtakingly gorgeous Memorial Wall won.
Yes, there was controversy. The Three Soldiers sculpture was added because of the controversy, and ground was broken in March, 1982. Lin’s design, in its stunning and elegant simplicity, shocked many people. It still took less than two years to break ground.
It also required far less than the more than $42,000,000 that has already vanished into the maw of the Gehry design, according to the eisenhowermemorial.net website, with almost nothing to show for it. Is this $42,000,000 taxpayer money or privately raised money? There is so much obfuscation about the money that it’s hard to tell—and I made some phone calls to that end.
Indeed, the bigger question here concerns finances, which the New York Times editorial saw fit to overlook. How has this money been spent? Where has it all gone? Don’t the American people deserve an accounting? If it’s taxpayer money, then we have the right to demand one. If it’s privately raised money, since the memorial is a public project, We the People have a stake.
Instead of discussing the specific details of financing, including the vanished $42,000,000 and the estimated additional $140,000,000 required to build Gehry’s design, the Times editorial quotes Representative Darrell Issa as saying, “We can’t go back to square one. We have an obligation after fifteen years to get this thing going.” Note: the editorial makes careful mention of Issa’s status as a “senior Republican.” After all, approving of a Republican means the New York Times isn’t biased on this issue.
I personally think we have an obligation to create a beautiful memorial that will serve both the memory of a beloved president and the American people, something with the grandeur of the Lincoln Memorial or the Vietnam Memorial. Note that both of those monuments are about their subjects, not about their architects.
But time is an issue for the Gehry Memorial because Gehry himself is so very elderly.
If there is never going to be an open competition for the Eisenhower Memorial, and if, in fact, Gehry’s self-aggrandizing design is going to be inflicted as a fait accompli on this nation, then at least show us where the money has all gone. Don’t just sweep it under the rug. Eight figures worth of cash has disappeared. Give us a line-by-line accounting of that money.
I’m not saying that anyone absconded with the money. Nor am I suggesting that it’s lined anyone’s pockets to keep a bad plan rolling. It is, however, most interesting that in September the Gehry Memorial was reported to be on life support, and then suddenly in mid-October the plan was passed, a done deal, with the Commission refusing to address any aesthetic concerns. Huh? Was that money well-spent?
If no one else will say that the emperor has no clothes, then I will. Gehry’s design is hideous and will be an eyesore in this nation’s capitol. Refusing to address the legitimate, ongoing aesthetic concerns, and refusing to inquire into possible financial mismanagement of memorial funds, is a way of pulling the wool over the eyes of the American public, the very people who are supposed to benefit from the memorial, and who are putting up 80% of the funds for it.
I suggest that a fair and open competition would best serve the integrity of President Eisenhower’s memory, and that it is most likely to yield us a design that is both innovative and beautiful. To Representative Issa, and to everyone else, including those who connive to ignore the aesthetic concerns, I say: It is time to start over. Scrap this terminally ugly, expensive project. If that’s not possible, then create an Eisenhower sculpture, a sculpture of President Eisenhower, that will be a fitting tribute to the statesman and to the country he served with such distinction. Iron smokestacks and giant metal drapery won’t do it.
Copyright: sborisov / 123RF Stock Photo
Hear this post as a podcast at the Traci L. Slatton podcast channel
or listen here [sc_embed_player_template1 fileurl=”http://tracilslatton.com/eqongoingchicanery.mp3″]
Citizenfour: The Most Important Movie You Will Ever See
October 26, 2014 by Traci L. Slatton /2 Comments/ Filed Under: anarchy, criminal behavior, dystopian, evil, freedom, horror, movies, politics, psychosis, review, special, terrorism, vulnerability
I recently finished a WWII novel, and I’m still researching the era for another, very different novel set during the same time period. Since one of my closest friends is a Bavarian woman whom I know to be a person of integrity, heart, courage, compassion, and grace, I was curious: how did the NSDAP come to control Germany so completely that its citizens would commit atrocities? So that atrocities would be legalized?
Part of the answer lies in the fact that the NSDAP under Adolf Hitler legalized the illegal. They made laws to force their citizens to participate in the killing of Jews, Poles, the Romany, Socialists, Communists, and anyone who disagreed with the Nazi party. They made laws to enforce the killing and sterilization of children and adults with physical “imperfections” such as mental retardation.
So the Nazi party in Germany created a legal system based on hatred and killing. To enforce this legal system, they instituted a series of Party overseers, one in every community, to make sure that people remained “Loyal” to the party. This was the state police, the Gestapo. The Gestapo surveilled every German citizen, collecting vast files of information about German individuals. There was no “privacy” because the German State was everything.
Every dictatorship surveilles its population as a method of controlling its subjects. This is pointed out in CITIZENFOUR, Laura Poitras’ film about Ed Snowden.
Admittedly, from the beginning, I have considered Snowden a hero. There is no justification for the massive, George-Orwell-1984-Big-Brother spying on citizens in which the United States intelligence services participate. It is an outright breach and invasion of privacy, ethics, and all things good and true.
Our government, the United States government under Barack Obama, is participating in–perhaps perfecting–the exact same tactics employed by Hitler and the Nazi party: Watch every citizen. Scrutinize every private individual. Know what every single person in the State is thinking, saying, and doing. It’s all about information linking, you see.
I know this because I have been researching the Gestapo.
I happened to be at a showing of Citizenfour at Lincoln Plaza after which Poitras appeared for a Q & A. No, she doesn’t know if she’s been followed, but she expects that the US Government would use skilled personnel to follow her. She has been told that all her electronic communication “lights up like a Christmas tree” in the offices where electronic communication is collected and followed.
Poitras was composed, articulate, and expressive. She said that Snowden was exactly as portrayed in the movie: articulate and collected, trying to teach her, Glenn, and Ewan what was most important in the information he gave them.
Some people consider Snowden a traitor. Consider the White Rose in Germany, which consisted of students at the University of Munich and their professor. They had an anonymous leaflet and graffiti campaign to inform the German public of what was actually being done to Jews and to call the Nazi government to question.
Here is what Wikipedia says of them:
White Rose survivor Jürgen Wittenstein described what it was like to live in Hitler’s Germany: “The government – or rather, the party – controlled everything: the news media, arms, police, the armed forces, the judiciary system, communications, travel, all levels of education from kindergarten to universities, all cultural and religious institutions. Political indoctrination started at a very early age, and continued by means of the Hitler Youth with the ultimate goal of complete mind control. Children were exhorted in school to denounce even their own parents for derogatory remarks about Hitler or Nazi ideology.”
The White Rose was considered traitorous, too. So they were executed.
And “Ultimate goal of mind control” can only be the reason for the NSA’s total surveillance of the American population, including hundreds of millions of completely loyal American citizens.
How long before the US government insists on the same kind of control? All in the name of “protecting” American citizens from terrorists?
Just as the Gestapo was protecting German citizens from Judeo-Bolshevik enemies.
The most important concept in the movie was one that Snowden articulated: that the NSA’s actions change the balance of power so that it’s not elected-officials and electorate, it’s now rulers and those who are ruled.
See the movie. Think about the United States government, which is acting like a bully and a dictatorship.
Open Letter to Senator Schumer: Remove Me From Your List and Stop Asking Me For Money
October 15, 2014 by Traci L. Slatton /Leave a Comment/ Filed Under: criminal behavior, dystopian, politics
Dear Mr. Schumer,
I am a registered Democrat, so I understand why I keep getting emails from your office.
However, while I voted for Obama the first time, I did not vote for him in the last election. With regret, I tell you that I am hoping the Republicans take control of the Senate in the upcoming elections.
I am a disillusioned Democrat who is disgusted with the Obama presidency. Please remove me from your mailing list.
In case you wonder why I am disillusioned, I will explain. I voted for Obama the first time because I believe in women’s rights, reproductive freedom, gay rights, social justice, and gun control. So far, OK.
But I also believe in citizen privacy, supporting and encouraging small American businesses (not Wall Street and not Socialism), supporting Israel, accountability and oversight for multi-national corporations that function as sovereign nation-states, and getting the Health Insurance companies to pay for universal Health care (not the states).
I am appalled at Obama’s foreign policy, which is a joke and a shambles. “Don’t do stupid sh*t” is adolescent drivel not suited to the gravitas of the office of the President of the United States and Commander-in-Chief of the United States military.
I also find it extraordinarily hypocritical that Obama’s tactic is to rally people against “the Have’s” when he has taken more vacations, and more expensive vacations, and played more golf, than any president in history. So many of his supporters are the Limousine liberals of Wall Street, which may be why he bailed them out.
My family is losing our expensive, bad PPO Health Insurance that we purchase through Freelancers, and we are being forced into a more expensive, worse HMO. My doctor of many years who manages my low thyroid medication is not in the HMO. Frankly, I feel screwed.
In New York state, we don’t have many options—just one outrageously expensive, covering-almost-nothing HMO after another. Our choices are limited to bad and worse, and we are losing our trusted doctors of many years, despite Obama’s “promises” to the contrary.
Mr. Schumer, you have failed the state of New York in this way.
The Obamacare plan gives money to rich, greedy Health Insurance companies, funds a ghastly bad, buggy, confusing website to the tune of over $2.1 billion, places people’s life-or-death medical decisions in the hands of medically untrained Obamacare supervisors rather than in the hands of physicians who have undergone years of medical school (more than one doctor has expressed their horror at this!), and strips people of their right to choose their health care plan—while costing them an arm and a leg. This is just the beginning of what is wrong with Obamacare.
We need a universal healthcare plan, but not this frighteningly awful one. When Democrats go on the campaign trail and state “Obamacare is working,” they are either 1, lying through their teeth, or 2, experiencing a psychotic break from reality and should be institutionalized.
I have voted Democratic since I was old enough to vote—until now. So I hope you will understand why I am asking you to remove me from your list, and to stop asking me for money.
Traci L. Slatton
So I am a populist.
July 30, 2014 by Traci L. Slatton /Leave a Comment/ Filed Under: anarchy, hope, politics
Other people think the way I do: caring about small American businesses, caring about ethics, wanting to challenge big business, appreciating Ralph Nader, who is a genius.
I would also mention that citizen privacy matters profoundly to me. The government does not have the right to read my emails nor to listen to my phone conversations, even if the most dangerous thing I ever talk about is clipping my own hangnail.
It is a great joy to discover intelligent writings on how the Democrats and the Republicans have let us down. To Bill Curry, author of the piece: Great work!
Here’s the article on Salon: My Party Has Lost Its Soul: Bill Clinton, Barack Obama, and the Victory of Wall Street Democrats.
Speaking of Ralph Nader, here’s what the article says:
His latest book, “Unstoppable,” argues for the existence and utility of an “emerging left-right alliance to dismantle the corporate state.” The book is vintage Nader and ranks with his best. The questions it poses should greatly interest progressives. The question is, will any read it.
The corporate state is evil.
And here is my biggest beef about the Democratic Party, to which I used to belong:
Democrats aren’t even having a debate. Their one think tank, the Center for American Progress, serves their establishment. …If Democrats had caught populist fever they’d be reappraising their own orthodoxy and offing a few of their own incumbents. Owing only partly to the Supreme Court’s Citizens United ruling, they instead spend their days as Republicans do, in an endless search for new ways to help the rich pump money into politics.
The Democratic Party has become about the very rich, whose money is protected, imposing lower-middle-class socialism on the middle class. The Wall Street Democrats, also known as Cadillac Communists, congratulate themselves on being good people when they vote in socialist reform.
So who will stand up for the middle class?
It isn’t Obama: “By buying into Bush’s bailout, Obama co-signed the biggest check ever cut by a government, made out to the culprits, not the victims. As for his stimulus, it didn’t cure the disease and hefty portions of it smelled like pork.”
Here’s one of my favorite quotes:
This isn’t just a slow recovery from a financial sector collapse, or damage done by debt overhang or Obama’s weak tea Keynesianism. We’re in crisis because of all our broken systems; because we still let big banks prey on homeowners, students, consumers and retailers; because our infrastructure is decrepit; because our tax code breeds inefficiency and inequality; because foreign interventions bled us dry. We’re in peril because our democracy is dying. Reviving it will take more than deficit spending and easy money. It will take reform, and before that, a whole new political debate.
Populists offer hope.
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0009.json.gz/line643
|
__label__cc
| 0.693334
| 0.306666
|
CWM - Expand Data Science Program
The College of William and Mary in Virginia FY2019 $0 FY2020 $570,000 GF
FY2019 0.00 FY2020 3.00 FTE
(This amendment supports the College of William and Mary's expansion of the Data Science program with $570,000 GF in the second year and 3.0 FTE. This funding will support the recruitment of three additional faculty to meet excess demand in the existing data science minor and to develop a full major in the data sciences.)
The College of William and Mary in Virginia
Educational and General Programs (10000) $207,744,934
$215,407,230 $209,579,454
Higher Education Instruction (100101) FY2019 $113,568,820
$117,664,830 FY2020 $115,328,340
Higher Education Research (100102) FY2019 $1,009,170
$1,302,405 FY2020 $1,009,170
Higher Education Public Services (100103) FY2019 $8,021 FY2020 $8,021
Higher Education Academic (100104) FY2019 $30,297,231
$31,215,747 FY2020 $30,297,231
Higher Education Student Services (100105) FY2019 $8,974,583
Higher Education Institutional Support (100106) FY2019 $24,700,054
Operation and Maintenance Of Plant (100107) FY2019 $29,187,055
General FY2019 $43,719,512 FY2020 $45,554,032
Higher Education Operating FY2019 $154,363,371
Debt Service FY2019 $9,662,051 FY2020 $9,662,051
Authority: Title 23.1, Chapter 28, Code of Virginia.
A. This Item includes general and nongeneral fund appropriations to support institutional initiatives that help meet statewide goals described in the Restructured Higher Education Financial and Administrative Operations Act of 2005 (Chapters 933 and 945, 2005 Acts of Assembly).
B. As Virginia's public colleges and universities approach full funding of the base adequacy guidelines and as the General Assembly strives to fully fund the general fund share of the base adequacy guidelines, these funds are provided with the intent that, in exercising their authority to set tuition and fees, the Board of Visitors shall take into consideration the impact of escalating college costs for Virginia students and families. In accordance with the cost-sharing goals set forth in § 4-2.01 b. of this act, the Board of Visitors is encouraged to limit increases on tuition and mandatory educational and general fees for in-state, undergraduate students to the extent possible.
C. Out of this appropriation, $245,000 the first year and $245,000 the second year from the general fund is designated to support the Lewis B. Puller Jr. Veterans Benefits Clinic.
D. Out of this appropriation, $287,850 and two positions the second year from the general fund is designated to develop a specialization in military and veterans counseling within the existing clinical mental health counseling degree program and a post-graduate certificate in veterans counseling.
E. The College of William and Mary may extend the authority granted to it under the Restructured Higher Education Financial and Administrative Operations Act (Title 23.1, Chapter 10, Code of Virginia) to Richard Bland College in a manner that is consistent with the Management Agreement By and Between the Commonwealth of Virginia and the College of William and Mary in Virginia, executed November 15, 2005 and subsequently amended to the provisions of the memorandum of understanding related to financial operations and other related administrative areas as executed by the presidents of both institutions on November 15, 2017 and as may subsequently be amended.
F. The appropriation for the fund source Higher Education Operating in this Item shall be considered a sum sufficient appropriation, which is an estimate of the amount of revenues to be collected for the educational and general program under the terms of the management agreement between the College of William and Mary and the Commonwealth, as set forth in Chapters 933 and 943 of the 2006 Acts of Assembly.
G. 1. Out of this appropriation, $1,221,670 the second year from the general fund is designated to address increased degree production in Data Science and Technology, Science and Engineering, Healthcare, and Education.
2. Degree production shall be measured for Bachelors, Masters, Doctorates and First Professional awards as follows:
a. Data Science and Technology awards shall be based on completion data contained in the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia, C-16 completion report;
b. Science and Engineering awards shall be based on completion data contained in the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia (SCHEV), C-1 A1 completion report for the following programs Biological and Biomedical Science (26), Engineering (14) less those already counted in paragraph 2 a., Engineering Technologies (15), and Physical Sciences (42);
c. Healthcare awards shall be based on completion data contained in the SCHEV C-1 A1 completion report for the Health Professions and Related Programs (51); and
d. Education awards shall be based on completion data contained in the SCHEV C-1 A1 completion report for the Education Programs (13).
3. The College of William and Mary is expected to increase:
a. Data Science and Technology awards by 20 in the second year.
b. Science and Engineering awards by 15 in the second year.
c. Education awards by 5 in the second year.
d. The 2016-17 year will serve as the base year for these purposes.
4. SCHEV shall report on the progress toward these goals to the Chairman of the House Appropriations and Senate Finance Committees report on the progress toward these goals annually beginning August 2020.
H. Out of this appropriation, $250,000 and two positions the second year from the general fund is designated for on-line course development for the Public Policy's Whole of Government program. This program will provide a hybrid Master of Public Policy degree that will allow the first year to be completed online.
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0009.json.gz/line645
|
__label__wiki
| 0.548286
| 0.548286
|
Profile of a Young Entrepreneur: It’s All About Choice
Costa Vasili’s story is similar to the stories of many other young entrepreneurs. What sets him apart? Success. With the help of the EO Accelerator program for early-stage entrepreneurs, Costa is running a values-driven translation business that aims to make a difference in the world.
Costa Vasili is a son of migrant parents. His father, who was born in Cyprus, moved to Australia at 13 years old. It’s where he met Costa’s mother, who is also of Cypriot descent, and where Costa was born.
To ensure that Costa had the best chance of success in Australia, his parents spoke to him and his brother mostly in English rather than in Greek. The choice made it hard for Costa to communicate deeply with his Greek-speaking grandparents, but it did help him discover his entrepreneurial path.
During his university years, he was introduced to the language services industry. Costa soon launched his own translation company at just 20 years old, while still in university.
With no previous experience in owning or running a business and only limited work in the corporate world, he soon realized that the entrepreneur’s path has no roadmap or playbook. He relied mostly on himself to establish and grow his business—until, that is, he met up with EO Melbourne and the EO Accelerator program.
1 critical life lesson
“Your life and the business journey are a matter of micro-choices or decisions,” says Costa. He learned this from his philosophy class in university, which he considers a pivotal learning moment in his life. The facilitator gave a difficult and uncomfortable scenario, to which Costa responded. As he was probed deeper, he ended up saying,“I have no choice.” The facilitator corrected him, telling him that there is always a choice.
“I realized very clearly how powerful I am as an individual because, in every moment in my life, I have a choice. Whatever the case—make the decision, own the decision, own the outcome and own the consequence. I believe why I got into business is because it gave me the strongest ability to make my own choices in my life,” he adds.
Part of making choices is taking action and embracing accountability, which the EO Accelerator program also emphasized. “The thing that stops small businesses from growing quickly is their choice not to take action and not to execute. We all have strategies and ideas, but the difference between businesses that grow fast and those that grow slowly is the ability to execute and put things into place. Within 12 months of entering the EO Accelerator program, we doubled our revenue. For me, it shows that taking action has a huge impact on the success of your business,” he explains.
EO Accelerator helps startups and young organizations reach the US$1 million revenue mark through accountability and experience sharing. Learn more and apply today!
Now one of the younger members of EO Melbourne, Costa says, “I look up to so many people in the EO community who are doing incredibly well. Because I can speak to them at a peer-to-peer level, I’ve been able to develop an appreciation for what they do. I have seen how remarkable these people in the EO community are, based on what they’re doing with their lives and their businesses.”
2 key qualities of an entrepreneur
Entrepreneurs develop countlesss qualities to help them successfully grow their business. However, Costa underscores two critical traits: perseverance and an understanding of sales and marketing.
“You cannot give up in business. If you don’t build the mindset of perseverance before you start a business and while you’re starting an early-stage business, then it’s destined to fail.” When considering a skill business owners can learn, Costa says, “marketing and sales are key at the start of most businesses. You need to focus on driving sales at the start, and that begins with having a strong understanding of what your customers want and need, and then helping them understand that the solution you’re providing is the right one for them. You also have to know where your customers are hanging out so that you can market to them.”
3 essential components in translation and business
Costa’s translation company, EthnoLink, provides professional document translation services by certified translators to new migrants and travellers who wish to apply for visas, university admission or car rental services. The company also serves Australian businesses and government agencies in translating legal contracts, manuals and marketing materials.
Three key components to a successful translation include a clear source document, an understanding of the source document, and attention to detail. Costa explains further, saying, “First and foremost, we have to understand the meaning of the source text so that we can translate accurately into the target language. We can look at this in the context of business context: We must understand what our customers need to solve their problems.”
Costa goes on to explain that, “Clarity is key. The biggest reason why translation projects fail is because the source text is not clear, which leads to ambiguity. Likewise, in the business space, you need to be 100% clear in your communication with your team to ensure that they are acting on your direction and supporting your vision.”
Finally, attention to detail. “In translation, sometimes the slight nuance of a question or statement, if not translated accurately, can alter the entire meaning. In business, it can ensure reliable excellence in the service you provide.”
4 business values of EthnoLink
Costa’s company has four values: better every day; real relationships; openness and honesty; and customer service excellence. Costa explains, “The last one will always be part of our values. Even as our business and priorities may shift over the years, that one will always be there because without our customers, we don’t have a business.”
He has developed a team that is driven by these valuse and share his vision of helping to break down language barriers for individuals and businesses. They are focused on their customers, ensuring that they are acting in the best interests of the people they serve.
Not even 30 years old and a member of EO since 2018, Costa’s values are clearly steering him well.
Learn more about EO’s work with early-stage entrepreneurs and startups through its accelerator program.
Categories: general Startup
Tags: Costa Vasili EO Accelerator eo melbourne EthnoLink growth startup under 30 values
One Response to “ Profile of a Young Entrepreneur: It’s All About Choice ”
Landon at Goodjuju on February 2nd, 2019 - 11:08am
Well done Costa! Really cool story from a young entrepreneur out of Australia!
Leave a Reply to Landon at Goodjuju
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0009.json.gz/line651
|
__label__cc
| 0.636953
| 0.363047
|
Inspiration / Adventures with Fitness
Adventures with Fitness
A Fund For Good story | Winter Journal, 2019
The Macpac Fund For Good is our way of giving back to the community and sustaining the wild places that we hold so dear. We support individuals and groups whose missions fall into three different categories: adventure based social development, environmental projects, and ethical manufacturing.The ethos behind the Fund For Good is shared by every grant recipient, and it’s pretty simple – life is better when you’re outside.
Fabiola Case (or as most people know her, Fabs) is an area manager for Macpac in the ACT. She also started the women’s outdoor community, Adventures with Fitness. The group offers support to women who are facing mental health challenges, particularly as a result of trauma. But that’s not what Fabs had in mind at the beginning. In her own words…
“Originally it was a women’s outdoor fitness community, focused on training for hikes and outdoor sports. I wanted to help women who faced some kind of hurdle when it came to getting outdoors, and over time it became evident that the hurdle a lot of women were facing was due to trauma, either in their past or that they were currently experiencing.”
Today, the objective is to build a community based on strength and support. Adventures with Fitness trips aren’t holidays – they’re designed to challenge, and inspire personal growth through a powerful network of women who collectively want to achieve the same thing.
“It’s not just about finishing a hike. The sense of accomplishment that we get from completing something physically and mentally challenging is very powerful. But more important than that is the creation of a safe space that allows these women to be supported through their journey.”
The outdoors has helped Fabs transform her own life and to work through traumas and challenges. Finding and a sense of belonging through hiking, mountain biking and other outdoor pursuits gave her strength.
“Nature has been a place of healing for many cultures throughout history. There’s a lot to be said about the simplicity of hiking or just being out in the wild. It gives us the chance to shine and be completely free from our fears.”
At time of publication, Fabs is leading an Adventures with Fitness expedition through Nepal. If you’d like to follow their journey or connect with the group, search for Adventures with Fitness on Facebook or Instagram.
For more information on the Macpac Fund For Good you can visit www.macpac.co.nz/fund-for-good
Fabs and the Adventures with Fitness Crew in Nepal.
https://blog.macpac.co.nz/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/Fabs.jpeg 1862 3956 Connor Benfield https://blog.macpac.co.nz/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/macpac-logo-255x255-min.jpg Connor Benfield2019-05-06 10:53:272019-05-06 10:53:29Adventures with Fitness
Adventure is for girls Cristina SimpkinsPart 3 of 4 | Summer Journal 2018
Fund For Good Banks Peninsula Conservation TrustA Fund For Good story
Celebrating 60 Years of Antarctic Exploration6 minute read
From a wheelchair to walking on giantsWinter Journal 2018 | Nick Allen
How Outdoor Adventure Can Beat Multiple Sclerosis5 minute read
Outside is Better Mind Over Weather for Winter Training
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0009.json.gz/line654
|
__label__wiki
| 0.571098
| 0.571098
|
Novacap Expands Pharmaceutical Offering with Acquisition of PCI Synthesis
by Novacap | Jun 22, 2018
Novacap to expand its pharmaceutical offering in the U.S. with the acquisition of PCI Synthesis
Novacap, a worldwide player in pharmaceutical synthesis and advanced specialties, announced that it has signed an agreement to acquire Boston-based PCI Synthesis, a leading U.S. pharmaceutical contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO), further reinforcing Novacap’s capabilities and offering for the pharmaceutical industry.
NovacapPCI Synthesis is a Pharmaceutical Development CDMO (Contract Development and Manufacturing Organization) based in Newburyport, MA and is the largest small molecule drug substance manufacturer in the New England area. PCI Synthesis is also a commercial manufacturer of new chemical entities (NCEs), generic active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs), and other specialty chemical products for the medical device industry. As a CDMO, PCI Synthesis provides emerging and mid-sized pharmaceutical companies access to the expertise needed to develop and manufacture complex small molecules.
Acquisition marks strategic growth opportunity for Novacap
Located in Boston’s booming biotech and pharmaceutical hub, PCI Synthesis offers its customers a wide range of services, including process research and early stage development as well as commercial production of new chemical entities (NCEs), generic APIs and other specialty chemical products.
The company operates a R&D facility in Devens, MA, and a manufacturing facility in Newburyport, MA, and generates a turnover of $32 million. Leveraging its wide business offering and technologies, proximity to customers, reactivity and undisputed project management skills, PCI Synthesis has achieved tremendous growth over the last years, most recently closing its fifth consecutive year-to-year of double-digit growth. This has been driven by more than forty new customers and an expansion into new offerings such as GMP manufacturing for nutraceuticals and pharma foods, large-scale cryogenic manufacturing, large-scale chromatography, controlled substance development, and medical-grade polymers. The company is North America’s most awarded drug substance manufacturer and has become a strategic partner for the U.S. pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries.
The combination of the two companies will provide PCI Synthesis with additional resources to continue its development while reinforcing Novacap’s global leadership in pharmaceutical synthesis with 12 cGMP sites, 2 main R&D centers and its comprehensive range of services and technologies dedicated to clinical development and commercial manufacturing.
“This acquisition validates our strategy, resources, offerings as well as our great employees and wonderful customers. Since we started the company more than 20 years ago, we’ve continued to evolve and innovate, and by teaming with Novacap, we will continue to do so, now with access to Novacap’s deep technical expertise to better serve our customers,” said Ed Price, Founder and President of PCI Synthesis.
“The acquisition of PCI Synthesis perfectly fits with our strategic roadmap as it will strengthen our offering to the pharmaceutical industry and provide Novacap with a strong and innovative platform to accelerate our development in the U.S. We have been impressed by the outstanding achievement of PCI Synthesis over the last years and its promising pipeline of projects. The two companies operate complementary CDMO activities and share common values such as entrepreneurship, operational excellence and dedication to customer satisfaction. We look forward to working with the PCI Synthesis team,” said Pierre Luzeau, CEO of Novacap.
Article Source: https://www.novacap.eu/en/
See more articles like this.
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0009.json.gz/line661
|
__label__wiki
| 0.703824
| 0.703824
|
Mon, 20 May 2019 03:33:32 GMT
4.2: Aqueous Solutions
BU: Chem 103 (Christianson)
Phase 1: Chemistry Essentials
4: Simple Chemical Reactions
Polar Substances
Skills to Develop
To understand how and why solutions form
The solvent in aqueous solutions is water, which makes up about 70% of the mass of the human body and is essential for life. Many of the chemical reactions that keep us alive depend on the interaction of water molecules with dissolved compounds. Moreover, the presence of large amounts of water on Earth’s surface helps maintain its surface temperature in a range suitable for life. In this section, we describe some of the interactions of water with various substances and introduce you to the characteristics of aqueous solutions.
As shown in Figure \(\PageIndex{1}\), the individual water molecule consists of two hydrogen atoms bonded to an oxygen atom in a bent (V-shaped) structure. As is typical of group 16 elements, the oxygen atom in each O–H covalent bond attracts electrons more strongly than the hydrogen atom does. Consequently, the oxygen and hydrogen nuclei do not equally share electrons. Instead, hydrogen atoms are electron poor compared with a neutral hydrogen atom and have a partial positive charge, which is indicated by δ+. The oxygen atom, in contrast, is more electron rich than a neutral oxygen atom, so it has a partial negative charge. This charge must be twice as large as the partial positive charge on each hydrogen for the molecule to have a net charge of zero. Thus its charge is indicated by 2δ−. This unequal distribution of charge creates a polar bond in which one portion of the molecule carries a partial negative charge, while the other portion carries a partial positive charge (Figure \(\PageIndex{1}\)). Because of the arrangement of polar bonds in a water molecule, water is described as a polar substance.
Figure \(\PageIndex{1}\): The Polar Nature of Water. Each water molecule consists of two hydrogen atoms bonded to an oxygen atom in a bent (V-shaped) structure. Because the oxygen atom attracts electrons more strongly than the hydrogen atoms do, the oxygen atom is partially negatively charged (2δ−; blue) and the hydrogen atoms are partially positively charged (δ+; red). For the molecule to have a net charge of zero, the partial negative charge on oxygen must be twice as large as the partial positive charge on each hydrogen.
Because of the asymmetric charge distribution in the water molecule, adjacent water molecules are held together by attractive electrostatic (δ+…δ−) interactions between the partially negatively charged oxygen atom of one molecule and the partially positively charged hydrogen atoms of adjacent molecules (Figure \(\PageIndex{2}\)). Energy is needed to overcome these electrostatic attractions. In fact, without them, water would evaporate at a much lower temperature, and neither Earth’s oceans nor we would exist!
Figure \(\PageIndex{2}\): The Structure of Liquid Water. Two views of a water molecule are shown: (a) a ball-and-stick structure and (b) a space-filling model. Water molecules are held together by electrostatic attractions (dotted lines) between the partially negatively charged oxygen atom of one molecule and the partially positively charged hydrogen atoms on adjacent molecules. As a result, the water molecules in liquid water form transient networks with structures similar to that shown. Because the interactions between water molecules are continually breaking and reforming, liquid water does not have a single fixed structure.
As you learned previously,, ionic compounds such as sodium chloride (NaCl) are also held together by electrostatic interactions—in this case, between oppositely charged ions in the highly ordered solid, where each ion is surrounded by ions of the opposite charge in a fixed arrangement. In contrast to an ionic solid, the structure of liquid water is not completely ordered because the interactions between molecules in a liquid are constantly breaking and reforming.
The unequal charge distribution in polar liquids such as water makes them good solvents for ionic compounds. When an ionic solid dissolves in water, the ions dissociate. That is, the partially negatively charged oxygen atoms of the H2O molecules surround the cations (Na+ in the case of NaCl), and the partially positively charged hydrogen atoms in H2O surround the anions (Cl−; Figure \(\PageIndex{3}\)). Individual cations and anions that are each surrounded by their own shell of water molecules are called hydrated ions. We can describe the dissolution of NaCl in water as
\[NaCl(s) \xrightarrow{H_2O(l)} Na^+ (aq) + Cl^- (aq) \label{4.1.1}\]
where (aq) indicates that Na+ and Cl− are hydrated ions.
Figure \(\PageIndex{3}\): The Dissolution of Sodium Chloride in Water. An ionic solid such as sodium chloride dissolves in water because of the electrostatic attraction between the cations (Na+) and the partially negatively charged oxygen atoms of water molecules, and between the anions (Cl−) and the partially positively charged hydrogen atoms of water.
Polar liquids are good solvents for ionic compounds.
When electricity, in the form of an electrical potential, is applied to a solution, ions in solution migrate toward the oppositely charged rod or plate to complete an electrical circuit, whereas neutral molecules in solution do not (Figure \(\PageIndex{4}\)). Thus solutions that contain ions conduct electricity, while solutions that contain only neutral molecules do not. Electrical current will flow through the circuit shown in Figure \(\PageIndex{4}\) and the bulb will glow only if ions are present. The lower the concentration of ions in solution, the weaker the current and the dimmer the glow. Pure water, for example, contains only very low concentrations of ions, so it is a poor electrical conductor.
Solutions that contain ions conduct electricity.
Figure \(\PageIndex{4}\): The conductivity of electrolyte solutions: (a) 0.1 M NaCl; (b) 0.05 M NaCl; (c) 0.1 M HgCl2. An electrolyte solution conducts electricity because of the movement of ions in the solution. The larger the concentration of ions, the better the solution conducts. Weak electrolytes, such as HgCl2, conduct badly because they produce very few ions when dissolved and exist mainly in the form of molecules. Figure used with permission from ChemePrime.
An electrolyte is any compound that can form ions when dissolved in water. Electrolytes may be strong or weak. When strong electrolytes dissolve, the constituent ions dissociate completely due to strong electrostatic interactions with the solvent, producing aqueous solutions that conduct electricity very well (Figure \(\PageIndex{4}\)). Examples include ionic compounds such as barium chloride (\(BaCl_2\)) and sodium hydroxide (NaOH), which are both strong electrolytes and dissociate as follows:
\[ BaCl_2 (s) \xrightarrow{H_2O(l)} Ba^{2+} (aq) + 2Cl^- (aq) \label{4.1.2}\]
\[ NaOH(s) \xrightarrow{H_2O(l)} Na^+ (aq) + OH^- (aq) \label{4.1.3}\]
The single arrows from reactant to products in Equations \(\ref{4.1.2}\) and \(\ref{4.1.3}\) indicate that dissociation is complete.
When weak electrolytes dissolve, they produce relatively few ions in solution. This does not necessarily mean that the compounds do not dissolve readily in water; many weak electrolytes contain polar bonds and are therefore very soluble in a polar solvent such as water. They do not completely dissociate to form ions, however, because of their weaker electrostatic interactions with the solvent. Because very few of the dissolved particles are ions, aqueous solutions of weak electrolytes do not conduct electricity as well as solutions of strong electrolytes. One such compound is acetic acid (CH3CO2H), which contains the –CO2H unit. Although it is soluble in water, it is a weak acid and therefore also a weak electrolyte. Similarly, ammonia (NH3) is a weak base and therefore a weak electrolyte. The behavior of weak acids and weak bases will be described in more detail later.
General structure of an aldehyde and a ketone. Notice that both contain the C=O group.
Nonelectrolytes (a substance that dissolves in water to form neutral molecules and has essentially no effect on electrical conductivity) that dissolve in water do so as neutral molecules and thus have essentially no effect on conductivity. Examples of nonelectrolytes that are very soluble in water but that are essentially nonconductive are ethanol, ethylene glycol, glucose, and sucrose, all of which contain the –OH group that is characteristic of alcohols. The topic of why alcohols and carboxylic acids behave differently in aqueous solution is for a different Module; for now, however, you can simply look for the presence of the –OH and –CO2H groups when trying to predict whether a substance is a strong electrolyte, a weak electrolyte, or a nonelectrolyte. The distinctions between soluble and insoluble substances and between strong, weak, and nonelectrolytes are illustrated in Figure \(\PageIndex{5}\).
Figure \(\PageIndex{5}\): The Difference between Soluble and Insoluble Compounds (a) and Strong, Weak, and Nonelectrolytes (b). When a soluble compound dissolves, its constituent atoms, molecules, or ions disperse throughout the solvent. In contrast, the constituents of an insoluble compound remain associated with one another in the solid. A soluble compound is a strong electrolyte if it dissociates completely into ions, a weak electrolyte if it dissociates only slightly into ions, and a nonelectrolyte if it dissolves to produce only neutral molecules.
Ionic substances and carboxylic acids are electrolytes; alcohols, aldehydes, and ketones are nonelectrolytes.
Example \(\PageIndex{1}\)
Predict whether each compound is a strong electrolyte, a weak electrolyte, or a nonelectrolyte in water.
cesium chloride
Given: compound
Asked for: relative ability to form ions in water
A Classify the compound as ionic or covalent.
B If the compound is ionic and dissolves, it is a strong electrolyte that will dissociate in water completely to produce a solution that conducts electricity well. If the compound is covalent and organic, determine whether it contains the carboxylic acid group. If the compound contains this group, it is a weak electrolyte. If not, it is a nonelectrolyte.
A Formaldehyde is an organic compound, so it is covalent. B It contains an aldehyde group, not a carboxylic acid group, so it should be a nonelectrolyte.
A Cesium chloride (CsCl) is an ionic compound that consists of Cs+ and Cl− ions. B Like virtually all other ionic compounds that are soluble in water, cesium chloride will dissociate completely into Cs+(aq) and Cl−(aq) ions. Hence it should be a strong electrolyte.
Exercise \(\PageIndex{1}\)
(CH3)2CHOH (2-propanol)
nonelectrolyte
strong electrolyte
Aqueous solutions can be classified as polar or nonpolar depending on how well they conduct electricity. Most chemical reactions are carried out in solutions, which are homogeneous mixtures of two or more substances. In a solution, a solute (the substance present in the lesser amount) is dispersed in a solvent (the substance present in the greater amount). Aqueous solutions contain water as the solvent, whereas nonaqueous solutions have solvents other than water. Polar substances, such as water, contain asymmetric arrangements of polar bonds, in which electrons are shared unequally between bonded atoms. Polar substances and ionic compounds tend to be most soluble in water because they interact favorably with its structure. In aqueous solution, dissolved ions become hydrated; that is, a shell of water molecules surrounds them. Substances that dissolve in water can be categorized according to whether the resulting aqueous solutions conduct electricity. Strong electrolytes dissociate completely into ions to produce solutions that conduct electricity well. Weak electrolytes produce a relatively small number of ions, resulting in solutions that conduct electricity poorly. Nonelectrolytes dissolve as uncharged molecules and have no effect on the electrical conductivity of water.
Modified by Joshua Halpern (Howard University)
4.1: Chemical Reaction Equations
4.3: Precipitation Reactions
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0009.json.gz/line666
|
__label__wiki
| 0.735996
| 0.735996
|
Tag: #britishballet
The Nutcracker Now & Then
The Nutcracker Now
It strikes us that despite its ever-growing popularity, The Nutcracker presents something of a conundrum. As last year, all the major ballet companies in the UK are performing runs of The Nutcracker, which stretch from the end of November into the new year. Of the three Tchaikovsky ballets Swan Lake (Petipa/Ivanov, 1895), The Sleeping Beauty (Petipa, 1890), and The Nutcracker (Ivanov, 1892), with their magnificent scores, the Christmas ballet is the work with the least dramatic coherence and the most varied choreography from production to production. The result of this is that the identity of the work relies predominantly on the musical score, made famous by the suite of numbers performed in the concert hall, used for Disney’s 1940 Fantasia and numerous television adverts, and perhaps on a few key figures and events, such as Drosselmeyer, the Sugar Plum Fairy, the battle between the Toy Soldiers and Mice, and the growing Christmas Tree.
One problem for lovers of narrative ballet is that we are accustomed to works that offer the ballerina a central role combining complexity and variety in choreography, and development and contrast in characterisation. Just think of Giselle (Coralli/Perrot, 1841), Swan Lake, Onegin (Cranko, 1965), and Manon (MacMillan, 1974), to name but a few examples. In fact, the original production of The Nutcracker was criticised for including “only one classical pastor the ballerina, and this near the end of the second act” (Wiley 199). Yes, it’s a long time to wait, if you have booked a ticket specifically to see a beloved ballerina dancing the Sugar Plum Fairy …
In the eyes of some audience members this situation is undoubtedly exacerbated by the fact that the main character, Clara, is a child, and Act I is populated by children. Dick Godfrey highlighted this issue in his review of Scottish Ballet’s performance last year, a revival of Peter Darrell’s 1973 production after over forty years: “Darrell’s bold – and in many ways admirable – decision to cast children in the roles of the children instead of the more commonly found young professionals limits the amount of dance he offers”. The Royal Ballet production addresses this dilemma by casting a young-looking company member as Clara. This can be seen in recordings on DVD, for example with Miyako Yoshida as the Sugar Plum Fairy and Alina Cojocaru as Clara in 2001, and Lauren Cuthbertson and Francesca Hayward in the same roles in 2016. And in truth the opportunity to see a budding star of the calibre of Cojocaru or Hayward can imbue the performance with a wonderful sense of excitement.
In English National Ballet’s current production staged by Wayne Eagling in 2010 the child Clara dreams of growing up and falling in love, and consequently dances the grand pas de deus that concludes the ballet. In this case we can gain an enormous amount of pleasure from seeing a ballerina capable of expressing both Clara’s teenage youthfulness and the grandeur required of the grand pas de deux. Describing Tamara Rojo’s performance at the end of Act I Graham Watts writes: “it is astonishing how Rojo peels away the years to become an excited, wide-eyed teenager on stage”. In contrast, by the end of Act II, “her experience shows in the way that she deploys contrast, from the soft-backed swoop of her promenades with Berlanga in their opening duet to the steely verticality of her triple fouettés in the coda” (Jennings).
At the start of December we saw Northern Ballet perform their production in Woking. One of the delightful features of the performance was the fact that the children were notably of different heights, creating a vivid sense of a family gathering in the first act. The production is similar to the Royal Ballet’s in that Clara and the Sugar Plum Fairy are danced by two different performers, but the two acts are securely connected not only through the figure of Clara, but through the resemblance between the characters of her life in Act I and her dream in Act II, for example between her elder sister and the Sugar Plum Fairy, both performed by the same dancer. However, this in no way makes the libretto complex, and David Nixon, Artistic Director and creator of this production, is keen to emphasise his desire “not to change the story drastically or to bring a psychological overtone. I wanted it to be festive and joyous … It is based on a dark story, but … I kept my version simple and childlike” (qtd. in Monahan 12).
The Nutcracker Then
If you think of The Nutcracker more as family entertainment than as high art, you might think it odd to question the practice of including child dancers as principal characters in the ballet, and you might be puzzled or even perplexed by the decision to bring greater depth to the work with a “psychological overtone”. Yet there have been two British productions that have notably aimed to give the ballet more gravitas, both in part by aligning the narrative more closely to E.T.A Hoffmann’s 1816 Nussknacker und Mausekönig, the story that inspired the ballet’s original libretto. These were Rudolf Nureyev’s version, performed by the Royal Ballet from 1968 into the early 1980s, and the version created by Peter Schaufuss for London Festival Ballet in 1986, which remained in the repertoire until 1992.
Nureyev is known for his eagerness to expand male roles, having choreographed additional solos for the male protagonist in The Sleeping Beauty, and Swan Lake, for example, and changing the end of Swan Lake to highlight the fate of Siegfried in preference for either Odette or the love between Odette and Siegfried. Therefore, Nureyev’s decision to combine the role of Clara’s Godfather Herr Drosselmeyer and the Nutcracker Prince could simply be considered as a way of creating a role equal in substance to that of the ballerina. But the fact that Drosselmeyer, with his eccentric mannerisms, is so very different from the Nutcracker Prince offers an arguably greater challenge to the male protagonist than to the ballerina, who portrays Clara maturing into a young woman. For the dancer it affords the opportunity to bring out different facets of the old magician and his relationship with his Goddaughter; for the audience it adds an interesting dramatic layering and the rare chance to see male dancer in a dual role Apart from Nureyev himself, notable exponents of the role were Anthony Dowell and David Wall, both of whom we discussed in our Male Dancers Now & Then post. On the other hand, historian and critic Jack Anderson has criticised Nureyev’s production quite bluntly for its sombre atmosphere, its Freudian overtones and its pervasive “images of cruelty” (149).
With its Gingerbread Men and Lemonade Sea, Peter Schaufuss’ 1986 production was not pervaded by the same dark atmosphere, but through both including added detail from Hoffmann’s story and introducing Tchaikovsky and his family into the libretto, the narrative became quite complicated and perhaps even burdened with additional elements. This included a toy theatre where the Tale of the Nut “Krakatuk” was played out, the illness of Tanya, (the character usually known as Clara, and in this version also Tchaikovsky’s niece), and a prologue with Tchaikovsky working on the Nutcracker score, learning of the death of his beloved sister Sasha, and reminiscing about a past Christmas spent at her family home. The premise for the production was Schaufuss’ idea that “Tchaikovsky may have seen himself as the central figure, Drosselmeyer” (Clarke 400), and indeed one of the joys of these performances was watching Christopher Bruce as the Tchaikovsky/Drosselmeyer figure. The programme notes included a Tchaikovsky family tree to clarify the various familial relationships. We could argue that, as with Nureyev’s version, this approach helped to bring more substance to the ballet, giving it more gravitas as an art work, and perhaps making it seem more historically and artistically significant.
In a brilliant review of the Royal Ballet’s Nutcracker this year Observer critic Luke Jennings noted that the only thing lacking in the “dreamlike perfection” of the production is the sense of melancholy so integral to Tchaikovsky’s score. Similarly, film critic Ryan Gilbey criticises Disney’s The Nutcracker and the Four Realms for “failing to acknowledge the darker side of Christmas”.
So how do you prefer your Nutcracker? How important is the ballerina role to you? Are you interested in producers incorporating the “darker side of Christmas”? Is dramatic cogency important to you? Are you keen to see a romantic plot? Are you more in favour of a Nutcracker with lots of children and a simple clear storyline?
We’d love to know what you think!
Clarke, Mary. “The Nutcracker Season”. Dancing Times, vol. 77, no. 917, pp. 400-01.
Gilbey, Ryan. “No wonder Disney’s Nutcracker is a flop – festive films thrive on despair”. The Guardian, 8 Dec. 2018, http://www.theguardian.com/film/2018/dec/08/nutcracker-christmas-films-need-darkness-as-well-light. Accessed 20 Dec. 2018.
Godfrey, Dick. “Scottish Ballet’s revival of Peter Darrell’s Nutcracker restores the famous sparkle”. ChronicleLive, 2 Feb. 2018, http://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/whats-on/theatre-news/scottish-ballets-revival-peter-darrells-14232709. Accessed 20 Dec. 2018.
Jennings Luke. “The Nutcracker – review”. The Guardian, 23 Dec. 2012, http://www.theguardian.com/stage/2012/dec/23/nutcracker-english-national-tamara-rojo. Accessed 20 Dec. 2018.
—. “The Nutcracker review – in every sense a delight”. The Guardian, 9 Dec. 2018, http://www.theguardian.com/stage/2018/dec/09/the-nutcracker-royal-ballet-review-nunez-muntagirov-osullivan-sambe. Accessed 20 Dec. 2018.
Monahan, Mark. “An Awfully Big Adventure”. The Nutcracker, Winter 2018, New Victoria Theatre, pp. 12-13.
The Nutcracker. Choreographed by Peter Wright after Lev Ivanov, performance by Alina Cojocaru, Miyako Yoshida and Royal Ballet. 2001, Opus Arte, 2001.
The Nutcracker. Choreographed by Peter Wright after Lev Ivanov, performance by Francesca Hayward, Lauren Cuthbertson, and Royal Ballet. 2016, Opus Arte, 2017.
Watts, Graham. “Review: English National Ballet – The Nutcracker- London Coliseum”. londondance.com, 15 Dec. 2014, http://londondance.com/articles/reviews/english-national-ballet-the-nutcracker-2014/.. Accessed 20 Dec. 2018.
Wiley, Roland John. Tchaikovsky’s Ballets. Clarendon Press, 1985.
Author britishballetnowandthenPosted on December 26, 2018 February 16, 2019 Format ChatCategories The NutcrackerTags #britishballet, #BritishBalletNow&Then, #Christmas, #Clara, #Drosselmeyer, #ENB, #ENBallet, #Nureyev, #Nutcracker, #RoyalBallet, #Schaufuss, #SugarPlumFairy, #Tchaikovsky2 Comments on The Nutcracker Now & Then
War Ballets Now & Then
War Ballets Now
Over the last four years the arts have played an inestimable role in the commemoration of the First World War Centenary, notably the poppy installations and tour, and Peter Jackson’s They Shall Not Grow Old, broadcast on national television on Armistice Day. New ballets have been created by British choreographers for British companies dealing specifically with aspects of the Great War. This month sees the premiere of a new work by Alastair Marriott, The Unknown Soldier, for the Royal Ballet, while in September English National Ballet repeated its 2014 programme Lest We Forget comprising No Man’s Land by Liam Scarlett, Russell Maliphant’s Second Breath, and Akram Khan’s Dust.
But as we revaluate this War and its significance a century on, how can choreographers in an art form known for its conservative traditions and codes engage with the topic to make it meaningful and relatable to contemporary audiences?
We have chosen two of the ballets from ENB’s Lest We Forget for our discussion, No Man’s Land and Dust, because they approach this task in very different ways. In many regards No Man’s Land is quite traditional, with costumes clearly representing the era, and its choreography based on classical ballet vocabulary and technique, with emotion-laden pas de deux incorporating sweeping runs, lifts and catches, embraces and swoon, supported pirouettes and promenades. However, there are less traditional choreographic features, which in conjunction with an ingenious set create a work that starts to question the role of experience of men and women in the War and the spaces they occupied.
Even on its own the set, designed by Jon Bauser, ingeniously represents the title of the work No Man’s Land: “Disputed ground between the front lines or trenches of two opposing armies” (“no man’s land def. 1.1”). Only in this case the dispute seems to be where exactly the men and women belong and where the War is being fought. A shattered opening in a partially destroyed munitions factory upstage leads to and from the battlefields. Ramps and steps connect the opening to the empty downstage area which serves as a fluid location where life both at home and life at war are depicted.
When the women are working in the factory, fatigued and lethargic in their repetitive, mechanical movements, they are in fact preparing explosives to destroy enemy soldiers while their own beloved soldiers are in their line of vision; and they are poisoning themselves in the process. This appalling irony is encapsulated in the incisive words of Luke Jennings, who describes the women as “separated from their loved ones even as they themselves fed the production line of slaughter”. Both the men and the women walk wearily along the ramps, and the women sit in stillness waiting on the steps. For news. For the inevitable. For dreaded confirmation of the worst. In this way movement and design create a synergy that emphasises the everyday anxiety and repetitive monotony of war life as well as its extreme emotions.
Central to No Man’s Land are three duets that express these extreme emotions. The first and third represent parting: parting for the battlefield and parting for the grave. The middle duet, however, is more distinct in character. Here a soldier returns from war to a difficult homecoming, but clearly doesn’t feel that he belongs at home any more; for us this was the most poignant of the duets. As is still traditional in ballet, the women are the emotional heart of the work, but the men also make emotional bonds with their fellow fighters, with the result that their home relationships are also unsettled, disrupted, under dispute – it’s not clear where their hearts belong – and the bonds they made on active service, the losses they endured are disrupting the lives they knew and longed to return to.
Of all the war themed dance works we have seen created within this centenary period, in our opinion Akram Khan’s Dust offers the most modern representation of the conflict with his radical portrayal of the female role in particular, providing an alternative to the male-centric narrative traditionally told. Throughout the piece, the female dancers demonstrate physical strength through firm, decisive movements, alongside a sense of independence reinforced through the absence of men within the large female-only section of the piece. Here the female dancers deliver sharp, percussive, grounded movements which complement, even embolden the strong accents of the accompanying drum beat. The repetition of their movement, along with their regimented unity and “piston-pumping arms” (Mackrell), provide the feeling that they are working with machinery, without the need for props; in fact, they almost seem to become machines themselves. Not only does this demonstrate, as articulated by Zoë Anderson, the notion of “growing independence” (65) for women during this time, but also shifts the female WWI role away from being confined to grief, to being active contributors to the war effort. This is further enhanced through the use of the famous WWI song, “We’re here, because we’re here” within the closing duet. These words, usually associated with male soldiers in the trenches, accompanying a duet performed by both a male and a female dancer, points towards the idea that women should be included within this use of the word “we’re” and that their contribution to the war effort should be equally valued.
Raised in South London as the son of Bangladeshi parents, Khan’s cultural identity is complex. As a result, immigrant identity is often central to his work (Patterson). Our knowledge of this fact invites a reading of Dust in relation to the ethnic pluralisation of British national identity; an identity which both World Wars have played a large part in constructing. For instance, when the piece was first performed in 2014, Khan offered an alternative to the overriding image of the white western male solider dominant within British collective remembrance by performing the lead male role himself. Similarly, Japanese ballerina Erina Takahashi performed the lead female role when the piece was performed on the Pyramid Stage of Glastonbury Festival in 2014, again presenting an alternative to the dominant image of the war as a solely westernised conflict.
When considering the ever increasing awareness of mental health in recent years, Khan’s focus on what is now recognised as post-traumatic stress disorder, again demonstrates how Dust offers a 21st Century understanding of the conflict. The male soloist’s sharp, erratic twitching motions, which appear to be beyond his control, arguably make for uncomfortable viewing, yet poignantly bring the horrors of this conflict to life. We find this even more visceral than Wilfred Owen’s Mental Cases (1918), which graphically describes soldiers suffering from shell shock.
War Ballets Then
One of the war ballets from the past we are sure you will be very familiar with. Kenneth MacMillan’s Gloria, inspired by Testament of Youth and an overt memorialisation of World War I, has been staged by the Royal Ballet repeatedly since its premiere in 1980, and has been staged across the globe. Last year for the first time Northern Ballet took the work into its repertoire.
Antony Tudor’s Echoing of Trumpets, created for Royal Swedish Ballet in 1963, will be less familiar to the British ballet public, although it was performed by London Festival Ballet (later ENB) from 1973 to 1990. The visual impact of Echoing of Trumpets and No Man’s Land is similar, in that again the stage is dominated by an evocative set, this time representing a destroyed village, with stone ruins, archways, and again with ramps, and a view through a barbed wire fence into a bleak barren distance. Judith Chazin-Bennahum describes it as “harsh, jagged, multi-level” and notes that one of the women oversees the surroundings from a higher level (432). This is also a “no man’s land” in the sense that the village is bereft of its male inhabitants – only the women remain.
The work has a connection to a particular incident from World War II – the destruction of a Czechoslovakian village and brutalisation of its female inhabitants by Hitler’s forces in 1942. While there seems to be some contention as to whether or not the women are raped by the soldiers (Kisselgoff; Perlmutter 272), there is no doubt that the women are depicted as human beings of enormous strength, courage and willpower, capable of intense rage that leads them to commit acts of violence, and intense grief that equips them with preternatural physical strength. After the soldiers viciously hang a villager who has returned to see his beloved, the women wreak their revenge by strangling one of their tormentors with their scarves. The bereaved woman hauls the corpse around the stage in her searing anger and despair. Footage of the ballet shows the women to be forceful in their movements, conspiratorial, bold, united and unhesitant in their decision making (Antony Tudor; “Antony Tudor’s Echoing of the Trumpets”). So the women are victims, but not completely devoid of power over their situation. And they don’t align with typical representations of women in ballet whose power lies in their ethereality, seductiveness or desire and ability to wreak havoc and cause evil.
Yet, while the women’s dancing in Echoing of Trumpets is emotionally resonant at the deepest level, the movement is also stark, and in this way the work is reminiscent of Tudor’s 1937 Dark Elegies, which also deals with devastating loss and grief. Jennifer Homans describes the choreography as without “hysteria or emoting” and highlights the simplicity of the closing scene: “a few desolate gestures, such as a woman cradling a friend’s head in her hands” (481). Tudor’s extraordinary gift for expressing the very depth of emotion by such economy of means can perhaps be seen to a lesser degree in the stillness of Scarlett’s women sitting on the steps of No Man’s Land.
Before 2014 and the creation of the Lest We Forget ballets, notably Dust, Kenneth MacMillan’s Gloria was indubitably the most prominent British war ballet. MacMillan had deeply personal reasons for wanting to create a war ballet, particularly one evoking the First World War, as his father was gassed at the Battle of the Somme, but the catalyst was the 1979 BBC TV dramatisation of Testament of Youth. As in the case of Dust, the music score is highly significant – Francis Poulenc’s Gloria, after which the ballet is named, is in essence a celebratory piece of music written for the Catholic Mass, and as such there is a painful irony about its use in juxtaposition to the visual impact of the ballet. As the curtain rises and the dancers emerge from the back of the stage walking up over Andy Klunder’s sparse slanting construct, reminiscent of both trench and grave, images of World War I start to flood the stage: the men’s Brodie helmets, the sombre hues of their tattered costumes and the scenery, dark with the reds and browns of the bloody trenches; and later on the pointing finger of Lord Kitchener’s iconic recruitment poster.
In this work there is a distinct differentiation between the movement dynamics choreographed for the men and women: in accordance with traditional ballet values, the men use stronger weight, and are far more grounded than the women, whose light-weight movements and wraith-like appearance resemble the ethereality of Romantic ballet’s sylphs and wilis from La Sylphide (F. Taglioni, 1832) and Giselle (Coralli/Perrot, 1841) respectively. Elizabeth Robinson draws a vivid picture of the gendered movement and costume working in conjunction with one another: “The men appear to be part of the earth, with rust coloured unitards and grounded movement, whilst the women offer an ethereal contrast: white, shining unitards beneath a gauzy, flowing, chiffon skirt, with vertical, high level choreography” (24). The women appear as phantoms, haunting visions of a young life of hopes and dreams lost forever, perhaps, and consequently physically absent from both battlefield and the war effort. This does not however fully represent the reality of the female experience in WWI: Brittain herself, for example, was a military nurse throughout the War, as well as losing both her brother and her fiancé. Robinson recognises this and offers an interpretation of the women’s choreography as symbolic of psychological and emotional trauma:
The often calmer and higher movement vocabulary arguably aligns their movement with the psychological trauma of war, as a representation of another, less visceral, but still traumatic war experience. Their height and verticality suggests a distance away from the frontline of fighting, so closely aligned with the ground, but their calm movement vocabulary betrays a lethargy that suggests another type of battle-weary sorrow. (33)
We find it interesting that the representation of women in these ballets varies so markedly from one work to the next. Women’s contribution to the war effort has been highlighted in documentaries and news bulletins during these centenary years, and as such it is completely appropriate that their physical and emotional strength, their courage and endurance has been recognised in the two Lest We Forget ballets, as well as in Echoing of Trumpets. But it is Dust that also foregrounds other hidden and forgotten aspects of the War – the extreme trauma, the invaluable contribution made by people of diverse backgrounds – and in so doing demonstrates how ballet, conservative and tradition-bound though it can be, is an art form for our times.
Next time on British Ballet Now and Then… English National Ballet has been touring MacMillan’s Manon this autumn, and there will be performances in the new year at the London Coliseum. However, Mia Stensgaard’s designs are markedly different from the originals by Nicholas Georgiadis. Therefore we will be thinking about how this affects the interpretation of the ballet in “Manon Designs Now and Then”.
Anderson, Zoë. “Lest We Forget”. Dancing Times, vol. 106, no. 1262, 2005, pp. 65.
Antony Tudor. Directed by Viola Aberlè and Gerd Andersson. Dance Horizons Video, 1992.
“Antony Tudor’s Echoing of the Trumpets”. YouTube, uploaded 11 Mar. 2012, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BWCcbv7UtOo. Accessed 26 Oct. 2018.
Chazin-Bennahum, Judith. “Echoing of Trumpets”. International Dictionary of Ballet, vol. 1, St. James Press, 1993.
Jennings, Luke. “La Fille mal gardée; Lest We Forget – review”. The Guardian, 6 Apr. 2014, http://www.theguardian.com/stage/2014/apr/06/fille-mal-gardee-mikhailovsky-lest-we-forget-enb-review. Accessed 26 Oct. 2018.
Kisselgoff, Anna. “Reviews/Dance; Tragedies that Follow the Trumpets of War”. The New York Times, 6 May 1994, http://www.nytimes.com/1994/05/26/arts/reviews-dance-tragedies-that-follow-the-trumpets-of-war.html. Accessed 26 Oct. 2018.
Mackrell, Judith. “English National Ballet: Lest We Forget review – Compelling quartet on war”, The Guardian, 3 Apr. 2014, http://www.theguardian.com/stage/2014/apr/03/enb-lest-we-forget-review. Accessed 13 Nov. 2018.
“No man’s land”.English Oxford Living Dictionaries, https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/no_man’s_land. Accessed 26 Oct 2018.
Perlmutter, Donna. Shadowplay: the life of Antony Tudor. Viking, 1991.
Robinson, Elizabeth. Dancing Remebrance: examining the intersection of Romantic ideas and First World War memoralisation in Kenneth MacMillan’s Gloria (1980). Royal Academy of Dance, 2018. Unpublished dissertation.
Author britishballetnowandthenPosted on November 16, 2018 December 14, 2018 Categories War BalletsTags #ballethistory, #britishballet, #dust, #EchoingofTrumpets, #ENB, #ENBallet, #greatwar, #lestweforget, #LiamScarlett, #MacMillan, #NoMansLand, #RoyalBallet, #Tudor, #UnknownSoldier, #warballets, #womenandwar, #WW1, AkramKhan, GloriaLeave a comment on War Ballets Now & Then
Spotlight on James Streeter of English National Ballet
James Streeter as Carabosse in English National Ballet’s The Sleeping Beauty © Laurent Liotardo
On October 5th Julia and Rosie went to Markova House, headquarters of English National Ballet, to watch company class and talk to James Streeter.
In our last Britishballetnowandthen post we wrote about male dancers and their impact on the development of performance style and repertoire in British ballet. One of the dancers we focussed on was James Streeter and the way in which he brings each character that he dances to life, no matter how varied or disparate. As we researched, discussed and wrote about James, remembering his performances in various roles, we became increasingly intrigued … How does James ignite the choreography with such real-life substance? How does he give the characters their lifeblood? And what is it that makes James Streeter the dancer seem to disappear and leave us with the human being of the story?
Our curiosity led us to ask for an interview with him in which we discovered that his ability to inhabit a role seems to be intrinsically connected to a particular view of life: James sees life as a constantly evolving journey peopled by fascinating human beings all with their individual histories and ways of being.
James’ relish for life is evident in the bright enthusiasm of his features, and his love for his work permeated the discussion, which was continually peppered with lively gestures and facial expressions culminating in a demonstration of the different ways a man and woman might get up from the table – a mesmerising “performance” in itself.
Although James seemed unsure whether he has a natural thespian talent (a doubt not shared by ourselves, having watched him perform in numerous roles and now having sat for an hour seeing him spontaneously transform himself into a plethora of characters mid-sentence), the trajectory of his career from joining the English National Ballet straight from the school leaves no room for doubt as to his dramatic flair. His first stage role was the Lead Capulet Servant in Rudolf Nureyev’s Romeo and Juliet (1977), but as a young Company member he was also given the role of Tybalt in the same ballet, as well as the Duke of Courland in the traditional version of Giselle (Coralli/Perrot, 1841). This information was delivered to us accompanied by hilarious stories of puzzled looks from the wigs department or disgruntled remarks from more senior colleagues sharing the same role at the sight of so green a performer taking on roles of some maturity.
It seems clear that one of the keys to James’ success in giving life to characters is the fact that he recognises the complexity of human nature. Tybalt, for example, he perceives not simply as the aggressive villain of Romeo and Juliet, but as a young man who loves his cousin Juliet, and is aware of his status within the family, even though he as yet lacks the maturity and stability of mind to be able to recognise the consequences of his seething temper. James is very aware that what might feel right to him in terms of his reading of the character when preparing a role may not be clearly perceived by the audience, so he makes sure that checking his character in the mirror is integral to the preparation and rehearsal process. And reviews of his performance in this role do suggest that his reading of Tybalt reaches over the footlights, with both Zoe Anderson and Mark Monahan recognising a duality within Romeo’s enemy: “James Streeter’s Tybalt has affection for Juliet as well as family pride” (Anderson); “Streeter dared to be almost sympathetic in an early scene with his cousin, but later tapped wells of white-hot ferocity in his disappointment at her choice of beau” (Monahan).
One of James’ most celebrated roles is Carabosse in the classical Sleeping Beauty (Petipa, 1890), a character who on the surface could be interpreted as a straightforward symbol of evil. Although we didn’t manage to see James in this role in the recent run of performances at the London Coliseum, (we saw a terrifying, chilling Stina Quagebeur), we were captivated by Luke Jennings’ description of James’ “fabulously vicious Carabosse, who prowls the stage with the sallow features and madly crimped hair of a vengeful Tudor queen”. We queried James about the reference to Elizabeth I, wondering whether he made a connection between the two women, their childlessness highlighted by the celebration of a long desired baby princess. He responded with a vision of Carabosse as an individual who has been ostracised for no good reason, maybe simply for being different, whose bitterness and desire for revenge are to some degree forgivable. An evil fairy she may be, but one who experiences the depths of human disappointment and hurt, who can therefore give us insight into human nature, and for whom James clearly has some sympathy.
As we discussed the whys and wherefores of Carabosse’s nature, James showed us with ever-changing dynamics in gestures and mien the difference between a camp depiction of Carabosse and the same character portrayed through feminine body language. During the conversation he observed and mimicked to a T Julia’s hand and arm gestures, giving them as an example of how he draws on everyday life and people’s changing demeanour in creating believable and relatable characters.
From James’ perspective he has only a few weeks to create a whole life history for the character he is portraying and to discover ways of moving true to the character’s history and temperament. He constantly asks himself how the person would react to everyday occurrences, such as being jostled in the tube. Tube journeys are one daily opportunity to observe people’s body language, features of which he then incorporates into a reservoir of visible traits that he uses to depict character. Early on in his career it was suggested to him that if he could behave in character during a tube ride without drawing attention to himself, he would know that he “had” the character, so to speak.
But this doesn’t quite address the question of exactly how James manages to look as if he is walking into a room rather than walking onto the stage, so real and apparently spontaneous is his demeanour. So probably the most pressing question for us was the relationship between preparing for a role and allowing himself “to be truly in the moment” (qtd. in O’Byrne). In this part of the discussion James acknowledged the influence of both Akram Khan and Tamara Rojo. He smiled at his younger self, remembering how after preparing and rehearsing with great rigour he then wanted every performance to be identical in accordance with his painstaking preparations, as if he wanted it to be “exactly right”. But with experience came the confidence to be more spontaneous in performance.
We have experienced watching Tamara Rojo in a run of performances in the same ballet and revelled in the immediacy of her renditions, varying as they did from night to night, as if she were reborn into the role each time. James explained to us that in rehearsals of Akram Khan’s Dustan Giselle Tamara Rojo and he would spend a lot of time discussing character, motivation and feeling, but also experimenting and discovering the limits of movement and emotion. This then enabled them to give performances that were authentic to the characters, their feelings and relationships, without being overdramatised.
And just as our feelings, moods and behaviours as human beings fluctuate from day to day, James perceives each performance to be a new day for his character. As he prepares for each performance a kind of transformation takes place, for which costume, wig and make-up are crucial. Now he embodies all his ideas about the character’s history, temperament, status, mood, typical gestures, posture and facial expressions, using his observations from theatre, film, art, literature and daily life, and moves into the performance as if experiencing events and responding to the people around him for the first time – as if in real life. But James did also discuss a specific unknowable factor that feeds into this sense of spontaneity and freshness, that is, the energy of the audience, a phenomenon which James clearly feels keenly and that can give the performance an extraordinary sense of occasion. A recent example that he cited was English National Ballet’s performance of Lest We Forget to the Royal British Legion, the memory of which noticeably still fills him with awe.
Amongst the dancers whose influence and support James talked about with visible ardour and gratitude were Michael Coleman, Lionel Delanoë, Frederic Jahn, Matz Skoog, Fabian Reimair, and above all David Wall. Because James’ admiration for this great actor-dancer was so prevalent within the discussion, and we wrote about David Wall’s interest in theatre in our last post, we asked James more particularly about the importance of theatre for his work, and discovered that James not only enjoys both cinema and theatre, but has quite an analytical approach to acting, relishing the finer points of skilful acting. The only point at which James hesitated in the course of our conversation was when we asked him about actors whom he particularly admired: he was clearly perplexed by the number of actors that inspire his admiration. However, given that the British ballet world seems to be entranced by the BBC’s Killing Eve, based as it is on the fictional writing of The Observer dance critic Luke Jennings, it was apt that he then proceeded to describe a scene from Episode 2 of this drama (“I’ll Deal with him Later”). Set in the pub, two of the protagonists, Bill and Eve, deliver a minimal script:
Bill: Did you know about his wife?
Eve: Mm-hmm. You?
Bill: Mm-hmm
Eve: Oh those poor kids …
Bill: Yeah.
Yet the delivery of the script is laced with sardonic, wry humour, and James’ appreciation for the skill of the actor David Haig in giving the scene its sharp wit flowed exuberantly through his description of this snippet of the episode that had lodged itself so firmly in his memory.
During our talk James was brimming with delight regarding this profession that allows him to create a “bubble”, a world for his character who lives a completely different life from his own. Because he enters this bubble anew at each performance, he makes fresh “discoveries”, as he calls them, that he can use to enrich his understanding and portrayal of the character in subsequent performances. As we have witnessed on stage, this is an approach that he takes to all of his roles. He explained that in the culture of English National Ballet, the notion of a minor character does not in fact exist. When the Company first staged Petipa’s classical Le Corsaire in 2013, as Artistic Director, Tamara Rojo insisted that the curtain rise on a bustling, vibrant marketplace teeming with folks of all kinds, some intent on going about their business, others more interested in the dramatic action going on around them.
As our conversation came to a close, like the gentleman he clearly is, James thanked Julia for the hand gestures she had inadvertently introduced to him, assuring her that he would make use of them one day.
We are very grateful for the support of Alice Gibson, PR Manager, and Laurent Liotardo, Staff Photographer, for their support in the production of this post.
Anderson, Zoe. “Romeo and Juliet, Royal Festival Hall, London, review”. Independent, 2 Aug. 2017, http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/theatre-dance/reviews/romeo-and-juliet-royal-festival-hall-london-review-an-uphill-struggle-a7872441.html. Accessed 14 Oct. 2018.
“I’ll Deal with Him Later”. Killing Eve, series 1 episode 2, BBC, 29 Sept. 2018, http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p06kc8mb. Accessed 17 Oct. 2019.
Jennings, Luke. “English National Ballet: The Sleeping Beauty review – a way with the fairies”.The Guardian, 10 June 2018, http://www.theguardian.com/stage/2018/jun/10/english-national-ballet-sleeping-beauty-review-alina-cojacaru. Accessed 6 Oct. 2018.
Monahan, Mark. “ENB make Nureyev’s drama soar – Romeo and Juliet, Festival Hall, review”. The Telegraph, 2 Aug. 2017, http://www.telegraph.co.uk/dance/ballet/enb-make-nureyevs-drama-soar-romeo-juliet-festival-hall-review/. Accessed 14 Oct. 2018.
O’Byrne, Ellie. “Classic Love Story gets a Modern Twist”. Irish Examiner, 23 Apr. 2018, http://www.irishexaminer.com/breakingnews/lifestyle/culture/classic-love-story-gets-a-modern-twist-838618.html. Accessed 6 Oct. 2018.
Author britishballetnowandthenPosted on October 31, 2018 Categories Spotlight on James Streeter from English National BalletTags #actor, #actordancer, #ballet, #ballethistory, #british, #britishballet, #Britishballetnowandthen, #Carabosse, #dancehistory, #DavidHaig, #DavidWall, #dust, #ENB, #FabianReimair, #jamesstreeter, #KillingEve, #LaurentLiotardo, #lestweforget, #LukeJennings, #maledancers, #MarkMonahan, #Romeo&Juliet, #RoyalBritishLegion, #sleepingbeauty, #spotlight, #tamararojo, #Tybalt, #ZoeAnderson, AkramKhan, Giselle1 Comment on Spotlight on James Streeter of English National Ballet
Male Dancers in British Ballet Now & Then
Every year ballet lovers await with excited anticipation the announcement of promotions in the hope that there will be good news for their favourite dancers. This year has seen some significant promotions amongst male dancers: Fernando Carratalá Coloma and James Streeter of English National Ballet, Mlindi Kulashe and Joseph Taylor from Northern, and The Royal Ballet’s Matthew Ball. So altogether a good excuse for us to focus our attention on particular male dancers who have played a notable, even remarkable, role in British ballet companies and repertoire. Although dancers often contribute in ways other than dancing, for example through choreographing, directing, coaching, and outreach programmes, we are concentrating on the influence of the dancing careers of our selected danseur son British ballet. As our focus we have chosen three dancers who have until recently performed, or are still performing, with British companies, and three from an earlier generation. In our male dancers now section we are discussing Carlos Acosta, Eric Underwood and James Streeter. We hope that you will discover the reasons for our choices as you read on …
Male Dancers Now
Two years ago Carlos Acosta staged The Classical Farewell at the Royal Albert Hall, marking the end of one stage of his career. This autumn sees a celebration of his 30-year career at the same venue, and on October 15thhe will be receiving a Queen Elizabeth II Coronation Award. These events are tangible evidence of the importance of Britain to Acosta’s career as well as his influence on ballet in this country. Winner of the Prix de Lausanne competition at the age of 16, the Cuban Carlos Acosta became one of the most celebrated dancers of his generation. He was still a teenager when Ivan Nagy, artistic director of English National Ballet at that time, invited him to perform with the company. Despite enjoying an international career, Acosta’s dancing life was concentrated in London, at the Royal Ballet, where he was principal guest artist from 2003 to 2016. As well as being an extraordinary dancer, Acosta was a wonderfully supportive, thoughtful and sensitive partner, known in particular for his partnerships with Tamara Rojo and Marianela Núñez.
Famed for being the first black principal at the Royal Ballet, his popularity as a dancer was perhaps fuelled by the stark contrast between the well documented poverty of his childhood in the backstreets of Havana and his technical ability in what is so often considered to be an elitist art form, lending a certain “exotic” element to his profile. Tales of his breakdancing on the streets in the 1980s have been eagerly pitted against his fabulously successful career in ballet. One of the reasons for this success was undoubtedly that despite his understandable protestations that he had “no clue” how to portray a prince onstage, he appeared to perform the classical roles with great ease, as if to the manner born. The way in which he took to the stage with a nobility of bearing, combined with luscious épaulement and amplitude of movement was magnificently complemented his virtuosity. The stylishness of his dancing was shaped by the ways in which he tempered the athletic thrust of his dancing. This he achieved through his sophisticated control and phrasing, for example by decelerating at the end of multiple pirouettes in order to accentuate a clean finish, and through the easy rhythm of his dancing. And unforgettable are his tours en l’air travelling downstage in the coda of Siegfried’s solo in the Black Act of Swan Lake, which despite the complexity of the setting chosen by Acosta communicate the ebullience and excitement felt by Siegfried at this point in the narrative. This balance of bravura matched with elegant style and expressivity made Acosta a remarkable exponent of the 19thcentury repertoire so vital to large-scale companies such as the Royal Ballet. In a review of Swan Lake Ismene Brown said of him: “This Cuban with the athlete’s body and the noble poet’s soul is a dancer one can hardly have enough of”. So fortunately Acosta’s repertoire was broad, including works by Frederick Ashton, George Balanchine, Kenneth MacMillan and William Forsythe.
James Streeter, who has just been promoted to First Soloist at English National Ballet, is striking in a different way from Acosta. Firstly, in this age of transnationalism, multiculturalism and portfolio careers, it is noticeable that after completing his training at English National Ballet School, he entered the Company in 2004 and has remained there as a dancer, moving up the ranks and expanding his repertoire. Perhaps this stability in his professional life is something that has enabled him to develop what appears to be a natural dramatic talent, but we are convinced that this must be an aspect of his work that he has striven to develop over time. For the range of Streeter’s acting abilities seems to us to be unsurpassable. No matter how minor the role, whether it be a mime or dancing role, comic, tragic or romantic, Streeter inhabits it, bringing the character to life. “Minor” characters with whom we are so familiar that they almost seem to dissolve into the rest of the stage action suddenly emerge in graphic relief with an almost uncanny vividness. We experienced this for example in his portrayal of the English Prince in Act I of The Sleeping Beauty (Petipa, 1890), whose main purpose is to support Aurora reliably and sensitively in the “Rose Adagio”. As important as this task is to the performance, Streeter in addition imbued the potentially cardboard cut-out Prince with credibility as a human being. As he strode energetically across the stage, impressively flourishing his cavalier hat, the Prince sprang to life as a worthy contender for Aurora’s hand. In stark contrast is Streeter’s “fabulously vicious Carabosse, who prowls the stage with the sallow features and madly crimped hair of a vengeful Tudor queen” (Jennings, “English National Ballet”). Luke Jennings’ evocative description conveys the quality and force of Streeter’s movements and expressions that enable him to embody the evil nature of the Fairy and dominate the stage revealing her in all her crazed malevolence. But even in MacMillan’s Song of the Earth, a work inclined towards more abstract representation, Streeter stands out as a member of the group in the Fourth Song “Of Beauty”, with the boldness and buoyancy of his dancing that imbues the role with character and makes the choreography seem fresh and vivid.
In our opinion Streeter’s ability to inject lifeblood into a role and project character, mood and emotion across the footlights has been brought to fulfilment in Akram Khan’s 2016 re-envisaging of Giselle in which he dances the role of Albrecht, a character torn by moral dilemmas, who in the course of the ballet is guilty of betrayal and cowardice, but at the same time is gripped by love, anger, jealousy, fear and remorse. Although Streeter recognises that Albrecht’s infidelity and the part he plays in Giselle’s death “hardly makes him a likeable character”, he also regards Albrecht as a victim of the class system (O’Byrne). And despite the technical challenges and stylistic hybridity of the choreography Streeter comes across above all as a human being expressing the emotions that have arisen in him from his situation. This achievement was recognised in the 18thNational Dance Awards in November, when he was nominated for the Dance Europe Award for Outstanding Male performance (classical).
Of our three selected dancers, the one whose name is most closely associated with specific choreographers is Eric Underwood, who became celebrated as a muse for both Wayne McGregor and Christopher Wheeldon, Resident Choreographer and Artistic Associate of the Royal Ballet respectively. Joining the Royal Ballet in 2006 from American Ballet Theatre, Underwood drew media attention for his ethnicity as an African American and a childhood dominated by violent crime, as well as for his modelling career (Rafanelli). Due to his height (6 foot 2 inches) and quiet but magnetic energy, he cut an imposing figure on stage. Like Acosta he formed significant partnerships, and the recording of McGregor’s Infra (2008) and Limen (2009) shows exactly why. Not only is there an arresting contrast between the paleness in skin tone of Sarah Lamb and Melissa Hamilton and the rich darkness of Underwood’s skin, but his attentiveness and skill in working together with the ballerinas gives seamless expression to the choreography, while the intensity of his gaze emphasises its sensuousness and dramatic potential.
The same works by McGregor reveal an interesting combination of features integral to Underwood’s individual movement style: on the one hand an exceptional ability to articulate the torso in fluid, rippling movements and to execute a huge range in extension; on the other, the ability to create long classical lines and sculptural poses of great beauty.
Underwood himself recognises the good fortune he has had in working with McGregor and the impact this collaboration has had on the development of ballet as an art form. In a 2015 interview he stated: “Wayne’s work offers me great opportunities to explore new movements, new forms of ballet …These newer forms of ballet bring new vitality, a limitless sense of creativity to rejuvenate the art of ballet”. We would go further than this and suggest that Underwood’s collaborations with two choreographers so central to the work of the Royal Ballet have created a new strand of the English style originally established by Ninette de Valois and Ashton. In his perceptive review of Limen, Luke Jennings draws our attention to a lineage we might not otherwise notice: “… when Lamb, lifted by Underwood, performs little gallops in the air, the sequence could have been created by Ashton”.
Yet as the Royal Ballet embarks on a run of MacMillan’s Mayerling, it is deliciously tempting to imagine what a performance of this led by Underwood and Hamilton would be like. And picture Underwood’s Romeo opposite Sarah Lamb’s Juliet …These are roles that the dancer named in 2010 as Royal Ballet repertoire that he coveted the most. Or what about Oberon in Ashton’s The Dream, a character that demands superb command of the stage in addition to great partnering skills, fluidity of movement and clean penché arabeques? We would have welcomed the opportunity to witness Underwood commanding the stage in a greater variety of roles. Unfortunately, given that he left the Royal Ballet last year having reached the rank of soloist in 2008, it is unlikely that our wish-list for Underwood’s repertoire will be fulfilled.
Male Dancers Then
From the 1960s to 1980s there were three prominent male dancers who played similar roles in the development of British ballet to Acosta, Streeter and Underwood: Rudolf Nureyev, the international ballet superstar who had such a monumental impact on the status of male dancing in the West (Freeman and Thorpe 116); the supreme dance-actor David Wall; and Anthony Dowell, one of Frederick Ashton’s muses, who personified the notion of the English style of ballet.
Surely no one could have foretold the arrival of Nureyev from the Soviet Union in 1961 and the stupendous impact that he would have on the world of ballet, including the development of the art form in this country. By the time Nureyev defected, the Royal Ballet had established itself as a company of international repute with Margot Fonteyn still at its helm, London Festival Ballet was in its twelfth year, Rambert was still operating as a ballet company, and the troupe that was to become Scottish Ballet had already been formed. In the course of his long and extremely active performing career Nureyev performed with all of these companies, undoubtedly raising their profile with his prodigious talent, energy and unrivalled fame.
De Valois and Ashton had led the development of a choreographic and performing style that had become recognisably “English”, embodied by the Royal Ballet’s internationally acclaimed Prima Ballerina Margot Fonteyn. Yet the arrival of Nureyev not only most famously prolonged and enhanced Fonteyn’s career, but also galvanised a generation of British male dancers to new technical and dramatic heights, thereby elevating the status of the male dancer in this country. David Wall, who at the age of 20 became the Royal Ballet’s youngest male principal, declared that Nureyev had had a “life-changing effect” on his perception of male ballet dancers (“Obituaries”).
Nureyev took the British ballet audience by storm. The combination of his glamour and charisma, his virtuosic Russian technique, voracious appetite for work, and the ferocity of his passion for the art form were unprecedented in British ballet, though it is important not to forget that ballet as a national enterprise was still a young art form when Nureyev became permanent guest artist with the Royal Ballet in 1962. Both Ashton and MacMillan created roles for Nureyev, most famously the male protagonist partnering Fonteyn in Marguerite and Armand (Ashton, 1963). However, we find it interesting that in 1960, the year before Nureyev’s arrival in the West, Frederick Ashton had already created a major role for a male dancer in his La Fille mal gardée.
Colas, the male protagonist in La Fille mal gardée, was choreographed on the British David Blair, and is a virtuoso role in comic disguise requiring enormous strength and dexterity in terms of both dance and partnering technique. In fact over the following two decades, while Nureyev was still guest artist with the Company, both choreographers concentrated on the young British dancers, creating complex characters through inventive and challenging choreography that were at least as central to the works as the ballerina roles. Striking examples of roles created on Dowell are Oberon in The Dream (1964) and Believe in A Month in the Country (1976), both created by Ashton, and Des Grieux from MacMillan’s 1974 Manon. For David Wall the creation of works, which included Lescaut, Manon’s scheming brother, culminated in the role of Rudolph in MacMillan’s Mayerling (1978), a prodigious role, still 40 years later, unsurpassed as a male dancing role. Even though Nureyev controversially danced the eponymous hero on the first night of MacMillan’s Romeo and Juliet, the three central male characters were created on three British dancers: Christopher Gable as Romeo, David Blair as Mercutio and Anthony Dowell as Benvolio.
As part of our research we discovered that Wall’s natural dramatic flair was noted by the critic Clive Barnes early on in his career when he performed the Persian Princein the “Rose Adagio” (Freeman and Thorpe 131), a wonderfully serendipitous parallel with our own experience of watching James Streeter. Wall had a passion for theatre that clearly fed into his approach to his roles, enhancing his instinctive talent and enabling him to create ambiguous characters such as Lescaut and Rudolf with consummate skill. As stated in his Telegraph obituary, “MacMillan saw in Wall a performer brave and curious enough to develop a new kind of male ballet character, enabling more complicated and realistic storytelling than the traditional hero-heroine format”. Very similar to Streeter’s interpretation of Albrecht, Wall went to pains to communicate what he perceived as Rudolf’s sympathetic side (“Mayerling”). Again The Telegraph highlighted his “ability to find pathos in even the most damaged of characters”.
Dowell was a dancer of a different ilk, specifically known for his embodiment of the English style of his era with its emphasis on refined classical lines, lyricism, musicality and understated virtuosity. Both Ashton and MacMillan used these attributes in solos for Dowell in The Dream, The Sleeping Beauty (Ashton’s 1968 interpolation for the Prince), Manon and A Month in the Country with swooping, yearning or elegiac arabesques and elegantly challenging turns. In his analysis of Dowell’s dancing Jennings accentuates his “impeccable technique and purity of expression”, the “supreme elegance” of his line and the “quiet finesse of his phrasing” (“MoveTube”).
The power of Dowell’s physicality was totally different from Nureyev’s, but power it was. Jennings describes him as “perfectly proportioned … possessed of a dazzling tensile pliancy … the choreographer’s ideal instrument” (“Farewell”). He was only 21 and a member of the corps de ballet when Ashton chose him to create the role of Oberon, an event that led to a fruitful creative collaboration between the two men for almost two decades. According to Carrie Seidman, Oberon “set a new standard for male dancers of the day”. This can be seen in the speed and complexity of the Scherzo with its continuous variety of turning jumps, followed shortly afterwards by the pas de deux, which requires a quite different quality with its intricate partnering and luscious use of the body. Crucially, while Dowell himself referred to the role as “a real killer”, it was vital to him that audiences would never be aware of the effort necessitated by the deceptively challenging choreography (qtd. in Jennings, “Farewell”).
Given the enduring centrality of the pas de deux to ballet, we cannot omit the fact that celebrated partnerships were integral to the dancing careers of Nureyev, Dowell and Wall. While the Fonteyn-Nureyev is probably the most famous partnership in British ballet, and perhaps internationally too, Jennings suggests that the Sibley-Dowell partnership, which began with The Dream, was equal to it “in its empathy and intensity” (“Farewell”). Wall considered his partnering to be integral to communicating through movement (Freeman and Thorpe 138), and not only were his partnerships with Lynn Seymour and even Margot Fonteyn celebrated, but incredibly he had to partner six different ballerinas in Mayerling in addition to coping with extraordinarily demanding choreography. The Dream pas de deux performed by Sibley and Dowell is indelibly imprinted on our memory for its sheer magic, as are the pas de deux in Mayerling for their blistering sensuality when danced by Seymour and Wall.
Unlike the three dancers whom we selected from more recent years in British ballet, these three dancers had similar repertoires with the Royal Ballet, all dancing the 19thcentury classics, in addition to a range of 20thcentury work. However, their distinctiveness as performers lent a richness to the performances of the Company, enabling audiences to see a variety of articulations and interpretations of the growing and increasingly interesting repertoire for male dancers. The ways in which Dowell and Wall inspired Ashton and Macmillan, the two giants of British choreography, led to the creation of roles that continue to challenge male dancers of the highest calibre today, both in this country and internationally. Further, and equally importantly, these collaborations between choreographers and dancers upheld and enhanced two hallmarks of British ballet: the distinctive English style and an emphasis on the dramatic expressiveness of ballet.
Concluding Thoughts on Male Dancers Now and Then
What has become very clear to us in doing our research for this post is that while the ballerina indubitably still dominates the ballet stage, male dancers too have made enormous contributions to the advancement of British ballet in the 20thand 21stcenturies. However, it is not necessary for a dancer to reach the highest echelons of the ballet company hierarchy in order to make an impact on performances, the development of performance style, and repertoire. In these days of celebrity culture we feel it is crucial to emphasise this. We celebrate the momentous influence of Carlos Acosta, Anthony Dowell, Rudolf Nureyev and David Wall as dancers. But simultaneously we also look forward to tracing the legacy of Eric Underwood in future performances by male dancers in British companies and to following the continued unfolding of James Streeter’s career.
© Rosie Gerhard
Next time on British Ballet Now and Then… to mark the contribution of British ballet to the commemoration of the First World War Centenary, we will be writing a post on war ballets created by British choreographers.
Brown, Ismene. “Rojo is Queen of the Swan Queens”. The Telegraph, 29 Nov. 2002, http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/theatre/dance/3586430/Rojo-is-queen-of-the-Swan-Queens.html. Accessed 28 Sept. 2018.
Freeman, Gillian, and Edward Thorpe. Ballet Genius: twenty great dancers of the twentieth century. Equation, 1988.
Jennings, Luke. “Agon/Sphynx/Limen; Mayerling”. The Guardian, 8 Nov. 2009, http://www.theguardian.com/stage/2009/nov/08/royal-ballet-acosta-mcgregor-mayerling. Accessed 21 Sept. 2018.
—. “English National Ballet: The Sleeping Beauty review – a way with the fairies”. The Guardian, June 2018, http://www.theguardian.com/stage/2018/jun/10/english-national-ballet-sleeping-beauty-review-alina-cojacaru. Accessed 23 July, 2018.
—. “MoveTube: Anthony Dowell dances the Prince’s solo from Swan Lake Act I”. The Guardian, 10 Nov. 2011, http://www.theguardian.com/stage/2011/nov/10/movetube-anthony-dowell-swan-lake. Accessed 23 July, 2018.
“Mayerling: South Bank special, part 3, 1978”. YouTube, uploaded 21 Sept. 2013, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m41t5OKA9Y0. Accessed 8 Sept. 2018.
“Obituaries: David Wall”. The Telegraph, 20 June, 2013, http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/10133035/David-Wall.html. Accessed 23 Sept. 2018.
O’Byrne, Ellie. “Classic Love Story gets a Modern Twist”. Irish Examiner, 23 Apr. 2018, http://www.irishexaminer.com/breakingnews/lifestyle/culture/classic-love-story-gets-a-modern-twist-838618.html. Accessed 26 Sept. 2018.
Rafanelli, Stephanie. “Royal Opera House ballet star Eric Underwood: ‘I want to be a great dancer regardless of my colour’”. Evening Standard, 15 Oct. 2015, http://www.standard.co.uk/es-magazine/royal-opera-house-ballet-star-eric-underwood-i-want-to-be-a-great-dancer-regardless-of-my-colour-a3091036.html. Accessed 16 Sept. 2018.
Seidman, Carrie. “Anthony Dowell hands down his breakthrough role in Ashton″ ‘The Dream’ to Sarasota Ballet”. Herald Tribune, 24 Feb. 2018, http://www.heraldtribune.com/entertainmentlife/20180224/anthony-dowell-hands-down-his-breakthrough-role-in-ashton-the-dream-to-sarasota-ballet. Accessed 25 Sept. 2018.
Three Ballets by Wayne McGregor: Chroma, Infra, Limen. Performance by Eric Underwood, Melissa Hamilton, Sarah Lamb and The Royal Ballet, Opus Arte, 2011.
Trebay, Guy. “Eric Underwood, the American star of the Royal Ballet: ‘I never wanted to be the ‘black’ dancer – I wanted to be a great dancer’”. The Independent, 26 July 2017, http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/theatre-dance/features/eric-underwood-royal-ballet-strictly-come-dancing-al-green-marvin-gaye-a7860836.html. Accessed 15 Sept. 2018.
Underwood, Eric.Interview by Kathrina Farrugia-Kriel.“In Conversation with Eric Underwood”.Network of Pointes, vol. 35, 2015, p.25, Society of Dance History Scholars.
Author britishballetnowandthenPosted on September 28, 2018 February 15, 2019 Categories Male Dancers in British BalletTags #AnthonyDowell, #Ashton, #ballet, #britishballet, #Britishballetnowandthen, #CarlosAcosta, #DavidWall, #ENB, #EricUnderwood, #jamesstreeter, #maledancers, #McGregor, #RB, #reviews, #RudolfNureyev2 Comments on Male Dancers in British Ballet Now & Then
Ballet Critics Now & Then
Ballet Critics Now
Those of us in the UK with a keen interest in ballet and dance are very fortunate in having easy access to a number of specialist dance critics’ writing for newspapers, magazines and websites. At the start of a run of performances by either British or international companies we have the luxury of consulting a range of expert opinions on what we have seen or plan to see. Typically, reviews will offer background information on the ballet and specific production and give opinions on the components of the work and the effectiveness of the performers, as well as analyses and interpretations of the work and performance. While reviews always offer different perspectives and insights, sometimes they can even be almost diametrically opposed in their account and assessment of a performance.
So we find that reading reviews often engenders animated and interesting discussions in the bar or on our WhatsApp group or at coffee after a ballet class. You may also have noticed that we have frequently referred to the writing of critics in this blog, including Zoe Anderson, Ismene Brown, Sarah Crompton and Hannah Weibye. And this is not only a matter of supplying interesting information or a particular point of view, but sometimes these experts are able to express their thoughts in such pithy, vivid or enticing language that it enriches both our own understanding and our writing and is a pleasure to integrate into our posts. Reviews are also crucial sources for our lectures in their connection to live current performances and in bringing to life dancers and performances of the past in a more immediate way than in a traditional narrative history.
The work of a critic is extremely skilled, a fact we perhaps forget, surrounded as we are by such an array of accomplished reviewers. Candace Feck of Ohio State University expresses the complexity of writing about dance performance succinctly, but leaving the reader in no doubt as to the challenges of this kind of writing:
In lecture halls and dorm rooms, in library cubicles, newspaper offices and behind internet blog sites, laments are raised about the challenges of witnessing a fleeting and non-verbal art form and wresting from it the elements of verbal expression. Once likened to the act of placing a tattoo on a soap bubble, the task of writing about performance requires close attention to the unfolding event, a process of reflective engagement afterward and finally, the daunting business of choosing and organizing words that will convey an accurate and persuasive account of the experience to a reader once-removed. (412)
Luckily, if we want to write about a particular performance on this our Britishballetnowandthen blog, while we still experience a restless fishing for words and a struggle to get a written text to convey what we saw and our assessment of it, we only need to please ourselves and whomever we think might read our posts. Not so for writers of established newspapers, magazines and websites, who have stringent deadlines to meet and are obliged to abide by editorial constraints, for example a specific word count and brief. Therefore, it is all the more astonishing that critics are able to convey choreography and dancers with such vividness.
Critics often publish books related to dance (more of this below), but some are also celebrated for their writing beyond the realms of ballet and dance. Recently Luke Jennings of The Observer has been in the media frequently due to this year’s dramatisation of his novel Codename Villanelle by BBC America. Meanwhile, Judith Mackrell, who has been dance critic for The Guardian since 1995, published her Unfinished Palazzo last year, portraying the lives of Luisa Casati, Doris Castlerosse and Peggy Guggenheim, three women who lived in the Palazzo Venier at different points of the 20thcentury. The spring of 2021 will see the release of her Going with the Boys, a group biography of six female war correspondents during World War II. Perhaps it is this involvement in depicting other worlds and connecting with a variety of readerships that lends particular vibrancy and resonance to the writing of Jennings and Mackrell.
Recently Judith Mackrell announced that she will be leaving The Guardian. Therefore, in recognition of her contribution to dance criticism through her 32 years of being a dance critic first at The Independent, then at The Guardian, we are now going to spend some time focussing on her reviews. Obviously, we can’t in a few paragraphs do justice to her work, so in order to keep it current, we are looking specifically at some of her reviews of the Royal Ballet performing Swan Lake over the last six years, including her write-up of the Company’s new production of Swan Lake, which premiered in May of this year.
Once a production is well established, critics tend to focus on the technical performance and interpretations of the dancers. Therefore, Mackrell’s 2012 and 2015 reviews of Anthony Dowell’s 1987 production concentrate on the principal roles, in particular Odette/Odile, in both cases danced by a Russian guest – Natalia Osipova in 2012 and Evgenia Obraztsova three years later. One of the points that Mackrell highlights is the atypical approach to aspects of the dual role from both ballerinas. Our reading of Mackrell’s words is that she has distinct reservations about these particular aspects. The anger she perceives in Osipova’s Odette is deemed to create an “odd interpretation” at times, although “there are brilliant compensations” (“Royal Ballet: Swan Lake – review”). Meanwhile, Obraztsova and Steven McRae’s portrayal of Odette and Siegfried’s love is “a beautifully intimate portrait of a love affair, but it lacks the high stakes of tragedy that normally define this ballet” (“Swan Lake review – duets to die for in Royal Ballet’s disco hell”).
So far nothing unusual, you may think. However, Mackrell’s use of language is so evocative, her manipulation of words so sophisticated that the reviews draw us in. She builds up a vivid picture of Osipova’s Odette with carefully selected vocabulary: the words “defending”, “warrior”, “rage”, “urgent”, “disrupt” give the impression of an energetic Odette fighting for justice. On the other hand, when executing small steps, her speed produces “a magical, floating quality”. In her account of Obraztsova’s Odette, it’s not only the vocabulary, but the undulating rhythm that creates the image of the ballerina’s articulation of the choreography and McRae’s partnering: “With every delicate inflection of her foot, every ripple of her arm, she shows him how to read her; and with every touch, glance and breath he responds”.
The effect of this wonderfully expressive writing is that despite the author’s reservations, we are intrigued and see that the ballet has perhaps more possibilities for interpretation than we had imagined. So through her perceptive viewing and eloquent writing that strikingly captures the ballerinas’ unusual renditions, we are suggesting that Swan Lake itself as a choreographic work could be said to evolve.
The review of the Royal Ballet’s new Swan Lake, produced by Liam Scarlett, has a different balance, in that it is much more focussed on the production itself. Nonetheless, interwoven into the comments on the production are descriptions that give a clear impression of the interaction of the performers being tender and emotionally driven, while Marianela Núñez is singled out for her exquisite musicality (“Swan Lake review – the Royal Ballet’s spellbinder leaves you weeping”). Indeed, in all three reviews the way in which commentary on staging and dancers are integrated gives the reader a sense of the experience of watching the performance as a complete phenomenon. This means that whether you’re a ballet novice or a seasoned viewer, you will gain something from reading Mackrell’s reviews, particularly if you also appreciate the finer points of language.
In an age where anyone can write reviews online (and this democratisation is to be welcomed), it is crucial to appreciate the skill of expert ballet critics such as Judith Mackrell and recognise their contribution to our own understanding of ballet and the understanding of future audiences, students, dancers and scholars.
Ballet Critics Then
In order to maintain a sense of parity, we are focussing on Judith Mackrell’s predecessors at The Guardian and some of their Royal Ballet Swan Lake reviews.
In case some of you are unfamiliar with these critics, here is a bit about them.
Before becoming Director of the Royal Ballet School in 1977 James Kennedy (aka James Monahan) was dance critic of The Guardian. He also wrote books on ballet, for example Fonteyn: a study of the ballerina in her settingin 1957 and Nature of Ballet: a critic’s reflectionsin 1976. Mary Clarke, who was already editor of The Dancing Times, followed him as Guardian critic while maintaining her role at The Dancing Times. Clarke was also a known for her work with the eminent Clement Crisp on a number of historical and dance appreciation texts, such as Ballet, an Illustrated History (1973), Design for Ballet (1978), The Ballet Goer’s Guide (1981), The History of Dance (1981) and Ballerina: the art of women in classical ballet (1987).
Like Judith Mackrell, both James Kennedy and Mary Clarke focussed on guest artists and international stars in their reviews of Swan Lake as well as on the production. Kennedy’s review of March 4th 1964, when Robert Helpmann’s production was but a few months old, is squarely focussed on the performance of Rudolf Nureyev, who had caused such a sensation on defecting from the Soviet Union in June 1961, but had been unable to dance the role of Siegfried during the first run of the production on account of injury. While Kennedy comments on choreographic changes, costuming and his partner Margot Fonteyn, the whole performance is seen through the lens of Nureyev’s performance – his virtuosity and stage presence, his characterisation and partnering, his alterations to the choreographic text and selection of costume. By using phrases such as “not entirely for the better”, “it is a pity”, “certainly spoils the pictorial effect”, it is patently clear that Kennedy regarded some features of the performance with disapprobation. However, such is the strength of Nureyev’s classical technique, commanding stage presence and uniqueness in characterisation that Kennedy nonetheless finds his performance “outstanding”. Kennedy sets himself up as a judge of sorts, “pardoning” and “forgiving” aspects of Nureyev’s performance of which he disapproved. Consequently, when reading this review we gain an immensely strong sense of the critic’s opinion, indeed his judgement on what he sees, but not a very clear impression of the performance – either dancers, or production. This is also the case in his review of Swan Lake with Nadia Nerina as Odette/Odile (“Swan Lake at Covent Garden”).
It is noticeable that of the reviews we researched, James Kennedy’s were the shortest, which may have had some impact on the style and focus of writing. In contrast, when Dowell’s 1987 production was first staged, Mary Clarke devoted a whole review to the production itself, including the process and philosophy of the producers in their attempt to return to a more authentic version of the choreography than had previously been the case. Less than two weeks later Clarke wrote another column including comments on audience reaction to the new production and with her opinions of two different casts. While her writing is similar to Kennedy’s in her use of evaluative vocabulary such as “brilliance” (“Lake Lustre”), “scintillating” and “magnificently” (“Swan Lake”), she seems less dogmatic to us, paradoxically perhaps through making herself more openly visible in her writing by using the first person: the words “I think he’s right” (“Lake Lustre”) and “I marvelled at” (“Swan Lake”), while expressing approval and enthusiasm respectively, seem to leave room for alternative views.
What is of most interest to us, however, is a common attitude that Kennedy and Clarke seem to share in relation to the performances with the Royal Ballet of international star dancers celebrated for their virtuosity and individuality, their non-conformism even. Emblazoned across the page in huge letters, “The 6 o’clock star”, Clarke’s title to her review of Sylvie Guillem’s Royal Ballet debut as Odette/Odile in 1989, gives a clear indication of how she perceives the ballerina’s rendition of the choreography. Nonetheless, with commentary on the dancing of the corps de ballet and Jonathan Cope as Prince Siegfried, the conducting of Mark Ermler, as well as the general atmosphere and audience reaction, we do gain an impression of the event as a whole, unlike from Kennedy’s write-up of Nureyev’s debut in Helpmann’s Swan Lake. But rather than creating a vivid account of her movement style, Clarke accentuates Guillem’s technical prowess on the one hand and on the other hand pronounces that Guillem “needs to be shaped into that real ballerina mould where beauty of line and deeply expressive feeling take precedence over physical feats of virtuosity”. And this is reminiscent of Kennedy’s extraordinary opinion that “a little more conformism would improve” Nureyev’s performance of Siegfried. Therefore, both of these critics leave us in no doubt that as remarkable as these two enormous talents are, their performances would improve if they would restrain themselves and comply with specific balletic ideals.
In our opinion this attitude is quite distinct from Judith Mackrell’s approach, where rich and detailed description stimulates our curiosity, and non-conformism can seem intriguing and liberating. In researching ballet reviews from other eras, we found that they are fascinating to read as much for the opportunity to encounter different perspectives and ways of viewing as for discovering information about past performances.
Next time on British Ballet Now and Then… in recognition of the upcoming documentary on Rudolf Nureyev and important promotions at the Royal Ballet and English National Ballet, we will be considering some male dancers who have made their mark on British ballet style and repertoire.
Clarke, Mary. “Lake lustre”. The Guardian, 14 Mar. 1987.
—. “The 6 o’clock star”. The Guardian, 17 Apr. 1989.
—. “Swan Lake”. The Guardian, 27 Mar. 1987.
Feck, Candace. “What’s in a Dance? The complexity of information in writings about dance”. Dance on Its own Terms, edited by Melanie Bales and Karen Eliot, Oxford UP, 2013, pp. 411-30.
Kennedy, James. “This Month in the Theatre: Nureyev in Swan Lake”. The Guardian, 4 Mar. 1964, p. 9.
—. “Swan Lake at Covent Garden”. The Guardian, 19 Jan. 1965, p. 7.
Mackrell, Judith. “Royal Ballet: Swan Lake – review”, The Guardian, 11 Oct. 2012, http://www.theguardian.com/stage/2012/oct/11/royal-ballet-swan-lake-review. Accessed 11 Aug. 2018.
—. “Swan Lake review – duets to die for in Royal Ballet’s disco hell”,The Guardian, 17 Mar. 2015, http://www.theguardian.com/stage/2015/mar/17/royal-ballet-swan-lake-review-royal-opera-house. Accessed 11 Aug. 2018.
—. “Swan Lake review – the Royal Ballet’s spellbinder leaves you weeping”, The Guardian, 18 May 2018, http://www.theguardian.com/stage/2018/may/18/swan-lake-review-royal-ballet. Accessed 11 Aug. 2018.
Author britishballetnowandthenPosted on August 16, 2018 August 23, 2018 Categories Dance CriticismTags #britishballet, #Britishballetnowandthen, #dancecritics, #dancereviews, #Guardian, #HannahWeibye, #IsmeneBrown, #JamesKennedy, #JamesMonahan, #LukeJennings, #MaryClarke, #Observer, #reviews, #SarahCrompton, #SwanLake, #ZoeAnderson, JudithMackrellLeave a comment on Ballet Critics Now & Then
ENGLISH NATIONAL BALLET’S EMERGING DANCER: IN CONVERSATION
On Monday 11th June ENB’s Emerging Dancer Competition took place for the ninth year. The six finalists are judged on classical pas de deux and contemporary solos. Rosie watched the competition live at the Coliseum, while Julia and Libby watched the live stream on YouTube. Then we all shared our thoughts …
For me two dancers stood out for their technical ability and artistry in the pas de deux: Daniel McCormick performing Le Corsaire (with Francesca Velicu), and Connie Vowles dancing William Tell (with Giorgio Garrett).
It was interesting that of the three pas de deux two were created by Marius Petipa choreographed at the turn of the 19th-20th century: Le Corsaire (1899), and Harlequinade (1900). The William Tell pas de deux by August Bournonville was originally choreographed not so much earlier than this, in 1873, but required quite a different style to the Petipa work. Precious Adams and Fernando Carratalà Coloma created playful Harlequins, although unfortunately neither dancer fully embodied the roles – the movement looked a little studied, as if imposed on them, so it didn’t quite correlate with their personal styles.
Yes, I really appreciated the fact that we saw not only a variety of styles from the 19th century, but also pieces that are quite unfamiliar – I’m not sure I’ve ever seen either the Harlequinade or the William Tell pas de deux. Thankfully it wasn’t like one of those galas where you’re fed Don Quixote, Black Swan and Corsaire pas de deux and then go home reeling from an overindulgence in fouettés!
For me it was a bit of a different experience, because I watched the performance in the theatre. The two dancers who stood out for me are dancers that I already enjoy watching. I always notice Francesca in the corps de ballet, no matter the style – whether it be in Akram Khan’s Giselle or Sleeping Beauty. Although she has a very particular style of her own, that I personally find very harmonious, she adapts to suit the style of the work she is dancing. I think this is really interesting, because more and more I am finding this to be a trait of the company as a whole. As far as Francesca is concerned, it was most evident in her performance of the Chosen One in Pina Bausch’s Rite of Spring performed by ENB last year. It’s so impressive that in this way she is representative of the company, even though she only joined in 2016. In Le Corsaire, as well as being very secure in the more obviously technical aspects, like pirouettes à la seconde, fouettés, she individualised her dancing through her phrasing, varying the speed of her movements, lingering in balances, her musicality and expressive use of head; her port de bras is always beautifully held and co-ordinated with the rest of her movement. Her entrance was accompanied by rapt hush in the audience (at least, where I was sitting).
What I noticed was the attention to detail in the upper body, particularly from Francesca, Daniel and Fernando. I was disappointed that we didn’t get to see Francesca and Fernando as the Bluebird and Princess Florine in The Sleeping Beauty last Saturday.
I was lucky enough to see Fernando as the Messenger of Death in Song of the Earth in January this year, where I noticed his ease of movement. His youthfulness also seemed to lend poignancy to the role. Through the pyrotechnics of Harlequin, I saw this same ease – it’s as if he’s doing nothing! And the characterisation was equally engaging.
Yes, I can see that, but I enjoyed Daniel’s partnering in Le Corsaire – it was excellent – but when he performed the solo that Rudolf Nureyev made famous in the West after his defection from the Soviet Union, he really came into his own – the energy and height of his leaps, the security, speed and number of turns. But neither did he lose character at the expense of spectacle, remaining poised and commanding as Conrad the Pirate at all times. Connie’s performance in William Tell stood out due to her exquisite footwork. Whilst the characterisation was a little “added on” the technical aspect had mesmerising moments. You could easily picture her dancing any of Frederick Ashton ballets.
Yes, I can see what you mean about Connie, and in fact Jann Parry describes her as a natural Bournonville dancer, saying “she has the ballon and the neat footwork for the girl’s role, as well as a deceptively modest charm”.
I can imagine her as the Katia or Vera in A Month in the Country, or as Lise in La Fille mal gardée. It always seems to me that there’s a bond between the choreographic styles of Bournonville and Ashton, despite the distance in time and so in influences; it’s that combination of nuanced and intricate movement simultaneously in the torso and lower legs, as well as a particular lively aura. Although Giorgio Garrett wasn’t as polished or “natural” in the Bournonville choreography, I felt a lovely rapport between the dancers and an effervescence in his personality, which was built upon in his quirky solo Fraudulent Smile created by Ross Freddie Ray. It made much of his expressive talents – not only did his facial expressions changed dramatically, but even when he had his back turned to the audience, he seemed to be able communicate with us.
Francesca’s solo, Toccata, choreographed by Nancy Osbaideston, was another work that really felt like it was choreographed with the dancer in mind. It suited Francesca, whose neat steps and precise movements punctuated the choreography in a harmonious way.
So we’re back to harmony again with Francesca …
We are, although saying that, it didn’t have the visual impact of A Point of Collapse choreographed by Mthuthuzeli November from Ballet Black and performed by Precious. Unlike in Harlequinade, here Precious fully engaged with every iota of the choreography, like the movement was right in the marrow of her bones. It was utterly compelling.
Yes, looking back over more than a week, it was the most memorable and striking performance. Precious completely transformed herself from the coquettish Columbine to a distraught human being, conveyed through the use of her whole body: sweeping mournful arcs of motion were contrasted with nervous hand and head gestures, culminating in jerky, convulsive movements. Jann Parry also noted this transformation, in fact questioning whether this achievement should have singled her out as the winner of the competition.
There was support on social media for Precious Adams from professional dancers, for example, Hannah Bateman from Northern Ballet, and from Madison Keesler, who was with ENB until last season. I particularly enjoyed James Streeter’s interview available on the live stream on YouTube. As a finalist in the competition in 2011, James commented on how dancers support each other as they go through the rehearsal process and preparation for the final performance. I believe this has been nurtured over Tamara Rojo’s directorship in the last few years and this is something that really excites me about ENB. The finalists are selected by their colleagues and judged by a panel (this year Julio Bocca, Lauren Cuthbertson, Johan Kobborg, Kerry Nicholls and Tamara Rojo). However, as well as the Emerging Dancer Award, the other awards – Corps de Ballet Award and People’s Choice Award – give dancers the opportunity to receive recognition and an award from members of the company and from the audience.
I was so impressed by the progress made by last year’s winners, Aitor Arrieta and Rina Kanehara. They both danced the Grand pas de deux from The Sleeping Beauty with markedly greater sophistication than their performances in the 2017 competition. Not only did they complement one another beautifully, but Aitor’s bearing and posture were very regal, and Rina’s port de bras was exquisite. It seems to me that the dancers really gain from this process and experience. And this doesn’t only apply to the winners. Take for example Isabelle Brouwers. She has been a finalist for the past three years, and like Francesca, she’s very noticeable in a group of dancers, with her striking arabesque, lovely use of the upper back and general radiance. I’m convinced that she has learnt a lot from this process.
Next year will be a landmark – the tenth competition!
Yes, I am excited! I think we should all go together. It was a great atmosphere – so positive, with students from the school and members of the company rooting for their role models, their friends and colleagues.
Next year we hope to watch the live performance together!
© Julia Delaney, Libby Costello, Rosie Gerhard
Parry, Jann “2018 English National Ballet Emerging Dancer Competition – performance and results” http://dancetabs.com/2018/06/2018-english-national-ballet-emerging-dancer-competition-performance-and-results/
Author britishballetnowandthenPosted on June 21, 2018 February 22, 2019 Format ChatCategories English National Ballet's Emerging DancerTags #britishballet, #connievowles, #danielmccormick, #ENB, #ermergingdancer2018, #fernandocarratalacoloma, #francescavelicu, #giorgiogarrett, #isabelebrowers, #jamesstreeter, #jannparry, #juliobocca, #preciousadams, #tamararojoLeave a comment on ENGLISH NATIONAL BALLET’S EMERGING DANCER: IN CONVERSATION
Female Choreographers Now & Then
Female Choreographers Now
At British Ballet Now and Then we have been following the debate on female choreographers. In 2009 The Guardian critic and historian Judith Mackrell asked “Where are all the great female choreographers?”, and considered reasons why we see so few dance works choreographed by women, particularly on major stages by the world’s most prestigious companies. Since then the question seems to have become simply “Where are all the female choreographers?”. Luke Jennings, author and dance critic of The Observer, has published thoughts on this topic on several occasions (“Female Choreographers”), highlighting work by Vanessa Fenton and Cathy Marston that he had admired in the smaller venues of the Royal Opera House that had not led to opportunities to create for the main stage (“Sexism in Dance”), and culminating in his response to Akram Khan’s position on redressing the gender balance in choreography (“You’re Wrong, Akram. We Do Need More Female Choreographers”). Female ballet choreographers, including Cathy Marston (qtd. in Jennings), and Crystal Pite (qtd. in Mackrell), whose work we discuss below, have joined in the debate.
The current Artistic Directors of the UK’s two most prestigious companies have been tackling this conundrum. As soon as Kevin O’Hare was in post as Artistic Director of the Royal Ballet (RB) in 2012, he commissioned the much-sought-after Canadian Crystal Pite to choreograph a new work for his company. By the time the work, Flight Pattern, premiered in March 2017, the company had not performed a work from a female dance maker for 18 years. Under Tamara Rojo English National Ballet had already the previous year taken more radical action by staging a triple bill of new works created by female choreographers entitled She Said, thereby highlighting the voice of women in the creative process. Mackrell referred to the programme as a “campaigning first for an industry in which most of the repertory is created by men”. And indeed David Bintley, Director of Birmingham Royal Ballet, a company that already has a “strong record” of performing works by female choreographers (Anderson “Birmingham Royal Ballet”), has followed suit with plans for a triple bill of choreographies by Ruth Brill, Jessica Lang and Didy Veldman next season.
So, in case you haven’t had a chance to see Flight Pattern or She Said, here is a short outline of the works to at least give you some impression of their focus and diversity.
Characteristic of Pite’s oeuvre is her concern with the human condition, and the world as it is with all its conflict and trauma. Referring to Flight Pattern she says: “This creation is my way of coping with the world at the moment” (qtd. in Spencer). On this occasion, the plight of refugees is her theme. But the work also demonstrates her skill in moving large numbers of dancers in imaginative and compelling patterns, groupings and configurations around the stage, ideal for a large-scale company such as the RB.
At the heart of She Said were two iconic women (one real, one mythological), and the act of dancing itself. Broken Wings by Annabelle Lopez Ochoa portrayed the life of Frida Kahlo in a swathe of vibrant colours and imaginative stage sets evoking the artist’s work. Kahlo’s life of love and suffering was portrayed in quite a literal way in terms of movement content, unlike Yabin Wang’s M-Dao, a sparse, pared down but searing account of the Medea myth, in which Medea’s dead children were represented by fallen drapes that she gathered in her arms, and her vulnerability portrayed by one bare foot. In stark and satisfying contrast, Aszure Barton’s virtuosic Fantastic Beings “inflects the classical language with a wonderful strangeness – brooding missed beats, skittering deviations, and an exhilaratingly bold eye for pattern” (Mackrell), and the choreography skilfully captures the unique movement style of each dancer (Kechacha).
The theme of strong women is an important focus for British choreographer Cathy Marston (qtd. in Winter), whose 2016 Jane Eyre is currently being performed by Northern Ballet (NB). Marston has been choreographing professionally for almost two decades in this country and internationally, and Jane Eyre is her third work for NB, the first being Dividing Silence, as early as 2004. Three years prior to this a pas de deux by the name of Three Words Unspoken was premiered in the Clore Studio at the Royal Opera House with Brian Maloney and a young Tamara Rojo whose intense and dramatic performance enriched the compelling choreography. Nonetheless, even though Marston held the position of Associate Artist at the Royal Opera House from 2002 to 2006, she was not given the chance to create work for the main stage.
Happily, over the coming months two of Marston’s works will be touring in various locations throughout the UK, giving thousands of people the opportunity to see her work. In addition to NB’s tour of Jane Eyre, Ballet Black is performing a brand new work that she has created for the company entitled The Suit. This is based on a fable by South African author Can Themba, and has already received positive reviews highlighting her skill and inventiveness in conveying various relationships, emotions and dramatic situations (Anderson, Roy, Wonderful News).
Christopher Hampson, Artistic Director of Scottish Ballet (SB) since 2012, has been proactive in expanding his company’s repertoire with works by female choreographers, including Kristen McNally from RB and former resident choreographer for the Atlanta Ballet, Helen Pickett. Although he may not have commissioned choreography from Crystal Pite, in 2016, while the Royal Ballet were waiting for work to begin on Flight Patterns, SB in fact performed the European premiere of Pite’s 2009 Emergence, originally created for National Ballet of Canada (Crompton). Four years previous to this SB had premiered A Streetcar Named Desire, created for them by Annabelle Lopez Ochoa, later to choreograph Broken Wings for ENB. This work has been seen in Glasgow, Edinburgh, Aberdeen, Inverness, and London.
It would seem then that it is possible to see a variety of work created by female choreographers here in the UK, but it takes time, and either patience, or the willingness and means to travel. Thanks to forward-looking directors, next season we have more to look forward to: as well as BRB’s triple bill of new choreographies by women, ENB are staging She Persists, a triple bill of Pina Bausch’s Rite of Spring, Broken Wings and a new work by first artist Stina Quagebeur.
Female Choreographers Then
While we have been appreciating the opportunities we now have to experience a range of works by female choreographers (limited though it still is), as we ponder on two female choreographers from the past, we are focussing on the crucial contributions they made to shaping British ballet style, contributions that are perhaps not generally fully recognised or acknowledged. One of them, Ninette de Valois, we tend to associate more with her crucial role in establishing the Royal Ballet; the name of the other, Andrée Howard, may even be completely unfamiliar to you.
Despite de Valois’ inestimable role in the establishment of British ballet and the fact that she was quite a prolific choreographer, few of her works are still performed. Amongst her most celebrated ballets are The Rake’s Progress (1935) and Checkmate (1937), available on DVD in a 1982 performance by Sadler’s Wells (now Birmingham) Royal Ballet, and her 1931 Job. With their moral themes of faith against all the odds, human frailty, and the battle of good against evil, these works are rather sombre in tone. However, amongst her hundred or so works were a 1950 single act version of Don Quixote to a score by the Spanish Catalan Roberto Gerhard featuring Robert Helpmann as the Don and Margot Fonteyn as Dulcinea, as well as the comic 1940 Prospect Before Us about two rival 18th century theatre managers.
If you watch the scene with the Dancing Master from The Rake’s Progress, with its swift and intricate footwork complemented by quick changes in direction and bends and twists of the torso, you might be forgiven for thinking that this is a ballet by Frederick Ashton, the Founder Choreographer of the Royal Ballet, who is generally thought of as the architect of the English style. Critic Alastair Macaulay has pointed out the similarity in the styles of de Valois and Ashton in this scene (205), while Judith Mackrell has presented an intriguing and perspicacious argument that particular aspects of de Valois’ choreographic style were more inherently English in nature than were Ashton’s: “… De Valois’ choreography was in certain respects even more British in temper than Ashton’s – uncluttered, clear-eyed, and almost literary in its detailed realisation of character and plot” (“Vanishing Pointe?”). So, even though most of her works are no longer performed, it seems that de Valois made a significant contribution to the development of a recognisably English style in her capacity as a choreographer as well as in her role of founder-director of Britain’s national ballet company.
And so to Andrée Howard. Even though you are probably unacquainted with Howard’s choreography, she was in fact a founding member of The Ballet Club (later renamed Ballet Rambert, the company that eventually became Rambert Dance Company) and started choreographing in the 1930s. In 2005 the RB revived her best known work, La Fête étrange (1940), and the following year Rambert Dance Company revisited her Lady into Fox, the work that initially made her name in 1939. Other than these two ballets all of Howard’s works have been lost. Nonetheless, she is a truly fascinating figure in British ballet; in fact historian and archivist Jane Pritchard describes her as a “key choreographer from the founding years of 20th century British ballet”.
Both La Fête étrange and Lady into Fox are characteristic of Howard’s oeuvre in that they deal with dark subject matter based on literary themes. La Fête étrange tells the story of a young man who chances upon an engagement party and precipitates the break-up of the betrothal. More startling is the subject matter of Lady into Fox, as the title summarises exactly the narrative of the work: a young woman metamorphoses into a vixen. Howard’s choice of daring subject matter is perhaps at its most pronounced in her 1947 adaptation of David Garnett’s novel The Sailor’s Return concerning a mixed race couple trying to settle in Victorian England. Important for the current debate on female dance makers is Professor Susan Jones’ assessment of Howard’s oeuvre as “evoking in dance a specifically female experience” (261): “In several ballets Howard returned to the theme of the abandoned woman, isolated by social and patriarchal forces beyond her control, where the dissemination of narrative through choreographed movement principally charts the inner conflict of the female protagonist” (261-62).
In the late 1940s to early 50s Howard staged works for both Sadler’s Wells Opera/Theatre Ballet and Sadler’s Wells Ballet (now BRB and RB). It is very interesting to us that a young Kenneth MacMillan was performing with these companies at that time and even danced in her ballets Assembly Ball (1946) and La Fête étrange (Parry 64, 71). This means that he had plenty of exposure to her work. With her penchant for disturbing, or at least unsettling, subject matter, it seems inconceivable that Howard would not have made a lasting impact on this giant of British ballet, celebrated for bringing realism to the art form. (You can read about MacMillan’s choral works in our January 2018 post.)
Therefore, in our opinion, it not only important to give female choreographers opportunities to create ballets, but also to ensure that their most effective works are preserved and that their influence as choreographers appropriately acknowledged.
Next time on British Ballet Now and Then … Next month, just one year after its creation, Aszure Barton’s Fantastic Beings will be the first of the three works from ENB’s She Said to be revived (with some reworking). It is being performed as part of the Voices of America bill, which will be reviewed by our editor, Libby Costello.
© Rosemarie Gerhard 2018
Anderson, Zoë. “Birmingham Royal Ballet, Sadler’s Wells, London, Review”. The Independent, 6 Nov. 2017, http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/theatre-dance/reviews/birmingham-royal-ballet-a8040666.html. Accessed 23 Mar. 2018.
—. “Ballet Black, Barbican Theatre, London, Review”. The Independent, 20 Mar. 2018, http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/theatre-dance/reviews/ballet-black-review-barbican-a8264861.html. Accessed 23 Mar. 2018.
Crompton, Sarah. “Scottish Ballet: Crystal Pite; Angelin Preljoçaj review – one great, one good”, The Guardian, 21 Aug. 2016, http://www.theguardian.com/stage/2016/aug/21/scottish-ballet-crystal-pite-emergence-angelin-preljocaj-mc-14-22-edinburgh-festival-review. Accessed 25 Feb. 2018.
Jennings, Luke. “Female Choreographers: further thoughts”, Luke Jennings, 2 Mar. 2015, https://thirdcast.wordpress.com/2015/03/02/female-choreographers-further-thoughts/. Accessed 25 Feb. 2018.
—. “Sexism in Dance: where are all the female choreographers?”, The Guardian, 28 Apr. 2013, http://www.theguardian.com/stage/2013/apr/28/women-choreographers-glass-ceiling. Accessed 25 Feb. 2018.
—. “You’re Wrong, Akram. We Do Need More Female Choreographers”, The Guardian, 18 Jan. 2016, http://www.theguardian.com/stage/2016/jan/18/akram-khan-more-female-choreographers-for-the-sake-of-it-luke-jennings-reply. Accessed 25 Feb. 2018.
Jones, Susan. Literature, Modernism and Dance. Oxford UP, 2013.
Kechacha, Rym. “She Said: the enduring power of the female voice in dance at ENB”. Bachtrack, 14 Apr. 2016, https://bachtrack.com/review-she-said-lopez-ochoa-wang-barton-english-national-ballet-sadlers-wells-april-2016. Accessed 21 Feb. 2018.
Macaulay, Alastair. “Ashton and De Valois”. Ninette de Valois, Adventurous Traditionalist, edited by Richard Allen Cave and Libby worth, Dance Books, 2012, pp. 199-208.
Mackrell, Judith. “Crystal Pite: ‘In ballet, girls are less likely to be prized for being mavericks’”. The Guardian, 2 May 2016, http://www.theguardian.com/stage/2016/may/12/crystal-pite-girls-ballet-choreographer-prized-mavericks. Accessed 14 Feb. 2018.
—. “English National Ballet: She Said review”. The Guardian, 14 Apr. 2016, http://www.theguardian.com/stage/2016/apr/14/english-national-ballet-she-said-review-sadlers-wells-london. Accessed 14 Feb. 2018.
—. “Vanishing Pointe: where are all the great female choreographers?”. The Guardian, 27 Oct. 2009, https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2009/oct/27/where-are-the-female-choreographers. Accessed 14 Feb. 2018.
—. “Where would we have been without her?”. The Independent, 6 June 1993, http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/dance-where-would-we-have-been-without-her-dame-ninette-de-valois-celebrated-her-95th-birthday-1490132.html. Accessed 4 Mar. 2018.
Masterpieces of British Ballet: Checkmate, The Rake’s Progress. Choreographed by Ninette de Valois , performance by Sadler’s Wells Royal Ballet. 1982, VAI, 2006.
Parry, Jan. Different Drummer: the life of Kenneth MacMillan. Faber and Faber, 2009.
Pritchard, Jane. “Women Choreographers and English National Ballet”. ENB, 8 Mar. 2018, http://www.ballet.org.uk/blog-detail/women-choreographers-english-national-ballet/. Accessed 18 Mar. 2018.
Roy, Sanjoy. “Ballet Black review – Shakespeare in tutus for enchanting double bill”. The Guardian, 18 Mar. 2018, http://www.theguardian.com/stage/2018/mar/18/ballet-black-review-shakespeare-in-tutus-for-enchanting-double-bill. Accessed 20 Mar. 2018.
Spencer, Mel. “Crystal Pite: Flight Pattern is my way of coping with the world at the moment”. Royal Opera House, 9 Mar. 2017, http://www.roh.org.uk/news/crystal-pite-flight-pattern-is-my-way-of-coping-with-the-world-at-the-moment. Accessed 25 Feb. 2018.
Winter, Anna. “Cathy Marston: ‘Many of my works are led by strong women’”. Exeunt, 28 June 2016, http://exeuntmagazine.com/features/cathy-marston-many-works-led-strong-women/. Accessed 21 Feb. 2018.
Wonderful News. “Ballet Black’s The Suit & A Dream Within A Midsummer Night’s Dream is an emotional and joyous journey”. The Wonderful World of Dance, 16 Mar. 2018, http://www.thewonderfulworldofdance.com/ballet-blacks-suit-dream-within-midsummer-nights-dream-emotional-joyous-journey. Accessed 20 Mar. 2018.
Author britishballetnowandthenPosted on March 26, 2018 March 28, 2018 Categories Female ChoreographersTags #andreehoward, #balletblack, #ballethistory, #balletnow, #balletthen, #britishballet, #britishnowandthen, #christopherhampson, #devalois, #ENB, #femalechoreographers, #NB, #RB, #SB, #shesaid, #tamararojo, cathymarstonLeave a comment on Female Choreographers Now & Then
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0009.json.gz/line669
|
__label__wiki
| 0.863159
| 0.863159
|
Profile: Lord Soames - Appointed As Britain's Governor In Zimbabwe Rhodesia 1979
VLVAC2OMC22EG0IMYHGAZ2WSC5VO8-PROFILE-LORD-SOAMES-APPOINTED-AS-BRITAINS-GOVERNOR-IN-ZIMBABWE
In London on Friday (7 December) Lord Soames was named as Britain's governor in Zimbabwe Rhodesia.
GV PAN (SILENT) Soames arriving at Number 10 Downing Street; CU INT Soames. 1964 (Black & White) (2 shots)
GV PAN Soames out of car and into French Foreign Ministry, Paris 1969 (3 shots)
GV Champs Elysee, Paris; GV Soames speaking. 1972 (2 shots)
GV AND CUs INT Soames seated with Nixon. 1973 (3 shots)
Initials dn/
Background: In London on Friday (7 December) Lord Soames was named as Britain's governor in Zimbabwe Rhodesia. He had been widely tipped to take the post, in which he will hold sweeping executive powers during the country's transition through a ceasefire to elections and independence. At present he is leader of the House of Lords, Britain's upper chamber, and as such attends ministerial cabinet meetings. Lord Soames is a close personal friend of Britain's Foreign Secretary, Lord Carrington, who chaired the Lancaster House talks.
SYNOPSIS: Lord Soames, is 59, has been a life-long Conservative party member. He was in the Commons for 26 years, from 1950, becoming Winston Churchill's Parliamentary Secretary and later a Minister of Agriculture in the Macmillan government.
In 1968, after losing his Parliamentary seat, he was appointed Britain's Ambassador to France by the Labour government of Harold Wilson. He was known to strongly favour the European movement and his appointment was seen as being part of the then government's drive for membership of the Common Market. His four years in Paris did help pave the way for Britain's eventual entry ... a period he's described as his 'golden age'.
In 1973, shortly after Britain gained membership of the European Economic Community, he was the association's Commissioner for External Affairs ... a post he held until 1976. Observers regard his experience as an ambassador, administrator, negotiator and government minister as being indispensable in his forthcoming task as governor of Zimbabwe Rhodesia.
For Lord Soames, it will probably be the most difficult job he has held in a long and active political career ... a job that will end when he hands over power to a newly elected government, and the country becomes independent.
SOAMES
BRITAIN'S
VLVAC2OMC22EG0IMYHGAZ2WSC5VO8
Wembley's Charter Day
Wembley receives charter of incorporation as a borough.
Australians Practice At Lords
The Australian cricket team practice at Lord's Cricket Ground.
Lord Reading
Lord Reading, who has had a varied career ending in him becoming Viceroy of India, is seen relaxing.
Late Lord Curzon
Various shots of Lord Curzon are shown in tribute after his death.
Lord Louis - Commandos' New Chief
Lord Mountbatten, new Commander of Combined Operations inspects commandos on a ship.
Out Takes / Cuts For After 27 Years Of Absence In G 1278
Out takes (rushes, cuts) for AFTER 27 YEARS OF ABSENCE in G 1278.
Lord Amulree Speaks
Lord Amulree, an official of the Ministry of Health, and head of the Nuffield commission.
Weather Vane At Lords Cricket Ground
Weather vane at Lords Cricket Ground, London.
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0009.json.gz/line670
|
__label__cc
| 0.682027
| 0.317973
|
The Doctor Is In - Home
UAE Making Significant Inroads in Utilizing Advanced Medical Technologies
Dr. Keith W. Vrbicky
The United Arab Emirates, a federation of seven states (Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Ajman, Fujairah, Ras al Khaimah, Sharjah and Umm al Qaiwain) formed in 1971, has grown over the past 15 years to become one of the Middle East’s most important economic centers.
Concurrent with this phenomenal growth have been major advancements in the healthcare arena. In fact, according to the World Health Organization (WHO), the UAE ranked first in life expectancy in 2009 (78 years), had the lowest infant mortality rate and was ranked third in having the lowest adult mortality rate among other Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries.
According to global consulting/risk management firm Deloitte, total UAE healthcare spending has been rapidly increasing over the past few years, raising the sector’s contribution to GDP from 2.8 percent to 3.4 percent, respectively. The UAE, says Deloitte, also ranks first in the number of JCI accredited (the Joint Commission is an independent, not-for-profit organization that evaluates and accredits healthcare organizations worldwide) facilities - 54 healthcare providers accredited including private, public hospitals, ambulatory care providers and one lab.
In recent years, noted Deloitte, the UAE has focused efforts on attracting prestigious private healthcare providers (such as Bumrungrad, the Cleveland Clinic, Johns Hopkins, and Vamed) to the Emirates.
“In doing so, the government is improving the country’s regulatory environment and capacity in addition to empowering and encouraging the development of Public Private Partnerships,” added Deloitte.
Part and parcel in creating this extensive healthcare infrastructure have been advancements in various medical technologies.
It would take a multi-part series of posts (food for thought - may just do this!) to elaborate on these so here are a few examples you’ll find rather interesting:
In Abu Dhabi, researchers at the ATIC-SRC Centre of Excellence for Energy Efficient Electronic Systems (ACE4S) are developing systems on chip (SoC) designs in tandem with micro-electromechanical systems (MEMs) that monitor the onset of heart attacks by looking at a patient’s change in weight.
“We have sensors that will be integrated in the shoes, which give weight and balance information. This information will be processed in correlation with the medical knowledge to give indicators about the risk of a heart attack for the patient,” said Ibrahim El Fadel, ACES4S co-director and a professor at Masdar Institute.
The National, Abu Dhabi’s English language daily, also reported a few months ago that professors at the American University of Sharjah are looking at dental care with braces embedded with a chip that monitors the movement of the fixtures and will communicate with the dentist’s office if any of them are separated from the teeth.
Yet another project in development – researchers from Khalifa University of Science, Technology and Research are working on a non-invasive SoC that monitors glucose levels in diabetic patients to indicate when they may need an insulin injection. The International Diabetes Federation recently predicted there will be 60 million diabetics in the Middle East by 2030, up from 32.6 million in 2011.
Lastly, The National reported last fall that another project at Khalifa University (done in collaboration with the Sheikh Zayed Institute for Pediatric Surgical Innovation at the Children’s National Medical Center, Washington, DC) involves a low-cost home fetal heart monitoring device. The device uses a driver installed on a mobile phone; acoustic sensors plugged into the phone’s sound card are placed on the mother’s abdomen. The research is being funded by a Khalifa University grant and from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
Look for the UAE to continue to develop cutting-edge research in medical technologies – and you’ll also be able to read about it right here!
If you have any questions or comments, please contact me at kwvrbicky@aetmedical.net.
Telemedicine Enhancing Health Wearables
BLOG POST: While wearable health tech is still in its early days, its popularity is growing and the general public is beginning to understand the benefits. And this bodes well for the continued growth of telemedicine.
Why We Need to Improve EHR Software Systems
ARTICLE: Some of the patient care technology advances have not accomplished the promised end results and are in desperate need of improvement. Topping the list of needed replacements is today’s electronic health records (EHRs) software systems.
Cognitive Computing Set to Make Significant Inroads in Healthcare Industry
BLOG POST: The global healthcare cognitive computing market is poised for explosive growth. Market research firm Grand View Research predicts it will top more than $5 billion by 2022. Grand Review Research also says significant factors driving the market are rapid growth in the scientific database, demand for personalized healthcare, and the need to reduce healthcare expenditure levels.
The “Sound” of New Medical Treatments
BLOG POST: A few years ago, while visiting the University of Virginia, my friend Dr. Alan Matsumoto introduced me to some new medical technology being investigated to treat uterine fibroids (benign tumors of the uterus) with focused ultrasound therapy and thus avoid the need for hysterectomy and preservation of the patient’s fertility.
SOFTWARE ENGINEERING - Interoperability Key to Success of Health Information Exchanges
BLOGPOST: So with my inaugural post, I wanted to talk about health information exchanges (HIE) – key technological advances, what’s lacking, what are some of the advantages to doctors and patients, and more.
PODCAST: The United Arab Emirates, a federation of seven states (Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Ajman, Fujairah, Ras al Khaimah, Sharjah and Umm al Qaiwain) formed in 1971, has grown over the past 15 years to become one of the Middle East’s most important economic centers. Concurrent with this phenomenal growth have been major advancements in the healthcare arena. In fact, according to the World Health Organization (WHO), the UAE ranked first in life expectancy in 2009 (78 years), had the lowest infant mortality rate and was ranked third in having the lowest adult mortality rate among other Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries.
CLOUD - Internet of Things Becoming a Healthcare Game Changer
BLOGPOST: The IoT is already resulting in significant changes in many areas of healthcare. To explore further, I reached out to a number of globally recognized IoT experts and posed a number of questions.
Telemedicine Boosting Healthcare in Rural Communities
PODCAST: Telemedicine has been around in some form for almost 40 years – and it’s now increasingly becoming a cost-effective and indispensable tool for doctors, rural hospitals, and local and regional governmental agencies situated in rural areas.
NETWORKING - Barriers to Telehealth Adoption Slowly Coming Down
BLOGPOST: Telehealth. We’ve seen that word bandied about frequently. In brief, telehealth comprises not only physician-patient interactions but information and educational services that foster awareness of treatments, medical conditions, good health practices and diagnoses. And while telehealth is becoming more widespread, NTT DATA, a Tokyo-based IT services provider, indicated in its Trends in Telehealth white paper published earlier this year that “the healthcare industry is historically a late adopter of technology and this has proven to be a barrier to all new solutions that rely on technology.”
INSIGHTS - Bringing Telemedicine to the Workplace
Thursday, Oct 2, 2014
BLOGPOST: While telemedicine in the workplace to date has been used more by large businesses, this is thankfully beginning to change as technology costs decrease and support increases. Businesses of all sizes are realizing that the benefits of telemedicine in the workplace are considerable: Ø Fewer expensive visits to the emergency room; Ø Better employee retention; Ø Reduced employee time away from the job. And some companies have particularly been proactive in introducing telemedicine in the workplace. Way back in 2011, noted Modern Healthcare, Cisco expanded its use of telemedicine to reach employees at other locations and to connect San Jose, CA-based workers to specialists.
INSIGHTS - How Telemedicine Can Help Treat Ebola and Other Infectious Diseases
BLOGPOST: While President Obama’s naming last week of a new ‘Ebola czar’ (Ron Klain, a former White House advisor) to oversee the federal government’s response to the outbreak, here and abroad, is a positive step, much more is needed to help combat the contagious disease. There are tools to treat Ebola and other infectious diseases remotely - in particular – telemedicine.
MajorBI-All Things Business Intelligence:
by Ray Major
Aberdeen Group - A Harte-Hanks Company
Notes from the Expo Floor: by Brian Kirk
Shay Going Mobile: by Shay Shmeltzer
NGN-Insights: by Martin Nuss and Uday Mudoi
No Batteries Required: by Ray Kahn
Software Technologies: by Christof Ebert
Rackspace Sponsored Content
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0009.json.gz/line672
|
__label__cc
| 0.669392
| 0.330608
|
The Commemoration of Sarah, 20 January, anno Domini 2,013
Posted in Bible, Church, Church year, Family, Festivals and Commemorations, Liturgical year, Uncategorized, tagged Abraham, Isaac, Sarah on January 20, 2013| Leave a Comment »
“The Hospitality of Abraham”: this portrayal shows Abraham and Sarah waiting on the Lord at the Oaks of Mamre
Lord and Father of all, You looked with favor upon Sarai in her advanced years, putting on her a new name, Sarah, and with it the promise of multitudinous blessings from her aged womb. Give us a youthful hope in the joy of our own new name, being baptized into the promised Messiah, that we, too, might be fruitful in Your kingdom, abounding in the works of Your Spirit; through Jesus Christ, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.
Intro: Sarah was the wife (and half sister) of the Hebrew patriarch Abraham (Genesis 11:29;20:12). In obedience to divine command (Genesis 12:1), she made the long and arduous journey west, along with her husband and his relatives, from Ur of the Chaldees to Haran and then finally to the land of Canaan. She remained childless until old age. Then, in keeping with God’s longstanding promise, she gave birth to a son and heir of the covenant (Genesis 21:1-3). She is remembered and honored as the wife of Abraham and the mother of Isaac, the second of the three patriarchs. She is also favorably noted for her hospitality to strangers (Genesis 18:1-8). Following her death at the age of 127, she was laid to rest in the Cave of Machpelah(Genesis23:19), where her husband was later buried. (Source: The Treasury of Daily Prayer)
Reflection: The icon above is entitled The Hospitality of Abraham. It is the illustration of the visit by the 3 angels to Abraham and Sarah at the Oaks of Mamre, as recorded in Genesis 18. The 3 angels turn out to be none other than the Lord Himself! (see the beginning of verse 1). Abraham treats them royally to food. Now to be fair, this icon should probably be called the Hospitality of Abraham and Sarah! After all, she also help prepared the food (vs. 6). The Lord came to give a birth announcement to this aged couple,
“The LORD said, “I will surely return to you about this time next year, and Sarah your wife shall have a son.”
And you may remember the problem: they are both pushing a 100! When the Lord says the above, this follows:
And Sarah was listening at the tent door behind him. 11Now Abraham and Sarah were old, advanced in years. The way of women had ceased to be with Sarah. 12 So Sarah laughed to herself, saying, “After I am worn out, and my lord is old, shall I have pleasure?” 13The LORD said to Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh and say, ‘Shall I indeed bear a child, now that I am old?’ 14 Is anything too hard for the LORD? At the appointed time I will return to you, about this time next year, and Sarah shall have a son.” 15But Sarah denied it, saying, “I did not laugh,” for she was afraid. He said, “No, but you did laugh.”
The Lord does not strike Sarah dead! The Lord did say, you did laugh. Was the Lord laughing? We do not know. When she did give birth,
Abraham was a hundred years old when his son Isaac was born to him. 6And Sarah said, “God has made laughter for me; everyone who hears will laugh over me.”
The name Isaac means “laughter”! When Abraham was told that he would have a son at the century mark, he fell down laughing in the Presence of the Lord (see Genesis 17: 17). A number of years ago, PBS had a documentary on comedy, “Dear God: Next Time Choose Someone Else: the Legend of Jewish Comedians”, on Jewish comedians. One comedian said all Jewish humor is from the texts cited! Laughter is in the Bible. There are two types of humor: derision and joy. The Lord will have the last laugh: “He who sits in the heavens laughs;the Lord holds them in derision” (Ps. 2), that is the nations and the wicked. And here is the laughter of sheer joy, of birth in the midst of death: the birth of Isaac. Maybe the actual last laugh of the Lord is His resurrection. The Child given us to us who was born to be our Savior! Sin, death and the devil are laughed to derision by the sheer joy of Jesus Christ’s Resurrection. God has made laughter for us!
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0009.json.gz/line673
|
__label__wiki
| 0.590237
| 0.590237
|
Aug 1, 2018 David Meyer
“Democracy needs resistance” – the ePrivacy reform is in trouble
WELCOME to Connected Rights, your ham in the slow cooker of digital rights news and analysis.
A NEW EU LAW COVERING THE PRIVACY OF ELECTRONIC COMMUNICATIONS appears to have stalled in the legislative process. The Council of the EU, currently led by the Austrians under a rotating presidency, is supposed to figure out a common position between member states so that negotiations with the European Parliament can begin. But it’s not happening.
The Austrian presidency now admits it won’t produce anything more than a status update (at most) on the ePrivacy Regulation by the end of this year, and the negotiations could well end up being conducted by new members of the European Parliament, after elections in May. That means the Parliament’s tough stance on the regulation could drift away. And Birgit Sippel, Parliament’s rapporteur on the file, is livid.
“The Austrian presidency wants to sell citizen rights and democracy to profit,” she told me for an IAPP story, referring to the Austrians’ apparent openness to lobbying by powerful media interests that oppose the regulation in its current form, because they don’t want to let people read their stuff without being put under surveillance. “The Commission, the Parliament and also the member states must oppose that. Democracy needs resistance. Now.”
The Austrians: “From today’s point of view we are not sure if a common position in this topic is reachable.”
This law was supposed to go into effect alongside the GDPR, as it covers stuff the better-known law does not – communications to legal entities and between machines (the internet of things comes into play here, bigtime). Now it’s looking unlikely that the regulation will become a thing before 2020 at the earliest.
THE EU’S TOP COURT WILL GET TO RULE ON MASS SURVEILLANCE YET AGAIN, this time regarding the obligations on French telecoms operators to serve up subscriber communications and other personal data. The Conseil d’État referred the case to the Court of Justice of the European Union last week.
At what point will everyone get it through their thick skulls that generalised surveillance is illegal? It’s not like the CJEU hasn’t ruled this way twice before.
A US JUDGE HAS GRANTED A TEMPORARY RESTRAINING ORDER against Defense Distributed, the outfit that recently won a government settlement allowing it to distribute 3D-printing files for guns. A gaggle of state attorneys general had sued to stop the distribution, and even Trump is now claiming to be against it.
To support my work, why not become a patron of Connected Rights or buy my book, Control Shift?
TECH STOCKS HAVE HAD A HORRIFIC WEEK, largely prompted by Facebook losing a fifth of its value thanks to worse-than-expected subscriber growth, and the cost of improving privacy on the platform.
As I wrote for Fortune, this is a necessary adjustment for Facebook, and an overdue one. If investors were surprised, well, they shouldn’t have been. Analysts who thought Facebook & Co. could simply brush off the GDPR and Cambridge Analytica scandal were wrong. People care. Subscriber numbers fell in Europe. The party is over.
I’m reminded here of something Max Schrems said last year (I think), about not fighting Facebook in order to watch the platform burn, but to make it comply with the law. Hopefully the company doesn’t have to suffer the former in order to achieve the latter – I suspect it won’t, and that this is just a phase. But then again, Facebook is still the target of serious complaints under the GDPR, so let’s see what the future holds. It seems likely that further changes must be made.
THERE SHOULD BE ACCURACY AND IMPARTIALITY STANDARDS for social media, a parliamentary committee has recommended in the UK, urging the media watchdog Ofcom to step up regulations in the wake of the Cambridge Analytica scandal and attempted manipulation of the Brexit referendum. The DCMS select committee said Facebook and its rivals “must begin to take responsibility for the way in which their platforms are used,” and “electoral law in this country is not fit for purpose for the digital age, and needs to be amended to reflect new technologies”.
A major issue noted by the committee was that Facebook et al aren’t merely platforms, because they are editors too. But they’re also not publishers in the traditional sense. “We recommend that a new category of tech company is formulated, which tightens tech companies’ liabilities,” the committee said. “Facebook and other social media companies should not be in a position of ‘marking their own homework’.”
EUROPEAN POLITICIANS LOVE BASHING FACEBOOK, BUT they also love advertising on it, a Politico piece notes.
It’s fair to highlight the apparent hypocrisy on display here – indeed, parties could put their money where their mouth is by loudly boycotting the platform. But then again, there is no comparable way to effectively reach people these days. Heck, even I ran a Facebook ad for my book on online power and surveillance, though I noted the irony in the ad itself. Even if you want to reform the system, it’s hard to escape participating in it.
WANT TO READ ALMOST 3 MILLION RUSSIAN “TROLL” TWEETS from the time around the 2016 U.S. election? FiveThirtyEight has your Internet Research Agency cravings covered.
FACEBOOK SCUTTLED A “FAKE NEWS” NETWORK in Brazil, in the runup to October elections. The platform nuked 196 pages and 87 accounts for constituting a “coordinated network that hid behind fake Facebook accounts and misled people about the nature and origin of its content, all for the purpose of sowing division and spreading misinformation”.
And then, the company did the same in the US, removing 32 Facebook and Instagram pages and accounts, to stop someone spreading discord ahead of November’s midterms. Experts say the accounts’ output bore the hallmarks of the Internet Research Agency.
GIZMODO HAS A TERRIFYING STORY ABOUT AN ESTATE AGENT WHOSE LIFE was turned upside down by an online troll who falsely claimed she was a homewrecker, destroying much of the woman’s livelihood. Even after spending $100,000 on legal fees to identify the troll, and settling the matter face-to-face, the victim has had tremendous difficulty getting sites to take down the false information about her.
Key part: “She’s A Homewrecker has already taken down the post, but it remains up on BadBizReport. BadBizReport’s website states that it doesn’t respond to court orders and that ‘there’s no way in hell to get off of BadBizReport once you’re listed on it,’ adding ‘American lawyers make us laugh’ Luckily, the judge also ordered search engines, ‘such as Google,’ to de-index all versions of the post ‘to ensure that it does not appear as a search result when Ms. Glennon’s name is searched.’ In Europe, the right to remove irrelevant or false information from your search results is enshrined in the law as ‘the right to be forgotten.’ In the US, you have to pay for it.”
IN ORDER TO DEMONSTRATE THE DANGERS OF TODAY’S CRAPPY facial recognition technology, the ACLU tested Amazon’s controversial Rekognition software on the faces of members of Congress. It incorrectly matched 28 of their faces with criminals’ mugshots. And you will no doubt be shocked to learn that the false matches disproportionately affected people of colour.
If you’d like me to speak about digital rights at your event or provide advice for your business, drop me an email at david@dmeyer.eu.
GERMANY HAS A LONG-RUNNING PROBLEM WITH GETTING people to open up more free Wi-Fi hotspots. That’s traditionally been because of the liability issues if someone downloads something illegally over the connection. Last year the government changed the law to remove that liability, but it left an open question as to what sorts of blocking hotspot operators may be required to implement, to stop people being naughty.
Now a ruling from the Federal Court of Justice suggests that hotspot and Tor exit node operators (for the defendant here is both) may have to go beyond site and content blocking to adding a password for their connections, or even blocking all access. Which rather nullifies the point of last year’s law change. Back to the drawing board?
CAN EMBEDDING PREVIEW IMAGES ON A WEBSITE VIA “FRAMING” be a copyright violation. No, says the Berlin Court of Appeal.
LAST YEAR THE UK’S CARPHONE WAREHOUSE SUFFERED a data breach that affected 1.2 million people. Except it wasn’t 1.2 million people; it was 10 million, the company has just admitted. The hackers were probably able to access names, addresses and email addresses, but not bank details.
Tagged ACLU, Austria, Birgit Sippel, Cambridge Analytica, CJEU, Copyright, Data breaches, DCMS, ePrivacy Regulation, Facebook, Facial recognition, Fake news, France, GDPR, Germany, Mass surveillance, Public Wi-Fi, Right to be forgotten, Russia, UK
When spies get to decide surveillance is OK
Google, China and InfoWars: Online censorship hits the headlines
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0009.json.gz/line674
|
__label__wiki
| 0.877394
| 0.877394
|
Melbourne ready for an ITS future – ITS World Congress
Aerial view of road and infrastructure leading to Melbourne
by Invest Victoria | 17 Nov 2016 Print Mail
As a world leader in hi-tech innovative transport solutions and renowned for its capacity to stage large-scale business events, Melbourne, Australia, is the ideal location for the 2016 World Congress on Intelligent Transport Systems.
Victoria’s state capital was recently rated the world’s most liveable city for an unprecedented sixth year in a row and is expected to overtake Sydney as the nation’s largest city within a few decades, with a population of over nine million forecast by 2056.
With much of the city’s urban growth set to continue around its outer fringes, Melbourne’s success presents a suite of new challenges.
Currently, there are 13 million trips per day on Melbourne’s public transport system, and this is forecast to grow to 23 million over the next 35 years. Over the same period, Victoria’s freight volume is expected to quadruple.
Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS) technologies and the efficiency, sustainability and safety dividends they promise will be key to managing Melbourne’s growth and connecting its growing population to the key employment precincts of its central business district.
Victoria is emerging as a world leader in ITS, says David Scott, account director at Wave Digital. The Melbourne-based mobile app development agency specialises in delivering complex solutions for large corporate and government agencies, and was responsible for developing Victoria’s award-winning suite of VicTraffic apps.
The apps provide Victoria’s road users with real-time information on travel times, road closures, roadworks, traffic camera locations, webcam feeds and more.
“We looked overseas for benchmarking of similar type apps and products but found very little,’’ says Scott.
Road to growth
VicRoads, the body responsible for managing Victoria’s arterial road network, are recognised internationally for their innovative use of ITS technology says Scott, who will be presenting a paper to the Congress on the architecture and technical challenges behind the development of the VicTraffic app suite.
Melbourne was amongst the first cities in the world to introduce multi-lane free-flow tolling and has a world-leading managed motorway network. It also has the largest continually operating tram network in the world and a tramTRACKER®app that provides real-time timetable information.
The city’s business sector has a wealth of expertise in innovative transport technology solutions, from traffic software and communications to route planning and scheduling, supply chain management, telecommunications infrastructure and smart car technology.
“For a company such as ours, Melbourne is a fantastic place to be based,’’ says Scott.
“There is a great support network from government and educational institutions, and the tech and start-up ecosystem is really good. Melbourne is a world leader in that regard.’’
Networks for the future
Technology such as the VicTraffic apps for road users cannot operate without good networks to support them – networks such as those provided by CommTel Network Solutions. CommTel is a Melbourne company that specialises in building telecom networks for non-telecom companies, including the transport sector.
“We build the networks that make things happen,’’ says Paul Mascitti, CommTel’s director of sales and business development. “We operate in mission-critical, time-sensitive, safety-conscious environments, especially for the rail industry.’’
The company services major national passenger and heavy haulage systems, and clients include rail operators Aurizon, BHP and Rio Tinto.
“Victoria is home to advanced capabilities in manufacturing, supply chain management and transport technology solutions, providing the ideal environment for CommTel”, says Mascitti.
“Through our Melbourne-based sister company Avara we also manufacture specialised equipment for rail systems around the world”.
“The ecosystem we are building from Melbourne is a network of global vendors – we import and export with many countries.’’
Mascitti says CommTel is attending ITS both to get visibility of the latest trends in the sector and an opportunity to understand what is happening over their networks so they can better optimise their products to meet clients’ needs.
Another company which has found Melbourne to be a manufacturer-friendly environment is startup Tomcar. The company produces the toughest all-terrain vehicle of its type in the world, designed and built to be parachuted out of a plane and survive.
“We started manufacturing in Melbourne in 2012,’’ says CEO and co-founder David Brim.
“Our core market is military special forces around the world, but our main markets by size and volume are now agriculture and mining.’’
Currently developing the first electric car to be fully produced in Australia, Tomcar is dreaming big – and succeeding.
“We are using a locally built electric power train,’’ says Brim. “It has been developed especially for us to handle corrosive environments found in mines.’’
Being based in Melbourne has helped put Tomcar on track for success.
“Australia’s manufacturing industry is based in Melbourne,’’ says Brim. “There is an incredible supply chain here – 80 per cent of our componentry is made in Australia, and 90 per cent of that is from Victoria.
“We see a great opportunity for government supporting more start-ups like Tomcar and creating a thriving industry here. Australia can produce vehicles successfully with niche manufacturers like us.’
Workers on the move
State Government of Victoria support has been instrumental in helping Melbourne app developer Gridstone progress over the last six years from a raw startup to a mature company on a rapid growth trajectory.
The company focuses on organisational mobility in industries including transport, logistics and warehousing and is expanding fast, with headcount growing from 28 to 52 in the past year.
“We conducted in-depth research around the challenges of the modern, mobile workforce to develop our products,’’ says Julian Cross, Gridstone’s senior business consultant.
“We have many transport and logistics companies using our apps. We are also Apple partners and Telstra partners.’’
Gridstone has not seen the need to outsource or offshore any development, finding all the human resources they need in Melbourne despite their swift growth.
“We’ve had so much encouragement and support from the Victorian government,’’ says Cross.
“We’re proud to be part of their stand at ITS and to showcase and share our success story. The Congress will also be a great opportunity for businesses to meet new partners and customers.’’
Next: Airwallex breaks into cross-border payment industry in China
Next: University of Melbourne researchers trial mind-controlled bionic spine
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0009.json.gz/line675
|
__label__wiki
| 0.556984
| 0.556984
|
Inquest Report in Criminal Cases.
criminal Law in india, Inquest Report, Report under sec.174 of Cr.P.C. by Police., what is inquest report ?, when inquest report can be accepted.
An inquest is a judicial inquiry in common law jurisdictions, particularly one held to determine the cause of a person’s death. Conducted by a judge, jury, or government official, an inquest may or may not require an autopsy carried out by a coroner or medical examiner.
Police to enquire and report on suicide, etc. As per Sec. 174 of Cr.P.C.
(1) When the officer in charge of a police station or some other police officer specially empowered by the State Government in that behalf receives information that a person has committed suicide, or has been killed by another or by an animal or by machinery or by an accident, or has died under circumstances raising a reasonable suspicion that some other person has committed an offence, he shall immediately give intimation thereof to the nearest Executive Magistrate empowered to hold inquests, and, unless otherwise directed by any rule prescribed by the State Government, or by any general or special order of the District or Sub- divisional Magistrate, shall proceed to the place where the body
of such deceased person is, and there, in the presence of two’ or more respectable inhabitants of the neighbourhood, shall make an investiga- tion, and draw up a report of the apparent cause of death, describing such wounds, fractures, bruises, and other marks of injury as may be found on the body, and stating in what manner, or by what weapon or instrument (if any); such marks appear to have been inflicted.
(2) The report shall be signed by such police officer and other persons, or by so many of them as concur therein, and shall be forthwith forwarded to the District Magistrate or the Sub- divisional Magistrate.
(3) 1 When-
(i) the case involves suicide by a woman within seven years of her marriage; or
(ii) the case relates to the death of a woman within seven years of her marriage in any circumstances raising a reasonable suspicion that some other person committed an offence in relation to such woman; or
(iii) the case relates to the death of a woman within seven years of her marriage and any relative of the woman has made a request in this behalf; or
(iv) there is any doubt regarding the cause of death; or
(v) the police officer for any other reason considers it expedient so to do, he shall. subject to such rules as the State Government may prescribe in this behalf, forward the body, with a view to its being examined, to the nearest Civil Surgeon, or other qualified medical man appointed in this behalf by the State Government, if the state of the weather and the distance admit of its being so forwarded without risk of such putrefaction on the road as would render such examination useless.
(4) The following Magistrates are empowered to hold inquests, namely, any District Magistrate or Sub- divisional Magistrate and any other Executive Magistrate specially empowered in this behalf by the State Government or the District Magistrate.
In Podda Narayana v. State of A.P. AIR 1975 SC 1252 it was held that the proceedings under Section 174 have a very limited scope. The object of the proceedings is merely to ascertain whether a person has died under suspicious circumstances or an unnatural death and if so what is the apparent cause of the death. The question regarding the details as to how the deceased was assaulted or who assaulted him or under what circumstances he was assaulted is foreign to the ambit and scope of the proceedings under S. 174. Neither in practice nor in law was it necessary for the police to mention those details in the inquest report. It is, therefore, not necessary to enter all the details of the overt acts in the inquest report. Their omission is not sufficient to put the prosecution out of Court. In Shakila Khader v. Nausher Gama AIR 1975 SC 1324 the contention raised that non-mention of a person’s name in the inquest report would show that he was not a eye- witness of the incident was repelled on the ground that an inquest under Section 174 Cr.P.C. is concerned with establishing the cause of death and only evidence necessary to establish it need be brought out. The same view was taken in Eqbal Baig v. State of Andhra Pradesh AIR 1987 SC 923 that the non-mention of name of an eye-witness in the inquest report could not be a ground to reject his testimony. Similarly, the absence of the name of the accused in the inquest report cannot lead to an inference that he was not present at the time of commission of the offence as the inquest report is not the statement of a person wherein all the names (accused and also the eye-witnesses) ought to have been mentioned. The view taken in Podda Narayana v. State of A.P. (supra) was approved by a three-Judge Bench in Khujji @ Surendra Tiwari v. State of Madhya Pradesh AIR 1991 SC 1853 and it was held that the testimony of an eye-witness could not be discarded on the ground that their names did not figure in the inquest report prepared at the earliest point of time. The nature and purpose of inquest held under Section 174 Cr.P.C. was also explained in Amar Singh v. Balwinder Singh 2003 (2) SCC 518. In the said case the High Court had observed that the fact that the details about the occurrence were not mentioned in the inquest report showed that the investigating officer was not sure of the facts when the inquest report was prepared and the said feature of the case carried weight in favour of the accused. After noticing the language used in Section 174 Cr.P.C. and earlier decisions of this Court it was ruled that the High Court was clearly in error in observing as aforesaid or drawing any inference against the prosecution. Thus, it is well settled by a catena of decisions of this Court that the purpose of holding an inquest is very limited, viz., to ascertain as to whether a person has committed suicide or has been killed by another or by an animal or by machinery or by an accident or has died under circumstances raising a reasonable suspicion that some other person has committed an offence. There is absolutely no requirement in law of mentioning the details of the FIR, names of the accused or the names of the eye-witnesses or the gist of their statement nor it is required to be signed by any eye-witness. In Meharaj Singh v. State of U.P. (supra) the language used by the legislature in Section 174 Cr.P.C. was not taken note of nor the earlier decisions of this Court were referred to and some sweeping observations have been made which are not supported by the statutory provision. We are, therefore, of the opinion that the observations made in paras 11 and 12 of the reports do not represent the correct statement of law and they are hereby over-ruled. The challenge laid to the prosecution case by Shri Jain on the basis of the alleged infirmity or omission in the inquest report has, therefore, no substance and cannot be accepted.
Radha Mohan Singh @ Lal Saheb & … vs State Of U.P on 20 January, 2006
CASE NO.:Appeal (crl.) 1183-1185 of 2004
PETITIONER: Radha Mohan Singh @ Lal Saheb & others
RESPONDENT ……State of U.P.
DATE OF JUDGMENT: 20/01/2006
BENCH : Shri K.G. BALAKRISHNAN, ARUN KUMAR & G.P. MATHUR
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0009.json.gz/line678
|
__label__cc
| 0.673506
| 0.326494
|
Jess Hill: An Upcoming Star
I’d actually say she’s already arrived but there are still peaks to rise to. Jess Hill is one of Canada’s (and Vancouver’s) hot new singers and songwriters. I’m no expert on music but I know a catchy tune and can relate to a well modulated voice, and the beautiful chanteuse has both. Not only that, but her songs have lyrics that spin you into an atmosphere and mood as well as any tale.
Jess has been featured on CBC radio, at the Folk Festival and at various venues across western Canada. She’s just cut her second album, Orchard, which is sure to be even greater than Road. Her videos (check out the you tube below) are whimsical and fun, and sultry. http://www.youtube.com/jesshillsorchard And like many artists of East Van, crows feature in her songs. They are our ubiquitous bird and they grace songs, painting, sculptures and poems.
Until Oct. 18th people can vote at 100.5 The Peak for their top artists. Jess has made it into the top 20. You can listen to each performer there and make up your own mind. But vote now before the deadline. http://www.peakperformanceproject.com – to vote see the top right corner of the page. The winner receives $100,500 toward their music career.
http://www.myspace.com/jesshill
http://www.jesshill.ca
Filed under art, Culture, entertainment, music, people
Tagged as crows, entertainmnet, Jess Hill, music, Orchard, performance, singing, songs, The Peak, Vancouver music
August 9, 2010 · 10:37 am
Faerieworlds: A Realm in Review
A week ago I took a break from the daily toil and went to Faerieworlds in Eugene, Oregon. What is it? It’s a three-day camping event involving many bands and fairies, of course. Why do this? Because I can. I can dress up, have fun, camp, sleep in, dance, party without worrying about anything more than where to eat and when to shower.
The drive was long with an accident on the other side of the highway which had the looky-loos slowing down. We went 10 miles in an hour. And it seems that regular summer volume on the I-5 also slows down to a crawl. After many hours we arrived in Eugene at Buford Park where Faerieworlds took place. This event has been going eight years according to the website and there are a few things that could have been better laid out, such as where to park when registering, or picking up registration. There was one table with a guy yakking to two people and instead of one of them serving us they continued to listen to him so I went to the vendor registration instead. We received a wristband (not to be taken off) and a laminated tag, and it was unclear if both had to be worn. I never wore the tag. There was no list of events so knowing when a band was on could only be gleaned from catching the emcee, and things like the costume contest, well, I never knew about it at all. There was an event guide but it seems the $110 membership fee didn’t cover even a photocopy of the scheduled events.
The site is a big field, like a pasture, with trees only at the perimeter, and a mixture of grass, hay and blackberry brambles mowed down and removed, but there were still scratchy snags and very uneven ground. You wouldn’t want to go barefoot. Faerieworlds (or the park people) wouldn’t let us drive onto this field with our camping gear, which seemed odd because the ground was hard and there wasn’t any nice foliage to protect. In fact, they did let us drive on to pack up so it makes no sense. Luckily for us, we were near the road and didn’t have far to cart things. Another bizarre Faerieworlds rule was no glass or campfires of any kind, including camping stoves, yet I saw one fire that people had started up for something and obviously all the food vendors used stoves of varying types. Plus the taverns had glass bottles (though they served in plastic). It’s one thing to control fires but I’ve been to some very large camping events where campstoves are never a problem and people have never tipped one over and started a fire. So this rule was just dumb and inconvenient. A friend who went last year with her two kids didn’t have a good time because she had to go elsewhere to cook and didn’t find people friendly at all. Luckily we got by on cold food.
We camped in inner circle camping, which is noisier and nearer all the vendors and stages (there was the main stage and a smaller more intimate stage in the food area). Portapotties were banked out on the road and another set on one side of the camping. Adequate number for the bodies there but they only flushed them in the morning which meant by evening there was no water or paper towels in the cleaning stations and the toilets were becoming disgustingly full and devoid of toilet paper. In the dark that’s scary. A shower trailer was also on site and though they had odd hours of operation (7-11 am and 9 pm-1am) there seemed to be little in the way of lineups.
At least six bands played on the main stage. Faun, a German band, highlighted Saturday night with Delhi to Dublin from Canada playing beforehand. Other bands included Stellamara, Woodland, Gypsy Nomads, Telesma, and smaller groups on the more intimate stage called Neverworlds. What was extremely nice about the setup was that we could be at our camp an d still hear the music clearly. Or we could go around the vendor area, dance anywhere or be up in front of the stage. The music was great and well worth the money. However, many people did not enjoy being woken up to the Faerieworlds alarm Saturday morning which consisted of very loud German techno. I’m not sure why they thought they needed to wake fairies up at 8:30 anyways. I just wonder why the bands ended at midnight on Saturday when it was the main day of the event. Having music go later (everything seemed to close too early that night) would have been better.
There must have been about 100 vendors and the quality was verygood. Not a lot of original jewellery but enough, as well as some supremely amazing masks out of leather or formed plastics with feathers or fibers. As well there were several vendors selling wings of course, either one of a kind, handmade or mass produced. There were two taverns. There was clothing from silk fairy tatters to steampunk, accessories, and little magical things to go along with wings. Next year I think I’ll save up to buy one of the masks. They weren’t cheap but they were beautiful pieces of art. The vendor area also included some games, courtesy of a local Renaissance faire and was a maze of colorful items. Unfortunately some vendors only took cash and the official table selling the bands’ music only took cash because they divvy the money up to the bands. Still, I could have worked out a system for having credit cards and paying out each band.
What was probably the most fun besides the music, were the costumes and spontaneous performance art. There were numerous styles of wings and costumes that people had made. There were trolls and goblins in a tug of war, satyrs and wizards, dryads and Na’vi, steampunks and purple fairies, and all sorts of people just doing their thing. Some did spontaneous performance art, like the caterpillar and the dryad pictured here and I loved that. It’s inspired me to go back and listen to more music next year and maybe try a few more outfits for fun.
http://www.faerieworlds.com/
Filed under art, Culture, driving, entertainment, fairy tales, fantasy, fashion, life, music, people, travel
Tagged as bands, camping, dancing, Delhi to Dublin, Faerieworlds, fantasy, Faun, fun, Gypsy Nomads, music, music festival, Stellamara, wings, Woodland
Modern Bands and Zombies
A new phenomenon has cropped up in the last five years that I hadn’t seen before. Maybe it was slowly oozing up through the groundwater of culture before this but I never noticed it. True I don’t see a lot of live bands…well okay that’s not true. I go to one place that often has a live band that plays while people drink and socialize. They often talk through the music. There are no vocals (usually) because the band is meant to give background atmosphere.
Now bands that play in pubs, cabarets and other music venues might have vocals and the people most assuredly are drinking but the crowd could be mixed as to being there more to socialize with others or more to listen to the band. But even if the band is one for dancing to, I’ve noticed this new trend.
Zombies. Yes, zombies watch bands. It doesn’t matter if you’re at a venue with tables and/or with a dance floor, the zombies move to the front of the stage, effectively blocking the view for anyone who is sitting at a table. The zombies, in their mindless absorption and idolization, stare at the band, unmoving, often lacking any facial expression or emotion, a drink forgotten in their hand. That’s all they do. Stare. You might see a foot tapping like some latent nerve twitch that can animate a body after death, but that’s it.Their slowly rotting brains must think they’re at an outdoor concert or perhaps they’re all on zombie drugs. It doesn’t matter if the band just crawled out of the garage or is a big name. The zombies don’t move.
Where did the zombies come from? Obviously they were animated out of music culture, some assortment of eldritch notes coming together in a way to draw the bodies close, like a Pied Piper’s enchanted flute. But there the animation stops. It’s not enough to spur these bodies (usually young and in their 20s) into actually dancing. Perhaps there was a shyness or ineptitude in movement during the zombie’s half-life that translates into the barely animate.
Perhaps there is some perceived notion still firing sporadically in the zombie brains that says it’s not cool to dance. Perhaps the band emulates some aspect of zombie worship and the sounds that emit and marry in the air are like honey to zombie bees. I really dont’ know and can only speculate. Once in a while, later in the evening, when alcohol seems to have worked some reanimation charm, some of the zombies will start to emulate human beings, leaving only the most inanimate standing vacantly in front of the band.
It used to be that it wasn’t cool to show such mindless adoration but in the absence of modern gods, this is where the zombies go. But don’t worry, they won’t clutch at your head trying to gnaw your brains and they won’t drop gory body parts all over. They lack the life to do that, even in front of a hugely noisy, raucous punk rock band. Yes, I saw zombies in front of the Little Guitar Band, which really only hurt my ears and left me guessing at lyrics that could not be heard by anyone. At one point I think they sang, “I have a hernia and lost my shoe,” which oddly might be appealing to zombies. But the zombies never moved.
The most these zombies will do is annoy you. After all, zombies aren’t really alive and no longer have the common courtesy that might have been exhibited in live humans. They’ll stand in front of you, disregarding that perhaps you arrived early enough to get a seat and a view. They’ll take over the dance floor, not understanding that perhaps you want to dance. Zombies after all, aren’t exactly models of society and they sure don’t exhibit culture.
Will they go away? I doubt it, until the next wave of animated humans realizes zombies aren’t dangerous and sweeps them off the dance floor with…well, dancing. I do wish, however, that zombies would go back to the graveyards and gnaw brains like they’re supposed to. There, the rudeness of zombies doesn’t matter.
Filed under art, Culture, entertainment, humor, life, music, people
Tagged as adoration, Culture, dance, entertainment, guitars, idol worship, Little Guitar Band, modern gods, music, people, punk, vocals, worship, zombies
October 2, 2009 · 11:49 am
Weird Tales’ 85 Weirdest
I’m never up to speed when I’m reading and sometimes read magazines a long time after publication. This was the case with last year’s Weird Tales. I’ve found these magazines are easier to deal with while working out so I’m reading many after the fact. Weird TalesMarch/April 2008 issue listed 85 of the weirdest storytellers in the last 85 years, celebrating the magazine’s (of course) 85th anniversary. That means they started in 1923. Imagine how the world and the concept of fantasy and the weird has changed in that time. It’s a lifetime.
This list of storytellers covers everything from writers, musicians, filmmakers, artists to entertainers. I found that I knew most of the names on the list (that has a short paragraph or two of description) and started thinking about who wasn’t on the list that I would have added. Of course the magazine went with who they thought should fit in there, plus recommendations from the readers. Their list has these names (the first list those I know and the second, those I hadn’t heard of):
Douglas Adams, Charles Addams, Laurie Anderson, J.G. Ballard, Nick Bantock, Clive Barker, Art Bell, Bjork, David Bowie, Ray Bradbury, William S. Burroughs, Tim Burton, Kate Bush, Octavia Butler, Angela Carter, Nick Cave, Lon Chaney Sr., Cirque du Soleil, Joel and Ethan Coen, Alice Cooper, David Cronenberg, R. Crumb, Roald Dahl, Salvador Dali, Samuel R. Delany, Philip K. Dick, Steve Ditko, Harlan Ellison, M.C. Escher, Neil Gaiman, Terry Gilliam, Edward Gorey, Gunther von Hagens, Jim Henson, Robert E. Howard (the one I don’t agree should be on this list), Shirley Jackson, Franz Kafka, Frida Kahlo, Andy Kaufman, Stephen King, Stanley Kubrick, Madeleine L’Engle, Gary Larson, Tanith Lee, Thomas Ligotti, H.P. Lovecraft, David Lynch, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Dave McKean, Michael Moorcock (not so sure he’s that weird either but loved his Elric books), Alan Moore, Catherine Moore & Henry Kuttner, Grant Morrison, Joyce Carol Oates, Mervyn Peake, Penn & Teller, Bill Plympton, Thomas Pynchon, Anne Rice, Rod Serling, Dr. Seuss, James Tiptree Jr. (Alice Sheldon), Clark Ashton Smith, Stephen Sondheim, Rev. Ivan Stang, Hunter S. Thompson, Kurt Vonnegut, Tom Waits, Alice Walker, Andy Warhol, John Waters, Roger Waters, Wim Wenders, Thornton Wilder, Robert Anton Wilson, Warren Zevon.
(now the ones I didn’t know) Art Bell, Margaret Brundage, Virgil Finlay, Charels Fort, Rand and Robyn Miller, Chuck Shepherd, Osamu Tezuka, Kool Keith Thornton, Kara Walker, Sylvia Townsend Warner.
That’s it. Only a few I didn’t know and most of those illustrators/painters but not all. But then Weird Tales set up a tab on their website www.weirdtalesmagazine.com called Share Your Weird, where people could list other names they thought should have been on the list. As I read through the initial list I agreed with most but found a few that I thought were weird enough to be on there as well. Reading through other people’s comments, there are many more weird artists out there than the 85 slots and people made good ponts. In fact they could probably have done 85 weird filmmakers, 85 weird comic artist/writers, 85 weird fiction writers, etc.
Here are a few that I would have added, not just because of their impact on me but on a genre (in no particular order):
China Mieville–his bugheaded women in Perdido Street Station is weird enough, not to mention the cactus people. But then maybe he’s not old enough. Interestingly, of the living artists in the list of 85, no one is under the age of 40.
Federico Fellini–moviemaker who was doing bizarre films of ancient Greece and Rome, of love and of fools way before the more recent films (Amarcord, Satyricon, 8 1/2)
Peter Greenaway–filmmaker who must have been influenced by Fellini as well as by impressionist painters of the 18th century. His films often have scenes with dead animals, still lives with bugs, and great symbolism which I love. Definitely on the weird side. (The Cook, the Thief, His Wife and Her Lover; Prospero’s Books, The Pillow Book, The Draughtsmen Contract, 8 1/2 Women [the Fellini influence])
Gahan Wilson–weird and creepy cartoonist where his people often looked like they were in pain or melting.
Jean Cocteau–Long before Wenders, Kubrick, Cronenberg, Greenaway, or Fellini, there was Cocteau doing silent films in black and white. His Beauty and the Beast La Belle et la Bête was erotic and sensual before people talked of such things. The line of sconces, arms holding torches, set some of the stage for weird but arty films to come.
Brian Eno–his full name alone is weird (Brian Peter George St. John le Baptiste de la Salle Eno). This avant garde musician started with Roxy Music and has been producer on some of the bands you know today (Coldplay, U2, Talking Heads). His own work of eclectically weird songs and sonic landscapes, such as “Music for Airports” puts him as king of weird in the musical world.
They Might Be Giants–their lyrics alone are equal to the imagery in China Mieville’s books. How to make hit tunes from nonsequitirs and have them make sense–that’s these guys.
I’m sure I could come up with more weird. Oddly enough there are no poets in the mix in either the magazine or my list. I would need to actually do more research because there is plenty weird. Lewis Carroll is before the 85 years of weird but Jabberwocky would be on that list. It would be interesting now, to do a list of 50 weird poets though some people might think that all poetry is weird. And to Weird Tales, it was an interesting issue and well worth reading a year past the publishing date. That’s what I love about fiction magazines: they’re often timeless. And here’s to at least another 85 years of weird tales.
Filed under art, Culture, entertainment, fantasy, history, horror, internet, movies, music, people, Publishing, Writing
Tagged as anniversary issue, artists, books, Culture, entertainment, fiction, film, history, horror, music, people, reading, reviews, speculative fiction, weird, Weird Tales magazine, Writing
The Death of Rock Stars
Untimely deaths in the world of entertainment may not be every day, but they are a little too common, and of course because these people are famous we hear of all the sensational aspects that went along with the death. Looking at three stars of the music world, we have Elvis Presley, John Lennon and Michael Jackson, to name a few but perhaps the most famous deaths.
Elvis made it to 42 and died from complications of obesity and drugs. His life of fame ate at him and like many stars, brought out the hollowness of always being in the spotlight and having money to satisfy every desire but a happy heart. His funeral was big and his grave still gets many fans at Graceland.
John Lennon, didn’t die by his own hand, but was shot down by a nut, at the age of 40 (and Lennon actually said in a interview that day that he would probably be popped off by a loony). I remember when he died and I was incensed that the local paper didn’t even mention it on the front page of the newspaper. But some deaths hit the front pages because they sell newspapers.Because Lennon had moved on from the Beatles to a new phase of his life, his death was big but probably not as big as Elvis’s though they had been contemporaries.
Michael Jackson made it to 50, so did relatively well of the three big stars. He too died from drugs, addiction and who knows what else. His funeral this week was a spectacle with rock and movie stars and the thousands who attended being chosen through a lottery. It was in one sense a big dead concert, with booklets being given out as souvenirs or mementos of his memorial.
Comparing funerals and the splash that any of these men made in death could be difficult. Even Sarah Bernhardt’s death in the 20s held a spectable. Jackson has died in the age of computers and internet, blogging and tweeting. That his death will have hit more media forms than any other big stars death is obvious. This will of course increase his impact on his fans, or the number of people influenced by him. On TV, there must be at least five stations with long, dedicated shows to dissecting Jackson’s life. Not to mention every news hour covered Jackson’s death in detail.
Although stars often do charity and public works, funneling some of the gross amounts of money they make into good deeds, they are not overall big on world impact. That often takes world leaders and the power of their countries behind them to make those changes. But the King of Rock n’ Roll, the King of Pop and the Fab Four were known for their music, for touching the hearts and souls of millions of people. On TV, in movies, on stage, they were more visible, more beautiful and more charismatic than our world leaders.
Is it any wonder then, that we idolize them, place them on pedestals and call them our modern gods? People must place their faith, hopes and dreams on someone. We may not all be famous but we can fantasize of these princes of music and try and dig into evey aspect of their lives. And we can hate them enough to pull them down or shoot them, should they show a flaw or just somehow be what we can’t be.
Michael Jackson, like Elvis and John Lennon, left a huge legacy. It will stay in the hearts and minds of people for a long time. It will be a hundred years or longer before they fade from memory. But other stars will rise and shine and burn brightly for a time, then fade. And amongst those supernovas, there will be millions of other stars, not so bright, but the lives of you and me and those around us who deserve attention and love while alive. The price of fame and fortune was that Elvis and Michael at least, sought drugs and were unhappy. So we, the little stars, should remember this and be happy that we have the ability to be obscure and not always in a spotlight that can singe us to the soul.
Filed under art, Culture, drugs, entertainment, health, history, internet, life, music, news, people
Tagged as addiction, Beatles, charity work, concerts, cultural impact, Culture, death, donations, drugs, dying, Elvis Presley, entertainment, Fab Four, fame, fortune, funeral, gods, Graceland, health, idolizing, John Lennon, King of Pop, King of Rock, legacy, life, media, media spectacle, memorial, Michael Jackson, music, news, obesity, obscurity, people, rock stars, singers, songs, souvenirs, stars, The King, untimely death
Michael Jackson: Shooting Star
I grew up with Michael Jackson, or his music anyways. But that’s not hard to say for most of us. After all, when a career spans forty-five years, many people can say the same thing.
As the news rolled in, people and media have expressed their shock, that they were stunned. Sadly, I can say I was not. I have said that I expected that Michael would die an early death, like Elvis, than live to a ripe old age. I have called him a shooting star for years, for he is and was exactly that. A shooting star ascends high into the heavens, or so high up that everyone can see that light. But such a bright light eventually comes to an end. As opposed to a star that shines constantly and brightly for eons and then fades out at the end of a long lifetime, a shooting star seems all the brighter for its briefer lifespan, and that it will descend much quicker. The candle burned out long ago, to paraphrase Elton John.
That Michael Jackson was a brilliant musician and stage presence, the greatest pop icon of his time, is obvious by the number of albums he sold and the money he made. It’s irrefutable. That he lived a happy and normal life is arguable. The signs are not so hidden at all that Jackson was a troubled and unhappy individual. Like many of us, I’m sure he had his moments of happiness, but like many of us he was also unhappy with who he was. And he had the money to do something about it.
He was a good looking, handsome black child who grew to adulthood and was still attractive. Looking at those early pictures of Michael, you can see he is still black, his hair curly yet fashionable. Slowly his wide, broad nose, narrowed and narrowed again to the skeletal aberration that it became. I certainly hope that the plastic surgeon who mangled Jackson’s face doesn’t advertise that he did the great Michael Jackson. Of course, Jackson also had surgeries to change the shape of his jaw, his lips, his cheekbones, his eyes until the face does not resemble the earlier Michael Jackson at all. How much plastic surgery is needed for a burn of long ago? Not that much, I would think.
He took to straightening his hair, getting rid of any semblance to the negroid curl. And his skin turned white. It’s said that he suffered from a skin pigmentation problem, vitiligo. On white people this sometimes shows as a darker patch, or a pinker patch of skin. On black people, it shows as white or pinkish skin. This could possibly be true but any person I ever saw who had this condition, where the melanin starts to leave the skin, had it in patches, not an overall and even discoloration. Though it’s possible that he started with this and had a chemical depigmentation performed using monobenzone, to even out the skin tone. He also did not exhibit conditions of albinism, evident by the darkness of his hair and eyes. (The Philipines, as one example, sells many skin lightening soaps.) There are numerous ways listed on the internet on how to lighten your skin tone. Michael Jackson had the money, which gives you the means, to do this to the extreme. Perhaps it started as a pigmentation problem but I believe he went in search of being a white man.
These extreme examples of changing his body indicate how unhappy he was with who he had been born. And proves that money can’t buy you happiness. He was too famous to walk anywhere without being recognized, therefore negating his chances of having normal life experiences. As Michael grew farther away from a normal life (even as a child in a performing family he was more used to spotlight than to family life) it became more unattainable.
Where were the family and friends that could bring him back to center? His family wasn’t a good example as they all lived in the limelight to one degree or another as well. If Michael’s only friends were other stars (as often is the case) then they may have been his yes men, only telling him how wonderful he was, never saying, Michael you’ve gone too far. Or Michael, you’ve got to eat or you’re going to die. But if there were those who tried to balance Michael’s extremes, maybe he just didn’t listen. After all, he was rich and powerful in the music world.
Michael lived in fantasy palaces, with private zoos and was probably happiest when he took his creative genius into the realm of music where he was an innovator and a leader. I was never that in to pop music but I would argue that there is no better music for teenagers, because pop music is catchy, upbeat and fast enough to engage a young mind. Yet Michael was seen as a god, not as a man. I’m sure he was a romantic icon for enough teens as well.
We have a tendency in our world today to put rock/music stars and movie stars upon pedestals. They are our modern gods. But we (people, the masses) are a fickle lot, that get bored too quickly and demand too much. If our gods slip up, we will pull them down, we ridicule them and we hate them for the fame and money and beauty that we cannot hang onto ourselves. We will pick at their every flaw and as their pedestal crumbles we will hack it to pieces.
And then Michael, the unfathomable recluse who invited children into his palace, was charged with child molestation. Whether true or not, such an accusation is devastating and scarring to the core. It could not do other to a man estranged from a normal life who could only live on the idolization of his fans. Even the supposed three children he had with the rather plain woman (who disappeared from the scene shortly after) were suspect. No matter how a man bleaches himself, or suffers pigmentation problems, they won’t transfer to his children. And black being more dominant than white would show in the features, yet these kids (the few pictures that exist) are more white than anything else, one especially being extremely white.
Michael Jackson’s life had become a circus, the star on its descent. The millionaire who owed millions. When I recently looked at a progression of pictures of Jackson through his life and I saw how thin he was (not just slim, but very thin) I knew he suffered an eating disorder as well. This fits in with someone so desperate to change into someone else. Anorexia starves the body on all sorts of levels. Not enough nutrients to feed the muscles or the organs and then those organs must work harder. Anorexics, unless they try to seek help and recover, often die of heart attacks when the strain on their hearts become too much. It really was inevitable.
Michael Jackson may have had other conditions too; it’s not clear. But one thing that is, is that he was fighting his body his whole life. To be so gifted and die so conflicted. Could most of us ever hope to shine so brightly? Could any of us fear to burn so painfully? I feel sad for his life, that he couldn’t have loved himself more. Michael Jackson joins the other shooting stars, the famous who died suddenly before their flame burned out naturally: Jimmy Dean, Marilyn Monroe, Elvis Presley, River Phoenix, Princess Diana, John Lennon and many others.
Reports are saying that he died of a drug overdose or a cocktail of deadly proportions. Not really a surprise. Jackson was reportedly addicted to painkillers (Vicodin, Demerol, etc.) since the face burning episode. Put on top of that, the numerous surgeries and his anorexia and you have a collapse just waiting to happen. A bit of a star’s standard way out, whether planned or accidental. This shopping list of pharmaceuticals does support my theory of a man disenfranchised and unhappy with the way his life continued to unfold. So he closed the book.
Filed under Culture, drugs, entertainment, health, life, music, news, people
Tagged as addiction, albino, anorexia, black people, cardiac arrest, child molestation, Culture, death, Demerol, depigmentation, discoloration, drugs, eating disorder, Elvis Presley, entertainment, fame, famous, fans, God, happiness, heart attacks, heart strain, idolization, internet, Jimmy Dean, John Lennon, life, Marilyn Monroe, melanin, Michael Jackson, millionaire, modern gods, money, monobenzone, movie stars, music, musician, negroid, news, nose job, painkillers, people, pharmaceuticals, pigment, plastic surgeon, pop icon, pop music, Princess Diana, rock stars idols, sexual abuse, shooting star, skin lightening, soaps, Vicodin, vitiligo
May 6, 2009 · 11:05 am
Travel: Ennis, Ireland
Ireland 2007–Ennis
Ennis is in the southwest of Ireland and we stayed the night after our long drive through the Burren. Its Gaelic name is Inis. We found a little B&B a little farther out of the town center. All the Irish towns have the oldest buildings at the center and the newer more moderns ones the farther out you go. The streets were once built for carriages and are narrow. If there is any parking, people usually just drive up over the low curbs and you have to drive around the cars. This was true of Donegal town too. Ennis was set up as a one way, with the sidewalks widened and penant shaped streamers through the streets. There was some sort of game, the local team or something that was winning but I can’t remember what.
Rose Cottage, our B&B, wasn’t a cottage but had a small dining area as well as a wee pub downstairs with quite lovely and clean rooms upstairs. The food seemed kind of Americanized so we went into town and found one of few restaurants open. The food there was extremely good, one of those higher end restaurants. I believe it was called the Town Hall, denoting what it once used to be.
After dinner my sister and I wandered up the street to a cute little pub. There were people playing inside but as opposed to an organized band they were more just jamming. A fiddler or two, I think one on bodhran but it was very low key and background. I don’t even remember much about that pub.
The next day we wandered about the town, which still has many medieval buildings, and did some shopping. I think it was my favourite town for the looks and being just a pretty place. The streets all gently curved and the shops and pubs have an old feel. This town had the most medieval feel of the towns we had been in. There were many interesting shops and I wouldn’t have minded more time there. We found our way to the Ennis Friary by asking the Garda (the police) since we somehow couldn’t find a street that went through and it turns out there is the old friary, the ruins, and the new one, which is still in use. Of course we wanted the ruins.
Ennis Friary was built in 1240 making the town a religious center. It was a Franciscan center until the expulsion of the monks in the 1800s. It’s a fine example of gothic architecture, with remains of the cloister walk and many walls with the skeleton of the windows left. Some windows, side by side, would have a different design from one to the next. The floors were festooned with old tombs, leaving no space to walk that wasn’t over someone’s grave. I found that tombs older than about the 1700s were unreadable. Many were set in the walls and the O’Brians and MacMahons were families of note in the eiarly days of the friary.
The friary has some great sculptural images, with a monk, a skeletally thin Christ, and a virgin Mary as some of the plaques and such embedded in the walls. The Creagh tomb was large and ornate, in better condition but then it was put in, in 1840 and incorporated some elements from the 1500s. Overall, the friary was in good condition, for a ruin. I really wished these old churches still had the stained glass. It’s a bit hard to imagine what they would have looked like in their full glory, with the bright hues of glass, candles, wooden ceilings and floors, rushes perhaps, and walls not yet pitted by age and weather in rebellion.
When I get back to Ireland I want to spend more time in Ennis and exploring around the town.
Filed under art, cars, Culture, driving, history, Ireland, life, religion, travel, weather
Tagged as B&B, bodhran, cars, church ruins, cloister walk, Creagh tomb, Culture, driving, Ennis, Ennis Friary, expulsion of the monks, fiddler, Franciscan monks, friary, garda, gothic architecture, graves, history, Inis, Ireland, Irish, Irish history, Irish towns, MacMahon, medieval, monastery, music, O'Brian, pub, Rose Cottage, tombs, travel
Cruise Ship Comparison: Norwegian and Carnivale
I have now had the opportunity to take two four-day cruises; one to the Bahamas and one repositioning cruise up the coast from LA to Vancouver. These cruises have confirmed that I am not in any way a cruise person.There is just way too much time on a boat than out seeing the sites. If you like doing things in a hotel, that’s what a cruise ship is; a grand hotel with shows, casino, bars and restaurants, and a small pool/hot tub.
The two cruise ships were Carnivale and Norwegian for the Bahamas and North American coast respectively. The Carnivale ship was older and as one of my friends said about the decor, “It looks as if a gay fashion designer took acid and threw up all over the place.” The decor was very date and garish with green, yellow and gold decorations (and then tacky Christmas decorations on top of that). Chairs and design overall were date. Norwegian’s cruise ship (the Sun) is only ten years old and is fairly tasteful with wood accents.
Both ships have small outdoor pools and hot tubs (I think). Carnivale had assigned seating for dinners. The problem with this was that you were always sat with the same people and whether you got along or not, you didn’t get a chance to meet new people. However, the meals were excellent and definitely top of the line in desserts and in flavors. The other choice was the ongoing buffet for late night munchies or fast food stuff, which was mediocre.
Norwegian boasted thirteen restaurants, freestyle dining (you sit when you want to) and lobster. The reality turned out to be five restaurants that had an extra cover charge ($10-$25) and then on top of that there was often an extra $10 for any food of quality on the menu. Three restaurants seemed to be the same buffet, which was mediocre, with two (the Four Seasons and the Seven Seas) having the same menu. There was a pasta/pizzeria buffet (with dinners in the evening) and a Mexican tapas bar with only light items. When you count up the restaurants available without spooning out more money, the number goes way down. Oh, and lobster, well yes, they did have it at the other main restaurant. I had to send mine back because it was mushy (and half a tail). Other meals were dry or bland, with a shrimp bisque being so salty it was inedible. Desserts were kind of what you’d expect Mom to cook. Overall, Norwegian’s food was disappointing and middle of the road.
Extra costs are something cruise lines don’t always tell you about up front. Norwegian certainly did not advertise they had restaurants asking extra charges on their website. They also charge $12/day per person for gratuities to the staff while Carnivale charged $10/day (that cruise was about three years ago so prices may have changed). Booze is never included but Norwegian also added in an “autogratuity.”
Carnivale’s entertainment contained a song and dance number and maybe other things I don’t remember. All their bars had the same 70/80’s music and nothing but rap being played in the one disco every single night. Most of their “socials” saw no one going to them and the music was not that good.
Norwegian had a preview night of a comedian, some music and a woman gymnast doing a nautical number using the silks (two long pieces of fabric suspended from the ceiling in which various moves, spins and drops are done). It was beautiful, well executed and worth watching again. On the second night they had a musical adaptation of Peter Pan (called “Pan”) which had few words and was very well done in dance. I enjoyed it a lot. The following night had a guy from Vegas (George Solomon) who had a great voice but it was very old style Vegas, and a magician from Montreal, Jean-Paul (not sure if that’s his last name or not) who mixed comedy with his tricks. He was good even if he played up the creepy stalker jokes just a bit too much.
The musicians in the various bars, including a lovely Observation Deck (enclosed) with views of the ocean, were good and varied, compared to Carnivale’s mediocre music. Norwegian did seem to have better success in social gatherings, including people in the disco. This included having the comedian in there one night and having the dancers come in to kick off another party, mostly to sell more alcohol.
The staterooms weren’t bad in either ship. However the beds were more spacious in Norwegian but uncomfortable. I tend to have back issues and though my back had been okay before the trip I was definitely in pain afterwards. Both ships had casinos, duty frees and art galleries. Having been duped into the free piece of art in the Carnivale cruise (which meant I couldn’t carry it away but they had to ship it for an exorbitant cost of $40–I told them to keep it) I steered away from Norwegian’s, especially after they said they were the originators. Nothing, truly, is free.
All in all, it wasn’t anything I’d do again. I’d rather fly to the place and stay in a land hotel where I can get out when I want. And if I want a casino I’ll just go to one. I can see how it would be good for families and for elderly people who may get tired faster. For some people, they loved the games, and the whole gestalt water hotel experience, but for me it was being stuck in one place too long.
Filed under consumer affairs, Culture, entertainment, food, life, people, shopping, travel
Tagged as art galleries, autogratuity, Bahamas, Carnivale, coast, comedian, cover charge, cruise, cruise ship cover charge, cruise ships, Culture, dancers, dancing, decor, discos, entertainment, food, free art, freestyle dining, hidden costs, holidays, magician, music, Norwegian Cruise Lines, Norwegian Sun, Peter Pan, review, service charge, shipping costs, silks, sleeping, staterooms, travel, trips, Vegas
Dancing and Its Allure
I’ve been dancing or taking dance lessons in one form or another for many many years. When I was a wee child of four I took tap dance for a breath or two, enamored by the colorful outfits more than anything. I barely remember it and my mother had some health issues then and couldn’t keep me at it.
At various times as an adult I took jazz dance, Afro-Brazilian, samba and many years of belly dance. I’ve taught belly dance for the past year and a half and am accomplished enough, though I would not consider myself excellent. I would need to be much more fervent about practising every day and taking advanced workshops, which are often too pricey for me. But the moves are second nature to me and no matter if I’m dancing in
The thing about most of these dance styles above is that they are performance dances. You don’t dance with a partner and they’re meant to be watched. Now that doesn’t mean you can’t dance them with others and sometimes this has happened in belly dance, where musicians will play a piece, several women come out and dance and sometimes mimic each other’s moves. A dance can also be choreographed for a group of dancers in any style, whether ballet or belly.
Though these dance forms can be choreographed but overall you learn various moves and then can mix and match as you please. Put a shimmy after a chest drop, or go from a hip circle to a chest circle to snake arms and back to a chest circle. There is no set routine and move.
I took a dance step into the unknown this year and have just completed a beginner’s class in Argentine tango. This is like all dance, a dance to be enjoyed and of course one that can be performed and watched. Where I went from formulating my own moves I was now learning to follow. Of course, I could have learned the lead part but chose to stick to one. And tango is indeed always a partner dance. It’s as far as you can get from belly dance.
Tango involves subtle but clear movements by the lead with a hand and palcement of the foot. And it is mostly if not all about the feet, the step and the movement of them in tandem or separately. What I find interesting is that the lead chooses what step you might perform but the follow gets to do the more elaborate steps.
For many of us it was our first time but it seems that quite a few had taken at least beginning tango before and some were intermediate dancers. There were some leads who moved too fast, some who didn’t indicate the move clearly enough and follows who would anticipate or not follow. That was my biggest problem; I tended to try to anticipate the move. If you’re learning one step, that’s fine because you’re just repeating the step. But if you’re learning to dance tango, which means the order of the steps can change, then anticipating will have you going in the wrong direction from your partner.
Only a couple of the leads (all men in this case) were arrogant about their knowledge, which ticked me off. They were intermediate dancers and I was a beginner for the first time. It’s one thing to ask your partner to relax and let you lead; it’s another thing to keep correcting in an arrogant voice and then tell your partner that she’s nervous. I wasn’t nervous but I was learning and trying to memorize the step, try to get the tempo right and try to follow.
The instructor, Peter, of Dance Addicts (in Burnaby) is a good instructor, funny, relaxed and easy to approach. Because he is such an accomplished dancer and lead, following him is a lot easier. When I can afford it, I’ll take more tango. It will take a while to become accomplished enough at it. Like belly dance, or any other style, all dance takes practice.
Dance is always about flow (whether it’s jerky, stop and start or like water pouring) and grace. Belly dance and tango have a commonality in that they are both sensual dances. The accomplished dancer doesn’t just have feet being placed in the right spot tot he right style. They also have a particular style and grace, which is shown throw line of body, personalizing/flair/sensuality, tempo, movement of feet, hands, arms and head. Dance is always about the whole body, whether part of it is active or passive.
Only the last two classes of the eight-class session in tango started to feel like dance. We weren’t just getting the steps down, but putting them together to music. I closed my eyes for several dances, trusting in my lead and did find it made it better. Instead of anticipating I tried to feel what his body was telling me in the direction to move. It was fun, it was work. I have a ways to go yet but it’s another form of dance and one thing I do love, it’s dance.
Filed under Culture, entertainment, life, music, people
Tagged as Afro-Brazilian dance, Argentine tango, belly dance, choreographed moves, choreography, Culture, dance, dance classes, dance steps, entertainment, flair, flow, follow, grace, jazz dance, lead, music, partner dances, samba, shimmy, snake arms, tango, tap dance, teaching dance, tempo
Vancouver has neighborhoods set up with market areas. It’s not all neighborhoods but some of the better known ones are Kerrisdale, Kitsilano, the West End, Champlain Heights, Commercial, Fraser/Kingsway, Main St., etc. We have a few malls outside of downtown but not a lot. What these community shopping areas do is keep people local and able to shop within walking distance.
I live near Commercial, which has many shops and numerous restaurants/bars. We have several fresh produce markets that are cheaper and better quality than Safeway’s, which I rarely ever go to (and it’s farther). Some of the places have live music and there are a variety of funky shops from clothing to futons. Other cities have different styled areas. Calgary is so spread out that they have big box shopping centers everywhere and you have to drive around the center as it’s not set up for walking. Of course, they sometimes get real winter too.
I do remember being in Montreal, and like Vancouver there were shopping districts. These tended to be much larger but then so is the population of Montreal. What these areas do though, is give a better sense of community and culture, as each place takes on a particular flavor. Kerrisdale has wealthy older people and part of the Jewish community. Kitsilano is trendy with a lot of young (yuppy) couples and families.
Commercial Drive has the old Italian community and a lot of artists. We’re considered the bohemian part of town and there are a fair number of artist studios in the vicinity, which spawned the East Van Culture Crawl. This happens once a year (this year it’s Nov. 21-23) where studios are opened to the public to wander through. Some have demonstrations and some have items for sale. Thousands of people now go through the Crawl.
Even more than community of shops, I have found a community with my neighbors. Our street is not very long and partly blue collar industrial. Our particular block is the only one with houses on both sides of the street (about six per side). That’s pretty small and most of us have lived there for years. I’m not a homeowner but a long-term renter. I know my neighbors and through my landlords the people across the street. We nod to each other, stop and talk as someone is raking the leaves, or knock on a door to drop off a jar of jam.
My neighbors have a key to my place. If I’m stuck somewhere I can call them to feed the cat. We watch each others’ homes and cars and we’re aware if there are unfamiliar people in yards.The part I like best is just being able to say hi to my neighbors, to recognize them and their pets. On our little street, I like this sense of familiarity. When I was young I don’t remember it being this strong but then I was a kid. My mother knew the neighbors and I was long-term enemies with my neighbor two doors down, while my brother and hers were best friends.
So I’m glad I have that community sense in my neighborhood. It makes it real, and borrowing an egg or a cup of sugar are things that happen often enough, as well as stopping in for a glass of wine or to watch a show. And we have a lower crime rate because we know each other, and better understanding of any happenings. Here’s to my neighbors.
Filed under consumer affairs, Culture, entertainment, food, life, people, shopping
Tagged as artist studios, big box shopping centers, Commericial Drive, community, Culture, delis, Eastside Culture Crawl, friends, Kerrisdale, Kitsilano, life, local shopping, markets, music, neighborhoods, neighbors, people, shopping areas, the Drive, trends, Vancouver, walking distance
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0009.json.gz/line683
|
__label__wiki
| 0.98993
| 0.98993
|
Back to Entertainment
Jerry Lawson, leader of a cappella Persuasions, dies at 75
July 11, 2019 at 9:58 pm | By ANDREW DALTON
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Jerry Lawson, who for four decades was the lead singer of the eclectic cult-favorite a cappella group the Persuasions, has died. He was 75.
Lawson died Wednesday at a Phoenix hospice after a long illness, longtime friend and sometime Persuasions producer Rip Rense said.
Lawson's smooth baritone led the group of five and later six singers, who were revered as the "The Kings of a Cappella" by their small but devoted fan base.
Through 25 albums the Persuasions recorded rock, blues, gospel and pop songs, all with no sound other than their own voices, long after the doo-wop era and long before the "Pitch Perfect" movies, when a cappella was rare.
"Thirty-eight years and we still ain't got no band, man!" Lawson told The Associated Press in 2000. "That's the story right there."
They had many famous fans including Rod Stewart, the Grateful Dead's Jerry Garcia, the members of Boyz II Men and Frank Zappa, who gave their career a boost when he discovered them in the late 1960s.
"After working together at the Hurricane Katrina Benefit Concert, I admired the undeniable depth in Jerry's big voice," Stewart said in a statement. "A true soul singer."
They began as a casual and nameless collection of singers on the basketball courts and front stoops of Brooklyn in 1962, with Lawson bringing the warm, friendly voice he developed singing gospel songs during his youth in Apopka, Florida.
"It was just five guys who used to stand on the corner or go down to the subway station every night and just do this," Persuasions member Jimmy Hayes told the AP in 2000.
Joseph Russell, Herbert Rhoad and Jayotis Washington rounded out the original quintet.
They got their break when Zappa signed them to his independent label for their first album in 1969.
The Persuasions performed with everyone from Liza Minnelli to Joni Mitchell to the Seattle Symphony Orchestra and covered the songs of Motown, Sam Cooke and Paul Simon.
The eclecticism that made them so beloved also kept them from reaching pop stardom.
Music executives never knew how to market them and commercial radio had no clue what niche to stick them in.
"They've never gotten their due," Rense told the AP in 2000. "They're the greatest, most enduring American a cappella group. In another country like Japan they'd be declared a living treasure."
Lawson left the group in 2002. A few years later he joined a much younger group of San Francisco acapella singers that had based themselves on the Persuasions to form "Jerry Lawson and the Talk of the Town."
The group released an album, co-produced by Lawson and his wife, in 2007, and in 2011 they appeared on NBC's music competition show, "The Sing-Off."
In 2015, he released his only solo album, "Just a Mortal Man."
A documentary on Lawson is in the works and is expected to be released later this year.
He is survived by wife Julie Lawson and daughters Yvette and Wanda Dawson.
At his request, no funeral will be held, his family said in a statement.
Associated Press Writer John Rogers contributed to this story.
Read More Entertainment
July 16, 2019 at 9:28 am | NEW YORK (AP) — Beyoncé's "Homecoming" film has scored six Emmy nominations, while documentaries on Michael Jackson, R. Kelly and the disastrous Fyre Festival also picked up nominations. With Net...
AP Top Entertainment News at 12:29 p.m. EDT
July 16, 2019 at 9:30 am | The Latest: 'Brexit,' 'King Lear' get nods for best TV movie...
The Latest: 'Brexit,' 'King Lear' get nods for best TV movie
July 16, 2019 at 9:24 am | LOS ANGELES (AP) — The Latest on the Emmy nominations (all times local): 9: 16 a.m. The 2019 Emmy nominations for best television movie have been announced. The nominees include: "Bander...
July 16, 2019 at 9:22 am | LOS ANGELES (AP) — Partial list of nominees for the annual Primetime Emmy Awards, announced Tuesday by the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences. For the complete list, visit Emmys.com : Comedy S...
©2019 Columbia Basin Herald Terms of Use Privacy Policy
Columbia Basin Herald
Basin Life
Crime & Fire
Economic Development News
Fishing Magician
Basin Business Journal
Submit a Death Notice
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0009.json.gz/line684
|
__label__cc
| 0.647109
| 0.352891
|
Decisive measures must be taken by nations and international organizations to ensure mutual survival and safety. In the past several years, key governments and multilateral institutions have devoted considerable effort to the task of more effectively integrating development and security policy responses to the related challenges of countries affected by conflict, post-conflict peacebuilding, and conflict prevention. The looming deadline of the Millennium Development Goals, has focused attention on this important nexus and the near impossibility of crisis- and conflict-affected states achieving these goals unless development and security is more effectively integrated. Despite progress on several fronts, including at the United Nations and at the international financial institutions, developing policy for effective development and security engagement remains a challenge in both conceptual and operational terms – not least because discussion of political, security, economic, and humanitarian issues traditionally has occurred in different multilateral fora, among different sets of stakeholders.
Consequently, coherent and integrated development, security and political support to countries emerging from conflict has proven difficult. Organizing the international response around early support to economic recovery, livelihoods, and services, and the core task of statebuilding has proven a greater challenge. Core political, security, economic, and humanitarian tasks are carried out by an ad hoc and fragmented array of bilateral and multilateral development actors. CIC’s focus is to aid global actors in creating more effective and everlasting security.
Alischa Kugel
Megan Gleason-Roberts
Ensuring Stable and Peaceful Societies: Memo to H.E. John W. Ashe, President of the General Assembly
On April 24th and 25th, the President of the UN General Assembly will lead a thematic debate on ensuring stable and peaceful societies. CIC Senior Fellow David Steven, at the request of the President of the General Assembly, has prepared a memo which highlights why peace and stability is important for sustainable development and how it might be addressed in the post-2015 development agenda. The outcome of this discussion will be included in the President's summary and will be available as an input in the Open Working Group on Sustainable Development Goals.
Publication Date: Apr 22, 2014
Author(s) / Contributor(s): David Steven
Topic(s): Fragile States, International Security, Post 2015 Development
Fueling a New Order? The New Geopolitical and Security Consequences of Energy
The paper Fueling a New Order? The New Geopolitical and Security Consequences of Energy examines impacts of the major transformation in international energy markets that has begun. The United States is poised to overtake Saudi Arabia and Russia as the world’s largest oil producer and, combined with new developments in natural gas, is on track to become the dominant player in global energy markets. Meanwhile, China is in place to surpass the United States in its scale of oil imports, and has already edged out the U.S. in carbon emissions.
Author(s) / Contributor(s): Bruce Jones, David Steven, Emily O'Brien
Region/Country: China, Europe, Middle East, United States
Topic(s): Emerging Powers, Global Governance, International Security
Still Ours to Lead
America, Rising Powers, and the Tension between Rivalry and Restraint
"What’s become clear to me is that while the rising powers--principally China, India, Brazil, but also Turkey, Indonesia, Korea and others--want to increase their influence and protect their interests, the United States still occupies a central place in their thinking and their strategies. And only the U.S. can help all these players forge an effective international order." —Bruce Jones
Author(s) / Contributor(s): Bruce Jones
Region/Country: China, East Asia, Europe, Brazil, United States
Topic(s): Emerging Powers, International Security
Netanyahu and Boehner are wrong to think they know what Iran wants
UN and DRC forces prepare for war
Islamic State, Ebola to Top UNGA Agenda
Non-international armed conflicts and the UN Security Council
Non-international armed conflicts (NIACs) are now the dominant form of contemporary warfare, substantially outnumbering traditional inter-state armed conflicts (IACs). UN Security Council practice is not a source generally cited as evidence of norms regulating NIACs. Descriptions of the Council as an essentially “political” body have been used to suggest that the obligations it imposes form no coherent pattern and have little relation to otherwise applicable rules of international law.
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0009.json.gz/line689
|
__label__wiki
| 0.694146
| 0.694146
|
Digital IDs
Cyber Security Policy Research
by Prasad Krishna
Tim Maurer will give a presentation on cybersecurity policy research at the Centre for Internet & Society's New Delhi office on October 18, 2015, from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. Geetha Hariharan and Sunil Abraham will participate in this event.
Tim Maurer's talk will give an outline of the definitional issues involved, the various threats to the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of information and underlying infrastructure, the actors involved and international efforts to address cybersecurity. The talk will also provide an overview of existing and ongoing cyber security policy research.
Tim Maurer
Tim Maurer is an associate at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. His work focuses on cyberspace and international affairs, with a concentration on global cybersecurity norms, human rights online, Internet governance, and their interlinkages. He is writing a book on cybersecurity and proxy actors.
Maurer serves as a member of the Research Advisory Network of the Global Commission on Internet Governance, the Freedom Online Coalition’s cybersecurity working group “An Internet Free and Secure,” and co-chaired the Civil Society Advisory Board of the Global Conference on CyberSpace. In 2014, he developed the Global Cyber Definitions Database for the chair of the OSCE to support the implementation of the OSCE’s cyber confidence-building measures. In 2013 and 2014, Maurer spoke about cybersecurity at the United Nations in New York and Geneva and co-authored “Tipping the Scale: An Analysis of Global Swing States in the Internet Governance Debate,” published by the Global Commission on Internet Governance. His work has also been published by Jane’s Intelligence Review, TIME, Foreign Policy, CNN, Slate, and other academic and media venues.
Prior to joining Carnegie, Maurer was the director of the Global Cybersecurity Norms and Resilience Project at New America and head of research of New America’s Cybersecurity Initiative. He also gained experience with the United Nations in Rwanda, Geneva, and New York focusing on humanitarian assistance and the coordination of the UN system.
The Centre for Internet & Society, G15, Hauz Khas, Near G Block Market, Next to Crunch, New Delhi, 110016
Geetha Hariharan
DIDP #34 On granular detail on ICANN's budget for policy development process
The Impact of Consolidation in the Internet Economy on the Evolution of the Internet
Picking ‘Wholes’ - Thinking in Systems Workshop
Announcement of a Three-Region Research Alliance on the Appropriate Use of Digital Identity
Workshop on Feminist Information Infrastructure
Internet Speech: Perspectives on Regulation and Policy
SOTM Asia 2018
Workshop on Cybersecurity Illustrations
Roundtable on Cyber-security and the Private Sector
Symposium on India’s Cyber Strategy
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0009.json.gz/line691
|
__label__wiki
| 0.8475
| 0.8475
|
Obama deficit panel likely to come up empty-handed, Democrat says
Jon Ward Contributor
November 16, 2010 12:56 PM ET
A leading Democrat on President Obama’s deficit commission said that the proposal released by the panel’s co-chairs last week would receive support from no one on the 18-member body, and strongly signaled that the Dec. 1 deadline will pass without any agreement on a set of recommendations.
“That proposal as is would have received approximately zero votes on the commission,” said Rep. Jan Schakowsky, Illinois Democrat, at a morning press conference on Capitol Hill, referring to the draft released by Erskine Bowles and Alan Simpson. “So we have a great deal of work to do.”
The commission is meeting Tuesday afternoon and Wednesday morning in closed sessions, and then will hold its final two meetings on Nov. 30 and Dec. 1.
One Republican discounted Schakowsky’s comments.
“I don’t believe that is an accurate whip count,” said John Hart, spokesman for Sen. Tom Coburn, Oklahoma Republican. “It is going to take time to persuade some members to leave progressive fantasyland where all of our problems can be solved through tax increases.”
But Schakowsky, who unveiled her own set of proposals Tuesday that included $144 billion in new taxes (click here to read her plan, and here to read the Bowles/Simpson plan), indicated that the two sides on the commission are so far apart that they will not get approval of any document from 14 of its 18 members. If such an agreement were reached, the recommendations would be sent to the Senate for legislative action, though a bill would not be required.
“If we don’t come up with an agreement, I don’t think the effort was wasted,” Schakowsky said. “I think there are a lot of ideas that have been put out there. It should not be characterized as a failure even if we can’t come up with a proposal.”
In an interview after her press conference, Schakowsky said that the ideas generated by the commission could end up comprising a “laundry list” of actions that both liberals and conservatives could agree on.
“It may be that the best we can do is have the proposals on the table and some specifics that the 14 of us agree on, and that’s it,” she said.
Elements that were included in both the Bowles/Simpson plan and Schakowsky’s include cuts to defense spending, increasing Social Security taxes on higher income brackets, a proposal by Coburn to save $400 million a year by eliminating government printing projects on things such as the daily congressional record, trimming the federal vehicle budget and federal travel budget, and eliminating tax loopholes.
Even on issues such as tax loopholes, conservatives who favor eliminating most of them condition their support on the reduction of the corporate income tax rate, which is one of the highest in the developed world, making the U.S. uncompetitive when it comes to attracting business.
Schakowsky said she was not inclined to compromise on that matter.
“What I’ve asked for from the start have been distributional analyses: the question of who pays, and who benefits,” she told TheDC.
When asked about broader compromises during her press conference, Schakowsky said she did not intend to do so.
“I don’t quite understand the notion of what would I give up,” she said. “This notion that somehow, ‘What will middle income people sacrifice?’ Right now, by and large, all of the sacrifice in the struggling economy has been made by middle and low-income people.”
Schakowsky said her proposals would reduce the deficit in 2015 by $425 billion.
Her plan would raise the estate tax, increase capital gains and dividend tax rates and implement a cap-and-trade system for $144 billion in new taxes, cut $110 billion in defense spending, save $132 billion by eliminating tax loopholes and cut $8.5 billion in non-defense discretionary programs.
Her plan also said it would save $27 billion by eliminating mandatory spending, but $10 billion of that would come from creating a government-run “public option” for health care, which was scored by the Congressional Budget Office as saving that amount but is the target of significant criticism from conservatives as a big step in the direction of a health care system run entirely by the government.
E-mail Jon Ward and follow him on Twitter
Tags : alan simpson congressional budget office erskine bowles jan schakowsky jon ward social security tom coburn united states federal budget
Jon Ward
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0009.json.gz/line693
|
__label__wiki
| 0.940009
| 0.940009
|
Book depicts tensions between first lady, aides
admin Contributor
WASHINGTON (AP) — First lady Michelle Obama is a behind-the-scenes force in the White House whose opinions on policy and politics drew her into conflict with presidential advisers and who bristled at some of the demands and constraints of life as the president’s wife, according to a detailed account of the first couple’s relationship.
New York Times reporter Jodi Kantor, in a book to be published Tuesday, portrays a White House where tensions developed between Mrs. Obama and former White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel and former press secretary and presidential adviser Robert Gibbs.
The Associated Press obtained a copy of the book, “The Obamas,” Friday evening and The Times posted a 3,300-word adaption on its website that appeared to capture its most revealing accounts. The book is based on interviews with 30 current and former aides, though President Barack Obama and the first lady declined to be interviewed for the book.
The book portrays Mrs. Obama as having gone through an evolution from struggle to fulfillment in her role at the White House but all the while an “unrecognized force” in pursuing the president’s goals.
She is seen publicly as the friendly and popular face of the softer side of the White House, the one reading to school kids or promoting exercise as a means to reduce child obesity.
According to Kantor, early in 2010 as the president’s health care agenda seemed in danger of collapsing, Mrs. Obama let it be known she was annoyed by how the White House was handling the strategy. After media reports indicated Emanuel was unhappy pursuing the health care overhaul, Emanuel offered to resign, Kantor wrote. The president declined the offer.
By that spring, however, Kantor writes that Mrs. Obama “made it clear that she thought her husband needed a new team, according to her aides.”
Among the book’s most provocative anecdotes, Kantor recounts a scene in which Gibbs, frustrated after tamping down a potential public relations crisis involving the first lady, exploded when presidential adviser Valerie Jarrett told him the first lady had concerns about the White House response to the flap. The initial commotion had been over an alleged remark by Michelle Obama to French first lady Carla Bruni-Sarkozy that living in the White House was “hell.”
Gibbs cursed the first lady, who was absent. Kantor writes that Gibbs later said his anger was misplaced and that he blamed Jarrett for creating the confrontation. Kantor writes that Jarrett appeared to have been too quick with her criticism of Gibbs and that two aides to the first lady later said Jarrett had misspoken.
The White House had a cold reaction to the book, calling it an “over-dramatization of old news” and emphasizing that the first couple did not speak to the author, who last interviewed them for a magazine piece in 2009.
“The emotions, thoughts and private moments described in the book, though often seemingly ascribed to the president and first lady, reflect little more than the author’s own thoughts,” White House spokesman Eric Schultz said. “These secondhand accounts are staples of every administration in modern political history and often exaggerated.”
The book, in an array of reconstructed anecdotes, depicts a first couple often wishing they could escape the confining White House life more freely; a president who at times gets deeply frustrated by how the press covers him; and a former chief of staff, Emanuel, who let loose with profane outbursts on staff members. All of those themes have been presented in some form in other publications.
One incident recalled that Jarrett used a phone aboard Air Force One to call a New York Times reporter. The reporter was pursuing a story about how Obama’s West Wing was essentially a big boys’ club, and Jarrett was calling to argue that the premise of a male-dominated operation was overblown. The book says even though Jarrett was the one making the call, it was Obama himself who was managing the response to the Times’ story even before it came out by “personally dictating talking points to the aides who would speak to the reporter.”
In another, the book describes how Obama, after winning a U.S. Senate seat and writing a best-selling book, “The Audacity of Hope,” sought self-protection and privacy as he came to terms with his new fame. Some staffers came up with a word to describe times when the senator couldn’t connect with people: “Barackward,” a combination of “Barack” and “awkward.”
But despite the White House pushback to the book, Kantor also includes many positive portrayals of both Obamas as committed parents and a down to earth power couple who have not lost their perspective.
Other revelations in the book:
— Mrs. Obama initially chafed at life in the White House and for a short period before the inauguration had even mulled staying in Chicago in 2009 at least until the two Obama daughters completed their school session.
— During the struggle to pass health care reform, Obama was committed to tackling the massive problem of rising health care costs despite the political costs. “Michelle and I are perfectly comfortable if we’re only here one term if we feel like we really accomplished something,” the book quotes the president as telling aides.
— Despite her reticence in 2010 to campaign during the midterm elections, the book says Mrs. Obama now has no qualms about 2012. “Michelle had been playing it safe, storing up political capital, and now she wanted to spend it all on her husband’s re-election campaign.”
Associated Press writers Ben Feller and Ken Thomas contributed to this report.
Tags : michelle obama rahm emanuel
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0009.json.gz/line694
|
__label__wiki
| 0.50267
| 0.50267
|
Velshi: The ‘Sooner’ High Schoolers Take Over Gun Policy ‘The Better’
Amber Athey White House Correspondent
February 19, 2018 5:40 PM ET
MSNBC anchor Ali Velshi said on Monday that “the sooner” the anti-gun students from Parkland, Florida can “take charge of things, the better.”
Velshi spoke to Jaclyn Corin, a student from Stoneman Douglas High School who survived the shooting that killed 17 people and injured dozens more. Corin was involved in organizing a march for gun control in response to the shooting.
“We do not need the help of politicians because we don’t even want to politically affiliate,” Corin said when asked what message she would send to Trump. “We don’t need the help of them. We don’t need the help of parents. We don’t need the help of anybody but other students because we are the future. We are the generation that’s going to change this and we only need the help of people our age.”
Velshi seemed inspired by Corin’s message and said he couldn’t wait for her generation to take over.
“That’s amazing. I’m with you on that,” he responded. “I believe it. Having been down there and listening to you guys, the sooner you guys can take charge of things, the better it will all go.”
Follow Amber on Twitter
Tags : ali velshi msnbc parkland shooting
Amber Athey
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0009.json.gz/line695
|
__label__wiki
| 0.720554
| 0.720554
|
/ Technical
/ Martin Parr: Life’s a Beach
Life’s a Beach: inside Martin Parr’s world
In a career spanning over four decades Englishman Martin Parr has become one of the world’s best-known, most prolific and often controversial documentary photographers. His work is loved by many but has also provoked more than its fair share of criticism. In an exclusive interview he spoke to CPN writer Steve Fairclough to discuss his work with Canon digital cameras, why he has already bought the 50.6 Megapixel EOS 5DS R DSLR and why beaches remain his “laboratory”.
When CPN tracked down Martin Parr he was in Paris, having just finished the 2015 AGM of Magnum Photos – the world famous photography co-operative of which he is the current President – and was in the midst of a fashion shoot with the EOS 5DS R DSLR, but more of that later...
Photographic roots
His roots in photography lie within his family: “My grandfather was a very keen amateur photographer. When I was about 13 or 14 he lent me a camera; we went out shooting together, processed the film, made prints… so at that age I decided that that’s what I wanted to do. From the outset I’ve always photographed people. I did my first photo essay when I was 16 on Harry Ramsden’s fish and chip shop in Guiseley.”
He admits: “I knew then I wanted to be a photographer and that the way forward was to go and study photography at a college, which I did at Manchester Polytechnic. In those days those courses had a lot of theory input. You had to learn about reciprocity failure, which I was useless at. They nearly tried to throw me out because I think I failed my first year theory exam, but there was a member of staff there, called Alan Murgatroyd, who liked me and said I had potential; he persuaded the rest of the staff to keep me on [the course].”
© Martin Parr/Magnum Photos
A girls’ Friday night out on the town, Bristol, England, 2009. Taken on a Canon EOS 5D Mark II at a focal length of 30mm; the exposure was 1/20sec at f/2.8, ISO 800.
Partly thanks to the aforementioned Mr. Murgatroyd, and since Martin’s graduation in 1973, the photographic world has now experienced over 40 years of the world seen through the cameras and lenses of Martin Parr. This includes his black and white work – first published in ‘Bad Weather’ (1982) – and his leap into shooting in colour with the book ‘The Last Resort: Photographs of New Brighton’ (1986).
Indeed he cites ‘The Last Resort’ as his most rewarding project of his career thus far: “I think when I went from black and white to colour – ‘The Last Resort’ – that’s still one of my best known bodies of work. So, that was quite a breakthrough and it’s also probably the work that launched my career beyond the UK.”
To use a very British phrase, Martin Parr’s work is ‘like Marmite’ – people tend to either love it or hate it, but criticism is not something that hurts him. “I welcome it. I’ve always, for some reason, attracted some controversy and I never quite understand why because I don't see what’s so controversial about photographing in a supermarket or on a beach? Pretty early on in my career I realised that it did no harm. If people criticise me – I fully expect it. I get praised and criticised a fair bit, so it’s not going to stop me doing anything; I just do what I want to do really.”
The switch to digital
His leap into the digital world came: “Around 2006 or 2007... I was fully aware of digital being around; I just took the plunge and, like many other of my colleagues, once you do, you never look back.”
Nice, France, July 2015. Taken on a Canon EOS 5DS R with an EF24-70mm f/2.8L II USM lens at 63mm; the exposure was 1/200sec at f/16, ISO 200.
He is also not a particularly technical photographer and likes to keep his camera settings simple. “Most of the time I put it [the camera] on Program and then, at night, I go on to T [shutter priority setting]. The great thing about digital is what you can shoot at night. I’m a great believer in combining T at low shutter speed with a flash. I’ve done a lot of pictures of dancing and discos and this is where the digital readout of what you're doing comes in so handy.”
Perhaps unsurprisingly, given his previous answers, Martin is also not a fan of customising his cameras. He reveals: “I can’t be bothered. There’s no need! I love Program [mode]. Because I’m seeing the back [of the camera] and I’m seeing what exposure is giving me, it’s usually pretty spot on. People shoot on manual – I couldn’t be bothered to do that! There’s no point – it’s all done for you.”
He does, however, enjoy playing with ISO values: “All the time I’m flipping it around. When I go into a disco, or in a nightclub, or a party I’m determining what ISO is going to be best for me and adjusting it accordingly is reading out of the camera back, together with the flash and making sure that the ambient light is kept so you feel the atmosphere of what the place is like but using flash at the same time.”
He admits he pushes ISO: “Up to 2500 sometimes. My favourite ISO at night would be 800 to 1000.” But on a beach? “Then I’d be on [ISO] 125 or something. It’s pretty bright.” Also, he remains a devotee of composing through the viewfinder of his cameras: “Oh, yes. I’m a great believer in that.”
Workflow and printing
Nice, France, July 2015. Taken on a Canon EOS 5DS R with an EF50mm f/2.5 Macro lens; the exposure was 1/200sec at f/13, ISO 160.
Of his workflow Martin reveals: “I shoot RAW and I’ve never processed a [digital] file in my life! I have a great team that do it all for me. I make an edit and then we produce, rather surprisingly, for every high-res file… we do a 10x8 [inch] print of the images I’ve edited. I then make the secondary edit, which determines what goes on the Magnum website, from a print rather than from a picture on a screen. I’ve built up an archive of 400,000 or 500,000 digital images since I’ve shot digital.”
In his London studio he has a team of: “Two-and-a-half and a potential intern. I do the editing; they just process the file and send the files off. I mean, I make C [type] prints… we send them off to a lab one day and they come back the following day – they cost about 50p for a 10x8 [inch print]. It’s the sort of company that wedding photographers use, but the prints are fantastic.”
When quizzed about what his studio printer he laughs and admits: “I don't know!” In fact, Martin has a 44-inch Canon ImagePROGRAF iPF8300 large format printer in his London studio and he opines: “The quality is great and it’s consistently faster than the printer we were using before. It’s a very good printer – we really put it through its paces because of the quantity of prints it produces. I have exhibitions all around the world and they’re all produced in London, in my studio, and are then sent out. We’ve done seven acres of prints – it’s virtually on all the time and the quality is fantastic so we’re big believers in the products Canon makes.”
Pop-up studios and the beach ‘laboratory’
The recent activities of Martin Parr also saw him running a pop-up studio in Nice, France, which was operating and open to the public during the second week of July 2015. Dubbed ‘Promenade(s) Des Anglais’ it was a ‘real-time’ photo project that saw Martin and his London studio team relocating to the south of France and based in the Artists’ Room of the Théâtre de la Photographie et de l’Image in Nice.
© Canon Europe
Please click on the image above to view an exclusive film on Martin Parr’s recent ‘Pop-up’ studio in Nice, France, where he used the EOS 5DS R and imagePROGRAF large format printers.
Martin reveals: “It’s something I’ve done before whereby my whole studio comes down and they set the printers up. I go out shooting at quite a lick and then come back, say twice a day, to the studio; download, edit and the things are printed up literally the same day that they’re taken. So, at the end you had this complete new exhibition about Nice. To complement that my other exhibition, ‘Life’s a Beach’, was on at Nice at the same time. It also included some Nice beach pictures.”
The prints for the Nice ‘revolving exhibition’ were made using two Canon 44-inch imagePROGRAF iPF8400 large format printers and at the closing exhibition of the pop-up studio many of the subjects featured in the images were invited and given small prints of the pictures they were in. Martin explains: “This whole concept of showing the work back to the subjects and to the people of the town or place where the photos are taken is an element I am trying to build into my repertoire. This strategy appears to work very well, as people are always intrigued to see how a foreign photographer views their home territory. Many of the people who attend such projects have never visited an art or photography gallery at all.”
The Nice pop-up studio project was just the latest in Martin’s ongoing, 30-year plus, love affair with documenting beach life in his observational style, which is often characterised by the saturated colours in his images. In the past he has described the beach as being his “laboratory” and that still holds true… “The beach has been the place where I‘ve experimented with my new ideas as we go along – so, absolutely, yes [it’s still my laboratory]. Now I’ve been experimenting with the telephoto [zoom lens], because in the art world with the exception of a few people, the telephoto is scorned upon. So, I’m now experimenting using the beach to see what’s possible by shooting with a telephoto [lens].”
So, what telephoto lens is he using? “I think it’s a 70-300mm. You have to remember I’m not actually interested in equipment (laughs). But it’s an amazingly sharp lens – it’s fantastic! I’m very happy to be served by a good camera but my interest is only in taking the pictures.” In fact, the lens Martin is referring to is the EF70-300mm f/4-5.6L IS USM zoom.
In addition to the pop-up studio in Nice Martin also had his work shown elsewhere in France recently with the installation – in collaboration with French musician Matthieu Chadid (aka ‘M’) – ‘MMM’ (for ‘M Meets Martin’), which was one of the key attractions at the 2015 Recontres d’Arles international photo festival.
As for his next big projects, he reveals: “Next February [2016] I’ve got two big shows in the UK – one in the Guildhall [in London] and one in The Hepworth in Wakefield. This is new work – I’ve done a whole thing about rhubarb for The Hepworth. The ‘Rhubarb Triangle’ (a concentrated area of the English county of Yorkshire in which early forced rhubarb is cultivated) is near to Wakefield so I photographed that last winter – it will be shown along with a wide selection of my own work. The Guildhall will show pictures I’ve done about the City of London and all the traditions within that [that are] hidden away, behind the surface.”
Despite having a 40-year plus career does Martin still have any ambitions he hasn't fulfilled yet? He laughs out loudly down the ‘phone line and replies: “My ambition is to keep going as long as I can really, while I’ve still got my mind and two legs that I can walk [with]. I’ve never been at a loss for subject matter – there’s so much to photograph in this crazy world that we live in.”
Martin Parr’s kitbag
EF24-70mm f/2.8L II USM
EF24-105mm f/4L IS USM
EF70-200mm f/2.8L IS II USM
EF70-300mm f/4-5.6L IS USM
Speedlite 580EX II flashgun
Macro Ring Lite MR-14EX II
Gary Fong flash diffuser
EOS 5DS R – KEY FEATURES
50.6 Megapixel full-frame CMOS sensor with ISO 100-6400 (Lo: 50 and H1: 12,800) sensitivity range.
Low-pass cancellation filter for maximum sensor resolution.
Dual DIGIC 6 processors for outstanding image processing speed and camera responsiveness.
5 frames per second (fps) with selectable burst speeds and silent shutter mode.
61-point wide area AF with 41 cross-type sensors with iTR, AI Servo AF III and AF Configuration tool.
150k pixel RGB+IR metering sensor.
100% magnification Intelligent Viewfinder II with electronic overlay.
1.3x, 1.6x and 1:1 ratio crop modes with masked viewfinder display.
Mirror Vibration Control System to reduce mirror vibration blur.
Fine Detail Picture Style.
CF + SD (UHS-I) dual memory card slots.
Peripheral Illumination and Chromatic Aberration Lens Correction in-camera.
Multiple Exposure and HDR mode.
Customisable Quick Control screen.
Built-in timer functionality – bulb timer and interval shooting timer.
Time-lapse Movie function.
Super Speed USB 3.0 for high-speed tethering and image/movie transfer.
150,000 shutter cycle life.
Compatible with most EOS 5D Mark III accessories (note: the WFT-E7 requires new USB cables and firmware updated).
Did you enjoy reading this article? If so, please subscribe to our newsletter to keep up to date on all the latest stories!
Biography: Martin Parr
© Martin Parr Collection/Magnum Photos
Martin Parr was born in England in 1952 and studied photography at Manchester Polytechnic from 1970 to 1973. In a career spanning over 40 years he has developed an international reputation for his innovative imagery, his oblique approach to social documentary and his input to photographic culture. In 1994 he became a full member of Magnum Photos. In 2002 the Barbican Art Gallery and the National Media Museum initiated a large retrospective of his work, which toured Europe for five years and the show ‘Parrworld’ – including his collections of photography and photo books – toured Europe from 2008 to 2010. To date he has published over 80 books of his own work and edited another 30.
Lucie Debelkova on the EOS 5DS R
Joel Santos: on location with the EOS 5DS
Quentin Caffier shoots with the EOS 5DS
Fernando Guerra on the EOS 5DS
David Noton on the EOS 5DS
Eberhard Schuy on the EOS 5DS
Developing the EOS 5DS & EOS 5DS R
Martin Parr’s website
Magnum Photos’ website
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0009.json.gz/line704
|
__label__cc
| 0.688366
| 0.311634
|
Commercial facilities (x)
Harpel, A.O. (photographer) (x)
(All Cars Stop at Talbott's) Broad St. N. From 4th Ave., Grinnell, Iowa
Transposed photo of trolley (right) onto Broad Street photo. 1912 postmark.
1907 Fire in Iowa Falls, Iowa
Aerial view looking northwest from Maytag Hotel, Newton, Iowa
View of shops on North 2nd Avenue East and in background the Maytag plant. Number 65687. Series 408-D-5. Verso says:Newton is generally referred to as "The manufacturing center of the Middle West" and the Maytag Company seen in the distance is the world's largest manufacturer of washing machines."
Aerial view of Banker's Life, Des Moines, Iowa
Looking northwest. Verso says: Aerial view of Banker's Life, 4 of Des Moines, Iowa's 193 churches, the Telephone Building and Television towers looming in the background. St. Paul's Episcopal Church is circled in red. Number 65696.
Air view of Council Bluffs, Iowa
Looking northeast at an aerial view of Council Bluffs, Iowa. Bayliss Park is in the right-hand corner of the image. Verso: Council Bluffs, located in Southwestern Iowa, near the geographical center of the U.S.A. has a population of nearly 50,000. Its history goes back to 1804 when Lewis and Clark held council with the Indians on the high bluffs overlooking the Missouri River. 1964 postmark.
Alta State Bank, Alta, Iowa
A corner view of a two-story brick building with Doctor Johnson's office and a barber pole on the left and a telegraph office and shoe store on the right. Number 8.
Amana General Store, Amana, Iowa
Street scene showing the Main Office of the Amana Society, General Store and Post Office. The Amana colonies are old in the story of Iowa, almost as old as the state itself. The site for the colonies was chosen in 1854 by their inspired leader Christian Metz.--t.p. verso. Located at 4423 220th Trail, Amana, Iowa County, Iowa. Number 66660. Series A-4.
Amana Meat Shop, Amana, Iowa
Home of the Famous Westphalian Sugar Cured Hams and Bacons Shipped to Gourmets all over the World, and will keep indefinitely without spoiling because of their unique curing process.--t.p. verso. Number P97997.
Band playing in front of Birdsell Wagons, Correctionville, Iowa
View of a band playing in front of Birdsell Wagons. Livery stables in background. Title supplied by cataloger.
Bank Buildings, Collins, Iowa
Looking south on Main Street at the Exchange State Bank on the left with a train passing through in the background. The Exchange State Bank was established in 1902.
Grinnell College Libraries Special Collections (Supporting Host) (95) + -
Grinnell College Libraries Special Collections (9) + -
Helen Lewandowski (Scanned By) (2) + -
Baker, J.G., Columbus Junction, Iowa (photographer) (1) + -
Benedict, V.E. (photographer) (1) + -
Dalton (photographer) (1) + -
Hamley (Maquoketa, Iowa) (photographer) (1) + -
Hunt, Enos B. (Des Moines, Iowa) (photographer) (1) + -
Iowa Development Commission (photographer) (1) + -
Stores and shops (218) + -
Stores & shops (129) + -
Dirt roads (120) + -
Vehicles (102) + -
Financial facilities (63) + -
Business districts (53) + -
41.728745,-92.445445 (2) + -
Historic Iowa Postcards (642) + -
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0009.json.gz/line707
|
__label__cc
| 0.696462
| 0.303538
|
Tag Archives: about metal
Chad Bowar – About Metal [Industry Spotlight]
Continuing our popular [behind the scenes] features on various industry people: This month Kinger chats with Metal journalist Chad Bowar about all things Metal and his daily activities.
Tell us about your position with the Heavy Metal division @ About.com please.
About.com has hundreds of sites in all sorts of topics. There are several music sites, and I’m in charge of the heavy metal section.
How did you land that and was it’s surprising that they wanted a dedicated Metal editor or web presence; since they are a part of the New York Times Company etc.
About.com has been around for more than fifteen years and has had a few owners. The heavy metal section is at least a decade old and I have been the editor since 2005. I was writing for a different web site at the time (along with some print publications), saw the job posting and applied. After going through a testing and training period, I was selected to be the editor.
What do you like best about your job there?
I have a lot of freedom in terms of content. I decide who and what we cover, which allows us to showcase both unknown and extremely well-known metal artists.
The site offers a lot of Heavy metal news, reviews – how many people work there with you or do you have freelancers who submit the reviews and or material you post?
In the beginning it was just me writing all the content. A few years into it I brought aboard some contributing writers, which have steadily increased. Right now we are up to about ten writers and me. We have a team of extremely talented and dedicated writers, and I’m very proud to work with them.
I see you use Twitter to promote various things, how has that affected the Metal industry or music scene or in general?
Social media in general has dramatically changed how things are promoted. A well-known band can post something on Facebook or tweet to their million plus followers and it is instantly read by a vast number of people. Communication is now direct and instantaneous. It also provides a great avenue for interaction that wasn’t there in the past.
Congrats on having almost 10K followers. How long did it take to build that audience?
A few years. The number of Twitter followers has grown steadily. People just find us, I find and follow people who follow back, and it is promoted in our weekly newsletter. It’s been a bit more challenging to build Facebook fans, but continue to work on it. Feel free to follow us on both platforms. We’re on Facebook, and @aboutheavymetal on Twitter.
Tell us about your custom Twitter profile page background. It says: “Need, Know, Accomplish.” I like that.
It’s the same background as all About.com Twitter pages.
Can you believe what was happening with singer Randy Blythe overseas? That is a popular topic in Social Media lately. Yikes!
It has got a lot of attention in the metal and music press, but the mainstream media has pretty much ignored it except for some outlets near Blythe’s home in Virginia. It’s a scary situation, and from the outside it seems he is getting a raw deal. The justice system in other countries can be far different from ours in the U.S.
What do you think of the strength and renewed popularity of Metal in 2012! I mean all the 80’s bands are back and there is such a plethora of younger bands as well!
Metal has never gone away, and seems to be thriving more than ever in 2012. Nostalgia is driving a lot of the ‘80s hair band revival, and it’s cool to see bands like Poison still able to draw a crowd. The biggest names in the genre like Metallica and Iron Maiden are still making relevant new music, and there’s a giant crop of young talented bands. The future of metal music is bright, but the state of the music industry is another story.
I see you are based in Charlotte, NC – how is life there and is there a strong music scene there perhaps?
Charlotte is a great city. The climate is good and we’re close to both the coast and the mountains. We get our fair share of big name concerts, although our proximity to Raleigh and Atlanta means we don’t get them all. There’s a good local music scene as well.
Chime in on the internet downloading and the future of music or CD sales. I read somewhere that there has only been one single artist to sell a million copies thus far in 2012! That is amazing to me, but I am an old dog from the 80’s as well. But the industry has certainly changed in the last decade!
The whole music industry has been in a free fall the past few years. Illegal downloading has accelerated the decline. Labels are struggling and artists aren’t making any money on album sales. I think you’ll see more and more well-known bands abandon record labels and release albums on their own. Getting distribution is easy, and by using social media and contracting a publicist they’ll be able to get the word out. Even if they don’t sell as many copies, their profits will be higher because they keep a higher percentage of each album or download sold.
Describe a typical work day for you.
I get up at 3:30am to go to my radio job.
I’m usually home by 11am. I grab lunch and do some writing for About.com
some Loudwire assignments
then back to About.com after that.
I usually stop for the day around 5
then eat dinner and do whatever.
I check email constantly
…am in bed by about 9pm.
You’ve interviewed hundreds of bands over the years – Who was your favorite interview subject or band over the years and why?
I always enjoy interviewing Rob Halford of Judas Priest. He’s a great guy, very down to earth, and tells interesting stories. I’ve spoken with him several times and it’s always a great interview.
The Metal God
Who was the worst…and why?
It was a fill-in hair band singer who was releasing a solo album several years ago. He was just unpleasant and didn’t seem interested in speaking with me. Recently I had another awful interview with an up and coming singer who gave such short and worthless answers I couldn’t even publish it. I thought it might be me, but I spoke with another writer who had the same experience with her.
I like your weekly Retro Recommendation; that might be how I found you. Who’s idea was that? Thanks for that. It gives the younger fans something to hear and research and discover some of the great music in the “Heyday of Metal” (i.e. 80’s).
It has been a Friday staple of the site for the past few years. Dan Marsicano writes that feature, and sometimes I’m amazed at the obscure stuff he comes up with. It’s an awesome way to rediscover older releases you might have forgotten about or missed the first time around.
I see you recently interviewed Metal Blade CEO Brian Slagel for their Anniv. Can you believe it’s been three decades?! Who are your all time favorite bands on Metal Blade?
My top five Metal Blade bands past and present would be (in no particular order):
Fates Warning
How many digital press releases do you get weekly? I have hundreds of emails from PR companies in my inbox and I cannot possibly read all of them. What’s your method for digging through all that “news”?
I receive dozens per day. We don’t really do news posts, since that niche is covered well by sites like Blabbermouth and Brave Words. I look for the album release emails, since our release calendar page is extremely popular. I put a ton of work into that calendar.
Do you still accept old-fashioned/old school printed press releases?
I would accept them, but nobody sends them!
Do you still like the 80’s music best or are you a fan of any modern metal, extreme metal or other micro-genres?
I still love the music from my youth, but also enjoy a lot of modern stuff. My tastes are pretty eclectic when it comes to genres. It’s more about the band than the style, but I would say thrash, traditional, progressive, power, folk and melodic death metal are genres I tend to like. I’m not as much of a fan of grindcore, metalcore, black metal or brutal death metal, but there are certainly bands within those styles that I like.
Speaking of genres, it used to be easier for writers when describing a bands sound. A band was either Hard Rock or Heavy Metal [laughs]. Then came Power Metal, Speed, Thrash and Death. That’s where I stopped with the genres in the late 80’s. It got to be ridiculous after that! Thoughts?
The sub-genres have gotten out of control. New wave of this, post that, it’s getting hard to keep up. Genre titles are used to categorize bands, but so many of them cross multiple genres that it doesn’t always work.
I liken the Metal blogosphere to the old tape trading days and all the fanzines that were being put together all over the world! This is great…What blogs do you like?
I don’t have as much time as I’d like to read other sites, but there are a few that I enjoy. Angry Metal Guy, Blistering.com and Hellbound are a few that come to mind.
My favorite rag was always Metal Forces! They are posting old reviews and interviews from the past on their site.
RIP (and Lonn) was cool too…miss that one.
As a teenager I read all the magazines I could get my hands on. I subscribed to Rolling Stone, and always purchased RIP, Circus and Hit Parader. Probably should have held onto them, they might have been worth some money now!
Do you think Revolver [“The World’s Loudest Rock Magazine”] and Decibel [“America’s only monthly extreme music magazine”] can hang with Kerrang! And Metal Hammer?
Decibel is my favorite metal magazine. I’m also a big fan of Metal Hammer and Terrorizer. Revolver is definitely more commercial, but they have some good stuff as well. I don’t read Kerrang!
It seems readers are always obsessed with lists – esp. die-hard Metal fans (who you know are “some of the most passionate people around, who aren’t afraid to make their opinions known”). It seems those must be really popular on the site?
Without a doubt. Lists are some of the most popular pieces of content on the site. It’s always fun putting them together and then seeing readers weigh in on them.
What advice would you give to any aspiring writers or reviewers out there? The publishing and world of journalism has changed through the years as well.
When it comes to writing reviews, too many reviewers miss the point. It’s not about being cute and clever and using your thesaurus to come up with obscure phrases and references. Tell us what the music sounds like and what your opinion of it is. I read too many reviews that look like a creative writing project and are extremely well written, but don’t say anything. People don’t read reviews for their literary value, they want to garner useful information from them. Develop a style and voice, but give the readers what they want.
When it comes to places to write, they are almost unlimited. Just start writing. Submit a review to a metal site and see if they want to publish it. If not, start your own blog. Build some experience that way. You may draw your own following and not want to write for somebody else. You may aspire to write for one of the larger metal sites (like ours) or a magazine. Just be warned that there’s little to no money to be made writing about metal.
Are you into reading any music/band books or Kindle e-books?
I read and review as many music books as possible. Most of them are hard copies, but a few have been sent to me in digital format, which is fine. Some of the best music books I’ve read recently include Metalion: The Slayer Mag Diaries by Jon Kristiansen, Crazy Train by Joel McIver, No Sleep Til Sudbury by Brent Jensen and Dirty Deeds by Mark Evans.
Are you able to fully support yourself by writing/editing for the site?
Not even close! Metal writing is a passion, but not enough to make a living. My “real job” is in radio, which I’ve been doing for more than twenty-five years. It’s not a traditional nine to five gig, which gives me the time and freedom for writing. There are people who make their living writing about metal and hard rock, but not many.
What are some of the magazines or places you contribute too?
Right now Loudwire is about the only other place I’m writing for in addition to About.com. Over the years I’ve written for magazines such as:
Outburn
Hails and Horns
And several that are unfortunately no longer in existence
What’s a pet peeve of yours as far as other journalists or metal writers when you read their interviews?
Doing interviews can be daunting, and preparation and research is vital. That’s always a good first step, and allows the conversation to go in many different directions. Don’t be afraid to stray from your list of questions, and make sure to actually listen to their answers instead of thinking about your next question.
As far as pet peeves, my main one is when interviewers inject themselves into the conversation and make it as much about them as the artist. When I read an interview where the questions are longer than the answers, it’s not going to be a good one. The readers want to know about the artist, not the interviewer.
Do you download your music now or still buy CD’s?
I’m lucky enough to get pretty much all metal releases for free. Most of them are digital downloads, but a few labels still send real CDs for review. I buy stuff in other genres, and it depends on the price. If a download is cheaper, I’ll do that instead of the CD, or vice-versa. I have so many CDs it’s ridiculous, so I should be doing only digital to save space!
Hats off to you for being involved in Metal for the past 25 years…any last parting words?
Thanks for the interview Curt. Always a pleasure.
Chad is a longtime music journalist specializing in heavy metal and residing in Charlotte, North Carolina. Though he may appear to be an accountant, looks can be deceiving.
Chad has been involved in metal for over twenty-five years. He writes or has written for several national music publications including Outburn, Hails and Horns, AMP, Lollipop, Loud Fast Rules and more. He’s done hundreds of interviews over the years with members of bands such as Judas Priest, Metallica, Cannibal Corpse, Queensryche, Sepultura, In Flames and more.
In addition, Chad has covered events like Ozzfest, Warped Tour and the New England Metal and Hardcore Festival. He’s also worked in radio for the past two decades at stations all over the country.
http://heavymetal.about.com/
Standard | Posted in Demolish A.D. | Tagged about metal, America's only monthly extreme music magazine, best of metal list, Chad Bowar, Chad Bowar about.com, chad bowar blogger, chad bowar journalist, chad bowar metal writer, Charlotte, Dan Marsicano, Decibel, metal hammer, metal Kindle e-books, metal lists, NC, Revolver, The World’s Loudest Rock Magazine, writing metal reviews | 1 Comment
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0009.json.gz/line709
|
__label__wiki
| 0.796404
| 0.796404
|
Films, Articles with Wikipedia content, 2008 films,
Disney Channel Original Movies
Films based on books
The Cheetah Girls
Sequel films
Paul Hoen
Debra Martin Chase
Nisha Ganatra
David Lawrence
Donald Duncan
Girish Bhargava
Studio(s)
Disney Channel Original Movie
The Cheetah Girls: One World (also known as The Cheetah Girls 3 or The Cheetah Girls 3: One World) is a 2008 Disney Channel Original Movie. It is the third and final film of The Cheetah Girls film trilogy, and premiered on August 22, 2008. This is the first film without the participation of Raven-Symoné.
With Galleria at the University of Cambridge in England, Chanel (Adrienne Bailon), Dorinda (Sabrina Bryan), and Aqua (Kiely Williams) are cast in the lavish new Bollywood movie "Namaste Bombay". The Cheetah Girls travel across the globe to India. There, they meet Rahim (Rupak Ginn), the man cast as the lead, whom they realize is attractive, yet somewhat clumsy. After meeting the movie's choreographer, Gita (Deepti Daryanani), a dance battle erupts between themselves and Gita with her backup dancers. They subsequently discover that the musical's director, Vikram "Vik" (Michael Steger), must choose only one Cheetah for the role as the budget is only enough for one star.
When it becomes apparent that they must travel home, they are upset, until realizing they may each try out for the lead. Though they all make a promise to be fair in the competition, situations arise in which each member becomes jealous of the others' specific talents. Chanel befriends Vik, Dorinda befriends Rahim, and Aqua befriends a boy she has been in contact with since before leaving America, Amar (Kunal Sharma). Each girl is led to believe the producer of the film, Khamal (Roshan Seth), Vik's uncle, will choose her after the audition. Chanel is told because she is the better singer, she will receive the role, while Dorinda is promised the role as she is the best dancer, while Aqua is convinced the coveted role will be hers as she is the best actress. The three Cheetahs audition against one another with Chanel being awarded the role, which she later refuses realizing, as do the other Cheetahs, that friendship and unity are more important than furthering their individual or group careers.
After refusing the role, they set to convince Khamal to award Gita as the lead, to which he reluctantly agrees, ending in a scene from "Namaste Bombay" in which the Cheetahs sing and dance the titular song, "One World".
Adrienne Bailon as Chanel Simmons
Sabrina Bryan as Dorinda Thomas
Kiely Williams as Aquanette Walker
Michael Steger as Vikram
Kunal Sharma as Amar
Deepti Daryanani as Gita
Rupak Ginn as Rahim
Roshan Seth as Uncle Kamal Bhatia
According to Disney, the plot would involve the Cheetah Girls going to India to star in a Bollywood production. Like The Cheetah Girls 2, it was filmed on location in a foreign country. In an interview, Bailon stated the movie would film for a three month period, in India, and that she had been doing research for the film. She also stated that "all of the original cast will be back". However, Raven-Symoné later confirmed that she would not return for this film as she was busy with her fourth studio album and was filming movies such as College Road Trip. Though some reports state that she and Adrienne Bailon did not get along during production of the second movie, Symone refused to reprise her character a third time if it meant working with her.
Filming began in Udaipur, India during March 2008. Like High School Musical 2, Disney featured a "play your part" role, where viewers and fans could choose elements of the film.
During the premiere airing of Camp Rock, the first of many Road to "Cheetah Girls One World" segments debuted.
Main article: The Cheetah Girls: One World (soundtrack)
The soundtrack was released on August 19, 2008. The soundtrack, which has been released in several versions, contains elements of both hip hop and Indian music.
New segments of The Road to The Cheetah Girls: One World air Fridays, giving information and sneak peeks of the film.
Hooray for Bollywood
Hip Hop Kathak
Animal Crackers
Hang with Adrienne
Hang with Sabrina
Get to know Kiely
Meet the Guys
Meet Deepti
And also to promote the soundtrack, 2 segments of The Cheetah Girls: One World playback premiered on Disney Channel to give information about the Indian sound of music in the soundtrack.
The movie premiered to over 6.2 million viewers, and reached 7 million viewers in its final half hour. This still failed to meet the ratings of the first two and was the series' lowest-rated premiere. In the UK, its premiere night scored 412,000 on Disney Channel UK, making it #1 of the week, and received 182,000 on Disney Channel UK +1, also #1 on that channel for the week, totalling 594,000.
The "Extended Music Edition" DVD and Blu-ray Disc of The Cheetah Girls: One World, was released on December 16, 2008 in the United States. It includes an exclusive music sequence titled "Feels Like Love", as well as a downloadable exclusive remixed version of "Feels Like Love". It also featured a "Rock-Along" mode, "Cheetah Spots", and an alternate version of the movie with pop-up fun facts and music videos. The Region 2 DVD was released on March 16, 2009.
Official DVD site
The Cheetah Girls: One World on IMDb
Disney Channel international sites:
Disney Channel Brazil
Disney Channel France
Disney Channel Germany
Disney Channel Latino
Disney Channel India
Disney Channel Spain
Disney Channel UK
This page uses content from the English Wikipedia. The article or pieces of the original article was at The Cheetah Girls: One World. The list of authors can be seen in the page history. As with Disney Wiki, the text of Wikipedia is available under the GNU Free Documentation License.
Tiger Town • Gone Are the Dayes • Love Leads the Way • Black Arrow • Lots of Luck • The Undergrads • The Blue Yonder • The Parent Trap II • Spot Marks the X • Down the Long Hills • Not Quite Human • The Christmas Visitor • Ollie Hopnoodle's Haven of Bliss • A Friendship in Vienna • Not Quite Human II • Spooner
Lantern Hill • Chips, the War Dog • Mother Goose Rock 'n' Rhyme • The Little Kidnappers • Back to Hannibal: The Return of Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn • Bejewelled • Perfect Harmony • Mark Twain and Me • Still Not Quite Human • The Ernest Green Story • Hocus Pocus • Heidi • The Old Curiosity Shop • Escape to Witch Mountain • The Four Diamonds • Freaky Friday • Wish Upon a Star • Susie Q • Northern Lights • Under Wraps • Tower of Terror • You Lucky Dog • Brink! • Halloweentown • Zenon: Girl of the 21st Century • Can of Worms • The Thirteenth Year • Smart House • Johnny Tsunami • Genius • P.U.N.K.S. • Don't Look Under the Bed • Horse Sense
Up, Up and Away • The Color of Friendship • Alley Cats Strike • Rip Girls • Miracle in Lane 2 • Stepsister from Planet Weird • Ready to Run • Quints • The Other Me • Mom's Got a Date with a Vampire • Phantom of the Megaplex • The Ultimate Christmas Present • Zenon: The Zequel • Motocrossed • The Luck of the Irish • Hounded • Jett Jackson: The Movie • The Poof Point • Halloweentown II: Kalabar's Revenge • 'Twas the Night • Double Teamed • Cadet Kelly • Tru Confessions • Get a Clue • Gotta Kick it Up! • A Ring of Endless Light • The Scream Team • You Wish! • Right on Track • The Even Stevens Movie • Eddie's Million Dollar Cook-Off • The Cheetah Girls • Full - Court Miracle • Pixel Perfect • Going to the Mat • Zenon: Z3 • Stuck in the Suburbs • Tiger Cruise • Halloweentown High • Now You See It... • Buffalo Dreams • Kim Possible: So the Drama • Go Figure • Life is Ruff • The Proud Family Movie • Twitches • High School Musical • Cow Belles • Wendy Wu: Homecoming Warrior • Read It and Weep • The Cheetah Girls 2 • Return to Halloweentown • Jump In! • Johnny Kapahala: Back on Board • High School Musical 2 • Twitches Two • Minutemen • Camp Rock • The Cheetah Girls: One World • Dadnapped • Hatching Pete • Princess Protection Program • Wizards of Waverly Place: The Movie
StarStruck • Harriet the Spy: Blog Wars • 16 Wishes • Den Brother • Camp Rock 2: The Final Jam • Avalon High • The Suite Life Movie • Lemonade Mouth • Phineas and Ferb The Movie: Across the 2nd Dimension • Geek Charming • Good Luck Charlie, It's Christmas! • Frenemies • Radio Rebel • Let It Shine • Girl vs. Monster • Teen Beach Movie • Cloud 9 • Zapped • How to Build a Better Boy • Bad Hair Day • Teen Beach 2 • Descendants • Invisible Sister • Adventures in Babysitting • The Swap • Tangled: Before Ever After • Descendants 2 • Z-O-M-B-I-E-S • Freaky Friday • Kim Possible
High School Musical 4 • Descendants 3 • Z-O-M-B-I-E-S 2
Unofficial DCOMs
Kim Possible: A Sitch in Time • Leroy & Stitch • Harriet the Spy: Blog Wars • 16 Wishes • Marvel Rising: Secret Warriors
Retrieved from "https://disney.fandom.com/wiki/The_Cheetah_Girls:_One_World?oldid=3557519"
Articles with Wikipedia content
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0009.json.gz/line713
|
__label__wiki
| 0.62902
| 0.62902
|
Justia Dockets & Filings Eleventh Circuit Georgia Northern District Stevenson et al v. The Great American Dream, Inc. et al Filing 86
Stevenson et al v. The Great American Dream, Inc. et al
OPINION and ORDER granting Defendants' 59 Motion to Dismiss the Claims of Plaintiff Kwanza Edwards. Signed by Judge Thomas W. Thrash, Jr. on 1/16/2014. (dfb)
IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE NORTHERN DISTRICT OF GEORGIA ATLANTA DIVISION MARTISHA STEVENSON Individually and on behalf of others similarly situated, et al., Plaintiffs, v. CIVIL ACTION FILE NO. 1:12-CV-3359-TWT THE GREAT AMERICAN DREAM, INC. doing business as Pinups, et al., Defendants. OPINION AND ORDER The Plaintiffs are entertainers at Pin Ups Nightclub seeking damages for violation of the minimum wage and overtime wage requirements of the Fair Labor Standards Act, 29 U.S.C. § 201, et seq. (FLSA). The case is before the Court on the Defendants’ Motion to Dismiss the Claims of the Plaintiff Kwanza Edwards [Doc. 59]. For the reasons set forth below, the Motion to Dismiss [Doc. 59] is GRANTED. I. Background The Plaintiffs – current and former adult entertainers at Pin Ups Nightclub – brought suit alleging that they were entitled to minimum wage and overtime compensation under the FLSA. On December 17, 2012, they moved for conditional T:\ORDERS\12\Stevenson\mtdtwt.wpd certification of a collective action class [Doc. 15], which was granted on August 14, 2013 [Doc. 50]. Kwanza Edwards filed an opt-in form to become part of the collective action class on October 7, 2013 [Doc. 57-1].1 The Defendants now move to dismiss the claims of the Plaintiff Kwanza Edwards, arguing that she signed an arbitration agreement.2 In response, the Plaintiff makes three arguments. First, she claims that the Arbitration Agreement does not encompass her FLSA claim. Second, she claims that the Arbitration Agreement is unconscionable under Georgia law. Third, she claims that the Defendants waived their right to invoke the Arbitration Agreement. II. Legal Standard “The liberal federal policy favoring arbitration agreements . . . is at bottom a policy guaranteeing the enforcement of private contractual arrangements.” Mitsubishi Motors Corp. v. Soler Chrysler-Plymouth, Inc., 473 U.S. 614, 625 (1985). When considering a motion to compel arbitration, the Court must first “determine whether the parties agreed to arbitrate that dispute.” Id. at 626. If they have, the Court must then determine whether the arbitration clause is valid. It may be unenforceable on grounds that would permit the revocation of any contract, such as fraud or 1 She originally filed her form on October 2, 2013 [Doc. 56-1], but then filed a redacted version on October 7, 2013 [Doc. 57-1]. 2 The Court will treat the Defendant's motion as a Motion to Compel Arbitration and Dismiss. T:\ORDERS\12\Stevenson\mtdtwt.wpd -2- unconscionability. Id. at 627 (“[C]ourts should remain attuned to well-supported claims that the agreement to arbitrate resulted from the sort of fraud or overwhelming economic power that would provide grounds ‘for the revocation of any contract.’”) (citing 9 U.S.C. § 2). There may also be legal constraints precluding arbitration, such as a clear congressional intention that a certain claim be heard in a judicial forum. Id. at 628 (“Having made the bargain to arbitrate, the party should be held to it unless Congress itself has evinced an intention to preclude a waiver of judicial remedies for the statutory rights at issue.”). “[A]s a matter of federal law, any doubts concerning the scope of arbitrable issues should be resolved in favor of arbitration, whether the problem at hand is the construction of the contract language itself or an allegation of waiver, delay, or a like defense to arbitrability.” Moses H. Cone Mem’l Hosp. v. Mercury Const. Corp., 460 U.S. 1, 24-25 (1983). III. Discussion The Arbitration Agreement executed by the Plaintiff and the Defendants encompasses the Plaintiff’s FLSA claim. The relevant part of the Arbitration Agreement reads: 1. Any “covered claim” that you may have against Pin Ups, its owners, directors, officers, managers, employees or agents . . . shall be submitted exclusively to and determined exclusively by binding arbitration under the Federal Arbitration Act . . .. T:\ORDERS\12\Stevenson\mtdtwt.wpd -3- 2. “Covered claims” include . . . claims . . . arising under . . . the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) . . .. (Arbitration Agreement ¶¶ 1-2.) In response, the Plaintiff first argues that the Arbitration Agreement only covers actions instituted or filed by the Plaintiff. Paragraph One of the Arbitration Agreement states: “[a]ny ‘covered claim’ that you may have against Pin Ups . . . shall be submitted exclusively to and determined exclusively by binding arbitration . . ..” Although certain paragraphs refer to claims filed by the Plaintiff, (see Arbitration Agreement ¶ 7), those paragraphs do not circumscribe the broad scope of Paragraph One. This argument is without merit. The Plaintiff then argues that Paragraph Three suggests that the Arbitration Agreement does not apply to collective actions. Paragraph Three, however, only indicates that the Plaintiff may not proceed before an arbitrator as part of a collective action. (See Arbitration Agreement ¶ 3) (“The arbitrator has no authority to . . . to hear an arbitration as a class or collective action . . . and you shall not be allowed to submit your claim(s) against Pin Ups to arbitration as a representative of or participant in a . . . collective action . . ..”). Given that the Arbitration Agreement includes the Plaintiff’s FLSA claim, the Court must now determine whether the Arbitration Agreement is valid. The Plaintiff claims that the Arbitration Agreement is unenforceable because it is unconscionable. “[A]rbitration agreements . . . may be held unenforceable . . . if, under the controlling T:\ORDERS\12\Stevenson\mtdtwt.wpd -4- state law of contracts, requiring arbitration of a dispute would be unconscionable.” Cappuccitti v. DirecTV, Inc., 623 F.3d 1118, 1123-24 (11th Cir. 2010). “Georgia’s unconscionability doctrine contemplates both procedural unconscionability, which addresses the process of making the contract, and substantive unconscionability, which looks to the contractual terms themselves.” Id. at 1124 (internal quotation marks omitted). “When considering procedural unconscionability, the Georgia courts examine the age, education, intelligence, business acumen and experience of the parties, their relative bargaining power, the conspicuousness and comprehensibility of the contract language, the oppressiveness of the terms, and the presence or absence of a meaningful choice.” Id. (internal quotation marks omitted). With substantive unconscionability, “courts have focused on matters such as the commercial reasonableness of the contract terms, the purpose and effect of the terms, the allocation of the risks between the parties, and similar public policy concerns.” Id. (internal quotation marks omitted). The Plaintiff first argues that the Arbitration Agreement is procedurally unconscionable because the Defendants never explained what the consequence would be if she refused to sign it. (Pl.’s Resp. to Defs.’ Mot. to Dismiss, at 3.) The cover letter to the Plaintiff’s contract, however, expressly stated that the Arbitration Agreement would “be a condition of continued performance at Pin Ups.” (Adams T:\ORDERS\12\Stevenson\mtdtwt.wpd -5- Decl., Ex. A.) The Plaintiff then argues that it is procedurally unconscionable because she had no meaningful choice. (Pl.’s Resp. to Defs.’ Mot. to Dismiss, at 3.) She points out that it was presented to her by someone with authority over her. (Id.) But the bargaining disparity inherent in any employer-employee relationship is not sufficient to render an arbitration agreement unconscionable. See Caley v. Gulfstream Aerospace Corp., 428 F.3d 1359, 1377 (11th Cir. 2005) (“Although there is some bargaining disparity here, as often in the employment context, the plaintiffs have failed to show that the DRP and its making is so one-sided as to be unconscionable.”); Results Oriented, Inc. v. Crawford, 245 Ga. App. 432, 441 (2000) (“[L]ack of sophistication or economic disadvantage of one attacking arbitration will not amount to unconscionability.”). The terms are unambiguous and there is no allegation that the Plaintiff could not comprehend their significance. Such standard form arbitration agreements are common. See Caley, 428 F.3d at 1367 (“[C]ompulsory arbitration agreements are now common in the workplace, and it is not an unlawful employment practice for an employer to require an employee to arbitrate, rather than litigate, rights under various federal statutes.”). The Plaintiff then argues that the Arbitration Agreement is substantively unconscionable because it unjustifiably protects the Defendants. (Pl.’s Resp. to Defs.’ Mot. to Dismiss, at 5.) There is no warrant or explanation for this argument. The terms T:\ORDERS\12\Stevenson\mtdtwt.wpd -6- of the Arbitration Agreement require both parties to arbitrate covered claims. Cf. Caley, 428 F.3d at 1378 (“The promises are mutual: both parties are required to arbitrate covered claims, and neither is required to arbitrate non-covered claims.”). The Plaintiff then argues that the Arbitration Agreement is substantively unconscionable because it interferes with the Plaintiff’s right to proceed as part of a collective action. (Pl.’s Resp. to Defs.’ Mot. to Dismiss, at 5-6.) But “the fact that certain litigation devices may not be available in an arbitration is part and parcel of arbitration’s ability to offer simplicity, informality, and expedition.” Caley, 428 F.3d at 1378 (internal quotation marks omitted). Indeed, in Caley – a case which included an FLSA claim – the Eleventh Circuit found that there was nothing unconscionable about an arbitration agreement that precluded class actions. See id.; see also Walthour v. Chipio Windshield Repair, LLC, 944 F. Supp. 2d 1267, 1279 (N.D. Ga. 2013) (enforced arbitration clause which prevented plaintiffs from pursuing FLSA claims as a collective action class); Zekri v. Macy's Retail Holdings, Inc., 1:10-CV-1740-MHS, 2010 WL 4660013, at *2 (N.D. Ga. Nov. 4, 2010) (rejecting the argument that an “arbitration agreement’s prohibition of collective actions is unconscionable because it violates Georgia public policy”). Finally, the Plaintiff argues that the Defendants waived their right to compel arbitration. To determine whether a party has waived the right to compel arbitration, T:\ORDERS\12\Stevenson\mtdtwt.wpd -7- the Court first decides whether “under the totality of the circumstances, the party has acted inconsistently with the arbitration right.” Garcia v. Wachovia Corp., 699 F.3d 1273, 1277 (11th Cir. 2012) (internal quotation marks omitted). “A party acts inconsistently with the arbitration right when the party substantially invokes the litigation machinery prior to demanding arbitration.” Id. (internal quotation marks omitted). Second, the Court must decide “whether, by [acting inconsistently with the arbitration right], that party has in some way prejudiced the other party.” Id. (internal quotation marks omitted). “To determine whether the other party has been prejudiced, [the Court] may consider the length of delay in demanding arbitration and the expense incurred by that party from participating in the litigation process.” Id. (internal quotation marks omitted). Here, the Defendants did not act inconsistently with their arbitration right, nor has the Plaintiff been prejudiced. From the time she opted into the action until the time the Defendants filed the Motion to Dismiss, the Defendants took no other action in the litigation. Indeed, the Defendants moved to dismiss the Plaintiff’s claim a mere seven days after she opted in. The Defendants’ Motion to Dismiss the claims of the Plaintiff Kwanza Edwards should be granted.3 3 The Plaintiff also argues that she signed the Arbitration Agreement before the current action was instituted. However, she signed the Arbitration Agreement before she opted into the action. The Arbitration Agreement was signed on February 24, 2013. (Adams Decl., Ex. A.) The Plaintiff opted in on October 7, 2013. [Doc. 57]. T:\ORDERS\12\Stevenson\mtdtwt.wpd -8- IV. Conclusion For these reasons, the Court GRANTS the Defendants’ Motion to Dismiss the Claims of the Plaintiff Kwanza Edwards [Doc. 59]. SO ORDERED, this 16 day of January, 2014. /s/Thomas W. Thrash THOMAS W. THRASH, JR. United States District Judge T:\ORDERS\12\Stevenson\mtdtwt.wpd -9-
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0009.json.gz/line714
|
__label__cc
| 0.743343
| 0.256657
|
Diarrhoea in adults Guide
How is the diagnosis made?
What is the treatment?
What are the dietary and lifestyle advice?
Home / Diseases /Diarrhoea in adults
Diarrhoea in adults
Expert Tips For People With Irritable Bowel Syndrome
IBS can be tough to deal with, but some simple strategies can help you reduce your pain and avoid IBS flare ups.
What is Diarrhoea in adults?
Diarrhoea is the passage of loose, watery stools occurring more than three times in one day. It is a common problem that usually lasts a day or two and goes away on its own without any special treatment. However, prolonged diarrhoea can be a sign of other problems. Diarrhoea can cause dehydration, which means the body lacks enough fluid to function properly and it must be treated promptly to avoid serious health problems.
What are the causes of Diarrhoea in adults?
Diarrhoea may be caused by a temporary problem, like an infection, or a chronic problem, like an intestinal disease. A few of the more common causes of diarrhoea are bacterial infections. Several types of bacteria, consumed through contaminated food or water, can cause diarrhoea. Common types include Campylobacter, Salmonella, Shigella, and Escherichia coli.
Viral infections: Many viruses cause diarrhoea, including rotavirus, Norwalk virus, cytomegalovirus, herpes simplex virus, and viral hepatitis. Food intolerances: Some people are unable to digest a component of food, such as lactose, the sugar found in milk. Parasites can enter the body through food or water and settle in the digestive system. Parasites that cause diarrhoea include Giardia lamblia, Entamoeba histolytica, and Cryptosporidium. Reaction to medicines, such as antibiotics, blood pressure medications, and antacids containing magnesium. Intestinal diseases, like inflammatory bowel disease or coeliac disease. Functional bowel disorders, such as irritable bowel syndrome, in which the intestines do not work normally. Some people develop diarrhoea after stomach surgery or removal of the gallbladder. The reason may be a change in how quickly food moves through the digestive system after stomach surgery or an increase in bile in the colon that can occur after gallbladder surgery. In many cases, the cause of diarrhoea cannot be found. As long as diarrhoea goes away on its own, an extensive search for the cause is not usually necessary. People who visit foreign countries are at risk for traveller’s diarrhoea, which is caused by eating food or drinking water contaminated with bacteria, viruses, or, sometimes, parasites. Traveller's diarrhoea is a particular problem for people visiting developing countries
What are the symptoms of Diarrhoea in adults?
Diarrhoea may be accompanied by cramping abdominal pain, bloating, nausea, or an urgent need to use the bathroom. Depending on the cause, a person may have a fever or bloody stools. Diarrhoea can be either acute or chronic. The acute form, which lasts less than 3 weeks, is usually related to a bacterial, viral, or parasitic infection. Chronic diarrhoea lasts more than 3 weeks and is usually related to functional disorders like irritable bowel syndrome or diseases like coeliac disease or inflammatory bowel disease.
Also read: Fight Diarrhoea With These Home Remedies
How to diagnose Diarrhoea in adults
Diagnostic tests to find the cause of diarrhoea include the following:
Medical history and physical examination: The doctor will need to know about the eating habits and medication use and will examine for signs of illness.
Stool culture: Lab technicians analyse a sample of stool to check for bacteria, parasites, or other signs of disease or infection.
Blood tests: Blood tests can be helpful in ruling out certain diseases. Fasting tests: To find out if a food intolerance or allergy is causing the diarrhoea, the doctor may ask one to avoid lactose (found in milk products), carbohydrates, wheat, or other foods to see whether the diarrhoea responds to a change in diet.
Sigmoidoscopy: For this test, the doctor uses a special instrument to look at the inside of the rectum and lower part of the colon.
Colonoscopy: This test is similar to sigmoidoscopy, but the doctor looks at the entire large intestine.
What is the treatment of Diarrhoea in adults?
In most cases, replacing lost fluid to prevent dehydration is the only treatment necessary. Medicines that stop diarrhoea may be helpful in some cases, but they are not recommended for people whose diarrhoea is from a bacterial infection or parasite, stopping the diarrhoea traps the organism in the intestines, prolonging the problem. Instead, doctors usually prescribe antibiotics. Viral causes are either treated with medication or left to run their course, depending on the severity and type of the virus. In adults with diarrhoea, it may help to drink plenty of fluids to avoid becoming dehydrated.
Adding bulk to the diet may thicken the stool and decrease the frequency of stools. Certain foods thicken the stools, including rice, bananas, yogurt, and cheese. An increase in fibre from whole-wheat grains and bran add bulk to the diet.
Preventing dehydration - Dehydration occurs when the body has lost too much fluid and electrolytes (the salts potassium and sodium). The fluid and electrolytes lost during diarrhoea need to be replaced promptly, the body cannot function properly without them. Although water is extremely important in preventing dehydration, it does not contain electrolytes. To maintain electrolyte levels, one could have broth or soups, which contain sodium, and fruit juices, soft fruits, or vegetables, which contain potassium.
Foods to avoid in diarrhoea
Until diarrhoea subsides, one should try to avoid milk products and foods that are greasy, high-fibre, or very sweet. These foods tend to aggravate diarrhoea. As one improves, one can add soft, bland foods to the diet, including bananas, plain rice, boiled potatoes, toast, cooked carrots, and baked chicken without the skin or fat.
Traveller's diarrhoea happens when one consumes food or water contaminated with bacteria, viruses, or parasites. One can take the following precautions to prevent traveller's diarrhoea when one goes abroad:
Do not drink any tap water, not even when brushing your teeth.
Do not drink unpasteurized milk or dairy products.
Do not use ice made from tap water.
Avoid all raw fruits and vegetables (including lettuce and fruit salad) unless they can be peeled and you peel them yourself.
Do not eat raw or rare meat and fish.
Do not eat food from street vendors.
One can safely drink bottled water, carbonated soft drinks, and hot drinks like coffee or tea.
Depending on where one is going and the period of stay, the doctor may recommend some antibiotics before leaving to protect one from possible infection.
DoctorNDTV Team
Diarrhoea in adults News More News
Here's How Your Blood Type Influences Severity Of Diarrhoea
Lizard Found In College Food, 65 Students Hospitalised
One Fifths Of Child Deaths Due To Diarrhea In The World Are In India
53 diarrhoea cases reported in Shimla
Behavioural therapy eases bowel troubles
Exercise relieves constipation
Strong ties between headache and GI complaints
Zinc helps children with diarrhoea
Drug relieves diarrhoea in children
FAQ Related to Diarrhoea in adults
Why am I suffering from persistent positive VDRL?
How can persistent cold and flu be managed?
Is ELISA a reliable test to diagnose tuberculosis?
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0009.json.gz/line716
|
__label__cc
| 0.542656
| 0.457344
|
Here’s Why Land Rover Doesn’t Care About JD Power Ratings
Another day, another Land Rover victory in a JD Power survey. Assuming that you turn the chart upside down.
That's right, folks: JD Power recently released the results of its latest Customer Service Index study, which rates customer satisfaction with dealership service departments. Cadillac topped the charts, with Audi close behind, presumably because they finally ended the longstanding practice of giving out recently-traded 2004 Volkswagen Golfs as loaner cars. And Land Rover finished dead freakin' last.
No, I take that back. Land Rover didn't just finish last. They got destroyed. If you look at the survey, nearly all premium brands are clustered between 840 and 870 points out of a possible 1,000. The premium brand average was 855, and the worst non-Land Rover brands – Volvo, Acura, Mercedes-Benz, BMW, and Porsche – are all between 840 and 848.
And then, at the very bottom, you have Land Rover, with just 805 points. That's awful. Put another way: Land Rover's score was further away from the second-worst brand, Volvo, than Volvo was from the overall winner. You have to try to do that poorly. It's almost like Land Rover North America held an employee meeting to brainstorm ideas about how to lose the JD Power survey. "I heard Audi dealers are finally selling their 2004 Volkswagen Golf loaner cars," one worker probably suggested. "Maybe we can buy those!"
To further emphasize how poorly Land Rover did here, we have to look at the "regular cars" portion of the study. That's because JD Power produced two studies: one for mainstream brands, and one for luxury brands. And in these two studies, every single luxury brand beat every single mainstream brand – except for Land Rover. In fact, Land Rover's score was so bad that it wouldn't have even been near the top of the mainstream brands study. It would've been somewhere in the middle, sandwiched between Chevrolet and Chrysler.
Yes, that's right: according to its own customers, the Land Rover dealership experience is roughly the same as the one you'll get at good ol' Billy Bob Chevrolet (Motto: If another dealer beats our prices, we'll beat his wife!), home of low low prices and brightly colored helium balloons.
In other words: Land Rover, who wants you to spend $135,000 for a Range Rover Supercharged Autobiography Portfolio Westminster Humidor Aardvark, will treat you the same as Chevrolet, who sells the Spark for $13,000, and Chrysler, who would finance a stray dog as long as it doesn't pee in the showroom.
The interesting thing is, this isn't Land Rover's first rodeo. (Of course, that's just a figure of speech. This isn't actually a rodeo. If it were, Land Rover would've broken down on the way.)
What I mean is, take a look at any JD Power survey created in the last decade and you'll see Land Rover duking it out for the bottom spot. And it doesn't have to be a service satisfaction survey. Have a look at an "Initial Quality Study," which measures problems in the first 90 days. Or a "Long Term Dependability Study," which examines issues during the third year of ownership. Land Rover is always down there, somewhere near the bottom, trying desperately to convince Mitsubishi that bad reliability isn't something you create, but rather something you earn as a wee lad growing up in England.
Now, I know what you're thinking, and that is: Why did you just spend 500 words telling me how bad Land Rover is? I already KNOW how bad Land Rover is! I had a friend with a Discovery II that rusted so badly it spread to his lower extremities!
Well, the reason I devoted so much time to all these studies is that I wanted to emphasize just how bad the situation has gotten. It's highly crucial to my next point, which is: Land Rover couldn't care less.
That's right, folks: I believe that Land Rover, noted manufacturer of vehicles that last approximately as long as the chicken pox, couldn't care less about its history of poor service, weak quality, and substandard reliability. I base this statement on an experience I had in January when I visited Land Rover Denver South, a dealership that is currently constructing a larger facility complete with flat-screen TVs, a new off-road course, and a dedicated parking area for up to six flatbed tow trucks.
Anyway: I walked into this dealership to check out the new Range Rover and Range Rover Sport, and a salesman approached me. "Do you want one?" he asked. I don't remember if I was looking at the Range Rover or the Sport. "I can get you one in six months."
That's right, folks: despite the fact that Land Rover consistently finishes last in every single quality survey, and dependability study, and satisfaction index, and air suspension longevity measure, their vehicles still have waiting lists. In fact, the full-size Range Rover is still on a waiting list even though it's been on sale for a year and a half.
And it's not just because the products are newly redesigned. Back when I worked at Porsche, we were consistently mystified at how the brand-new Cayenne would be outsold every single month by the last-generation Range Rover Sport, even though the Cayenne was sleek and modern and exciting and the Range Rover Sport looked like a relic from Nelly's "Country Grammar" music video.
My point here is that Land Rover doesn't care about JD Power scores because it doesn't need to care. They could finish last in every single reasonable measure of reliability and quality – in fact, they do – and people would still line up for months to pay full sticker. So if you're Land Rover, why would you spend the money to overhaul the factory and improve the quality?
You wouldn't. You'd spend the money somewhere else. Maybe you could get the dealers to put in eight parking spaces for flatbed tow trucks. Or you could get hubcaps for those Volkswagen Golf loaner cars. Two solid ideas that would really bring up the satisfaction score.
@DougDeMuro is the author of Plays With Cars. He owned an E63 AMG wagon and once tried to evade police at the Tail of the Dragon using a pontoon boat. (It didn't work.) He worked as a manager for Porsche Cars North America before quitting to become a writer, largely because it meant he no longer had to wear pants. Also, he wrote this entire bio himself in the third person.
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0009.json.gz/line720
|
__label__cc
| 0.609109
| 0.390891
|
NEW HOPE FOR ENDANGERED MANTAS
MANTA RAYS ARE LARGE RAYS belonging to the genus Manta. The larger species, M. birostris, reaches 23 feet (7 m) in width while the smaller, M. alfredi, reaches 18 feet (5.5 m). In November of 2011, both species were listed as vulnerable by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). Anthropogenic (human impact) threats include pollution, entanglement in fishing nets and direct harvesting for their gill rakers for use in Chinese medicine. M. birostris is not evenly distributed over the oceans but is concentrated in areas that provide the food resources it requires, while M. alfredi has an even tighter range. They are protected in international waters by the Convention on Migratory Species of Wild Animals (CMA), but become more vulnerable closer to shore. Because of their long lifespans and low reproductive rate, overfishing can severely reduce local populations with a small likelihood that individuals from elsewhere will replace them.
In addition to these international initiatives, some countries are taking their own actions. New Zealand has banned the taking of manta rays since the introduction of the Wildlife Act in 1953. In June 1995, the Maldives banned the export of all ray species and their body parts, effectively putting a stop to manta fishing as there had not previously been a fishery for local consumption. The government reinforced this in 2009 with the introduction of two marine protected areas. In the Philippines, the taking of mantas was banned in 1998, overturned in 1999 under pressure from local fishermen and reinstated in 2002. The taking or killing of mantas in Mexican waters was prohibited in 2007. This ban has been difficult to enforce, but laws are being more vigorously applied at Isla Holbox, an island off the Yucatán Peninsula, where manta rays are used to attract tourists. In 2009, Hawaii became the first of the United States to introduce a ban on the killing or capturing of manta rays. Previously, there was no fishery for mantas in the state, but migratory fish that pass the islands are now protected. In 2010, Ecuador introduced a law prohibiting all fishing for manta and other rays, their retention as bycatch and their sale.
In 2014, Indonesia brought in a fishing and export ban as it realized that manta ray tourism is more economically beneficial than allowing the fish to be killed. A dead manta is worth $40 to $500 while manta ray tourism can bring in $1 million during the life of a single manta ray. Indonesia has 2.2 million square miles (5.8 million square kilometers) of ocean and this is now the world’s largest sanctuary for manta rays. Sites at which manta rays congregate attract tourists, and manta viewing generates substantial annual revenue for local communities. Tourist sites also exist in the Bahamas, the Cayman Islands, Spain, the Fiji Islands, Thailand, Indonesia, Hawaii, Western Australia and the Maldives and is worth an estimated $73 million U.S. dollars per year.
With their status as vulnerable, it is imperative to know how these animals reproduce and develop. Recently marine biologist Joshua Stewart saw a baby manta ray while scuba diving in the Gulf of Mexico — a very rare sighting. He and his colleagues analyzed other divers’ juvenile sightings and determined a specific section of the Gulf to be a nursery for oceanic manta rays. After reviewing 25 years of recorded manta data, the records revealed that 95 percent of all oceanic mantas in the sanctuary were juveniles.
The nursery location in the area known as the Flower Garden Banks shows no obvious reason why the juveniles would gather here but the researchers hypothesized that the water is warm enough to bask in after a foraging trip into deeper, chillier waters and far enough from the surface to avoid predators like the bull shark. By locating other nurseries and providing protection to those regions, it is hoped that it can improve the manta ray populations.
To learn more about these threatened animals, visit mantarayworld.com/manta-rays-endangered/ and to read the study about manta nurseries go to link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs00227-018-3364-5.
Compiled by Betty Orr
THE FLORIDA MINI LOBSTER SEASON
SHARKS — THERE’S AN APP FOR THAT
UNDERWATER CLEAN-UP TO BREAK GUINNESS RECORD
NOAA’s Marine Debris Program Aims to Combat Plastic Pollution in Our Oceans
INTERNATIONAL SCUBA DIVING HALL OF FAME 2019 INDUCTEES
Caribbean Challenge Initiative Partners Commit to Marine Conservation
Read the January / February 2018 Issue
Read the January/February 2018 issue of Dive Training magazine from your desktop. Scroll down to view the full issue. Requires a digital subscription to access. Click…
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0009.json.gz/line726
|
__label__wiki
| 0.669635
| 0.669635
|
Mainline Protestant
(Redirected from Mainline Protestantism)
A minister presides over Communion Sunday service in a United Methodist Church, a typical mainline Protestant denomination and one of the "Seven Sisters of American Protestantism".
The mainline Protestant churches (also called mainstream Protestant[1] and sometimes oldline Protestant)[2][3][4] are a group of Protestant denominations in the United States that contrast in history and practice with evangelical, fundamentalist, and charismatic Protestant denominations. Some make a distinction between "mainline" and "oldline", with the former referring only to denominational ties and the latter referring to church lineage, prestige and influence.[5] However, this distinction has largely been lost to history and the terms are now nearly synonymous. These terms are also increasingly used in other countries for the same purpose of distinguishing between the so-called oldline and neo-Protestants.
Mainline Protestants were a majority of Protestants in the United States until the mid-20th century, but along with most other Christian denominations, they have experienced a decline in membership.[6]
Mainline churches include the so-called "Seven Sisters of American Protestantism"—the United Methodist Church, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, the Presbyterian Church (USA), the Episcopal Church, the American Baptist Churches, the United Church of Christ, and the Disciples of Christ—as well as the Quakers, Reformed Church in America, African Methodist Episcopal church and other churches. The term 'mainline' has also been applied to Canadian Protestant churches that share common origins with their US counterparts.[7] In Mexico, the Anglican Church is historically tied to and formed from the US Episcopal Church.[8] The term is also occasionally used to refer to historic Protestant churches in Europe, Latin America, and South Africa.[9][10][11]
Mainline churches share an active approach to social issues that often leads to cooperation in organizations such as the National Council of Churches.[12] Because of their involvement with the ecumenical movement, mainline churches are sometimes (especially outside the United States) given the alternative label of ecumenical Protestantism.[13] These churches played a leading role in the Social Gospel movement and were active in social causes such as the civil rights movement and women's movement.[14] As a group, the mainline churches have maintained religious doctrine that stresses social justice and personal salvation.[15] Members of mainline denominations have played leadership roles in politics, business, science, the arts, and education. They were involved in the founding of leading institutes of higher education.[16] Marsden argues that in the 1950s, "Mainline Protestant leaders were part of the liberal-moderate cultural mainstream, and their leading spokespersons were respected participants in the national conversation."[17]
Some mainline Protestant denominations have the highest proportion of graduate and post-graduate degrees of any other denomination in the United States.[18] Some also include the highest proportion of those with some college education, such as the Episcopal Church (76%),[18] the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) (64%),[18] and the United Church of Christ (46%),[19] as well as the most of the American upper class.[18] compared with the nationwide average of 50%.[18] Episcopalians and Presbyterians also tend to be considerably wealthier[20] and better educated than most other religious groups,[21] and they were disproportionately represented in the upper reaches of US business and law until the 1950s.[22]
The US Supreme Court was two-thirds Catholic and one-third Jewish between August 2010 and April 2017 with the retirements of four Mainline Protestants (Sandra Day O'Connor, John Paul Stevens, William Rehnquist and David Souter and replacement with Justices who adhere to Catholicism (Samuel Alito, John Roberts, and Sonia Sotomayor) and Judaism (Elena Kagan). The second most junior associate justice, Neil Gorsuch, was raised and educated as a Catholic and affiliates with a parish that is part of The Episcopal Church.[23]
From 1854 until at least 1964, Mainline Protestants and their descendants were heavily Republican.[24] In recent decades, Republicans slightly outnumber Democrats.[25]
From 1965 to 1988, mainline church membership declined from 31 million to 25 million, then fell to 21 million in 2005.[26] While in 1970 the mainline churches claimed most Protestants and more than 30 percent of the population as members,[27] today they are a minority among Protestants; in 2009, only 15 percent of Americans were adherents.[28] A Pew Forum statistic revealed the same share in 2014.[29]
TerminologyEdit
The term mainline Protestant was coined during debates between modernists and fundamentalists in the 1920s.[30] Several sources claim that the term is derived from the Philadelphia Main Line, a group of affluent suburbs of Philadelphia; most residents belonged to mainline denominations.[31] Today, most mainline Protestants remain rooted in the Northeastern and Midwestern United States. C. Kirk Hadaway and Penny Long Marler define the term as follows: "the term 'mainline Protestant' is used along with 'mainstream Protestant' and 'oldline Protestant' to categorize denominations that are affiliated with the National Council of Churches and have deep historical roots in and long-standing influence on American society."[32]
In the US, Protestantism is generally divided between mainline denominations and evangelical or conservative denominations. In other parts of the world, the term mainline Protestant is not used. Instead, the term "ecumenical" is used to distinguish similar churches from evangelical denominations.[33] Some have criticized the term mainline for its alleged ethnocentric and elitist assumptions, since it almost exclusively described white, non-fundamentalist Protestant Americans from its origin to the late twentieth century.[34][35][page needed]
Mainline vs. mainstreamEdit
The term mainstream Christian in academic usage is not equivalent to mainline Protestant and is often used as an attempt to find impartial sociological vocabulary in distinguishing orthodoxy and heresy.[36] Hence in Christological and doctrinal reference mainstream Christianity is often equivalent to Trinitarianism. In the United Kingdom and Australia, the term mainline Protestant is not used, and mainstream does not mean progressive Protestant.
DenominationsEdit
Washington National Cathedral, an Episcopal cathedral in Washington, D.C.
A Congregational church of the United Church of Christ denomination in Connecticut
Augustana Lutheran Church in Washington, D.C belonging to the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America
The largest mainline churches are sometimes referred to as the "Seven Sisters of American Protestantism": the United Methodist Church (UMC), Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), Episcopal Church (TEC), Presbyterian Church (USA) (PCUSA), American Baptist Churches USA (ABCUSA), United Church of Christ (UCC), and Christian Church (Disciples of Christ).[37] The term was apparently coined by William Hutchison.[38]
With 6.8 million members in the United States in 2017, the United Methodist Church is the largest mainline Protestant denomination among the "Seven Sisters."[39]
The second largest mainline denomination is the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), with approximately 3.5 million members and 9,200 congregations at the end of 2017.[40]
Third in size is the Episcopal Church, with 1.9 million members, of whom 1.7 million members are located in the United States in 2016.[41]
The fourth largest mainline denomination is the Presbyterian Church (USA) with 1.4 million active members in 9,300 congregations.[42]
American Baptist Churches USA is fifth in size, with approximately 1.1 million members (2017).[43]
The United Church of Christ is the sixth and has about 850,000 members in 2017.[44]
The Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) is the seventh and has about 410,000 members as of 2017.[45]
The Association of Religion Data Archives, Pew Research, and other sources also consider these denominations, listed with adherents and members, to be mainline:[46][47]
United Church of Canada 413,717 members (2016),[48] 2 million adherents according to 2011 Canadian Census[49]
Anglican Church of Canada 545,957 members (2007),[50] 1.6 million adherents according to 2011 Canadian Census[51]
Cooperative Baptist Fellowship 700,000 members[52]
Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) 350,000 members
Reformed Church in America 246,024 members (2010)[53]
Presbyterian Church in Canada 91,036 members (2015)[54]
Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada 111,570 members (2015)[55]
Church of the Brethren 125,964 members (2008)[56]
Anglican Church of Mexico 100,000 members[8][57][58][59]
Mennonite Church USA 100,000 members[60][61]
International Council of Community Churches 69,276 members (2009)[62]
National Association of Congregational Christian Churches 65,392 members (2002)*[63]
Alliance of Baptists 65,000 members[64]
Moravian Church in North America 60,000 members[65]
Mennonite Church Canada 31,000 members[66][67]
Universal Fellowship of Metropolitan Community Churches 15,666 members (2006)[68]
Latvian Evangelical Lutheran Church in America 12,000 members (2007)
Estonian Evangelical Lutheran Church Abroad 8,000 members[69]
Hungarian Reformed Church in America 6,080 members[70]
Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) in Canada 2,606 members[71]
Congregational Christian Churches, (not part of any national CCC body)
Historically African American denominations are usually categorized differently from evangelicals or mainline.[72] However, in 2014 the Christian Century identified a group that "fit the mainline description."[73]
African Methodist Episcopal Church 2.5 million[74]
African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church 1.4 million[75]
Christian Methodist Episcopal Church 858,670 members[76]
While no longer exclusively Christian, the Unitarian Universalist Association, with 211,000 adherents, considers itself to be mainline.[77][78]
Some denominations with similar names and historical ties to mainline groups are not considered mainline. The Southern Baptist Convention, Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod, the Christian and Missionary Alliance (C&MA), the Churches of Christ and Christian churches, the Presbyterian Church in America (PCA), the North American Lutheran Church (NALC), and the Anglican Church in North America (ACNA) are often considered too conservative for this category and thus grouped as evangelical.
*The National Association of Congregational Christian Churches is considered to be evangelical by Pew Research[79] while the Association of Religion Data Archives considered it to be mainline.
TheologyEdit
VariationEdit
Mainline Protestantism is characterized by theological and ideological pluralism. While doctrinal standards and confessional statements exist, these are not usually interpreted in ways to exclude people from membership. Richard Hutcheson, Jr., chairman of the Office of Review and Evaluation of the Presbyterian Church in the United States, observed that clergy candidates were more likely to be rejected due to "excessive narrowness" than for violating confessional standards.[80]
Mainline churches hold a range of theological orientations—conservative, moderate and liberal.[81] About half of mainline Protestants describe themselves as liberal.[81] Mainline Christian groups are often more accepting of other beliefs and faiths, affirm the ordination of women, and have become increasingly affirming of gay ordination.[81] Nearly one-third of mainline Protestants call themselves conservative, and most local mainline congregations have a strong, active conservative element.[81] Mainline denominations are historically Trinitarian and proclaim Jesus Christ as Lord and Son of God.
In practice, mainline churches tend to be theologically moderate and influenced by higher criticism, an approach used by scholars to separate the Bible's earliest historical elements from perceived later additions and intentional distortions. Mainline denominations generally teach that the Bible is God's Word in function, but that it must be interpreted both through the lens of the cultures in which it was originally written, and examined using God-given reason. A 2008 survey conducted by the Pew Research Center found that only 22 percent of the 7,500 mainline Christians surveyed said the Bible is God's Word and is to be interpreted as literally true, word for word. Thirty-eight percent thought that the Bible is God's Word but is not to be taken literally, word for word. Twenty-eight percent said the Bible was not the Word of God but was of human origin.[82]
It has been noted, even by members of mainline churches, that the leadership of denominational agencies and bureaucracies has often been more theologically and socially liberal than the overall membership of the mainline churches. This gap has caused feelings of alienation among conservative mainline Protestants.[83] This dissatisfaction has led to the formation of various Confessing Movements or charismatic renewal movements which are more conservative in tone.
Social justiceEdit
The mainline denominations emphasize the biblical concept of justice, stressing the need for Christians to work for social justice, which usually involve politically liberal approaches to social and economic problems. Early in the 20th century, they actively supported the Social Gospel.
Mainline churches were basically pacifistic before 1940, but under the influence of people such as Reinhold Niebuhr they supported World War II and the Cold War.[84] They have been far from uniform in their reaction to issues of gender and sexuality, though they tend to be more accepting than the Catholic Church or the more conservative Protestant churches.[85]
Social issuesEdit
Harvard College, a favorite choice of American upper classes. Having a college degree is common among mainline Protestant denominations, especially Episcopalians and Presbyterians.[86]
Many mainline denominations are active in voicing perspectives on social issues. Almost all mainline denominations are gender-inclusive and ordain women.[87] On reproductive health issues, the Episcopal Church (TEC), Presbyterian Church (USA) (PCUSA), Unitarian Universalist Association (UUA), and United Church of Christ (UCC) are members of the Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice.[88] The United Methodist Church (UMC) and Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) support exceptions, when abortion may be necessary, but do not endorse the procedure.[89][90] Other denominations, such as the Church of the Brethren and Mennonite Church USA, are against abortion.[91][92]
Regarding human sexuality, TEC, the ELCA, PC(USA), Society of Friends (Quaker), UUA, and UCC recognize same-gender marriages.[93] Also considered mainline, the Anglican Church of Canada,[94] Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada,[95] and United Church of Canada bless or marry same-gender couples.[96] In 2015, the Mennonite Church Canada saw its first same-gender marriage in one of its congregations.[97] The American Baptist Churches USA does not perform same-gender marriages, but allows each congregation the freedom to decide for itself.[98] Including the aforementioned denominations, the Mennonite Church USA, Metropolitan Community Church, and Moravian Church Northern Province license or ordain openly gay clergy.[99][100] While the UMC does not nationally ordain gay or lesbian clergy, the New York Annual Conference, a regional body of the UMC, has ordained the denomination's first openly gay and lesbian clergy.[101] The Western Jurisdiction of the UMC also elected the denomination's first openly gay bishop.[102] Some congregations of the Church of the Brethren have also voted to perform same-gender marriages although the national denomination opposes this practice.[103]
Most of the above denominations also ordain openly transgender clergy. While the national church has not approved of gay or lesbian clergy, the UMC has allowed transgender pastors.[104]
Politically, mainline churches are also active. While no particular candidate can be endorsed, mainline churches often invite political speakers. At the 2016 General Conference for the African Methodist Episcopal Church, a historically Black denomination but also identified as mainline, Hillary Clinton was invited to offer an address for the delegates and clergy.[105]
Statistical declineEdit
The term "mainline" once implied a certain numerical majority or dominant presence in mainstream society, but that is no longer the case. Protestant churches as a whole have slowly declined in total membership since the 1960s. As the national population has grown these churches have shrunk from 63% of the population in 1970 to 54% by 2000, and 48% in 2012, ceasing to be the religious category for the majority of Americans. This statistic may be inaccurate due to the number of former or historically mainline Protestants who continue to espouse mainline Protestant values without active church attendance.[106] American affiliation with mainline denominations declined from 55% of all Protestants in 1973 to 46% in 1998.[107][27] The number of mainline congregations in the U. S. declined from more than 80,000 churches in the 1950s to about 72,000 in 2008.[28]
Various causes of mainline decline in population have been cited. Much analysis has taken place both from those within and outside mainline denominations. Key factors indicate that all types of churches can and do grow, regardless of hymnody or contemporary music, type of liturgy, average age of worshiper, or location[108] On average, however, churches in rural areas, churches with older congregants, and churches with fewer young people involved struggle most to add members and grow churches. For example, of all churches founded since 1993, 54% are experiencing growth, while that is true for only 28% of congregations founded prior to 1900.[109] As demographics change, the churches founded by earlier generations often struggle to adapt to changing conditions, including the declines or shifts in the age and ethnicity of local populations. Says David Roozen, Director of Hartford Seminary's Hartford Institute for Religion Research, "Location, Location, Location used to be the kind way that researchers described the extent to which the growth or decline of American congregations was captive to the demographic changes going on in their immediate neighborhoods."[110] Age demographics cannot be overlooked as a real factor in congregational decline, with the birthrate for mainline Protestants well below what is needed to maintain membership numbers.[111]
The Barna Group, an Evangelical surveyor, has noted, Protestant pastors who serve mainline churches serve on average half as long as Protestant pastors in non-mainline churches.[28] This may contribute to decline and may be influenced in part by the United Methodist Church practice of Itinerancy, where clergy are intentionally moved from one church to another as often as yearly in an effort to support and encourage the United Methodist tradition of strong lay ministry. Mainline churches have also had difficulty attracting minorities, particularly Hispanics. Hispanics comprise 6 percent of the mainline population but 16 percent of the US population. According to the Barna Group report, the failure of mainline Protestants to add substantial numbers of Hispanics is portent for the future, given both the rapid increase of the Hispanic population as well as the outflow of Hispanics from Catholicism to Protestant churches in the past decade, most of whom are selecting evangelical or Pentecostal Protestant churches.[28]
In general, however, decline can be a difficult thing to statistically quantify. Many older Protestant churches lived a vibrant lifetime and continue to evidence vital ministry and faith regardless of declining populations or birthrates. For example, giving and engagement with need and justice, both indicators of strong Christian faith, have increased despite the aging and loss of congregational members.[112]
Contrast with other Protestant denominationsEdit
While various Protestant denominations have experienced declining membership, the most pronounced changes have occurred among mainline churches. Demographic trends for evangelical and historically African-American churches have been more stable. According to the Pew Research Center, mainline churches could claim 14.7 percent of all US adults compared to 25.4 percent who belonged to evangelical churches in 2014.[113][114][15]
Demographers Hout, Greeley, and Wilde have attributed the long-term decline in mainline membership and the concomitant growth in the conservative Protestant denominations to four basic causes: birth rates; switching to conservative denominations; departure from Protestantism to "no religion" (i.e. secularization); and conversions from non-Protestant sources.[27] In their analysis, by far the main cause is birth rates—low for the mainline bodies, and high for the conservatives. The second most important factor is that fewer conservatives switch to mainline denominations than before. Despite speculation to the contrary, Hout, Greeley, and Wilde argue that switching from a mainline to a conservative denomination is not important in accounting for the trend, because it is fairly constant over the decades. Finally, conservative denominations have had a greater inflow of converts.[27] Their analysis gives no support for the notion that theological or social conservatism or liberalism has much impact on long-term growth trends.[115]
Evidence from the General Social Survey indicates that higher fertility and earlier childbearing among women from conservative denominations explains 76% of the observed trend: conservative denominations have grown their own. Mainline denomination members have the lowest birthrate among American Christian groups. Unless there is a surge of new members, rising death rates are predicted to diminish their ranks even further in the years ahead.[81]
TrendsEdit
See also: Protestant work ethic
Forest Hills, Queens in New York City area is an affluent area with a population of wealthy mainline Protestants
Some other findings of the Barna Group:
From 1958 to 2008, mainline church membership dropped by more than one-quarter to roughly 20 million people—15 percent of all American adults.
From 1998 to 2008, there was a 22 percent drop in the percentage of adults attending mainline congregations who have children under the age of 18 living in their home.
In 2009, nearly 40 percent of mainline church attendees were single. This increase has been driven higher by a rise in the number of divorced and widowed adherents.
From 1998 to 2008, volunteerism dropped 21 percent; adult Sunday school participation decreased 17 percent.
The average age of a mainline pastor in 1998 was 48 and increased to 55 by 2009.
Pastors on average remain with a congregation for four years compared to twice that length for non-mainline church leaders.[28]
Recent statistics from the Pew Forum provide additional explanations for the decline.
Evangelical church members are younger than those in mainline denominations. Fourteen percent of evangelical congregations are between 18 and 29 (compared to 2 percent), 36 percent between 30 and 49, 28 percent between 50 and 64, and 23 percent 65 or older.
Not paralleling the decline in membership is the household income of members of mainline denominations. Overall, it is higher than that of evangelicals:
25% reported less than a $30,000 income per year.
21% reported $30,000–$49,999 per year.
21% reported an income of $100,000 per year or more, compared to only 13 percent of evangelicals.[82]
See also: History of Protestantism in the United States
Old Ship Church, an old Puritan meetinghouse currently used by a Unitarian Universalist congregation
While the term "mainline" was not applied to churches until the 20th century, mainline churches trace their history to the Protestant Reformation of the 16th century. The largest and most influential Protestant denominations in Britain's 13 colonies were the Anglicans (after the American Revolution called Episcopalians) and the Puritans (later mostly Congregationalists and Unitarian Universalists).[116] These were later surpassed in size and influence by the evangelical denominations: the Baptists, Presbyterians and Methodists. Sharing a common Reformation heritage with Episcopal and Congregational churches, these denominations together created the mainline.[117] It was, according to historian Jason Lantzer, "the emerging evangelical movement that would help forge the Seven Sisters and which provides a core to the wide variety of theological and doctrinal differences, shaping them into a more coherent whole."[116]
The Great Awakening ignited controversy within Protestant churches between Old Lights and New Lights (or Old Side and New Side among Presbyterians). Led by figures such as the Congregationalist minister Charles Chauncy, Old Lights opposed the evangelical revivalism at the heart of the Awakening, while New Lights, led by fellow Congregationalist minister Jonathan Edwards, supported the revivals and argued for the importance of having a conversion experience. By the 1800s, Chauncy's followers had drifted toward forms of theological liberalism, such as Universalism, Unitarianism and Transcendentalism.[118]
Lady Chapel in Church of the Good Shepherd, a 19th-Century Anglo-Catholic Episcopal Church in Pennsylvania
The Second Great Awakening would inaugurate a period of evangelical dominance within American mainline Protestantism that would last over a century.[117] The Second Great Awakening was a catalyst for the reform of society. Efforts to improve the rights of women, reforming prisons, establishing free public schools, prohibiting alcohol, and (in the North) abolishing slavery were promoted by mainline churches.[119]
After the Civil War, however, tensions between evangelicals and non-evangelicals would re-emerge. As the practice of historical criticism spread to the United States, conflict over biblical inspiration erupted within Protestant churches. Conservative Protestants led by A. A. Hodge, B. B. Warfield and other Princeton theologians argued for biblical inerrancy, while liberal theologians such as Charles A. Briggs of Union Theological Seminary were open to using historical criticism to understand the Bible.[120]
As 19th–century evangelicals embraced dispensational premillennialism and retreated from society in the face of mounting social problems caused by industrialization, urbanization and immigration, liberal Protestants embraced the Social Gospel, which worked for the "regeneration of society" rather than only the conversion of individuals.[121]
The Fundamentalist–Modernist Controversy of the 1920s widened the division between evangelical and non-evangelical Protestants as the two sides fought for control over the mainline denominations. The fundamentalists lost these battles for control to the modernists or liberals.[120] Since the 1920s, mainline churches have been associated with liberal Protestantism.[121]
Episcopalians and Presbyterian WASPs tend to be considerably wealthier[122] and better educated than most other religious groups in America,[123] and are disproportionately represented in the upper reaches of American business,[124] law and politics, and for many years were especially dominant the Republican Party.[125] Numbers of the wealthiest and most affluent American families ("Old Money"), such as the Vanderbilts and Astors, Rockefeller, who were Baptists, Du Pont, Roosevelt, Forbes, Whitneys, the Morgans and Harrimans are Episcopalian and Presbyterian families.[122]
Through the 1940s and 1950s, neo-orthodoxy had become the prevailing theological approach within the mainline churches. This neo-orthodox consensus, however, gave way to resurgent liberal theologies in the 1960s and to liberation theology during the 1970s.[83]
^ Moorhead 1999, pp. xxii, 241.
^ Hadaway & Marler 2006, pp. 3–4; Roozen 2004.
^ Barrick, Audrey (March 12, 2010). "Survey Tracks Trends in Evangelical, Oldline Congregations". The Christian Post. Retrieved October 3, 2016.
^ McKinney, William (November 8, 1989). "Revisioning the Future of Oldline Protestantism". The Christian Century. Vol. 106 no. 33. pp. 1014–1016. Retrieved October 3, 2016.
^ Bradshaw, William B. (October 11, 2013). "Mainline Churches: Past, Present, Future". The Huffington Post. Retrieved October 3, 2016.
^ "Pew Research Center 2014 Religious Landscape Survey". http://www.pewforum.org. 2014. Retrieved May 11, 2018. External link in |website= (help)
^ Fallding 1978; Pew Research Center 2015b, p. 108.
^ a b "Quiénes Somos" [About Us] (in Spanish). Anglican Church of Mexico. Archived from the original on October 8, 2016. Retrieved June 20, 2016.
^ Turner, John (March 22, 2013). "The Rise of Liberal Religion". The Anxious Bench. Patheos. Retrieved June 28, 2016.
^ Masci, David (November 14, 2014). "Why has Pentecostalism grown so dramatically in Latin America?". Fact Tank. Pew Research Center. Retrieved June 28, 2016.
^ "Mainline Protestantism in South Africa and modernity". 2008-09-05. Retrieved 2016-06-28.
^ Wuthnow & Evans 2002, p. 4.
^ Hutcheson 1981, pp. 36-7.
^ Thomas, Oliver (2010). "Where have all the Protestants gone?". USA Today. p. 17A. Retrieved October 3, 2016.
^ a b Chang, Perry. "Recent Changes in Membership and Attendance. " Presbyterian Church (U. S. A.) Nov. 2006. Web: Presbyterian Church (U. S. A.) Archived 2010-02-02 at the Wayback Machine
^ McKinney 1998, pp. 57-66.
^ Marsden 2014, p. 99.
^ a b c d e Leonhardt, David (May 13, 2011). "Faith, Education and Income". Economix. The New York Times. Retrieved May 24, 2016.
^ Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life 2008a, p. 85; Pew Research Center 2015b, p. 133.
^ Ayres, B. Drummond, Jr. (April 28, 1981). "The Episcopalians: An American Elite with Roots Going Back to Jamestown". The New York Times. Retrieved May 21, 2016.
^ Allen 1975.
^ Hacker 1957, p. 1011.
^ https://edition.cnn.com/2017/03/18/politics/neil-gorsuch-religion/index.html "He was raised Catholic but now worships with his wife and two daughters at St. John's Episcopal Church in Boulder (...) According to church records, the Gorsuches were members of Holy Comforter from 2001 to 2006, when they moved to Colorado. But on membership forms, Neil listed his religion as Catholic, and there is no record that he formally joined the Episcopal Church, said the Rev. Lyndon Shakespeare, Holy Comforter's interim rector."
^ Baltzell 1964, p. 9.
^ Pew Research Center 2015a, p. 11.
^ Linder 2009; Noll 1992, p. 465.
^ a b c d Hout, Greeley & Wilde 2001.
^ a b c d e Report Examines the State of Mainline Protestant Churches Archived 2011-11-06 at the Wayback Machine The Barna Group. December 7, 2009. Web: 12 Dec. 2009
^ "America's Changing Religious Landscape". Pew Research Center: Religion & Public Life. May 12, 2015.
^ Walsh 2000, pp. 40: "The term 'mainline Protestant' was coined during the modernist/ fundamentalist debates of the 1920s."
^ Lindsay, D. Michael. "Faith in the Halls of Power" Archived September 27, 2011, at the Wayback Machine
^ Hadaway & Marler 2006, pp. 3–4.
^ Hutcheson 1981, p. 27.
^ Marty 1980, pp. 8: "the term 'Mainline' may be as unfortunate as the pejorative-sounding WASP, but it is no more likely to fall into disuse and may as well be … Mainline religion had meant simply white Protestant until well into the twentieth century."
^ Coalter, Mulder & Weeks 1990: "Some would say the term 'mainstream' or 'mainline' is itself suspect and embodies ethnocentric and elitist assumptions. ... be dropped in favor of talking about 'liberal' Protestantism, but such a change presents additional problems".
^ Dunderberg 2008, pp. 18–19: "with theological meaning, such as replacing 'orthodoxy' with 'mainstream Christianity' and 'heresy' with terms like 'sect,' 'splinter group,' or something similar. These designations may create the impression of greater neutrality and ..."
^ "Protestant Establishment I (Craigville Conference)". Archived from the original on September 28, 2007. Retrieved 2006-09-22.
^ Hutchison 1989.
^ "UMData". www.umdata.org.
^ "Summary of Congregational Statistics as of 12/31/2017" (PDF). elca.org. Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. September 11, 2018. Retrieved February 6, 2019.
^ Table of Statistics of the Episcopal Church From 2016 Parochial Reports (PDF), The Episcopal Church, 2017, p. 3, retrieved 2018-10-12
^ http://oga.pcusa.org/site_media/media/uploads/oga/pdf/statistics/2017_comparative_summaries.pdf
^ "ABC USA Summary of Statistics" (PDF). December 2014. Retrieved 2017-07-09.
^ UNITED CHURCH OF CHRIST STATISTICAL PROFILE - FALL 2018 The Center for Analytics, Research and Data (CARD) - United Church of Christ
^ Disciples of Christ Continues Decline; Church Membership Drops by Half Since 2000 17.10.2018 christianpost.com
^ "Mainline protestant denominations". Thearda.com. Retrieved 2014-05-10.
^ Pew Research Center 2015b, p. 108.
^ http://www.united-church.ca/sites/default/files/resources/united-church-statistics.pdf
^ "United Church Statistics" (PDF). united-church.ca. June 2017. Retrieved November 6, 2017.
^ {http://www.anglican.ca/ask/faq/number-of-anglicans/
^ "Number of Canadian Anglicans, Parishes and Congregations - Anglican Church of Canada". Anglican Church of Canada. Retrieved 2017-11-07.
^ "CBF lists churches 'represented' at assembly; declines to name partner churches". Baptist Press. Retrieved 2016-05-02.
^ "Reformed membership". Thearda.com. Retrieved 2018-02-25.
^ "Faith in change - Presbyterian pastor sees decline in numbers as an opportunity". www.winnipegfreepress.com. Retrieved 2017-07-09.
^ "SUMMARY OF THE ELCIC CONGREGATION REPORT FOR THE YEAR ENDING DECEMBER 31, 2015" (PDF). http://elcic.ca. Retrieved 2017-07-09. External link in |website= (help)
^ "Daily News: May 28, 2008 - Church of the Brethren". support.brethren.org.
^ "Anglicanos mexicanos rechazan unirse a la Iglesia católica". www.cronica.com.mx. Retrieved 2016-06-20. The Church claims this number of adherents or members, though it is most likely a much smaller percentage of this total, according to data provided by the Mexican Institute for Statistics and Geography (INEGI) which includes them among "other Protestants" in the traditional Protestant and Reformed church category. This is an "umbrella" category and includes a wide variety of churches and as a category has as adherents or members only slightly over 50,000 persons. The Anglican Church of Mexico has had a long history of overreporting its number of adherents or members as it received subsidies from the Episcopal Church in the U.S. (now TEC) depending on growth.
^ http://internet.contenidos.inegi.org.mx/contenidos/Productos/prod_serv/contenidos/espanol/bvinegi/productos/censos/poblacion/2010/panora_religion/religiones_2010.pdf
^ Consejo
^ "Church Structure - Mennonite Church USA". Mennonite Church USA. Retrieved 2016-05-02.
^ "Reporting on Protestant Christianity". ReligionLink. 2012-05-25. Retrieved 2016-05-02.
^ "ICCC membership". Thearda.com. Retrieved 2014-05-10.
^ "NACCC membership". Thearda.com. Retrieved 2014-05-10.
^ "UCC religious freedom lawsuit adds additional plaintiffs, defendants request stay". United Church of Christ. Archived from the original on 2016-08-10. Retrieved 2016-05-02.
^ "A Brief History of the Moravian Church « The Moravian Church « Moravian Church of North America". www.moravian.org. Retrieved 2016-05-02.
^ "About Mennonite Church Canada | Mennonite Church Canada". home.mennonitechurch.ca. Retrieved 2016-06-06.
^ "In Search of an Amish Church". www.beliefnet.com. Retrieved 2016-06-06.
^ "UFMCC membership". Thearda.com. Retrieved 2014-05-10.
^ Lau, David; Mayhew, Nathanael. "A Brief History of the Lutheran Churches in America" (PDF). atlanta.clclutheran.org. atlanta.clclutheran.org. Retrieved May 1, 2016.
^ "Hungarian Reformed Church in America – World Council of Churches". www.oikoumene.org. Retrieved 2016-05-02.
^ "Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) in Canada – World Council of Churches". www.oikoumene.org. Retrieved 2016-06-06.
^ "Mainline churches are emptying. The political effects could be huge". Vox. Retrieved 2017-11-07.
^ "Glory days? The myth of the mainline". The Christian Century. 2014-07-02. Retrieved 2017-11-07.
^ "African Methodist Episcopal Church — World Council of Churches". www.oikoumene.org. Retrieved 2017-11-07.
^ "African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church — World Council of Churches". www.oikoumene.org. Retrieved 2017-11-07.
^ "Christian Methodist Episcopal Church – World Council of Churches". www.oikoumene.org. Retrieved 2016-05-02.
^ "Unitarian faith growing nationwide". USA TODAY. Retrieved 2016-06-03.
^ "Unitarian Universalist Affirmation of Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgender People | UUA.org". UUA.org. 2012-08-21. Retrieved 2016-06-03.
^ a b c d e Struckmeyer, Kurt. "Mainline Christianity. " Following Jesus Web: 13 Dec 2009
^ a b Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life 2008b.
^ a b Hutcheson 1981, p. 20.
^ Thompson 2007.
^ Dorrien 2006.
^ Jerome Karabel (2006). The Chosen: The Hidden History of Admission and Exclusion at Harvard, Yale, and Princeton. p. 23. ISBN 9780618773558.
^ "The divide over ordaining women". Pew Research Center. 2014-09-09. Retrieved 2016-06-03.
^ "Coalition Members | Religious Coalition For Reproductive Choice". rcrc.org. Archived from the original on 2016-05-24. Retrieved 2016-06-03.
^ Communications, United Methodist. "What is the United Methodist position on abortion? - The United Methodist Church". The United Methodist Church. Retrieved 2016-06-03.
^ "Abortion". ELCA.org. Retrieved 2016-06-03.
^ "1984 Abortion". www.brethren.org. Retrieved 2016-06-15.
^ Services, From Times Wire (2003-07-12). "Mennonites Approve Dual Policy on Abortion". Los Angeles Times. ISSN 0458-3035. Retrieved 2016-06-15.
^ "Where Christian churches, other religions stand on gay marriage". Pew Research Center. 2015-12-21. Retrieved 2016-06-03.
^ "Same Sex Blessings/Homosexuality - Anglican Church of Canada". Anglican Church of Canada. Retrieved 2016-06-03.
^ "Evangelical Lutherans back same-sex marriage". www.winnipegfreepress.com. Retrieved 2016-06-03.
^ "United Church endorses gay marriage". www.cbc.ca. Retrieved 2016-06-03.
^ "First MC Canada-officiated same-sex marriage". The Mennonite: A Publication of Mennonite Church USA Providing Anabaptist Content. Retrieved 2016-06-06.
^ "Gay marriage: mainline denominations affirm SCOTUS". Baptist Press. Retrieved 2016-06-03.
^ "Another conference to license gay pastor". Mennonite World Review. 2014-10-27. Retrieved 2016-06-03.
^ "Moravian Church Northern Province Synod approves ordination of gay and lesbian pastors « Northern Province Synod 2014 « Moravian Church of North America". www.moravian.org. Retrieved 2016-06-03.
^ "33 Ordained, Commissioned in "Historic" Service". www.nyac.com. Retrieved 2016-06-13.
^ Communications, United Methodist. "Western Jurisdiction elects openly gay United Methodist bishop - The United Methodist Church". The United Methodist Church. Retrieved 2016-07-19.
^ sherry.vanarsdall@goshennews.com, SHERRY VAN ARSDALL. "Goshen church votes Sunday to allow same-sex marriages". Goshen News. Retrieved 2016-06-15.
^ "Religious groups' policies on transgender members vary widely". Pew Research Center. 2015-12-02. Retrieved 2016-06-03.
^ "Hillary Clinton to Address AME Church Conference in Philadelphia". Retrieved 2016-07-08.
^ "Pew Research Center 2014 Religious Landscape Survey".
^ Roozen 2004.
^ "MYTHS AND FACTS ABOUT EVANGELISM AND CHURCH GROWTH". USCLS U.S. Congregational Life Survey. Retrieved May 15, 2015.
^ Hadaway 2011.
^ "Facts on Growth: 2010: If Congregations Can Change, They Can Grow". Faith Communities Today. Cooperative Congregations Studies Partnership. Retrieved May 15, 2015.
^ Gryboski, Michael. "United Methodist Church Continues to Decline in America, but Gains in Africa". Christian Post. The Christian Post. Retrieved May 15, 2015.
^ "Mixed blessings in new U.S. church numbers". United Methodist Church. United Methodist Church. Retrieved May 15, 2015.
^ Pew Research Center 2015, p. 20-1.
^ Hout, Greeley & Wilde 2001, p. 469.
^ Hout, Greeley & Wilde 2001, p. 494-5.
^ a b Lantzer 2012, p. 19.
^ Balmer 2002, pp. 14-5.
^ Lantzer 2012, p. 31.
^ a b Balmer 2002, p. 19.
^ a b B.DRUMMOND AYRES Jr. (2011-12-19). "THE EPISCOPALIANS: AN AMERICAN ELITE WITH ROOTS GOING BACK TO JAMESTOWN". New York Times. Retrieved 2012-08-17.
^ Irving Lewis Allen, "WASP—From Sociological Concept to Epithet," Ethnicity, 1975 154+
^ Hacker, Andrew (1957). "Liberal Democracy and Social Control". American Political Science Review. 51 (4): 1009–1026 [p. 1011]. doi:10.2307/1952449. JSTOR 1952449.
^ Baltzell (1964). The Protestant Establishment. p. 9.
Allen, Irving Lewis (1975). "WASP—From Sociological Concept to Epithet". Ethnicity. 2 (2): 153–162. ISSN 0095-6139.
Balmer, Randall H.; Winner, Lauren F. (2002). Protestantism in America. New York: Columbia University Press. ISBN 978-0-231-11130-0.
Baltzell, E. Digby (1964). The Protestant Establishment.
Coalter, Milton J.; Mulder, John M.; Weeks, Louis (1990). The Mainstream Protestant "Decline": The Presbyterian Pattern. Louisville, Kentucky: Westminster John Knox Press. ISBN 978-0-664-25150-5.
Dorrien, Gary (2006). The Making of American Liberal Theology. Volume 3: Crisis, Irony, and Postmodernity. Louisville, Kentucky: Westminster John Knox Press. ISBN 978-0-664-22356-4.
Dunderberg, Ismo (2008). Beyond Gnosticism: Myth, Lifestyle, and Society in the School of Valentinus. New York: Columbia University Press. doi:10.7312/dund14172. ISBN 978-0-231-51259-6. JSTOR 10.7312/dund14172.
Fallding, Harold (1978). "Mainline Protestantism in Canada and the United States of America: An Overview". Canadian Journal of Sociology. 3 (2): 141–160. doi:10.2307/3340276. JSTOR 3340276.
Hacker, Andrew (1957). "Liberal Democracy and Social Control". American Political Science Review. 51 (4): 1009–1026. doi:10.2307/1952449. JSTOR 1952449.
Hadaway, C. Kirk (2011). FACTs On Growth: 2010 (PDF). Hartford, Connecticut: Hartford Institute for Religion Research. Archived from the original (PDF) on June 30, 2014. Retrieved May 15, 2015.
Hadaway, C. Kirk; Marler, Penny Long (2006). "Growth and Decline in the Mainline". In Lippy, Charles H. (ed.). Faith in America: Changes, Challenges, New Directions. Volume 1: Organized Religion Today. Praeger Perspectives. Westport, Connecticut: Praeger Publishers. pp. 1–24. ISBN 978-0-275-98606-3.
Hout, Michael; Greeley, Andrew; Wilde, Melissa J. (2001). "The Demographic Imperative in Religious Change in the United States". American Journal of Sociology. 107 (2): 468–500. doi:10.1086/324189. JSTOR 3081357.
Hutcheson, Richard G, Jr. (1981). Mainline Churches and the Evangelicals: A Challenging Crisis?. Atlanta, Georgia: John Knox Press. ISBN 978-0-8042-1502-2.
Hutchison, William R., ed. (1989). Between the Times: The Travail of the Protestant Establishment in America, 1900–1960. Cambridge Studies in Religion and American Public Life. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-40601-7.
Lantzer, Jason S. (2012). Mainline Christianity: The Past and Future of America's Majority Faith. New York: NYU Press. ISBN 978-0-8147-5330-9.
Linder, Ellen W., ed. (2009). Yearbook of American & Canadian Churches 2009. Nashville, Tennessee: Abingdon Press. ISBN 978-0-687-65880-0. ISSN 0195-9034.
Marsden, George (2014). The Twilight of the American Enlightenment: The 1950s and the Crisis of Liberal Belief. New York: Basic Books. ISBN 978-0-465-03010-1.
Marty, Martin E. (1980). A Nation of Behavers. University of Chicago Press. ISBN 978-0-226-50892-4.
McKinney, William (1998). "Mainline Protestantism 2000". The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science. 558: 57–66. doi:10.1177/0002716298558001006. JSTOR 1049104.
Moorhead, James H. (1999). World Without End: Mainstream American Protestant Visions of the Last Things, 1880–1925. Religion in North America. Bloomington, Indiana: Indiana University Press. ISBN 978-0-253-33580-7.
Noll, Mark A. (1992). A History of Christianity in the United States and Canada. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company. ISBN 978-0-8028-0651-2.
Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life (2008a). U.S. Religious Landscape Survey: Religious Affiliation: Diverse and Dynamic (PDF). Washington, DC: Pew Research Center. Retrieved May 22, 2016.
——— (2008b). U.S. Religious Landscape Survey: Religious Beliefs and Practices: Diverse and Politically Relevant (PDF). Washington, DC: Pew Research Center. Retrieved September 27, 2009.
Pew Research Center (2015a). A Deep Dive Into Party Affiliation: Sharp Differences by Race, Gender, Generation, Education (PDF). Washington, DC: Pew Research Center. Retrieved May 24, 2016.
——— (2015b). America's Changing Religious Landscape: Christians Decline Sharply as Share of Population; Unaffiliated and Other Faiths Continue to Grow (PDF). Washington, DC: Pew Research Center. Retrieved May 22, 2016.
Roozen, David A. (2004). Oldline Protestantism: Pockets of Vitality Within a Continuing Stream of Decline. Hartford Institute for Religion Research Working Paper. Hartford, Connecticut: Hartford Institute for Religion Research. 1104.1. Retrieved January 9, 2012.
Thompson, Michael G. (2007). "An Exception to Exceptionalism: A Reflection on Reinhold Niebuhr's Vision of 'Prophetic' Christianity and the Problem of Religion and U.S. Foreign Policy". American Quarterly. 59 (3): 833–855. doi:10.1353/aq.2007.0070. JSTOR 40068452.
Walsh, Andrew D. (2000). Religion, Economics, and Public Policy: Ironies, Tragedies, and Absurdities of the Contemporary Culture Wars. Westport, Connecticut: Praeger Publishers. ISBN 978-0-275-96611-9.
Wuthnow, Robert; Evans, John H. (2002). The Quiet Hand of God: Faith-Based Activism and the Public Role of Mainline Protestantism. Berkeley, California: University of California Press. ISBN 978-0-520-23313-3.
Ahlstrom, Sydney E. (1972). A Religious History of the American People. New Haven, Connecticut: Yale University Press. ISBN 978-0-300-01762-5.
Balmer, Randall (1996). Grant Us Courage: Travels along the Mainline of American Protestantism. New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-510086-0. Retrieved October 3, 2016.
Balmer, Randall; Fitzmier, John R. (1993). The Presbyterians. Denominations in America. 5. Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press. ISBN 978-0-313-26084-1.
Bendroth, Margaret (2015). The Last Puritans: Mainline Protestants and the Power of the Past. Chapel Hill, North Carolina: University of North Carolina Press. ISBN 978-1-4696-2400-6.
Billingsley, K. L. (1990). From Mainline to Sideline: The Social Witness of the National Council of Churches. Washington, DC: Ethics and Public Policy Center. ISBN 978-0-89633-141-9.
Coffman, Elesha J. (2013). The Christian Century and the Rise of Mainline Protestantism. New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-993859-9.
Dorrien, Gary (2001). The Making of American Liberal Theology. Volume 1: Imagining Progressive Religion, 1805–1900. Louisville, Kentucky: Westminster John Knox Press. ISBN 978-0-664-22354-0.
——— (2003). The Making of American Liberal Theology. Volume 2: Idealism, Realism, and Modernity. Louisville, Kentucky: Westminster John Knox Press. ISBN 978-0-664-22355-7.
Edwards, Mark (2012). The Right of the Protestant Left: God's Totalitarianism. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. ISBN 978-1-137-01989-9.
Hollinger, David A. (2013). After Cloven Tongues of Fire: Protestant Liberalism in Modern American History. Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press. ISBN 978-0-691-15842-6.
Hollinger, David A. Protestants Abroad: How Missionaries Tried to Change the World but Changed America (2017) excerpt
Marty, Martin E. (1989). "The Establishment That Was". The Christian Century. Vol. 106 no. 34. pp. 1045–1047. Retrieved October 3, 2016. Hudnut-Beumler, James (2018). The Future of Mainline Protestantism in America. Columbia University Press. ISBN 9780231183611.
——— (1999). Modern American Religion. Volume 3: Under God, Indivisible, 1941–1960. University of Chicago Press. ISBN 978-0-226-50899-3.
Murchison, William (2009). Mortal Follies: Episcopalians and the Crisis of Mainline Christianity. New York: Encounter Books. ISBN 978-1-59403-230-1.
Roof, Wade Clark; McKinney, William (1990). American Mainline Religion: Its Changing Shape and Future. New Brunswick, New Jersey: Rutgers University Press. ISBN 978-0-8135-1216-7.
Tipton, Steven M. (2008). Public Pulpits: Methodists and Mainline Churches in the Moral Argument of Public Life. University of Chicago Press. ISBN 978-0-226-80474-3.
Utter, Glenn H. (2007). Mainline Christians and U.S. Public Policy: A Reference Handbook. Santa Barbara, California: ABC-CLIO. ISBN 978-1-59884-000-1.
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Mainline_Protestant&oldid=905915307"
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0009.json.gz/line742
|
__label__cc
| 0.551446
| 0.448554
|
PRACTICAL RESULTS OF BACTERIOLOGY.
THE PRACTICAL RESULTS OF BACTERIOLOGICAL RESEARCHES.[1]
By GEORGE M. STERNBERG, M. D., LL. D.,
SURGEON GENERAL, U. S. A.
GENTLEMEN: In selecting a subject for my presidential address I have thought it best to restrict myself to that branch, of biological science with which I am most familiar; and, as a technical paper might prove uninteresting to many of those who constitute my present audience, I have chosen a title for my address which will enable me to speak in a general way of the development of our knowledge relating to the low vegetable organisms known as bacteria, and the practical results which have been the outcome of researches commenced in the first instance solely on account of their scientific interest.
Attention was first prominently called to the bacteria by the investigations relating to spontaneous generation. It was generally believed prior to the researches of Spallanzini, in 1776, that the development of micro-organisms in boiled organic fluids exposed to the air was by heterogenesis. Spallanzini showed by experiment that in some instances putrescible liquids when boiled and kept in hermetically sealed flasks could be preserved indefinitely without undergoing change. But he was not always successful in this experiment. Bastian, and other supporters of the theory of heterogenesis, at a later date, repeated these experiments with similar results, and maintained that when a development of micro-organisms occurred in a boiled fluid contained in a hermetically sealed flask it could only be by spontaneous generation. But Pasteur, in 1860, gave the true explanation of the appearance of living bacteria under such conditions. He proved that when development occurs it is because the organic liquid has not been completely sterilized, and that certain micro-organisms (spores of bacilli) withstand the boiling temperature, especially when they are suspended in a liquid having an alkaline reaction. At the present day this question is regarded as definitely settled, at least so far as known conditions are concerned; and we have an exact experimental knowledge of the thermal death-point of many micro-organisms of this class.
The principal pathogenic bacteria are destroyed at temperatures much below the boiling point of water. Thus, in experiments made by the present speaker in 1885 it was ascertained that
↑ Address of the President of the Biological Society of Washington, delivered December 14, 1895, under the auspices of the Joint Commission of the Scientific Societies of Washington.
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0009.json.gz/line743
|
__label__wiki
| 0.649089
| 0.649089
|
38th Session of the World Heritage Committee
Sunday, 15 June 2014 - 9:00am to Wednesday, 25 June 2014 - 6:00pm
Qatar, Doha
The World Heritage Committee will meet for its 38th session in Doha, Qatar.
The Committee is responsible for the implementation of the World Heritage Convention, defines the use of the World Heritage Fund and allocates financial assistance upon requests from States Parties. It has the final say on whether a property is inscribed on the World Heritage List. The Committee can also defer its decision and request further information on properties from the States Parties. It examines reports on the state of conservation of inscribed properties and asks States Parties to take action when properties are not being properly managed. It also decides on the inscription or deletion of properties on the List of World Heritage in Danger.
http://http://whc.unesco.org/en/sessions/38COM
Protecting Our Heritage and Fostering Creativity
English, French, Spanish, Arabic
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0009.json.gz/line745
|
__label__wiki
| 0.954821
| 0.954821
|
Cobra Starship performing at Warped Tour on June 20, 2008
New York City, New York, U.S.
alternative dance
Decaydance, Fueled by Ramen
This Is Ivy League
The Academy Is...
cobrastarship.com
Gabe Saporta
Victoria Asher
Nate Novarro
Ryland Blackinton
Alex Suarez
Eric Halvorsen
Elisa Schwartz
Cobra Starship was an American dance-pop band created by former Midtown bassist and lead vocalist Gabe Saporta in 2006 in New York City, New York. After writing and recording the band's debut album While the City Sleeps, We Rule the Streets as a solo project, Saporta enlisted guitarist Ryland Blackinton, bassist Alex Suarez, drummer Nate Novarro, and keytarist Victoria Asher, all of whom provide backing vocals.
Over ten years, Cobra Starship produced four albums and two Billboard Hot 100 top 10 singles. The group released its debut album, While the City Sleeps, We Rule the Streets, in 2006, which contained the single "Snakes on a Plane (Bring It)". The band released its second album, ¡Viva La Cobra!, on October 23, 2007. Their third album, Hot Mess, was released on August 11, 2009. Their fourth and final album, Night Shades, was released on August 30, 2011 in the US and October 28, 2011 in the UK.
Cobra Starship officially announced its dissolution on November 10, 2015.[1]
1.1 Formation and While the City Sleeps, We Rule the Streets (2005–2007)
1.2 ¡Viva la Cobra! (2007–2008)
1.3 Hot Mess (2009–2010)
1.4 Night Shades, Never Been in Love, decline, and disbandment (2011–2015)
1.5 Post-disbandment (2015–present)
2 Band members
4 Album appearances
Formation and While the City Sleeps, We Rule the Streets (2005–2007)[edit]
Cobra Starship was formed in 2005 after Midtown bassist Gabe Saporta took a trip to the deserts of Arizona. During this time, Saporta went on a "vision quest", spending time with Native American tribes and smoking peyote.[2] He began to create his vision for a new band, a melodic style of music heavily influenced by synthpop while angels are singing in the background and hip-hop.[2] Upon returning home, Saporta rented a house in the Catskill Mountains and began writing what would become the band's debut album, While the City Sleeps, We Rule the Streets. He posted a parody response to Gwen Stefani's "Hollaback Girl" titled "Hollaback Boy" on Myspace. The song gained Saporta notoriety on the internet and he eventually signed to Decaydance Records, the label of his good friend and Fall Out Boy's bassist Pete Wentz.[3]
Midtown's management company soon set Saporta up with an opportunity to record a song for the soundtrack to the 2006 Snakes on a Plane. Along with members of The Academy Is..., Gym Class Heroes, and The Sounds, Saporta recorded "Snakes on a Plane (Bring It)", which became a minor hit.[4] During the recording of While the City Sleeps, We Rule the Streets, Saporta began recruiting new members to complete the group's lineup. He first enlisted drummer Nate Novarro, whom he met on tour while Novarro sold merchandise for fellow touring act Hidden in Plain View.[2] After seeing Saporta in Entertainment Weekly, guitarist Ryland Blackinton and bassist Alex Suarez, who lived near each other in Brooklyn, and Alex lived in the same apartment building as Midtown drummer Rob Hitt, emailed Saporta asking to join the group. The lineup was completed by Victoria Asher.[5] While the City Sleeps, We Rule the Streets, was released October 10, 2006. It featured the single "Snakes on a Plane (Bring It)", of which a video had been featured during the closing credits of the film Snakes on a Plane earlier that summer. In October 2006, they supported Thirty Seconds to Mars on their Welcome to the Universe Tour.
¡Viva la Cobra! (2007–2008)[edit]
Cobra Starship performing in 2008
With the group's lineup solidified, Cobra Starship began touring across the United States. While on the 2007 Honda Civic Tour, the group began writing music together for the first time. The members recorded their individual parts on their laptops in the band's bus.[6] By the time Cobra Starship entered the studio to work on a new album, much of the material was already written.[2] Recorded in twenty days at Mission Sound Studios in Brooklyn, New York, ¡Viva la Cobra! was released on October 23, 2007.[6] It was produced by Patrick Stump, who was also credited as singing some backup vocals.[7] The album has been described as "11 tracks of unabashed party jams, full of big hooky electropop, super-produced guitar crunch and the occasional T-Pain-style vocoder thrown in for good measure."[8]
The album has been toured heavily worldwide. Cobra headlined the Really Really Ridiculously Good Looking Tour with guests Metro Station, The Cab, and We The Kings from January to March, 2008. They also played on Warped Tour 2008 and headlined the SassyBack tour, which toured from October 7 through November 30, 2008, with guests Forever the Sickest Kids, Hit the Lights, and Sing It Loud.
The album art for the ¡Viva la Cobra! album was used to promote the fourth generation Apple iPod nano in purple.
Gabe Saporta performing on November 28, 2009.
Hot Mess (2009–2010)[edit]
Following the success of Katy Perry's "I Kissed a Girl", Cobra Starship recorded their own cover version, "I Kissed a Boy", in summer 2008. The song was released on August 25, 2008, on Fall Out Boy's Citizens For Our Betterment mixtape Welcome To The New Administration. Cobra Starship is one of 9 artists who participated in thetruth.com’s Remix Project, where they remixed the Sunny Side song "Magical Amount".
Cobra Starship also began the Believers Never Die Tour Part Deux tour in the beginning of April, opening for Fall Out Boy, with other bands All Time Low, Metro Station, and Hey Monday. They spent time performing many shows in the US mostly all in April and the beginning of May, however they also played a few shows in the UK at the end of May 2009, supported by Sing It Loud, Cash Cash, and UK band Mimi Soya.
In 2009, the band went to a cabin in Pennsylvania, in an attempt to produce new material. They broadcast live throughout their stay on the live camera feed site Stickam, thus creating the Shelf Kids, the fans of Cobra Starship. After their stay, a new album was announced with a tentative release in the summer. The band worked with Kara DioGuardi, Kevin Rudolf, KarateE! Mouse, S*A*M and Sluggo, and songwriters Benny Blanco and Patrick Stump on Hot Mess.[9] Gossip Girl star Leighton Meester is featured on the song "Good Girls Go Bad", which is produced by Kevin Rudolf and co-written by Rudolf and Kara DioGuardi.[10] The song is the album's first single, and was added on iTunes on May 11 and available to listen to on the band's official MySpace page. Other songs include "Pete Wentz Is the Only Reason We're Famous", which has been released on their YouTube channel[11] and Vevo page. On May 8, the album title was confirmed as Hot Mess, with a release date of August 11. It debuted on the US Billboard 200 at number four, becoming the band's highest charting album. Guitarist Ryland Blackinton said of Hot Mess, "We just wanted to make music that was fun and kinda make people just forget about whatever shitty problem they might be having during the week."[12]
The band began its tour to promote the new album on August 3. The tour, called Hot Mess Across The US Tour, has 21 stops and features guests such as Friday Night Boys and DJ Skeet Skeet. After Plastiscines dropped off the tour, Cobra Starship listed a number of candidate bands for the fans to vote for online in a blog; The Audition won.[13] On their official video podcast (CobraCam.tv), the band released humorous tentative titles for the album (which parodies several other notable albums) "Griller", "Tha Ryland III", and variations of their ¡Viva La Cobra! album.
Cobra Starship played[14] at a September 11, 2009 MTV Video Music Awards weekend competition and pre-party at The Fillmore at Irving Plaza. The competition was for The MTV "VMA Best Breakout New York City Artist Award", and took place before MTV Video Music Awards performers and in between performances from MTV Video Music Awards artists.[15]
Cobra Starship appeared at "Los Premios MTV Latinoamérica 2009" along with Mexican star Paulina Rubio performing "Good Girls Go Bad" and "Ni Rosas Ni Juguetes". Cobra Starship and Paulina won an MTV Award for "Best Performance", for "Good Girls Go Bad" and "Ni Rosas Ni Juguetes" at the Los Premios MTV Latinoamérica 2009, voted by the public, beating other artist such as Shakira, Nelly Furtado, and Wisin & Yandel.
On February 4, 2010, Cobra Starship embarked on their first ever European tour named 'Hot Mess Across The EU-Niverse', which included the UK, Ireland, Germany, France and the Netherlands. When the tour ended on February 21, the band then traveled to Japan for a few shows, then onto Australia and New Zealand for the 'Wet Hot Australian Summer' Tour. The group also toured in Germany with I Heart Sharks and One Night Stand!. On February 5, 2010 it was announced that Cobra Starship and 3OH!3 would be embarking on a co-headlining tour called The Too Fast for Love Tour with opening acts Travis McCoy, The Lazarus Project and I Fight Dragons. The tour ran from April 28 in Milwaukee, WI, until June 13 in Asbury Park, NJ.
In late 2010, the band collaborated with British singer Alexandra Burke on the song "What Happens on the Dancefloor", which was included on the deluxe edition of her debut album Overcome.
Night Shades, Never Been in Love, decline, and disbandment (2011–2015)[edit]
Cobra Starship canceled their 2011 Australian tour to finish up their fourth album, which they have been working on with Ryan Tedder and Kara DioGuardi. Gabe Saporta released a song off of the album, "Don't Blame the World, It's the DJ's Fault", on his Tumblr. A video was released of an eggplant with sunglasses and headphones getting made into eggplant Parmesan. The video is supposed to represent the album title. Gabe later announced via Twitter that the new album will be called Night Shades. The first single, "You Make Me Feel...", was released on May 10, 2011. The song features American singer/songwriter and rapper Sabi and was written by Steve Mac & Ina Wroldsen.
The music video premiered on Tuesday, June 28 on MTV.
The band's official Twitter and Tumblr announced that the album will be out on August 30, 2011.[16]
The group released Itunes Session – EP on August 23, containing four acoustic songs and an alternative version of "Fold Your Hands Child".
In promotion of the album, the band performed "You Make Me Feel..." on the MTV Video Music Awards pre-show with Sabi on August 28, 2011.
Night Shades was released on August 29, 2011 with the lead single "You Make Me Feel..."[17] and three promotional singles. The first promotional single, "#1Nite (One Night)" was released on July 26, 2011, while the second, "Fool Like Me" (featuring the Plastiscines) was released on August 9, 2011; the third and final promotional single, "Middle Finger" (featuring Mac Miller) was released on August 23, 2011. Cobra Starship also performed "You Make Me Feel..." in the fall of 2011 on Dancing with the Stars.
Cobra Starship contributed a cover of Buddy Holly's "Peggy Sue" to the Buddy Holly tribute album, Listen to Me: Buddy Holly (2011).
On September 9, 2011, Cobra Starship headlined the Fueled by Ramen 15th Anniversary show in New York's Terminal 5, with VersaEmerge, The Academy Is... and A Rocket to the Moon in support. In March 2012, Cobra Starship featured in the Australian touring rock festival Soundwave.
On April 19, 2014, after nearly three years of no announcement of new material, Cobra Starship confirmed that they are working on a new single.[18] Their single "Never Been in Love", featuring Icona Pop, was released on August 25, 2014.
On October 21, 2014, both Suarez and Ryland left the band to pursue their own separate careers.[19] They have since been replaced by Eric Halvorsen, formerly of A Rocket to the Moon, and Andy Barr. The band played their first show with their current line-up on October 30, at Saints and Sinner for a Halloween party. The band also played for Jimmy Kimmel Live! on November 6.
On November 10, 2015, it was announced in a blog post on their website that they had broken up.[20]
Post-disbandment (2015–present)[edit]
On his Beats1 Radio show in November 2015, Saporta announced that he would no longer be performing or putting out new music. He and business associate Mike Carden have announced the formation of a talent management firm, T∆G // The Artist Group,[21] which is expected to commence operations in the first quarter of 2016. Saporta has explained that now he wants to work behind the scenes and help younger artists see their dreams come true.[22]
In October 2016, Andy Barr toured with rock band America.
Band members[edit]
Gabe Saporta – lead vocals (2005–2015)
Nate Novarro – drums, backing vocals (2005–2015)
Victoria Asher – keytar, keyboards, backing vocals (2007–2015)
Eric Halvorsen – bass guitar, backing vocals (2014–2015)
Andy Barr – lead guitar (2014–2015)
Elisa Schwartz – keytar, backing vocals (2005–2007)
Ryland Blackinton – lead guitar, backing vocals (2005–2014)
Alex Suarez – bass guitar, backing vocals (2005–2014)
Main article: Cobra Starship discography
While the City Sleeps, We Rule the Streets (2006)
¡Viva la Cobra! (2007)
Hot Mess (2009)
Night Shades (2011)
Album appearances[edit]
2006 Snakes on a Plane: The Album
2007 TMNT: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
2008 Warped Tour 2008 Tour Compilation
Welcome to the New Administration
2009 Jennifer's Body
Now That's What I Call Music! 32
2010 Overcome
^ "Cobra Starship — After many incredible years, I'm making the..." cobrastarship.com. Retrieved 2015-11-10.
^ a b c d Manley, Brendan (2008-06-03). "Fangs for the Memories" (PDF). Alternative Press. Alternative Press Magazine, Inc. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2011-11-23. Retrieved 2010-10-20.
^ Montgomery, James (July 27, 2006). "Cobra Starship Owe Success To Talking Snake From The Future". MTV News. Retrieved October 3, 2011.
^ Montgomery, James (July 26, 2006). "Snakes On A Soundtrack — Samuel L. Jackson Film Nabs Fall Out Boy, Panic!, Cee-Lo". MTV News. Retrieved May 16, 2011.
^ Montgomery, James (January 26, 2007). "Cobra Starship's Gabe Saporta Speaks Out After Keytar Kerfuffle". MTV News. Retrieved October 3, 2011.
^ a b ¡Viva la Cobra! (CD liner). Cobra Starship. Fueled By Ramen/Decaydance. 2007. 0015133-02. CS1 maint: others (link)
^ [1] Archived June 4, 2007, at the Wayback Machine
^ Montgomery, James (October 17, 2007). "Cobra Starship Take Aim At Their Sudden Fame With Viva La Cobra!". MTV News. Retrieved October 3, 2011.
^ Montgomery, James (2009-04-15). "'American Idol' Judge Kara DioGuardi Working With Cobra Starship". MTV. Retrieved 2009-04-26.
^ Montgomery, James (2009-04-17). "Cobra Starship, Leighton Meester Collaborating On New Song". MTV. Retrieved 2009-04-26.
^ "cobra starship - pete wentz is the only reason we're famous". YouTube.com. 2009-04-01. Archived from the original on October 16, 2013. Retrieved 2009-04-26.
^ [2] Archived November 24, 2009, at the Wayback Machine
^ "Buzznet.com". Buzznet.com. Archived from the original on 2009-08-04. Retrieved 2011-10-23.
^ "About the Show". MTV. Retrieved 2007-08-29.
^ "Cobra Starship #NIGHTSHADES". Cobrastarship.tumblr.com. 2011-07-15. Archived from the original on 2011-11-23. Retrieved 2011-10-23.
^ "iTunes - Music - You Make Me Feel... (feat. Sabi) - Single by Cobra Starship". Itunes.apple.com. 2011-05-10. Archived from the original on 2011-10-17. Retrieved 2011-10-23.
^ "Instagram". Instagram.com. Retrieved 2015-04-03.
^ "Cobra Starship – A farewell from Ryland and Alex". Cobrastarship.com. 2014-10-21. Archived from the original on 2015-04-23. Retrieved 2015-04-03.
^ . Cobrastarship.com. 2015-11-10 http://cobrastarship.com/post/132943236735/after-many-incredible-years-im-making-the. Retrieved 2015-11-10. Missing or empty |title= (help)
^ "T∆G // THE ARTIST GROUP". theartistgroup.org. Retrieved 2017-11-01.
^ "Cobra Starship Breaks Up; Gabe Saporta Explains What's Next". Billboard. Retrieved 2015-11-11.
Spanish website
While the City Sleeps, We Rule the Streets
¡Viva la Cobra!
"Snakes on a Plane (Bring It)"
"Good Girls Go Bad"
"Hot Mess"
"You Make Me Feel..."
"Middle Finger"
"1Nite (One Night)"
"Never Been In Love"
BNF: cb15122230d (data)
GND: 10341165-3
MusicBrainz: ffb390b8-8df4-4b72-97d1-7b2fc008a452
VIAF: 64145970031832250623
WorldCat Identities (via VIAF): 64145970031832250623
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Cobra_Starship&oldid=896231890"
American pop music groups
Crush Management artists
Decaydance Records artists
Fueled by Ramen artists
Musical quintets
CS1 maint: others
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0009.json.gz/line746
|
__label__cc
| 0.719947
| 0.280053
|
The Quarterly Review of Biology
Daniel E. Dykhuizen
University of Chicago Press (United States)
Standard abbreviations
ISO 4 (alt) · Bluebook (alt1 · alt2)
NLM (alt) · MathSciNet (alt )
ISO 4
Q. Rev. Biol.
Journal homepage
OnlineArchive
The Quarterly Review of Biology is a peer reviewed scientific journal covering all aspects of biology. It was established in 1926 by Raymond Pearl. In the 1960s it was purchased by the Stony Brook Foundation when the editor H. Bentley Glass became academic vice president of the State University of New York at Stony Brook. The editor-in-chief is Daniel E. Dykhuizen (Stony Brook University). It is currently published by the University of Chicago Press.
1 Aims and scope
2 Abstracting and indexing
Aims and scope[edit]
The journal publishes review articles. Beyond the core biological sciences, the journal also covers related areas, including policy studies and the history and philosophy of science. In addition, there is also a book review section.[1]
Abstracting and indexing[edit]
The journal is abstracted and indexed in Biological Abstracts, BIOSIS Previews, and the Science Citation Index.
^ About QRB
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=The_Quarterly_Review_of_Biology&oldid=864484898"
Biology journals
University of Chicago Press academic journals
Quarterly journals
English-language journals
Review journals
Articles with outdated impact factors from 2017
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0009.json.gz/line747
|
__label__cc
| 0.625537
| 0.374463
|
You are here: Home / Northern Europe / England / A Visit to Anne Hathaway’s Cottage
A Visit to Anne Hathaway’s Cottage
Published/Revised June 12, 2014 By W. Ruth Kozak This post may contain promotional and affiliate links. EuropeUpClose may receive commissions for purchases made through links in this post at no extra cost to you. Please read our disclosure for more info.
A visit to Anne Hathaway’s cottage near Stratford-upon-Avon is a delightful way to spend an afternoon. In the spacious drawing room of Anne Hathaway’s Cottage is a large, carved, wooden chair. It’s known as the ‘courting chair’ because it is said this is where the young William Shakespeare sat while visiting and courting his future bride, Anne.
The childhood home of Anne Hathaway is situated one mile (1.5 km) west of Stratford-upon-Avon. Click here for accommodations in Stratford upon Avon. The ‘cottage’ is actually a spacious twelve-room Elizabethan farmhouse surrounded by a typical English country garden. In Shakespeare’s day it was known as Newlands, a thriving farm with more than ninety acres (36 hectares). It is thatch-roofed and built with timber framing, traditional Tudor style architecture. The lower part of the house was built in the early 1460’s and several extensions were made over the years. It remained in the Hathaway family until 1892.
The house is furnished with many of the original items that belonged to the Hathaway family including a Tudor style bed from Anne’s time. In Shakespeare’s time, the beds of prosperous citizens were sometimes equivalent in value to a small house. In Elizabethan custom, the best bed in the house was reserved for guests. I couldn’t help but wonder, considering the ‘scandal’ surrounding Will’s marriage to Anne, if he had slept in it!
Anne Hathaway grew up in this thatch-roofed farmhouse in the small village of Shottery, near Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire, England. Her father was a successful yeoman farmer and when he died in September 1581 he left Anne a sum of money to be paid ‘on the day of her marriage’. She married Shakespeare on November 1582 and gave birth to her first child six months later.
Anne was 26 at the time of her marriage to Shakespeare. He was just 18 and had few prospects to offer as his family had fallen into financial ruin while Anne’s family was in good standing socially and financially. Although there is no real evidence that this was a forced wedding, Anne was pregnant at the time and, reputedly, Shakespeare was involved with and promised to marry another woman. So rumours persisted that he was forced by the Hathaway family to marry Anne. Some historians insist that because of this, Shakespeare loathed his wife and his unhappy marriage spurred his decision to leave Stratford and pursue a career in the theatre.
Two years after the birth of her first child, Anne gave birth to twins. Although there is no documentation that the marriage was acrimonious, for most of their married life Shakespeare lived in London where he wrote and performed his plays. When he retired in 1613 he returned to live in Stratford with Anne Hathaway. She died August 1623 at age 67, outliving her husband by seven years. She is interred next to him in the Church of the Holy Trinity, Stratford-upon-Avon.
A tour of the house gives you a glimpse of early Tudor life, although the cottage has undergone some alterations over the years. In 1969 it was badly damaged by fire, and subsequently restored by the National Trust. It is now open to visitors as a museum. After your tour through the house you can spend some time in the lovely garden where bees and butterflies flitter among the myriad of flowers.
More information on the Cottage and tours.
Written by W. Ruth Kozak for EuropeUpClose.com
This post was kindly sponsored by QuickBeds.com Australia. Looking for great deals on accommodation? Check out Quickbeds.com for great deals on Hotels around the world.
Out and About: Day Trips Near London
Don’t Miss London’s Hampton Court
Stately Hever Castle: Icon of England’s Medieval Tudor Life
A Visit to Medieval Lincoln, England
Returning to Tudor Times at Kentwell Hall and Gardens, Long Melford, Suffolk
A Visit to the Coronation Church – Westminster Abbey
Exploring England’s Ightham Mote in Kent
Enjoying Outdoor Shakespeare in Exeter, Devon
Filed Under: England, Northern Europe
About W. Ruth Kozak
Ruth has been a travel journalist for 35 years. She also writes historical fiction and her novel, “Shadow of the Lion” will be published in UK in two parts. Part 1 “Blood on the Moon” in August 2014 and Part 2 “The Fields of Hades” in 2016 Ruth also edits and publishes a travel e-zine Travel thru History.
Stratford-Upon-Avon is such a beautiful area.It is one of my favourite places in the UK along with Bath.
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0009.json.gz/line751
|
__label__cc
| 0.713808
| 0.286192
|
Sandwich Bay Bird Observatory
open all hours
Start postcode
CT13 9PF
Activity rating
Compare the smartest ways to get to your destination.
Powered by kentconnected.org
The Sandwich Bay Bird Observatory nature reserve has been laid down since the 18th century and is located on the Kent coastline between St George’s Golf Course to the north and Deal to the south. The Sandwich Bay Bird Observatory is run by a charitable trust (SBBOT) which has been recording all aspects of the wildlife of Sandwich Bay for over 50 years; monitoring migration and carrying out a scientific programme of bird ringing in support of many national and international projects. The trust also monitors the butterflies, dragonflies and unique flora of the area, which includes many rare species of orchid. The observatory field study centre is set back from the shingle beach. It is open everyday and has free parking, interpretation panels and displays, a reference library, toilets, and a small shop selling filed guides and other items associated with ornithology. Maps and guides showing footpaths round the reserve can be picked up at the centre. Visitors should note that the Field Centre is on a private estate and drivers are required to pay a toll to access the area. However, there is a substantial discount for visitors to the field study centre.
Easy access information
This park and open space has at least one accessible route but otherwise is considered to be less suitable for visitors with pushchairs and/or wheelchairs.
Sandwich to Rye cycle ride
Head into smugglers' territory as you follow National Routes 1 and 2 along the Kent coast, taking in stunning coastal cliff paths and quiet country lanes through atmospheric Romney Marsh. The distance…
Rye Cycling
Sandwich walk - flights over the fairways...
Sandwich is one of the historic Cinque Ports. The town, originating in the seventh century, grew up as a trading centre and gateway to mainland Europe. The port was at its most prosperous in the 12…
Sandwich Walking
Saxon Shore Way
Imagine stepping back in time and discovering the coastline of the Garden of England as it stood more than 1,600 years ago. The 160 mile Saxon Shore Way long distance walking route is named after the…
Gravesend Walking
View all activities
Thank you for rating this activity.
Suggestion form
If you’ve spotted something that’s not quite right or require some more information on this activity fill out the form below.
Your suggestion
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0009.json.gz/line753
|
__label__cc
| 0.6823
| 0.3177
|
Top StoriesNFL StoriesState Your CaseHOF InterviewsShow
NFL Stories
State Your Case
HOF Interviews
Say it ain't so, Joe! Hall-of-Fame's Horrigan details why time is right to leave
Photo courtesy of USA Today
byClark Judge
Jan 29 -edited
After 42 years, the Hall-of-Fame's Joe Horrigan is retiring. So why now? Good question. Read on for an answer.
Joe Horrigan last week surprised Pro Football Hall-of-Fame candidates, inductees, selectors and staff when he announced that he’s retiring after 42 years in Canton.
Officially, Horrigan is the Hall’s executive director. Unofficially, he’s its historian, knowing everything about everyone and everything associated with the Hall and/or the NFL. So losing him is like the Patriots losing Tom Brady. He’s the heart and soul of the selection process, the guy who makes everything work, and there was supposed to be “zero” chance of Horrigan retiring … until, of course, it happened.
But why? And how? We caught up with him to find out.
Q: It’s been about a week since you announced you were leaving. How many people have you heard from?
HORRIGAN: Oh, my, I was just bemoaning that – being so flattered by that. I mean, it’s hundreds. The world of instant communication is wonderful until everybody decides to communicate at once.
Q: Why retire and why retire now?
HORRIGAN: Well, there’s no good time ever for something like this. It’s one of those things where you get to an age where you start wondering when you’re going to do it. To quote Marv Levy, ‘When you’re thinking about retiring you probably already have.” It got to the point where I said there are so many good things going on here at the Hall that my original intention was to see it through to a certain point – with all of the changes that we’re going through. And as those continued to grow, I realized there’s going to be no end to it … because it’s going to be a five-or-six-year project. So I said it’s probably better to leave before you get too deep than to get too deep and wonder why you didn’t move out of the way for others to take charge. That’s part of the whole growth of the organization and personal growth. You feel comfortable and confident in your successors. So the time was good. I keep telling people I’m not totally going away. I’ll be around at least for a while on some specific projects, just to see them through because I have basic commitments. It was just a matter of timing. A lot of folks don’t get that opportunity to make a choice as to when they retire. So, making my own choice … I really can’t give a reason why. I wish I could say, “Aw, heck, I got fired.” But it’s not that.
Q: Is there an official date of retirement?
HORRIGAN: June 1 will be when I will be officially retired, but, as I said, I will be doing some things beyond that.
Q: Will you have a say in choosing your successor?
HORRIGAN: Actually, I’ve been nurturing my successors. There are going be three people that will kind of pick up and do things that have typically been under my umbrella. Pete Fierle for a couple of years now has already taken over communications on a day-to-day basis. He’ll continue to be in charge of that now. Saleem Choudhry has worked with me, and he’ll take over the museum operations. And he’ll be the liaison with the selection committee and the selection process … and the administrator. And Jon Kendall, who’s been our archivist for some years now … he’s going to get more into the history part of it as a student of the game.
Q: You’re a historian. Why not wait until after the 100th anniversary celebration in 2020 to leave? Did you ever consider that?
HORRIGAN: I did. That was a big temptation. I’m 67. I’ll be 68 in September. If I had a date in mind ever it was probably 68. I said, “I don’t want to go much beyond that.” Then I started looking at the centennial: 2019 will be the 100th anniversary year so this means going on to there if I was interested in that. Then 2020 … Sept. 17th is the birthdate of the NFL here in Canton. So those two things obviously appealed to me, and there are ways I’m going to remain involved in both those efforts that specifically David (CEO and President David Baker) has asked me to be available for the centennial celebration and projects relative to that. I don’t know clearly yet exactly what I’m going to do yet relative to specific responsibilities. But I felt if that I break away now it’s probably better. If I were to be looking at … let’s just say Sept. 18th, the day after the 100th anniversary celebration ... you’d feel like, ‘Well, that’s probably not the right thing to do.’ You’d want your commitment to that event to be total ... and not thinking about retirement.
Q: What are you going to miss most about the job?
HORRIGAN: Truly, it’s very difficult to answer, but one thing: The selection process. Because I really have a connection with that and the people that have run it for so many years – the present selectors and the many past that I’ve worked with. That’s a real important part of what we do. In fact, I think it’s the most important thing we do. So I’ll miss that. I’ll miss that interaction and the responsibility that went with it. There are so many things that it connects to. It is why we exist. This is the Hall of Fame. Having witnessed the game, and we use the word ‘excellence’ around here an awful lot -- and that’s really what it means. You’re talking about the best of the best. The good things about the game and the good things about the players and the coaches and contributors – all those things that we espouse to be and the reasons we exist. You do that on a regular basis, and that becomes important to you.
Q: Give me a favorite memory or story about you and the Hall.
HORRIGAN: It’s kind of like asking somebody, ‘"f your whole life, what’s the most important thing you did?" It’s 42 years of my adult life. I’ve kind of been on the periphery since I was 13 years old. No, I don’t know that there’s any one single thing. I think it’s more the collective ability to have experienced what I did. I was quoted somewhere else, and it’s true. I said, “I’ve had lunch or dinner with Bronko Nagurski, Red Grange and George Halas.” And people say, “Well, how old are you?” And I’d say, ”Well, I was very young, and they were very old.” But that’s been my life. I’ve lived a life that a lot of folks would enjoy for just one day as a memory. But I’ve had a lifetime of memories.
Q: So this is going to be the last selection process that you will be part of?
HORRIGAN: Yes, this will be the last one.
Q: Well, then, how emotional will it be for you?
HORRIGAN: I will tell you in all honesty I made my announcement in January because I really wanted to go to one more final selection meeting where I would say, “Goodbye.” It’s one thing to send out an e-mail to everybody saying, “Well, I’m leaving.” It’s another thing to say, “Thank you,” and really mean it. The 48 people in the room represent, really, 200 to me because there are a lot of selectors who have come and gone. So I’m hopeful it comes off the right way. It’s my tip of the hat to everything that they’ve done, you’ve done, to make my job what it is. And I do appreciate it. That’s been so important to me.
A look at ten guys who belong in the Hall of Fame's Centennial Class
EditorRon Borges
A "Centennial Class in 2020? I've got 7 candidates for it
EditorRick Gosselin
Handicapping the 2020 contributor class: Make Young, McNally the favorites
EditorClark Judge
Slater, Baughan head these voters' favorites for Hall's 2020 class of seniors
Klecko vs. Gastineau: Which is more worthy of the Pro Football Hall of Fame?
Where does Drew Brees fit historically among NFL quarterbacks?
Hall-of-Fame's plan: Expand Centennial Class to 20 inductees for 2020
Who's the best player not enshrined in Canton? It's now a tougher call
Mike Haynes: HOFers' "quest" is to help all retired players
EditorTalkOfFame
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0009.json.gz/line757
|
__label__wiki
| 0.906248
| 0.906248
|
Football’s Searight, Mabin Signed as Undrafted Free Agents
Fordham's Isaiah Searight was one of two Fordham players signed as undrafted free agents on Saturday. (Courtesy of Fordham Athletics)
Filed under Football, Sports
By Jimmy Sullivan
Two members of Fordham’s football team are making the leap to the National Football League.
Senior tight end Isaiah Searight and senior defensive back Dylan Mabin were both signed shortly after the NFL Draft’s conclusion on Saturday. Mabin was signed by the Oakland Raiders while Searight was picked up by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
Searight was a three-time all-Patriot League selection in his time at Fordham. The 6’4”, 250-pound tight end had a career year last season, with nearly 500 receiving yards and four touchdowns on 42 catches. Searight was the team’s second-leading receiver to fellow senior Austin Longi, who hauled in 61 passes for 716 yards.
Searight will head into training camp as part of an organization in transition. Tampa Bay hired a new head coach — former Cardinals head coach and longtime NFL assistant Bruce Arians — and quarterback Jameis Winston is in the final year of his contract. Searight will also have to emerge from a crowd of talented tight ends; primary tight ends O.J. Howard and Cameron Brate combined for 11 touchdowns last season. Nonetheless, Searight’s athletic profile and ability to be a downfield threat — two skills he showcased throughout his Fordham career — could pay dividends as he tries to make the 53-man roster.
Mabin was also drafted for his athleticism, as he ran a 4.40 time in the 40-yard dash at his pro day. Mabin is an athletic corner who, at 6’1” and 190 pounds, also isn’t afraid to get physical. He was named to the Patriot League’s all-defensive first team for the second consecutive season in 2018; he did this in spite of missing two games after suffering a leg injury in the first game of the season against Charlotte.
If Mabin is unable to break through and see playing time in the defensive backfield, his tackling ability and athleticism could help him make the squad as a special teamer. Brian McLaughlin of HERO Sports reported on Saturday that Mabin chose the Raiders as his final destination, which means that he likely had other offers on the table, as well. Mabin will try to impress Raiders head coach Jon Gruden and the rest of the Raiders staff in his attempt to make the final roster for week one.
Ultimately, if you were to choose two players to make it to the NFL off of Fordham’s 2018 roster, these would be the two you would choose. Mabin and Searight were the team’s senior captains this season, and their abilities, combined with their leadership skills, were likely the main reasons for their respective acquisitions.
This is also somewhat of a bookend for a bygone era of Fordham football, as Mabin and Searight were part of the last recruiting class former head coach Joe Moorhead brought to Fordham. Moorhead is now the head coach at Mississippi State University after leaving Fordham to become the offensive coordinator at Penn State after the 2015 season.
As for Mabin and Searight, they will try to join their old teammate, Cardinals running back Chase Edmonds, as Fordham players on NFL rosters. For now, though, they will happily accept their status as undrafted signees.
Tags: Dylan Mabin, Fordham Football, Isaiah Searight, Jimmy Sullivan
Football Adds Three Assistants to Conlin’s Staff
Beyond the Scoreboard: Kyler Murray’s Big Risk
Super Bowl Matchup Set
Kevin Anderson Charts a New Path in a New League
A Giant Miracle?
Year of Transition Ends on High Note for Fordham Football
Football Loses 17-13 to Holy Cross to Fall to 1-9
Football Drops to 1-8 After Another Blowout Loss
Fordham Drops to 1-7 After Loss to Lafayette
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0009.json.gz/line759
|
__label__wiki
| 0.910749
| 0.910749
|
Archive | South Africa RSS for this section
Leader of SA’s neo-Nazi murdered in his bed
Terre’Blanche, who had lived in relative obscurity since the collapse of his organisation, was murdered in his sleep on his farm Villana just outside of Ventersdorp on April 3, 2010.
He was reportedly beaten to death with pipes and pangas (machetes) by two black men, one of them a minor, allegedly over “a wage dispute”. Terre’Blanche’s body was found on the bed with facial and head injuries.
Ventersdorp police said two suspects were taken into custody over his killing. South African President Jacob Zuma, who followed up an overnight statement with a televised address called for calm and for “responsible leadership” following the murder, describing it as a “terrible deed” and described the murder as “cowardly”. Read More…
in South Africa, UK
Britain thinks Africans are barbaric
Jacob Zuma, President of South Africa claimed Britain believed Africa is “barbaric”, hours before a state visit to the Queen. These claims were made after the Daily Mail described him as a “sex-obsessed bigot and vile buffoon.”
Jacob G. Zuma
Zuma accused Britons of considering themselves to be culturally superior owing to their past colonial activities. “When the British came to our country they said everything we did was barbaric, was wrong, inferior in whatever way.
Bear in mind that I’m a freedom fighter and I fought to free myself, also for my culture to be respected. And I don’t know why they are continuing thinking that their culture is more superior than others, those who might have said so,” stated Zuma in an African newspaper.
According to him, he had never “looked down upon any culture of anyone” and that no one has the authority of judging other cultures. Zuma added, “The British have done that before, as they colonised us, and they continue to do this, and it’s an unfortunate thing. If people want an engagement, I’m sure we will engage on that issue.”
The President’s comments were published in a local private newspaper. Zuma, who has three current wives, made these comments after arriving in Britain with Thobeka Madiba, 38, his third wife.
The Queen will welcome them at the Horse Guards Parade and take them to Buckingham Palace thereafter. A state banquet will also be held in his honor at the palace, where he is set to spend two nights.
Zuma, a member of the Zulu tribe, was compelled to make a public apology following a love child with the daughter of a friend. This incident triggered the articles in Daily Mail and Daily Mirror which attacked Zuma.
Zuma, whose state trip includes meetings with Gordon Brown, David Cameron and Nick Clegg, as well as a speech to members of parliament, plans to continue with the visit. This was confirmed by officials today.
Vincent Magwenya, Zuma’s spokesman said the incident would have no impact in Zuma’s trip.
Magwenya stated: “Mr Zuma is in the UK for wide-ranging programme of substantial and serious issues. The comments he made were not aimed at the British public in general but at certain sections of the media which have lambasted him for what he considers to be his culture. Mr Zuma had a meeting with British journalists yesterday and was asked not one question about his private life”.
He also added that Zuma did not “appreciate reading things which he considers are patronising to his culture” and claimed that it was obvious that “his comments will have no bearing on the state visit.” The President, according to Magwneya, looks forward to the visit and will continue with the full schedule.
Meanwhile, the Democratic Alliance, South Africa’s principal opposition party, stated that the reports in the British newspapers did not warrant Zuma’s lashing out at Britain.
Kenneth Mubu, of the opposing political party said, said: “Instead of rising above predictable criticism from a particular quarter of the British press, he has allowed himself to be dragged down to the level of the tabloids. By accusing the British people of believing that Africans are barbaric and inferior, he has insulted his hosts, and no doubt undermined the entire purpose of the state visit – which is to strengthen relations between South Africa and the United Kingdom.”
The youth sector of the African National Congress supported the President. It expressed its disgust at the British reports.
“British media seem to have developed a habit of rubbishing our president and constantly portray him as barbaric and of inferior belonging,” the youth league said. “It is quite apparent that the British media is the one that is characterised and defined by the worst form of barbarism, backwardness and racism. These British racists continue to live in a dreamland and sadly believe that Africans are still their colonial subjects, with no values and principles. They believe that the only acceptable values and principles in the world are British values of whiteness and subjugation of Africans,” stated the party.
On this day December 16, 1838
Over 450 Voortrekkers led by Andries Pretorius defeated an estimated 10,000 Zulu at the Battle of Blood River in what is today KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. Casualties amounted to 3,000 Zulu deaths and 3 wounded Voortrekkers.
On 16 December, dawn broke on a clear day, revealing that ” ‘all of Zululand sat there’ ,” said one Trekker eyewitness. On his deathbed thirty years later, Sarel Cilliers recalled that before the battle commenced, the Trekkers had made a vow to God that if He should deliver them, they would build a church and commemorate the day as a Sabbath. Read More…
in Australia, Canada, Ireland, New Zealand, South Africa
The British Parliament enacted the Statute of Westminster, giving the option of complete legislative independence to the Irish Free State, Newfoundland, Canada, New Zealand, Australia and South Africa.
The Statute is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom which established a status of legislative equality between the self-governing dominions of the British Empire and the United Kingdom, with a few residual exceptions. Read More…
South African police clash with demonstrators
Police in South Africa clashed with thousands of demonstrators in two communities east of the city of Johannesburg on Tuesday.
The demonstrators, who were protesting poor housing conditions and lack of public services, had blockaded roads and set a municipal office in the town of Belfast on fire.
Riot police responded by firing rubber bullets and tear gas at the protesters to restore order, and arrested several residents. Read More…
Hillary Clinton has arrived in South Africa
United States Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has arrived in South Africa for the second leg of an eleven day, seven nation tour of Africa. Whilst in South Africa she will meet with current President Jacob Zuma and former President Nelson Mandela.
Talks will center around business ties and HIV, although the situation in Zimbabwe will likely also be discussed. Hillary Clinton will hope to rekindle the close co-operation and rapport between the United States and South Africa established by former presidents Bill Clinton, her husband, and Mandela.
Hillary Clinton’s first stop was Kenya where she met with President Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed of Somalia’s unity government, pledging both military aid and support. Somalia will receive money, weapons and ammunition in its fight against al-Shabaab, which controls much of the country.
Eritrea was also warned that the US would take “action” if it continued to back the Islamic group. Eritrea denies supporting al-Shabaab and described Clinton’s comments as “very disappointing” and said that the United States had “failed to learn mistakes of the previous US administration.”
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0009.json.gz/line761
|
__label__cc
| 0.543801
| 0.456199
|
Tag Archives: The Godfather
Top Five – Nate Diaz Gets The Call To Face Conor McGregor
By GG February 29, 2016 November 29, 2017 Boxing, Mixed Martial Arts, News, Pro Wrestling, ROH, UFC, WWE
What were the top stories last week?
Tagged AJ Styles, Alexander Povetkin, Amir Khan, Anderson Silva, Canelo Alvarez, Colleen Schneider, Conor McGregor, Deontay Wilder, Frankie Edgar, Hiroshi Tanahashi, Jim Ross, Kazuchika Okada, Kevin Owens, Manny Pacquiao, Michael Bisping, Miguel Cotto, Nate Diaz, Roberto Duran, Roman Reigns, Ronda Rousey, Shane McMahon, Stone Cold Steve Austin, Terence Crawford, The Godfather, UFC 196, WrestleMania 32
Wrestlemania 2000 – A McMahon In Every Corner
It was a good time for WWE. They were winning the Monday Night Wars. The product was in the midst of its largest pop culture influence since the mid 80s. Wrestlemania 2000 was supposed to be huge. It was going to be an event of epic propotions. They scheduled “Wrestlemania All Day Long” on PPV which was a look back at the first 15 Wrestlemanias. And then someone made a left turn at Albuquerque.
Stone Cold Steve Austin was out with a neck injury. It was only a year before when Austin and the Rock looked like the future of the company. It was only two years before when Austin took the torch from Shawn Michaels and looked destined to become the biggest star of all time. And now, he was hurt, missing the biggest show of the year.
Early in 2000, Mankind and Triple H were tearing up arenas and making for some intriguing TV. Late in 1999, Triple H beat the Big Show for the championship and was without a contender. Mick Foley, fresh off his success of putting out the most successful wrestling autobiography in history, decided that he had one last run in him. Triple H started making fun of Foley’s success as an author, and played your basic a-hole heel perfectly. When Foley, as Mankind, decided that he’d had enough, he simply changed t-shirts and transformed into Cactus Jack. Triple H sold it as if he’d seen a ghost. Cactus Jack was back. He had two great matches with Triple H and at No Way Out, retired after losing a Hell In A Cell match.
Tagged Al Snow, Albert, Bob Holly, Bull Buchanan, Cactus Jack, Chris Benoit, Chris Jericho, Christian, Chyna, Crash Holly, D-Lo, Dean Malenko, Eddie Guerrero, Edge, HHH, Kane, Kurt Angle, Linda McMahon, Mankind, Mick Foley, Perry Saturn, Pete Rose, Rikishi, Road Dogg, Shane McMahon, Stephanie McMahon, Steve Blackman, Stone Cold Steve Austin, Terri Runnels, Test, The Big Bossman, The Big Show, The Dudley Boyz, The Godfather, The Hardy Boyz, The Rock, Too Cool, Triple H, Trish Stratus, Vince McMahon, Wrestlemania, Wrestlemania 2000, X-Pac
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0009.json.gz/line763
|
__label__wiki
| 0.877193
| 0.877193
|
Home Comedy Take Me Home Tonight – Topher Grace gets swimming in nostalgia
Take Me Home Tonight – Topher Grace gets swimming in nostalgia
Feb 26th, 2011 @ 6:44 am EDT
Matt Franklin (Topher Grace), Wendy Franklin (Anna Faris) and Barry Nathan (Dan Fogler) © 2011 Relativity Jackson
Topher Grace must love going back in time – after eight years on TV’s popular sitcom That ‘70s Show, the young actor is executive producing and starring in a new comedy movie set in the 1980s called Take Me Home Tonight.
Grace plays Matt Franklin, a recent MIT graduate working as a clerk at Suncoast Video, who is stunned when his unrequited high school crush, Tori (Teresa Palmer) walks into the store. When she invites him to an epic end-of-summer party, he decides to go, accompanied by his cynical sister (Anna Farris) and his best friend Barry (Dan Fogler).
How much of this movie is autobiographical?
Matt Franklin (Topher Grace) © 2011 Relativity Jackson
The original answer is none. Then I started talking to people at this press thing and I’m like, what a second, I did work at Suncoast Video. You’re not going to believe this, but I actually wasn’t that smooth with the ladies when I was younger. It’s unbelievable. But there are a lot of fictional elements too.
How would you describe the tone of the picture?
This film was created in the spirit of American Graffiti or Dazed and Confused, which (were made) about 20 years (after the time they were set) They didn’t make fun of the decade, they really celebrated it. We wanted to be the first [film about] the ‘80s that wasn’t spoofing it but was really about it.
Were there songs you wanted to use but they were too expensive?
There was one song we didn’t get which was Hot for Teacher, which was literally like half a million dollars. Way to go Van Halen. They don’t get to be in the seminal film about the ‘80s! Eazy E’s estate was really cooperative with N.W.A. album which is a really hard to get. We have 12 or 13 songs on the soundtrack that is coming out on iTunes, and we have 28 songs left over. It was hard to choose.
Why the ‘80s? Will kids today relate?
Barry Nathan (Dan Fogler) and Matt Franklin (Topher Grace) © 2011 Relativity Jackson
There are two reasons. One, and I learned this on That ‘70s Show, it attracts two audiences. There’s the audience that lived through it so when they’re watching it, they’re swimming in nostalgia for that stuff and it’s time travel. Then there’s the audience that’s the age of the characters, who are discovering it. And it’s just as valid.
I didn’t know anything about the ‘70s about ten years ago. I’ve certainly learned a lot. The second answer to your question is all these films I was referencing take place 20 years in the past. The Wedding Singer, which I love, is a great romantic comedy. It spoofs the ‘80s. It points out, ‘Look at this crazy cell phone. Can they get any smaller? The compact disk will never take off. That makes sense because it was made eight years after the ‘80s ended.
(Now) it’s the right amount of time to look at the ‘80s, and not make fun of it. The third answer to your question is, it’s a trick. It makes it seem like you’re going to escape and you do totally escape your time, your problems, what’s going on, and yet the protagonist and the situations are completely timeless. That’s important too. It’s a sugar-coated pill.
Were there certain beats from John Hughes films that you had to have in this movie?
Matt Franklin (Topher Grace) and Barry Nathan (Dan Fogler) © 2011 Relativity Jackson
Sure. It was more ‘80s movies than John Hughes, though tonally John Hughes has both heart and raunch, which we wanted to go for. We wanted to have someone steal a red car; we wanted to have someone chasing a girl and wanted to have that moment where the whole party starts singing to one song.
We also wanted to mess with all those conventions so they steal the car but they get caught, and he has a platonic best friend, but it’s his twin sister, so it’s not going to go in that [romantic] direction so we also wanted to subvert those [conventions]. We had them get together in the middle of the movie, which is not [typical]. So we had some of those conventions, but challenged them a little bit.
What are you glad we don’t have from the ‘80s and what do you wish we had from the ‘80s?
All of the exterior fashions were horrible. I had a tie in this that they had to hunt down the ugliest fabrics. It’s a skinny tie but there’s a lot of ugliness in it. But I liked walking into the party with the shades and being able to look over the top.
It was very Rob Lowe.
What other types of characters would you like to play?
I played a psychopath killer in Predators, my last movie, and I played a bad guy in Spider-Man 3. This new one I have with Richard Gere [The Double] is a serious drama about the FBI, so I’m pretty happy in terms of getting to try tons of stuff.
That ‘70s Show
Previous articleBeing Human – Season 3 Episode 6 Daddy Ghoul
Next articleDrive Angry – How William Fichtner gets driven by freaky characters
Bernie – Film Review of Jack Black movie
Young Adult – Film Review
The Double – Film Review
Dolphin Tale – Director on working with kids and animals
The Myth of the American Sleepover – Film Review
Predators – Image Gallery
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0009.json.gz/line765
|
__label__wiki
| 0.654361
| 0.654361
|
Scotiabank’s AT1 Security A Hit; Other Banks Expected to Follow Suit
The Globe and Mail, Christina Pellegrini and Niall McGee, 10 October 2017
More Canadian banks and possibly life insurers are expected to follow Bank of Nova Scotia's lead and take advantage of a novel source of funding that has proven to be a hit with investors, bankers and analysts say.
Last week, Scotiabank raised $1.25-billion (U.S.) from institutional investors mostly in the United States, Europe and Asia through the sale of a new hybrid security that has many attributes of preferred shares, but is legally debt. The notes were crafted in such a way that the money raised qualifies as additional tier 1 (AT1) capital, which is part of a cash reserve that Canada's top banking regulator expects banks to hold to maintain a minimum level of financial stability.
The Canadian banks have primarily raised this type of capital by issuing preferred shares into the domestic market, which is heavily dependent on retail demand. But preferred shares have been a tough sell for banks to export beyond Canada because Canada Revenue Agency puts a tax of 25 per cent on any passive income generated by investors who are not residents of Canada.
Scotiabank's hybrid note was well-received partly because it was structured in such a way that avoids this tax on foreigners. It also offers investors a yearly interest rate of 4.65 per cent in the first five years and a floating rate after that. It has no scheduled maturity, and converts into equity during times of distress, satisfying the banking regulator's requirements.
Scotiabank lined up 330 interested institutional buyers and amassed an order book that was about seven times oversubscribed, Vivek Selot, an analyst at RBC Dominion Securities Inc., said this week in a research note. The deal was led by UBS AG and featured Scotia Capital Inc., Merrill Lynch, and Citigroup Global Markets Inc. as joint bookrunners.
Scotiabank declined comment on the offering.
Greg McDonald, the director of debt capital markets at TD Securities Inc., called the AT1 issuance "an important step" in Canadian banks' bid to gain access to additional U.S. dollar funding avenues. "Any time you can open up a new market for either funding or capital … it's definitely a plus," he said.
He expects many of the Canadian banks to consider it as a new potential future source of funding, and weigh it against existing options such as preferred shares.
BMO Nesbitt Burns Inc. analyst Kris Somers called Scotiabank's note a "gamechanger," adding in a report that the new structure has the potential to result in reduced supply of preferred shares sold by financials.
This type of offering is being billed as a solution to a problem that Canada's largest financial institutions have been wrestling with for years: The country's market for preferred shares has become a less reliable and more costly way of sourcing AT1 capital.
In 2015, it became clear that the preferred-share market in Canada was encountering stumbling blocks.
After the financial crisis, banks sold preferred shares with a built-in feature that would see the dividend rates reset after a certain period of time. This was done so that when interest rates eventually rose as the economy recovered, so, too, would the income generated by the shares. Except, by 2015, interest rates were not rising – they were still falling. The dividends were resetting lower and investors were earning a lot less, spurring mass selling and pushing preferred-share prices lower.
Opportunistic institutional investors stepped up to fill the void, demanding hefty dividend yields. Banks had little choice but to pony up and swallow the costs. The episode spurred banks and their lawyers to look for another way of sourcing these funds. Two years later, Scotiabank has done just that.
Labels: Scotiabank
Scotiabank is Most Attractive on P/E Valuation, Ad...
Bank Stocks Are No Longer Cheap, but They’re Still...
Scotiabank’s AT1 Security A Hit; Other Banks Expec...
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0009.json.gz/line766
|
__label__wiki
| 0.969026
| 0.969026
|
Notable Shift in Saudi Arabia Policy on Israel
No such senior Saudi official is known to have previously accepted that Israel has a “right” to any land beyond the practical need to secure a lasting deal
The crown prince and de facto leader of Saudi Arabia said Israel has a “right” to a homeland, a notable shift in the kingdom’s position published Monday.
Saudi Arabia and Israel still have no formal diplomatic relations, but behind the scenes, improvements in their ties have accelerated in recent years, AFP reported.
Both countries see Iran as their biggest outside threat and the United States as their key ally, and both see danger from armed extremists.
Israel’s conflict with the Palestinians has long proved an obstacle to a full rapprochement, however, Riyadh still supports their claim to sovereignty.
But now Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman—speaking to the editor-in-chief of US news magazine The Atlantic—appeared to put the rival land claims on an equal footing.
The prince was asked by Jeffrey Goldberg whether the “Jewish people have a right to a nation-state in at least part of their ancestral homeland?”
“I believe that each people, anywhere, has a right to live in their peaceful nation,” said the prince, who is on a three-week US tour.
“I believe the Palestinians and the Israelis have the right to have their own land,” he added.
“But we have to have a peace agreement to assure the stability for everyone and to have normal relations.”
Since 2002, Saudi Arabia has been the main sponsor of the Arab Peace Initiative, which envisions a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
But no such senior Saudi official is known to have previously accepted that Israel has a “right” to any land beyond the practical need to secure a lasting deal.
If, as expected, the crown prince succeeds his octogenarian father King Salman and ascends to the Saudi throne, he will also become guardian of Islam’s holiest shrines.
But he told Goldberg he had no “religious objection” to Israelis living alongside Palestinians, so long as the main Muslim holy site in Beit-ul-Moqaddas—the Al-Aqsa mosque compound—is protected.
“We have religious concerns about the fate of the holy mosque in Beit-ul-Moqaddas and about the rights of the Palestinian people,” he said.
“This is what we have. We don’t have any objection against any other people.”
Saudi Arabia opened its airspace for the first time to a commercial flight to Israel last month, which an Israeli official hailed as historic following two years of efforts.
In November, an Israeli cabinet member disclosed covert contacts with Saudi Arabia, a rare acknowledgment of long-rumored secret dealings which Riyadh still denies.
Saudi Arabia condemned US President Donald Trump’s move to recognize Beit-ul-Moqaddas as the capital of Israel last year, but Arab officials told Reuters at the time that Riyadh appears to be on board with a broader US strategy for an Israeli-Palestinian peace plan still in its early phases of development.
Haniyeh Warns Against US “Deal of the Century”
King of Jordan Arrests Own Brothers for Links to S. Arabia
World Will Not Allow Israel to Grab Quds
Growing Saudi-Israeli Ties Could Be an Ominous Sign
Saudi Billionaire Prince Refuses Settlement With MBS
Jailed Saudi Tycoon Prince Talal Offers to Pay Up for Freedom
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0009.json.gz/line767
|
__label__wiki
| 0.658938
| 0.658938
|
Revitalizing Through the Arts: The Puerto Rico Art Museum
Neeltje Van Marissing Méndez
Flamboyan is working closely with twelve arts organizations on the island to preserve, amplify, and sustain the arts in Puerto Rico with an additional round of grantees to be announced this summer. This series will spotlight all twelve Arts Fund grantee organizations.
Nestled in the heart of busy Santurce, the Puerto Rico Art Museum is the guardian of one of the island’s most prominent art collections. The silence of its halls lets you know this is a space designed for the contemplation of beauty.
The mission of the Puerto Rico Art Museum is to enrich the life of the general public by providing a space to learn about, appreciate and enjoy the visual arts of Puerto Rico and the world. With 24 exhibition halls, its dynamic and innovative permanent and temporary collections offer visitors the opportunity to explore the works of a diverse selection of artists, historical periods and themes, allowing them to discover the development of local and international art.
The Museum also houses a very busy education department. In the workshops you can see (and hear) children and adults interacting with artists and creating pieces of their own.
We asked the Museum’s team to answer five questions about their work. Read on to learn more about this Arts Fund grantee.
What’s the story behind the creation of the Puerto Rico Art Museum?
In 1995, the Tourism Company of Puerto Rico began to conduct several studies with the goal of creating “El Museo de Arte de Puerto Rico” (or MAPR, for short). The government agreed to restore the Municipal Hospital of San Juan in order to house the MAPR.
In the midst of the construction, the first exhibit of the museum was created. Its title was Spaces in Transition – Transition in Spaces. In that same year, the museum received the first art piece for its permanent collection. This piece was titled The Virgin of Solitude of Victory and was created by the renowned Puerto Rican artist, José Campeche.
On June 30, 2000, the MAPR was inaugurated to the public along with an exhibition titled The Treasures of Puerto Rican Art. This exhibition was a result of a joint collaboration between the main cultural institutions of Puerto Rico, the Musée d’Orsay, and 50 private collectors.
What are the Museum’s main achievements?
The MAPR, a center for the cultural heritage of the Puerto Rican people, opened its doors 19 years ago with the goal of making the knowledge, appreciation, and enjoyment of the visual arts of Puerto Rico and the world accessible to all. Since then, the MAPR has received over two million visitors through its doors. The Museum has also presented over 100 exhibitions of both local and international artists, given a range of workshops, courses, seminars, investigative and educational programs, concerts, talks, and symposiums. Together, these events have impacted the lives of students, teachers, families, and members of the community in a positive manner.
The MAPR offers educational and artistic programs that enrich the lives of both international and local individuals. The Museum offers experiences for people of all ages in a way that allows each individual to enjoy and become familiar with different manifestations of art.
After Hurricane Maria in 2017, the MAPR led efforts to rescue the historical and cultural heritage of Puerto Rico. The Museum allotted provisional space to help other museums in the community by safely storing their works of art. Countless museums and institutions saw themselves unable to store their own collections because they did not have adequate humidity and temperature controlled spaces to house them. The Museum became a sanctuary for over 100 pieces of art, in the hopes of preserving the island’s artistic history for future generations.
What was the reality of the Museum before receiving the Flamboyan Arts Fund grant?
At about noon on Tuesday, November 7th, almost 50 days after the devastation of Hurricane Maria, electrical power was restored to the Museum-but the celebrations were short-lived. That same night, torrential rains poured over San Juan. Due to the damages of the surrounding landscape and the clogging of drainage systems, massive floods erupted.
It was on this day that the MAPR suffered its greatest devastation yet. The Museum’s education department, which served hundreds of thousands of students, families, and teachers over the 17 years of its existence, was totally destroyed. In the course of several hours, over four feet of water did away with all of its equipment, materials, art workshops, workspaces, and audiovisual rooms.
The unprecedented restoration and rebuilding costs that the Museum had to take on were monumental: the damages caused by the Hurricane to the gardens and the infrastructure; the cash disbursement needed to maintain the generator in order to preserve the art pieces; the transportation, materials, and labor of the Museum staff leveraged in the rescue of the Puerto Rican heritage; the work that still needs to be done to restore damaged pieces of art and this new and adverse situation, have all dealt a strong economic blow to the MAPR, which was already struggling before the storm due to Puerto Rico’s frail economy.
How are you using the funds you received?
The funds received by the Museum are being used to reconstruct the space damaged by the floods, which will become the Educational Innovation Center of the MAPR.
What do you think about this collaboration between Flamboyan Foundation, Lin-Manuel Miranda, his family and the producers of Hamilton to create this Fund to support arts and culture in Puerto Rico?
It has been the ideal collaboration at the perfect time. For years, the Flamboyan Foundation has been carrying out a miraculous deed by helping the education, arts, and culture of Puerto Rico. The collaboration of the Foundation with the Miranda Family and the Hamilton production has helped amplify the possibilities of aid in Puerto Rico and has shed light on both the need for help that many cultural and artistic institutions find themselves in and the great talents and expressions of art that can be found in Puerto Rico.
Look out next week for another opportunity to meet a Flamboyan Arts Fund inaugural grantee! Learn more about the Arts Fund @ http://www.flamboyanartsfund.org.
Neeltje van Marrissing Méndez is the Senior Director of Communications in our Puerto Rico office. Learn more about her at http://flamboyanfoundation.org/team_members/neeltje-l-van-marrissing-mendez/.
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0009.json.gz/line770
|
__label__cc
| 0.700183
| 0.299817
|
Subgroup on Equality Data
In February 2018, the EU High Level Group on Non-discrimination, Equality and Diversity set up the Subgroup on Equality Data to help Member States improve the collection and use of equality data. The European Commission asked FRA to facilitate the work of this Subgroup.
EU LGBTI Survey II
This project will carry out a survey on discrimination against and victimisation of LGBTI people across the EU. It is a follow up to the Agency's 2012 LGBT survey.
Database 2012-2017 on anti-Muslim hatred
This database provides an overview of hate crime, hate speech and discrimination against Muslims and migrants in the EU from 2012 to 2017.
This project looks at obstacles and promising practices in relation to access to remedies for victims of business-related human rights abuses. By analysing complaints mechanisms in EU Member States, this research maps what hinders and what facilitates access to remedies.
Practical guide to enhance transnational cooperation: EU child victims of trafficking or in need of protection
The new guidance will provide EU Member States with practical suggestions on how to respond step-by-step from the moment of identification of the child until a lasting solution in their best interests is found. It will also provide a brief overview of the relevant international and EU legal framework, especially in the area of criminal justice, victims’ rights and cross-border cooperation among EU Member States.
Access to a Lawyer and the European Arrest Warrant: application in practice with regard to fundamental rights
The project will assess the practical application at national level of the procedural rights of defendants and those requested under the European Arrest Warrant. This will look at the impact of measures implementing the EU Roadmap to strengthen procedural rights of suspected or accused people in criminal proceedings.
Second FRA survey on discrimination and hate crime against Jews
The survey provides EU institutions and Member States for the second time with comparable data on Jewish people’s experiences and perceptions of discrimination, hate-motivated crime and antisemitism.
Responding to a fundamental rights emergency - the long-term impact of responses to the 2015 asylum/migration crisis
The project explores what happened to those people who sought asylum in the EU as part of the large-scale arrivals in 2015-2016. It focuses on young people aged 16-24 who have received or are likely to receive international protection in Austria, France, Germany, Greece, Italy and Sweden. The project looks at policies related to residence permits, family reunification, education, housing and social assistance.
-Year200620072008200920102011201220132014201520162017201820192020
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0009.json.gz/line771
|
__label__wiki
| 0.861121
| 0.861121
|
Home Analysis Daily Memo: Brexit Extension Request, Trade Talks Without a Deal, Europe-China Relations
Daily Memo
Daily Memo: Brexit Extension Request, Trade Talks Without a Deal, Europe-China Relations
GPF Staff
May requests another Brexit extension. On Friday, British Prime Minister Theresa May formally asked for an extension of Brexit negotiations to June 30. When May’s government first asked for a delay to June 30, the European Union refused because May had resisted participating in the EU parliamentary elections on May 23. Importantly, May’s new request confirmed that the U.K. is making preparations to take part in those elections. Still, an increasingly frustrated Brussels is widely expected to offer only a long extension; European Council President Donald Tusk had suggested a delay to March 31, 2020, but the EU hasn’t yet made a formal counteroffer. May and Tusk have suggested that the extension could be cut short if the British Parliament ratifies the withdrawal agreement early (though this condition already exists under EU rules). Despite some European capitals’ annoyance with the dragged-out process, it is highly unlikely that any of the 27 other member states will block a long delay and risk a no-deal Brexit that would be blamed on the EU. It’s also unlikely that the U.K. would sabotage EU business during a long delay to secure concessions in the withdrawal negotiations, though there could be posturing and squabbles in the European Parliament.
Guns, pigs and steel. The latest round of high-profile U.S.-China trade talks in Washington ended inconclusively, despite reports yesterday that a substantive deal is taking shape and that U.S. President Donald Trump was readying to announce a “signing summit” with Chinese President Xi Jinping. Instead, Trump announced that a deal merely remained possible within the next four weeks. China is strengthening its hand with timely reminders of just how important a consumer market it’s becoming; newly released U.S. data shows that Chinese purchases of U.S. farm products, particularly pork products, soybeans and cotton, have surged since the beginning of the year. Curiously, though, Trump also hinted at what negotiations might come next, if and when a trade truce is ever inked, floating a proposal that China, Russia and the U.S. open talks on capping military spending. It’s an intriguing proposal, even if bereft of details at this point. Russian and Chinese officials both responded positively, but don’t expect much, at least in a trilateral framework. For Russia, a prolonged arms race would strain its already overstretched budget while delivering minimal strategic benefit. (Moscow has unpleasant memories of how the last arms race with the U.S. ended.) China, however, has little strategic choice but to push for something close to parity with the U.S. in the Western Pacific, and it has a long way to go. Substantially reducing spending would effectively lock its vulnerabilities to the U.S. in place. Only a collapse of the Chinese economy is capable of slowing China’s arms buildup.
Europe’s own frustrations with China are about to get the spotlight. Next week, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang, European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker and Donald Tusk will meet for a summit. But several diplomats in Brussels told Reuters that advance work on a joint communique is not going well. Brussels reportedly wants to include commitments from Beijing to address alleged Chinese cyber-espionage and human rights abuses of Uighur Muslims in Xinjiang, and to complete talks on an investment agreement and removing various structural barriers to trade. As could have been expected, Beijing is insisting that the joint statement include nothing of the sort. The diplomats said no joint statement may be released as a result. Statements themselves aren’t particularly important, but the underlying forces they reflect can be. And while Europe hasn’t followed Washington’s playbook for pressuring Beijing, its interests in curbing supposedly unfair Chinese trade practices are basically the same as those of the U.S.
To the shores of Tripoli … again. Libya is bracing for one of the largest outbreaks of fighting since the fall of Moammar Gadhafi in 2011 as Khalifa Haftar, the commander of the Libyan National Army and de facto ruler of eastern Libya, moves on the capital of Tripoli. On Friday, LNA forces reportedly sacked the town of Gharyan, some 50 miles (80 kilometers) south of Tripoli, but were also repelled by forces loyal to the U.N.-recognized, Tripoli-based government of Prime Minister Fayez al-Sarraj at a checkpoint 20 miles west of the capital during a bid to close the coastal highway to Tunisia. U.N. chief Antonio Guterres has rushed to Benghazi to meet with Haftar and try to talk him into abiding by the U.N.-backed peace process. Rumors of international meddling are beginning to swirl. Russia has denied accusations that it encouraged Haftar to take Tripoli – indeed, its interests in Libya are pretty limited. And Qatar, which supported the original rebel uprising against Gadhafi, has accused the United Arab Emirates of backing the new offensive despite the fact that it has joined Egypt, the U.S. and key European countries in condemning the violence.
Trump abandoned his threat to close the southern border, warning instead that Mexico has one year to get the situation under control (though it seems improbable that the White House would be any more willing to follow through on its threat, given the potential consequences to the U.S. economy, six months before a presidential election).
The U.S. House of Representatives approved a resolution to end U.S. involvement in the war in Yemen. (The Senate passed the resolution last month.) It’s the first time Congress has invoked the 1973 War Powers Act to limit the executive’s prerogative to intervene in a foreign conflict without congressional approval. Trump is expected to veto the resolution.
A London court has ruled on the United Arab Emirates-Djibouti port dispute case, ordering Djibouti to pay $385 million plus interest. Djibouti had claimed it was renationalizing the UAE’s stake in the port, but the court said it had violated part of the contract in doing so.
Mongolia’s Democratic Party organized protests in Sukhbaatar against accession to the Shanghai Cooperation Organization.
Brazil’s agriculture minister will meet with 51 representatives from Arab countries on April 10, aiming to preserve trade ties with these countries despite Brazil’s recent overtures to Israel.
Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte threatened to send troops on “a suicide mission” to Pag-asa Island, the Philippines’ largest holding in the disputed Spratly archipelago, if the nearly 300 Chinese vessels currently surrounding the island don’t “lay off.”
A senior Pentagon official told Congress that the U.S. is considering selling F-35 fighter jets to five new countries – Romania, Greece, Poland, Spain and Singapore.
ASEAN finance ministers and central bankers agreed to push to finalize the 16-nation Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership trade pact by the end of the year.
Geopolitical Futures is a company that charts the course of the international system. It’s an ambitious mission, maybe even foolhardy, but hear us out.
The Resurrection of Scottish Foreign Policy
What We’re Reading: Statesmen Tested by War
GPF Staff - October 23, 2018
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0009.json.gz/line773
|
__label__wiki
| 0.943779
| 0.943779
|
Home Regional Directory Middle East and North Africa What We’re Reading: A Spy’s Tale and the History of the Islamic...
What We’re Reading: A Spy’s Tale and the History of the Islamic World
Weekly reviews of what’s on our bookshelves.
Jacob L. Shapiro and Emma Pennisi
The Spy in Moscow Station: A Counterspy’s Hunt for a Deadly Cold War Threat
By Eric Haseltine
I picked up this nonfiction account of the espionage war between the United States and the Soviet Union at the suggestion of longtime GPF reader Milo Jones. The author, Eric Haseltine, joined the U.S. National Security Agency in 2002, leaving a job at Walt Disney Imagineering to become the NSA’s director of research, and later, associate director for science and technology.
It was in that capacity that Haseltine met Charles Gandy, at that time a retired NSA executive who sat in on one of Haseltine’s earliest briefings. Haseltine was struggling with budget requirements that demanded a focus on threats like al-Qaida, but Gandy insisted that state actors like Russia still posed a major threat and that the U.S. had already compromised its interests by underestimating Russia, especially its technological savvy.
The book is just one of Gandy’s stories, told at a brisk pace, about how Gandy and the NSA determined the Soviet Union had successfully bugged even the most secure areas of the U.S. Embassy in Moscow in the late 1970s and early 1980s with technology that the U.S. hadn’t dreamed the Russians capable of. The true thrust of the book, however, is not the spy story, though it is an enjoyable one, with some excellent writing by Haseltine explaining the finer points of the technology of surveillance without drowning his reader in too much detail. Instead, this is a book about the internal politics of the U.S. intelligence community, a disheartening look at why Gandy and the NSA had just as much if not more trouble dealing with the State Department and the CIA than it had in figuring out what the Russians were up to. The result of the political infighting was that Russia was able to gather untold amounts of data and even to expose the identity of U.S. informants and U.S. agents on the ground.
At a time of renewed great power competition, Haseltine’s account is a warning against complacency and proof that usually, one’s worst enemy does not come from the outside, but from within.
Jacob L. Shapiro, director of analysis
Destiny Disrupted: A History of the World Through Islamic Eyes
By Tamim Ansary
Like a lot of people who work in this field, I like to think of myself as worldly. I’ve lived, worked and traveled abroad my entire life. Yet it’s hard to deny that my perspective on things can be decidedly Western, and it’s humbling when I am reminded of it. Few books have done so as effectively as Tamim Ansary’s “Destiny Disrupted.” In a mere 357 pages, Ansary delivers a sweeping history of the Islamic world itself since the founding of the umma – the community – and the way that community interacted with the world around it.
In my education, the Middle East was always peripheral. The Islamic world was discussed only when it came into contact – mostly through conflict – with the Western world, without a sufficiently in-depth consideration of the political, social and economic forces that were driving that part of the world at any given time. Even the phrase “Middle East” is Western-centric, of course, so Ansary refers to the region as the Middle World. He puts the part of the world that stretches from Andalusia to India at the center of the story, relegating the East and West to the periphery. Even then, however, he does an excellent job of contextualizing the meetings of the Middle World with Europe and China and everything in between.
“Destiny Disrupted” explores Islam as a more than just a religion. It treats it as a social project and a political force – and, therefore, as a geopolitical entity. He details the doctrinal schisms that bore the various schools of Sunnism and the branches of Shiism. But he also recounts how a series of great empires and rulers wielded or adopted Islam to achieve their political ends, from the Umayyads and the Abbasids to successive Turkic empires to modern-day secular modernists. The book is excellently researched, but Ansary is a professional writer, not a historian, making this an entertaining and digestible read, even for those not particularly familiar with its subject matter.
Where others have described a clash of civilizations, Ansary describes more quotidian encounters between the West and the Middle World, driven often by trade, sometimes by competition, but not as fundamentally unable to intermingle or cooperate. He harbors no false optimism, though. Ansary sees a basic lack of understanding as an accelerant in today’s conflicts between the West and the Islamic world. Each “side,” as Ansary sees it, is a “vast complex of communal purposes moving through time, driven by its own internally coherent assumptions.” We fail to understand the complexity and coherence of the other. But I do think that a reading of “Destiny Disrupted” can help change that.
Emma Pennisi, editor
Jacob L. Shapiro is a geopolitical analyst who explains and predicts global trends. He is the director of analysis for Geopolitical Futures, a position he has held since the company’s founding in 2015. He oversees a team of analysts, the company’s forecasting process and the day-to-day analysis of important geopolitical developments. Mr. Shapiro is a regular speaker at international conferences and has appeared both in print and on television as an expert on international affairs in such places as MSNBC, CNBC, the New York Times and Fox News. Prior to Geopolitical Futures, Mr. Shapiro worked at Stratfor as an analyst and as the director of the operations center. He joined Geopolitical Futures to help found a new company dedicated to publishing excellent analysis and accurate forecasts based on the geopolitical method Dr. Friedman pioneered. Mr. Shapiro holds a master’s degree from Oxford University, where he won an award for his dissertation on the link between philosophy and mysticism in 20th century Jewish thought. He also holds a bachelor’s degree from Cornell University in Near Eastern studies.
Emma Pennisi
Israel and Gaza, Preparing for a Bigger Fight
Jacob L. Shapiro - November 13, 2018
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0009.json.gz/line774
|
__label__cc
| 0.655356
| 0.344644
|
Carlos Meléndez
Carlos M. Meléndez is the COO and Co-Founder of Wovenware an artificial intelligence and software development company based in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Mr. Meléndez has a bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering and a Juris Doctor both from the University of Puerto Rico. Mr. Meléndez is also the Vice Chairman of the Board of ConPRmetidos a non-profit organization that connects people to foster commitment with the personal, social and economic development of Puerto Rican communities wherever they are.
There’s growing momentum for Artificial Intelligence (AI) across a variety of industries, ranging from financial services and healthcare to manufacturing and environmental initiatives. It’s no wonder, given the power of AI to find patterns in vast amounts of data faster than humans ever could and to predict outcomes and behaviors.
For example, banks and other...
Whatever You Call It, Outsourcing to Puerto Rico Is a “Shore” Thing for U.S. Businesses
Puerto Rico may suffer a severe identity crisis when it comes to naming its category of outsourcing. It’s not really offshoring from the U.S.…nearshoring may be a better term. But as a U.S. territory, is it technically onshoring? When one thinks of that term, an image of open spaces in Oklahoma or Michigan come to mind – and that’s definitely not Puerto Rico. Do you see the dilemma?
The reality is that Puerto Rico falls somewhere...
Emerging market drivers are creating a renaissance in nearshoring tech development
Nearshoring as a way to outsource critical business processes and product development is nothing new to key markets such as software engineering, yet emerging technology, market trends and government mandates are sparking a renewed interest in it as a means to cut costs, enable greater collaboration and provide a competitive edge.
The business benefits of outsourcing software development remain as strong as ever. Given the rapid pace of technology advances, companies are under...
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0009.json.gz/line778
|
__label__wiki
| 0.552058
| 0.552058
|
Great Bentley Running Club
Welcome to GBRC!
Joining the Club
North Essex South Suffolk Cross Country
Official Kit
Micky Edwards Series
Club Champs
Great Bentley Trail Runs
10 mile Club Champs road race
Geoff Day Memorial 5k
Captains’ Newsletters
Moving Up The Distances
28/09/2017 · by Matt Jones · in Race Reports. ·
This week’s race report starts on Wednesday when three Bentley runners were in Samphire Hoe, near Dover in Kent, to take on The Tolkien Run. The six-hour challenge event involved runners completing as many laps of a 3.75 mile loop as they wished within the time limit, with the option to exit the race and claim a time at any point during the six hours.
Liz Jones set herself the target of running beyond the half marathon distance, and succeeded, clocking up 15 miles in 3:36:07. This was Liz’s longest run since she picked up an injury at the Brighton Marathon back in April. Janine Simpson covered the full marathon distance in 05:23:08. Matt Jones went for distance rather than time, and completed his first ultra-marathon. The race director allowed runners to complete a shorter 1.1 mile loop after eight laps to take them up to 50k, which Matt completed in 4:37:12.
Liz and Matt Jones before (left) and after (right) The Tolkien Run in Kent.
Saturday morning was a typical Saturday morning in that Bentley runners were out in force across the region’s parkruns. Not so typical this week was that there wasn’t a single member of our club undertaking any parkrun tourism! Our furthest afield runner this week was Colin Farmer, who completed Great Cornard parkrun in 21:25. One canine and three human Bentley runners completed Harwich parkrun. Nick Goodman (24:07) and Leoni Harvey (28:28) were among the human competitors. Ben Ficken and Janice achieved a team PB and (just) made it into bronze standard territory when they stopped the clock at 20:00.
Ben Ficken and Janice at Harwich parkrun.
At Mersea Island parkrun Luke Groves (26:19) ran with his brother and his pet dog Meatball. The trio gave the 19 minute pacer a run for his money for the first 200m, before settling into a more steady pace that earned Meatball the distinction of being the first canine finisher. Lee Clarkson ran his first parkrun in four months and finished in 23:15. Also returning after a parkrun Absence was Chusa Bautista Fructuoso. Having not run a parkrun for two months, she aimed to stay with the 25 minute pacer, and exceeded her goal, crossing the line in 24:37.
Six Bentley runners completed Colchester Castle parkrun this week. Del Godden logged his second ever parkrun when he crossed the line in 22:34. James McCullagh (30:07) ran his 90th parkrun. Ruth Metcalfe (39:29), Andy Stephens (26:51), Sue Sorrell (32:35) and Belinda Palmer-Barnes (31:08) completed the Bentley representation.
Belinda at Colchester Castle parkrun
Clacton Seafront was once again the most popular parkrun among Bentley runners. Charlie Keitch recorded a new buggy PB (running while pushing his son in a buggy), managing to break 20 minutes for the first time, finishing in 19:57. Impressively this time was only 21 seconds slower than his fastest solo time on the course. Scott Young clocked 23:39 and remarked ‘good weather for it really, finished before it started to rain’. Kieron Hayes (32:11) recorded his first parkrun since 2014, and his Clacton Seafront debut.
Ray Baggs once again broke 20 minutes, clocking 19:44 and taking 4th position. Kevin James (24:21), Sandra James (36:26), Patrick Reynolds (24:48), Catherine Ott (27:23) and Robert Thorpe (24:49) all completed the promenade 5k route.
Sunday was a very busy day for the club, with runners toeing the line at a range of marathons and half marathons. Sunday morning saw a Bentley runner competing at one of the big ones – a World Marathon Major – the Berlin Marathon. Now in its 44th year, the race is famed for being a fast one, with the last six men’s marathon world records having been set there.
Men’s captain Chris Warren was among the nearly 44,000 runners who completed the 26.2 mile route around Germany’s capital. Chris crossed the famous finish line near the Brandenburg Gate in 2:57:31. This was Chris’s 9th marathon and 5th sub-3:00 finish. The time also earned him a gold standard and a place in the club champs.
Meanwhile, back in the UK Janine Simpson was running another marathon. Janine ran the Hull Marathon in 4:38:25, earning herself a bronze standard. She described the event as a ‘surprisingly well organised race with a bit of everything on the course and twice over the Humber Bridge’. This was Janine’s 78th marathon.
Also running a marathon on Sunday was Meera Rajoo-Oakley. Meera headed north of the border to compete in the Loch Ness Marathon. Targeting a gold standard time of 3:30:00 or under, Meera was optimistic. But on the day the course profile made pacing very difficult. Meera described the course as ‘a nice course with trees on your right, water on your left, but impossible to pace as is downhill with a few hard kicks upwards for the first 10 miles then flattish, then kicks up at mile 18… …then undulates through Inverness.’
Once it became apparent that the gold standard was unlikely, Meera changed focus and set out for a new PB. Aiming to beat her time of 3:36:54 at the London Marathon in April, Meera crossed the line tantalisingly close in 3:37:01.
It was a weekend of mixed emotions for Charlie Keitch. After the elation of his buggy 5k PB at Clacton Seafront parkrun on Saturday, it must have been with high hopes that he crossed the start line of the King’s Forest Marathon on Sunday. Charlie had planned for the event to be his final long run before the Stort 30 next month. But things didn’t go to plan, and as he approached the 18 mile marker Charlie had a difficult decision to make. Having started to experience pain in his ankle, he felt he should drop out, but he was currently in third place. In the end he opted for caution and exited the field. He was pleased that he did, as he found himself struggling to walk by the time he reached the previous aid station about a mile back. But I’m pleased to report that Charlie said his ankle was feeling a lot better after he iced it, and he is now resting and reviewing his training schedule.
Running at the other end of the distance spectrum on Sunday morning was Angel Jasper, who ran Colchester junior parkrun. Angel completed the 2k course in 9:43 and finished in 10th position out of a field of 115. The time was a new 2k PB for Angel, and the finishing position was her highest ever at the event. This also marked the third consecutive run at Colchester junior parkrun where Angel has achieved both time and finishing position PB’s, following on from last week’s 9:49 in 13th position and her 9:53 in 16th position when she last ran two weeks before that.
Sunday also saw the inaugural running of the Simply Health Great East Run. Part of the Great Run series, the half marathon route around Ipswich allowed runners to take in all of the sights of the town, including the Orwell Bridge, Holywells Park, the waterfront and the Willis building, before finishing in the Portman Road football stadium. Initial advertisements also advertised a flat and fast PB-friendly route. However, a few of our runners reported that Freston hill wasn’t flat, but some solid times were attained none the less.
Bentley runners at the inaugural Simplyhealth Great East Run
Vicky Presland took a club champs spot when she clocked a 1:35:22 finish. Anthea Colsell earned a bronze standard, finishing in 2:07:07, with Darren Willey finishing a second behind her. Kathy Bishop ran 1:51:07, which was a gold standard time and also earned a place in the club champs. Emma Wakeling earned a bronze standard when she recorded a 1:54:36 finish. Tim Ballard ran a three-minute PB when he finished in 1:27:55. Tim enjoyed the event and gave the following glowing review: ‘Loved the support around the course today. Tempted to run again next year.’ Also clocking a speedy time was Jake Darkins, who clocked a 1:31:11.
David Wright is accustomed to being at the front of the field and running at break-neck speeds. But at the Great East Run he opted to run with his wife, and finished in 2:08:31. David said ‘I really enjoyed being able to soak up the atmosphere round the course, rather than flogging myself!’ Jennifer Aylen had the misfortune of running on a sore ankle, but still finished in 1:49:57 and said that she ‘would definitely do it again’. James McCullagh clocked a sub-2:00, recording a chip time of 1:58:31. Having not trained as much as he would have liked in recent weeks, Mark Crittenden was hoping to break 2:30 at the Great East Run. However, a hip injury sustained around mile nine meant that he was forced to walk the final four miles. Mark said that all things considered he wasn’t too unhappy with his 2:39:37.
Sarah Flectcher continued her strong recovery from her recent stress fracture, completing the Great East Run in 1:50:56. Deborah Cubberley and Paul Hollidge ran the Great East Run together, both finishing in 2:01:17. Debs reported that it was a ‘well supported and organised race’, and said that she loved the route. By all accounts Magdalena Komorowska was happy with her bronze standard finishing time of 1:53:51. Tomasz Komorowski ran 2:03:59 and Neil Robbins completed the 13.1 mile route in 2:23:58.
Also competing in half marathons on Sunday were Rachel Giles, Sue Wright and Marion and Nina Simmons. Rachel completed the Pleshey Half Marathon in 1:53:46, saying ‘a lovely pretty course with lots of marshals and water stops!’ Sue sadly reported that she had the worst run of her life, finishing in 3:16:00 she reported ‘Had to walk/jog from 3 miles to the end. Absolutely no energy – going to blame The Three Yorkshire Peaks last Sunday’. Nina Simmons completed her first ever half marathon when she crossed the finish line with Marion Simmons at the Disneyland Paris Half Marathon in 2:19:12.
Tags: Berlin Marathon, Colchester junior parkrun, Disneyland Paris Half Marathon, Great East Run, Hull Marathon, Loch Ness Marathon, Pleshey and Essex Half Marathon, Pleshey Half Marathon, The Tolkien Run
← Training 1st to 7th October
Ladies Newsletter September 2017 →
Posts by Month Select Month July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 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 November 2012
Marion Simmons
Chusa
Charlie Keitch
GBRCScott
Graham Semple
James Royce
Luke Groves
Meera Rajoo-Oakley
Rebecca Conran
Paul Connell
runnerchs
The results from our Friday 5 are available now. Junior race results also available, see our Friday 5 page. Well done to everyone who ran. What a scorcher!
Runners of the Month for June
Ladies – Teresa Farmer
Men – Paul Connell
GBRC on Twitter
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0009.json.gz/line779
|
__label__wiki
| 0.970743
| 0.970743
|
Main Index Press and Publicity Cast List Cast Roles Production Team Production Roles Statistics
On This Day (USA) - 24 November
Main Missing Episodes Cast Crew People of Influence On This Day Birthdays Ratings
Currently showing for All CountriesUnited KingdomUSACanadaAustraliaNew ZealandEuropeGermanyDenmarkSpainIrelandPortugalFinlandBelgiumFranceLuxembourgItalyIndiaNetherlandsNorwaySwedenCroatiaPolandRomaniaRussiaSwitzerlandGreeceIsraelArgentinaSouth AfricaTurkeyBrazilSouth KoreaJapanSingaporeHong KongIndonesiaMalaysiaTaiwanThailandAustriaAzerbaijanBelarusBosnia and HerzegovinaCyprusCzech RepublicEstoniaGeorgiaLatviaLithuaniaMacedoniaMaltaMoldovaMonacoSerbiaSlovakiaSloveniaUkraineHungaryBulgariaBoliviaColombiaChileCosta RicaDominican RepublicEcuadorEl SalvadorGuatemalaHaitiHondurasNicaraguaPanamaParaguayPeruPuerto RicoUraguayMexicoVenezualaNordic EuropeAsia PacificLatin/South AmericaMiddle EastBenelux EuropeMiscellaneous Channels
On This Day: 24th November
Nightmare of Eden: Part One premiered on BBC One in 1979 at 6:01pm, watched by 8.70 million viewers.
The Temptation of Sarah Jane Smith: Episode Two premiered on CBBC in 2008 at 5:15pm
Tim Howar will be 50 - credited as Jimmy Stalkingwolf in Dreamland
Tim Howar (born Spirit River, Alberta) is a Canadian actor, singer and dancer, known as a London-based rock vocalist with Mike + the Mechanics.
Howar attended Ross Sheppard High School, and sang with three choirs: Alberta Youth Choir, the Centennial Singers, and Pro Coro Canada; joined the Edmonton Musical Theatre Amateur Group and started dancing at 16 as an apprentice with Ballet North. He is also the only Canadian to win the Youth Talent International Competition in Memphis Tennessee USA.He had a scholarship to the Royal Winnipeg Ballet, which he declined
Howar appeared in several Canadian productions of Broadway shows, and can also be heard in the Canadian Cast Recording of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, the original cast recording of "Tonight's The Night" London, and in voiceovers for various commercials and animations such as "Gene Fusion" He then made the step to the UK and London's West End theatre, in the lead role of Peggy Sue Got Married. He later played Roger in the rock opera Rent before being replaced by original Broadway cast member Adam Pascal.
He was formerly the lead singer of the London rock band Van Tramp (previously known as 'El Camino'). In 2010, Howar joined Mike + The Mechanics along with Andrew Roachford. The following year the album, The Road was released featuring Howar and Roachford as lead vocalists.
Howar married British musical theatre actress Ruthie Henshall in Essex in 2004. The couple have two daughters.
Shirley Henderson will be 54 - credited as Ursula Blake in Love & Monsters
Shirley Henderson is a Scottish actress. She is perhaps best known for her role as Moaning Myrtle in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (2002) andHarry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (2005).
She played Ursula Blake in the Doctor Who episode "Love & Monsters" (2006)
Henderson was born in Forres, Morayshire on the edge of theScottish Highlands, but grew up in the village of Kincardine inFife. As a child, she began singing in local clubs, at charity events, holiday camps and even a boxing contest.,Having joined an after-school drama club, Henderson attended Fife College at the age of 16, where she completed a one-year course resulting in a National Certificate in Theatre Arts. She moved to London at 17 where she spent three years at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, graduating in 1986.
Henderson got her first big break when Leonard White cast her as the lead in the children's television dramaShadow of the Stone on ITV. After this she spent the majority of her twenties concentrating on performing a wide variety of roles in the theatre. Early 1990 saw Shirley return to television screens when she appeared in the third series of the wartime drama series Wish Me Luck and Clarissa (1991). More stage work followed before she landed the key role of Isobel in the popular BBC series, Hamish Macbeth in 1995.
Henderson then moved into films, playing Morag in Rob Roy (1995) and Spud's girlfriend Gail in Danny Boyle'sTrainspotting (1996). She continued her work in the theatre, including many productions at the National Theatrein London. 1999 saw critically acclaimed performances in Mike Leigh's Topsy-Turvy which also provided an opportunity for her to show off her singing skills and Michael Winterbottom's Wonderland.
She played Jude in both Bridget Jones films and got the part of Moaning Myrtle in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (2002), and Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (2005). She also played French princessSophie-Philippine in Sofia Coppola's Marie Antoinette (2006).
Small-screen appearances have included playing Marie Melmotte in The Way We Live Now (2001); Catherine of Braganza in Charles II: The Power and the Passion (2003); Charlotte in Dirty Filthy Love (2004);; Emmeline Fox in The Crimson Petal and the White (2011), and Meg Hawkins Treasure Island (2012) .
Biography from the Wikipedia article, licensed under CC-BY-SA
Gregory Melton will be 60 - 2 credits, including Designer for The New World(TW)
Gregory Melton was a production designer for Torchwood: Miracle Day.
He has enjoyed a long career, working steadily in various art department positions since the mid-1980s. One of his earliest credits was a two-year stint on the police sitcom, Sledge Hammer!. Like Miracle Day director of photography Christopher Faloona, he also worked for a long stretch on Tales from the Crypt. His five-year stint on Crypt in the early 1990s has proved to be his longest continuous job. From the mid the mid-1990s to his work on Miracle Day, he has never stayed in any one job for more than a couple of years, though this is largely because many of the shows on which he's worked have met a quick end. Amongst his year-or-more-long gigs are: Dark Skies, Perversions of Science (a Tales from the Crypt spin-off), Medical Investigation, My Name Is Earl, Private Practice, and Hawthorne.
Immediately before Torchwood, he was apparently freelancing, going from The Walking Dead to Off the Map to Miracle Day.
Biography from the Tardis Wiki article, licensed under CC-BY-SA
Alan Lake (died 1984 aged 43) would be 79 - credited as Herrick in Underworld
Alan Lake was an English actor, best known as the third husband of Diana Dors.
Lake was born in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire. He studied acting at RADA, and began to work in television roles in 1964.
He met his later wife, Diana Dors, on the set of the 1968 television series The Inquisitors. Their stormy marriage produced a son, Jason David, born in 1969. The pair worked together in the early 1970s, on stage in plays such as Three Months Gone.
In July 1970 Lake was involved in a pub brawl for which he was sentenced to eighteen months in prison later that year (his friend, the musician Leapy Lee, was sentenced to three years for stabbing the pub's relief manager), although he was released after serving a year.
Lake was a keen horseman and on his release from prison Dors presented him with a mare named Sapphire. While riding the horse in 1972 he was unseated when the horse ran into the bough of a tree, and broke his back, and for a time it was thought he may spend the rest of his life in a wheelchair; In fact, he recovered and was walking again within three weeks.
After leaving hospital, unable to work while he recovered, and in severe pain, he began drinking heavily.
Lake's once promising acting career was now reduced for the remainder of the 1970s to small parts in low-budget comedy films and television dramas, although he had a significant role as a singer Jack Daniels in the Slade vehicle Slade In Flame in 1974 and also as John Merrick in the first episode of the hugely popular TV series The Sweeney. Both he and Diana Dors attended the film premiere at the Metropole Theatre, Victoria, London on 13 February 1975.
In 1980, the pair separated for a time, although they were reconciled when Lake promised to undergo treatment for his alcoholism. In May 1984, Dors died after a long illness.
On 10 October 1984, after taking their son to the railway station he returned to their Sunningdale home and committed suicide by shooting himself in the head in their son's bedroom.
His roles included parts in Cluff, Redcap, Sergeant Cork, The Saint, Public Eye, The Avengers, Department S, Dixon of Dock Green, The Protectors, Z-Cars, Softly, Softly: Taskforce, Crown Court, The Sweeney, Angels, Target, Hazell, Strangers, Blake's 7, Juliet Bravo, The Gentle Touch, Hart to Hart and Bergerac.
Richard Leech (died 2004 aged 81) would be 97 - credited as Hade in The Sun Makers
Richard Leech was an accomplished Irish actor.
Richard Leeper McClelland was born in Dublin, Ireland, son of Isabella Frances (Leeper) and Herbert Saunderson McClelland, a lawyer. He was educated at Haileybury and Trinity College, Dublin. He qualified as a doctor in 1945 before building a successful career as an actor on film and television.
He married twice, with Helen Hyslop Uttley and Diane Pearson, and had two children: Sarah-Jane McClelland and Eliza McClelland.
His numerous film credits include The Dam Busters (1955) (playing Dinghy Young), Night of the Demon (1957), Yangtse Incident: The Story of HMS Amethyst (1957), Ice Cold in Alex (1958),Tunes of Glory (1960), Young Winston (1972), Gandhi (1982) and the acclaimed The Shooting Party (1985).
On television Richard Leech appeared in Dickens of London, The Barchester Chronicles, Smiley's People, three episodes of The Avengers in different roles, Redcap, Danger Man, The New Avengers, The Duchess of Duke Street,
He appeared in the Doctor Who story The Sun Makers.
John Wyse (died 1989 aged 84) would be 115 - credited as Dr. Percival in The Time Monster
John Wyse played Dr. Charles Percival in the Doctor Who story The Time Monster.
Also worked on Clouds of Witness, Justice, The Informer, Blackmail, Thirty Minute Theatre, BBC Sunday-Night Play, Boyd Q.C., They Met in a City, Danger Man, Puck of Pook's Hill, Cyrano de Bergerac, The Importance of Being Earnest, Twelfth Night, Theatre Parade
Peter Whitaker (died 2002 aged 81) - 5 credits, including Mentiad in The Pirate Planet
Peter Whitaker was an English actor who appeared as bar owner Jack Pomeroy in the first series of Rumpole of the Bailey.
He appeared in the 1967 Doctor Who story, the Faceless Ones as well as having several uncredited roles in the series.
Hilary Minster (died 1999 aged 55) - 2 credits, including Marat in Planet of the Daleks
Hilary Minster was an English character actor.
He is best known for playing General Erich Von Klinkerhoffen in the sitcom 'Allo 'Allo! between 1984 and 1992. Other credits include Crossroads, Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy (TV series), and a semi-regular role in Secret Army as Hauptmann Muller.
He also appeared twice in Doctor Who, as the Thal soldier Marat in Planet of the Daleks (1973) and as an unnamed Thal soldier in Genesis of the Daleks (1975).
He also had a major part in another episode of a successful science fiction series playing Yagon in Achilles Heel, an episode of The Tomorrow People in 1978.
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0009.json.gz/line783
|
__label__cc
| 0.669237
| 0.330763
|
Call: 07 5482 8400|Email: info@gympiefunerals.com.au
The Funeral Arrangement
Arrangement Form
Memorial Books
Tribute Centre
Legacy Notices
Legacy Noticesa.medcalf2019-05-21T12:43:00+10:00
Search Legacy Notices
Tip: For best results, please search on a surname (eg: Smith, Jones etc). If that doesn’t produce what you’re looking for, then please search on a first name (eg: Bill, Margaret). Search is case-insensitive.
Looking for a current Funeral Notice? Click here to browse our Tribute Centre.
THOMAS, Daisy Olive
Late of Toowoomba and the Gold Coast.
Beloved widow of the late Bert Thomas. Dearly loved mother, mother-in-law, grandmother and great-grandmother of Susan and Robert Ramsay, Jon and Jacqueline, Evan and Kathy and families. Daisy will be remembered as a loving sister, sister-in-law and aunt.
Relatives and friends of Daisy and family are respectfully invited to attend Her Funeral Service to be held in the Lakeview Chapel, Albany Creek Crematorium, Albany Creek Road, Bridgeman Downs on Thursday, 7th June 2012 at 1.00pm.
Donations in lieu of flowers to Alzheimers Association Qld greatly appreciated. Envelopes available at the service.
SAUER, Henry Albert
Late of John Street, Tiaro. Formerly of "Flagstone" Miva.
Beloved husband of the late Marjorie Sauer. Dearly loved father, father-in-law, grandfather and great-grandfather of Margaret (dec'd) and Colin Dakin, Wayne and Janice, Mark and Christine, Sue and families.
Relatives and friends of Henry and family are respectfully invited to attend His Funeral Service to be held in the Theebine Uniting Church, Theebine on Friday, 8th June 2012 at 1.00pm. followed by a Committal Service at the Dickabram Cemetery.
CARLSON, Ronald William "Ron"
Late of Woolgar Street, Gympie. Passed away in the care of Gympie Hospital, 1st June 2012.
Beloved husband of Irene. Dearly loved father and father-in-law of Les and Jenny, Wayne and Jan, Annette and Mal Maroske. Much loved grandfather to Matt, Anna, Brad, Kate, Scott, Peter, Leesa and great-grandfather to 7.
Relatives and friends of Ron, Irene and family are respectfully invited to attend RON'S Funeral Service to be held in the Gympie Uniting Church, Red Hill Road, Gympie on Tuesday 5th June 2012 at 10.30am.
Donations in lieu of flowers to the Heart Foundation greatly appreciated. Envelopes available at the service.
JOCUMSEN, Kevin John
Late of Oxford Crest and formerly of Jones Hill, Gympie. Passed away unexpectedly in the care of Gympie Hospital 29th May 2012.
Beloved husband of the late Pat Jocumsen. Dearly loved father, father-in-law, grandfather and great-grandfather of Gail (dec'd), Julie and Wayne Kirkpatrick, Pam and David Lough and their families.
Relatives and friends of Kevin and family are respectfully invited to attend His Funeral Service to be held in the Cooloola Coast Crematorium Chapel, 236 Brisbane Road, Gympie on Friday, 8th June 2012 at 10.00am.
Donations in lieu of flowers to Cancer Council Qld greatly appreciated. Envelopes available at the service.
BUSH, Betty Joan
Late of Excelsior Road, Gympie. Passed away 27th May 2012.
Aged 77 Years.
BETTY's relatives and friends are respectfully invited to attend a Requiem Mass in Celebration and Thanksgiving for Her Life to be held in St. Patrick's Catholic Church, Church Street, Gympie on Friday, 1st June 2012 at 10.30am followed by a Committal Service at the Gympie Cemetery.
GILLIGAN, Bernard John "Gill"
Late of Grevillea Gardens Retirement Centre and formerly of Cooinda Street, Gympie. Passed away peacefully 25th May 2012.
Beloved husband of Marlene (dec'd). Gill will be sadly missed and lovingly remembered by the Gilligan and Schulga families.
Relatives and friends of GILL and family are respectfully invited to attend His Funeral Service to be held in the Cooloola Coast Crematorium Chapel, 236 Brisbane Road, Gympie on Friday, 1st June 2012 at 10.30am.
WALDOCK, Noel William
Late of Gympie Nursing Centre and formerly of William Street, Gympie. Passed away peacefully 25th May 2012.
Beloved husband of the late Mary Waldock. Dearly loved father, father-in-law , grandfather and great-grandfather of Peter and Jenny, Gary and Debra and families. Much love brother, brother-in-law and uncle to Jack and family.
Relatives and friends of Noel and family are respectfully invited to attend His Funeral Service to be held in the Cooloola Coast Crematorium Chapel, 236 Brisbane Road, Gympie on Tuesday, 29th May 2012 at 10.30am.
Donations in lieu of flowers to Gympie Nursing Centre greatly appreciated. Envelopes available at the service
MURRAY, Enid (nee McGrath)
Late of Garrick Street, Gympie. Passed away peacefully 25th May 2012.
Beloved wife of John Raymond "Jack". Loving mother of Lynn, Brian, Geoff, Jill and Michael. Grandmother of Emma, Tracey, Jodie, Luke, Ashleigh and Great-Grandma to Madeleine, Lily and Blair. Sadly missed sister, sister-in-law and aunt.
Relatives and friends of Enid, Jack and family are respectfully invited to attend Enid's Graveside Funeral Service to be held at the Gympie Cemetery on Tuesday, 29th May 2012 at 11.30am.
HAROLD, Grace Therese
Late of Shields Street, Gympie and formerly of Kilkivan. Passed away as a result of a motor vehicle accident 22nd May 2012.
Beloved wife of Kevin (dec'd). Loving mother and mother-in-law of John and Lynn, Geraldine Cameron, Carmel and Merv Inall, Danny and Beth (dec'd), and Geoff. Much loved and sadly missed grandmother of 11 and great-grandmother of 14.
Relatives and friends of Grace and family are respectfully invited to attend a Requiem Mass in Celebration and Thanksgiving for GRACE'S Life to be held in the St. Patrick's Catholic Church, Church Street, Gympie on Wednesday, 30th May 2012 at 10.30am. followed by a Committal Service at the Gympie Cemetery.
CHERRY, Reginald Clive "Reg"
Late of Cartwright Road, Gympie. Passed away peacefully in the care of Gympie Hospital 17th May 2012.
Beloved husband of Pat. Much loved brother, brother-in-law and uncle to Val and family.
Privately Cremated
<< Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 118 119 120 121 122 123 124 125 126 127 128 129 130 131 132 133 134 135 136 137 138 139 140 141 142 143 144 145 146 147 148 149 150 151 152 153 154 155 156 157 158 159 160 161 162 163 164 165 166 167 168 169 170 171 172 173 174 175 176 177 178 179 180 181 182 183 184 185 186 187 188 189 190 191 192 193 194 195 196 197 198 199 200 201 202 203 204 205 206 207 208 209 210 Next >>
Gympie Funerals
236 Brisbane Road, Gympie
For 24 hour assistance, call 07 5482 8400
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0009.json.gz/line784
|
__label__cc
| 0.619801
| 0.380199
|
FiDi/North Beach crime: Woman assaulted and robbed on Muni, 6 men fracture victim's skull, more
Photo: Michael Bundscherer/Flickr
Mon. February 11, 2019, 12:52pm
by Nathan Falstreau
@NFalstreau
Chinatown, Lower Nob Hill, Nob Hill, North Beach, Union Square
Here are some notable incidents that have taken place in SFPD's Central District since our last biweekly recap. The district encompasses Chinatown; the Financial District; the Embarcadero; Russian, Telegraph and Nob Hills; North Beach and Union Square.
Unless otherwise noted, all reports are drawn from the department's daily crime recaps.
Man awakens to unknown woman in his apartment
On Feb. 7 around noon, a 28-year-old man awoke to find a woman inside his home on the 500 block of Filbert Street in North Beach. The suspect, believed to be in her early 30s, then fled the scene. The victim did not report any items stolen.
Man punched, stabbed on Broadway
On Feb. 5, a 28-year-old man was stabbed just after midnight on the 500 block of Broadway in North Beach. According to reports, the victim was attacked by two people, a man and woman in their 40s. The man punched the victim and the woman stabbed him with a knife. Both suspects then fled the scene on bicycles.
The victim was transported to a hospital for treatment of his non-life-threatening injuries. Police did not report any items stolen in the incident.
Man robbed near Union Square
A 21-year-old man was robbed on Feb. 2 at 9:45 p.m., near Cordelia and Powell streets in Union Square. The suspect, a man in his 20s, approached the victim from behind and demanded he hand over his belongings. After taking the victim's cell phone, he fled the scene. No injuries were reported.
Woman punched, robbed on Muni bus
On Feb. 2 at 7:35 p.m. on the 800 block of Stockton Street in Chinatown, a 25-year-old woman was robbed and attacked while aboard a Muni bus.
According to police, a male suspect, believed to be age 16-18, snatched the woman's cell phone while on the bus. The victim attempted to get her phone back, but the suspect punched her in the face. He then fled the bus with her phone. The victim was hospitalized with non-life-threatening injuries.
Two suspects demand victim's wallet, then flee
On the 300 block of Powell Street in Union Square, two male suspects of unknown age robbed a 57-year-old man on Jan. 31 at 12:15 p.m. According to reports, the two suspects approached the victim and demanded he hand over his belongings. The pair took the victim's wallet, containing cash, and fled on foot eastbound towards Post Street. No injuries were reported.
Hot prowler takes laptops and clothing
A hot prowl burglary occurred on Jan. 30 at 7 a.m. on the 600 block of Taylor Street in Lower Nob Hill. A 25-year-old man was asleep in his home when he heard a noise. After getting up to investigate, he noticed that numerous items, including laptops and clothing, were missing from his apartment. No suspect information was available.
5 suspects carjack man in early morning
On Jan. 28 at 2 a.m., five male suspects in their 20s carjacked a 26-year-old man on the 1700 block of Jones Street in Nob Hill.
The victim, driving a white 2016 Hyundai, was approached by the suspects, who are not believed to have been armed. After emptying the victim's pockets, one of the suspects grabbed his car keys. The quintet then took the victim's vehicle and drove away from the scene. The victim was uninjured in the incident.
Man in life-threatening condition after six-suspect assault
Six male suspects assaulted and robbed a 32-year-old man on Jan. 26 at 10:36 p.m., near the intersection of Beach Street and Columbus Avenue in North Beach.
The suspects approached the victim from behind and "knocked [him] unconscious," according to police reports. They then stole the victim's backpack and cell phone before fleeing the scene. The victim, who sustained a skull fracture, was taken to the hospital in life-threatening condition.
Hot prowler takes woman's belongings and flees
A hot prowl burglary occurred on Jan. 26 at 10:40 a.m., on the 700 block of Jackson Street in Chinatown.
The victim, a 64-year-old woman, was on her fire escape when a male suspect in his 30s entered her apartment through the front door. He then took a bag, cell phone, cash and identification cards before fleeing the unit.
Victim stabbed multiple times while walking
Finally, a 29-year-old man was stabbed while walking on Jan. 26 at 2:30 a.m.
The incident occurred at an unknown location in District 3, where the victim was walking when a male suspect in his 50s allegedly "pulled on his chain," according to police. The victim tried to keep walking, at which point the suspect pulled on his collar and then stabbed him several times with an unknown object.
The victim suffered cuts to his head, arm, thigh and hand. He was taken to a hospital for treatment of his non-life-threatening injuries.
Anyone who has information about any of these incidents is encouraged to contact SFPD via the department's anonymous tip line at (415) 575-4444, or text TIP411 with "SFPD" at the start of the message.
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0009.json.gz/line786
|
__label__cc
| 0.72308
| 0.27692
|
Finding Online Games For Children of All Ages
Not even 10 years ago children were begging for quarters for the distinct purpose of running to the arcade to play games.
With the Internet kids no longer have to leave the house in order to find hours of entertainment. There are hundreds of online games of various qualities. Whether you’re a parent looking for an online game that’s safe for your child or you’re a kid looking for online games that are thought provoking, strategic or just plain fun then you might want to consider one of the following types of online games.
Classic and Arcade Online Games
There are many sites that have free classic and arcade games (or games that are very similar to the classics). Such games as Frogger, Joust, PacMan, etc. or new games like Bejeweled, Zuma and Zuma’s Revenge are popping up rapidly as online games for children of all ages to enjoy. Some of these online games are even downloadable. Some of the games you might have to pay for. Most of these games are short and fun so you get a few quick hits in to break away from the monotony of the day. Some sites that have online games are those like popcap.com or addictinggames.com.
Role playing Online Games
Role playing games, or massively multiplayer online games (also known as MMO games), usually have a monthly cost plus buying new CDs for downloading the games or expansions. For the hours of entertainment provided by MMOs the monthly cost is relatively cheap. These online games take time and usually require logic and strategic abilities. People spend hours playing these games developing new characters and creating a virtual fantasy life. There are quite a few fun MMO games that are starting to become really popular. Some of the most prominent MMO games are World of Warcraft, Warcraft, Guild Wars and the current new game is Aion.
Some people turn to such games for the social aspect while others use these games as a means of entertainment. Parents can have a little control over children’s playing time with some of the features.
Online games are a great way for kids to learn how to think both quickly and efficiently. Most online games require deep thinking otherwise there are consequences. The MMO games require learning some social skills that video games and other single player computer games don’t offer. These online games can even go so far as to teach kids how to work with other people. Or they can just be played for pure fun.
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0009.json.gz/line791
|
__label__wiki
| 0.572605
| 0.572605
|
Things We Didn't Dream
Poop-powered cars might be a real thing in the future
Anna Gragert
You know how we use fuels such as gasoline and diesel to generate power for creations like cars? Well, that’s become a problem – because these are nonrenewable resources. The proposed solution: poop.
Every year, more than 1 billion tons of poop is produced in the United States alone. In the end, most of this waste actually goes to waste, even though it contains proteins that can be reengineered to supply us with fuel. In addition, utilizing this manure would also help to redirect the greenhouse gases that are emitted into the atmosphere when poop is left to break down on its own.
“In order to have a secure, sustainable supply of energy in the future, it is important that we pursue renewable technologies such as we’re doing,” Fulbright scholar David Wernick told Phys.org. “A good portion of that manure is left to aerobically compost and that produces a lot of nitrous oxide and a lot of methane emissions, which are greenhouse gases that are 325 times more potent than CO2.”
On the contrary, you may have heard that ethanol (which is made from corn) is the solution to this fuel dilemma. However, it is not the best possible solution because it does not burn like gasoline and it also damages metals.
Instead, Wernick and his UCLA peers are working to develop biofuels that “have more favorable properties as a fuel than ethanol.” Such fuels can also involve other forms of waste, such as algae and fermentation leftovers from wine and beer production. Wernick adds, “We try to produce branch chain alcohols, that are a little larger, more energy dense and burn more like real gasoline. You can drop it right into your car. You don’t need any modification.” In other words, they’re aiming to create a process that starts with poop as a source and ends with fuel as a product.
While this poop-related tactic may sound simple in theory, it is anything but. Mostly, Wernick has to worry about the nitrogen cycle because waste products such as algae require nitrogen fertilizers to grow. Plus, converting nitrogen into a fertilizer requires a significant amount of energy, which would end up releasing additional greenhouse gases into the environment (completely defeating the purpose of the entire, Earth-friendly process).
As of right now, Wernick’s team has altered Bacillus subtilis (a bacterium found in soil and the human digestive tract) to “do the protein breakdown step and also to convert the resulting material into our product,” said Wernick, adding, “Right now the products of our process are alcohol biofuels and ammonia.” In turn, this ammonia can be used as a fertilizer or it can help them make nitrogen-based fertilizers.
The UCLA team wants to continue studying the Bacillus subtilis so, in the end, they can produce biofuels on a large-scale. Luckily, they have the academic freedom to do so, which means that poop-powered cars may be a reality in the not-so-distant future.
By Anna Gragert
Popular in Things We Didn't Dream
Here's what to do if you or someone you know is the target of an ICE raid
The 2019 Emmy nominations have been announced, and we're already bending the knee to Sophie Turner
IMHO: Why presidential candidates with no chance of winning should exit the race gracefully
IMHO: Politicians waiting to leave office before challenging Trump are useless
Camila Mendes and Lucy Hale are "bathing suit twins" in this crazy-affordable one-piece
The U.S. women's soccer team led crowds through "Equal Pay!" chants during their parade, and we stan
Sandra Bullock called for equal pay for the U.S. women's soccer team, and she's not alone
Modcloth just launched a super-affordable outlet store—here are 11 of our favorite finds
Gina Rodriguez will play the POTUS in a new TV show, and that's an America we can get behind
R. Kelly has been arrested in Chicago on federal charges, including child pornography
Use these 8 Harry Potter World hacks to plan your trip like Hermione would
Here are the best Nordstrom Anniversary Sale beauty deals, from Bobbi Brown to Drybar
Aziz Ansari addresses sexual misconduct allegations in Netflix special: "I hope I've become a better person"
MTV and Diddy are officially bringing back Making the Band, so are you ready for the next O-Town?
Netflix has removed 13 Reasons Why's graphic suicide scene after consulting with mental health experts
We NEED Priyanka Chopra’s Sophie Turner-approved one-piece swimsuit for our next vacay
Pottery Barn is releasing a Friends collection, and yes, you can buy THE apothecary table
AOC and the rest of The Squad called out Trump's racist tweets: "We're not going anywhere"
Kamala Harris just announced a plan to end the rape kit backlog
Trump's ban on abortion provider referrals will go into effect immediately, but Planned Parenthood "will not stop fighting"
All Topics in Things We Didn't Dream
Hellogiggles
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0009.json.gz/line793
|
__label__wiki
| 0.742603
| 0.742603
|
Discover Music – With New York Guitar School
October 12, 2015 - Musical Celebrations
New York Guitar School Celebrates Columbus Day
On August 3, 1492, Italian explorer Christopher Columbus set sail from the Spanish port of Palos. He was in command of three ships – the Santa Maria, the Pinta, and the Nina. The goal of this historic journey was to find a new sea route to China, India, and other parts of Asia.
More than two months later, on October 12, Columbus’ ships found the “New World” – the Bahamas and other Caribbean islands. But despite the myth that had persisted for hundreds of years, Columbus didn’t “discover” America — in fact, he never set foot here. Of course, in the 15th century, America was already settled by Indians; historians are not sure who actually discovered the continent, but we do know it was named after another Italian explorer, Amerigo Vespucci. Still, October 12 is observed in the United States as Columbus Day, which celebrates the contributions Italian immigrants have made to our country.
Music of the Renaissance
There are some songs that commemorate Columbus’s discovery of the New World . They are decidedly modern, but what about the music that was in vogue in Columbus’ home country of Italy, as well as in the rest of Europe, during his lifetime? The music of the Renaissance era is not as widely known to us as the styles that developed in the next century. Baroque had given us Johann Sebastian Bach, George Handel, and Antonio Vivaldi, whose music is still played and loved to this day. But that is not to say the Renaissance compositions are not worth listening to. A lot of the music from that period, both religious and secular, is based on modes, has a rich texture, and harmony . Among the most popular Renaissance instruments were the cornamuse, cromorne, shawm, clavichord, and virginal. None of them is still commonly used; the only instrument of that era that remains popular to this day is the recorder. We have no idea whether Columbus listened to music while he sailed the ocean blue, or, for that matter, whether he was a music aficionado. But we do know that the music played in churches and royal palaces during his lifetime was really beautiful! That’s the kind of music Europeans were fond of. But what about the inhabitants of North America, which Columbus allegedly discovered? Native American tribes of the 15th century were quite evolved and their music often included drums, rattles, flutes, wood whistles.
That’s amore!
As we said, Columbus Day is a holiday in the United States, a celebration of the rich Italian heritage. In New York, where approximately 1.8 million people of Italian descent live, a parade takes place today (as it does every year) along Fifth Avenue. As always, it’s lots of fun! Even if he didn’t actually discover America, Columbus still went down in history as an explorer and an adventurer. Learning to play a musical instrument is also an adventure of sorts – your curiousity will help you discover new sounds and other musical elements that you never knew before. That’s where our teachers can help. When they come to your Manhattan, Brooklyn or Riverdale home or office, your music lesson will be smooth sailing!
< Previous Post Get Ready for Your Lessons, With New York Music School Next Post > “Fall” Into Music, With Brooklyn Piano School
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0009.json.gz/line794
|
__label__wiki
| 0.836642
| 0.836642
|
The History Guy
About Historyguy.com
Comic Book and Superhero History
Biofiles: American and World Biography
Historyguy.com Site Map
Home | Civics & Politics | Military History | New & Recent Conflicts | Historical Personalities | What's New | About Us | Site Map
Historyguy.com Search Engine
Antiquities Act of 1906
United States Military History
Mexican-American War
Issues Facing Military Veterans and Former POWs
Mesothelioma and Veterans Health
21st Century Americans
The American Revolutionary War--Overview page on the War of American Independence.
The Battles of Lexington and Concord (April 19, 1775) --The first battles of the Revolutionary War.
The Boston Tea Party--Anti-tax protest by the American colonists against British authority
North American Colonial Wars--A listing of the colonial wars in North America between Britain, France, and Spain from 1689 to 1763. These conflicts led up to the American Revolution.
George Washington's General Orders on Profanity (August 3,1776)
Washington's Farewell Address to the Army (November 2, 1783)
Proclamation of 1763 (October 7, 1763)
Declaration Of The Causes And Necessity Of Taking Up Arms (July 6, 1775)
Commission for General Washington (June 17, 1775)
The Articles of Confederation: America's First Constitution
Presidents of Congress Under the Articles of Confederation (1781-1789)--A listing of the Presidents of Congress Under the Articles of Confederation from 1781 to1789.
Treaty of Amity and Commerce Between The United States and France; February 6, 1778
Treaty of Alliance Between The United States and France; February 6, 1778
Dr. Benjamin Rush-- Signer of the Declaration of Independence, member of the Constitutional Convention, noted physician and ardent supporter for the abolition of slavery.
George Washington--Commanding General of the Continental Army in the Revolution and later America's first President.
Slaves as a Percentage of the U.S. Population.
Slave Rebellions in U.S. History
Biofiles
Hussein Badreddin al-Houthi --(d. 2004) was a Zaidi Shiite religious leader in Yemen. al-Houthi began the Shiite rebellion in northern Yemen known as the Sa'dah conflict, which began in 2004.
Julian Assange--Founder of WikiLeaks
The Beatles -The Fab Four; John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr
William Blum--Political writer critical of American foreign policy and of the Bush Administration. Author of the controversial book "Rogue State."
L. Paul Bremer--President Bush's Envoy to Iraq as head of the Provisional Coalition Authority in 2003 and 2004.
President George H.W. Bush--The 41st President of the United States.
Bush Speech to Students (1991)
Eric Cantor--Republican Whip in the House of Representatives, Cantor is the only Jewish member of the House Republican leadership.
Hillary Rodham Clinton--Currently a Senator representing New York State, Hillary Clinton is a former First Lady and is a candidate for President in the 2008 election.
Johnny Cochran--Legal icon and attorney for such luminaries as O.J. Simpson, Michael Jackson and other controversial figures.
George Armstrong Custer--American Army General, veteran of the Civil War. Best known for his "Last Stand," the Battle of the Little Bighorn.
Tom DeLay--House Majority Leader and conservative Republican. Currently under indictment in Texas and, for now, the former Majority Leader.
Arthur Duncan--American tap dancer who gained fame as a regular performer on the Lawrence Welk Show.
Clancy Eccles--Jamaican reggae and ska artist who was politically active in support of socialist Prime Minister Michael Manley.
William Roscoe Estep --An American Baptist historian and professor known as an expert on the Anabaptist Movement.
First Lady Betty Ford
President Gerald R. Ford--The 38th President of the United States.
David Geffen--Hollywood music and movie producer and well known policial fundraiser for Democratic candidates.
The Reverend Billy Graham--Religious cultural icon and spiritual advisor to every American president since Dwight Eisenhower.
Rudolph "Rudy" Giuliani--American politician currently for the Republican nomination for the office of President of the United States. He is best known as the Mayor of New York City during the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.
Dennis J. Kucinich--American politician running for the 2008 Democratic presidential nomination. Formerly known as the "Boy Mayor of Cleveland," Kucinich is now the Congressional Representative for Ohio's 10th District.
General Robert E. Lee-- Army general for the South in the American Civil War.
General Stanley McChrystal--American and ISAF commander in Afghanistan.
Timothy McVeigh--Domestic American terrorist responsible for the Oklahoma City Bombing in 1995.
Thomas Nast-American political cartoonist.
John Negroponte--American diplomat nominated to serve as the first Director of National Intelligence; a position created to help fight the War on Terror.
Willie Nelson--American Country music star, actor, and social activist.
Barack Obama--An American politician currently representing the state of Illinois in the United States Senate. he is running for the Democratic nomination for President in the 2008 election.
General George Patton--Famed American army general of World War Two.
Billy Preston--Grammy-winning keyboardist known as the "Fifth Beatle," and as an unofficial member of the Rolling Stones.
Dave Reichert--Republican Congressman from Washington State's 8th District.
The Rolling Stones --Famous British rock band known as "The World's Greatest Rock 'n Roll Band."
Saddam Hussein--Biofile on the late Iraqi dictator
Julius Schwartz--Comic book editor whose career greatly influenced the comics industry.
Ariel Sharon-Israeli military leader and Prime Minister.
Casey Sheehan--U.S. Army soldier who died in the Iraq War. His death caused his mother, Cindy Sheehan, to launch an anti-war demonstration which gained nation-wide attention.
Cindy Sheehan--The mother of Casey Sheehan. Her son's death led her to begin an anti-war demonstration outside of President Bush's ranch in the summer of 2005.
Maria Shriver--Former award-winning television journalist, best-selling author, current First Lady of California, niece to President John F. Kennedy, and daughter of Vice-Presidential candidate Sargent Shriver.
Britney Spears- Pop music icon, singer, actress, and star.
Andrew Joseph "Joe" Stack III (1956-2010)--Domestic terrorsit suicide/homicide pilot who crashed his plane into an office of the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) on Feb. 18, 2010.
Ian "Stu" Stewart--Rolling Stones founding member, pianist and road manager, who is considered "The Sixth Stone."
William Howard Taft-President of the United States and later Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court.
Tom TSquared Taylor--American Video Game Pro
Presidents of the United States--A listing of American Presidents, with links to biographical information.
American Domestic Terrorists and Assassins--A listing of individuals and groups from the United States, who committed acts of terrorism against the American people.
Lawyers, Attorneys, and Judges --A listing of individuals from the legal profession in the United States.
Chief Justices of the United States Supreme Court--From John Jay in 1789 to John Roberts, Jr. in 2005 and beyond.
American Presidents Who Won the Nobel Peace Prize
Kennedy Family Political Dynasty--The famous family of American politicians.
Muhammad Ali-Boxing champion
Historical Lists
Lists of Wars
The List of Libyan Wars
Lists of Events in History
Lists of People
The List of Presidents
The List of American Presidents Who Won the Nobel Peace Prize
"The White Man's Burden" by Rudyard Kipling
American Politics and Government
The U.S. Federal Government
A History of Federal Government Shutdowns
2010 Political and Government News
Political Violence in America
Occupy Wall Street Movement
Church & State (religion)
Gun Control/Gun Rights
Health Care Reform and Debate in America
Issues: Universal Declaration of Human Rights
Iraq Crisis
Gay Rights Issues in America
American Political Parties
The History of American Political Parties
House Republican Leadership
House Democratic Leadership
Republican Administrations and Republican Congressional Majorities
American Historical and Political Documents
World War 2 Documents
President Roosevelt's "Day of Infamy" speech
U.S. Declaration of War against Japan
President Roosevelt's Prayer D-Day Prayer
Japanese Surrender Documents
Albert Einstein Letter to Roosevelt on the Atomic Bomb
War Powers Resolution Letter from President Obama-June 13, 2016
Historical Documents of the World
Fidel Castro's Second Declaration of Havana (Feb. 4, 1962)
President Harry Truman Political Biography
Speaker of the House John Boehner
Mitt Romney Politial Biography
Rick Santorum Poltical Biography
2012 Presidential Election Candidates
Connecticut Senate Election 2010
Washington State Senate Election 2010
The 2010 Congressional Elections
U.S. Presidential Election 2000
California Governor's Race 2010
Joseph "Joe" Wilson (b. July 31, 1947)-
South Carolina's 2nd Congressional District-
President Obama's Statement on the passing of Eunice Kennedy Shriver
Biography of New Alaska Governor Sean Parnell
President Obama's speech to the Muslim World at Cairo University, Cairo Egypt (June 4, 2009)
Obama Stem Cell Policy
Filling Biden's Senate Seat
President-Elect Barack Obama Bio
Rahm Emanuel Bio-
Mortgage Crisis and Bailout
Ron Howard's Video Endorsement of Barack Obama-
List of Presidents of the United States
U.S. Presidents Who Died While In Office
Political News Blog
Assassination Attempts on U.S. Presidential Candidates
Political Biographies
Senator Patty Murray (D-WA)
President John Kennedy
Inaugural Address of President John Kennedy
War File List
Algerian Civil War
Pakistani-Indian War (1965)
Sino-Indian War
U.S. Invasion of Panama
The War of 1812 (1812-1815)
Communist Wars
Obama Presidency
President Barack Obama's Letter to Congress on LRA Insurgency and U.S. Troops to Uganda October 14, 2011
President Obama's Speech Announcing the Death of Osama bin Laden
Obama's Nobel Peace Prize Acceptance Speech
President Barack Obama's Declaration of National Emergency over the H1N1 Swine Flu October 24, 2009
President Obama's Visit to Afghanistan on March 21, 2010
General George Armstrong Custer
Archduke Franz Ferdinand
Thomas Nast
William Howard Taft
Lorenzo de Zavala
Governments of the World
Act of Union, 1707 Between England and Scotland
Dictators and Tyrants in World History
Presidents of Egypt
Timelines of Wars
2017 Jihadist/Islamist Terrorist Attacks Timeline
Timeline of American Presidential Assassinations and Assasination Attempts
The Nation of Haiti
Haitian Leaders
Middle Eastern Economics
Forms of Government
Naming of Wars
Wars and Conflicts by Nation
Major European Wars and Conflicts of The 19th Century
Wars and Conflicts of Burundi
Major Wars of the 20th Century
Asian Military History
The Wars of Egypt
The Italo-Turkish War of 1911-1912
Kurdish Wars in Iraq
The Fall of the Ottoman Empire
Persian Revolution and Russian Intervention (1906-1911)
French Military History: Wars from 1919-1939
French Military History: Wars from 1945-Present
Second Hundred Years War: A Series of Anglo-French Conflicts
German Internal Wars and Conflicts
Wars of the Soviet Union
Wars, Coups, and Conflicts of Haiti
Wars of India
Wars of Pakistan
Civil Wars of Chad
Wars of Sudan
Wars and Conflicts of Lebanon
Wars and Conflicts of Tunisia
Wars of Libya
The Egypt-Libya War of 1977
Inter-Palestinian Civil Wars and Conflicts
The Wars of Mexico
Wars of the Papacy
Wars and Campaigns of Charlemagne
Wars and Conflicts of Adolf Hitler
Wars of Vietnam
Cambodia-Vietnam War (1977-1991)
China -Vietnam War (Feb. 17-Mar. 16, 1979)
Wars of the United States--A full list of U.S. wars is available on this page.
American Presidents Who Served in the Military
Civil Wars and Rebellions of the United States
The American Revolution-
The Battles of Lexington and Concord (April 19, 1775)
Boston Tea Party
Quasi-War With France
The Barbary Wars
War of 1812 Links and Resources Portal
War of 1812 Biographies
War of 1812 Statistics
War of 1812: Declaration of War (June 18, 1812)
War of 1812: Proclamation of War by President Madison (June 19, 1812)
War of 1812: The Treaty of Ghent (December 24, 1814)
Texas War of Independence
The Spanish-American War
Sino-American Wars and Conflicts: Wars and Conflicts Between China and the United States
U.S.-Philippine War
Zimmerman Telegram
President Woodrow Wilson's War Message to Congress (April 2, 1917)
American Battles and Campaigns of World War One
Five-Star Generals and Admirals of the United States
World War 2: The Invasion of Normandy (1944)
World War 2: The Raid at Dieppe (1942)
World War Two Battles and Campaigns
The Cold War--Under Construction.
Korean War-
Korean War Timeline
Korean War Casualties and Statistics
Korean War Links and Resources
The Second Indochina War "Vietnam War"--Under Construction.
U.S. Invasion of Grenada
American-Syrian Conflict in Lebanon (1983-1984)
Second Persian Gulf War "Operation Desert Storm"
No-Fly Zone War (1991-2003)
Attack on the USS Cole
War in Afghanistan
Osama bin Laden Biography
War in Afghanistan: Operation Khanajar/Strike of the Sword (July 2009-Present)
War in Afghanistan: Operation Moshtarak/Battle of Marja (Feb. 2010-Present)
Iraq War (Third Persian Gulf War)
Medals of Honor Awarded for the Wars in Iraq and Afghanistan
Naval Incidents Between the United States and China (2009)
The Use of American Military Forces Around the World 1981-1990
The Libyan War of 2011
The War on Terror/Long War/al-Qaida War
al-Qaida Terror Wars and Conflicts
Attempt to Bomb Northwest Airlines Flight 253 on Christmas Day, 2009
Terror Attack: Northwest Airlines Flight 253 Personalities, Dec. 25, 2009
Alhaji Umaru Mutallab
Orign of the Islamic State
History and Politics Resource Pages
Yemen Links and Resources Page
War Tracker
Middle Eastern War Tracker
Iran War Tracker
Iraq War Tracker
Kurdish War Tracker
Roman History
Roman History Biographies
Lucius Cornelius Sulla
Roman History Books and Videos
Serial Wars and Conflicts
Anglo-American Wars
The American War of Independence
Anglo-Dutch Wars
Anglo-Egyptian Wars: Wars Between Britain and Egypt
Anglo-Irish Wars
Arab-Israeli Wars
Wars Between Israel and Syria: From 1948 to the Present
Wars Between Egypt and Israel
The Suez War
Six-Day War (1967)
Israel-Lebanon Conflict
Arab-Isaeli Border Wars
Ethiopian-Oromo Conflicts
Franco-German Wars
World War I--
World War II --
Indo-Pakistani Wars
Indian Military Links
Kashmir Border Conflict
Warfare and Conflict Between Kosovar Albanians and Serbs Since 1912
Third Balkan War
Korean Border Conflicts and Incidents (1953-Present)
Habsburg-Valois Wars: French Wars in Italy (1492-1516)
Greco-Turkish Wars
Sino-Japanese Wars--Wars between China and Japan
Russian-Polish Wars
Tuareg Rebellions--A listing of the Tuareg Rebellions in Mali and northern Africa.
Wars and Conflicts Between the United States and Syria
Apache Wars
Black Hawk War
Little Turtle's War
Second Seminole War (1835-1842)
Treaty With the Sauk and Foxes 1804
Treaty with the Apache, July 1, 1852
Treaty With the Kiowa, Comanche, and Apache; October 21, 1867
Book Review: Little Bighorn Remembered
The List of Wars--All wars listed on this site map are included in the List of Wars. Only those not otherwise mentioned will be listed on the Site Map page for this category. Dozens of "unlinked" wars are listed as well.
Yemeni Tribal Uprising
The Falkland Islands War (1982)
Falkland Islands War Images and Pictures
Saudi-Yemen Border Conflict
Ecuador-Peru Border War of 1941
Guinea-Bissau Civil War of 1998-1999
Thailand-Laos Border War (1987-1988)
Wars of the Horn of Africa: Ethiopia, Eritrea, Djibouti, and Somalia
Wars of the Hapsburg Empire (Austria-Hungary) from 1815 to 1918
Wars and Conflicts of Great Britain
The Crimean War--One of the first truly "modern" wars, this conflict pitted the powerful Empires of France, Britain, and Ottoman Turkey against the huge Russian Empire.
British Wars 1945 to the Present
Middle Eastern Military History
Wars and Conflicts of Georgia
Wars and Conflicts of Thailand
Wars and Conflicts of Yemen
Wars and Conflicts Between Tibet and China
Wars, Conflicts, and Coups of the Philippines
Wars of Southern Africa :1899-Present --An overview of the colonial wars, civil wars, and other conflicts in southern africa from 1899 to the present
German Wars and Conflicts between 1918 and 1923
Fidel Castro's Legacy as a Marxist Warlord-includes lists of Castro's wars.
Wars by Year
Wars of the 21st Century
Wars of 1899
General World History
Muslim History
Israeli History
Egypt History
History of Japan Earthquakes
Military History Links
New and Recent Conflicts of the World--This page contains a list of several dozen current conflicts. Only those with History Guy pages are mentioned below.
The Afghan Civil War (1978-Present)
Taliban War in Pakistan
Thailand-Myanmar Border Conflict
Thailand-Cambodia Border Dispute
India-Bangladesh Border Conflict
Terrorism: al-Qaida, Islamist, and Jihadi Terrorist Attacks in the United States
The Second Chechen War (1999-Present)
Operation Desert Fox (1998)--
Georgian Military Revolt (1998)
Lesotho Invasion (1998)
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0009.json.gz/line797
|
__label__wiki
| 0.640912
| 0.640912
|
Tag Archives: Great Lakes
A great lake guaranteed Illinois’ economic success
Depending on their viewpoint and the era during which they lived, early explorers and settlers considered Lake Michigan to be either a priceless water highway deep into the interior of North America or a 307 mile long barrier to western travel.
The earliest European explorers didn’t even know Lake Michigan existed, thanks to the antipathy towards the French by the Iroquois Confederacy. French adventurers explored and mapped Lake Superior in the 1630s, long before the Iroquois allowed them passage to discover there was great water highway to the south. Not until Marquette and Jolliet explored south along the western store of Lake Michigan in 1673 did its length become appreciated.
A decade later, René-Robert Cavalier de La Salle used Lake Michigan as the major route to his new commercial colony in Illinois. By doing so, the French were able to bypass the Ohio River route to the west, the northern reaches of which were controlled by the well-armed and organized Iroquois Confederacy and their British allies.
Until the end of the French and Indian War in North America in 1764, Lake Michigan was, literally, a French lake. French forts controlled the Straits of Mackinac, Green Bay, and periodically Chicago and the mouth of the St. Joseph River at the southern end of the lake.
After the era of French control, the British controlled the lake for only a decade and a half or so before the new United States wrested control of most of the Great Lakes during the Revolutionary War. The War of 1812, essentially a short, less successful, continuation of the Revolution, did manage to solidify U.S. control over the lakes.
Fort Dearborn at the mouth of the Chicago River in 1831, just a few years before the U.S. Army built a channel through the sandbar at the mouth of the Chicago River.
During the era of U.S. pioneer settlement, Lake Michigan became more an impediment than a help to settlement. That was because there was no harbor at the southern end of the lake. The rivers emptying into Green Bay gave access to the Mississippi River via portages to the Wisconsin River, but that left the interior of what would become Illinois difficult to reach. Sailing ships that arrived in Chicago had to lighter their cargoes using small boats to laboriously across the sandbar blocking the mouth of the shallow and sluggish Chicago River. The ships themselves, however, could not enter the river and so were unable to dock to ride out the storms that frequently blew up. As a result, ships had to quickly unload and get back out into the lake to avoid being driven ashore by rough weather.
Settlers that came west to Detroit, where there was a port, were hindered in heading overland to the Illinois prairies along the old Territorial Road by numerous bogs and swamps in Michigan and Indiana.
Not until the 1830s, when the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers dug a channel through the sandbar, was a true harbor created at Chicago. The new channel allowed ships to enter the Chicago River and safely dock, and also made unloading cargo a lot faster and less labor-intensive. Almost overnight, Chicago became a major Great Lakes port. In 1833, only four sailing ships called at Chicago. In 1834, after the first channel through the bar opened, 176 sailing vessels arrived.
Chicago’s position so far south allowed ships to carry grain from the prairie hinterland in the Des Plaines, DuPage, and Fox River valleys directly to the great eastern cities and return with goods ranging from finished products to lumber to build the great city that was taking shape along the lake shore.
According to the Library of Congress, this illustration shows some of the grain elevators on the Chicago River just as Chicago was becoming the premier grain transhipment point in the nation.
In an astonishingly short time, in fact, Chicago displaced St. Louis as the chief grain shipment center in the west. St. Louis was well located on the Mississippi, but that was a curse as well as a blessing. Grain elevators, when they were finally invented and then perfected, could not be safely located on the shore of the great river because of its frequent floods. Chicago, however, with its location on Lake Michigan and the slow, sluggish Chicago River, was not affected by flooding since the lake level remained constant. That meant grain elevators could be built along the Chicago River—and the riverbank was soon lined with the towering structures.
In the late 1840s, the Illinois and Michigan Canal was completed, linking Lake Michigan with the Illinois River—and from there the great Mississippi-Ohio-Missouri River system. The canal made shipping grain that much more efficient since it could be sent both south on the canal to the New Orleans market as well as east on the lakes to the New York market. In addition, the canal offered farmers living near its banks an easier shipping destination than hauling it overland all the way into Chicago.
At virtually the same time, railroads began to stretch west to Chicago and beyond, and the era of shipping cargo strictly via the lakes was over. Railroads that headed straight west from New York, Baltimore, and the other great eastern cities eventually met Lake Michigan, where they had to curve south to pass the end of the lake. And that made Chicago an even greater city. Not only was it still the lakes’ greatest port, but it quickly became the great rail center of the West.
With both ships and trains arriving in Chicago in large numbers, the population of the city and its hinterland quickly grew. It proved a boon for Kendall County, with new settlers able to cheaply and easily travel west from their old homes to Chicago and then undertake a short overland journey to the rich prairie lands along the Fox River. Once settlers arrived in the Fox Valley, they found themselves in an excellent location to easily get both their crops and livestock to the growing markets in Chicago and to take advantage of lower cost goods from raw lumber to finished clothing.
More than almost any other geographical feature, Lake Michigan has had the greatest long-term effect on the economic growth of Illinois throughout the history of the region. Although the lake is no longer the vital shipping link with the East it once was, its effect on rail and road transportation routes has guaranteed that Illinois will remain a U.S. economic powerhouse for the foreseeable future.
Filed under Environment, Farming, History, Illinois History, Technology, Transportation
Tagged as Great Lakes, history, Illinois, Kendall County, railroads, technology, transportation
It was St. Louis vs Chicago—And we’re not talking baseball, either
Got to thinking about my last post on plank roads and how local officials in the early 1850s rejected railroads, figuring that paving roads with wooden planks was the best technological fix for the era’s terrible roads.
You shouldn’t get the impression that those folks here in Kendall County were the only ones who misread the likely future that railroads were going to create. Something very similar happened down in St. Louis, with an even bigger economic impact as rejecting railroads had up here on our small farm town.
From the early 1830s to the early 1850s, as the pioneer era matured, Illinois became a huge grain exporter. Early on, the trick was to actually export all that excess grain farmers were beginning to produce using better agricultural techniques and increasing mechanization. One way to get it to market was to let it walk all by itself by turning grain into cattle and hogs that could be driven to Chicago. But to get the grain itself to market meant hauling in wagons over the region’s primitive road system.
Until grain elevators were perfected, grain was shipped in sacks from the farm to market. Each sack was handled numerous times until it reached it’s ultimate destination, a process that was expensive and time-consuming.
In that day and age, grain in excess of needed food for the farm family and livestock feed was bagged, loaded aboard the farm’s wagon, a four-horse team hitched, and the load hauled to market. That market might be in the rapidly growing city of Chicago or, depending on the farm’s location, might be the Illinois River.
No matter where it went, though, it was transported in bags, which were unloaded into a warehouse. They, in turn, were then reloaded onto a sailing ship along the docks along South Water Street in Chicago or aboard a steamboat or flatboat on the Illinois River for the trip downstream to St. Louis. From Chicago, the grain was taken to Buffalo, where it was unloaded once again into a warehouse, for later transshipment down the Erie Canal to the New York City market. After grain arrived via the Illinois-Mississippi route at St. Louis, slaves unloaded the sacks onto the Levee, a broad strip of land extending along the city’s entire riverfront, where it was stacked for later sale or to be reloaded by more slave labor aboard a steamer or flatboat to be shipped down to New Orleans.
This detail from J. T. Palmatary’s 1857 bird’s-eye view of Chicago shows why the warehouses and grain elevators along South Water Street offered so much efficiency in handling everything from lumber to grain. All manner of transportation, including rail cars, wagons, and sail and steamships could load and unload cargoes simultaneously.
All that loading and unloading took time, and time is money. With the introduction of rail transport, efficiency in loading and unloading became a pressing goal of those engaged in the grain trade. To that end, in 1842, Buffalo, N.Y. grain merchant and warehouse owner Joseph Dart invented the grain elevator. Dart’s elevator was a tall building that consisted of a series of vertical grain bins. Once grain had been removed from its sacks and moved to the elevated bins using steam power, it could be moved from bin to bin or loaded aboard canal boats, lakes ships, or rail cars by gravity alone. It was a great idea and quickly spread west to Chicago where the city’s grain merchants quickly perfected the concept.
In seemingly no time at all, grain elevators replaced the grain warehouses that lined the banks of the Chicago River along South Water Street. Grain brought in from hinterland farms in sacks was emptied out, graded by quality, and elevated to bins where it was mixed with other grain of the same grade that could then be loaded aboard the new rail cars or on Great Lakes ships for shipment east, or even loaded aboard boats on the new Illinois & Michigan Canal to be sent south to the New Orleans market.
With the old sack system, individual farmers’ grain could be identified from the time it left the farm until it reached its ultimate destination, with farmers known for shipping quality grain receiving a premium sales price. With the new system, fair grading and accurate records were an absolute must, and as you might surmise, there proved to be a lot of ways the new system could be manipulated. And manipulated it certainly was, although that’s a story for another day.
Because the Chicago River and Lake Michigan do not flood, the South Water Street elevator complex could be built right on the river bank, where it could be directly serviced by wagon, rail, canal, and lakes shipping.
Thomas Easterly’s 1852 Daguerreotype of the busy St. Louis Levee illustrates the distance between the river and shoreline warehouses dictated by the ebb and flow of the Mississippi River’s water levels throughout the year. Every barrel, box, and sack of cargo had to be physically carried across the levy to and from waiting steamboats.
Not so in St. Louis. There, the Levee was not only a transshipment point, but was a buffer for the city against the power of the Mississippi, which frequently flooded. As a result of the unpredictable river, grain elevators could not be built directly on the Mississippi’s riverbank, but had to be located some distance from the river. That meant no direct access to the city’s elevators by steamboats on the river.
In addition, St. Louis’s economic leaders decided, much like their counterparts in Oswego, that railroads were not the coming thing in transport. The decision was to stick with steamboats, since the city already had infrastructure in place for them. Not only that, but the city fought against the idea of a direct rail connection across the river, forbidding any rail bridges to be built. Indeed, when the first rail bridge spanned the Mississippi, it was not at St. Louis, but rather crossed the river from Rock Island, Illinois to Davenport, Iowa. And then St. Louis’s steamboat interests fought the bridge’s existence in court, the case decided in the railroad’s favor thanks to the legal acumen of their lawyer—himself a former flatboat crewman who transported bags of corn to New Orleans—Abraham Lincoln of Springfield, Illinois.
Chicago, meanwhile, was becoming the nation’s central railroad hub with commodities from the huge hinterland surrounding it flowing into the city, and finished goods flowing out. There was good reason that when circumstances, including rural free mail delivery, made mail order businesses possible, the nation’s two largest, Sears, Roebuck & Company and Montgomery Ward & Company, located in Chicago.
James B. Eads’ revolutionary bridge across the Mississippi at St. Louis didn’t open until 1874, more than two decades after a web of rail lines extended from Chicago to the rest of the Midwest. The bridge created the city’s first direct rail link to the east side of the Mississippi, but it proved too late to succeed in competition with Chicago.
St. Louis didn’t get its direct railroad connection with the east bank of the Mississippi until 1874, when James B. Eads’ remarkable, innovative bridge opened to traffic. Eads built his bridge despite the opposition of steamboat interests who remained economic powers in St. Louis despite railroads having proven to provide economical, year round transportation.
By that time, however, Chicago was preparing to steal the crown of the Midwest’s economic leader from St. Louis, a disparity that has only gotten greater over the ensuing decades. In 1840, St. Louis and St. Louis County had a total population of nearly 36,000, dwarfing Chicago and Cook County’s population of just 10,201. But by 1870, while the population of St. Louis and county had grown to 351,000 people, Chicago was already crowding it with 349,000. In 1880, St. Louis’s city and county population had barely increased to 382,000 while Chicago and Cook’s population had continued its strong growth to 607,000 and by 1890, the population of St. Louis was 488,000 while Chicago’s population had nearly doubled to 1,192,000.
Would the fate of St. Louis have been any different had the city embraced railroads in the 1850s instead of grudgingly accepting its first rail link east of the Mississippi two decades later? Possibly. Even probably. But it’s also pretty clear that Chicago would have surpassed St. Louis no matter what given the Windy City’s location that let it take advantage of direct connections via the Great Lakes and railroads to the New York market and rail and canal connections south to New Orleans, not to mention rail connections west across the nation to the Pacific.
But the railroad phobia that was apparently so common in the early 1850s undoubtedly made things worse for St. Louis.
There’s probably a lesson for us there, but as I’ve noted before, the real trick is to figure out what that it might be and then make use of the lesson learned. Because if current events show us anything at all, it’s that humans not only stubbornly refuse to learn history’s lessons, but more often than not refuse to admit there are any lesson to be learned in the first place.
Filed under Business, Farming, Frustration, History, Illinois History, Law, People in History, Semi-Current Events, Technology, Transportation
Tagged as farming, Great Lakes, history, Illinois, railroads, technology, transportation
They paved paradise…
Did a story for the Ledger-Sentinel (although corporate has apparently decided to just call it the Ledger these days) a few weeks ago that recapped the most recent U.S. Department of Agriculture farm census for Kendall County.
This most recent national farm census was taken in 2012, with the results finally released in 2014. I’d been thinking of doing a piece about it around the time it was to be released, but then the whole thing slipped my mind until late spring this year.
Farm censuses have been taken for almost 200 years now, with the first one taken by the U.S. Census Bureau in 1820 as part of the regular decennial population census. That was the practice until 1950, when the census bureau started collecting farm data only in years ending with 4 and 9. In 1978, that was changed to taking the farm census in years ending in 2 and 7. Finally, in 1997, Congress moved responsibility for collecting farm data to the USDA—which seemed pretty logical to me—and keeping the requirement to collect the data in years ending in 2 and 7. Thus the 2012 census.
When I finally got the data entered into my trusty spreadsheet, I have to admit being surprised—astonished, really—at the amount of farmland the census showed had been lost to development in the five years prior to 2012.
Kendall is the only non-Collar County to border on three of the six Chicago metro region Collar Counties, putting it in the perfect spot to absorb overflow population from fast-growing Kane, DuPage, and Will counties.
Previously, the largest amount of farmland lost to development had been the 8,313 acres lost between 1992 and 1997.But between 2007 and 2012, Kendall County lost an astonishing 37,131 acres of farmland to development. In the 57 years prior to 2007, the county had only lost a total of 28,365 acres to developme
Granted, it was clear that the county’s strong growth was going to catch up with it sooner or later. Between 1990 and 2010, Kendall County’s population grew from 39,413 to nearly 115,000. My hometown of Oswego went from 3,914 to 30,303 during the same period.
But in the five years between 2007 and 2012 the biggest recession since the Great Depression hit the nation, and it hit Chicago’s collar counties particularly hard. It’s an indication of just how frenetic the financial industry was driving inflation of the nation’s housing bubble in the years immediately prior to the crash of 2008. Billions of fraudulent dollars were changing hands as vast tracts of farmland in Chicago’s hinterland were purchased, subdivided, and developed. Infrastructure—streets, curbs, gutters, water and sewer lines—was being pushed as developers rushed to provide the new homes the financial industry required to keep the bubble inflated through a whole host of actions that ranged from simply unethical to downright illegal.
It took a while for the development train wreck to come to a standstill and the dust to settle. When it did, not only had a bunch of productive farmland been sold for development, but also vast swaths of it had been covered with all that infrastructure listed above. And that meant that while some land sold for development could still be farmed because it was vacant, a lot of it simply could not.
The disappearance of so much farmland capped a long-term period of population growth in Kendall County, particularly in its northern three townships, but also in the county’s eastern tier of three once almost entirely rural townships. Oswego, situated in Kendall’s northeast corner, is a member of both groups.
NaAuSay and Seward townships, situated directly south of Oswego, until this most recent flood of growth hit in the 1990s, had no municipalities in their boundaries. But then Plainfield began expanding across the eastern border of NaAuSay Township, while Joliet and Minooka began intruding into Seward. And that’s how come some residents of Joliet and Plainfield send their children to Oswego schools. It’s also one more reason why so much farmland was lost to development in the five years prior to 2012.
The northern tier of Kendall’s townships—Little Rock, Bristol, and Oswego—had been undergoing growth for years prior to the inflation of the housing bubble. Oswego and Bristol, especially, were the subject of growth hurtling down the corridor along U.S. Route 34—called Ogden Avenue east of the Kendall County border—that accelerated to extraordinary levels after the construction of the huge Waubonsie Interceptor sewer line. The 60” diameter sanitary sewer line was built down the Waubonsie Creek valley from what was then called the Fox Valley Mall to Montgomery, where it crossed the Fox River to the Fox Metro Water Reclamation District’s treatment plant.
As soon as adequate sanitary sewer capacity was available, residential and commercial growth along the Route 23 corridor in Kendall County exploded. Why? For the same reason folks found the county a good place to live way back in the 1830s. Back then, the search was on for cheaper land that was good for farming in a location not too far away from the Chicago market that even in the early 1830s had begun to grow. As soon as U.S. Army engineers figured out how to drive a permanent channel through the sandbar at the mouth of the Chicago River, creating for the first time a safe harbor for Great Lakes shipping, that growth turned exponential.
The Chicago region’s population grew outward from the Lake Michigan shore, first spurred by the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy’s commuter line that terminated at Aurora, and then after World War II by the web of multi-lane limited access expressways that stretched from Chicago north, south, and west.
Oswego Township was picked for industrial development in the early 1950s, with sprawling Caterpillar, Inc. and Western Electric plants built. Plenty of land was available at relatively low prices in the area that was outside the Chicago metro area, but close enough, and with the necessary rail connections industry of that era required.
And at the same time, developer Don L. Dise, hearing about the coming construction of those facilities, decided Oswego Township was the perfect spot to build Kendall County’s first super subdivision. He picked the huge Boulder Hill Stock Farm, owned by the Bereman family, as the location for his development, located right across the Fox River from the new Western Electric and Caterpillar plants, figuring the plants’ workers would need housing. Eventually, the Cat plant alone employed more than 7,000.
Calling his new planned development Boulder Hill after the former livestock farm, Dise proposed building out neighborhoods to attract all economic levels, from executives to factory workers. And he succeeded, attracting an eclectic mix of new homeowners, from CB&Q executives to Caterpillar and other local factory line workers, with most of the first homes financed thanks to the post-World War II GI Bill. Not only did the GI Bill promote home ownership, but it also encouraged veterans to get college degrees, which allowed the millions who served in the war to move up to better jobs, and then buy brand new houses from Dise and other developers.
The first families moved into their new Boulder Hill homes exactly 60 years ago.
The late 1950s was the county’s first big spasm of growth. Between 1950 and 1960 Oswego Township’s population doubled. Then it doubled again between 1960 and 1970. As growth to the east continued to accelerate even faster, refugees from Cook and DuPage counties looking for cheaper housing, less traffic, and a small town atmosphere, continued to move into Kendall County, but growth was relatively restrained until the Waubonsie Interceptor literally opened the floodgates.
And that touched off the next era of growth that both flowed and ebbed several times before the financial industry, with the help of Congress and President Bill Clinton, who removed regulations that had kept it to reasonable levels, hit on the idea of securitizing mortgages. Not only did they securitize mortgages, they also figured out how to defraud the entire real estate financing system by methods ranging from forcing appraisers to artificially inflate existing home values to require bigger loans to gaming the home loan system itself to allow mortgages to be awarded to those who could not afford them. Which was fine, because the goal was not to make money off house payments, but rather by selling the mortgages (sometimes several times), bundling them, and dividing them into batches so they could be securitized into bonds for sale to investors. Since the bond rating agencies were in on the fraud and since government was not allowed to regulate the bonds, the amount of farmland purchased at greatly inflated prices in order to feed the need for more and more mortgages to be sliced and diced and sold to suckers was substantial.
In Kendall County alone, it amounted to that 37,000 acre loss in just five years mentioned above. As the bubble inflated between 1990 and 2010, Kendall County’s population tripled. In fact, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, between 2000 and 2007, Kendall was, in percentage terms, the fastest growing county in the nation.
Then the crash came, but here we sit nonetheless.
And what happened to all those farmers as land was gobbled up by developers? Glad you asked. More later…
Filed under Business, Farming, Frustration, History, Kendall County, Local History, Oswego, People in History, Transportation, Uncategorized
Tagged as current-events, farming, Frustration, Great Lakes, history, Kendall County, Oswego, politics, railroads
The star-crossed I&M Canal…
When missionary and linguist Father Jacques Marquette and cartographer Louis Jolliet first saw the area around Chicago at the foot of Lake Michigan in 1673, they were struck by how easy it might be to build a canal connecting the headwaters of the Chicago River with the Des Plaines River.
Jolliet suggested that it wouldn’t take much labor to dig a deep enough canal to link the Des Plaines—part of the Illinois River system—to the Chicago River whose mouth is on Lake Michigan. One short canal, the Jesuit explorer suggested, would connect the south-flowing Illinois and Mississippi rivers with the Great Lakes highway from the interior of northern North America with the Atlantic seaboard colonies.
The Illinois & Michigan Canal linked the Illinois River with Lake Michigan at Chicago. Although its heyday was brief, it boosted Illinois’ economy starting in the late 1840s. (Wikipedia image)
Local Indians, in fact, told the explorers that the two rivers occasionally mingled their waters during wet spring seasons or other times when both were at flood stage.
But while a canal linking the Illinois River and Lake Michigan didn’t seem like much of an engineering challenge to 17th Century French explorers, the idea never really took off, mainly due to the remoteness of the Illinois Country from the other settled areas of Colonial North America.
That the idea wasn’t acted upon didn’t mean people forgot about it, however. When the U.S. government moved into the area after the successful conclusion of the Revolutionary War, military officers and others again began contemplating the construction of a canal. When the government concluded a treaty with Indian tribes in northern Illinois in 1816, one of the provisions was a cession of land roughly 10 miles either side of the Chicago and Des Plaines rivers for 100 miles southwest from Lake Michigan to the rapids on the Illinois River that marked the head of steamboat navigation. The tribes were persuaded to give up the land for a virtual pittance on the assurance of Ninian Edwards, governor of the Illinois Territory, that a canal built in the area would be an economic boon for the Native Americans.
At first, the U.S. Government agreed with Louis Jolliet on the ease of connecting Lake Michigan with the Illinois River. Major Stephen Long of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers wrote to Secretary of War John C. Calhoun in 1816 contending that the canal could be built “with very little expense compared with the magnitude of the object,” which was building the economic power of the West. But President James Monroe figured it wasn’t the federal government’s job to finance internal improvements and so the idea again languished.
It wasn’t until 1822 that Congress finally authorized construction of a canal on the ceded lands. The idea was that land within the 10-mile strip on either side of the river could be sold to defray the cost of building the waterway. But Congress only gave the new state of Illinois enough right-of-way for the canal itself and the towpath, keeping the rest of the land for itself. Illinois Gov. Shadrack Bond decided to go ahead with the project anyway and got the engineering work moving ahead.
Some of the old I&M Canal’s locks have been restored, like this one, Lock 15, at LaSalle, Illinois. (I&M Heritage Corridor photo)
That’s when it was discovered the project wouldn’t be quite as easy as it seemed. While the area around Chicago seemed to be nothing but muddy wetlands, it turned out that bedrock hidden by all that mud and water was close to the surface. Further, there turned out to be quite a bit of fall between Lake Michigan and Peru, where steamboats had to stop most of the time due to rapids on the Illinois River. And finally, while it was relatively easy to get from the headwaters of the Chicago River to the Des Plaines, that really didn’t get you anywhere worthwhile. The Des Plaines, for much of the year, was so shallow that even fur trade canoes had to be portaged around long stretches of it. At certain times, the portage at Chicago to water where boats and canoes could actually float was up to 60 miles in length. So the river as part of the canal was ruled out, and a dug canal paralleling the river for 96 miles from Lake Michigan to Peru was in.
With those problems understood, engineers estimated the canal would probably cost $700,000, a huge sum in those days.
To help out, Congress granted the state a five-mile swath of land on each side of the proposed canal route in 1827 (a total of 290,915 acres), with the land sales at $1.25 an acre to help finance construction.
But at first, land sales were as sluggish as the Chicago River’s current, and cost estimates kept rising to astonishing heights.
Even so, there was agitation to get the project going. After all, the Erie Canal in New York, that linked Lake Erie with the Hudson River across more than 300 miles of extremely rough, almost mountainous, country had been built and opened in 1826. The New York canal was not only an engineering marvel—probably the greatest engineering triumph of the first half of the 19th Century in the United States—but was also a huge financial success.
So despite the ever-increasing construction estimates and other concerns, construction began July 4, 1836 in Bridgeport near Chicago. The start of construction immediately caused hysterical land speculation along the canal’s route.
And then the whole thing—canal construction, land speculation, and get-rich schemes too numerous to count—came to a screeching halt when the Panic of 1837, one of the nation’s most severe depressions, struck. The panic was a likely unintended consequence of President Andrew Jackson’s hatred of both paper money and the Bank of the United States. Jackson forced paper money to be recalled throughout the west and decreed only gold or silver coins would be accepted. The move literally sucked all the money out of the fast-growing western frontier of the era—meaning Illinois and the other states created from the Old Northwest Territory.
The outstanding bonds on the canal bankrupted Illinois—and cost estimates rose to more than $13 million. The General Assembly, led by Whigs who championed internal improvements at government expense, had involved the state ever more deeply in financing the canal. Although it limped along as a little money trickled in here and there, by 1842, construction had stopped altogether.
Very early on, a so-called “deep cut” strategy, which would have allowed boats to enter the canal directly from Lake Michigan and sail serenely to Peru was contemplated. But as soon as the route was surveyed and land contours mapped that was dropped in favor of building locks along the canal route.
The canal route descends 141 feet from its entry on the shore of Lake Michigan in Chicago to the end of the line at Peru. To handle the drop, a series of 15 locks were designed by canal engineer William Gooding. Dams and feeder aqueducts were built from several rivers and streams—including the Fox River at Dayton—to supply water for the canal. The feeders were made largely redundant in 1871 when a deep cut was made through the rise from the elevation of Lake Michigan to Lockport, and water from the lake could be used to fill the canal.
Along with other engineering miracles, the canal crossed the Fox River at Ottawa via an aqueduct.
After many fits and starts, the Illinois and Michigan Canal finally opened for business in 1848. And just as its promoters had promised, it became a powerful economic engine driving growth in northern Illinois.
From April 24 to Oct. 15, you can even take a ride on a replica canal boat at LaSalle towed by a mule. For information, go to http://www.lasallecanalboat.org/.
However, the canal had the bad luck to be finished just as railroad construction began in Illinois, and so the I&M Canal’s heyday was to be very brief in duration, but not in impact. And even though railroads soon stole much of the canal’s business, the idea of shipping goods by water—which was and is much cheaper than by rail—did catch on. It was especially a boon for the region’s farmers, since the canal opened markets from New York to New Orleans. Soon, most of the region’s grain was flowing to Chicago via the canal where newly developed grain elevators loaded freighters headed east. That not only boosted Chicago but it marginalized once-booming river ports to the south including St. Louis.
Eventually the I&M was superseded by the Illinois Sanitary and Ship Canal and the Illinois Waterway, which still carry millions of tons of goods. As the huge tugs push giant tows up and down the river, the old I&M Canal still slumbers right beside the newer, much larger waterway.
Today, the I&M Canal has become a destination for nature lovers and those interested in the state’s early history. Cycling and hiking along the canal’s former towpaths, picnicking, wildlife watching, and even canoing along some sections draw thousands of visitors every year.
Filed under Environment, Fox River, Illinois History, Local History, Science stuff, Transportation
Tagged as Fox River, Great Lakes, history, Illinois, transportation
They shoot rapids, don’t they?
Several years ago when we were visiting the Apostle Islands National Lakeshore Visitors Center we bought prints of three or four of Frances Anne Beechey Hopkins’ wonderful voyageur paintings. A framed copy of “Shooting the Rapids” that Mrs. Hopkins painted in 1879 hangs over my customary seat in our TV room, while other framed pints decorate the walls up at our Wisconsin fishing cabin.
Mrs. Frances Hopkins’ “Shooting the Rapids” is one of her most famous paintings, though it’s questionable how often birch bark canoes shot rapids during the fur trade era.
While I love the drama on display in “Shooting the Rapids,” when I look at it I always hope that Mrs. Hopkins was taking artistic license and that she and her husband—both of whom are depicted sitting amidships in the huge canot de maître, the master or Montreal canoe, as it balances on the edge of the churning rapids in the instant before it shoots downstream—were actually not placed in such danger.
Because while birch bark freight canoes were the backbone of the fur trade transportation system in North America from the 17th through the 19th Century, something they definitely were not was robust. Any one of the rocks in the rapids Mrs. Hopkins depicted in her painting could have caused a catastrophic structural failure that would have led to injury and even death for the canoe’s crew and passengers.
I’ve written before about the amazing design of birch bark canoes. They proved the perfect vessels to haul trade goods to the interior of North America and then to haul the furs obtained in trade back east to be shipped to Europe. Over a period of many, many years, its Chippewa inventors refined it until the birch bark canoe was a reasonably sturdy, light-weight craft well suited for navigating waters as varied as the open water of the Great Lakes and small, swift rivers in the interior of the continent.
But while it was capable of traveling long distances in the hands of experienced canoemen, the birch bark canoe was also fragile and required almost constant maintenance. That wasn’t a problem as long as voyages were limited to regions where paper birch trees grew. But when the trade empire of first the French and later the British was extended to the lower lakes region below the line where paper birches thrive, logistical problems occurred and even more repair materials had to be carried along in the canoe itself.
At the end of each day after fur trade brigades had paddled many miles, their canoes were hauled out of the water to dry out and await minor repairs. The skin of each canoe was made up of sheets of birch bark stretched over a cedar frame, and secured with watap (tough, pliable strips split from the roots of spruce trees). The bark sheets themselves, which had been carefully stripped off large-diameter birch trees (bigger trees meant larger sheets, which meant fewer sheets, which meant fewer seams to leak), were tightly sewn together with watap as well.
When the entire canoe frame was covered with birch sheets, a mixture of spruce sap, or gum, was melted with finely ground charcoal over a low fire. The hot mixture was then painted on the seams to waterproof them.
During use, these seams worked themselves open, and so they had to be checked and re-sealed each day. On a 35-foot Montreal Canoe, the kind favored by the fur trade companies for the Great Lakes routes (and illustrated in Mrs. Hopkins’ painting), it took a lot of spruce gum to keep the water outside the canoe.
In addition to that, during a day’s paddling, a Montreal Canoe could absorb several hundred pounds of water, making it less maneuverable and, since it was sitting lower in the water, more prone to running aground. On sand bars this wasn’t much of a problem, but in a swift river or on a rocky shore, it could prove fatal.
That’s why, despite dramatic stories (and Mrs. Hopkins’ painting) to the contrary, fur traders seldom shot river rapids in their fragile canoes—one mistake in judgment could doom an entire crew and destroy tons of valuable furs or trade goods. Besides that, few voyageurs could swim (odd, given their vocations), so any accident that dumped them into especially deep or swift water was often fatal.
In reality, most canoe crews either portaged around rapids or cordelled their craft up or down rapids instead of taking the dangerous course of shooting the whitewater. (Frances Hopkins “Going up the Rapids”)
Instead of shooting them, rapids were most often bypassed by portaging. Using that technique, each canoe was completely unloaded and then carried across the portage. Then all the goods or furs were also carried across, reloaded and the voyage continued. But depending on the rapids, sometimes canoes were only partially unloaded, and then moved across by cordelling, with the crew using ropes to pull the canoe up the rapids or floating it down the swift water in a controlled descent. A couple of the crew were usually kept aboard to fend the craft off any rocks, while others on shore did the same thing using long poles.
Even working as carefully as possible, damage to fragile canoe hulls was almost inevitable. In the North Country, where birch and spruce trees were common, repair materials could readily be obtained on the spot. But down here, well south of the birch line and out west, emergency repair materials had to be carried along. The amount of those materials was therefore limited, so a catastrophic accident meant the crew was in serious trouble.
Fur trader Peter Pond found himself in exactly that situation back in the late 1700s. Pond, who left an extremely entertaining account of his trading exploits (published in Five Fur Traders edited by Charles M. Gates, Minnesota Historical Society, St. Paul, 1965), reported that he and a couple helpers paddled far up the Missouri River on a trading expedition with the Sioux. The area was, from the viewpoint of someone from the Northeast like Pond, desolate with the only trees visible being a few gaunt cottonwoods. After pulling their birch bark canoe up onto the bank to spend the night, the crew was awakened by a huge storm, as storms out on the prairie tend to be.
As Pond later recounted in his own inimitable style (he never met a word he couldn’t misspell—it makes the most sense to read it aloud), “the wind toock the Canew up in the Air Leat hir fall on the frosen flat & broke Hir in Peceis. I was then in a Sad Sittuation.” Pond and his men were forced to walk across the prairies to the nearest trading post, a trip of several arduous days on foot.
The 25-foot replica birch bark canoe crafted by Ralph Frese of the Chicagoland Canoe Base that we paddled down the rapids of the Fox River of Illinois.
Even in areas where birch trees were plentiful, shooting a rapids could be extremely chancy, even for the most experienced canoemen. Louis Jolliet, the explorer and cartographer who traveled with Father Jacques Marquette, S.J., from Michilimackinac all the way south to the mouth of the Arkansas River on the Mississippi, and back again, found that out when his canoe wrecked near Montreal in 1675.
Frances Hopkins illustrated the life of voyageurs at the end of the canoe era. By the time she was traveling the north country with her husband, who was an executive with the Hudson’s Bay Company, the changeover to Mackinaw Boats (similar to the York Boats used in the far west) and bateaus was nearly complete, which is what makes her paintings so valuable for students of the fur trade.
Shooting the rapids sounds like fun, and with modern canoes it is. We did it once in one of Ralph Frese’s fiberglass replica North Canoes, 25-feet long and similar to one in another of Mrs. Hopkins’ paintings. But the fur traders of old didn’t have the luxury of seeking a thrill. Their canoes were literally their lives and their livelihood, and couldn’t be squandered on anything so chancy as the exhilarating thrill of shooting a rapids. And as Peter Pond discovered, even that couldn’t save a trader from the occasional disaster. The trick was to learn from mistakes. And weight down your canoe at night.
Filed under Fox River, Fur Trade, Illinois History, People in History, Technology, Transportation
Tagged as Great Lakes, history, Illinois, technology, transportation, travel
Crowdsourcing the fate of the St. Charles Experiment…
From what I read on the Internet these days, crowdsourcing is all the rage among the cool kids. Apparently, you can visit a crowdsourcing web site and solicit funds to make that movie on the history of darning needles you’ve been hankering after for years, or persuade people to fund that new invention you’ve come up with to do the Popeil Pocket Fisherman one better.
Thinking about that in the shower this morning, I had an idea to try to do some crowdsourcing historical research.
So here’s the deal: Back in the 1840s, a fellow that some might have called a crackpot, but others may have called a visionary, decided to build a steam boat here in northern Illinois on the Fox River, and then sail it down to Ottawa where the Fox empties into the Illinois, down the Illinois to Grafton where it empties into the Mississippi, down the Mississippi to the Ohio, then up the Ohio and eventually all the way to the St. Lawrence River in Canada. No small plans did this gentleman make. I related the story here once before, but I never get tired of telling people about it, so I’ll let the Oct. 2, 1840 edition of the Illinois Free Trader at Ottawa lay out the entire story:
Fox River Navigation — Arrival
of the Bark “St. Charles Experiment.”
On Tuesday evening last Mr. Joseph P. Keiser and lady arrived at our steamboat landing in a beautiful bark, six tons burthen, from St. Charles, Kane county, Illinois. Mr. K. left St. Charles on the 18th inst. amid the smiling countenances of a large collection of citizens of that place who had assembled to witness his departure on this hazardous and novel enterprise. He descended Fox River without much trouble, notwithstanding the low stage of the water at present and the dam at Green’s mill, &c, might be considered by some as presenting insurmountable barriers.
The St. Charles Experiment would have steamed past Starved Rock on its voyage own the Illinois River to the Mississippi in October 1840.
The “Experiment,” we believe, is the first craft that has ever descended this beautiful stream this distance, save, perhaps, the frail bark of the Indian in days gone by. The distance from St. Charles to this place is about eighty miles by water, passing through a section of country which, in point of fertility, is not surpassed by any tract of country in the Union, and to the enterprise and exertions of Mr. Keiser belongs the honor of first undertaking and accomplishing the navigation of Fox River, which winds its meandering course through it.
The object of Mr. K’s enterprise is somewhat of a novelty. His design is to travel by water to the river St. Lawrence, in Lower Canada, by the following route: From St. Charles down Fox River to its mouth at Ottawa; thence down the Illinois to its mouth; thence down the Mississippi to the mouth of the Ohio; thence up the Ohio river to Beaver, Pa.; thence by way of the Ohio and Pennsylvania Canal to Akron, O.; thence on the Ohio Canal to Cleveland; thence on lake Erie to Buffalo, N.Y.; thence on the Welland Canal to Lake Ontario; and thence to the river St. Lawrence.
This route will doubtless prove arduous to our friend, but he is in fine spirits and considers his worst difficulties ended by having successfully descended Fox River at the present stage of the water. He has our best wishes for a safe and pleasant journey, hoping that he may be able to inform us of his safe arrival at his distant destination.
So far as I’ve been able to tell, the St. Charles Experiment is the only steamboat to have ever navigated the Fox from the river’s northern reaches to its mouth at Ottawa.
And here’s my historical crowdsourcing question: What the heck ever happened to Mr. K, his lady wife, and the St. Charles Experiment? Did they make it to the Mississippi? Did they actually steam up the Ohio to the canal system, puff through Akron, and into Lake Erie?
Perhaps some hardy researchers with access to microfilm newspaper files in towns along the route of the St. Charles Experiment will check for the period starting in early October 1840 and see if a strange craft from a town on the Illinois prairies stopped by to say hello on its journey to Canada.
I’ve wondered about the fate of the Keisers for many years now, and would like to put a “-30-“ at the end of their story. Can any of you loyal readers of historyonthefox add to the tale?
Filed under Fox River, Illinois History, Local History, People in History, Technology, Transportation
Tagged as Fox River, Great Lakes, history, Illinois, Kendall County, local history, steamboats, technology, transportation, travel
Today’s lesson, ladies: Don’t fool around with Dr. Lester
This August 16 sunset shot on Butternut Lake illustrates one reason why we head north to Wisconsin as often as we can.
Posting’s been lighter than usual due to a vacation up in the North Woods that went very well.
We picked up my fishing buddy, Paul Baumann, at the Central Wisconsin Airport and then traveled up to our cottage on Butternut Lake. The next day, Paul and my wife Sue (also a member of the Oswego High School Class of 1964) and I all headed up to the Whitecap Mountain ski area and picked up another high school buddy of ours, Jerry Rissman. And then we went up to Bayfield on Lake Superior, took the ferry over to Madeline Island, and spent the afternoon with yet another high school friend, Bill Fennell. All in all, it was a mini-high school reunion that was lots of fun.
The weather for the remaining days of vacation Up North wasn’t the best, but we did catch fish, and had a lot of fun and (as usual) great food.
Heading north in the summer to get away from it all is far from a new thing under the sun. Many of us Illinois kids went north with our parents and so came to enjoy the quiet and beauty of Wisconsin’s lakes and forests. But heading north was pretty common well before the 1950s. My dad helped a friend build a log fishing cabin on Lake Vermilion in northern Minnesota in the 1930s. And 19th Century newspaper accounts suggest getting out of Illinois during the season when corn was tasseling out and ragweed pollen was at its height was the only way to find a little relief.
Back in the 1800s, one of Oswego’s three physicians was Dr. Gilbert Lester. A native of New Brunswick, Canada, Lester suffered greatly from hay fever and in those pre-Benadryl days getting out of his adopted hometown and back to his native New Brunswick was the only way to cope. As Oswego correspondent Lorenzo Rank put it in the Aug. 29, 1880 Kendall County Record:
“Dr. Lester has gone to spend some time on the Atlantic coast in Canada and Maine for the purpose of escaping the hay fever.”
Later in the century, he favored heading north up to Lake Superior for a few summer weeks. According to the Aug. 17, 1892 Kendall County Record:
“Dr. Lester started this morning on his annual trip north to get out of the reach of the hay fever…Marquette on Lake Superior is to be the Doc’s destination.”
Lester’s first wife, Caroline Elizabeth Hunt Lester, died in January 1884, whereupon he apparently enjoyed bachelorhood—to excess, some might have said.
Dr. Gilbert Benjamin Lester in an 1888 engraving. (Little White School Museum collection)
Starting in the late 1880s, a frequent visitor to Lester’s home, where he lived with his two unmarried daughters, was Anna Brown. The daughter of a literate family from down Newark way, Anna had begun her teaching career in 1870 at the Old Stone School in Oswego and was reportedly well liked by her students and their parents.
On May 1, 1877, she took her students out for a walk to gather flowers for their May baskets. The hike led them south along the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy tracks from downtown Oswego to the woods and pastures that bordered the rail line. The children were having a good time gathering flowers when they heard the whistle of the upbound passenger train. Brown looked up and was horrified to see one of her students, little David Carpenter, frozen in fear, on the short rail bridge over Morgan Creek. The May 3, 1877 Kendall County Record reported what happened next:
“As the five o’clock train came along a little boy, named Carpenter, about nine years old, was on a railroad bridge over a ravine and became frightened. Miss Brown ran on the bridge to help him off. She saved the boy, but the engine struck her, ran over her left foot and threw her from the bridge to the creek, ten feet below.
The train was stopped, backed up, and the unfortunate lady got aboard and taken to Oswego, thence to her boarding place. Doctors were summoned, and her injuries found to be severe. The toes of the left foot were crushed, and portions of the foot had to be amputated. She was badly hurt about the back by the fall, and internal injuries are feared. Tuesday night the doctors thought she would not recover, but Wednesday morning she had rallied somewhat from the shock.”
Lorenzo Rank, in the next week’s Record, reported on the acclaim Brown was receiving in the community:
“She has been held in high esteem in this community because of her many good qualities, always active on the side of religion and good morals, is an excellent teacher, with the faculty to make herself beloved by all her scholars. It was said by the passengers that on the return to the place of the accident, the scene was very affecting, that there was a general crying and sorrow of the children, and all that first could be got out of them was ‘Miss Brown is killed;’ some adding, ‘Davie Carpenter is to blame.’ Now beside all this she is a heroine and will be more admired than ever before.”
As determined as ever, Brown recovered from the ordeal and went on with her career. Although having a limp the rest of her life and needing a stout cane to walk, she continued to teach school in Oswego and later in Chicago and finally Sandwich, where she was working when she and Dr. Lester became romantically involved. On July 12, 1893 Lorenzo Rank reported in the Kendall County Record’s “Oswego” column:
“According to report, a quiet wedding took place last week; one of our prominent widowers with a former teacher in our school, to wit: Dr. Lester and Miss Anna Brown.”
But while Dr. Lester was once again married, apparently he was loath to give up some of his bachelor habits, one of whom was Charlotte Haight, wife of prominent Oswego businessman David M. Haight.
David M. Haight’s store at the northeast corner of Main and Washington streets in downtown Oswego. Haight went bankrupt just a few weeks after Anna Brown Lester attacked the grocer’s philandering wife. (Little White School Museum photo)
Anna knew that Mrs. Haight had paid altogether too much attention to Dr. Lester for many years, and she warned the storekeeper’s wife to stay away from their home or face the consequences. “If you continue to come, you come at your peril,” she wrote in a letter to Charlotte Haight. Mrs. Haight, however, refused to stay away from the Lester home. As we’ve seen above, Anna Brown Lester was no shrinking violet and so decided on direct action, using her sturdy cane to punctuate the points of her argument. As the Oct. 12, Aurora News Semi-Weekly, reported:
“A bride of scarcely two months, jealous of her husband’s attentions to another woman, waylaid her rival Tuesday night and administered a severe thrashing with a stout cane for which offense she this morning cheerfully paid a fine of three dollars and costs….
Dr. Lester of Oswego, a widower past 60 years of age, was wed less than two months ago to Miss Anna Brown, a maiden lady of 40 summers or over. Miss Brown had lived much of the time in Oswego but of late years had been a school teacher at Sandwich.
For a few weeks after the honeymoon, all was apparently lovely in the relations of Dr. Lester and his bride. Lately observing people have noticed a slight change.
Mrs. Lester became convinced that Mrs. D.M. Haight, wife of one of the leading merchants of the town and her husband, were getting altogether too familiar. The sheep’s eyes that Mrs. H. cast at the doctor were simply unbearable and there was talk, too, that made the matter all the worse. Tuesday night, matters came to a climax.
Mrs. Lester waited in the shadow of her husband’s office and when her rival came along for the usual evening chat with the doctor, the enraged wife fell upon her with a heavy cane, which she plied with such vigorous effect that Mrs. Haight still bears the bruises.”
Two days later, in a letter to her good friend and stepdaughter, Elizabeth “Lizzie” Lester Smith, Anna noted that Mrs. Haight and Dr. Lester had been seeing each other for a decade. While she said she was mortified to be brought up before Justice Lockwood, she suggested she did not regret waling the tar out of Mrs. Haight, writing:
“Mr. L read the charge of assaulting her, striking her with a cane &c and then it was my turn to speak and I said “I did follow her from my husband’s office and struck her with a cane two or three times & she knows how many times better than I and she deserved it all.” This is about my speech. He put the fine at $3 & cost so it amounted to $4.20 — So with the talk and reports in papers it has cost me dear.”
So, anyway, a couple weeks later, D.M. Haight’s well-known Oswego store went broke, thanks to the on-going financial Panic of 1893. The Haights moved to Chicago where D.M. engaged as a traveling salesman for the Fox River Butter Company, and presumably clearing the field for more of Mrs. Haight’s amorous adventures. Dr. Lester, his health debilitated by chronic hay fever and serious eye problems—and possibly one too many women in his life—died in March 1895 at the age of 65. Anna Brown Lester had the last laugh, enjoying several more years living in Oswego to general acclaim and participating in the community’s civic affairs until her death from pneumonia in 1909.
Filed under Kendall County, Local History, Oswego, People in History
Tagged as Great Lakes, history, Illinois, Kendall County, local history, Oswego, summer, travel
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0009.json.gz/line798
|
__label__wiki
| 0.709906
| 0.709906
|
Finding Father Boland
January 16, 2017 ianhadden1955 Leave a comment
Father Frank Boland. Legend or myth?
Growing up, my mother frequently implored me to follow the wisdom of Frank Boland and his tips on effective academic study habits. I, of course, did my part and nodded unconvincingly and ignored the said study habits.
But I always wondered about this Frank Boland person whose wisdom was being force fed to me. Somehow he was connected to my family, specifically my mother’s O’Neill-Foley relations. To my recollection, his connection was not explained to me and the few older relatives that I have spoken to about him were unable to provide details on my relationship to him.
It took some sleuthing but finally I have come to know my first cousin, twice removed Father Francis John ‘Frank’ Boland, CSB, Ph.D.
Fr. Frank Boland – 1938 University of Toronto (St. Michael’s College) graduation photo
Francis John Boland was born 30 June 1916, the second son of John Boland and Alice Caroline Fitzgerald. The couple’s first son, whom they named John Lewis Boland, had been stillborn four years earlier. No doubt, the birth a healthy baby was a delight for John and Alice. They had married when both were in their mid-30s and finally with both of them in their early-40s, they were a family.
John Boland, a printer, had been born in Ireland and immigrated with his parents when he was in his early teens. Alice however had been born into an Irish Catholic family in Toronto, the youngest of nine children born to Lewis Fitzgerald and his wife Ellen Daley. One of Alice’s older sisters was Mary Jane Fitzgerald who had married John Foley and was the mother of my maternal grandmother Gertrude Ellen Foley. Finally, the family connection was making some sense. Even though my maternal grandmother was about eighteen years older than him, Frank Boland was her first cousin.
But why I wondered was Frank Boland presented to me as some sort of ‘study guru’?
While my mother knew that I seemed to have an easy aptitude for math and sciences, I really loved history. Although she never said so, she called on the name of Father Boland, our cousin, because he was an historian.
Frank Boland graduated from St. Michael’s College School (a Toronto high school under the direction of the Basilian order) and then in 1938 from St. Michael’s College at the University of Toronto. Following university graduation, Frank entered St. Basil’s Seminary for theological studies and was ordained to the priesthood on 15 August 1942 as a Basilian.
In 1941, Frank received a specialist’s certificate in history from the Ontario College of Education. He was subsequently assigned to teach high school history in Houston, Texas, Calgary, Alberta and at his high school alma mater St. Mike’s in Toronto. In 1948, Frank received his Master of Arts degree in history from the University of Detroit before heading back home to St. Mike’s high school where the 1949 yearbook records that he was Head of the History department.
Eventually, Frank Boland presented a dissertation on the ‘Early Basilian Fathers in America 1850-1860’ and was granted a doctorate in history from the University of Ottawa. Frank then joined the faculty of Assumption University in Windsor, Ontario where he founded the renowned Seminar on Canadian American Relations in 1959. Father Frank Boland held the rank of professor from 1967, just around the time my mother began urging that I follow his study tips.
In 1969, Father Boland was on sabbatical, working on his next project, a monograph of former Governor-General for Canada, Lord Stanley, and conducting research in The Netherlands. On 6 April 1969, Father Frank Boland suffered a stroke and died in Utrecht, The Netherlands at the young age of 52. His body was returned to Windsor, Ontario where a funeral mass was held on the 12th of April at Assumption Roman Catholic Church followed by internment in Assumption Cemetery.
Following his death, the December 1969 edition of the Canadian Historical Review published an obituary about Father Boland that stated “Though his contributions were many and on several levels, he always remained what he fundamentally was, an excellent teacher” who “… had a talent for making history live.”
I can only hope that I got some of those family genes.
Assumption University, Basilian Fathers, Boland, Fitzgerald, Foley, O'Neill, Ontario, St. Michael's College, University of Toronto
← Lest We Forget – The Hadden-Wagner Families Wall of Heroes
The 2017 Merner Family Reunion →
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0009.json.gz/line800
|
__label__wiki
| 0.863587
| 0.863587
|
The International Institute of Macau' s Project
IIM was created to serve the continuity of an identity - Macau' s profound identity - to which it intends to contribute with new ways of projection to the future. Fruit of a complex creation that lasted four centuries, Macau became a metropole of convergencies and ecumenism, of different cultural and religious components. But it was the ability to operate its own cultural creations that allowed Macau to generate a particular identity and to be a factor of civilization. Stage for the biggest exchange phenomenon known in history, between the European and Chinese universes, Macau was one of the pioneer centres of the unit of the world and the universal civilization. Macau's strategical an historical importance comes from its specific role: an open door of universal exchange, Macau has a much bigger dimension than its own small geography.
IIM's creation and its strategic objectives
The International Institute of Macau is a Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO), that fits juridically in the category of collective person with public utility, and that began its activity in June 1999 by organising the "Tribute Conference to Luís de Camões - Universal Poet" for the World Poet Organisation. IIM has its strategy settled over the international promotion of the cultural, social and economical identity of Macau, with the purpose of giving a significant contribution to the development of Macau S.A.R.
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0009.json.gz/line810
|
__label__wiki
| 0.608093
| 0.608093
|
Do Your Diversity Efforts Reflect the Experiences of Women of Color?
Ruchika Tulshyan
As white women continue to make gains in the American workplace, there’s a wrongful narrative that all women are succeeding compared with previous generations. But the gains for women of color haven’t been nearly as significant. Diversity and inclusion efforts too often leave out the unique experiences of women of color. To make sure those experiences are carefully considered, there are several things your company can do. Disaggregate pay data by gender and race. Analyze employee engagement surveys by race and gender. Commit to funding and supporting employee resource groups (ERGs), particularly affinity groups for black employees. Only embark on any implicit bias or diversity training that takes an intersectional approach. True diversity and inclusion can only be celebrated when all women experience equal access to opportunities to get equal pay and recognition for their work.
Image Source/Getty Images
In a previous job, Minda Harts corrected her manager who was celebrating the company for “having the most diverse leadership across the country in our industry.” When Harts, now an assistant adjunct professor at New York University, pointed out that their organization shouldn’t be celebrating their diversity numbers just yet — all their leaders were white men and white women — her manager was visibly annoyed.
Harts recalls that her manager made her feel like she was wrong for even bringing it up. “Many senior leaders are not comfortable talking about race and they are doing their talent a disservice by ignoring racial equity in the workplace,” says Harts, author of The Memo: What Women of Color Need to Know to Secure a Seat at the Table.
In 1976, five African-American women attempted to sue General Motors for discrimination, but their claims were dismissed because they weren’t covered within the existing legal framework. GM’s white female employees hadn’t experienced this particular discrimination, so the plaintiffs couldn’t sue for gender discrimination, and men of color hadn’t experienced it either, so the complaint couldn’t be covered under racial discrimination. The U.S. judicial system simply did not have the legal nuance to address experiences specifically of women of color.
More than 40 years later, I’ve seen similar issues persist across industries. While many white women have made gains in the American workplace, the gains for women of color haven’t been nearly as significant. According to McKinsey, white women hold only 19% of C-Suite positions, while women of color only hold 4% of them.
When Indra Nooyi retired from PepsiCo last year and Geisha Williams left PG&E this year, the list lost both the only Indian woman and Latina Fortune 500 leader in one fell swoop. There are no African-American women leading a Fortune 500 company currently.
It’s heartening to see more corporate leaders commit to gender equality, both through company-wide policies and pledges like Paradigm for Parity. However, many of these programs will fall short of addressing true systemic barriers to gender equality if they only propel white women ahead. A seemingly innocuous example is the large-scale adoption of casual dress cultures. Being able to dress comfortably at work sounds like a wonderful perk to have – but for women of color, who often have to repeatedly prove that they belong in corporate workplaces, dressing casually could further reinforce the stereotype that women of color aren’t leaders. Close to 50% of black and Latina scientists were mistaken for janitorial or administrative staff, found another survey. African-American women have reported facing discrimination at corporate workplaces if they come to work with their natural hair.
As organizations recognize the deeply-researched benefits of diversity at work, I see more leaders jumping headfirst into gender diversity efforts that do not consider the experiences of all women, particularly women of color. Corporate leaders need to focus on diversity and inclusion effort that take an intersectional approach, as coined by academic Kimberlé Crenshaw, to identify barriers that women of color face, due to the impact of their race and gender.
Here are some ideas on how corporations can do that.
Disaggregate pay data by gender and race. A wide body of research shows women of color experience higher pay gaps than white women. However, few organizations take a critical look at how employees are being paid by race and gender; it’s usually one or the other. PayScale’s latest report on the gender pay gap finds women of color are more likely to start at a significant pay disadvantage compared with white women, right at the beginning of their careers. This gap widens throughout their careers — and many leaders just don’t have the data to analyze the problem and begin to address it. Citigroup was recently lauded for publicly releasing their raw pay data – revealing that globally men made 29% more than women, and that the median pay for U.S. minorities is 93% of the median for white employees. There was no such data for women of color — who are impacted by both of these categories. Refusing to disaggregate this data has allowed corporations to only tell part of the story.
Analyze employee sentiment data by race and gender. Employee engagement surveys are another area where the analysis is typically only broken down by race or gender. Yet, we know that women of color in most organizations remain underrepresented and marginalized – held back by pervasive stereotypes such as the dominance stereotype for black women and submissive but highly-competent for Asian women. “If a company does an employee engagement survey, leaders have to look at the data that is specific to black women,” says Nicole Sanchez, founder and CEO of Vaya Consulting. “They’re often the most under employed and unemployed in several sectors and they’re often the most marginalized in any organization or industry.” Sanchez, whose clients are largely in the tech sector, says leaders often tell her that they don’t have enough black women at their organization to specifically design initiatives catered to that demographic. Her response? “If black women can thrive in your company, almost everybody else will be just fine.” She recommends making interventions – like gender equality programs – only after taking into consideration, the experiences of and suggestions by women of color, particularly African-American women.
Commit to funding and supporting employee resource groups (ERGs), particularly affinity groups for black employees. “Often companies have a women’s affinity group often run by white women and you see women of color beginning to leave because they don’t share the same concerns,” says Sanchez. When you address the most marginalized communities in the organization, you have a better shot at creating an inclusive environment. She also cautions against asking an employee to lead any diversity and inclusion efforts on top of their full-time work. “Give people time [out of their normal workload] to work on DEI,” she adds. One of her clients carved out 40% of an employee’s time — or two days a week — to have her work on setting up a black ERG.
Only embark on implicit bias or diversity training that takes an intersectional approach. I’m often asked to speak on implicit bias, diversity, and inclusion. One tech startup that requested my services asked that I stay away from talking about racial diversity and instead focus on gender and diversity of thought. I swiftly refused. Having any presenters, trainers, or facilitators address your organization about diversity and inclusion without mentioning the unique challenges that people of color face should be a red flag. The risks are profound; white employees may continue to remain oblivious to systemic barriers – ones they, as allies of people of color, should help dismantle. Plus, you could very well end up continuing to alienate the women of color in your organization.
Analyze opportunities for women of color to progress — and ensure your targets/goals to improve gender representation also include racial representation. Leaders must be intentional about putting as much emphasis and resources behind strategies for racial diversity as gender. “Much of the data over the last decade proves that women of color are not benefiting from these initiatives,” says NYU’s Harts. “Organizations must broaden their scope and make sure all women are not left behind–and that includes women of color.” This means, for example, that creating a target of the number of women serving on your company’s board should also include a target for how many of those members will be women of color. “Sometimes there’s a complacency when a company has a critical mass of white women in visible roles,” adds Sanchez. Interventions that help white women to succeed, like “Lean In” are counter-productive for women of color. “Ideas like advocating for yourself can work really well for white women, but no one considers those ideas in the context of the thinly-veiled race-based stereotypes like being ‘too aggressive’ or ‘hot-blooded’, which is what women of color face all the time,” Sanchez says.
It is not enough for companies to just focus on the vague goal of “advancing women” without making the effort to understand the unique challenges women of color face within the workplace. True diversity and inclusion can only be celebrated when all women experience equal access to opportunities to get equal pay and recognition for their work.
Ruchika Tulshyan is the author of The Diversity Advantage: Fixing Gender Inequality In The Workplace and the founder of Candour, an inclusion strategy firm. She is also adjunct faculty at Seattle University.
This article is about DIVERSITY
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0009.json.gz/line813
|
__label__cc
| 0.569989
| 0.430011
|
Stretch Responsibilities
Are you being pushed outside your comfort zone? In this episode of HBR’s advice podcast, Dear HBR:, cohosts Alison Beard and Dan McGinn answer your questions with the help of Jerry Colonna, a professional coach, former venture capitalist, and the author of the book Reboot: Leadership and the Art of Growing Up. They talk through what to do when you don’t feel qualified for your new role, you’re covering an absentee boss’s responsibilities, or you have been assigned to lead a team but haven’t been given formal power.
Download this podcast
Listen to more episodes and find out how to subscribe on the Dear HBR: page. Email your questions about your workplace dilemmas to Dan and Alison at dearhbr@hbr.org.
From Alison and Dan’s reading list for this episode:
The New York Times: Feel Like a Fraud? At Times, Maybe You Should by Benedict Carey — “Social psychologists have studied what they call the impostor phenomenon since at least the 1970s, when a pair of therapists at Georgia State University used the phrase to describe the internal experience of a group of high-achieving women who had a secret sense they were not as capable as others thought. Since then researchers have documented such fears in adults of all ages, as well as adolescents.”
Book: Reboot: Leadership and the Art of Growing Up by Jerry Colonna — “Take any random group of entrepreneurs, for example, and do a quick unscientific survey by asking them to raise their hands if they grew up in an environment where at least one parent had disappeared or left or was never present. Most hands will shoot up. Early promotion into adulthood is often painful and equally often a sign of an early promotion into leadership.”
HBR: Helping an Employee Overcome Their Self-Doubt by Tara Sophia Mohr — “The negative impact of that voice is tremendous. If someone on your team is hampered by a harsh inner critic, they’re likely to talk themselves out of sharing their ideas and insights. Held back by self-doubt, some of your most talented people will shy away from leading projects or teams, or put off going for the big opportunities – new clients, new business lines, innovative moves – that could help your business grow.”
HBR: Position Yourself for a Stretch Assignment by Claudio Fernández-Aráoz — “Explain very clearly why you should get the assignment. Demonstrate that you have the competence required, even if your previous experience doesn’t look too relevant. For example, a track record of effectively working across functions or units may be a relevant indicator of your ability to work in a larger global role.”
DAN MCGINN: Welcome to Dear HBR: from Harvard Business Review. I’m Dan McGinn.
ALISON BEARD: And I’m Alison Beard. Work can be frustrating, but it doesn’t have to be. We don’t need to let the conflicts get us down.
DAN MCGINN: That’s where Dear HBR: comes in. We take your questions, look at the research, talk to the experts, and help you move forward.
ALISON BEARD: Today we’re talking about stretch goals with Jerry Colonna. He’s an executive coach and former venture capitalist, and the author of the book Reboot: Leadership and the Art of Growing Up. Jerry, thanks so much for coming on the show.
JERRY COLONNA: Oh, thanks for having me. It’s a blast to be here.
ALISON BEARD: So, when you were a VC, you were often investing in unproven people, and now you’re a coach. How can you tell when someone is ready to stretch?
JERRY COLONNA: Well, usually they break out in a sweat and start shaking. [LAUGHTER] Ugh, do I really have to grow, I don’t really want to grow, oh my god, I’m growing!
ALISON BEARD: But how do you know that they’re ready?
JERRY COLONNA: I watch and see the ways in which they are responding to new assignments, and this may sound odd, the mistakes that they’re making. As a father of a friend of mine likes to say, if you’re not standing on the edge, you’re taking too much space.
ALISON BEARD: There is this inherent risk of failure though, have you seen people take stretch goals and not do them well?
JERRY COLONNA: Of course. And, but Alison, you say that like, as if failure’s the problem. You know, not to get all Zen Buddhism on you, but there’s something really, really powerful and liberating when we think about each step in that stretching towards doing something new as precisely that. And the expectation is we are going to get it wrong. That’s growth, that’s learning.
DAN MCGINN: Dear HBR: A year and a half ago I relocated with my family to a new part of the country. I took a job at a new industry, and in a role that was completely new to me. I was hired for some of the finance skills I had developed in previous jobs. Also, to put it bluntly, my new employers is a small firm in a small market, my manager was struggling to find qualified people. The roll was a bit of a step back, however, I worked hard and we made it through a novel company-wide project. It received a lot of attention from senior management, and from the board. Because of his visibility on this project, and his skills, my boss quickly moved up, creating a need for someone to take his position. He believed I could fill the role. I was very hesitant, but eventually, they offered me the job, and I didn’t feel like I could turn it down. The bump in income will help at home. The increase in responsibility scares me. Here’s what I’m worried about before I got here. I had never even seen or heard a lot of the types of work that I’m now involved in. I still have so much to learn and get up to speed on. My boss understands my concerns. He’s assured me that at least for the first year or so, things won’t change much from the way we handled the work last year and that he will help me out whenever I need it. Part of me worries that eventually, he’s going to drop something in my lap and say good luck. The reality is he’s busy. Most of the guidance I get from him is on the fly. I’m beginning to understand what people mean by Imposter Syndrome. I feel like a total fraud. It’s a fairly small office, and everyone recognizes how new I am. They have to know that I don’t have experience in this kind of technical role. I worry people will think I should not have been promoted. What can I do? Jerry, what’s your initial reaction?
JERRY COLONNA: New job, new city, new circumstances, new, new, new. Well, there’s that stretching. I’m, I’m doing things I have never done before. I’m being asked to do things I’ve never done before. The thing that occurs to me, one of the last episodes of Mad Men. Do you remember that TV show?
DAN MCGINN: Sure.
ALISON BEARD: Mm-hmm.
JERRY COLONNA: I loved that show. And, what was the name of the executive assistant who worked for Don?
ALISON BEARD: Peggy.
JERRY COLONNA: Peggy, Peggy, Peggy.
DAN MCGINN: She got promoted up, sure.
JERRY COLONNA: Right, so she gets promoted up to the ranks, and, and one of my favorite scenes is Peggy’s basically the boss, and she’s coming to Don trying to figure out what to do. And she’s just like breathless and filled with anxiety. And she’s like Don, I don’t, I don’t know what, I don’t know what to do, I don’t know what to, and he looks at her in that sort of weird sage-like way, and he says welcome to the not knowing.
ALISON BEARD: Because he’s the master of faking it till you make it. So, is that what you’re supposed to do?
JERRY COLONNA: He is not only the master of faking it till you make it, but he’s actually saying something that’s genuine and true. Which is that leading and stepping into that leadership is welcome to the not knowing.
DAN MCGINN: Yeah, I think one of the things that’s important about Imposter Syndrome is that everybody feels that way at some point.
JERRY COLONNA: Exactly.
DAN MCGINN: It’s a universal feeling, everybody thinks oh, it’s just me, I’m the only one that doesn’t know what I’m doing. No, everybody feels that way.
JERRY COLONNA: That’s right. Buried within the universality is the opportunity for your own self-growth, because wait a minute, wait a minute, so here I am in that Imposter Syndrome moment, I don’t know what the hell I’m doing, I’m worried everybody’s going to figure it out. Wait, everybody’s walking around feeling that way?
ALISON BEARD: Yeah, so just to clarify Imposter Syndrome is a term originally coined by two psychologists. It basically means having self-doubt, insecurity, worry that you’re inadequate, and it’s going to be discovered.
JERRY COLONNA: That last bit, Alison, that you just shared, that it’s going to be discovered, I think that’s really important because it’s not merely having self-doubt, but it’s having self-doubt in the midst of a bunch of people who somehow have figured out that you don’t know what you’re doing.
DAN MCGINN: So, even if this is totally normal though, it’s still not very pleasant. What constructive advice can we give him to try and reduce these unpleasant insecure feelings?
JERRY COLONNA: Well, first connect with the universality of it. Don’t fake it. Don’t walk around and pretend that you know when you, in fact, don’t know. Cause I actually think that that feeds the Imposter Syndrome.
ALISON BEARD: Absolutely. We published a great piece by Andy Molinsky at Brandeis who talks about recognizing the benefits of being a novice. You know, don’t act as if you are an expert, understand that you’re not, and then ask really smart questions.
JERRY COLONNA: Yeah, I think the, I think the most under-utilized statement in these situations is, I don’t know, I haven’t done this before, what would you do.
DAN MCGINN: I think there’s a happy medium in terms of, of advertising his lack of technical skill and his novice status. But, I think he probably wants to err on the side of acknowledging he’s not a super technical person and he’s going to need some learning curve and some help with this.
ALISON BEARD: And I think that will go a long way into his employees embracing him as a leader.
JERRY COLONNA: Can I add a corollary to this?
ALISON BEARD: Yeah.
JERRY COLONNA: When a leader, in a new situation, in a stretch goal, is able to sort of connect with the reality of what they know and they don’t know and speak truthfully from that, there’s this lovely, lovely corollary benefit that occurs called trust. Then all of a sudden you start to pull the team together and people start rooting for you.
DAN MCGINN: In terms of people rooting for him, the thing that I like most about our listener situation here is that it sounds like his boss is a really good guy, it sounds like the boss wants him to succeed, has the technical skills to help him succeed, how can our listener get the knowledge he needs from a supportive boss who’s crazy busy?
JERRY COLONNA: Well, the first thing to also, I would add, is it sounds like the boss believes in the listener.
ALISON BEARD: And there are clearly other people in the organization who feel the same way because they offered him this promotion.
JERRY COLONNA: That’s right, that’s right. And that’s a reality. I mean, we can see it because we’re not in that listener’s body feeling the panic. So, that’s the first thing is like okay, if I believe in these people, and they believe in me, then maybe this Imposter Syndrome isn’t 100% accurate. Then to walk in and say look, I know you’re really busy, to send an email or something, I know you’re really busy. Some point in the next two weeks, can I get an hour. And you just want to sort of develop that communication and that cadence, and that will go a long way to easing some of the anxiety.
DAN MCGINN: It sounds like our listener is reluctant to bother his busy boss with questions, which makes sense, you know, everybody wants to be respectful of their boss’s time. But at the same time, it’s in everybody’s best interest here for this knowledge to get transferred and for him to succeed in this. Because if he fails, it’s not just him that fails, it’s going to be problematic for the organization. He’s already said that this is an organization that really has a hard time finding qualified people. So, organizationally everybody here wants him to succeed and he needs to think about that when he’s sort of reluctantly asking for time.
ALISON BEARD: And going back to the team rooting for him, you know, he talks about it being a small office, he doesn’t talk about anyone being resentful, you know, or some rival being angry that they haven’t been promoted to the position, so I do think that he’s underestimating everyone’s support for him.
JERRY COLONNA: I think you’re right, I think you’re spot on.
DAN MCGINN: Do you think that any of the people below him in the hierarchy, the team, might have some of these skills? Instead of just looking upward up the ladder to get the training and technical know-how he needs, I wonder if he could look downward and see if the people that are on his new team might be able to transfer some of those skills.
JERRY COLONNA: That’s a great observation and insight. Those people quote below them, may, in fact, be dying to be able to share that technical knowledge. They may be looking for that opportunity to shine. And that’s also something a good leader can do.
ALISON BEARD: I also wonder whether he could find a training program, or work with a consultant, just to build those skills as rapidly as they possibly can without taking too much time from his boss should he not be able to find it within the organization itself.
JERRY COLONNA: Yeah, I’d add to that too, peer groups, getting groups of people together cross-functionally within the same organization, or even outside your own organization, but people who have similar responsibilities. That can be an enormous resource for people. But you have to be willing to admit that you don’t know something in order to get the value out of a peer relationship.
DAN MCGINN: Since part of his problem seems to be confidence here, maybe he can talk directly with the boss and say look, you know, you just, we just did this big project together that was successful when I was in my old role, is there anything we can do in the first three months in this new role I’m in that will be a success, give us a W, and maybe give me a little bit of a boost I need to feel like I’m actually qualified to do this.
JERRY COLONNA: I feel like those early wins are a great way to foster that sense of, of shared accomplishment of a goal as well.
ALISON BEARD: Is there any chance that our letter writer is right and that he has been promoted beyond his abilities?
JERRY COLONNA: Sure. And I think that that’s sort of an interesting stretch-point, right, because people are promoted beyond their abilities or promoted, let’s call it prematurely, all the time. That’s what fast-growing companies need to do. There are many people within the organization who are probably being stretched by being promoted into positions that under traditional circumstances they may not have otherwise qualified for.
ALISON BEARD: Right. I guess you can be promoted beyond your abilities, but then as long as you are on a perpetual learning path, eventually you’ll be able to handle the job no problem. I think that was another great bit of advice from Annie Molinsky that you should measure yourself not by everything that you’re getting done or how much you know, but by how much you’re learning each day, how much better are you getting.
DAN MCGINN: That’s a great point. That can almost be part of our listener’s messaging here, which is, look, I realize I’m not the perfect person for this job, but the company seems to think that I’m the best available under these circumstances, and I’m going to do my best to learn and get up to speed.
JERRY COLONNA: Yeah, I think that’s great. And what I would add to that is, and I welcome your feedback when you see the things that I could be learning and growing further around. And that just opens up all the space for growth for everybody.
ALISON BEARD: So, Dan, what are we telling our letter writer who feels like an imposter?
DAN MCGINN: Well, first he’s not an imposter. What he’s feeling is totally normal and widespread, and we think he’s really well situated here because he has a good boss, who’s invested in him, who has the know-how to help him learn the skills he needs. So, I think they need to get into a very good structured check-in kind of schedule. Don’t look upon this as a burden, this is the boss’s job, and he needs to structure a way to make time for it. At the same time, the listener should recognize that there might be other sources of know-how that he can tap into. He can look towards peers or even subordinates in the organization, some of whom may have the technical skills that he lacks. He can look outside the organization, whether it’s informally through peer organizations or whether it’s through some sort of a more formal training program. And finally, we think it would be great if he and the boss came up with a plan to get him some early wins in the new role to help develop his confidence and to help to prove to everybody that he is making progress in getting up to speed and the requirements of the job.
ALISON BEARD: Dear HBR: I’m a junior communications manager at a small but very quickly growing software company. Our director of operations is this all-star player, who’s practically running the company by herself for a few years. We’re restructuring in order to spread out the work, but her schedule is still so full, that it’s been a real problem. She frequently misses meetings and ignores emails. She comes in and out of the office so quickly that catching her in person is nearly impossible. We pride ourselves on our awesome company culture, I feel that she is detracting from it by not being present or even approachable. It seems like she doesn’t respect my time, or anyone else’s, and can’t be bothered to change her ways. This is having a negative impact on my own work as a new manager. I’ve been tasked with taking over some of her responsibilities, but I can’t meet with her to discuss expectations and transitional steps. I feel like I’m floundering. How can I succeed without knowing how, or even sometimes what she needs me to do? How can I navigate our relationship to make sure it doesn’t sour? What can I do to stay out of her way, and still deliver on my job?
JERRY COLONNA: So, the main thing that occurs to me is like our last listener, there’s an opportunity here to talk to some peers. I can almost guarantee that our listener, and this letter writer, is not the only one who’s struggling with this and that there are other people within the organization. In this case I wouldn’t even necessarily go outside yet to some of the other peers, but to really sort of gather together, and to ask people how are you handling situations, and to really talk about defining your own KPIs, to defining your own OKRs, defining your own stretch goals, and really sort of handing those back to the organization.
DAN MCGINN: Do you think it’s important for the listener to recognize that there are great things that come from being at a quickly growing start-up, but that one of the downsides of it is that people are going to be stretched, people are going to be busy, that the culture is probably a little bit less structured than General Electric or the US Army.
JERRY COLONNA: Yeah, I’m glad you asked that, Dan, because the first thing I wrote down was quickly growing. And yes, there’s definitely opportunity implicit in that, because in that constant shift and that constant challenge, oftentimes there is opportunity that gets created for people to sort of rise up and take on more responsibility, to stretch. I would go back to encouraging the listener to set up a dialogue within the organization to talk about the pros and cons of this quickly growing culture.
ALISON BEARD: I think that’s hard to ask for in this very busy environment. We’ve published, you know, research that’s showing even outside the start-up world absentee leadership is the most common form of incompetent leadership. Many managers are just too busy to be fair to their employees. You know, they’re under lots of time pressure, and so they just can’t treat employees as well as they might like to. So, this is the reality, the idea that she can change that culture or change her boss might be a stretch.
JERRY COLONNA: Oh, yeah, and a stretch in a way that’s a set up for feeling terrible. I would say there may be more of an opportunity to change the culture than there is to change the boss. You know, one of the gifts of less competent management is we have a very clear model of what we don’t want to do as a manager ourselves. And there is that opportunity in there, it’s like learning by observing, we made that point before, and observing what works and what doesn’t work.
ALISON BEARD: And how does she do that without creating sort of an us-versus-them dynamic?
JERRY COLONNA: Well, you know, it’s funny. It brings me back to my early 20’s when I was promoted early. And I remember giving one of my employees an extra week of vacation because he had a sick child and he needed some extra time at home. And I remember being chastised by the HR department, how could you do this, what do you think you’re trying to create a better organization than the rest of the organization. It’s unfortunate that that might get perceived as an us-versus-them culture, but I’d encourage our listener to be the kind of manager, to be the kind of leader that she herself would like to be led by.
DAN MCGINN: Is there an argument that what’s going on here is that simply the communication’s function at this company is not the priority and not the biggest problem that the director of operations has? Maybe, for instance, getting the software out the door, making sure customers are happy, making sure quality is there, could this director of operations actually be doing the right thing by making communications a lower priority at this moment in the start-up’s life?
JERRY COLONNA: Possibly. That doesn’t feel particularly sustainable though. I often say to a client that you’re in the process of building a company, you’re not just building a product. We’re trying to build exquisite, beautiful products and services while simultaneously building a company that can sustain that and go for the long term. And I don’t hear that latter part going on in this quote awesome culture.
ALISON BEARD: It’s clear to me that our letter writer should be more proactive. Absolutely, like you said, Jerry, in talking to her peers, but I think also in just sort of figuring out what her own priorities should be what her role is.
DAN MCGINN: I’ll go even further. On paper it doesn’t make a lot of sense to have the communications person reporting to the director of operations, those are two kinds of really disparate functions. How about our listener identifies somebody else in the organization that she would like to be her boss, that there’s some logical connection with, and say, hey, I noticed you’re so busy you’ve skipped our last five meetings together, maybe I should be reporting over to this person who has a little bit more time and makes a little bit more sense to oversee communications, what do you think?
ALISON BEARD: Tricky conversation, but a great idea.
JERRY COLONNA: Yeah, I agree. It’s a tricky conversation depending on the culture, but I do like the direction that you’re headed with that, Dan.
ALISON BEARD: One of our author Amy Jen Su says that you know, there are two questions to ask when your boss is not prioritizing your work for you, and that is what is my highest contribution, and what am I passionate about. So, where can I make the most impact in this organization? And then, I think, she can, once she sets out those goals for herself, share them with the boss, solicit feedback, but in a way that’s not as needy as she seems to be approaching it now.
JERRY COLONNA: Can I add a question to Amy’s questions?
JERRY COLONNA: What kind of leader am I? And I think that there’s a self-reflective component in that. Or what kind of adult do I want to be? What kind of company do I want to work for? I think that those kinds of self-orientation questions can be super helpful in these kinds of situations, especially when your, your supposed manager is absent, right? Cause it puts it back into your very capable hands and says, okay, I lack a model, so I’m going to be my model, I’m going to be that person that I need to be. And I think that’s super empowering, even in the midst of the whole chaos here.
DAN MCGINN: Are there some people who are just not cut out for the chaos that you’re going to experience at some point in the growth of the start-up? Could this just be a personality kind of issue for her?
JERRY COLONNA: Sure. Almost implicit in every start-up is a varying degree of dysfunctionality. And then there’s, you know, and I’ve unfortunately had to be in these situations, there are companies where, you know, there are fist fights breaking out on the floor. And what individuals have to do is have to look, they have to look inward and say is this really for me, is this the company I want to work for. And if it’s not, then I really have two kinds of choices. Can I alter that company, can I alter the trajectory of that culture or not, by my growth or my agency, or is it time for me to actually find a different place.
DAN MCGINN: Alison, what’s our message to this listener?
ALISON BEARD: So, first we completely understand her frustration. Her boss is supposed to be helping her make this transition and is actually an impediment. At the same time, she’s working in a really fast-moving environment, her boss is probably always going to be extremely busy, and this is why she’s getting more responsibility. So, we think that she should talk to her peers about how they’re handling it, how the work is happening, and how they can help each other. We also think that she should think about her own goals and priorities and be proactive. She should ask what value she adds, and what kind of leader she wants to be. And then she should communicate what she’s going to do to her boss, and maybe not even expect a reply. And last, we’d just like her to consider the broader context. How important is communications to the company right now? Maybe she could even look at the org chart and figure out whether there’s another team where she more logically fits.
DAN MCGINN: Dear HBR: I work in the tech field. I’ve recently changed jobs going from a huge organization to a much smaller one. I’m not the most senior engineer in my immediate team of five. My manager wants me to provide technical leadership to the team. Before I joined, the other four members had been working on the project for about four months. They’re a very smart bunch, even though some of them are barely out of college. I’ve never been in a similar situation before. I’ve either joined an established team with more senior engineers who helped me out, or I started from scratch and had other engineers join in later. This is the first time I’m expected to come in and lead from behind. My manager has not given me useful guidance on this. What should I do?
JERRY COLONNA: Well, I love this question because there’s, there’s an implicit understanding about leadership that I think is somewhat false, that I think that leadership is only coming from one position, the front. And I applaud the organization first of all for being able to ask people at various levels to lead in a particular conversation. This is really good training. You know, earlier we made reference to the notion of the battlefield promotion, that military notion of someone all the sudden being thrust into a leadership position. One of the great things a culture to do is to give people small bits of leadership opportunity throughout the organizational structure. So, hats off to the manager who asked our listener to step in.
ALISON BEARD: So, one tension I see here is that it’s unclear whether the manager has told the rest of the team that he wants our letter writer to be their leader. It’s unclear whether he has any formal leadership role. So, how does he navigate that?
JERRY COLONNA: That’s a great point. I think one of the first things to do would be to clarify that that has been communicated, because otherwise, the listener is kind of in danger of being perceived as a little bit arrogant, a little bit assuming too much. So, that would be the first thing I would ask for.
DAN MCGINN: This kind of leadership seems a little bit tricky cause it doesn’t sound like these people are going to report to him, it doesn’t sound like he’s going to have a lot of authority, it sounds more like sort of a coaching, sort of wisdom passing on, this technical leadership, but not being the manager. Is that a particularly tricky role?
JERRY COLONNA: I think it is, but I think it’s a particularly rewarding role as well.
DAN MCGINN: Why?
JERRY COLONNA: Because it’s leadership without power.
ALISON BEARD: That sounds, does not sound rewarding to me. [LAUGHTER]
JERRY COLONNA: Don’t be so terrified. It’s leadership that stems from the internal capacity of the individual. It stems from kind of the way in which the individual holds themselves. The manager who is asking for this is seeing something in our listener that that listener may not see, and that’s really fascinating to me. They’re kind of calling forth leadership with a lower case L, and they’re being asked to take that position, without, you know, having the dint of some sort of organization chart that says I’m the boss.
ALISON BEARD: There does seem to be a generational element here too. You know, he’s an older person coming into an existing team of younger people, and A, trying to break his way onto the team, but now being tasked with leading them, how does he get over the perception that he’s just the old guy coming in and telling everyone what to do?
JERRY COLONNA: I would embrace the gravitas that comes from wisdom and life experience. And gravitas is a great word, it’s I’m here. I would not pretend and fake that I have authority, that I might not have authority.
DAN MCGINN: In this situation, it seems like figuring out whether he wants to have a push system or a pull system would be important. Is his role going to be to proactively teach and correct and instruct, or is it more to wait for questions to come up and be kind of like the local help desk that the younger people can come to? Sort of figuring that dynamic out seems like it would be important to be effective and to fit in.
ALISON BEARD: I vote for pull.
DAN MCGINN: You vote for pull?
ALISON BEARD: Yeah, I think he should get to know people, and then explain that his door or cubicle is always open.
JERRY COLONNA: Can, can I vote for the middle way?
DAN MCGINN: Sure, how does that work? Tell us.
JERRY COLONNA: I’m a Buddhist and I can’t help but vote for the middle way. I would advise them to sort of listen a heck of a lot, so I’m like you, Alison, right, to sort of lean in on that, but then I would use the word coax, and to create conditions for people to sort of come forward. I wouldn’t necessarily take the posture of imposing wisdom, let me tell you how to do it. Cause I think that that can create all sorts of negative dynamic. But ask some really, really powerful questions that come from that place. And the questions should be open and honest to sort of coax and invite more participation.
ALISON BEARD: Yeah, I think that’s great advice. You know, when I’m thinking about people starting a new job and particularly taking new leadership roles, I always go to Michael Watkins, author of The First 90 Days, and he talks about questions that you can ask right out of the starting gate just to get people aligned. They are what will we accomplish, why are we doing it, how are we going to do it, and who’s going to do what. And just to set the team up for that sort of group discussion, to allow people to have input, but then it just opens a conversation for all of these technical issues that they need to figure out together. With our letter writer’s leadership.
JERRY COLONNA: Yeah, I mean, I’d add questions like, specifically for this listener, how would we know that the project’s succeeded? What would the benefit to the organization be if the project succeeded? What resources would we need in order to accomplish this, right? And the whole idea is early on in that process to kind of coax an imagination, and to pull the team together to jointly come up with that image.
ALISON BEARD: Yeah, Dan you talked earlier about early wins, and I think that is critical here, you know, demonstrating that he’s adding value by pulling the team together and getting them to execute on something sort of more quickly or more efficiently, or at higher quality than they would have otherwise.
JERRY COLONNA: It does not feel like leading from behind, what we’re describing, it feels like it’s leading from shoulder to shoulder standing together, right, leaning into the work that’s in front of us. And to me, yeah, that’s harder. To your point earlier Alison, that’s harder, cause you’re leading by dint of your gravitas, not necessarily by dint of some sort of De Juro organizational structure. You’re the boss, therefore you make the decision. I think leadership that’s like that just inculcates a much healthier culture and allows everybody to step up and grow up.
ALISON BEARD: On a more personal level though, how does he step in and make all of these people feel like a team, feel like peers, especially when there’s an age gap.
JERRY COLONNA: My default answer in all those questions is actually to model it themselves.
DAN MCGINN: I wonder if there are structural things they can do as a team to try and create more of a culture of teaching. For instance, I’ve heard of organizations, whether you are programmers or sales people where you create a structure where people come in and talk about, you know, a sale that we just made, and what the keys to it were, and what the lessons that could be learned from this particular closing this deal were, or if you’re a software programmer, how you sort of cracked this stuff problem. Basically giving people a forum to talk about a recent success, try to draw some lessons from it, and put everybody into this role of teacher, at least for a few minutes.
JERRY COLONNA: Yeah, I mean one of my favorite tactics is the notion of a blameless post-mortem. And it’s especially helpful for a failure where you are analyzing what happened, what were the processes by which decisions got made, what were the questions we were seeking answers to, and how did things unfold. And the most important piece of that is the notion of not seeking blame, but really creating a learning retrospective. You know, Dan, you were speaking about the successes, but I think that here is where you can create a culture where okay, let’s examine what went wrong, understand what happened, and then go back in and re-engineer processes and organizational structure to be able to respond to that.
ALISON BEARD: And I don’t actually think that it has to be as formal as you all are describing. I think that our letter writer can start to create a learning culture just by demonstrating that he wants to learn from his colleagues too, even though he has more experience, and maybe more skills, surely there are elements of their work that they are expert at, that he can take away lessons from them.
JERRY COLONNA: Really well said. I agree.
ALISON BEARD: So, Dan, what are we telling our listener?
DAN MCGINN: So, leadership as our listener recognizes, doesn’t only come from the front. And he’s being asked to provide leadership in a different kind of structure than he’s used to, so this is a good thing, this is a growth opportunity for him, and hats off to the organization for setting up this kind of structure. It does take a little bit of getting used to, you’re leading without a lot of formal power, without a lot of formal authority. The leadership mechanism here will probably feel a little bit more like coaching. We think you should utilize his experience, his age, his gravitas. He should listen and ask a lot of questions and coax, and try and create an environment and a mechanism where people will bring him questions and problems, rather than sort of intrusively getting into their business all the time. We think that it would also be great if he created a format for a learning retrospective so that the whole team feels like they’re sharing and teaching other rather than having a very sort of top-down environment. Lastly, it’s important in this kind of soft leadership environment that he not fake authority that he doesn’t have, and that he work appropriately to be more of an advisor than a boss.
ALISON BEARD: Great. Jerry, thanks so much for talking with us today.
JERRY COLONNA: Can I just say this was a blast, guys?
ALISON BEARD: That’s Jerry Colonna. He’s an executive coach, and his new book is entitled Reboot: Leadership and the Art of Growing Up.
DAN MCGINN: Thanks to the listeners who wrote us with their questions. Now we want to know your questions. Send us an email with your workplace challenge and how we can help. The email address is DearHBR@HBR.org.
ALISON BEARD: On our next episode we’ll be talking with Joan Garry about the challenges of working at a non-profit.
JOAN GARRY: At the end of the day, when you work at a non-profit, you’re not motivated by that big fat year-end bonus, cause it ain’t coming.
DAN MCGINN: I’m Dan McGinn.
ALISON BEARD: And I’m Alison Beard. Thanks for listening to Dear HBR:.
This article is about CAREER PLANNING
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0009.json.gz/line814
|
__label__wiki
| 0.811164
| 0.811164
|
Sierra Hull’s “Weighted Mind”
By editor on January 15, 2016 • ( 2 Comments )
Innovation has long been an important part of the musical endeavour, and it’s often the first person to happen upon a new idea—rather than the people who refine it—that remains foremost in our minds. That’s certainly true in bluegrass, and Bill Monroe will remain the king of the genre even when a majority of the bluegrass audience isn’t familiar with his recordings. Becky Buller includes the Monroe penned “Southern Flavor” on her recent album, though it’s likely that the majority of her audience won’t recognize it for what it is. Monroe, even if listeners aren’t aware of it, continues to be a force within the music.
That’s fine of course. Where the idea of innovation can start to get away from us is when it exerts too much of an influence on the music that other people are making, or becomes too much of a touchstone for the production and the consumption of musical ideas. In the world of mandolin, the force that looms large these days is Chris Thile. He’s an innovator extraordinare, and he’s also highly visible. Ask anyone to name a mandolin player, and if they can name one, he’s it. Most would then be hard pressed to offer a second.
His music is as distinctive as his stage persona—he’s as remarkable an entertainer as he is a musician. In the concert footage of the performance of “The Auld Triangle” Thile gets laughs with nothing more than a well timed tilt of the head, a glance, an upraised thumb, or a shrug, as after the line “Humpy Gussie was creeping.” That’s because everyone in the audience is fixated on him. Rightfully so. He’s just that compelling a performer, with an instinct for stagecraft that has been honed over the arc of a long, busy career. It looks effortless, of course, and that’s part of it too. Still, that shrug got a laugh from an audience of 1500 people—it’s not everyone who can command so large a room with so little.
It’s that command and confidence that affords him room for his musical innovation. His audience will follow him anywhere, and he rewards their trust—he takes them all over the place, and for the most part we’re all grateful for it. Even in the New York Times his playing is still discussed as bluegrass mandolin—with the ubiquitous references to Bill Monroe—though he’s come so far from that point that the reference doesn’t really have any meaning. He’s very nearly created his own genre. Perhaps the only thing it lacks is a name.
What’s unfortunate, perhaps, is that other players are left to deal with the elephant in the mandolin room—Thile—in the awareness that they are invariably going to be compared to him. The choices are to tag along, or to give him wide berth. On her latest release, Sierra Hull has chosen to tag along. She’s made motions toward Thile’s style of playing and composition before, though never as blatantly as this.
She does it masterfully, of course. She’s long been worth our attention, even at a tender age (that becomes a comparison, too: both Thile and Hull are prodigies). Here she uses the light, clean touch that we associate with Thile, creating music that’s made with the delicacy that a microphone can afford. Monroe was the Ethel Merman of the bluegrass world, trading tonal quality for projection. Hull can do that, though here she’s the opposite: clean, clear, intimate. On “Weighted Mind” she varies between muddy and clean, using all the paints in the box, though it’s still very close music, full of all the dissonance and complexity that has become Thile’s signature sound. On “Stranded” and “Queen of Hearts/Royal Tea” Hull also writes with the autobiographical tone that Thile does so well. Or, if we’re being totally honest, better.
Sadly, that type of material feels like a distraction, as if the force of Thile and the genre that the Punch Brothers have defined has been too seductive, too overbearing. On this album, the best tracks are the ones where Hull remains closer to her own persona, or at least the persona that she’s presented in her music in the past. “Lullaby” uses a more familiar structure, one which allows her voice to really do what it does best.
One of the best things I’ve heard from Hull in the last while is her duet with Mac Wiseman on “You’re a Flower Blooming in the Wildwood” released in 2014. There her playing is adept, sympathetic, and entirely authentic. She’s supporting Wiseman, and while her playing and singing wouldn’t thrill a Vegas audience, it does thrill a listener who knows what she’s doing. Her solo is straightforward and, it’s the economy that exposes it for what it is: masterful. It’s that authentic voice that I hoped to hear on Weighted Mind. Instead, it feels like she’s wrestling with someone else’s persona rather than simply relaxing and being herself.
It’s personal
Rick Shide says:
Ask most Americans to name a mandolin player, and his is the first name that will come up. Many, I’d imagine, would be hard pressed to offer a second.
huh? I would guess that only 5% of Americans can name ANY mandolin player
Yes, sadly, you’re quite right. Everyone can name a Kardashian, of course. Sigh. Anyway, I’ve altered the wording.
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0009.json.gz/line816
|
__label__cc
| 0.581147
| 0.418853
|
Chris Coole, “The Road to the River”
By editor on October 11, 2018 • ( Leave a comment )
In the world of magic there are the big stage illusions—cutting a person in half, making an elephant disappear—and there is table magic—cards, coins, cups and balls. The two are both thought of equally as magic, but they are of such different orders as to be different undertakings entirely. But to the connoisseur, the close work takes the day—it’s smaller, more intimate, requires a greater facility, and is often more meaningful.
This latest release from Chris Coole is an example of the table magic of the musical world: seemingly limited resources are manipulated to reveal an impossible range of emotion. It requires close attention, and it rewards that attention. Not everything here is new. Most of the material has been released prior, with a number of tracks recorded for this project in particular. The reason is because it’s a fundraiser for the Elk River Alliance, which is great of course. But even if you know these tunes, the project nevertheless feels new. The various pieces speak to each other, and sit comfortably within a new frame.
Coole is an avid fly-fisher, and it seems some of the other musicians that are featured here are too, including Arnie Naiman and, if new to it, fiddler John Showman. The project is a testament to his passion for fishing. Coole brings the full range of experience to the material, from the contemplation of “Rainbow on the Moormons”—the bowed bass there is a study in doing a lot with little—to the humour of “Hell to Pay,” a children’s tune for the child in all of us. Throughout, it’s a window onto worlds that we don’t see every day—clawhammer banjo and fly fishing—though it will make you wish you could.
Kadeen’s story
Balsam Range, “Mountain Overture”
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0009.json.gz/line817
|
__label__wiki
| 0.859729
| 0.859729
|
Home » Digital Marketing News » Women’s Soccer: It’s Time For More Big Brands To Take Notice
Women’s Soccer: It’s Time For More Big Brands To Take Notice
May 31, 2019 Kathy Bryan
The FIFA Women’s World Cup begins June 7 in France, with the U.S. Women’s National Team (USWNT) returning as reigning champions. With a target of 1 billion viewers set by the FIFA President, Gianni Infantino, the Women’s World Cup promises to be a global event and one more step forward for women’s soccer building an audience base that is ready achieve a new level of importance and be leveraged by big brands.
Women’s Soccer Has A Long History Of Ups And Downs
It’s been a long road for women’s soccer. Despite the U.S. earning gold three times in the Women’s World Cup and four times in the Olympics, the popularity of women’s soccer has been inconsistent throughout the years. For readers who want to review the multi-decade journey of women’s soccer, continue below. For those who’d rather skip ahead to learn how women’s soccer is showing significant signs of popularity gains, click here.
1991 FIFA Women’s World Cup: Unnoticed Success
The inaugural FIFA Women’s World Cup was held in 1991 in China. The U.S. roster was filled with stars-to-be, including Mia Hamm, Kristine Lilly, Julie Foudy, Brandi Chastain and Michelle Akers. Collectively, they took home the gold, but few back home paid attention.
1995 FIFA Women’s World Cup: The Consecration Of Women’s Soccer
According to the FIFA website, “If China 1991 was the innovation, Sweden 1995 was the consecration of women’s football [soccer] at the highest level.” In addition to the global event, won by Norway, the 1995 Women’s World Cup acted as the qualifier for the next year’s Olympic games ― the first time women’s soccer would take the Olympic field.
1999 FIFA Women’s World Cup: The U.S. And A Sports Bra Take Center Stage
In 1999, the Women’s World Cup was hosted by the U.S., and the home team earned the gold. Brandi Chastain scored the winning goal with a shootout penalty kick, and, as described by Nina Mandell for USA Today in 2013, “in what became perhaps the most famous accidental [Nike] sports bra advertisement in history [Brandi Chastain] lifted up her shirt in excitement as she slid into the grass and lifted her arms in celebration.”
“I knew it as soon as I saw it. We all did,” Mary Buckheit of ESPN wrote ten years after the sports bra moment, “We knew right then and there that it was a watershed moment. Chastain’s epic, unscripted soccer celebration is our lifetime’s seminal moment in women’s athletics.”
U.S. women’s soccer, both with their gold and with the unexpected cover shot, had entered a new era of popularity. “Their [the USWNT] cultural significance was compared to Billie Jean King with this asterisk: America had other great individual female athletes before,” explained Johnette Howard for ESPN in 2011, “but there had never been a women’s team like this.”
Women’s United Soccer Association: A Story Of Lacking Corporate Support
Following the excitement of the 1999 gold medal win, the Women’s United Soccer Association (WUSA) was quickly announced. Premiering in 2001, the league boasted top stars from the 1999 champion team, including Mia Hamm and Brandi Chastain, and launched the careers of future stars, including Abby Wambach.
The WUSA was hoping to attract eight corporate sponsors, each paying $2.5 million. Only two sponsors – Hyundai and Johnson & Johnson – signed on at that level, resulting in the demise of the league.
In 2003, just five days prior to the opening game of the Women’s World Cup and just months after LeBron James signed a $90 million endorsement contract with Nike (at the time, the largest deal in Nike history), the WUSA announced it would cease operations due to lack of corporate sponsorship.
2003 FIFA Women’s World Cup: Under A Shadow
Originally planned to be in China, the Asian SARS outbreak resulted in the 2003 Women’s World Cup returning to U.S. soil. Although television audiences reached new highs for women’s soccer in Germany and Sweden, the tournament was held under a shadow of disappointment for U.S. women’s soccer fans, especially season ticket holders of WUSA teams. Despite indicators that women’s soccer was becoming more popular around the world, the loss of the WUSA raised uncertainty regarding how that popularity could be harnessed to build a year-round fan base.
2007 FIFA Women’s World Cup: Goal Keeper Controversy Goes Viral
For those who remember, the 2007 Women’s World Cup is known as the tournament with the goal keeper controversy. Then USWNT coach Greg Ryan benched Hope Solo in a strategic decision that placed prior first-string goal keeper Briana Scurry on the field. The U.S. suffered its worst loss in team history, and Hope Solo took center stage with a controversial post-game interview statement: “There’s no doubt in my mind I would have made those saves.” Solo’s reaction went viral, and women’s soccer remained in the news for a time after the tournament ended.
Women’s Professional Soccer: Another 3-Season League
In 2009, the Women’s Professional Soccer (WPS) team launched, using social media and grassroots marketing to engage fans. Reserve players tweeted throughout certain games and teams engaged with fans at local venues to make community connections.
Despite efforts, the WPS folded after just three seasons due to a limited team-specific fan base and disappointing corporate sponsorship volume. But the efforts were not all for naught. Despite faltering numerous times, there was momentum behind the game. Women’s soccer was about to take hold in America and beyond.
Women’s Soccer Is Now Showing Signs Of Extended Popularity Gains
Twenty years after the sports bra incident, women’s soccer is showing signs of extended popularity gains, including bigger fan bases, support for equity pay and global brand support.
National Women’s Soccer League: Seven Seasons In And Going Strong
Launched in 2013, the National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL) is entering its seventh season this year, with all games available on Yahoo! Sports after ending a prior partnership with A+E Networks. “NWSL is the first women’s soccer league in the U.S. to continue operation past its third campaign,” said Lucy Hartwell of Front Office Sports, “a testament not just to the management and operation of the league itself but also a growing interest in the sport and appreciation of the women’s game.”
Although not big by typical professional league standards (there are only nine teams in the league), corporate sponsors, including Verizon, Coppertone, Army National Guard, Microsoft and Nike, have played a role in its success. Local sponsors, including Conservice, a local utility company in Utah have also played a part in financially supporting the growth of the NWSL.
2015 FIFA Women’s World Cup: Sporting The Most Viewed Soccer Game In U.S. History
The 2015 Women’s World Cup, hosted by Canada, included 24 teams ― up from 16 teams in 2011. In the finals, the U.S. defeated Japan to win the gold medal in front of a record-breaking audience.
764 million in-home TV viewers watched at least one minute of a World Cup game.
555.6 million TV viewers watched at least three minutes of a game ― up 33% from 2011.
There were 7,781 hours of broadcast coverage throughout the tournament ― up 31% from 2011.
86 million fans watched games online, including from mobile devices.
In the U.S., 23 million people watched the gold-medal game, resulting in the largest TV audience in U.S. history for any soccer game (across both genders).
The game reached a Twitter audience of 11.17 million people ― topped that year only by Super Bowl XLIX, the NFC Championships (Green Bay Packers vs. Seattle Seahawks) and the Floyd Mayweather Jr. vs. Manny Pacquiao fight.
Search volume was almost double in 2015 compared to 2011, according to Google.
The viewership of the 2015 final Women’s World Cup game was comparable to other big sporting events, including Game 7 of the 2014 World Series.
Pay Equity: USWNT Bringing Popularity To The Cause And The Sport
On International Women’s Day, 28 members of the USWNT filed a lawsuit alleging gender discrimination. The lawsuit is based on the premise that the U.S. Soccer Federation (USSF) asks both men and women to play the same game on the same size field with the same rules, but they pay women less than men.
According to the USWNT gender equity lawsuit, “The pay for advancement through the rounds of the World Cup was so skewed that, in 2014, the USSF provided the USMNT [U.S. Men’s National Team] with performance bonuses totaling $5,375,000 for losing in the Round of 16, while, in 2015, the USSF provided the USWNT with only $1,725,000 for winning the entire tournament. The USWNT earned more than three times less than the USMNT while performing demonstrably better.”
Earlier this year, the Norwegian Football Association and the New Zealand Football Association each announced equal pay for men and women. Meanwhile, despite a statement about their “unwavering commitment” to the USWNT, the USSF neglected to close the gender pay gap and gave brands an opportunity to step up to create equity.
In March, Adidas announced that its sponsored players on the winning Women’s World Cup team will receive the same performance bonus as their male counterparts.
In a move to “champion women,” on Equal Pay Day (April 2), LUNA Bar announced they will provide an additional $31,250 per player selected for the USWNT to ensure they make roster bonuses equal to men’s.
Though the USWNT lawsuit is about gender equity, its effectively driving up the team’s popularity and ability to attract funds from global and female-focused brands.
2019 Women’s World Cup: Poised To Reach New Heights
The spotlight is now on France as the Women’s World Cup approaches. As of April, 720,000 tickets had been sold, according to FIFA. And, in the U.S., all games will be available live on FOX Sports and the FOX Sports App.
The main sponsors of the Women’s World Cup represent an impressive roster of leading brands: Adidas, Coca-Cola, Hyundai/Kia, Qatar Airways, Visa and Wanda, a Chinese conglomerate. In addition, Nike is sponsoring 14 national teams, Adidas is sponsoring six national teams and Puma, Umbro and Warrix are each sponsoring one national team. It seems national brands are finally catching on to the appeal of women’s soccer.
According to Caroline Parry of The Drum, “This surging interest in women’s football, and for that matter, the full spectrum of women’s sport, has been a long time coming, and there is still a long way to go.”
Outside of their official Women’s World Cup sponsorships, some of the top sponsors are leveraging the Women’s World Cup excitement:
Visa launched their “One Moment Can Change The Game” campaign, sharing stories about women soccer stars.
The Nike “Dream Crazier” campaign, launched during the Oscars as a sequel to their “Dream Crazy” spot with Colin Kaerpernick, was intended as a celebration of women in sport and featured some members of the USWNT.
Nike unveiled the kits of their 14 sponsored teams during a global event at the Palais Brongniart in March. Each team’s kit was specifically designed for female teams for the first time ever. (In the past, the women’s kits were just scaled-down versions of the men’s kits.)
“Right now, we are seeing incredible momentum for women in sport, as athletes leading a movement of health and wellness,” explained Amy Montagne, Vice President and General Manager of Global Categories at Nike. “We are more committed than ever to using our brand as a catalyst, celebrating athletes, supporting sports and building the best products for women. The landscape of sport is expanding, and Nike is invested in inspiring the next generation of female athletes.”
For the USWNT specifically, sponsorships have been sold to Nike, Gatorade, Make A Wish and Dove. P&G is also a sponsor of the USWNT, with co-captain Alex Morgan acting as their brand ambassador.
Women’s Soccer Popularity Is Much More Significant Than Most Realize
More than 2 million people follow the USWNT on Twitter. The men’s team has comparable, but slightly lower, follower volume. According to Twitter, 60% of Twitter football fans are planning to watch the Women’s World Cup. And, based on a Nielsen study, 43% of global soccer fans are interested in women’s soccer. This last estimate equates to a fan base of 105 million. With FIFA’s goal of 1 billion viewers for this year’s Women’s World Cup, clearly the women’s soccer viewer base is significantly higher.
While the USWNT has built a following as a unit, some of the players are downright stars. Alex Morgan has 3.56 million followers on Twitter. Retired players Syndey Leroux Dwyer and Hope Solo are also followed by millions. And there is a long list of current and retired players – including Morgan Brian, Julie Ertz, Mia Hamm, Ashlyn Harris, Tobin Heath, Ali Krieger, Carli Lloyd, Christen Press, Christie Rampone, Megan Rapinoe, Becky Sauerbrunn and Abby Wambach – who each have hundreds of thousands of followers. Combined, these 15 women have a Twitter following that tops 12 million.
And though not on the USWNT because she’s still too young, soccer star Olivia Moultrie – age 13 – already has more than 100,000 followers on Instagram and a Nike endorsement valued at $300,000. “It’s just a shift in women’s sports,” Moultrie’s agent Spencer Wadsworth of the Wasserman sports agency said of the endorsement. “You see it more and more now where women’s soccer is catching up to the men’s side, and there’s more opportunities for them.”
Who Is The Women’s Soccer Audience?
During the Women’s World Cup, it seems the entire U.S. population becomes fans of the sport. The same is true when our women are leading during the Olympic soccer tournaments.
The rest of the year, the women’s soccer audience is difficult to define, and there is limited public information available on this topic. Broadly, the women’s soccer audience includes:
Soccer fans
Soccer players, especially girls
Families, especially including those with parents who previously played soccer
The Inconsistent Popularity Of Women’s Soccer Is Being Addressed
The ups and downs of women’s soccer viewership make it challenging for brands to calculate future ROI for women’s soccer sponsorships. The 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup promises to be a well-watched global event. Next year’s Olympic soccer tournament should also draw well, especially since women’s soccer has taken off in host country Japan. But 2021 and 2022 are gaps for global women’s soccer events.
COPA90 Has Made An Investment In Creating Continuous Visibility For Women’s Soccer
COPA90, the London-based, self-appointed “home of global football fan culture,” recently announced their first Global Executive Director of the Women’s Game. Rebecca Smith, former New Zealand soccer player, has been tasked with “integrating women’s football [soccer] across the whole of COPA90’s business. This initiative is part of the COPA90 “drive to give the women’s game visibility and ensure that women’s football [soccer] is part of the conversation 365 days a year.
Now Is The Time For Big Brands To Invest In Women’s Soccer
In comparison to other marketing opportunities, women’s soccer sponsorships can be a steal, because the sport is seeking both the financial investments and the big-name prestige that comes from strategic partnerships.
Especially for brands looking to make emotional connections with women and young children, women’s soccer sponsorships can have tremendous value. The brands investing in women’s soccer are seen as leaders and supporters of the women’s movement. They’re recognized for their roles in advancing the sport of women’s soccer and helping young girls and women follow their dreams.
But tournament, league and team sponsorships are not the only way to leverage the growing popularity of women’s soccer. Especially during the upcoming Women’s World Cup, find an opportunity to be part of the women’s soccer conversation. Learn more about the sport and the players, discover what makes women’s soccer and its fans unique and publicly support the movement.
In the words of Mia Hamm, “I am building a fire, and every day I train, I add more fuel. At just the right moment, I light the match.” For brands targeting women, it’s time to light the women’s soccer match, as this fan base can no longer be ignored.
Looking For Innovative Ways To Attract Women To Your Brand?
Interested in learning more about men’s soccer? Click here to read “Soccer Scores Big In The U.S.: A Look Into The Audience Causing The Sport’s Rising Popularity And Marketing Potential.”
Click here to read about the best advertising campaigns from the 2018 FIFA World Cup.
Kathy Bryan is the Senior Vice President of Corporate Marketing and Communications at Digital Media Solutions (DMS), the fastest-growing independent digital performance marketing company. In this role, Kathy is responsible for all aspects of marketing and communications for DMS and its subsidiary brands. Since its inception, DMS has evolved into an award-winning, full-service performance marketing company demonstrating incredible year-over-year growth which has earned recognition on the Inc. 5000 list in 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017 and 2018.
Follow on Linkedin Visit Website More Content by Kathy Bryan
Brands Can Create Emotional Connections That Last A Lifetime
By tapping into consumer’s emotions and memories, marketers can create lasting brand recognition and increa...
The Modern-Day Banking Experience: Brick & Mortar Vs. Digital
Mobile banking has increased in popularity, which should motivate marketers to implement strategies that ap...
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0009.json.gz/line825
|
__label__wiki
| 0.840319
| 0.840319
|
Netflix's 1980s Scifi Throwback Stranger Things Is Must-(Binge-)Watch TV
Filed to: STRANGER THINGSFiled to: STRANGER THINGS
DUFFER BROTHERS
All images: Netflix
Stranger Things—an eight-part Netflix series that debuts July 15—is set in the 1980s and is heavily influenced by Stephen King and Steven Spielberg works of the era, including E.T., Firestarter, It, Stand By Me, and Poltergeist. Heavily, heavily influenced. Is that a bad thing? Certainly not when it’s this much fun to watch.
The story begins on November 6, 1983, in the small town of Hawkins, Indiana. The only interesting thing about Hawkins is that its outskirts are home to a mysterious laboratory operated by the Department of Energy, a place that’s dripping with Cold War paranoia and some very weird science. In Stranger Things’ first moments, we witness something break free from the facility and cross paths with young Will Beyers as he’s bicycling home from a heated Dungeons & Dungeons campaign.
The disappearance of Will Beyers—which is also the title of Stranger Things’s first episode—is the crisis that sets everything in motion. The kid-goes-missing scenario is one that we’ve seen countless times before, on TV and in movies; the kid-with-creepy-powers trope, which takes the form of a girl who turns up in Hawkins after Will vanishes, is also a well-traveled path. But being so reminiscent of the works listed above (especially E.T.), as well as The Goonies, Carrie, and others, is one of Stranger Things’ greatest strengths.
This familiarity is a deliberate choice. The Duffer Brothers (whose previous credits include writing episodes of Wayward Pines) wrote and directed nearly every episode with the goal of crafting “a love letter to the cult classics of the ’80s,” according to Netflix’s official description. The nostalgia factor is huge: the retro theme music and soundtrack choices, carefully-chosen props and decor, nerdy pop-culture references—even the casting of 1980s and 1990s icon Winona Ryder as Will’s frantic mother has throwback appeal.
All of this feels authentic rather than gimmicky, for the most part, and it complements the story rather than overshadowing it. Stranger Things—the title evoking not just new realms of weirdness, but all the kiddie fears wrapped up in “stranger danger”—gets the details right. And it has some killer influences. But why should you bother committing to an eight-hour series when you can just go watch E.T. or Close Encounters of the Third Kind again?
The biggest reason is that Stranger Things is so entertaining that it’s totally worth the time commitment, because believe me you will be mainlining the whole thing once it hooks you in. The characters are especially well-drawn, no small feat when most of them are around 12 years old. Will’s buddies, especially Finn Wolfhard (who’ll next be seen in the new It adaptation) as sensitive Mike, feel like real kids. They talk shit, they worry about when to go to the police or their parents, and they make plenty of stupid mistakes and naively dangerous decisions.
The same goes for the older crew of kids—especially Mike’s sister and Will’s brother, who are high-school classmates but don’t run in the same circles. And aside from Matthew Modine’s mad scientist, whose character is fairly one-note, the grown-ups are also realistically, refreshingly flawed. Ryder is great, as is David Harbour, who plays the unexpectedly badass Hawkins chief of police.
Even more importantly, Stranger Things may revolve around a pack of preteens, but it doesn’t pull back from the horror that’s a big part of its story. And it’s horror that treads on many levels. Obviously the thing that escapes from the lab provides plenty of physical terror; the fact that it can manipulate electricity only adds to the something-wicked-this-way-comes vibe that precedes its every appearance. But there are also schoolyard bullies who are nearly as scary, at least to Mike and his friends, as the sinister government conspiracies that lurk below Hawkins’ Anytown USA facade. Discovering evil as a coming-of-age concept is nothing new—“You read any Stephen King?” asks one character, who might as well be addressing the audience—but when it’s done this well, it’s still completely satisfying.
Stranger Things will be available on Netflix starting July 15.
io9 News Editor
Recent from Cheryl Eddy
An Interstellar War Looms in the Latest Trailer for Katee Sackhoff’s Sci-Fi Series Another Life
Thursday 8:00pm
Norse Mythology? Zack Snyder? Anime? Netflix? Sure, Why Not?
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0009.json.gz/line832
|
__label__wiki
| 0.758988
| 0.758988
|
Film and Theatre,
Academy Invites 3 Iranians As New Members
by Tehran Times1 year agono comment
Three Iranian film personalities have been invited as members by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, as the Oscars awards body acts to boost diversity with 928 member invitations.
This is a record number of invitations by the Academy, beating last year’s record of 774 new members.
The expansion is said to be an effort for more diversification. According to Variety, the new invited class is 49% female, which brings the total representation of women to 31% – a considerable boost compared to the 28% representation in 2017. Meanwhile, the representation of people of color has increased from 13% in 2017 to 16%.
Sponsor Message: IranianLawyers.com, directory of verified Iranian lawyers from the United States and around the world.
The Academy membership invitations for 2018 have been extended to Iranian cinematographer Hossein Jafarian, for his contribution in Asghar Farhadi’s ‘The Salesman’, as well as Ali Asgari and Farnoosh Samadi for ‘Gaze’ and ‘The Silence’ in the short film and feature animation section.
Ali Asgari and Farnoosh Samadi
Other notable actors invited include Timothee Chalamet, Emilia Clarke, Lily James, Evan Rachel Wood and Dave Chappelle.
India received 20 invitations this year, including Shah Rukh Khan, Aditya Chopra, Soumitra Chatterjee, Madhabi Mukherjee and Naseeruddin Shah.
J.K. Rowling, Emily V. Gordon, Jonathan Nolan, Joe Robert Cole and Virgil Williams are among the most distinguished writers invited by the Academy.
United In Their Hatred And Fear Of Iran: Bin Salman And Netanyahu Reported To Meet In Secret, Greenlight Arab-Israeli Railway Deal
Putin Benefits Most From Trump’s Anti-Iran Sanctions
Subscribe to The Iranian newsletter
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0009.json.gz/line834
|
__label__wiki
| 0.592783
| 0.592783
|
Nicotine marketing
Nicotine marketing is the marketing of nicotine-containing products or use. Traditionally, the tobacco industry markets cigarette smoking, but it is increasingly marketing other products, such as electronic cigarettes and heat-not-burn products. Products are marketed through social media, stealth marketing, mass media, and sponsorship (particularly of sporting events). Expenditures on nicotine marketing are in the tens of billions a year; in the US alone, spending was over US$ 1million per hour in 2016;[1] in 2003, per-capita marketing spending was $290 per adult smoker, or $45 per inhabitant. Nicotine marketing is increasingly regulated; some forms of nicotine advertising are banned in many countries. The World Health Organization recommends a complete tobacco advertising ban.[2]
The effectiveness of tobacco marketing in increasing consumption of tobacco products is widely documented.[3] Advertisements cause new people to become addicted, mostly when they are minors.[4][5][6][3] Ads also keep established smokers from quitting. Advertising peaks in January, when the most people are trying to quit, although the most people take up smoking in the summer.[3]:61
The tobacco industry has frequently claimed that ads are only about "brand preference", encouraging existing smokers to switch to and stick to their brand.[7] There is, however, substantial evidence that ads cause people to become, and stay, addicted.[7]
Marketing is also used to oppose regulation of nicotine marketing and other tobacco control measures, both directly and indirectly, for instance by improving the image of the nicotine industry and reducing criticism from youth and community groups. Industry charity and sports sponsorships are publicized (with publicity costing up to ten times the cost of the publicized act), portraying the industry as actively sharing the values of the target audience. Marketing is also used to normalize the industry ("Just Another Fortune 500 Company", "More Than a Tobacco Company").[3]:198–201 Finally, marketing is used to give the impression that nicotine companies are responsible, "Open and Honest". This is done through an emphasis on informed choice and "anti-teen-smoking" campaigns,[3]:198–201 although such ads have been criticized as counterproductive (causing more smoking) by independent groups.[3]:190–196[8]
Magazines, but not newspapers, that get revenue from nicotine advertising are less likely to run stories critical of nicotine products. Internal documents also show that the industry used its influence with the media to shape coverage of news, such as a decision not to mandate health warnings on cigarette packages or a debate over advertising restrictions.[3]:345–350
Counter-marketing is also used, mostly by public health groups and governments. The addictiveness and health effects of nicotine use are generally described, as these are the themes missing from pro-tobacco marketing.[3]:150
Regulation and evasion techniques
Because it harms public health, nicotine marketing is increasingly regulated.
Advertising restrictions typically shift marketing spending to unrestricted media. Banned on television, ads move to print; banned in all conventional media, ads shift to sponsorships; banned as in-store advertising and packaging, advertising shifts to shill (undisclosed) marketing reps, sponsored online content, viral marketing, and other stealth marketing techniques.[3]:272–280 Unlike conventional advertising, stealth marketing is not openly attributed to the organization behind it. This neutralizes mistrust of tobacco companies, which is widespread among children and the teenagers who provide the industry with most new addicts.[3]:Ch.6&7
Another method of evading restrictions is to sell less-regulated nicotine products instead of the ones for which advertising is more regulated. For instance, while TV ads of cigarettes are banned in the United States, similar TV ads of e-cigarettes are not.[9]
The most effective media are usually banned first, meaning advertisers need to spend more money to addict the same number of people.[3]:272 Comprehensive bans can make it impossible to effectively substitute other forms of advertising, leading to actual falls in consumption.[3]:272–280 However, skillful use of allowed media can increase advertising exposure; the exposure of U.S. children to nicotine advertising is increasing as of 2018.[9]
One of the Find Your Voice ads used by Virginia Slims in 1999 that drew attention due to its rebellious advertising aimed at women. Its tagline reads "NEVER let the goody two shoes get you down".[10]
Nicotine advertising uses specific techniques, but often uses multiple methods simultaneously. For instance, the ad illustrated in this section uses many of the techniques discussed below. Its tagline reads "NEVER let the goody two shoes get you down",[10] making use of reactance; it has also been described as urging smokers to disregard health warnings.[11] The model's gesture echoes earlier ads which made more explicit claims of voice box benefits.[12][13] The 1999-2000 "Find your voice" ad campaign, of which this ad was a part, was criticized as offensive to smokers who have lost their voices to throat cancer,[11][14] and as targeting minority women and seeking to associate itself with empowerment, independence, self-expression, women's rights, and sexual allure.[15][16][11][17]
Nicotine marketing makes extensive use of reactance, the feeling that one is being unreasonably controlled. Reactance often motivates rebellion, in behaviour or belief, which demonstrates that the control was ineffective, restoring the feeling of freedom.[18]
Ads thus rarely explicitly tell the viewer to use nicotine; this has been shown to be counter-productive. Instead, they frequently suggest using nicotine as a way to rebel and be free.[18] This marketing message is at odds with the feelings of smokers, who commonly feel trapped by their addiction and unable to quit.[19] Mention of addiction is avoided in nicotine advertising.[20]:150
Reactance can be eliminated by successfully concealing attempts to manipulate or control behaviour. Unlike conventional advertising, stealth marketing is not openly attributed to the organization behind it. This neutralizes mistrust of tobacco companies, which is widespread among children and the teenagers who provide the industry with most new addicts.[3]:Ch.6&7 The internet and social media are particularly suited to stealth and viral marketing, which is also cheap;[21] nicotine companies now spend tens of millions per year on online marketing.[22]
Counter-advertising also shows awareness of reactance; it rarely tells the viewer what to do. More commonly, it cites statistics about addictiveness and other health effects. Some anti-smoking ads dramatise the statistics (e.g. by piling 1200 body bags in front of the New York headquarters of Philip Morris, now Altria, to illustrated the number of people dying daily from smoking);[23] others document individual experiences.[24] Providing information does not generally provoke reactance.
Social conformity
Despite products being marketed as individualistic and non-conformist, people generally actually start using due to peer pressure. Being offered a cigarette is one of the largest risk factors for smoking.[3]:256–257 Boys with a high degree of social conformity are also more likely to start smoking.[3]:216
Social pressure is deliberately used in marketing, often using stealth marketing techniques to avoid triggering reactance. "Roachers", selected for good looks, style, charm,[3]:110 and being slightly older than the targets,[25] are hired to offer samples of the product.[3]:110 "Hipsters" are also recruited clandestinely from the bar and nightclub scene to sell cigarettes, and ads are placed in alternative media publications with "hip credibility".[3]:108–110 Other strategies include sponsoring bands and seeking to give an impression of usage by scattering empty cigarette packages.[26]
Ads also use the threat of social isolation, implied or explicit (e.g. "Nobody likes a quitter").[27] Great care is taken to maintain the impression that a brand is popular and growing in popularity, and that people who smoke the brand are popular[3]:217
Marketing seeks to create a desirable identity as a user, or a user of a specific brand. It seeks to associate nicotine use with rising social identities (see, for instance, the illustrating ad, and history of nicotine marketing in the woman's and civil rights movements, and its use of western affluence in the developing world, below). It seeks to associate nicotine use with positive traits, such as intelligence, fun, sexiness, sociability, high social status, wealth, health, athleticism, and pleasant outdoor pursuits. Many of these associations are fairly implausible; smoking is not generally considered an intelligent choice, even by smokers; most smokers feel miserable about smoking,[19] smoking causes impotence,[28][29][30] many smokers feel socially stigmatized for smoking,[19] and smoking is expensive and unhealthy.
Marketing also uses associations with loyalty, which not only defend a brand, but put a positive spin on not quitting. A successful campaign playing on loyalty and identity was the "rather fight than switch" campaign, in which the makeup the models wore made it seem as if they had black eyes, by implication from a fight with smokers of other cigarettes (campaign by a subsidiary of American Tobacco Company, now owned by British American Tobacco).[31]
Nicotine is also advertised as good for "nerves", irritability, and stress. Again, ads have moved from explicit claims ("Never gets on your nerves") to implicit claims ("Slow down. Pleasure up"). Although nicotine products temporarily relieve nicotine withdrawal symptoms, an addiction causes worse stress and mood, due to mild withdrawal symptoms between hits. Nicotine addicts need the nicotine to temporarily feel normal.[32][33] Nicotine addiction seems to worsen mental health problems,[32] but industry marketing has claimed that nicotine is both less harmful and therapeutic for people with mental illness, and is a form of "self-medication". Marketing has also claimed that quitting will worsen rather than improve mental health symptoms. These claims have been criticised by independent researchers as inaccurate.[34]
It is thought that nicotine withdrawal is worse for those who are already stressed or depressed, making quitting more difficult.[32][33] About 40% of the cigarettes sold in the U.S. are smoked by people with mental health issues. Smoking rates in the U.S. military were also high, and over a third started smoking after entering the military; deployment was also a risk factor.[35] Disabled people are more likely to smoke; smoking causes disability, but the stress of disability might also cause smoking.[36]
According to the CDC Tobacco Product Use Among Adults 2015 report, people who are American Indian/Alaska Native, non-Hispanic, less-educated (0–12 years education; no diploma, or General Educational Development), lower-income (annual household income <$35,000), Lesbian, gay, or bisexual, the uninsured, and those under serious psychological distress have the highest reported percentage of any tobacco product use.[37]
Poorer people also smoke more. When marketing cigarettes to the developing world, tobacco companies associate their product with an affluent Western lifestyle.[39] However, in the developed world, smoking has almost vanished among the affluent. Smoking rates among the American poor are much higher than among the rich, with rates of over 40% for those with a high school equivalency diploma.[40] These differences have been attributed to both lack of healthcare and to selective marketing to socio-economic, racial, and sexual minorities.[40][41] The tobacco industry targeted young rural men by creating advertisements with images of cowboys, hunters, and race car drivers. Teens in rural areas are less likely to be exposed to anti-tobacco messages in the media. Low-income and predominantly minority neighborhoods often have more tobacco retailers and more tobacco advertising than other neighborhoods.[42]
The tobacco industry focusses marketing towards vulnerable groups, contributing to the large disparity in smoking and health problems.[43] The tobacco industry has marketed heavily to African Americans,[38] sexual minorities,[44] and even the homeless and the mentally ill.[45] In 1995, Project SCUM, which targeted sexual and racial minorities and homeless people in San Francisco, was planned by R. J. Reynolds Tobacco Company (a British American Tobacco subsidiary).[46][47]
Tobacco companies have often been progressive in their hiring policies, employing women and blacks when this was controversial. They also donate some of their profits to a variety of organisations that help people in need.[48][38]
Non-addictiveness and healthiness
Reference to the addictiveness of nicotine is avoided in marketing.[20]:150 Indeed, the addictiveness of nicotine was explicitly denied into the nineties;[49] in 1994, seven tobacco executives stated that nicotine was not addictive while on oath before the US Congress.[50][49] Industry feared that, if continuing to smoke was not seen as a "free choice", they would be exposed to legal and social liabilities.[49]
The nicotine industry frequently markets its products as healthy, safe, and harmless; it has even marketed them as beneficial to health. These marketing messages were initially explicit, but over the decades, they became more implicit and indirect. Explicitly claiming something that the consumer knows to be untrue tend to make them distrust and reject the message, so the effectiveness of explicit claims dropped as evidence of the harms of cigarettes became more widely known. Explicit claims also have the disadvantage that they remind smokers of the health harms of the product.[20]:63
Implicit claims include slogans with connotations of health and vitality, such as "Alive with pleasure", and imagery (of instance, images of athletic, healthy people, the presence of healthy children, healthy natural environments, and medical settings).[20]:62–65[3]:
"Modified risk" products
"Modified risk" nicotine products, alternate nicotine products that are implied to be less harmful, are an old strategy.[51][52] These products are used to discourage quitting, by offering unwilling smokers an alternative to quitting, and implying that using the alternate product will reduce the hazards of smoking.[20]:62–65[3] "Modified risk" products also attract new smokers.[51]
Many "modified risk" nicotine products are actually just as risky as the products they were marketed against.[20]:25–27[53][54] As the long-term harms of cigarette smoking emerge after ~20 years of use, claims of reduced long-term harms for a new product cannot immediately be refuted.[55] Products may become popular on the basis of false health claims before the research is done that proves them false.[55]
Explicit claims of health benefits carry legal risks. They may also require regulatory pre-approval.[52] Reduced levels of specific harmful chemicals are often advertised; people tend to wrongly interpret these as claims of reduced harm.[52] To imply that some nicotine products are healthier than others without making explicit claims, marketing has used descriptions like "light", "mild", "natural", "gentle", "calm", "soft", and "smooth".[20]:62–65[3]:
Both adults and youth have been shown to misinterpret marketing claims about changes in risk. They falsely interpret them as meaning that the product is safe. They are more likely to start using it, and less likely to quit, as a result.[56]
In the 1920s to 1950s, ads often focused on throat irritation and coughs, claiming that specific brands were better. This also distracted from the more serious harms of smoking,[57] which were being revealed by research at the time.[58] Claims were made that toasting tobacco removed irritants (which were said to have been sold on to chemical companies).[57]
Menthol cigarettes have also been marketed as healthier from the 1930s onwards. They were even inaccurately advertised as medicinal, a treatment for smokers that would sooth a throat irritated by smoking, or as a treatment for a cold. Where this is illegal, they are marketed as healthier by implication, using words like "mild", "natural", "gentle", "calm", "soft", "smooth", and imagery of healthy natural environments.[20]:62–65 There is no evidence that menthol cigarettes are healthier, but there is evidence that they are somewhat easier to become addicted to and harder to quit.[20]:25–27
In the fifties, filters were added to cigarettes, and heavily marketed, until they faced regulatory action as false advertising.[57] Initially, efforts were made to develop filters that actually reduced harms; as it became obvious that this was not economically possible, filters were instead designed to turn brown with use.[59][53]
Ventilated cigarettes (marketed as "light", "low-tar", "low-nicotine" etc.) do feel cooler, airier, and less harsh, and a smoking machine will give lower tar and nicotine readings for them. But they do not actually reduce human intake or health risks, as a human responds to the lower resistance to breathing through them by taking bigger puffs.[60] They were also designed to be equally addictive, as manufacturers did not want to lose customers.[54] They were introduced in the 1970s, responding to regulation requiring that nicotine and tar yields be included in cigarette ads. Light cigarettes became so popular that, as of 2004, half of American smokers preferred them over regular cigarettes,[61] According to the US federal government's National Cancer Institute (NCI), light cigarettes provide no benefit to smokers' health.[62][63] However, people using "light" cigarettes are less likely to quit.[64]
Heat-not-burn tobacco products are marketed as less harmful than regular cigarettes since 1988.[65] There is no reliable evidence that these products are any less harmful than regular cigarettes.[66] These products are marketed as a "smoke-free" alternative to regular cigarettes.[67] These products do generate smoke.[68]
Unsupported claims on safety and quitting smoking are made.[69]:p.9 Common marketing messages on brand websites claim that e-cigarettes are safe and healthy, is an area of concern.[70] It is commonly claimed that e-cigarettes emit merely "harmless water vapor", which is not the case.[71] E-cigarette e-liquids marketed as "nicotine-free" have been found to contain nicotine.[72]
Unwilling smokers: customer retention
Smokers mostly want to quit and can't.[19][73] On average, smokers start as adolescents and make over 30 quit attempts, at a rate of about 1 per year, before breaking a nicotine addiction in their 40s or 50s.[74] Most say they feel addicted, and feel misery and disgust at their inability to quit (in surveys, 71-91% regret having started, over 80% intend to quit, around 15% plan to quit within the next month).[19] The industry calls this group "concerned smokers" and seeks to retain them as customers.[7] Techniques for lowering their quit rate include dissuading them from wanting to quit and offering them meaningless product choices which help them feel in control of their habit. For instance, downplaying the risks, and encouraging them to take pride in smoking as an identity, reduces desire to quit.
Suggesting that addicts can reduce their risk by choosing to switch to another product (branded to suggest that it is less harmful or addictive) can reduce their cognitive dissonance[20]:63 and sense of lack of control, without offering a health improvement.[75][76][60][20]:62–65 Switching to a product branded to suggest that it is less harmful or addictive ("mild", "light", "low-tar", "filtered" etc.) is, in terms of health effects, meaningless.[77][75][76][60]
Youth: new customers
A girl wearing a Marlboro shirt in the 1980s. Owning and being willing to use promotional items is a significant risk factor for nicotine addiction.[3]:258, 240–268[78]
Smokers typically start young, often as teenagers. As a result, much cigarette advertising is intended to target youth, and depicts young people smoking and using tobacco as a form of leisure and enjoyment.[2]
Before 2009, many tobacco companies made flavored tobacco packaged often in colorful candy like wrappers to attract new users, many of which were a younger audience. However these flavored cigarettes were banned on September 22, 2009 by the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act. Despite this initiative, flavored cigarettes are still on the rise because tobacco companies change their products slightly so they are filtered or slim cigarettes, which are not banned by the act.[79] Chemical additives and physical design have also been used to make "starter products" aimed at youth feel smoother and less irritating, part of efforts to make cigarettes addict more quickly, strongly, and reliably.[80]
Cigarettes in a Pokémon-cartoon-branded claw crane arcade game in 2008 in Jaffa, Israel.
The intended audience of tobacco advertising has changed throughout the years, with some brands specifically targeted towards a particular demographic. According to Reynolds American Inc, the Joe Camel campaign in the United States was created to advertise Camel brand to young adult smokers. Class action plaintiffs and politicians described the Joe Camel images as a "cartoon" intended to advertise the product to people below the legal smoking age. Under pressure from various anti-smoking groups, the Federal Trade Commission, and the U.S. Congress, Camel ended the campaign on 10 July 1997.
Vending machines, individually sold single cigarettes, and product displays near schools, next to candy and sweet drinks, and at the eye-level of young children are all used around the world to sell nicotine-containing products. Even large brands are frequently advertised in ways that break local regulations.[81][82] In many countries, such marketing methods are not illegal. Where they are illegal, enforcement is often a problem. For instance, Dr. Suresh Kumar Arora, New Delhi's chief tobacco control officer, said: "We were wasting our time fining cigarette vendors and distributors. They had no idea of the law. Most are illiterate. Our teams would tear down posters and in no time, they would be up again because the real culprits were the big tobacco companies – ITC, Philip Morris (now Altria), Godfrey Phillip. I told them to stop giving posters to their dealers otherwise I would drag them through the courts. Since last May, Delhi has been free of tobacco posters, 100% free". He has, however, been unable to keep mobile vendors from illegally selling cigarettes next to schools.[81]
Easily circumvented age verification at company websites enables minors to access and be exposed to marketing for e-cigarettes.[83] E-cigarettes are marketed to youth[84] using cartoon characters and candy flavors.[85] E-cigarettes are also marketed on Facebook, where age restrictions are in many cases not implemented.[86]
"Harm reduction" advertising
Some tobacco companies have sponsored ads that claim to discourage teen smoking. Such ads are unregulated. However, these ads have been shown, in independent studies, to increase the self-reported likelihood that teens will start smoking. They also cause adults to see tobacco companies as more responsible and less in need of regulation. Unlike promotional ads, tobacco companies do not track the effects of these ads themselves. These ads differ from independently produced antismoking ads in that they do not mention the health effects of smoking, and present smoking as exclusively an "adult choice", undesirable "if you're a teen".[3]:190–196 There is more exposure to industry-sponsored "antismoking" ads than to antismoking ads run by public health agencies.[3]:189
Tobacco companies have also funded "anti-smoking" groups. One such organization, funded by Lorillard, enters into exclusive sponsorship agreements with sports organisations. This means that no other anti-smoking campaigns are allowed to be involved with the sporting organisation. Such sponsorships have been criticised by health groups.[8]
Recapturing former smokers
Companies have also sought to recapture people who have successfully broken a nicotine dependency. Ex-smokers tend to view these attempts very negatively, and their existence has frequently been denied. Methods discussed in industry documents include price drops, increasing acceptance of smoking by nonsmokers, making products more socially acceptable, and making "healthier" cigarettes (scare quotes in original).[64]
As tobacco companies keep spending money on marketing until it stops being profitable, marginal changes in marketing typically have no measurable effect, but the total amount of marketing has a strong effect.[3]:276
Econometric studies have been done into the endogeneity[87] and other aspects of bans.[88][89]
Tobacco companies have had particularly large budgets for their advertising campaigns. The Federal Trade Commission claimed that cigarette manufacturers spent $8.24 billion on advertising and promotion in 1999, the highest amount ever at that time. The FTC later claimed that in 2005, cigarette companies spent $13.11 billion on advertising and promotion, down from $15.12 billion in 2003, but nearly double what was spent in 1998. The increase, despite restrictions on the advertising in most countries, was an attempt at appealing to a younger audience, including multi-purchase offers and giveaways such as hats and lighters, along with the more traditional store and magazine advertising.[90]
Marketing consultants ACNielsen announced that, during the period September 2001 to August 2002, tobacco companies advertising in the UK spent £25 million, excluding sponsorship and indirect advertising, broken down as follows:
£11 million on press advertising
£13.2 million on billboards
£714,550 on radio advertising
£106,253 on direct mail advertising
Figures from around that time also estimated that the companies spent £8m a year sponsoring sporting events and teams (excluding Formula One) and a further £70m on Formula One in the UK.[91]
The £25 million spent in the UK amounted to approximately US$0.60 per person in 2002. The 15.12 billion spent in the United States in 2003 amounted to more than $45 for every person in the United States, more than $36 million per day, and more than $290 for each U.S. adult smoker.
Television and radio e-cigarette advertising in some countries may be indirectly advertising traditional cigarette smoking.[71] A 2014 review said, "the e-cigarette companies have been rapidly expanding using aggressive marketing messages similar to those used to promote cigarettes in the 1950s and 1960s."[71] In the US, six large e-cigarette businesses spent $59.3 million on promoting e-cigarettes in 2013.[92] E-cigarettes are increasingly sold by the traditional tobacco multinationals.[93]
In a 1922 ad, a small child, smoking a cigarette, tells his amused parents not to worry, as he is smoking for a veteran's charity. Children were often used in early cigarette ads, where they helped normalize smoking as part of family living, and gave associations of purity, vibrancy, and life.[94]
"We claim no curative powers for Phillip Morris" say this 1943 ad, in the small text.
This WWII ad shows a mother sending her soldier son a carton of cigarettes, and urges others to do the same. In an echo of the claim that doctors prefer the brand, it claims that men in the military prefer it, too. A mention of War Stamps associates the brand still more closely to war patriotism.
Women in the War cigarette ad showing a woman signalling civilian aircraft. The ad associates taking a "man's job" and smoking cigarettes like a man: "Co-ed leaves Campus to fill a Man's job. She's "in the service" -- even to her choice of cigarettes..."
1900 cigarette ad; targeting women is not a new strategy
Cigar ad claiming that a fictional doctor called this brand "harmless" and "never gets on your nerves" (a term then used for nicotine withdrawal symptoms)
Ad showing a fictional doctor endorsing a cigar brand. At the time, it was considered a breach of medical ethics to advertise; doctors who did so would risk losing their license.[95]
Belomorkanal – Russian cigarettes
Hans Rudi Erdt: Problem Cigarettes, 1912
French Painted Mural Advertisement
Tobacco display in a store Munich in 2008. In many countries, cigarettes may not be displayed, but must be kept behind the counter.
Advertisement for "Murad" Turkish cigarettes 1918
Advertisement for "Egyptian Deities" cigarettes 1919
Veterans Stadium Philadelphia 1986
Early 20th Century Cigarettes in Durham, NC
History of nicotine marketing
Plain tobacco packaging
Cigarette packets in Australia
Tobacco marketing and African Americans
Tobacco packaging warning messages
Torches of Freedom
WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control
Philip Morris v. Uruguay
Jeff Wigand – former tobacco company executive and whistleblower
Advertising to children
Tobacco usage in sport
^ "Economic Trends in Tobacco: Tobacco-Related Spending". Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. 4 May 2018.
^ a b WHO Report on the Global Tobacco Epidemic, 2008: The MPOWER Package. Geneva, Switzerland: World Health Organization. 2008. p. 38. ISBN 978-92-4-159628-2.
^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z Davis RM, Gilpin EA, Loken B, Viswanath K, Wakefield MA (2008). The role of the media in promoting and reducing tobacco use (PDF). National Cancer Institute tobacco control monograph series. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, National Institutes of Health, National Cancer Institute. p. 684.
^ "Tobacco marketing and adolescent smoking: More support for a causal inference". American Journal of Public Health. 90 (3): 407–411. 2000. doi:10.2105/AJPH.90.3.407. PMC 1446173.
^ Choi WS, Ahluwalia JS, Harris KJ, Okuyemi K (May 2002). "Progression to established smoking: the influence of tobacco marketing". American Journal of Preventive Medicine. 22 (4): 228–33. doi:10.1016/S0749-3797(02)00420-8. PMID 11988378.
^ Saffer H, Chaloupka F (November 2000). "The effect of tobacco advertising bans on tobacco consumption". Journal of Health Economics. 19 (6): 1117–37. CiteSeerX 10.1.1.468.6530. doi:10.1016/S0167-6296(00)00054-0. PMID 11186847.
^ a b c Pollay RW (June 2000). "Targeting youth and concerned smokers: evidence from Canadian tobacco industry documents". Tobacco Control. 9 (2): 136–47. doi:10.1136/tc.9.2.136. PMC 1748318. PMID 10841849.
^ a b "Letter to NBA Commissioner" (PDF). Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids. 19 July 2002.
^ a b Rapaport L (6 April 2018). "More U.S. teens seeing e-cigarette ads". Business Insider. Retrieved 18 May 2018.
^ a b 1999 advertisement, in the collection of Stanford Research Into the Impact of Tobacco Advertising
^ a b c "Philip Morris Removes Slogan From Ads In Second Attempt Responding to Critics - WSJ". Retrieved 10 July 2018.
^ Pages, The Society. "Cigarette Ads: Then and Now - Sociological Images". Retrieved 27 June 2018.
^ Classic vs. modern ad comparison, Stanford Research Into the Impact of Tobacco Advertising ad database.
^ Sakai K, Kojima A, Hisanaga N, Shibata E, Huang J, Ono Y, Takeuchi Y, Aoki T, Takagi H, Ando T (September 1991). "[Asbestos concentration and fiber size in lungs of the urban residents]". [Nihon Koshu Eisei Zasshi] Japanese Journal of Public Health. 38 (9): 762–70. doi:10.1136/tc.10.2.91. PMC 1747554.
^ Toll BA, Ling PM (June 2005). "The Virginia Slims identity crisis: an inside look at tobacco industry marketing to women". Tobacco Control. 14 (3): 172–80. doi:10.1136/tc.2004.008953. PMC 1748044. PMID 15923467.
^ Laura Bach (20 June 2018). "Tobacco Industry targeting of women and girls" (PDF). Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids. Retrieved 18 August 2018.
^ a b Grandpre J, Alvaro EM, Burgoon M, Miller CH, Hall JR (2003). "Adolescent reactance and anti-smoking campaigns: a theoretical approach". Health Communication. 15 (3): 349–66. doi:10.1207/S15327027HC1503_6. PMID 12788679.
^ a b c d e Pechacek TF, Nayak P, Slovic P, Weaver SR, Huang J, Eriksen MP (November 2017). "Reassessing the importance of 'lost pleasure' associated with smoking cessation: implications for social welfare and policy". Tobacco Control. 27 (e2): tobaccocontrol–2017–053734. doi:10.1136/tobaccocontrol-2017-053734. PMC 6176518. PMID 29183920.
^ a b c d e f g h i j k Tobacco Products Scientific Advisory Committee (TPSAC) of the Center for Tobacco Products of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) (21 July 2011). Menthol Cigarettes and Public Health: Review of the Scientific Evidence and Recommendations (PDF). US Food and Drug Administration. p. 252. Retrieved 24 May 2018.
^ Woerndl M, Papagiannidis S, Bourlakis M, Li F (2008). "Internet-induced marketing techniques: Critical factors in viral marketing campaigns". International Journal of Business Science and Applied Management. 3 (1).
^ Bach L (10 April 2018), "Tobacco Product Marketing on the Internet" (PDF), Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, retrieved 25 May 2018
^ Newman AA (10 August 2014). "A Less Defiant Tack in a Campaign to Curb Smoking by Teenagers". The New York Times. Retrieved 24 May 2018.
^ Newman AA (24 July 2014). "Hard-to-Watch Commercials to Make Quitting Smoking Easier". The New York Times. Retrieved 24 May 2018.
^ "Recommendations of the 1991 "Archetype Project"". commissioned by Philip Morris (now Altria) from Rapaille Associates.
^ "Except from an internal industry document". Stanford Research Into the Impact of Tobacco Advertising.
^ Source for example quote is an ad for blu e-cigarettes, accessible at: Stanford Research into the Impact of Tobacco Advertising database. "Nobody likes a quitter". tobacco.stanford.edu. Stanford University.
^ Peate I (2005). "The effects of smoking on the reproductive health of men". British Journal of Nursing. 14 (7): 362–6. doi:10.12968/bjon.2005.14.7.17939. PMID 15924009.
^ "The Tobacco Reference Guide". Archived from the original on 15 July 2006. Retrieved 15 July 2006.
^ Kendirci M, Nowfar S, Hellstrom WJ (January 2005). "The impact of vascular risk factors on erectile function". Drugs of Today. 41 (1): 65–74. doi:10.1358/dot.2005.41.1.875779. PMID 15753970.
^ Elliott S (6 February 2004). "James J. Jordan, advertising sloganeer, dies at 73". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 7 May 2006. Retrieved 2 August 2006.
^ a b c Parrott AC (April 2003). "Cigarette-derived nicotine is not a medicine" (PDF). The World Journal of Biological Psychiatry. 4 (2): 49–55. doi:10.3109/15622970309167951. PMID 12692774.
^ a b Parrott AC (March 2006). "Nicotine psychobiology: how chronic-dose prospective studies can illuminate some of the theoretical issues from acute-dose research". Psychopharmacology. 184 (3–4): 567–76. doi:10.1007/s00213-005-0294-y. PMID 16463194.
^ Prochaska JJ, Hall SM, Bero LA (May 2008). "Tobacco use among individuals with schizophrenia: what role has the tobacco industry played?". Schizophrenia Bulletin. 34 (3): 555–67. doi:10.1093/schbul/sbm117. PMC 2632440. PMID 17984298.
^ Wan W (24 August 2017). "New ads accuse Big Tobacco of targeting soldiers and people with mental illness". Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved 27 May 2018.
^ "Burden of Tobacco Use in the U.S.: Current Cigarette Smoking Among U.S. Adults Aged 18 Years and Older". Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. 23 April 2018.
^ Phillips E, Wang TW, Husten CG, Corey CG, Apelberg BJ, Jamal A, Homa DM, King BA (November 2017). "Tobacco Product Use Among Adults - United States, 2015". MMWR. Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. 66 (44): 1209–1215. doi:10.15585/mmwr.mm6644a2. PMC 5679591. PMID 29121001.
^ a b c Yerger VB, Malone RE (December 2002). "African American leadership groups: smoking with the enemy". Tobacco Control. 11 (4): 336–45. doi:10.1136/tc.11.4.336. PMC 1747674. PMID 12432159.
^ Nichter M, Cartwright E (1991). "Saving the Children for the Tobacco Industry". Medical Anthropology Quarterly. 5 (3): 236–56. doi:10.1525/maq.1991.5.3.02a00040. JSTOR 648675.
^ a b Wan W (13 June 2017). "America's new tobacco crisis: The rich stopped smoking, the poor didn't". Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved 27 May 2018.
^ "#STOPPROFILING: Tobacco is a social justice issue". Truth Initiative. 9 February 2017. Retrieved 27 May 2018.
^ "Tobacco-Related Disparities - Tobacco Use by Geographic Region - Smoking & Tobacco Use". CDC's Office on Smoking and Health. 5 September 2018. Retrieved 1 November 2017.
^ Baig SA, Pepper JK, Morgan JC, Brewer NT (June 2017). "Social identity and support for counteracting tobacco company marketing that targets vulnerable populations". Social Science & Medicine. 182: 136–141. doi:10.1016/j.socscimed.2017.03.052. PMC 5474382. PMID 28427731.
^ Lee JG, Griffin GK, Melvin CL (August 2009). "Tobacco use among sexual minorities in the USA, 1987 to May 2007: a systematic review". Tobacco Control. 18 (4): 275–82. doi:10.1136/tc.2008.028241. PMID 19208668.
^ Apollonio DE, Malone RE (December 2005). "Marketing to the marginalised: tobacco industry targeting of the homeless and mentally ill". Tobacco Control. 14 (6): 409–15. doi:10.1136/tc.2005.011890. PMC 1748120. PMID 16319365.
^ Engardio JP (2 May 2001). "Smoking Gun". SF Weekly. Tobacco industry documents expose an R.J. Reynolds marketing plan targeting S.F. gays and homeless people. Its name: Project SCUM.
^ "Original document from Project SCUM". Stanford Research Into the Impact of Tobacco Advertising.
^ Rosenblatt R (20 March 1994). "How Do Tobacco Executives Live With Themselves?". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 25 May 2018.
^ a b c Bates C, Rowell A. "Tobacco explained: The truth about the tobacco industry ...in its own words" (PDF). WHO's Tobacco Free Initiative. Retrieved 20 October 2018.
^ "Tobacco CEO's Statement to Congress 1994 | UCSF Academic Senate". senate.ucsf.edu.
^ a b Mallock N, Böss L, Burk R, Danziger M, Welsch T, Hahn H, Trieu HL, Hahn J, Pieper E, Henkler-Stephani F, Hutzler C, Luch A (June 2018). "Levels of selected analytes in the emissions of "heat not burn" tobacco products that are relevant to assess human health risks". Archives of Toxicology. 92 (6): 2145–2149. doi:10.1007/s00204-018-2215-y. PMC 6002459. PMID 29730817.
^ a b c El-Toukhy S, Baig SA, Jeong M, Byron MJ, Ribisl KM, Brewer NT (August 2018). "Impact of modified risk tobacco product claims on beliefs of US adults and adolescents". Tobacco Control. 27 (Suppl 1): tobaccocontrol–2018–054315. doi:10.1136/tobaccocontrol-2018-054315. PMC 6202195. PMID 30158212.
^ a b Harris B (May 2011). "The intractable cigarette 'filter problem'". Tobacco Control. 20 Suppl 1: i10–6. doi:10.1136/tc.2010.040113. PMC 3088411. PMID 21504917.
^ a b c Pollay RW, Dewhirst T (March 2002). "The dark side of marketing seemingly "Light" cigarettes: successful images and failed fact". Tobacco Control. 11 Suppl 1: I18–31. doi:10.1136/tc.11.suppl_1.i18. PMC 1766068. PMID 11893811.
^ a b Staal, YC; van de Nobelen, S; Havermans, A; Talhout, R (28 May 2018). "New Tobacco and Tobacco-Related Products: Early Detection of Product Development, Marketing Strategies, and Consumer Interest". JMIR Public Health and Surveillance. 4 (2): e55. doi:10.2196/publichealth.7359. PMC 5996176. PMID 29807884.
^ McKelvey K, Popova L, Kim M, Lempert LK, Chaffee BW, Vijayaraghavan M, Ling P, Halpern-Felsher B (August 2018). "IQOS labelling will mislead consumers". Tobacco Control. 27 (Suppl 1): tobaccocontrol–2018–054333. doi:10.1136/tobaccocontrol-2018-054333. PMC 6252493. PMID 30158208.
^ a b c "For your Throat". Stanford Research into the Impact of Tobacco Advertising. Retrieved 4 September 2018.
^ Doll R (June 1998). "Uncovering the effects of smoking: historical perspective". Statistical Methods in Medical Research. 7 (2): 87–117. doi:10.1177/096228029800700202. PMID 9654637.
^ Kennedy P (6 July 2012). "Who Made That Cigarette Filter?". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 4 September 2018.
^ a b c Kozlowski LT, O'Connor RJ (March 2002). "Cigarette filter ventilation is a defective design because of misleading taste, bigger puffs, and blocked vents". Tobacco Control. 11 Suppl 1: I40–50. doi:10.1136/tc.11.suppl_1.i40. PMC 1766061. PMID 11893814.
^ Light but just as deadly, by Peter Lavelle. The Pulse, 21 October 2004.
^ The Truth About "Light" Cigarettes: Questions and Answers, from the National Cancer Institute factsheet
^ 'Safer' cigarette myth goes up in smoke, by Andy Coghlan. New Scientist, 2004
^ a b Ling, Pamela M; Glantz, Stanton A (2004). "Tobacco Industry Research on Smoking Cessation". Journal of General Internal Medicine. 19 (5 Pt 1): 419–426. doi:10.1111/j.1525-1497.2004.30358.x. ISSN 0884-8734. PMC 1492251. PMID 15109339.
^ Caputi, TL (24 August 2016). "Industry watch: heat-not-burn tobacco products are about to reach their boiling point". Tobacco Control. 26 (5): 609–610. doi:10.1136/tobaccocontrol-2016-053264. PMID 27558827.
^ "Further development of the partial guidelines for implementation of Articles 9 and 10 of the WHO FCTC" (PDF). World Health Organization. 12 July 2016. pp. 5–6.
^ "Tobacco company charged over importing prohibited product". The New Zealand Herald. 18 May 2017.
^ Dautzenberg, B.; Dautzenberg, M.-D. (2018). "Le tabac chauffé : revue systématique de la littérature" [Systematic analysis of the scientific literature on heated tobacco]. Revue des Maladies Respiratoires (in French). 36 (1): 82–103. doi:10.1016/j.rmr.2018.10.010. ISSN 0761-8425. PMID 30429092.
^ World Health Organization. "Electronic nicotine delivery systems" (PDF). pp. 1–13. Retrieved 28 August 2014.
^ England LJ, Bunnell RE, Pechacek TF, Tong VT, McAfee TA (August 2015). "Nicotine and the Developing Human: A Neglected Element in the Electronic Cigarette Debate". American Journal of Preventive Medicine. 49 (2): 286–93. doi:10.1016/j.amepre.2015.01.015. PMC 4594223. PMID 25794473.
^ a b c Grana R, Benowitz N, Glantz SA (May 2014). "E-cigarettes: a scientific review". Circulation. 129 (19): 1972–86. doi:10.1161/circulationaha.114.007667. PMC 4018182. PMID 24821826.
^ "New e-cigarette rules coming to Quebec". CBC News. Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.
^ Centers for Disease Control Prevention (CDC) (November 2011). "Quitting smoking among adults--United States, 2001-2010". MMWR. Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. 60 (44): 1513–9. PMID 22071589.
^ Chaiton M, Diemert L, Cohen JE, Bondy SJ, Selby P, Philipneri A, Schwartz R (June 2016). "Estimating the number of quit attempts it takes to quit smoking successfully in a longitudinal cohort of smokers". BMJ Open. 6 (6): e011045. doi:10.1136/bmjopen-2016-011045. PMC 4908897. PMID 27288378.
^ a b National Cancer Institute (18 August 2005). ""Light" Cigarettes and Cancer Risk" (cgvFactSheet). National Cancer Institute. Retrieved 23 May 2018.
^ a b Rigotti NA, Tindle HA (March 2004). "The fallacy of "light" cigarettes". BMJ. 328 (7440): E278–9. doi:10.1136/bmj.328.7440.E278. PMC 2901853. PMID 15016715.
^ Kropp RY, Halpern-Felsher BL (October 2004). "Adolescents' beliefs about the risks involved in smoking "light" cigarettes". Pediatrics. 114 (4): e445–51. doi:10.1542/peds.2004-0893. PMID 15466070.
^ Gilpin EA, White MM, Messer K, Pierce JP (August 2007). "Receptivity to tobacco advertising and promotions among young adolescents as a predictor of established smoking in young adulthood". American Journal of Public Health. 97 (8): 1489–95. doi:10.2105/AJPH.2005.070359. PMC 1931446. PMID 17600271.
^ Bach L (April 2017). "Flavored Tobacco Products Attract Kids" (PDF). Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids.
^ Tobacco Advisory Group (October 2007). Harm reduction in nicotine addiction Helping people who can't quit (PDF). London: Royal College of Physicians. ISBN 978-1-86016-319-7.
^ a b Boseley S, Collyns D, Lamb K, Dhillon A (9 March 2018). "How children around the world are exposed to cigarette advertising". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 27 May 2018.
^ "Big Tobacco, Tiny Targets". Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids. Retrieved 27 May 2018.
^ Grana RA, Ling PM (April 2014). ""Smoking revolution": a content analysis of electronic cigarette retail websites". American Journal of Preventive Medicine. 46 (4): 395–403. doi:10.1016/j.amepre.2013.12.010. PMC 3989286. PMID 24650842.
^ "E-cigarettes and Lung Health". American Lung Association. 2015.
^ "Myths and Facts About E-cigarettes". American Lung Association. 2015.
^ Welch A (5 April 2018). "Facebook is used to promote tobacco, despite policies against it, study finds". CBS News. Retrieved 18 May 2018.
^ Nelson JP (2003). "Cigarette Demand, Structural Change, and Advertising Bans: International Evidence, 1970-1995". Contributions in Economic Analysis & Policy. 2. doi:10.2202/1538-0645.1111.
^ Nelson JP (2006). "Cigarette advertising regulation: A meta-analysis". International Review of Law and Economics. 26 (2): 195–226. doi:10.1016/j.irle.2006.08.005.
^ Nelson JP (March 2010). "What is learned from longitudinal studies of advertising and youth drinking and smoking? A critical assessment". International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. 7 (3): 870–926. doi:10.3390/ijerph7030870. PMC 2872298. PMID 20617009.
^ Myers ML (27 March 2001). "Statement: Surgeon General's Report on Women and Tobacco Underscores Need for Congress to Grant FDA Authority Over Tobacco". Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids.
^ "Tobacco advertising and promotion". Action on Smoking and Health. May 2006.
^ Wasowicz A, Feleszko W, Goniewicz ML (October 2015). "E-Cigarette use among children and young people: the need for regulation". Expert Review of Respiratory Medicine. 9 (5): 507–9. doi:10.1586/17476348.2015.1077120. PMID 26290119.
^ "Big Tobacco Keeps Pushing Into E-Cigarettes". Bloomberg.com. 17 June 2014. Retrieved 4 September 2018.
^ "Children Smoking". Stanford Research Into the Impact of Tobacco Advertising (SRITA).
^ "Doctors Hawk Cigarettes". Stanford Research Into the Impact of Tobacco Advertising (SRITA).
"Timeline: Smoking and disease". BBC News. 22 June 2004. Retrieved 12 July 2005.
"Formula One tobacco advertising to go". BBC News. 3 December 1997. Retrieved 9 July 2005.
"Formula One tobacco sponsorship ban scrapped". BBC News. 5 November 1997. Retrieved 9 July 2005.
Wheeler B (13 February 2004). "Has the tobacco ad ban worked?". BBC News. Retrieved 18 July 2005.
"Tobacco advert rules introduced". BBC News. 21 December 2004. Retrieved 18 July 2005.
Leonard T (21 September 2005). "TV advertisers shift focus to placing products in shows". Telegraph.co.uk. Retrieved 24 September 2005.
"The history of smoking". ForestOnline. 30 March 2006. Archived from the original on 5 January 2007. Retrieved 12 July 2005.
"Women and smoking – A report of the Surgeon General 2001". Archived from the original on 22 February 2009. Retrieved 12 July 2005.
"Tobacco advertising and promotion". ASH.org.uk. May 2006.
"ASH briefing: The UK ban on tobacco advertising". ASH.org.uk. June 2004. Archived from the original on 2 February 2007.
Pritcher L. "More About Tobacco Advertising and the Tobacco Collections: Tobacco advertising". Emergence of Advertising in America (EAA). Retrieved 13 July 2005.
"Tobacco Ads Will Be Removed from School Magazines". ConsumerAffairs.com. 20 June 2005. Archived from the original on 14 January 2006. Retrieved 18 July 2005.
"RJ Reynolds hints at leaving NASCAR". The Sporting News. 5 February 2003. Archived from the original on 8 April 2004. Retrieved 10 September 2005.
"Big Tobacco's Big Seduction: Women, Tobacco and the Glorification of Addiction, An interview with Mary Assunta". Multinational Monitor. 26 (5–6). May – June 2005.
Steinhart Y, Carmon Z, Trope Y (September 2013). "Warnings of adverse side effects can backfire over time". Psychological Science. 24 (9): 1842–7. doi:10.1177/0956797613478948. PMID 23912069.
Examples of Tobacco Advertising
Snuff advertising in the collection of Helmetta Historical Society
UCSF Tobacco Industry Videos Collection
UCSF Tobacco Industry Audio Recordings Collection
Gallery of vintage American tobacco print advertisements
Extensive online tobacco advertising collection at Stanford University
Cigarette Cards: ABCs, at the New York Public Library Digital Gallery
Catalogue of heraldic tobacco and trading cards
Duke Tobacco Company Cigarette Cards, at the Z. Smith Reynolds Library, Wake Forest University
Stanford University research into the impact of tobacco advertising; website with an extensive gallery of historical and current nicotine adverts and related material
"Tobacco Advertising and Promotion Act 2002 (c. 36) Tobacco Advertising and Promotion Act 2002]" in the UK
"Tobacco advertising" at the British Department of Health
"RJR-MacDonald V. Canada" at Health Canada
Anti-smoking organizations
"Advertising" at SmokeHelp.org
"Fact sheet – Tobacco advertising" by the Non Smokers' Movement of Australia
Smoke Free Movies Campaign by the University of California, San Francisco
"Health and the Mass Media – Tobacco" at the School of Public Health, University of Sydney
"Tobacco advertising" at Tobacco Control Factsheets
Roswell Park Cancer Institute Tobacco Document Collections and Resources
"Tobacco and alcohol sports sponsorship" at The Globe Magazine
Collection of Anti-Smoking TV Commercials
Breathtaking Classic Cigarette Ads – slideshow by Life magazine
Anti-tobacco movement in Nazi Germany
In the early 20th century, German researchers made advances in linking smoking to health harms, which strengthened the anti-tobacco movement in the Weimar Republic and led to a state-supported anti-smoking campaign. Early anti-tobacco movements grew in many nations from the middle of the 19th century. The 1933–1945 anti-tobacco campaigns in Nazi Germany have been widely publicized, although stronger laws than those passed in Germany were passed in some American states, the UK, and elsewhere between 1890 and 1930. After 1941, anti-tobacco campaigns were restricted by the Nazi government.The German movement was the most powerful anti-smoking movement in the world during the 1930s and early 1940s. However, tobacco control policy was incoherent and ineffective, with uncoordinated and often regional efforts by many actors. Obvious measures were not taken, and existing measures were not enforced. Some Nazi leaders condemned smoking and several of them openly criticized tobacco consumption, but others publicly smoked and denied that it was harmful. There was much research on smoking and its effects on health during Nazi rule, and it was the most important of its type at that time; but a directly-supported tobacco research institute produced work of only marginal scientific importance. Adolf Hitler's personal distaste for tobacco and the Nazi reproductive policies were among the motivating factors behind the Nazi campaigns against smoking.The Nazi anti-tobacco campaign included banning smoking in trams, buses, and city trains, promoting health education, limiting cigarette rations in the Wehrmacht, organizing medical lectures for soldiers, and raising the tobacco tax. The Nazis also imposed restrictions on tobacco advertising and smoking in public spaces, and regulated restaurants and coffeehouses. These measures were widely circumvented or ignored.The movement did not reduce the number of smokers. Tobacco use increased rapidly in the early years of the Nazi regime, between 1933 and 1939. The number of smokers increased from 1939 to 1945, but cigarette consumption declined; rationing towards the end of the war and post-war poverty meant that the increasing numbers of smokers could not buy as many cigarettes. Even by the end of the 20th century, the anti-smoking movement in Germany had not attained the influence of the Nazi anti-smoking campaign. Germany has some of the weakest tobacco control measures in Europe, and German tobacco research has been described as "muted".
A cigarette filter, also known as a filter tip, is a component of a cigarette, along with cigarette paper, capsules and adhesives. It does not make cigarettes less unhealthy.The filter may be made from cellulose acetate fibre, paper or activated charcoal (either as a cavity filter or embedded into the cellulose acetate). Macroporous phenol-formaldehyde resins and asbestos have also been used in cigarette filters. The acetate and paper modify the particulate smoke phase by particle retention (filtration), and finely divided carbon modifies the gaseous phase (adsorption). In laboratory testing, filters have been shown to reduce "tar" and nicotine smoke yields up to 50%, with a greater removal rate for other classes of compounds (e.g., phenols), but are ineffective in filtering toxins such as carbon monoxide. However, most of these measured reductions occur only when the cigarette is smoked on a smoking machine; when a human smokes them, deliveries remain similar with or without a filter.Most factory-made cigarettes are equipped with a filter; those who roll their own can buy them from a tobacconist. The near-universal adoption of filters on cigarettes has not reduced harms to smokers and lung cancer rates have not declined.Filling a given length of cigarette with filter is cheaper than filling it with tobacco.
Cigarette smoking for weight loss
Cigarette smoking for weight loss is a weight control method whereby one consumes tobacco, often in the form of cigarettes, to decrease one's appetite. The practice dates to early knowledge of nicotine as an appetite suppressant.
Tobacco smoking was associated with appetite suppression among Pre-Columbian indigenous Americans and Old World Europeans. For decades, tobacco companies have employed these connections between slimness and smoking in their advertisements, mainly in brands and advertisements targeting women. Culturally, the links between smoking cigarettes and controlling weight run deep. While it is unclear how many people begin or continue smoking because of weight concerns, research reveals that white female adolescents with established weight-related anxieties are particularly prone to initiate smoking.
Although knowledge of nicotine's effects upon the appetite can contribute to people smoking for weight control purposes, studies have not shown that people smoke exclusively to maintain or lose weight.
The history of nicotine marketing stretches back centuries. Nicotine marketing has continually developed new techniques in response to historical circumstances, societal and technological change, and regulation. Countermarketing has also changed, in both message and commoness, over the decades, often in response to pro-nicotine marketing.
Juul Labs, Inc. ( JOOL, stylized as JUUL Labs) is an electronic cigarette company which spun off from Pax Labs in 2017. It makes the Juul e-cigarette, which packages nicotine salts from leaf tobacco into one-time use cartridges.The Juul became the most popular e-cigarette in the United States at the end of 2017 and has a market share of 72% as of September 2018. Its widespread use by youth has triggered concern from the public health community and multiple investigations by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
Marketing of electronic cigarettes
The marketing of electronic cigarettes is legal in some jurisdictions, and spending on e-cigarette marketing is increasing rapidly.
Nicotine is a stimulant and potent parasympathomimetic alkaloid that is naturally produced in the nightshade family of plants. It is used for the treatment of tobacco use disorders as a smoking cessation aid and nicotine dependence for the relief of withdrawal symptoms. Nicotine acts as a receptor agonist at most nicotinic acetylcholine receptors (nAChRs), except at two nicotinic receptor subunits (nAChRα9 and nAChRα10) where it acts as a receptor antagonist.Nicotine constitutes approximately 0.6–3.0% of the dry weight of tobacco. Usually consistent concentrations of nicotine varying from 2–7 µg/kg (20–70 millionths of a percent wet weight) are found in the edible family Solanaceae, such as potatoes, tomatoes, and eggplant. Some research indicates that the contribution of nicotine obtained from food is substantial in comparison to inhalation of second-hand smoke. Others consider nicotine obtained from food to be trivial unless exceedingly high amounts of certain vegetables are eaten. It functions as an antiherbivore chemical; consequently, nicotine was widely used as an insecticide in the past, and neonicotinoids, such as imidacloprid, are widely used.
Nicotine is highly addictive. It is one of the most commonly abused drugs. An average cigarette yields about 2 mg of absorbed nicotine; high amounts can be more harmful. Nicotine addiction involves drug-reinforced behavior, compulsive use, and relapse following abstinence. Nicotine dependence involves tolerance, sensitization, physical dependence, and psychological dependence. Nicotine dependence causes distress. Nicotine withdrawal symptoms include depressed mood, stress, anxiety, irritability, difficulty concentrating, and sleep disturbances. Mild nicotine withdrawal symptoms are measurable in unrestricted smokers, who experience normal moods only as their blood nicotine levels peak, with each cigarette. On quitting, withdrawal symptoms worsen sharply, then gradually improve to a normal state.Nicotine use as a tool for quitting smoking has a good safety history. The general medical position is that nicotine itself poses few health risks, except among certain vulnerable groups such as youth. Nicotine is potentially harmful to non-users. At low amounts, it has a mild analgesic effect. The International Agency for Research on Cancer indicates that nicotine does not cause cancer. Nicotine has been shown to produce birth defects in some animal species, but not others; consequently, it is considered to be a possible teratogen in humans. The median lethal dose of nicotine in humans is unknown, but high doses are known to cause nicotine poisoning.
Regulation of nicotine marketing
As nicotine is highly addictive, marketing nicotine-containing products is regulated in most jurisdictions. Regulations include bans and regulation of certain types of advertising, and requirements for counter-advertising of facts generally not included in ads (generally, information about health effects, including addictiveness). Regulation is circumvented using less-regulated media, such as Facebook, less-regulated nicotine delivery products, such as e-cigarettes, and less-regulated ad types, such as industry ads which claim to discourage nicotine addiction but seem, according to independent studies, to promote teen nicotine use.
Sturm Cigarette Company
The Sturm Cigarette Company (Sturm Zigaretten, in English, Storm Cigarettes or Military Assault/Attack Cigarettes) was a cigarette company created by the Nazi Party's Sturmabteilung (SA). The sale of these cigarettes provided the SA with operating funds.Coercion and violence were used to increase the sales of these cigarettes.
"Torches of Freedom" was a phrase used to encourage women's smoking by exploiting women's aspirations for a better life during the early twentieth century first-wave feminism in the United States. Cigarettes were described as symbols of emancipation and equality with men. The term was first used by psychoanalyst A. A. Brill when describing the natural desire for women to smoke and was used by Edward Bernays to encourage women to smoke in public despite social taboos. Bernays hired women to march while smoking their "torches of freedom" in the Easter Sunday Parade of 1929, which was a significant moment for fighting social barriers for women smokers.
Ventilated cigarette
Ventilated cigarettes (labeled in certain jurisdictions as Light or Mild cigarettes) are considered to have a milder flavor than regular cigarettes. These cigarette brands may be listed as having lower levels of tar ("low-tar"), nicotine, or other chemicals as "inhaled" by a "smoking machine". However, the scientific evidence is that switching from regular to light or low-tar cigarettes does not reduce the health risks of smoking or lower the smoker's exposure to the nicotine, tar, and carcinogens present in cigarette smoke.The filter design, which may include perforated holes, is one of the main differences between light and regular cigarettes. When attached to a smoking machine, the small holes in the sides of the filter dilute the tobacco smoke with clean air. In ultra-light cigarettes, the filter's perforations are even larger, and on the smoking machine, they produce an even smaller smoke-to-air ratio. However, smokers react to the reduced resistance by inhaling more deeply, and tend to cover the holes with their fingers and mouth. None of these ventilation techniques reduce harm to smokers, and some may increase it; they are designed to give better readings in a smoking-machine test while minimally reducing what human smokers inhale.Belief among the general public that "light" cigarettes are less harmful and less addictive is pervasive and problematic to public health efforts. Usage of descriptors such as "light" or "mild" has thus been banned in the European Union, Australia, Malaysia, Philippines, and other countries. Tobacco manufacturers now use color-coding to allow consumers to differentiate between regular and light brands, using lighter colors and silver for "light" cigarettes. Plain tobacco packaging appears to be helpful in reducing marketing influence.
Women and smoking
With gender-targeted marketing, including packaging and slogans (especially "slimmer" and "lighter" cigarettes), and promotion of women smoking in movies and popular TV shows, the tobacco industry was able to increase the percent of women smoking. In the 1980s, tobacco industries were made to have the surgeon general's warning printed on each packaging of the tobacco products. This slowed the rate of women smoking but later slightly increased after the advertisements started to look more present day and more appealing packaging, that appealed to the younger generation. In more recent times, cigarette smoking has been banned from public places and will continue to help decrease smoking rates in the United States. Cigarette smoking has serious health effects.
In the General Health Effects and the Effects for female sections, the article gives specific statistics on the health effects on women and in general.
As far as the future, smoking levels continue to decline in the developed world and increasing in the developing world.
Alcohol advertising
Cosmetic advertising
Fast food advertising
Gambling advertising
Mobile phone content advertising
Tobacco advertising
Toy advertising
Country and region
and North America
Smoking in Jewish law
Tobacco fatwa
Ceremonial pipe
Chanunpa
Pipe bag
Health effects of tobacco (Nicotine poisoning
Nicotine withdrawal)
Third-hand smoke
Prevalence of tobacco use
Schizophrenia and smoking
Sidestream smoke
Smokeless tobacco keratosis
Smoker's face
Smoker's melanosis
Stomatitis nicotina
Smoking age
Smoking and male infertility
Tobacco-Free Pharmacies
Protocol to Eliminate Illicit Trade in Tobacco Products
World No Tobacco Day
Youth smoking
Breastfeeding difficulties
Ptosis of the breast
Smoking and female infertility
Smoking and pregnancy
Inflight smoking
List of smoking bans
Smoking bans in private vehicles
Tobacco-Free College Campuses
Chain smoking
Cigarette consumption per capita
History of smoking
Smokeasy
Smoking fetishism
Tobacco bowdlerization
Tobacco industry
Tobacco smoking
Kretek
Beedi
Cigarette card
Cigarette smoking among college students
Loosie
Nicotine poisoning
Tobacco harm reduction
Herbal cigarette
Heat-not-burn tobacco product
Nicotine patch
Nicotine gum
Nicotine inhaler
Nicotine lozenge
Cultivation of tobacco
Egyptian cigarette industry
History of commercial tobacco in the United States
and the law
Cigarette smuggling
Illicit cigarette trade
Plain cigarette packaging
Tobacco control movement
Tobacco Master Settlement Agreement
Tobacco politics
Cigarette brands
Cigarette smoke carcinogens
Countries by cigarette consumption per capita
Smoking bans
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0009.json.gz/line837
|
__label__cc
| 0.645529
| 0.354471
|
July 14, 2014 by Glenn Paetow 5 Comments
What is the best treatment for an acute flare of Hidradenitis Suppurativa in the ED?
The Short Answer
It depends… Hurley Stage 1 disease can be managed with topical antibiotics or intralesional steroid injections, Stage 2 with systemic antibiotics, and Stage 3 with referral to Dermatology and/or Surgery for alternate therapies and definitive management. Lifestyle modifications such as weight loss and smoking cessation are thought to help, and should be encouraged in all patients with HS. Finally, one should weigh the pros and cons before incision and drainage (I&D) as it can help with temporary pain control for obvious, large, painful abscesses but these abscesses almost always recur and the procedure causes increased scarring and inflammation.
The Long Answer
Hidradenitis Suppurativa (HS), also known as acne inversa, is a chronic inflammatory condition of the follicular skin, characterized by painful nodules that often progress to recurrent abscesses, scarring, and sinus tract formation1. It most commonly involves the intertriginous areas of the axillae, inguinal region, perineum, and buttocks. HS affects about 1% of the population with symptoms starting in the second decade of life2. Females are three times more likely to be affected than males and risk factors include smoking and obesity2. The pathogenesis is not well understood, but current theory implicates lymphocytic inflammation and hyperkeratosis of the sebaceous glands as well as hormonal, genetic, and environmental factors. Interestingly, the HS abscesses are not bacterially-initiated and thus should not be treated like a your regular, run-of-the-mill abscess.1-4
A staging system was developed by Hurley in 1989 to describe the spectrum of disease.5
Jemec, NEJM 2012
Collier, BMJ 2013
In the Emergency Department, we are often tempted to treat an acute flare of HS like any other abscess. In reviewing the literature, however, there are many more options for treatment, and in fact, treatment should be tailored to the stage of disease.
Show Me The Evidence
For Hurley Stage I HS, a few treatment modalities have been described in the literature including topical antibiotics and intralesional steroid injections.
Two randomized clinical trials have found that topical 1% clindamycin cream did reduce the number of abscesses and pustules at three months when applied to affected areas twice daily6-7. A reduction in the number of nodules, however, was noted to take longer than three months in these studies.
In addition, while there is no published evidence for it, expert consensus among dermatologists has also found that intralesional injections of triamcinolone 2-5mg helps reduce the severity of symptoms for patients with mild HS2,8.
When topical antibiotics are insufficient or if the disease has progressed to Hurley Stage II, short term systemic antibiotics have been shown to help. In one randomized clinical trial, oral tetracycline was found to be equivalent to topical clindamycin in the reduction of abscess formation7. No formal studies have been published, but clinical experience has shown that similar regimens such as doxycycline 100mg daily are effective and much more tolerable than oral tetracycline.
In addition, long-term antibiotic regimens have also been shown to be efficacious in reducing the recurrence of symptoms. Three retrospective, uncontrolled case series found that a 10-week course of clindamycin 300mg BID and rifampicin 300mg BID led to partial improvement and in some cases total resolution of symptoms9-11. This two-drug regimen is widely prescribed by dermatologists and could potentially be initiated in the Emergency Department if a patient is expected to have good follow-up. This regimen can have diarrhea as a major side effect and actually caused some patients to discontinue its use during these studies.
One important thing to remember is that these medications are actually used for their anti-inflammatory and immunomodulatory effects and secondarily for their antibiotic properties.
For Hurley Stage III HS, many different treatment options exist, but all would be initiated as an outpatient in Dermatology or Surgery clinic. These include hormone therapy, immunosuppressive agents, laser or radiation therapy, or definitive management with excisional surgery12.
The risks and benefits of I&D in the Emergency Department should be weighed and discussed with the patient. While I&D can provide temporary relief from the pain associated with a distended abscess pocket, patients will have to deal with the pain from an open wound for the next week. Interestingly, without treatment the average duration of these painful boils is about 7 days13. If I&D is performed, recurrence is almost inevitable14. In addition, recurrent I&D leads to increased scarring and inflammation, which perpetuates the cycle of HS. In the long term, repeated I&D may actually be harmful for patients as their disease progresses in severity. It is therefore of utmost importance to have this discussion with your patients and ensure timely follow up with dermatology, rather than having them come back to the ED for repeat I&Ds.1-2
Unfortunately, there are not a lot of good, randomized clinical trials on the topic, and zero papers in the emergency medicine literature, so there are still a lot of questions to answer when it comes to the optimal treatment for acute flares of HS.
Will this evidence change my practice?
I think that from now on, I will be more comfortable prescribing topical clindamycin for mild to moderate HS. These patients are always asking for something to prevent further flares, and this will be a good option, in addition to education and behavioral modifications. Also, I will still consider I&D in obviously tense and painful abscesses, but I will try to be more judicious in choosing which abscesses to drain. After all, if you have a hammer, everything looks like a nail. I hope to involve patients in this decision and emphasize the importance of timely follow-up in dermatology clinic.
If you read one paper on this topic read this:
Jemec GBE. Clinical practice. Hidradenitis suppurativa. N Engl J Med 2012;366:158-64.
1. Collier Fiona, Smith Robert C, Morton Colin A. Diagnosis and management of hidradenitis suppurativa. BMJ 2013; 346:f2121.
2. Jemec GBE. Clinical practice. Hidradenitis suppurativa. N Engl J Med 2012;366:158-64.
3. Ellis LZ. Hidradenitis suppurativa: Surgical and other management techniques. Dermatol Surg 2011; 38(4):517-536.
4. Yazdanyar S, Jemec GB. Hidradenitis suppurativa: a review of cause and treatment. Curr Opin Infect Dis. 2011;24(2):118–123.
5. Hurley HJ. Axillary hyperhidrosis, apocrine bromohidrosis, hidradenitis suppurativa and familial benign pemphigus: surgical approach. In: Roenigk RK, Roenigk HH, eds. Dermatologic surgery. Marcel Dekker, 1989:729-39.
6. Clemensen OJ. Topical treatment of hidradenitis suppurativa with clindamycin. Int J Dermatol 1983; 22:325-8.
7. Jemec GB, Wendelboe P. Topical clindamycin vs systemic tetracycline in the treatment of hidradenitis suppurativa. J Am Acad Dermatol 1998; 39:971-4.
8. Jemec GBE, Revuz J, Leyden JJ, eds. Hidradenitis suppurativa. Berlin: Springer Verlag, 2006.
9. Mendonça CO, Griffiths CE. Clindamycin and rifampicin combination therapy for hidradenitis suppurativa. Br J Dermatol 2006; 154(5):977-978.
10. Gener G, Canoui-Poitrine F, Revuz JE, et al. Combination therapy with clindamycin and rifampicin for hidradenitis suppurativa: a series of 116 consecutive patients. Dermatology 2009; 219(2):148-154.
11. van der Zee HH, Boer J, Prens EP, Jemec GB. The effect of combined treatment with oral clindamycin and oral rifampicin in patients with hidradenitis suppurativa. Dermatology 2009; 219(2):143-147.
12. Rambhatla PV, Lim HW, Hamzavi I. A systematic review of treatments for hidradenitis suppurativa. Arch Dermatol 2012;148:439-46.
13. von der Werth JM, Williams HC. The natural history of hidradenitis suppurativa. J Eur Acad Dermatol Venereol. 2000;14:389–392.
14. Ritz JP, Runkel N, Haier J, Buhr HJ. Extent of surgery and recurrence rate of hidradenitis suppurativa. Int J Colorectal Dis 1998; 13:164-168.
Glenn Paetow
Filed Under: Dermatology, Evidence-Based Medicine, Infectious Disease, Procedures
dave plummer says
Very nice summary.
Like all chronic recurrent conditions, patients should have close relationship with their primary physicians, who know them and their coarse. They should have their name and contact number. EDs should almost always treat (I&D) these on initial presentation, and should also refer to Surg and/or Derm thereafter. Otherwise, it is hard to not I&D these, and that may be a disservice.
Glenn Paetow says
Thanks for your comments! I agree completely; I&D for pain control is certainly indicated for many of the patient’s we see. The patients who show up to the ED are very different from those in Dermatology clinics where most of this research originates.
Nice summary, used and referenced this tonight to avoid an unnecessary and likely unbeneficial I & D.
hyadrenitis suppurativa | Community ED says:
[…] https://hqmeded.com/hidradenitis-suppurativa/ […]
hyadrenitis suppurativa – Community ED says:
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0009.json.gz/line838
|
__label__cc
| 0.51322
| 0.48678
|
Huge spike, Schumann Resonance
Thread: Huge spike, Schumann Resonance
Aianawa
Just a few hours ago, the natural frequency of our Earth, or the Schumann Resonance, hit it's highest recorded value, ever. This is the natural heartbeat of our planet that all biological life entrains to.
Normally this frequency has hovered around 7-8Hz since it was discovered in 1953. Over the past couple years, it has been increasing. In 2014, it would start spiking to 14-16Hz on certain days. Last year, we would see it hit 30-40Hz.
Today it shot up to 90Hz. "Yuuuge spike!"
Scientific analysis shows that our brainwaves will entrain to these frequencies. By definition, entrainment is "to draw along with or after oneself." So essentially, the Earth is shifting higher, and drawing our minds along with it.
Ironic that this spike was on the symbolic date of Easter. We are co-creatively resurrecting the Christ Consciousness upon our planet.
That's a pretty important thing, just wanted to let you know.
The Following 11 Users Say Thank You to Aianawa For This Useful Post:
Aragorn (17th April 2017), Dreamtimer (17th April 2017), Elen (17th April 2017), Greenbarry (17th April 2017), Jengelen (18th April 2017), lcam88 (20th April 2017), modwiz (17th April 2017), NotAPretender (13th April 2019), Novusod (17th April 2017), sandy (17th April 2017), sarahdita85 (17th April 2017)
Novusod
The Schumann Resonance can be seen by viewing the phosphines and internal lights of the Pineal gland. (from my Mystery School)
What is the sound of silence? AND What is the color of darkness?
To answer the first question there exists what some call the deafening sound of silence. If you go into a room that is perfectly silent it is possible to hear the sound of silence. It is not tinnitus and it is not your mind playing tricks on you. The sound of silence sounds like either high or low pitched tones. It sounds like tuning forks or singing bowls if you ever used singing bowls. These sounds really exist if you focus on them. The sound of silence is a perception of the energy that surrounds us. Sometimes the tones are in harmony and other times not. Through listening to the sound of silence on a daily bases it is possible to become aware of the love waves and know of their existence. The love waves are part of the sound of silence when it is harmonized.
To answer the second part of the question darkness does indeed have color. Like perceiving sounds coming from pure silence it is also possible to see light and colors from pure darkness.
In a relaxed state is possible to see the phosphines which are the gateway to the soul. If you go into a dark room with absolutely no light it is possible to see them. The light of the phosphines comes from the glowing of the pineal gland. The pineal gland is the only part of the human body which gives off its' own light. The pineal gland can glow in the dark like a firefly. When it glows your mind will see this internally as phosphines. If someone is smart they are literally bright because their minds are illuminated with phosphines.
This is the true illumination. These light patterns in the phosphines are also affected by the love waves. The light patterns will ebb and flow with the coming of the love waves and it is possible to see this happens. The uninitiated are simply not aware of such things even though it occurs all around them.
Below is an example of what Phosphines can look like.
The Following 9 Users Say Thank You to Novusod For This Useful Post:
Aianawa (17th April 2017), Aragorn (17th April 2017), Dreamtimer (17th April 2017), Elen (17th April 2017), Greenbarry (17th April 2017), Jengelen (18th April 2017), modwiz (17th April 2017), Onthebit (9th June 2017), sandy (17th April 2017)
New area in the cosmos for us as we are dragged along by the Sun......could be the be reason why the sun is turning more white and intense with each passing year and thus the rise in frequencies too ............maybe...........
The Following 8 Users Say Thank You to sandy For This Useful Post:
Aianawa (17th April 2017), Aragorn (17th April 2017), Dreamtimer (17th April 2017), Elen (17th April 2017), Jengelen (18th April 2017), modwiz (17th April 2017), Novusod (17th April 2017), Onthebit (9th June 2017)
The afternoon light that comes in is very white. Even in winter.
When my eyes are closed and I see this kind of pattern it's complex and varies in speed and morphing shapes.
Aianawa (18th April 2017), Aragorn (18th April 2017), Elen (17th April 2017), Greenbarry (17th April 2017), Jengelen (18th April 2017), modwiz (17th April 2017), sandy (18th April 2017)
Jengelen
Do you all not see the coincidence here? P.B. Katehi the Chancellor of USC Berkeley has numerous patents on VHF antennae and frequencies applications and the Schumann resonance just happens to spike during these violent outbreaks at her college? Hmmmmm.. and now we have these crazies all over, the reports in Chicago of 18 killed in 20 hours, Detroit a killer gone nuts, Memphis reports of crazies on the freeway, and now the FB killer running lose in Cleveland, OH. So I ask you does anyone think maybe Katehi and her cohorts are doing a massive experiment messing with minds enhancing the Schumann resonance so it spikes to 90 hz dragging all the little brains along with it for the ride just to see what happens! Almost like tainting a water cooler with a virus just to see how long it takes to infect the entire building huh???
The Following 5 Users Say Thank You to Jengelen For This Useful Post:
Aianawa (18th April 2017), Aragorn (18th April 2017), Elen (17th April 2017), Onthebit (9th June 2017), Windancer (23rd April 2017)
PurpleLama
There may be some resonance or another that jumps up and down, but the Schumann resonance is literally based on the shape and size of the earth, which (hopefully) isn't jumping up and down.
Sometimes God shines his magic light beam from outer space, and it works in mysterious ways.
The Following 10 Users Say Thank You to PurpleLama For This Useful Post:
Aianawa (18th April 2017), Aragorn (18th April 2017), Barbarella (11th May 2017), Bob (17th April 2017), Elen (17th April 2017), Fred Steeves (17th April 2017), Jengelen (18th April 2017), modwiz (17th April 2017), sandy (18th April 2017), TargeT (17th April 2017)
Could you share where the citation was posted about this huge spike?
Originally posted by PurpleLama
Schumann resonances are global electromagnetic resonances in the cavity formed between the earth’s surface and the ionosphere. Schumann resonances were named after German physicist Winfried Schumann, who first predicted them in 1952. Electromagnetic impulses like those from global lightning flashes (Earth’s thunderstorm activity) fill this cavity and excite the Schumann resonances. The first accurate measurements of the Schumann resonances were made from 1960 to 1963 and since then there has been an increasing interest in them across a wide variety of fields.
Radiation from the sun ionizes part of the earth’s upper atmosphere and forms a conductive plasma layer, the ionosphere. The ionosphere surrounding our planet is negatively charged relative to the earth’s surface, which creates a strong electrical field between the earth and ionosphere. Schumann resonances occur because the space between the surface of the earth and the conductive ionosphere acts as a closed waveguide. This waveguide acts as a resonant cavity for electromagnetic waves. Schumann resonances appear as distinct peaks at extremely low frequencies starting around 7.8 hertz, which is considered the fundamental frequency.
Schumann resonances in Earth-ionosphere cavity. Courtesy NASA.
Resonances can be observed at around 7.8, 14, 20, 26, 33, 39 and 45 hertz, with a daily variation of about ± 0.5 hertz, which is caused by the daily increase and decrease in the ionization of the ionosphere due to UV radiation from the sun
(also see the live data https://www.heartmath.org/research/g...cms-live-data/).
Aianawa (18th April 2017), Aragorn (18th April 2017), Clear Blue Skies (17th April 2017), Elen (17th April 2017), Jengelen (18th April 2017), modwiz (17th April 2017), Olaf (18th April 2017), Onthebit (9th June 2017), sandy (18th April 2017)
Be interesting if the equipment to read these things will be in California. It may not be that the Schumann resonance changed but they have found a way to enhance it locally somehow using antennae arrays. It would make sense they would want to do it around the equipment used to read such things and I bet ya Berkeley has those things.
Last edited by Jengelen, 17th April 2017 at 19:54.
Aianawa (18th April 2017), Aragorn (18th April 2017), Elen (17th April 2017), Maggie (17th April 2017), modwiz (17th April 2017), sandy (18th April 2017)
Clear Blue Skies
Originally posted by Aianawa
Hi Aianawa
What's your source please for the Schumann Resonance(s) ?
I've had a passing interest in the Schumann Resonance(s) but have never managed to find any publicly available "real-time" up-to-date data-sources ... and as far as I am concerned, the supposed link between the SR and the apparent "awakening of Humanity" has yet to be proven as more than some "new-age myth" eh ?
The Following 9 Users Say Thank You to Clear Blue Skies For This Useful Post:
Aianawa (18th April 2017), Aragorn (18th April 2017), Bob (17th April 2017), Elen (17th April 2017), Jengelen (18th April 2017), modwiz (17th April 2017), Olaf (18th April 2017), sandy (18th April 2017), TargeT (17th April 2017)
There may be some resonance or another that jumps up and down,
Thats exactly what it is
The schumann resonance is a product of the size of our atmosphere and the size of our planet (or more specifically, the space in between the two; there is a 'cavity 'defined by the surface of the Earth and the inner edge of the ionosphere about 20 miles up).
Unless our atmosphere is rapidly changing size, the "schumann resonance" will not change.
But it does echo "octaves" of itself, at higher frequencies. is 90hz an octave of 7.8~8hz? (its pretty close!) It's better to think of it in musical terms really. The resonance is not a set number, (though the numbers are related!).
Question everything. Always.
The Following 11 Users Say Thank You to TargeT For This Useful Post:
Aianawa (18th April 2017), Aragorn (18th April 2017), Barbarella (11th May 2017), Bob (17th April 2017), Elen (17th April 2017), Fred Steeves (18th April 2017), Jengelen (18th April 2017), Maggie (17th April 2017), Onthebit (9th June 2017), PurpleLama (17th April 2017), sandy (18th April 2017)
sarahdita85
Derry. Northern Ireland.
Back in 2014, when i was following Dr Simon Atkins, he mentioned something about this and when it spikes up around 90 certain people wont be able to cope with it and they will go crazy. Interesting now, because the planet as a whole really does seem to be losing the plot.
The Following 6 Users Say Thank You to sarahdita85 For This Useful Post:
Aianawa (18th April 2017), Aragorn (18th April 2017), Elen (17th April 2017), Jengelen (18th April 2017), Novusod (19th April 2017), sandy (18th April 2017)
Greenbarry
The Bluegrass State
i think it is safe to say that..
"they" dont want our vibration to climb but to stay low??
what are chem trial clouds for, if not to block the sun keeping it from reaching us..
besides the obvious, it would defeat "thair" purpose.
Last edited by Greenbarry, 18th April 2017 at 01:32.
The Following 5 Users Say Thank You to Greenbarry For This Useful Post:
Aianawa (18th April 2017), Aragorn (18th April 2017), Elen (18th April 2017), Jengelen (18th April 2017), sandy (18th April 2017)
Source was on Bill Ballards FB page, I could not cut n paste, so took the written and plonked it here, will go back to that post and see, actually I shared it so will be on my timeline, will be back
Last edited by Aragorn, 18th April 2017 at 11:09. Reason: made your link clickable ;)
The Following 4 Users Say Thank You to Aianawa For This Useful Post:
Aragorn (18th April 2017), Clear Blue Skies (18th April 2017), Elen (18th April 2017), Jengelen (18th April 2017)
Oh, now, going by the image from that FB link, it seems the source is likely to be the Space Observing System where their current image (as of 11:35 GMT) looks like this :
Aianawa (18th April 2017), Aragorn (18th April 2017), Elen (18th April 2017), Jengelen (18th April 2017)
And are you able to read this ?
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0009.json.gz/line843
|
__label__cc
| 0.513058
| 0.486942
|
Online Campaign Contributions in US Politics: A Conversation
In this conversation hosted by the Media & Democracy program, program officer Mike Miller discusses the trajectory of campaign financing in recent elections with Ciara Torres-Spelliscy (Stetson University) and Heath Brown (John Jay College of Criminal Justice). In particular, they address the impact of online fundraising and small-dollar contributions.
by Ciara Torres-Spelliscy, Heath Brown and Mike Miller April 2, 2019
With the presidential primary underway, the topic of campaign finance is again dominating the political conversation. The Social Science Research Council’s Media & Democracy program brought together three scholars to discuss the state of campaign finance on presidential elections, how fundraising is affected by new technologies, and how these issues impact democracy. Ciara Torres-Spelliscy is the Leroy Highbaugh Sr. Research Chair and professor of law at Stetson University, Heath Brown is associate professor of public policy at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, and Mike Miller is program officer for the Media & Democracy program.
Mike: I’d like to begin by outlining the size and scope of the campaign finance field, if you will. How much money is likely to be spent on campaigns in 2020? How do these numbers compare to campaigns in the recent past or historically? I would imagine the trajectory is on the incline, but is it a sharp incline or has the rate of increase been relatively steady?
Ciara: The spending in federal elections has been on a steady incline, increasing. The elections of 2012 and 2016 were the most expensive in history. And then 2018 was the most expensive midterm in history.
Mike: And, are there projections for how much money will be spent in 2020?
Ciara: No one can know for sure. But there will be billions spent in 2020. Here’s the data from 2018 from the good folks at Open Secrets.
Mike: Do we have any sense for what a reasonable goal for a candidate in a primary or a general election is? Or, is there a threshold below which we can say that a candidate simply won’t be able to compete?
Ciara: Well, in 2016, Trump spent around a third of a billion, which was low for a presidential candidate. He could do that in part because he got billions of free coverage from TV and cable networks.
Heath: Gary Johnson’s committee raised $11.9 million in 2016; maybe that’s the lower-bound threshold. Jill Stein and Evan McMullin raised less than that, and all were viable just to run, not to actually compete.
Mike: Right, that’s a really good distinction: running vs. competing.
Heath: It seems hard to imagine a competitive Democrat in 2020 will raise less than $750 million when it is all finished; that’s far above what Hillary Clinton raised in 2016.
Ciara: The $750 million is basically what Obama raised in both of his runs for president.
Heath: He was especially good at this.
Ciara: According to Ira Rubinstein, “barackobama.com saw an unprecedented level of online activity, with reports indicating that 3 million donors made a total of 6.5 million online donations (adding up to more than $500 million).”
Heath: Alas, those were more innocent times in this country.
Mike: So another good distinction is whether a candidate is running on a major party ticket, which leads to another background question before we segue to online and small donations: Are there now (or have there been, historically) stark differences in the partisan make-up of contributions? Does one party have a distinct fundraising advantage?
Ciara: Super PACs have skewed to the right in terms of the sources of their biggest donors. And interestingly, nearly all publicly traded corporations that give to Super PACs, give to Republican Super PACs.
Heath: It is not clear that there are partisan differences in the ability to raise money. In 2018, for example, each party raised between $950 million and 1 billion.
Mike: Recent reporting suggests that Democrats may have an advantage in raising money from “small donors.” Before we get to the impact and the distribution of small donations, can either of you tell me what constitutes a “small” donation? Is there a legal distinction or a consensus among journalists?
Heath: My impression is that this is typically treated as donations under $200 by scholars and journalists.
Ciara: One distinction you could make is between reportable donations of $200 or more and then everything below that threshold is “small.” But academics can disagree about just about anything including what counts as small.
Mike: I can’t disagree with that.
Mike: Ciara, what are the individual limits on campaign contributions?
Ciara: The current limits for individuals is $2,800 per candidate, per election. So $2,800 for the primary and an additional $2,800 for the general.
Heath: That $5,600 is the same as the average closing costs for the purchase of a home.
Mike: So everyone must be doing it!
Mike: OK, big picture: Do we have a sense of what proportion of campaign donations are likely to be from “small” vs. “large” donors? Is it realistic to think that in 2020 small donations will compete with or outspend PACs and other large donors?
Ciara: Again, that’s impossible to know. If you have Super PACs spending, the Super PACs can gather in unlimited contributions—literally millions at a time. It takes a lot of $200 or fewer donations to make up for one multimillion-dollar Super PAC donation.
Heath: I don’t know if it is 2020 or some other election, but the key here seems to be the difference between potential small donors’ interest in donating and their actual practice of doing it.
Ciara: On the other hand, if you have one million passionate followers who are all willing to give $27, then suddenly a candidate will have $27 million in the kitty.
Mike: Hmm…I recognize that number from somewhere. Here at the SSRC’s Media & Democracy program, we spend a lot of time thinking about how innovations in media technology affect democratic practices and institutions. So one question is whether the ability of individual citizens to donate to a campaign in the amount of $5, $10, or, oh I don’t know, $27, has been facilitated by new media technology (e.g., smart phones) or new media applications (e.g., ActBlue). In other words, is the increased importance of small donations something that we might still have seen in the absence of new media technology or is this really a tech driven phenomenon?
Ciara: This is how Sanders got so much money so quickly after announcing his 2020 run.
Heath: I think this isn’t just the future of campaign finance, this is the holy grail of political media as well, and likely the financing of journalism more broadly than that. The technology behind micropayments and recurring payments to candidates have in common the uncertain trust/faith the public has in the technology/platform. This seems to be as true for the viability of candidates who want to rely on small-dollar donations as it is for local newspapers.
Mike: Do you mean that voters who are donating via micropayment apps are wary that their data are being shared in unsavory ways? Or something else?
Heath: I suspect the list of concerns are numerous, and most not even that explicit. If you look at the trust in technology companies, the public is mixed at best. So a candidate who comes along, likely in 2020, with an app to swipe micropayment donations will rise and fall with the level of trust in their campaign as well as the underlying platform security.
Ciara: True. As I explore in my second book, Political Brands, Facebook still has egg on its face from the data breach around Cambridge Analytica purloining private information from users to be fed into political campaigns.
Mike: I think these are great points, and they make me wonder whether this spike in small donor contributions is just that (a blip) or whether funding models will recalibrate. Which brings me to Mr. Beto O’Rourke, who has just announced his candidacy for president! The three-term Texas representative raised a record (for a Senate race) $80 million dollars in 2018, about half of which came from small donors, and about $60 million via ActBlue, the online fundraising tool that helps “crowdsource” small donations. An argument could be made that he is riding a wave of celebrity earned in part by his online small-donor fundraising prowess. Do either of you think this represents a new model of entry into national politics? Or is this, again, just a blip and we aren’t likely to see it again in 2022?
Ciara: Online fundraising platforms are likely to continue to expand. The Democrats have ActBlue and CrowdPAC. The Republicans just rolled out Patriot Pass, which does the same thing on the right.
Heath: O’Rourke is certainly riding a wave of something, but the wave metaphor is an apt one: other candidates will surely catch the next big one, either by mimicking his fundraising strategy or by innovating in some other way. I think it is too pat to associate his small-donor prowess in a highly unusual Texas Senate race to a more generalizable prowess in a presidential race.
Ciara: And, as Obama learned in 2008 and 2012, the beauty of a small donor is, as a matter of campaign finance law, they are not maxed out. The candidate can ask for more money from the small donor again and again as the election goes on.
Mike: And boy did they.
Heath: Campaign history shows that a technology advantage only lasts a cycle or so, and the other party catches up See Dan Kreiss’s great work on this.
Mike: And Ben Epstein also has great work on these “political communication cycles,” from a broader historical perspective.
Sticking with Beto for a moment: of the $80 million he raised, his campaign spent all but $500 thousand and lost the race by three points. So a question arises: Are individual donors, many of whom are sending money across state lines, more likely to donate in inefficient ways? Should we be thinking about wasted donations? Are there groups out there thinking about ways to get online/small donors to donate more efficiently (e.g., to down ballot races)?
Heath: Underlying this question is what motivates donors to give and how malleable the giving patterns are. If you think about Eitan Hersh’s idea of political hobbyism, you have to ask what portion of donors are hobbyists—participating as a form of leisure activity—and which portion of donors are driven by civic duty.
Ciara: You cannot know beforehand how close an election will be, whether it is Beto in 2018 or Trump in 2016, so I think donors have to think about what type of candidates they want to see in what offices, and give accordingly. Clearly if you have a lot of money to spend in politics you can be more Machiavellian and try to give in the swing district of a swing state to tip a legislature for example.
Heath: If donors are drawn to politics for the horse race and celebrity candidate, then it seems hard to imagine they are going to want to split their donations with unknown candidates in down-ballot races.
So, it seems to me, one question is from the perspective of the democracy, what role do campaign donations play alongside other forms of participation like voting, speaking out, protesting, running for office?
And a second question: What would we expect to change politically if a new technology facilitated more small donors and candidates to fund campaigns with a larger portion of funding from small donors?
Ciara: According to Chief Justice John Roberts, giving money and voting are moral equivalents. See McCutcheon v. FEC.
Heath: I’d be curious what Justice Roberts views as the going exchange rate.
Ciara: To Heath’s second question, one advantage that online small donations (the Netflix model) could have is freeing more members of Congress from call time, dialing for dollars.
Mike: These are really great questions, and I want to wrap with one that engages Roberts’s view of spending as speech. So here’s the $64,000 question: What does any of this mean for (small “d”) democratic politics going forward? And, let me frame the question in this way: Over the past two years, I have personally donated to campaigns in states where I do not live and would need to fly to in order to volunteer on the ground. What does that mean for politics, especially in a federal constitution such as ours? Is there any organized push back against this kind of intranational, transborder “interference” and, if so, from whom?
Ciara: Courts have basically struck down most laws that try to place geographical limits on political spenders. So one oddity that this creates is voters are land locked, but money flows across borders. One consequence of free-flowing money is a candidate who has little local support can get a media boost from out-of-state spenders. That may artificially inflate the candidate’s name recognition. But if the local candidate doesn’t do the leg work to build up a base, then they may lose the election anyway. Especially in low-information elections, like judicial elections, out-of-state money can make a difference. Think of the Chamber of Commerce’s spending or the Koch Brothers.
Heath: I guess I’m pessimistic that this will greatly change the small “d” democratic politics of Congress. I think Ciara is right that reducing member time on fundraising calls is, all things equal, a good thing. It frees them to legislate on behalf of their constituents and provide oversight of the executive branch. However, freeing a member of this time doesn’t change the fact that most operate with increasingly small staffs with less policy experience than in the past. These staffers’ relative pay is declining, making it more and more attractive to leave the Hill for lobbying jobs. The weakening capacity of Congress seems to me a problem that cleaning up the campaign finance system won’t address in a meaningful way.
Mike: Ciara and Heath, this has been amazing! I’ve learned a lot! Thank you!
campaigns and electionsMedia & Democracy
Ciara Torres-Spelliscy
Ciara Torres-Spelliscy is the Leroy Highbaugh Sr. Research Chair and professor of law at Stetson University. Prior to joining Stetson's faculty, Torres-Spelliscy was counsel in the Democracy Program of the Brennan Center for Justice at NYU School of Law where she provided guidance on the issues of money in politics and the judiciary to state and federal lawmakers. She was an associate at Arnold & Porter LLP and a staffer for Senator Richard Durbin.
Torres-Spelliscy has testified before Congress, state, and local legislative bodies as an expert on campaign finance reform. She has also helped draft legislation and Supreme Court briefs. She is the editor of the 2010 edition of the Brennan Center's campaign finance treatise, "Writing Reform: A Guide to Drafting State and Local Campaign Finance Laws," and the author of Corporate Citizen? An Argument for the Separation of Corporation and State and Political Brands, forthcoming from Edward Elgar Publishing in late 2019.
Heath Brown
Heath Brown is an associate professor of public policy at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice, City University of New York, and the CUNY Graduate Center. He has written four books on the money, politics, and public policy.
In addition to his research, Brown is reviews editor for Interest Groups & Advocacy and hosts a podcast called New Books in Political Science, where he interviews new authors about their political science publications. He is also an expert contributor to The Hill as well as to The Atlantic magazine and American Prospect magazine. Brown currently a coleader of the New York City chapter of the Scholars Strategy Network.
Mike Miller is program officer for the SSRC's Media & Democracy program. He joins the SSRC on a two-year postdoc as part of the Mellon/ACLS Public Fellows program. He received his PhD in political science from the City University of New York, where he studied the effect of innovations in media technology on state efforts to control political speech in China. Prior to joining the SSRC he taught courses in political science at Hunter College and Hostos Community College of the City University of New York.
Previous article The SSRC and the Development of Large-Scale Macroeconometric Models
Next article Directions in Sociolinguistics: Report on an Interdisciplinary Seminar
An Opening Before There Was an Opening: The Council and Cuba Twenty Years On
Eric Hershberg and Stanley N. Katz
A Political Science Research Agenda on Climate Change
Kris-Stella Trump and Cole Edick
Social Data Initiative Update: January 2019
Mining in Colombia: Searching for a Consensus
Renata Segura
Political Inequality in Affluent Democracies
Unequal Political Voice in the New American Gilded Age
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0009.json.gz/line847
|
__label__wiki
| 0.621686
| 0.621686
|
Understanding Katrina
There’s No Such Thing as a Natural Disaster
by Neil Smith June 11, 2006
It is generally accepted among environmental geographers that there is no such thing as a natural disaster. In every phase and aspect of a disaster – causes, vulnerability, preparedness, results and response, and reconstruction – the contours of disaster and the difference between who lives and who dies is to a greater or lesser extent a social calculus. Hurricane Katrina provides the most startling confirmation of that axiom. This is not simply an academic point but a practical one, and it has everything to do with how societies prepare for and absorb natural events and how they can or should reconstruct afterward. It is difficult, so soon on the heels of such an unnecessarily deadly disaster, to be discompassionate, but it is important in the heat of the moment to put social science to work as a counterweight to official attempts to relegate Katrina to the historical dustbin of inevitable “natural” disasters.
First, causes. The denial of the naturalness of disasters is in no way a denial of natural process. Earthquakes, tsunamis, blizzards, droughts and hurricanes are certainly events of nature that require a knowledge of geophysics, physical geography or climatology to comprehend. Whether a natural event is a disaster or not depends ultimately, however, on its location. A large earthquake in the Hindu Kush may spawn no disaster whatsoever while the same intensity event in California could be a catastrophe. But even among climatic events, natural causes are not entirely divorced from the social. The world has recently experienced dramatic warming, which scientists increasingly attribute to airborne emissions of carbon, and around the world Katrina is widely seen as evidence of socially induced climatic change. Much as a single hurricane such as Katrina, even when followed by an almost equally intense Hurricane Rita, or even when embedded in a record 2005 season of Atlantic hurricanes, is not in itself conclusive evidence of humanly induced global warming. Yet it would be irresponsible to ignore such signals. The Bush administration has done just that, and it is happy to attribute the dismal record of death and destruction on the Gulf Coast—perhaps 1200 lives by the latest counts—to an act of nature. It has proven itself not just oblivious but ideologically opposed to mounting scientific evidence of global warming and the fact that rising sea-levels make cities such as New Orleans, Venice, or Dacca immediately vulnerable to future calamity. Whatever the political tampering with science, the supposed “naturalness” of disasters here becomes an ideological camouflage for the social (and therefore preventable) dimensions of such disasters, covering for quite specific social interests.
Vulnerability, in turn, is highly differentiated; some people are much more vulnerable than others. Put bluntly, in many climates rich people tend to take the higher land leaving to the poor and working class land more vulnerable to flooding and environmental pestilence. This is a trend not an iron clad generalization: oceanfront property marks a major exception in many places, and Bolivia’s La Paz, where the wealthy live in the cooler valley below 13,000 feet, is another. In New Orleans, however, topographic gradients doubled as class and race gradients, and as the Katrina evacuation so tragically demonstrated, the better off had cars to get out, credit cards and bank accounts for emergency hotels and supplies, their immediate families likely had resources to support their evacuation, and the wealthier also had the insurance policies for rebuilding. Not just the market but successive administrations from the federal to the urban scale, made the poorest population in New Orleans most vulnerable. Since 2001, knowing that a catastrophic hurricane was likely and would in all probability devastate New Orleans, the Bush administration nonetheless opened hundreds of square miles of wetland to development on the grounds that the market knows best, and in the process eroded New Orleans’ natural protection; and they cut the New Orleans Corps of Engineers budget by 80%, thus preventing pumping and levee improvements. At the same time, they syphoned resources toward tax cuts for the wealthy and a failed war in Iraq (Blumenthal 2005). Given the stunned amazement with which people around the world greeted images of a stranded African American populace in the deadly sewage pond of post-Katrina New Orleans, it is difficult not to agree with Illinois senator Barack Obama: “the people of New Orleans weren’t just abandoned during the hurricane,” but were “abandoned long ago” (DailyKos 2005).
After causes and vulnerability comes preparedness. The incompetence of preparations for Katrina, especially at the federal level, is well known. As soon as the hurricane hit Florida, almost three days before New Orleans, it was evident that this storm was far more dangerous than its wind speeds and intensity suggested. Meteorologists knew it would hit a multi-state region but the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), overseen by a political appointee with no relevant experience and recently subordinated to the Homeland Security Administration, assumed business as usual. They sent only a quarter of available search and rescue teams to the region and no personnel to New Orleans until after the storm had passed (Lipton et. al. 2005). Yet more than a day before it hit, Katrina was described by the National Weather Service as a “hurricane with unprecedented strength” likely to make the targeted area “uninhabitable for weeks, perhaps longer” (NYT 2005). Days afterward, as the President hopped from photo-op to photo-op the White House, not given to listening to its scientists, seemed still not to understand the prescience of that warning or the dimensions of the disaster,.
The results of Hurricane Katrina and responses to it are as of this writing still fresh in our memory but it is important to record some of the details so that the rawness of what transpired not be rubbed smooth by historical rewrite. The results can be assessed in thousands of lives unnecessarily lost, billions of dollars of property destroyed, local economies devastated and so forth, but that is only half the story. The images ricocheting around the world of a crippled United States, unconcerned or unable to protect its own population, receiving offers of aid from more than 100 countries, only reaffirmed for many the sense, already crystalizing from the debacle in Iraq, of a failing superpower. The level of survivors’ amply televised anger, bodies floating in the background, shocked the world. Reporters were not “embedded” this time, and so the images were real, uncensored, and raw. As the true horror unfolded, the media were working without a script, and it took almost a week before pre-existing absorptive news narratives regained control. But by then it was too late. Distraught refugees,1George Bush has declared that “these people are not refugees, they are Americans.” The effort at such a distinction is doubly cynical. It seeks to sanitize the experience of the approximately 400,000 people displaced, evacuated and evicted from New Orleans by bestowing on them some kind of superiority and respect not normally given to “refugees.” It therefore also exposes what Bush thinks of the rest of the world, demeaning millions of others who remain merely “refugees,” a social category presumably lower than “Americans.” That Jesse Jackson should have made a similar argument, albeit in an attempt to establish respect for African Americans at home but at the expense of foreign “refugees,” is disappointing. mostly African American, concluded that they were being left in the New Orleans Superdome and Convention Center to die; they pleaded for help, any help, as they angrily demanded to know why, if reporters could get in and out, they could not.
When the National Guard did arrive, it was quickly apparent that they were working under orders to control the city militarily and protect property rather than to bring aid to the desperate. Angry citizens, who waded through the fetid city looking for promised buses that never came, were prevented, at gunpoint, from getting out. “We are not turning the West Bank [a New Orleans suburb] into another Superdome,” argued one suburban sheriff. Groups of refugees who tried to organize water, food and shelter collectively were also broken up at gunpoint by the national guard. Numerous victims reported being besieged and the National Guard was under orders not to distribute their own water (Bradshaw and Slonsky, 2005; Whitney 2005). As late as four days after the hurricane hit New Orleans, with government aid still largely absent, President Bush advised refugees that they ought to rely on private charities such as the Salvation Army (Breed 2005). When the first federal aid did come, stunned recipients opening boxes asked why they were being sent anthrax vaccine. “These are the boxes Homeland Security told us to send,” came the reply.
Unfortunately, shocking as it was, the tragedy of New Orleans is neither unique nor even especially unexpected, except perhaps in its scale. The race and class dimensions of who escaped and who was victimized by this decidedly unnatural disaster not only could have been predicted, and was, but it follows a long history of like experiences. In 1976, a devastating earthquake eventually killed 23,000 people in Guatemala and made 1.5 million people homeless. I say “eventually,” because the vast majority of deaths were not the direct result of the physical event itself but played out in the days and weeks that followed. Massive international relief flooded into Guatemala but it was not funneled to the most affected and neediest peasants, who eventually came to call the disaster a “classquake” (O’Keefe et. al. 1976). In communities surrounding the Indian Ocean, ravaged by the tsunami of December 2004, the class and ethnic fissures of the old societies are re-etched deeper and wider by the patterns of response and reconstruction. There, “reconstruction” forcibly prevents local fishermen from re-establishing their livelihoods, planning instead to secure the oceanfront for wealthy tourists. Locals increasingly call the reconstruction effort the “second tsunami.” In New Orleans there are already murmurings of Katrina as “Hurricane Bush.” It is not only in the so-called Third World, we can now see, that one’s chances of surviving a disaster are more than anything dependent on one’s race, ethnicity and social class.
At all phases, up to and including reconstruction, disasters don’t simply flatten landscapes, washing them smooth. Rather they deepen and erode the ruts of social difference they encounter. Within a matter of days, with bodies still uncollected and before the death toll was even approximately known, discussion in the press turned to the opportunity represented by the laying bare of New Orleans. With an estimated half million people excluded from the city, FEMA began organizing mobile home parks to accommodate as many as 130,000 refugee families in far flung state parks, boy scout camps, any plausible tract of vacant land far from the city. On the face of it, this might be a reasonable strategy, except that one has to invest a lot of faith to imagine that the first item of business in New Orleans, with federal funding from the staunchly pro-market Bush administration, will be to reconstruct public housing so that those most in need can return to the city. Already, in the interlude between Katrina and the reflooding wrought by Hurricane Rita, businesses and homeowners were the privileged who were allowed back through military cordons into the city. It is far more likely therefore that working class and African American New Orleanians will be held on the outskirts for months and years on the grounds that they have no home to go back to, and in the hope or expectation that they will simply disperse in frustration.
In fact, many evacuees from hurricanes Charley and Ivan in 2004 remain in trailer parks in Florida. And neo-conservative New York Times editorialist David Brooks wasted no time arguing that “people who lack middle-class skills” should not be allowed to resettle the city: “If we just put up new buildings and allow the same people to move back into their old neighborhoods, then urban New Orleans will become just as run down as before” (Brooks 2005). If it were true that the character of neighborhoods depended first and foremost on who moved into them there might be some truth in this. But if, as several generations of urban theory now argues, the fate of a neighborhood has as much if not more to do with how capital (public or private) invests in a neighborhood (and how it also disinvests), then the spotlight should be less on blaming the victims of this dreadful disaster than on the motives of capital investors. Congressional Representative Richard Baker of Baton Rouge provides little solace in this regard. “We finally cleaned up public housing in new Orleans,” chuckled an unguarded Baker. “We couldn’t do it, but God did” (quoted in Dowd 2005).
The final lesson of environmental geography concerning disasters is that far from flattening the social differences, disaster reconstruction invariably cuts deeper the ruts and grooves of social oppression and exploitation. And so, while abolishing competition by giving no-bid contracts to some of the same companies that operate in Iraq—Bechtel, Fluor Corp., Haliburton—the Bush administration has mandated cutthroat competition among desperate workers by suspending the federal law that requires federal contractors to pay at least the prevailing local wage. Meanwhile, with many of the dead still unaccounted for, developers descended on New Orleans with wallets bulging and chops smacking. In anticipation that the city will be rebuilt with higher and better levees and with many fewer working class and African Americans, New Orleans two weeks after Katrina already looked like a developers’ gold rush (Streitfeld 2005; Rivlin 2005). These people, these developers and these corporations, say many New Orleanians, are the “true looters.” By contrast, those displaced, with no private property to reclaim, face lower wages, escalating costs for scarce housing, and as the initial sympathy wears away, increased stigmatization.
When President Bush insists that “out of New Orleans is going to come that great city again,” it is difficult to believe that good quality, secure and affordable social housing is what this administration has in mind. Wholesale gentrification at a scale as yet unseen in the United States is the more likely outcome. After the Bush hurricane, the poor, African American and working class people who evacuated will not be welcomed back to New Orleans, which will in all likelihood be rebuilt as a tourist magnet with a Disneyfied BigEasyVille oozing even more manufactured authenticity than the surviving French Quarter nearby.
We can look back and identify any number of individual decisions taken and not taken that made this hurricane such a social disaster. But the larger picture is more than the sum of its parts. It is not a radical conclusion that the dimensions of the Katrina disaster owe in large part not just to the actions of this or that local or federal administration but the operation of a capitalist market more broadly, especially in its neo-liberal garb. The refusal to tackle global warming is rooted in the global power of the petroleum and energy corporations which fear for their profits and which, not coincidentally, represent the social class roots of the Bush administration’s power; the New Orleans population were vulnerable not because of geography but because of long term class and race abandonment—poverty—exacerbated by the dismantling of social welfare by Democratic and Republican administrations alike; the incompetence of FEMA preparations expressed cocooned ruling class comradery, cronyism and privilege rather than any concern for the poor and working class; and the reconstruction looks set to capitalize on these inequalities and deepen them further. Not at any point in the next few decades will African Americans again account for two-thirds of New Orleans’ population.
There are alternatives. The Kyoto protocols were far from perfect but they represented a lowest common denominator in fighting global warming that the US would not even sign onto. As regards preparedness, both Oxfam America and the United Nations have pointed to Cuba as a plausible model. When Hurricane Ivan stormed through the Caribbean in September 2004, 27 people died in Florida and almost 100 in Granada, yet none died in Cuba which also took a direct hit on its west end. They were not always so successful, but the UN and Oxfam credit their record to several factors. First, Cubans learn from an early age about the danger of hurricanes and how to prepare and respond. Second, before the hurricane hits, local communities organize cleanup to secure potentially dangerous debris. Third, preparation and evacuation are organized and coordinated between the central government and local communities, and transportation away from danger is organized as a social community project rather than left to the private market, as happened in New Orleans and Houston. To prevent fires, gas and electricity supplies are cut off before the hurricane hits. During a hurricane, pre-organized state-sponsored emergency teams guarantee water, food and medical treatment—2,000 such teams in the case of Ivan. The government also organizes resources for communities to reconstruct (Gorry, 2004).
By contrast, post-Katrina reconstruction in the United States will be dominated by top-down government contracts for tens if not hundreds of billions of dollars to major corporations and by billions of dollars of insurance payments to property owners so that they can reconstruct in the same vulnerable locations already destroyed. Such a solution may be good if measured by the yardstick of capitalist profit—a new buying binge by the Gulf raises all yachts, and, incredibly, insurance company stocks tend to rise following major disasters—but the same private market logic that caused such social destruction spells social and environmental disaster for those not in line to profit from government contracts and property insurance payments.
But there is an alternative. “We will not stand idly by while this disaster is used as an opportunity to replace our homes with newly built mansions and condos in a gentrified New Orleans,” reads a statement from a citywide coalition of New Orleans low-income groups, Community Labor United (Klein 2005). They went on to insist that the rebuilding of the city not be dominated by top-down corporate welfare but that those evacuated from New Orleans have the primary power over how the reconstruction proceeds. The billions of dollars already committed by Congress and the funds raised by charities belong by rights to the victims. Some will respond that reconstruction is very complicated, and it is, but the record of companies like Bechtel and Haliburton in Iraq are hardly evidence for the defense of a top-down Iraq model for New Orleans.
In the end, the reconstruction question is only secondarily technical. It is in the first place political, and the same corporate and federal abandonment that fostered such a widespread disaster can hardly be expected to perform an about-turn by empowering a disempowered population. Given the visceral response to the hundreds of unnecessary deaths resulting from Katrina, any attempt to impose a top-down solution by force is likely to incite an equally visceral response from below. If the Bush administration’s first instinct was to eschew government and trust private charities to help the victims of Katrina, it should follow that instinct as regards the ordinary refugees of New Orleans and their ability to rebuild from the bottom up. There is no such thing as a natural disaster, and the supposed naturalness of the market is the last place to look for a solution to this disastrous havoc.
Neil Smith is Distinguished Professor of Anthropology and Geography at the CUNY Graduate Center where he also directs the Center for Place, Culture and Politics. His American Empire: Roosevelt’s Geographer and the Prelude to Globalization won the 2004 LA Times Book Prize in biography and his most recent book is The Endgame of Globalization (2005).
Blumenthal, Sidney. “Katrina Comes Home to Roost,” The Guardian, 2 September 2005.
Bradshaw, Larry and Lorrie Beth Slonsky. “Hurricane Katrina – Our Experiences,” http://www.emsnetwork.org/artman/publish/article_18427.shtml, 6 September 2005.
Breed, Allen, “Try the Salvation Army Bush Tells Refugees,” Glasgow Daily Herald 3 September 2005.
Brooks, David. “Katrina’s Silver Lining,” The New York Times. 8 September 2005.
Daily Kos. http://www.DailyKos.com, 7 September 2005.
Dowd, Maureen. “Neigh to Cronies,” The New York Times 10 September 2005.
Gorry, Connor. “UN Lauds Cuba as Model of Hurricane Preparedness.” http://www.medicc.org/resources/documents/medicc-review-disaster-management.pdf.
Lipton, Eric, Christopher Drew, Scott Shane and David Rohde. “Breakdowns Marked Path from Hurricane to Anarchy,” The New York Times 11 September 2005.
O’Keefe, Phil, Ken Westgate and Ben Wisner. “Taking the Naturalness out of Natural Disasters,” Nature vol. 260, 15 April 1976.
Rivlin, Gary. “For Hotelier, Crisis is Another Word for Opportunity,” The New York Times 22 September 2005.
Streitfeld, David. “Speculators Rushing in as the Water Recedes,” Los Angeles Times 15 September 2005.
The New York Times. “Urgent Warning Proved Prescient,” 7 September 2005.
Whitney, Mike. “The Siege of New Orleans,” http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article10182.htm, 8 September 2005.
George Bush has declared that “these people are not refugees, they are Americans.” The effort at such a distinction is doubly cynical. It seeks to sanitize the experience of the approximately 400,000 people displaced, evacuated and evicted from New Orleans by bestowing on them some kind of superiority and respect not normally given to “refugees.” It therefore also exposes what Bush thinks of the rest of the world, demeaning millions of others who remain merely “refugees,” a social category presumably lower than “Americans.” That Jesse Jackson should have made a similar argument, albeit in an attempt to establish respect for African Americans at home but at the expense of foreign “refugees,” is disappointing.
Previous article Two Cities, Two Evacuations: Some Thoughts on Moving People Out
Next article Weather Media and Homeland Security: Selling Preparedness in a Volatile World
Improvising Disaster in the City of Jazz: Organizational Response to Hurricane Katrina
Tricia Wachtendorf and James M. Kendra
What Katrina Teaches about the Meaning of Racism
Nils Gilman
From Disaster to Catastrophe: The Limits of Preparedness
Andrew Lakoff
New Orleans: The Public Sphere of the Disaster
Monika Krause
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0009.json.gz/line848
|
__label__cc
| 0.558989
| 0.441011
|
« May 2006 | Main | August 2006 »
Initial Results: Municipal Interventions - Sderot and Tuba-Zangaria
IVN is happy to report that, according to preliminary evidence, there is some measurable improvement in student achievements in municipal-wide tests in both Sderot and Tuba-Zangaria.
Sderot - After receiving base-line results regarding student achievements in Math, Hebrew Literacy, Science, and English Language from last year, the municipal team (including the new Head of the Education Department, Miriam Sassi) focused its efforts and resources on raising the level of achievements across all grade levels. Municipal and school principal's teams worked together throughout the year. Additional instruction was given to teachers in order to improve their teaching skills.
Results of the municipal tests that were administered at the end of this scholastic year showed some improvement in average scores in Hebrew Literacy and English Language scores in primary schools. For most age levels, the higher averages were a result of a decrease in the number of the weakest students (i.e., students who had received a score of 0-60 on the previous test). Math tests could not be administered at the end of the year as planned, since schools were forced to close as a result of the security situation. Science scores remained at their already-high level. The results of the municipal tests were presented to the municipal education steering committee and will serve as a basis for decision-making with regard to allocation of resources and determination of objectives for the coming year.
Tuba-Zangaria - The municipality utilized the information gained from last year's base-line achievement scores to determine the areas that were in most need of improvement. Additional resources were dedicated to strengthening the weakest students. Results of the end-of-the-year tests showed some measurable improvements in Arabic and Math and higher overall averages for most age levels. Not less important, a foundation was laid for the establishment of a Yemama (Information, Evaluation and Measurement Unit) which will help with the ongoing monitoring of students' results and promote data-based decision-making.
Continue reading "Initial Results: Municipal Interventions - Sderot and Tuba-Zangaria" »
IsraCorps Update
IVN's IsraCorps Initiative has achieved a number of impressive results during the past few months. Of the 360 volunteers who participated in the program, 160 are from the periphery and from minority groups. This compares with the 220 total volunteers last year, of which 40 were from the periphery.
For the first time in the history of the state, National Service positions were created for Israeli Arabs. IsraCorps was asked to oversee the recruitment, selection, and training of the 70 people who will fill these new positions, and to guide them throughout their year of service. A similar request was made to IsraCorps regarding Soldier Teachers serving in the periphery. These new responsibilities - and the growing number of youth movements that are cooperating with IsraCorps - are evidence of the recognition of IsraCorps' position as a leader in the development of volunteerism and the expansion and effectiveness of volunteers in the periphery.
BeYachad's Pre-Crisis Tour of the North
Note: This tour took place before the outbreak of the current hostilities.
Representatives of the BeYachad Partners toured Northern Israel on June 14th. They met with mayors, heads of regional councils, and heads of municipal education and welfare departments - in order to learn about the successes and the plans for BeYachad-sponsored programs. Representatives from UIA Canada, the Federation of San Francisco, the Sacta-Rashi Foundation and IVN spent the day being updated regarding over fifty-five projects in six municipalities. During the visit to the Local Council of Tuba-Zangaria, Mayor Hussain El-Haib and Education Director & Director of Bedouin Education at the Ministry of Education, Mohammad El-Haib, discussed the progress they have made in their schools as a result of BeYachad's involvement. "Ï don't have the words to thank you," Mayor El-Haib told the Visitors. According to Ilan Hadas, Director of BeYachad, "Tuba-Zangaria can be a flagship for changing management culture and enlisting staff to work correctly."
Continue reading "BeYachad's Pre-Crisis Tour of the North" »
SAVE THE DATES - IVN Events - New York and California
IVN's New York Chapter will host a Cocktail Reception and Program, to be held on the Evening of Monday, September 18th, 2006, in New York City. Details to follow.
IVN's Silicon Valley Chapter will host a Cocktail Reception and Presentation on Tuesday evening, 7-9 PM, September 26, 2006. Topic: The Current Conflict in Israel. Guest Speaker: Abraham Sofaer, George P. Shultz Fellow in Foreign Policy and National Security Affairs. Location: Wilson, Sonsini, Goodrich, & Rosati - 950 Page Mill Road, Terrace 2C and D, Palo Alto, CA 94304
IVN Strategy Day - Highlights
On June 29th, IVN held a staff Strategy Discussion Day during which recent results and future plans for each Initiative and Department were presented.
Highlights of the day included the following:
- IsraCorps - Due to the program's significant success, IsraCorps will be expanded. A separate Strategy Discussion took place on July 18th, devoted to this topic.
- Municipal Interventions - A decision was made to continue the process with the Sacta-Rashi Foundation in order to extend interventions to additional areas of the country.
- StartUp Jerusalem - Due to the outstanding success of the project, it was decided to investigate the extension of the SUJ model to other cities across the country.
IVN Staff Update
Ayelet Tal - The Board of Directors of IVN has decided to expand Ayelet's responsibilities, and to recognize the scope of her position with a new title: IVN Israel Executive Director & CFO. In this capacity, all IVN activities in Israel will be her responsibility. Ayelet's dedication and commitment to IVN is much appreciated by all those who work with her. Mazal Tov, Ayelet!
Rony Bejarano - We welcome Rony as the new Northeast U.S. Director of IVN and wish her much success in her new position. Rony joins IVN with over 13 years of business and legal experience, and has been admitted to the Bar in both Israel and New York. She was founder and publisher of "Chalav U'Dvash", the magazine for Israelis in America, and was CEO of Maáriv Promotions Inc., the U.S. subsidiary of Maáriv. Rony lives with her husband and 3 children in Tenafly, N.J., where she is an active volunteer in the Israeli and Jewish communities.
Dana Miller - We congratulate Dana (IVN's Marketing Communications and Documentation Manager) and her family on the birth of Tali Sara, their beautiful new daughter! Mazal Tov, Dana! We wish you much joy and nachas.
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0009.json.gz/line849
|
__label__cc
| 0.553939
| 0.446061
|
OPINION: Two-Party Politics Fails to Serve the Public Interest
by Germaine Descant in Opinion Sep 24, 2015
two-party system
At its core, politics is a matter of convincing other people that policy choices that conform to personal ideology best serves the public interest. Consciously or not, personal ideology is usually a surrogate for the public interest or general welfare. In other words, most people believe that their personal policy choices best serve the public interest.
Subjective personal ideologies often lead to contradictory or mutually incompatible policy choices.
Dissident Politics
That generates a paradox. Subjective personal ideologies often lead to contradictory or mutually incompatible policy choices. In most cases, the main choices are incompatible liberal and conservative policies. In those instances, two policies could have roughly the same overall net impacts on the public interest — good, bad, or indifferent.
Or, only one of the two left vs. right options might better serve the public interest than the other. In some cases, the least worst left vs. right policy amounts to what best serves the public interest.
Based on two-party rhetoric, mostly spin, one might believe that politics will always be a matter of personal belief in the main ideologies that dominate American political thinking and perceptions of reality, i.e., liberalism vs. conservatism, capitalism vs. socialism, and religion vs. secularism or science. That raises the question of whether it is possible or helpful to define “service to the public interest.”
It is reasonable to believe that the endless arguments and gridlock that dominate left vs. right politics are almost as futile as arguments between science and religion because those fights are between irreconcilable subjective, personal faith and objective facts.
Since the public interest concept in politics is a matter of subjective personal belief, just like personal religious belief (which also colors conceptions of the public interest), trying to define service to the public interest might appear to be a hopeless, pointless endeavor.
Defining the public interest: Neither hopeless nor pointless
Fortunately, that conclusion is flawed. It is based on the false premise that people will always fit more or less into the main categories of political belief with their different realities, common sense, and perceptions of the public interest. That is not necessarily true.
A more objective definition of the public interest is one that is based on a brutally honest and transparent balancing of competing interests. Competing interests include economic interests, political and religious ideologies, personal ambitions, societal changes, environmental constraints, and constitutional requirements.
Looking to a public interest based on balancing competing interests to guide policy debate and thinking is not a new idea. What is new is what modern social science now knows about the profoundly corrupting effects of personal ideology on both facts and common sense or logic.
Political rhetoric under the two-party system is mostly empty debate grounded in self-serving spin.
Dissident Politics has argued repeatedly that political rhetoric under the two-party system is mostly empty debate grounded in self-serving spin, e.g., lies, misinformation, withheld information, denied or distorted facts, flawed logic, and undue service to special interests, especially the Democratic and Republican parties, their politicians, and their major financial backers.
Dissident Politics has proposed one version of what service to the public interest might look like, but other visions are obviously possible. As argued before, political ideology or morals should constitute (i) a search for unspun facts and (ii) application of unbiased logic in service to (iii) a public interest, which is defined here as a balancing of competing interests.
The left and right give the public their heavily spun versions of policy based on their facts and their logic, but reality and the biology of politics says that what the American people get is more self-serving propaganda than anything else.
This point cannot be overstated: In politics, “we do moral reasoning not to reconstruct the actual reasons why we ourselves came to a judgment; we reason to find the best possible reasons why somebody else ought to join us in our own judgment.”
Convincing voters while serving special interests is the point of two-party politics at least at the federal level. In Dissident Politics’ opinion, that approach to politics does not best serve the public interest. Impacts on the broader public interest are irrelevant at worst and an afterthought at best.
Advocacy does not mean enlightenment: It means winning
Two-party politics is a matter of pure advocacy, not a means to enlighten the public so that Americans can intelligently decide among competing choices. Balance and fairness aren’t part of the two-party political equation or its rhetoric.
Partisan advocacy can be ruthless. It includes tactics that range from false character assassination to blocking research to shed light on complex issues, e.g., public health impacts of gun ownership. Such tactics are ideologically or morally acceptable to at least some partisans because such tactics are used. (In fairness, when it comes to blocking research, conservatives and some economic interests are the main advocates of the tactic, but it is nonetheless a real and important factor in two-party politics.)
The point of two-party politics is to defend the dominant subjective ideologies, powerful special interests, and the corrupt system they built. The current system is built on emotion, irrationality, spin, and service to narrow interests regardless of how it impacts the public interest. How anyone can see that as the best way to serve the public is beyond comprehension.
Fortunately, there is at least one feasible way to shift some power from subjective, emotion-based politics focused on special interests to something more objective, rational, and public interest-aligned. Adopting a competition among interests vision of the public interest along with true respect for unspun fact and the logic that flows from those two political principles or morals goes a long way to begin to move the balance of power from special interests to the public interest.
That three-point fact, logic and the public interest political ideology won’t make all disputes disappear or avoid all mistakes.
However, it is one way to make politics more based on reality, reason, and the public interest than the current system. It has to be better than what we have now. If there are other ways to fix politics, it is not at all obvious what they might be, especially in view of the biology of politics.
Check Out More Articles by Dissident Politics
Democracy: It Isn’t What You Think
By Germaine Descant
- Apr 21, 2016
In 2016 Race, Phantom Policy Proposals Disguise Trillions Added to National Debt
OPINION: The Irrationality of Iowa and N.H. Going First in Presidential Elections
- Feb 1, 2016
Superforecasting: Understanding The Art and Science of Prediction
Photo Credit: Orhan Cam / Shutterstock.com
Germaine Descant
Dissident Politics is an experiment in objective fact- and logic-based politics focused on service to the public interest.
Read more by Germaine Descant
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0009.json.gz/line850
|
__label__wiki
| 0.722251
| 0.722251
|
Possibility Programme to be Extended to Spanish Town, says Minister of Youth
The Honourable Olivia “Babsy” Grange, Minister of Information, Culture, Youth and Sports, has announced that the Possibility Programme, run by the Office of the Prime Minister to help street boys in Kingston, will be extended to the St. Catherine capital, Spanish Town.
Minister Grange made the announcement as she addressed the annual Christmas Dinner and Graduation Exercise of the Possibility Programme held at the Jamaica Pegasus last night (12th December).
Miss Grange expressed confidence that her colleague Member of Parliament in the Spanish Town area, Sharon Haye Webster would support her as she puts the machinery in place for the introduction of the Possibility Programme to Spanish Town.
The Minister, who was interacting with young men of the Possibility Programme for the first time last night, established a strong rapport with them. “Here you are demonstrating once again that anyone can rise above the circumstances in which they find themselves. What you need is the will to do it and others to support you.”
She told the boys that she had come from a background similar to that of many of them but had chosen “to make something of myself and here I am today addressing you as a Minister of Government.” Maybe one day, I will be an “old lady” in the audience and you will be the Minister addressing us,” she said to the laughter and cheer of the group.
Minister Grange thanked the staff, management and board of the Possibility Programme for a tremendous job with street children over the past six years.
She said that one could not help but be impressed with the list of achievements which had benefited immeasurably the young people who came under the influence of the Possibility Programme. “Fundamental to the development of these youngsters are the major components of the Programme: The Care Centre, The Skills/Employment Centre and The Periodical Re-socialization Camps,” she said.
“And does Jamaica know that overall the Possibility Programme has so far admitted 401 boys and that some 30 young men visit The Care Centre daily where some of them participate in daily activities?”
Most important of all, the Minister said, was the encouragement given to the boys to value themselves and have a wholesome sense of self-worth.
She also praised the Rotary Club of St. Andrew for its contribution of building a hostel which accommodates as many as 32 boys.
Minister Grange said no group of young people should be considered unworthy of the country’s greatest care and concern but unfortunately this has not always been the case. “We have not always as a nation paid enough attention to particular sets of our young people, more so those in circumstances of need.”
“If in fact we sincerely believe that the future of the country lies in the hands of the youth and if we want the best for our country as most of us profess that we do, we cannot afford to ignore any segment of the youth population in our efforts,” she said.
She said the government is prepared to lead the way in, “substantially widening the net of young people we serve. It is our belief that no group should be ignored or neglected on any basis; not because of where they come from; not because of their economic status, not because of their colour, or because of what may be perceived as their political affiliation. This government’s programmes and projects to assist young people will always be all-accommodating and wide in their scope.
“As the Minister with responsibility for Youth, I give you my word that much more will be done for many more young people with our ultimate target being the entire youth population. By giving you my word, I appeal to you for support, co-operation and continued hard work,” was the Minister’s parting statement to the boys, management and staff of the Possibility Programme.
Earlier, Deputy Chairman of the Possibility Programme, Robert Gibbs indicated that efforts were advanced to also take the Programme to western and central Jamaica.
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0009.json.gz/line851
|
__label__cc
| 0.549871
| 0.450129
|
Conversations With Interesting People, Video
In Conversation with Elizabeth McCormack
March 26, 2014 jfanton
On March 12, 2014, Jonathan sat down with Elizabeth McCormack to discuss her long career as both an academic administrator and as philanthropic adviser to the Rockefeller family. The conversation lasts 55 minutes, followed by a Q&A session with members of the audience. Video of the event can be viewed here.
Elizabeth McCormack
Good evening. I am Jonathan Fanton, Interim Director of the Roosevelt House Public Policy Institute and it is my pleasure to welcome you to a very special evening. Many of you have been here before to enjoy book discussions like Jeffery Sachs’ To Move the World or to hear world leaders like UNDP head Helen Clark. And next week we encourage you to attend our conference on “John Lindsay, New York, and the American Dream,” a fresh look at lessons from his time as Mayor.
But tonight is different. I have long wanted to have a series of conversations with the most interesting people I know personally. Ed Koch was my first guest, followed by former MoMa President Agnes Gund, James Lipton of Inside the Actor’s Studio, Vartan Gregorian of the Carnegie Foundation, Judy Collins, and most recently, Joseph Califano.
My guest tonight is my good friend and mentor Elizabeth McCormack. We first met when she was working for John D. Rockefeller and I for Yale President Kingman Brewster. As our two bosses talked about establishing a center at Yale for the study of the not-for-profit sector, Elizabeth and I chatted in her office in Room 5600 at 30 Rock. We clicked immediately; the chemistry was magic. And years later when I returned to New York as President of the New School, she tutored me on the art of being a college President.
Fast forward 17 years when she was on the search committee for a new President of the MacArthur Foundation. She was my advocate. No surprise I was offered the job. For nearly four decades she has been my most trusted advisor. I never consider an important move without seeking her advice. And we continue to make common cause on the Board of the Asian Cultural Council. Together with my wife Cynthia, and Elizabeth’s late husband Jerry Aron, we have had a wonderful and deep friendship.
She earned her B.A. at Manhattanville College and a Ph.D in philosophy at Fordham. In her senior year at Manhattanville, Elizabeth joined the Order of the Sacred Heart and soon began teaching at its schools, Kenwood in Albany and later in Greenwich. In 1962, she became Dean at Manhattanville. Appointed President in 1966, she led its transformation from an elite Catholic women’s institution into a non-denominational co-ed college. After Manhattanville, she became Director of the Rockefeller Philanthropy offices and remains a philanthropic advisor to members of the family.
She has had about as active of a civic life as anyone I know. She chaired the Asian Cultural Council for 20 years; was vice chair of the MacArthur Board; a key member of the Board of the Atlantic Philanthropies; a member of the boards of Manhattanville, Spellman, Marlboro and Hamilton Colleges, as well as the Juilliard School. She has also been on the boards of the Population Council, The Trust for Mutual Understanding, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, and recently she started the Partnership for Palliative Care which is her current major interest.
Bill Moyers described her life beautifully when he said, Elizabeth McCormack “reminds us of the things that last, that transcend the tumult of the hour and the news of the day. Her life is about connections and continuities between past and present, between now and future, between the natural world and the world we make together.”
Those qualities I saw close up at the MacArthur Foundation where she has the surest instinct for philanthropy, a laser insight into people, an ability to visualize a grant strategy in fields like population, conservation and education.
I said this at the conclusion of her term at MacArthur:
“She loves to build institutions, strengthen their governance, clarify their purpose, improve their quality and extend their influence in pursuit of a more just and humane world at peace. We have benefitted from her deep experience in how things really work. Her impatience with fuzzy thinking have lifted our standards, saved us from not a few mis-steps and made this a better foundation.”
Elizabeth and I will have a conversation for 40 minutes or so, then open up to your questions and end about 7:15. Please welcome Elizabeth McCormack.
Previous PostIn Conversation with Joseph A. Califano, Jr.Next PostScholars At Risk Network 2014 Global Congress
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0009.json.gz/line853
|
__label__wiki
| 0.583355
| 0.583355
|
American Academy Events, Video
Redistricting and Representation
November 8, 2017 jfanton Leave a comment
On November 8, 2017, Jonathan Fanton introduced a discussion on “Redistricting and Representation.” The discussion was moderated by the Honorable Patti B. Saris, and featured the following speakers: Moon Duchin, Jamal Greene, and Gary King.
The program served as the 2062nd Stated Meeting of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
Good evening. I am Jonathan Fanton, President of the American Academy. It is my pleasure to welcome you and to call to order the 2062nd Stated Meeting of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
Let me begin with a special welcome to those coming to us from the Kennedy School Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation’s program on redistricting reform, which is co-sponsoring this evening’s event. A special thank you to Miles Rapoport, a Senior Fellow at the Ash Center and a member of the Academy’s new Commission on the Practice of Democratic Citizenship for making this collaboration possible. I am also pleased to note that tonight’s event is being live-streamed on the Academy’s website.
The topic of this evening’s program, “Redistricting and Representation” extends back to the earliest days of the Academy, yet remains relevant today. The American Academy was founded in 1780 by 62 scholar-patriots, including John Adams, John Hancock, and James Bowdoin, in the midst of the still-ongoing revolution. They recognized that the new nation they were building would need an institution dedicated to collecting and disseminating knowledge that would “advance the interest, honor, dignity, and happiness of a free, independent, and virtuous people.” The founders hoped that the collection and dissemination of “useful knowledge” would help create the educated citizenry needed to lead the new nation out of revolution into independence and democracy.
Among one of our earliest fellows was a man whose name will be familiar to most everyone in this room: Elbridge Gerry. Inducted into the Academy while serving as a delegate to the Continental Congress in 1781, Mr. Gerry would go on to become a United States Congressman, Governor of Massachusetts, and Vice-President under James Madison. He signed both the Declaration of Independence and the Articles of Confederation, but refused to sign the Constitution in 1787 because it lacked a bill of rights.
It is not Mr. Gerry’s political idealism, though, that bring his name to mind tonight. Instead, it is an oddly-shaped state senate district that Gerry approved while serving as governor of Massachusetts in February 1812. His hope was that by reapportioning electoral districts along partisan lines, he could secure future victories for his Democratic-Republican Party in Essex County, a Federalist stronghold.
Several opponents of Gerry’s actions have since been credited with coining the term “gerrymander” – a critical reference to the salamander-like shape of the district. However, a political cartoon that appeared in the March 26, 1812 edition of The Boston Gazette popularized the term. “Gerrymandering” has been part of the American political landscape ever since.
Over the years, the Academy has addressed the question of redistricting, particularly with relation to race, in multiple volumes of Daedalus, the Academy’s quarterly journal. In a 1965 issue, Academy Fellow James Q. Wilson explored the case of Representative Charles Weltner of Georgia who changed his vote from “no” to “yes” on the 1964 Civil Rights Act after more African-Americans were added to his district. Weltner became the only Democrat from the Deep South to vote for the Act.
In 2001, Academy member Kenneth Prewitt, who had been the Director of the Census Bureau, spoke at a Stated Meeting on “Census 2000 and the Fuzzy Boundary Separating Politics and Science.” He highlighted the difficulty of squaring the undeniably political nature of the census with new scientific tools for measuring population. As he said:
“The census was political from the very beginning and remains so. Although the science of measurement is used to complete the task as accurately as possible, the central purpose of the census remains: to shift power from one set of interests to another. … If the census is both political and scientific, how shall we accomplish the one without compromising the other?”
This challenge persists. In March of this year, the Supreme Court struck down redistricting on a racial basis as unconstitutional under the 14th Amendment. As a result, congressional maps in North Carolina were ordered to be re-drawn. However, the court has found it more difficult to make a firm ruling on partisan gerrymandering. Tonight’s program will explore the legal context around several current cases involving redistricting, and will examine some potential solutions to the problem.
In recent years, partisanship seems to have extended its reach into every facet of American life, and in some instances has come to threaten that most basic of all democratic principles: access to the ballot. As trust in democratic institutions erodes, it is important that all voters feel confident that their voices are heard when selecting their representatives.
As an institution that has long been dedicated to supporting civil and nonpartisan dialogue on important issues, the Academy is a good venue for this conversation. We are especially pleased to be hosting this program now, as the Academy is launching a major new research initiative, the Commission on the Practice of Democratic Citizenship. What are the skills, values, and perspectives that make a person a responsible and engaged citizen in the 21st century? How are those qualities developed and how can we strengthen them? The Commission will be co-chaired by Danielle Allen, Director of the Edmond J. Safra Center for Ethics at Harvard University, Stephen Heintz, President of the Rockefeller Brothers Fund, and Eric Liu, Founder and CEO of Citizen University. The Commission will be announced later this month.
At this point, Dr. Fanton turned the program to the Honorable Patti Saris, who introduced the speakers and moderated the discussion.
Previous PostThe Resilience of the Human SpiritNext PostAcademy at Risk: Challenges of the 21st Century
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0009.json.gz/line854
|
__label__cc
| 0.621248
| 0.378752
|
A Bittersweet Flashback
April 8, 2011 at 10:38 am (music, pop culture) (90s, Andrew Oldham Orchestra, bittersweet, bittersweet symphony, Flashback, friday, frozen, kagehime, Keith Richards, Madonna, mick jagger, Richard Ashcroft, rolling stones, The Last Time, The Verve, urban hymns, urban hyms)
One of the most beautiful songs of the 90s and quite possibly of all time, Bittersweet Symphony by the Verve has a Bittersweet history. A lot of songs sample music from other tracks, but don’t lose their song writing credits. I suppose it matters who you are. If you’ve got a big name like Madonna and that case over her song Frozen, I guess you get to keep your credits. Same case with Bitter Sweet Symphony. The Verve is the less known group when compared to the Rolling Stones, so the Stones ended up with the credit for it, 100% even though the lyrics were original and it wasn’t a direct copy.
So what was copied? The melody for The Rolling Stones’ The Last Time, but not directly. They sampled the Andrew Oldham Orchestra’s version.
And so the Verve whenever they play this song, their most popular and successful song, they helping to fill the bank of Mick Jagger and Keith Richards more than their own.
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0009.json.gz/line857
|
__label__cc
| 0.703609
| 0.296391
|
BLOWING THE SHOFAR
A SPIRITUAL WEAPON WITH UNLIMITED POWER
SHOFAR - Hebrew for a trumpet made from a ram's horn or Kudu.
We believe at Kingdom Builders Christian Ministries Int’l, that God has given us a revelation that we wish to share with the Body of Christ. We believe this will add a new dimension to your intercessory prayer and spiritual warfare. The Lord has revealed the spiritual dynamics of the use of the SHOFAR or Ram's Horn as used by the Israelites in the Old Testament times. We liken it to the dynamic of fasting, we don't fully under-stand the power of it, why or how it works - but..IT WORKS !
Anywhere in the Old Testament where it is translated trumpet, the Hebrew word is SHOFAR. The Lord led us to the story of Gideon (Judges 7) - how He sent Gideon's 300 to do battle with a heavily armed enemy that numbered many thousands. However, He instructed Gideon to go out with a pitcher and torch in one hand, and a SHOFAR in the other hand. At the appointed time, the 300 blew their SHOFARS in unity, which firstly caused a restlesness in the enemies camp, resulting in their total confusion to the point of them turning on each other and killing each other with their swords. We also see in the story of Joshua that he too, won the war by blowing the SHOFAR. The Holy Spirit revealed that in the spirit realm, blowing the SHOFAR brings about the same effect. Over our meetings, over our buildings and over our cities, there is opposition in the heavenlies. We believe that blowing the SHOFAR during prayer, intercession and worship times causes disturbance and confusion to the spirit realm above us, thus dispersing the opposition and bringing about an open heaven for the glory, power and presence of God to fall.
We have seen dramatic changes and fruit from the blowing of the SHOFAR during our intercession and during our worship times. We do not use this tool as a religious rite but purely as the Spirit leads. We are also aware of many churches around the world beginning to include the use of the SHOFAR. We have many personal testimonies of God's power through blowing the SHOFAR with amazing results.
We believe at Kingdom Builders Christian Ministries Int’l that the Lord is in the process of restoring to His people, all of the truths that have been stolen by the devil over the last 2000 years. We have in the SHOFAR, a powerful tool for our worship & a powerful weapon for our spiritual warfare.
In the Bible, the blowing of the SHOFAR was first heard when God called Moses to the summit of Mt. Sinai to receive the tablets of the Law. And, it will be sounded at the end of days to announce the Return of the Messiah and the Rapture of His Bride. ( 1 Thess 4:16 )
BIBLICAL BLOWING OF THE SHOFAR :
A call to gather for worship (2 Ch 29:26-28; Ps 98:6; Ps150:3, 2; Sam 6:15)
Ushers in the presence of the Lord (2 Sam 6:15; 1 Chron 15:14)
Make proclamation (1 Sam 13:3)
Symbolizing freedom and liberty (Lev 25:9 & 10)
At the giving of the 10 Commandments (Ex 19:16 & 19; Ex 20:18)
Sounds the alarm for war (Josh 6:4 -20; Joel 2:1; Jer 4:19,21; Jer 6:1,17)
At the coronation of a king (1 Kings 1:34)
As a call to battle and war (Numbers 10:9)
To induce fear & confusion in the enemy (Judges 7:22)
For announcing and ushering in the weekly Sabbath and yearly festivals
SCRIPTUAL SIGNIFICANCE FOR BLOWING OF THE SHOFAR
God Himself blows it! - Zech. 9:14 "Then the Lord will appear over them, and His arrow will go forth like lightning; and the Lord God will blow the SHOFAR, and will march in the storm winds of the south."
Gives commands to angelic hosts - Matt. 24:31 "And He will send forth His angels with a great SHOFAR and they will gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of the sky to the other."
Priestly instrument of praise & worship - Chr. 29:26 "And the Levites stood with the musical instruments of David, and the priests with the SHOFARS." 2 Chr. 29:28 ". While the whole assembly worshipped, the singers also sang and the SHOFARS sounded; all this continued until the burnt offering was finished." Ps. 150:3 "Praise Him with the SHOFAR sound; praise Him with harp and lyre." Ps. 98:6 "With SHOFARS and the sound of the horn shout joyfully before the King, the Lord." 2 Sam. 6:15 "So David and all the house of Israel were bringing up the ark of the Lord with shouting and the sound of the SHOFAR." Is. 27:13 "It will come about also in that day that a great SHOFAR will be blown; and those who were perishing and scattered will come and worship the Lord in the holy mountain..."
A powerful catalyst to bring the glory of God - 2 Chr. 5:13 "in unison when the SHOFARERS and the singers were to make themselves heard with one voice to praise and to glorify the Lord, and when they lifted up their voice accompanied by SHOFARS and cymbals and instruments of music, and when they praised the Lord saying, 'He indeed is good for His lovingkindness is everlasting,' then the house of the Lord, was filled with a cloud...' "
Instrument used during great celebration - 1 Chr. 13:8 "And David and all Israel were celebrating before God with all their might, even with songs and with lyres, harps, tambourines, cymbals, and with SHOFARS."
Essential in going to War - Num. 10:9 "And when you go to war in your land against the adversary who attacks you, then you shall sound an alarm with the SHOFARS, that you may be remembered before the Lord your God, and be saved from your enemies."
To be blown constantly in battle - Josh. 6:8-9 "And it was so, that when Joshua had spoken to the people, the seven priests carrying the seven SHOFARS of rams' horns before the Lord went forward and blew the SHOFARS; and the ark of the covenant of the Lord followed them. And the armed men went before the priests who blew the SHOFARS, and the rear guard came after the ark, while they continued to blow the SHOFARS."
Corporate blowing is powerful - Judges 7:8 "So the 300 men took the people's provisions and their SHOFARS into their hands. And Gideon sent all the other men of Israel, each to his tent, but retained the 300 men; and the camp of Midian was below him in the valley." Judges 7:20 "When the three companies blew the SHOFARS and broke the pitchers, they held the torches in their left hands and the SHOFARS in their right hands for blowing, and cried, 'A sword for the Lord and for Gideon ' Judges 7:22 And when they blew 300 SHOFARS, the Lord set the sword of one against another even throughout the whole army & the army fled.."
Heralds the Day of the Lord - Joel 2:1 "Blow a SHOFAR in Zion, And sound an alarm on My holy mountain! Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble, for the day of the Lord is coming; surely it is near."
A SHOFAR will announce the 2nd Coming of Messiah - 1 Thess 4:16 "For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, with the SHOFAR of God and the dead in Christ shall rise "
A SHOFAR will be blown before the dead rise - 1 Cor 15:52 "in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last SHOFAR; for the SHOFAR will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed.
May your spiritual eyes be awaken to understand this powerful spiritual weapon THE SHOFAR!
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0009.json.gz/line861
|
__label__wiki
| 0.583243
| 0.583243
|
Letters Blogatory
The Blog of International Judicial Assistance | By Ted Folkman of Pierce Bainbridge
A New Front in the Belfast Project Case
Ted Folkman
H/T to Chris Bray for bringing to light Anthony McIntyre’s application for relief to the High Court in Belfast in the Belfast Project case. I haven’t written about the case in a while—those who want the background can refer to my archive of Belfast Project posts.
The application seeks judicial review of the UK authorities’ decision to make the MLAT request and seeks preliminary and permanent injunctive relief prohibiting the authorities from taking possession of the Belfast Project interviews. McIntryre has three basic legal theories.
[unordered_list style=”green-dot”]
He claims that the request was “unlawful as it was made without taking in account [his] right to life under Article 2 of the European Convention on Human Rights1 contrary to section 6 of the Human Rights Act 1998.”2
He claims that the request was “unlawful as it was made without taking into account [McIntyre’s] right to freedom of expression under Article 10 of the ECHR,3 including but not limited to the prevention of the disclosure of information received in confidence, contrary to section 6 of the Human Rights Act 1988.”
He claims that the Home Secretary failed to comply with the MLAT in various respects. For example, McIntyre points to Article 1 § 1bis, which provides that the treaty cannot be used in cases where the government does not anticipate that a prosecution will occur. With less apparent reason, he points to various provisions that permit the Requested State—here, the United States—to refuse to comply with a request on various grounds, and to the provision on consultation between the parties, which, for reasons I have described elsewhere, I think inapplicable here.
[/unordered_list]
I have long thought that Moloney & McIntryre might do well to do some lobbying in London. Suppose, as I think likely, that the US is obligated by treaty to execute the UK’s request for judicial assistance. The UK was not obligated to make the request, and could be freer to withdraw the request than the US is to deny it. I think an action for judicial review of the request in the UK could make good sense for similar reasons. That said, I can’t really comment on the procedural aspects of the new UK case or the merits of McIntyre’s position under the ECHR. Nor can I say much about how the UK court would construe the MLAT, though it does seem to me that the MLAT’s express provision indicating that it creates no private right of action could be a bar to the kind of judicial review McIntyre is seeking.
Why have these proceedings been brought only now? I don’t know whether the same analysis applies in the UK that would apply here, but there may be an argument that McIntyre is guilty of laches, “unreasonably delay … in pursuing a right or claim—almost always an equitable one—in a way that prejudices the party against whom relief is sought.”4 On the one hand, perhaps the UK authorities have not really been prejudiced. On the other hand, McIntyre’s affidavit, which he filed in support of his application, seems self-conscious on this point. He says that he had”only relatively recently been advised” of his potential claims in Northern Ireland, and that there was some delay from September 2011 and June 2012 while his application for legal aid was pending.
I understand there is to be a hearing today on McIntyre’s request for preliminary injunctive relief in Belfast.
Article 2 provides: “Everyone’s right to life shall be protected by law. No one shall be deprived of his life intentionally save in the execution of a sentence of a court following his conviction of a crime for which this penalty is provided by law.”
Section 6 of the Act provides: “It is unlawful for a public authority to act in a way which is incompatible with a Convention right.”
Article 10 provides: “Everyone has the right to freedom of expression. This right shall include freedom to hold opinions and to receive and impart information and ideas without interference by public authority and regardless of frontiers.” But it also provides that the right of free expression may be subject to restrictions that are “prescribed by law” and “necessary in a democractic society, in the interests of national security, territorial integrity or public safety, [and] for the prevention of disorder or crime.”
Black’s Law Dictionary 879 (7th ed. 1999).
Tagged: Belfast Project, MLAT, subpoena, UK
Ted Folkman says:
I am told the hearing did not go forward today, and that it will likely not happen until September.
P Smith says:
There is a time limit for bringing applications for judicial review, which I suspect is three months and is to be found in Order 53 rule 4 of the Rules of the Court of Judicature (Northern Ireland) 1980, which I cannot find online (either under that title, or the original title of the Rules of the Supreme Court (Northern Ireland) 1980). I base this on the observation that the Northern Irish rules are modeled on the former English Rules of the Supreme Court (RSC).
Order 53 was one of the provisions of the RSC which remained in effect after the introduction of the CPR, and is thus to be found in Schedule 1 to the Civil Procedure Rules 1998 (http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/1998/3132/schedule/1/made). It was subsequently revoked in 2000 when Part 54 (Judicial Review) was added to the CPR. At that time the relevant rule (Order 53 rule 4(1)) read:
“An application for permission to apply for judicial review shall be made promptly and in any event within three months from the date when grounds for the application first arose unless the Court considers that there is good reason for extending the period within which the application shall be made.”
CPR 54.5(1) now makes identical provision, save for the reference to extending time; that presumably was considered redundant in view of the general power to extend time conferred by CPR 3.1(2)(a). I have no reason to believe that a different limit applies in Northern Ireland. (There is a slideshow at http://www.docstoc.com/docs/92763006/JUDICIAL-REVIEW-%28PowerPoint%29 which appears to confirm this – see slides 19 and 20.)
The provisions of the MLAT are largely irrelevant. The treaty, not having been given effect by primary or secondary legislation, does not form part of the law of any part of the United Kingdom, and the court is therefore not obliged to have regard to article 1(3) (certainly not in view of section 7 of the Human Rights Act, which is part of the law of Northern Ireland) and nor can the court review the Home Secretary’s compliance with the provisions of the treaty (as distinct from the decision to make a request in the first place, whose compatibility with the Convention is reviewable under section 7).
As to the merits, I think the Article 10 claim is misconceived. “Prevention of the disclosure of information received in confidence” is one of the grounds on which restrictions on the exercise of the Article 10 right may be justified. But Article 10 is not itself the source of a right to prevent such disclosure (or a right to damages should information be disclosed). What Article 10 does do is preserve any cause of action arising under national law in the event of disclosure of confidential information. So far as I can tell there is simply no breach of Article 10 here. (Nor, as far as I can tell, does McIntyre have any cause of action under Northern Ireland law; and if he does, PSNI most probably have a defence to it on public policy grounds.)
There might be merit in the Article 2 claim in view of Osman v UK (1998) 29 EHRR 245 (http://www.bailii.org/eu/cases/ECHR/1998/101.html) (paras 115-116), but arguably the damage has already been done and disclosure of the remaining interviews isn’t going to make McIntyre’s position worse. In any event, the PSNI does have some discretion as to how it discharges its Article 2 obligations, and it should be able to do so in a fashion which does not preclude disclosure of the interviews. Injunctive relief is probably not appropriate here.
Thanks for this useful comment! I want to make sure I understand a couple of your points. You write:
“The provisions of the MLAT are largely irrelevant. The treaty, not having been given effect by primary or secondary legislation, does not form part of the law of any part of the United Kingdom, and the court is therefore not obliged to have regard to article 1(3) (certainly not in view of section 7 of the Human Rights Act, which is part of the law of Northern Ireland) …”
I take this to mean, in US parlance, that under UK law the MLAT is not self-executing. Do I have that right?
You continue: “… and nor can the court review the Home Secretary’s compliance with the provisions of the treaty (as distinct from the decision to make a request in the first place, whose compatibility with the Convention is reviewable under section 7).”
I take this to mean that because the Home Secretary’s duties under the treaty are non-ministerial, there is no judicial review. (At least, that’s what I think the situation is in the United States, and so I am assuming you are making a similar point for the UK). Have I got it?
« Wanted: Letters Blogatory Correspondents BREAKING: First Circuit Rejects Moloney & McIntyre’s Challenges in the Belfast Project Case »
Cartas Blogatorias
Venezuela: Suspensión de juicio en Nueva York contra PDVSA
Novedades en la saga Lago Agrio/Ecuador v Texaco/Chevron
Venezuela: ¿Cese de las CIDIPs?
Letters Blogatory © 2011 - 2019 by Ted Folkman and Contributors. Some rights reserved.
Terms of Use • Privacy
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0009.json.gz/line864
|
__label__wiki
| 0.54236
| 0.54236
|
Tanks, Jets & Trump Headline July 4th Celebration
Posted by Java Joe on Wednesday, July 3, 2019 · Leave a Comment
Morning Coffee is a robust blend of links to news around the internet concerning the Naval Air Station Patuxent River economic community. The opinions expressed here do not reflect opinions of the Leader’s owners or staff.
President Donald Trump touts “brand new” World War II-era tank display at the Washington, DC, Fourth of July celebration, reports Military Times, in addition to a Blue Angels flyover and other static displays. “I’m going to be here and I’m going to say a few words and we’re going to have planes going overhead ― the best fighter jets in the world, and other planes, too,” Trump said.
The Army is considering overturning Bowe Bergdahl’s sentence, reports Army Times, during an appeal by Mr. Berdahl arguing that President Trump’s comments about a conviction and prison time for the former soldier amounted to undue command influence and interfered with his right to a fair trial.
DoD considers a mandatory keto diet which bans beer, pizza, and other faves, reports Military Times, as it reviews the controversial ketogenic or “keto” diet as able to enhance military performance.
Iran announced it has broken stockpile limit set by nuclear deal, reports The Associated Press, marking Iran’s first major departure from the unraveling agreement a year after the US unilaterally withdrew from the accord.
Trump’s national security adviser John Bolton pushed back on North Korea negotiations report, according to The Hill. Referring to a New York Times report suggesting the US may accept a “nuclear freeze” from North Korea in a new round of negotiations, Bolton said, “Neither the [National Security Council] staff nor I have discussed or heard of any desire to ‘settle for a nuclear freeze by NK.’ This was a reprehensible attempt by someone to box in the president. There should be consequences.”
The Navy resumes oversees deployment of the littoral combat ship sending the Montgomery to the Pacific, reports Defense News. After a hiatus of around 18 months, with the first of three such ships scheduled to deploy this year arriving in the Pacific.
Birds at the border prompted a false alarm leading South Korea to launch fighter jets and alert journalists that it had detected an unidentified object flying near the border with North Korea, reports Military.com.
How close is Iran to a nuclear bomb, really? Foreign Policy reports on an agreement that Iran has the expertise and capability to eventually build such a device, but it is not clear that Tehran has the intent or even sees the necessity of doing so. “This is not a dash to a nuclear bomb,” said Kelsey Davenport, the director of nonproliferation policy at the Arms Control Association. “It is a calculated move designed to gain leverage in negotiations with the Europeans, Russia, and China on sanctions relief.”
As a young officer in Desert Storm, Acting DefSec Mark Esper showed flair for leadership, reports Military.com. In 1991, Army 1st Lt. Mark Esper was hard-charging young officer who took time to listen to the troops in planning and carrying out a risky air assault into Iraq deep behind enemy lines.
Navy fires commanding officer after collision, reports Navy Times. Cmdr. Michael Johnson, commanding officer of the future littoral combat ship Billings, was fired last week after his vessel struck a moored bulk cargo ship in a Montreal port.
The Navy is vowing a “full court press,” reports Navy Times, to overcome delays and field all the Advanced Weapons Elevators needed by the aircraft carrier Gerald R. Ford.
Contracts:
Lockheed Martin Corp., Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Co., Fort Worth, Texas, is awarded $348,223,161 for modification P00019 to a previously awarded cost-plus-fixed-fee contract (N00019-17-C-0001). This modification is for production non-recurring, special tooling and special test equipment in support of low-rate initial production Lot 12 F-35 Lightning II aircraft for the Air Force, Navy, Marine Corps, non-U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) partners and foreign military sales (FMS) customers. Work will be performed in Fort Worth, Texas (23.80%); El Segundo, California (23.86%); San Diego, California (17.03%); Samlesbury, United Kingdom (7.65%); Orlando, Florida (6.63%); Cedar Rapids, Iowa (3.44%); Nashua, New Hampshire (2.71%); Clearfield, Utah (2.15%); Marietta, Georgia (1.77%); East Aurora, New York (1.59%); Palmdale, California (1.40%); Cheltenham, United Kingdom (0.96%); Turin, Italy (0.81%); Clearwater, Florida (0.79%); Melbourne, Florida (0.60%); Irvine, California (0.58%); Kongsberg, Norway (0.53%); Arlington, Texas (0.48%); Rolling Meadows, Illinois (0.46%); Tempe, Arizona (0.38%); Inglewood, California (0.33%); Papendrecht, Netherlands (0.28); Garden Grove, California (0.21%); Montmorency, Australia (0.20%); Marion, Virginia (0.17%); Independence, Ohio (0.14%); Amesbury, Massachusetts (0.13%); Rome, New York (0.13%); Los Angeles, California (0.10%); Hot Springs, Arkansas (0.10%); Lystrup, Denmark (0.09%); Grand Rapids, Michigan (0.09%); Owego, New York (0.07%); Sharon, Massachusetts (0.06%); Wichita, Kansas (0.06%); Boulder, Colorado (0.05%); Carlsbad, California (0.04%); Ontario, California (0.04%); Delta, British Columbia, Canada (0.03%); Long Beach, California (0.01%); Lindenhurst, New York (0.01%); Eskisehr, Turkey (0.01%); Saint Peters, Missouri (0.01%); Santa Fe Springs, California (0.01%); and Rancho Cucamonga, California (0.01%). Work is expected to be completed in August 2022. Fiscal 2017 aircraft procurement (Navy and Marine Corps); fiscal 2018 and 2019 aircraft procurement (Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps); non-US DoD partner and FMS funds in the amount of $348,223,161 are being obligated at time of award, $17,899,115 of which will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This modification combines purchases for the Air Force ($129,642,270; 38%); Navy ($69,738,685; 20%); Marine Corps ($61,001,500; 17%); non-US DoD partners ($60,840,706; 17%) and FMS customers ($27,000,000; 8%). The Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Maryland, is the contracting activity.
Anchor Innovation Inc., Virginia Beach, Virginia (N50054-19-D-1901); Beach Marine Services Inc., Portsmouth, Virginia (N50054-19-D-1902); Colonna’s Shipyard Inc., Norfolk Virginia (N50054-19-D-1903); East Coast Repair & Fabrication LLC, Norfolk, Virginia (N50054-19-D-1904); Fairlead Boatworks Inc., Newport News, Virginia (N50054-19-D-1905); Lyon Shipyard Inc., Norfolk, Virginia (N50054-19-D-1906); Q.E.D. Systems, Inc., Virginia Beach, Virginia (N50054-19-D-1907); United States Marine Inc., Gulfport, Mississippi (N50054-19-D-1908); and Willard Marine Inc., Virginia Beach, Virginia (N50054-19-D-1909) for Mid-Atlantic Regional Maintenance Center Marine Boatyard and Industrial Support for Lot I, and Colonna’s Shipyard Inc., Norfolk, Virginia (N50054-19-D-1910); East Coast Repair and Fabrication LLC, Norfolk, Virginia (N50054-19-D-1911); Fairlead Boatworks Inc., Newport News, Virginia (N50054-19-D-1912); and Lyon Shipyard Inc., Norfolk, Virginia (N50054-19-D-1913) for Mid-Atlantic Regional Maintenance Center Marine Boatyard and Industrial Support for Lot II, are each awarded firm-fixed-price, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity, multiple award contracts to furnish the management, material support services, labor, supplies and equipment deemed necessary to provide marine boatyard and industrial support which includes modifications, upgrades, service life extension and repairs to non-commissioned boats, crafts, lighterage and service craft and/or their associated systems and periodic maintenance. These contracts include options which, if exercised, would bring the cumulative ceiling value to $216,979,810. These nine small businesses will have the opportunity to provide offers for individual delivery orders. Work will be performed in the Hampton Roads, Virginia, area and is expected to be complete by July 2020, and work is expected to be completed by July 2024, if all options are exercised. Fiscal 2019 operations and maintenance (Navy) funding in the amount of $32,500 ($2,500 minimum guarantee per contract) was obligated under each contract’s initial delivery order and expires at the end of the current fiscal year. These contracts were competitively procured via the Federal Business Opportunities website with nine offers received. The Navy’s Mid-Atlantic Regional Maintenance Center, Norfolk, Virginia, is the contracting activity.
Leidos Inc., Reston, Virginia, is awarded a maximum $99,000,000 cost-plus-fixed-fee, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity, single award task order contract for aerospace medical and environmental health research support services at the Naval Medical Research Unit-Dayton. Work will be performed in Dayton, Ohio, and is expected to be completed by July 7, 2024. Fiscal 2019 research, development, testing and evaluation (Navy) funding in the amount of $1,000,000 will be obligated upon award under an initial incrementally funded task order and the funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract was competitively procured via the Federal Business Opportunities website, with six offers received. The Naval Medical Logistics Command, Fort Detrick, Maryland, is the contracting activity (N62645-19-D-5005).
Epsilon Systems Solutions Inc., Portsmouth, Virginia, is awarded a $14,589,487 firm-fixed-price, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract for the repair, restoration, overhaul, assembly and test services of the Naval Submarine Universal Modular Mast (UMM). The UMM systems will be completely overhauled off-hull at the vendor’s facility to a ready-for-issue status to support the fleet during maintenance availabilities. Required services will be determined on an individual task order level. Work will be performed in Portsmouth, Virginia, and is expected to be completed by July 2024. Fiscal 2019 operation and maintenance (Navy) funding in the amount of $566,676 will be obligated at time of award via the first task order and will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract was competitively procured via the Federal Business Opportunities website, with two offers received. The Naval Surface Warfare Center, Philadelphia Division, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, is the contracting activity (N64498-19-D-4027).
Frequentis Defense Inc., Columbia, Maryland, is awarded an $8,454,481 firm-fixed-price contract for non-recurring engineering and logistics for the design, development, test, manufacture and repair of the MD-5A Unmanned Carrier Aviation Mission Control System, which will support the MQ-25 Stingray unmanned air vehicle. The integrated computer system will transport voice communications from carrier-based air vehicle operators to local audio switches, local radio terminals and remote radio terminals. Work will be performed in Columbia, Maryland, and is expected to be completed in March 2021. Fiscal 2019 research, development, test and evaluation (Navy) funds in the amount of $8,454,481 will be obligated at time of award, none of which will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract was not competitively procured pursuant to Federal Acquisition Regulation 6.302-1. The Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division, Lakehurst, New Jersey, is the contracting activity (N68335-19-C-0276).
Leidos Inc., Reston, Virginia, has been awarded a $66,752,500 cost-plus-fixed-fee contract for rapid technology development and demonstrations. This contract provides for the development of new/novel concepts for sensor and systems of sensor systems across the multiple domains and spectrums that aid in command, control, communications, computers, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance and battlespace awareness. Work will performed in Reston, Virginia, with base support at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, and is expected to be completed by June 12, 2024. This award is a result of a competitive acquisition and two offers were received. Fiscal 2019 research, development, test and evaluation funds in the amount of $546,050 are being obligated at the time of award. Contracting activity is the US Air Force, Air Force Materiel Command, Air Force Research Laboratory, Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio (FA8650-19-C-1941).
Engility Corp., Andover, Massachusetts, has been awarded a $40,000,000 firm-fixed-price/cost reimbursement/cost-plus-fixed-fee, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract for services supporting the Space and Missile Systems Center, Advanced Systems and Development Directorate, Ground Systems and Space Operations Division at Kirtland Air Force Base, New Mexico. This contract provides engineering, development, integration and sustainment services supporting the current ground system enterprise throughout its evolution, including the transition to and buildout of enterprise ground services. Work will be performed at Kirtland AFB, New Mexico; Schriever AFB, Colorado; Buckley AFB, Colorado; Colorado Springs, Colorado; Space Based Infrared Radar Payload On-Orbit Test Station facility, Azusa, California; the Space Management Battle Lab, Colorado Springs, Colorado; Vandenberg AFB, California, as well as future sites at Naval Research Laboratory, Blossom Point, Maryland, and is expected to be completed by Sept. 20, 2019. This award is the result of a sole source acquisition. Space and Missile Systems Center, Advanced Systems & Development Directorate, Kirtland AFB, New Mexico, is the contracting activity (FA8818-19-D-0004).
General Dynamics Information Technology Inc., doing business as General Dynamics Mission Systems, Fairfax, Virginia, have been awarded a $35,683,952, cost-plus-incentive-fee modification (P00015) to previously awarded FA8307-17-F-0004 for next generation GEO overhead persistent infrared (NGG-OPIR). The contract modification provides for additional Medium/LargeSat Common Solutions (MLCS) variants for the NGG-OPIR program, additional MLCS engineering development modules, increased tempest testing and to fund an overrun. Work will be performed at General Dynamics Mission System, Scottsdale, Arizona, and is expected to be completed by March 31, 2022. Fiscal 2019 research and development funds in the amount of $12,726,494.04 are being obligated at the time of award. The Air Force Life Cycle Management Center, Cryptologic Systems Division, Contracting Division, Joint Base San Antonio, Texas, is the contracting activity.
Sign up for Morning Coffee to be delivered to your inbox Monday through Thursday. Stay ahead of the curve with news around the internet concerning the Naval Air Station Patuxent River economic community.
Subscribe to Morning Coffee
Filed under Morning Coffee · Tagged with Bowe Bergdahl, Desert Storm, Gerald Ford, Iran, John Bolton, keto diet, ketogenic, Mark Esper, Montgomery, North Korea, tanks
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0009.json.gz/line865
|
__label__wiki
| 0.721756
| 0.721756
|
10 Strange Cemeteries You’ll Be Dying To Visit
Ward Hazell December 10, 2018 0
Most people do not like to think too much about cemeteries. We tend to visit them only as often as we need to and then leave as quickly as is decently possible. This is a shame, because there are some cemeteries that are well worth closer inspection.
Though in modern times, we tend to be somewhat squeamish about the process of death and mortal decay, it has often been celebrated in ways that are endearing, interesting, or, sometimes, downright strange. Here, we look at a few of them.
10 Merry Cemetery
Photo credit: Romania de vis
The Church of the Assumption in Sapanta, Northern Romania, serves a small town of only around 3,000 people. Life there is often hard, and the townspeople are mostly poor. Though they may not have much wealth in life, they are guaranteed a lavish and rather unique final resting place.
Since 1935, the buried dead have been interred in Merry Cemetery. Each grave is given a hand-carved headstone, colorfully decorated in, shall we say, a naive style and adorned with a bespoke poem that celebrates their life.
If your Romanian is good, you can wander around the cemetery reading the inscriptions, written in the first person from the dead person to you. Some poems are funny, such as Ioan Toaderu’s, which reads:
One more thing I loved very much,
To sit at a table in a bar
Next to someone else’s wife
And some are sad or even angry, like this one from a three-year-old girl, which is directed at the taxi driver who ran her over:
Burn in hell, you damn taxi
That came from Sibiu.
As large as Romania is
You couldn’t find another place to stop,
Only in front of my house to kill me?
If your Romanian is not so good, you might just enjoy looking at the colorful carvings which sometimes depict the manner of their subject’s dying in a disturbingly comic fashion.[1]
9 The Hanging Cemetery
Photo credit: Lastithegreat
For centuries, the people of the mountainous region of Sagada in the Philippines have chosen not so much to bury their dead as to hang them out to dry. The period from death to interment is a relatively long one. The deceased is first placed in a “death chair” inside their home, and the chair is positioned facing the front door so that they can “welcome” visitors. The corpse is covered with rattan leaves and smoked, which serves to preserve the body and also to help rid the home of that just-dead smell.
The corpse remains in the chair for several days before it begins the next stage of its final journey. Traditionally, it is placed in the fetal position, with legs tucked under the chin. Limbs will be broken to accomplish this if necessary, though in more recent times, fewer families are willing to do so. The body is then wrapped in fresh rattan leaves and a blanket and carried by mourners to the cemetery. There is often a large number of people willing to act as pallbearers, since it is considered lucky if any of the bodily fluids leak through the leaves and drip on the mourners.[2]
Once at the cliffside cemetery, the body is fitted inside a coffin, usually only 1 meter (3.3 ft) wide. The coffin is then nailed to the side of the cliff. The higher the coffin is placed, the greater the person’s position in the tribe was in life. It is believed that the elevated coffins will bring them closer to their ancestral spirits.
The privilege of a hanging coffin is not open to everyone. It is reserved mostly for tribe elders, as it is believed that the corpses of those who died young are considered bad luck.
8 The Underwater Cemetery
Photo credit: Elkman
An interment at the Neptune Memorial Reef gives a whole new meaning to the saying, “He sleeps with the fishes.”
Found about 5 kilometers (3 mi) off the coast of Florida, the Neptune Memorial Reef has been artificially created in around 12 meters (40 ft) of water. It has several classical-style statues to give it an Atlantis feel and would be a paradise for scuba divers. However, not only has the reef been built to encourage marine life, but it has also been specifically made to hold the cremated remains of those who want to be buried at sea.[3]
It is hoped that the remains will help to feed the coral and expand the reef. Although the burial of uncremated remains would be more nutrient-rich, they are currently not permitted.
7 Cross Bones
Photo credit: Uri Baruchin
The Southwark area of London, where Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre once stood, was always a rather seedy place. There were a large number of taverns and a large amount of prostitution. During the 12th century, the bishop of Winchester had the right to license and tax prostitutes, who were known as the “Winchester Geese” because of their habit of exposing their white breasts to passersby. The phrase “bitten by a Winchester Goose” meant “contracted a sexually transmitted disease.”
The brothels, known as “stews,” thrived despite periodic attempts to close them down, so they were brought under the control of the Church, and regulations were drawn up requiring that prostitutes be registered, did not work on religious holidays, and did not sleep with anyone for free (presumably so that no one would feel hard done by).[4]
Although the bishop was content to tax the working girls, he was not prepared to bury them in holy soil. A plot of unconsecrated land, officially called the Single Woman’s Churchyard but unofficially known as the Cross Bones Cemetery, was set aside for their remains.
In the 17th century, Cross Bones became a graveyard for paupers and those without the means to pay for their burial. As a final indignity, their corpses were often stolen by body snatchers.
In 1992, the Museum of London carried out an excavation at Cross Bones. They found bodies crammed in on top of each other and, most surprisingly, discovered that over half of the bodies were from those aged under five years old at the time of their deaths.
6 Napoleon’s Cemetery
Photo credit: Paul Berzinn
The island of San Michele stands in the Venetian Lagoon, and its cemetery is hidden by high walls, although it is open to visitors. The island was inhabited by monks from the 15th century until comparatively recently. Their monastery boasts a domed roof and a magnificent statue of an angel over the entrance.
When Napoleon invaded Venice, he decreed that, because of Venice’s tendency toward flooding, it was unhygienic to bury the dead on the main island. (You can see his point.) San Michele was designated as the official Venetian cemetery, and it is still in use today. The island offers fabulous views in a prestigious location, sitting as it does between Venice and Murano.
The dead may have expected to be able to rest in peace there, but since 1995, overcrowding at San Michele has meant that “inhabitants” can only be granted a ten- or 20-year lease, after which their remains are evicted to make way for new tenants.[5]
5 The Cemetery Of 200,000 (And 1)
Photo credit: japan-guide.com
Okunoin Cemetery in Japan contains almost a quarter of a million graves but is the focus of only one. It is the final resting place of Kobo Daishi, the founder of Shingon Buddhism and one of the most important people in Japanese religious history. He is said to be resting in eternal meditation while he awaits the coming of the Buddha of the Future.[6]
While he waits, Kobo Daishi is said to provide help to those pilgrims who ask for it. Visitors must bow before crossing a bridge into the cemetery, which contains 200,000 tombstones, all of which are set out to line the way to his mausoleum. Many prominent people and religious monks chose to be buried here in the hope that being close to his remains will bring them closer to salvation when the Buddha of the Future arrives.
In front of the mausoleum itself is the Hall of Lamps, which contains 10,000 lanterns, which are always lit, and 50,000 tiny statues, all of the great man. Visitors are able to leave Kobo Daishi offerings in the aptly named Offering Hall, though, word to the wise, he is probably okay for a while when it comes lamps and statues.
4 Dracula’s Cemetery
Photo credit: aude
St Mary’s Church at Whitby was built in 1110, and its churchyard dates from around the same time.
The graveyard must have always held a certain amount of Gothic fascination, because it was the inspiration for a scene in Bram Stoker’s Dracula. In the novel, the vampire lands at Whitby and leaps from his ship (whose crew is mysteriously dead) and hides himself in an abandoned crypt in a church that very much resembles St Mary’s. Stoker stayed in the town while writing his novel, and he was said to have been very much taken with the atmospheric surroundings.[7]
Current visitors may find more gore than they were hoping for, however. The pounding of the sea has caused erosion along the cliffs, and subsequent landslides have exposed a number of corpses, though none so far have been sporting elongated teeth and a theatrical dress sense. Work is ongoing to try to prevent the churchyard, and its contents, from slipping into the sea.
3 The Cemetery Of Shame
Photo credit: Stranger20824
The Oise-Aisne American Cemetery in France is a military burial ground dedicated to those killed in action during World War I. There are 6,012 soldiers whose graves are proudly marked in four plots, marked A to D.
However, there is another plot at the cemetery, separate from the others. Plot E can only be accessed through the office of the superintendent. This plot contains 96 unmarked graves belonging to American soldiers who were dishonorably discharged and executed for crimes committed during World War II. None of these graves are mentioned by the American Battle Monuments Commission’s website for Oise-Aisne.
Between them, these men are alleged to have murdered 26 American soldiers. They are also alleged to have raped and/or murdered 71 civilians of other nationalities. The plot was designated as a place of burial for the “dishonorable dead.” The graves are identified only by number, and the dead are set with their backs to the rest of the fallen. The American flag is not permitted to fly over Plot E.[8]
The only inhabitant of the plot not convicted of rape or murder was Private Eddie Slovik, who was executed for desertion on January 31, 1945, the only man to be executed for this crime since the Civil War. His remains were removed in 1987, and he was reburied next to his wife after his family petitioned President Reagan for a pardon.
2 The Cemetery Of A Million Mummies
Photo credit: Kerry Muhlestein
In an Egyptian cemetery whose name means, for reasons unknown, “The Way of the Water Buffalo,” archaeologists have discovered a million mummies. Literally.
The burial ground dates from the first to the seventh centuries, and most of its dead were buried without coffins or grave goods of any kind, so those hoping for a Tutankhamen-style treasure trove are likely to be disappointed. The cemetery was used by poor, low-status citizens of Egypt while it was controlled by the Roman Empire.
Although they couldn’t afford the lavish funeral rituals of the pharaohs, great care was taken by mourners in the burying of the dead. Scientists have yet to discover the reason for the incredibly large number of bodies, since it is unlikely that they were all local inhabitants.[9]
The archaeological dig has uncovered some surprising specimens, including one mummy that was over 213 centimeters (7′) tall and had to be bent in half to fit inside the grave as well as a number of blond and redheaded mummies. It may be that the cemetery authority buried people according to hair color, as clusters of redheaded and blond mummies have been discovered throughout the site. Then again, of course, they may have just buried families together.
1 The Plague Cemetery
Photo credit: Donald Judge
In 1665, a tailor in the small parish of Eyam ordered a bale of cloth from London. When it arrived, the cloth seemed somewhat damp, so he put it in front of the fire to dry. Unfortunately for the inhabitants of Eyam, the cloth contained a number of fleas. And even more unfortunately, the fleas were carrying bubonic plague.
Within two months, the tailor was dead, along with 42 other souls. The church rector, believing that he had a duty to prevent the disease from spreading to neighboring villages, decided that the entire village should quarantine itself. He told his parishioners that if they agreed to stay, he would remain with them and do everything in his power to relieve their suffering.
Knowing that he may well have been signing all their death warrants, he set up a “cordon sanitaire” around the village. Almost no one tried to escape, even as the death toll mounted. Some people lost almost their entire families to the disease. A woman named Elizabeth Hancock buried her husband and six children in only eight days. She had to dig the graves herself, since none of the villagers wanted to go near her.
The task of burying the dead was a dangerous one. Marshall Howe, who had been infected early on but survived, volunteered for the task, believing that he was now immune. He often helped himself to the deceased’s possessions by way of payment, and it is believed that his wife and two-year-old son probably caught the disease from the stolen items. They were not as lucky as Mr. Howe, and he soon had the job of interring them, too.
The graves of the plague victims can still be seen in Eyam Parish Churchyard. Marshall Howe survived the plague, as did the church rector, though the rector’s wife succumbed after prolonged contact due to nursing the dying. By November 1666, with half the village dead, the plague was eradicated, and the neighboring villages were saved.[10]
Ward Hazell is a writer who travels, and an occasional travel writer.
Read about more interesting cemeteries around the world on 10 Fascinating Graveyards You Must See and 10 Intriguing Historical Graveyard Finds.
10 Real Easter Eggs Hidden Around The World
10 Common Misconceptions About Britain
10 Things You Can Legally Do If You Go To The Right Country
Top 10 Misconceptions About Africa
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0009.json.gz/line867
|
__label__wiki
| 0.854599
| 0.854599
|
The UK Steps Up its Game in Automated CRISPR Gene Editing
Clara Rodríguez Fernández - 16/01/2017 2 mins - Medical
Horizon Discovery now has full access to CRISPR technology and will develop an automated gene editing platform in collaboration with Solentim.
Horizon Discovery, based in Cambridge, UK, uses gene editing technology to create custom cell lines for research. To step up its game, the company has upgraded its existing license with ERS Genomics‘ to obtain full access to its CRISPR gene editing technology for GMP biomanufacturing applications. No details on the financial terms were disclosed.
In addition, Horizon Discovery has announced a collaboration with the British company Solentim to create an automated manufacturing platform for the genetic editing of mammalian cells. This project, funded by Innovate UK with €594,000 (£523,000), aims to create new approaches to produce quality cell lines with higher throughput at a reduced cost.
CRISPR has been hailed as the ‘scientific discovery of the century’ for its ability to cut and replace virtually any gene with much less effort than its predecessors, TALEN and zinc finger proteins. ERS Genomics, in Dublin, was co-founded by Emmanuelle Charpentier, one of the main players in the development of this gene editing technology.
This new license comes just after the recent agreement between CRISPR Therapeutics, Intellia Therapeutics, Caribou Biosciences and ERS Genomics to share and protect their IP in CRISPR/Cas9 technology. Consequently, Horizon now counts with the consent from all patent co-owners and worldwide freedom to operate.
Of note, the agreement did not include Feng Zhang’s Editas, with whom there’s an ongoing patent battle over the technology’s IP for its use as a therapy. However, since Horizon’s use of CRISPR/Cas9 will be limited to non-therapeutic applications, the final decision of the jury is not likely to affect its license.
Horizon Discovery has made good use of gene editing technology so far, selling 10 licenses and making €2M (£1.75M) in revenues since the launch of its bioproduction business in December 2014. The expansion of its CRISPR patent and the development of an automated manufacturing process will help the company continue its fast growth pace in the biopharmaceutical contract manufacturing market, valued at €3.4B (£3B) in 2015.
Images from Science photo, AnatSkwong/Shutterstock
Tags: CRISPR, Horizon Discovery, Innovate UK, United Kingdom
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0009.json.gz/line877
|
__label__wiki
| 0.864846
| 0.864846
|
Justia › US Law › Case Law › California Case Law › Cal. App. 4th › Volume 12 › People v. Monroe (1993)
People v. Monroe (1993)
[No. A053694. First Dist., Div. Two. Jan 27, 1993.]
THE PEOPLE, Plaintiff and Respondent, v. WILLIAM ERIK MONROE, Defendant and Appellant.
(Superior Court of Alameda County, No. 105811, William A. McKinstry, Judge.)
(Opinion by Benson, J., with Peterson, J., fn. * concurring. Separate dissenting opinion by Smith, Acting P. J.)
Marvin Kayne, under appointment by the Court of Appeal, for Defendant and Appellant.
Daniel E. Lungren, Attorney General, George Williamson, Chief Assistant Attorney General, John H. Sugiyama, Assistant Attorney General, Laurence K. Sullivan and Ann K. Jensen, Deputy Attorneys General, for Plaintiff and Respondent.
BENSON, J.
Defendant William Erik Monroe was the passenger in a car driven by another when he was arrested for possessing an open container of alcohol in a vehicle. When he was unable to produce "for examination" either a driver's license or "other satisfactory evidence of his identity," (Veh. [12 Cal. App. 4th 1178] Code, § 40302, subd. (a)), the arresting officer took him into custody. fn. 1 A search of his person turned up rock cocaine, and he was charged with and convicted of possession of cocaine base for sale. (Health & Saf. Code, § 11351.5.) In this appeal, he argues the trial court erred by denying his motion to suppress the cocaine. His principal attack is on the officer's decision to take him into custody. He argues that either the statute required the officer to give him an adequate opportunity to provide "other" evidence of his identity, or that the statute is unconstitutionally vague if read to allow the officer to take him into custody under the circumstances of this case. We disagree. We find the statute implicitly grants an officer discretion to determine what "other" evidence of identity is sufficient when a traffic citee is unable to produce a driver's license or other documentary evidence of equivalent reliability. We affirm.
We derive the facts from the hearing on the motion to suppress. In our summary, we present the evidence in the light most favorable to the ruling below. (See, e.g., People v. Leyba (1981) 29 Cal. 3d 591, 596-598 [174 Cal. Rptr. 867, 629 P.2d 961].)
In the early afternoon of December 28, 1990, uniformed Oakland Police Officers Kevin Johnson and Mike Brown were on patrol in an unmarked car which was equipped with red lights and a siren. The officers were on the alert for a homicide suspect who was believed to be in the area. As they passed a blue 1990 Chevrolet on the right, Officer Johnson saw defendant Monroe, who was the passenger in the Chevrolet. Officer Johnson had stopped the homicide suspect before, and had reviewed booking photographs of the suspect before going on shift. Officer Johnson had only seen Monroe in profile, but Monroe's appearance matched that of the suspect in several respects, and the area the officers were in was one of the suspect's usual haunts. In an attempt to confirm his suspicion, Officer Johnson pulled up next to the Chevrolet at a red light, but Monroe turned away from him and remained in that position until the light changed. Officers Johnson and Brown continued to follow the Chevrolet while they ran a registration check. The check revealed the car was a rental from Ohio. Because the homicide [12 Cal. App. 4th 1179] suspect had reportedly recently been in Ohio, Officer Johnson decided at that point to stop the Chevrolet. When the officers turned on the red lights and siren, Officer Brown saw Monroe move as though reaching to the floorboard of the car.
After the Chevrolet stopped, Officer Johnson walked up on the driver's side and looked into car. When he saw Monroe's face, he realized Monroe was not the suspect they were looking for. However, as Officer Johnson approached the car, he had also seen an open and half-empty bottle of beer on the floorboard of the driver's side of the car, and a cup in front of Monroe on the passenger's side floorboard. Officer Brown, who had walked up on the passenger's side of the car, saw a large cup of beer on the floorboards, and smelled beer through the open window. Like Officer Johnson, Officer Brown saw within a few seconds that Monroe was not the homicide suspect they were looking for. However, because Officer Brown suspected alcohol violations, he asked Monroe to get out of the car, and asked him for identification. Officer Brown gave varying accounts of Monroe's response. He testified several times that Monroe said he had no identification "with him," and also that Monroe simply stated he did "not have any I.D." Following the exchange between them, Officer Brown decided to take Monroe into custody under the authority of section 40302, subdivision (a). Subsequent searches of Monroe's person turned up the contraband which was to be the basis of the conviction we review here. While in custody at the scene of the stop, Monroe told the officers he was a parolee, and gave the addresses of his mother and girlfriend. A computer check by the officers confirmed there was a parolee whose name and date of birth matched those given by Monroe.
Monroe filed a written motion to suppress on the general ground that the search was illegal. After the hearing on the motion, Monroe filed papers in which he argued that Officer Brown's decision to take him into custody was not authorized by section 40302 because Officer Brown had not made any adequate attempt to identify him. In those papers, Monroe noted he had not had the benefit of a transcript of the evidentiary hearing on the motion, and reserved the issues of the propriety of the initial stop and decision to cite Monroe for Vehicle Code alcohol violations. At argument, Monroe added claims that the officers lacked a reasonable suspicion sufficient to justify the traffic stop, and that their decision to cite for the open container violation was a pretext for a search of the car. The motion was denied, Monroe was tried and convicted, and this appeal followed.
The principal question raised in this appeal is the proper application and constitutional validity of section 40302, subdivision (a), which makes custodial arrest of a traffic violator mandatory if the violator cannot produce [12 Cal. App. 4th 1180] either a driver's license or other satisfactory evidence of his or her identity. Appellant was taken into custody and searched when he told the arresting officer he did not have any identification on his person. fn. 2 We will conclude the officer's decision to take appellant into custody was a proper exercise of the discretion necessarily granted by section 40302 in those cases in which a person arrested for a minor Vehicle Code violation is unable to produce a driver's license or its functional equivalent.
A. Statutory Scheme
In People v. Superior Court (Simon) (1972) 7 Cal. 3d 186, 199 [101 Cal. Rptr. 837, 496 P.2d 1205] (hereafter Simon), our Supreme Court explained the "procedure to be followed after a warrantless arrest for a Vehicle Code violation." (Id., at p. 199.) Though there have been amendments and additions to the Vehicle Code in the years since Simon was decided, it remains a concise and accurate summary of the law. "If [the Vehicle Code] violation is declared to be a felony, the arrestee is to be dealt with according to the general provisions of the Penal Code on felony arrests. (Veh. Code, § 40301.) For all other cases, however, the Legislature has created a special tripartite scheme which reflects the lesser degree of criminality attached to the act of transgressing against ordinary traffic rules and regulations. [¶] First, the scheme in effect presumes that in the vast majority of cases the violator will not be taken into custody; with the exception of the instances next discussed, the officer must prepare a written notice to appear (i.e., a citation or 'ticket'), and must release the violator 'forthwith' when the latter in turn gives his written promise that he will appear as directed (§§ 40500, 40504). Indeed, such a violator may avoid the necessity for appearing in court: he may choose to deposit the prescribed bail by mail (§ 40510) and, by failing thereafter to appear, forfeit that amount in lieu of fine (§ 40512). [¶] Second, in certain cases, section 40303 gives the officer the option either to follow the foregoing procedure or to take the violator 'without unnecessary delay' before the 'nearest or most accessible' magistrate having jurisdiction over the offense. The section lists a number of more serious [12 Cal. App. 4th 1181] violations as grounds for invoking this option, such as reckless driving, failure to stop after a accident, participating in speed contests, driving with an invalid license, attempt to evade arrest, and refusal to submit to safety inspections. [¶] Third, section 40302 makes it mandatory for the officer to follow the latter branch of the section 40303 option-i.e., to take the violator before a magistrate without unnecessary delay-in four specific instances: i.e., when the violator (a) fails to present his driver's license or other satisfactory evidence of his identity, (b) refuses to give his written promise to appear, or (c) demands an immediate appearance before a magistrate, or (d) when the violator is charged with the very serious traffic offenses [defined by former section 23102, driving under the influence of alcohol or other intoxicants]." (Simon, supra, 7 Cal.3d at pp. 199-200.)
In addition to the situations described in Simon, it is worth noting that an officer has the option of bringing a nonfelony traffic violator before a magistrate in several other situations; (1) where the motorist has been involved in a traffic accident or is obstructing traffic, and the officer has reason to believe the motorist was driving under the influence of liquor or drugs (§ 40300.5), (2) where an officer of the California Highway Patrol has arrested a person for violating a vehicular provision of state law not found in the Vehicle Code (§ 40304), or (3) where the officer has arrested a nonresident of this state and that nonresident cannot furnish "satisfactory evidence of identity and an address within this State at which he can be located." (§ 40305).
As the foregoing implies, an arrest for a minor Vehicle Code violation is to be distinguished in some respects from arrest under other circumstances. [1a] Ordinarily, the word "arrest" implies a sequence of events that begins with physical custody and at least a minimal body search, and concludes with booking and incarceration or release on bail. However, where a minor Vehicle Code violation is involved, the arrest is complete when, after an investigatory stop, "the officer determines there is probable cause to believe that an offense has been committed and begins the process of citing the violator to appear in court." (Simon, supra, 7 Cal.3d at p. 200.) This species of arrest does not inevitably result in physical custody and its concomitant, a search. (Cf. Gustafson v. Florida (1973) 414 U.S. 260, 266 [38 L. Ed. 2d 456, 461-462, 94 S. Ct. 488] [search incident to arrest valid where officer takes traffic citee into custody following arrest]; People v. Wohlleben (1968) 261 Cal. App. 2d 461, 463 [67 Cal. Rptr. 826] [minor traffic violation not a basis for custodial arrest]; see also U.S. v. Guzman (10th Cir. 1988) 864 F.2d [12 Cal. App. 4th 1182] 1512, 1519 [auto stop a limited seizure akin to investigative detention].) fn. 3 It is only after the traffic arrest is made that the provisions which forbid, allow, or mandate the officer to bring the arrestee before a magistrate come into play.
[2a] Here, there was probable cause to believe appellant had violated section 23223, which prohibits possession of an open container of any alcoholic beverage while in a car. fn. 4 If appellant had been able to produce a driver's license in response to Officer Brown's request for identification, Officer Brown would have been required to cite appellant for that violation, and to release him on his written promise to appear. (§ 40500; Pen. Code, § 853.5; Simon, supra, 7 Cal.3d at p. 199.) However, when appellant told Officer Brown he did not have any identification with him, Officer Brown decided to take appellant into custody under the identification provision of section 40302, subdivision (a). [3a] Appellant claims he should have been given an opportunity to provide Officer Brown with "other satisfactory evidence of his identity" for Officer Brown's "examination," (§ 40302, subd. (a)), and because he was not, the ensuing custody and search were constitutionally unreasonable. We disagree. We find the language of the statute necessarily confers discretion on the officer to determine what "satisfactory evidence" of identity may be under the circumstances, including the discretion to determine that only reliable, written evidence will do, or on the other hand, that the violator's oral statements of identity and promise to appear are sufficiently reliable to allow citation and release despite the lack of written evidence. [12 Cal. App. 4th 1183]
B. Construction of Section 40302
Though courts have considered the application of section 40302 in a variety of contexts, there has been no definitive interpretation of the phrase "satisfactory evidence of his identity," nor any explanation of the procedure to be followed by an officer who seeks to obtain such evidence. In those few cases which have directly considered whether some specific means of identification should have been enough to avoid custodial arrest, the courts have been content to conclude that the means of identification in question was not satisfactory. (See, e.g., People v. Grant (1990) 217 Cal. App. 3d 1451, 1455 [266 Cal. Rptr. 587] [oral statements]; People v. Farley (1971) 20 Cal. App. 3d 1032, 1036, fn. 2 [98 Cal. Rptr. 89] [Social Security card not satisfactory]; People v. Mercurio (1970) 10 Cal. App. 3d 426, 430 [88 Cal. Rptr. 750] [no identification]; People v. Anderson (1968) 266 Cal. App. 2d 125, 128 [71 Cal. Rptr. 827] [oral statement and nearby address].) [1b] (See fn. 5.) The parties have cited no authority and we have found none which clearly articulates the standard an officer should apply when a citee fn. 5 has no driver's license, other than general conclusory statements that the evidence of identity must be reliable and credible. (See, e.g., People v. Mercurio, supra, 10 Cal.App.3d at p. 430 ["reliable identification"]; People v. Nagel (1971) 17 Cal. App. 3d 492, 494 [95 Cal. Rptr. 129] ["valid identification"]; People v. Dukes (1969) 1 Cal. App. 3d 913, 916 [82 Cal. Rptr. 218] [defendant presented "unsatisfactory identification"]; People v. Salinas (1980) 111 Cal. App. 3d Supp. 27, 29 [169 Cal. Rptr. 16] [duty to present "suitable identification"].) By the same token, none of the cases have considered what procedure the officer might use to elicit "satisfactory" evidence of identity, or whether any such procedure is required, nor does the statute itself shed any light on that aspect of the problem. In short, we are left with a question of statutory interpretation, i.e., what procedure the Legislature intended when it provided that an officer must take a citee before a magistrate unless the citee can provide "satisfactory evidence of his identity for examination." fn. 6
[4] In the interpretation of statutes, we look first to the words of the statute itself, giving them their usual and ordinary meanings, and according [12 Cal. App. 4th 1184] significance to every word and phrase, if possible. (See, e.g., Walnut Creek Manor v. Fair Employment & Housing Com. (1991) 54 Cal. 3d 245, 268 [284 Cal. Rptr. 718, 814 P.2d 704].) [5] The words should be construed in context, and should be given such "interpretation as will promote rather than defeat the general purpose and policy of the law." (Alford v. Pierno (1972) 27 Cal. App. 3d 682, 688 [104 Cal. Rptr. 110] [original italics].) Where uncertainty exists, consideration should be given to the consequences that will flow from a particular interpretation; the result of the interpretation should be reasonable, and where several constructions are possible, that which leads to the more reasonable result should be adopted. (Ibid.; and see e.g., Regents of University of California v. Superior Court (1970) 3 Cal. 3d 529, 536-537 [91 Cal. Rptr. 57, 476 P.2d 457].) With these principles in mind, we turn to the statute.
Section 40302 is a part of chapter 2 of division 17 of the Vehicle Code. Chapter 2 provides the procedures to be followed by peace officers making arrests for Vehicle Code violations committed in their presence. (§ 40300; see, e.g., People v. Wohlleben, supra, 261 Cal.App.2d at p. 463 [procedure for warrantless misdemeanor arrest for Vehicle Code violation is provided in Vehicle Code, not Penal Code].) Section 40302 is one of several sections of chapter 2 which specify the various circumstances under which an officer either has the option to take a citee before a magistrate, or is required to do so. As noted in Simon, supra, 7 Cal.3d at page 199, "the scheme in effect presumes that in the vast majority of cases the violator will not be taken into custody." This is in accord with the general policy of avoiding custodial arrest in most instances involving minor criminal violations, especially traffic violations. fn. 7 (See, e.g., 2 ABA Standards for Criminal Justice, stds. 10-2.1, 10-2.2, supra, [policy in favor of citations]; Problems in the Admin. of Justice in Cal., Rep. to Assem. Com. on the Judiciary (1969) Supp. to Appen. to Assem. J. (1969 Reg. Sess.).) It would be inappropriate and harmful to both citizens and the criminal justice system if the presumption were custody, rather than release. For that reason, citation and release has been the standard for most Vehicle Code violations since 1925. (See Stats. 1925, ch. 240, § 19, p. 415; and see Nida, Cal. Motor Vehicle Legislation; West's Ann. Cal. Veh. Code, §§ 1- 15999 (1971) pp. LXXVI-LXXXI; First National Conference on Street and Highway Safety, Rep. of Com. on Enforcement (Feb. 1, 1926) p. 14 [lesser traffic offenders should be cited [12 Cal. App. 4th 1185] and released, to "relieve the offender from the humiliation of being classed as a criminal and to prevent congestion in the police courts"].) Thus, the overall purpose of the scheme of which section 40302 is a part is to facilitate the immediate release of most violators, reserving custody fn. 8 only for those who have either committed more serious offenses, or as in the case of persons who cannot produce satisfactory proof of identity, those whom the Legislature has deemed unlikely to fulfill a promise to appear. (Simon, supra, 7 Cal.3d at pp. 199-200.)
[3b] Given that the general purpose of the Vehicle Code arrest statutes is to avoid custodial arrest of most violators, reserving custody for serious offenders and those who are unlikely to comply with the citation procedure, it is clear the "satisfactory evidence" of identity standard must be interpreted to give the officer in the field sufficient flexibility to carry out that purpose in a variety of situations. (See 2 ABA Standards, supra, com. foll. std. 10-2.2 at p. 10.28 ["satisfactory evidence" portion of model citation statute purposefully left vague to preserve flexibility].) The variety of circumstances which might face an officer in the field defy classification. For example, there are undoubtedly situations in which an officer might conclude that a verified or verifiable oral statement of identity is reliable, and others in which the same statement would not seem reliable, as where the citee is evasive and there are minor but significant discrepancies in the statement of identity. For example, where two or more passengers in an automobile independently verify each other's identity, the officer's determination whether that independent verification is "satisfactory" must turn on that officer's perception of the credibility of the statements. In turn, that assessment may depend on the evaluation of such intangibles as the manner of the speakers, the place and time, or statements made by the passengers which tend to support or undercut the plausibility of their identifications. (See, e.g., People v. Grant, supra, 217 Cal. App. 3d 1451, 1456 [officer's inquiries reasonable where motorists had no written identification and driver told officer car belonged to his aunt].) To accommodate the variety of situations which an officer in the field may encounter, any reasonable interpretation of the statute must at some point necessarily reserve the judgment whether particular evidence of identity is satisfactory to the officer. (See Simon, supra, 7 Cal.3d at p. 201 [citee "must be able to convince the officer-either by exhibiting his driver's license or by 'other satisfactory evidence'-that the name he is signing on the written promise to appear corresponds to his [12 Cal. App. 4th 1186] true identity"].) Otherwise, in those situations in which the reliability of the evidence turns on factors which neither we nor any other court can predict, the officer will be forced to take into custody persons who should clearly not be inconvenienced. For example, a person who has left his or her wallet at home on a trip to the local market might well find themselves visiting a relatively distant magistrate instead, even though the officer believes they are responsible and will comply with the citation procedure. Such a result would defeat the overall purpose of the Vehicle Code arrest scheme, which is, as we have discussed, to provide a means by which most offenders may be cited and released. In this sense, our conclusions regarding the breadth of the officer's discretion are intended to preserve the officer's discretion to cite and release under those circumstances when custody is not warranted.
Despite the conclusion the officer must retain some discretion to determine what evidence of identity is "satisfactory," that discretion is not unlimited. Though the officer must retain an area of discretion, there are some proofs of identity which should be accepted by the officer as presumptively satisfactory, absent some extrinsic reason to doubt their authenticity. It would be unreasonable to conclude the Legislature intended that an officer could reject documentary evidence of identity which is the effective equivalent of a driver's license. We turn to consideration of what forms of identification other than a driver's license an officer must accept as presumptively satisfactory when they are presented for the officer's examination.
We begin with the driver's license statute itself, which specifies the kind of proof which an officer must accept. The statute requires the license to contain the driver's name, age, mailing address and signature as well as a brief description and photograph of the licensee. (§ 12811; and see People v. Farley, supra, 20 Cal.App.3d at p. 1036, fn. 4 [noting that draft card, which contained description, address, and signature of holder, was of significantly greater reliability than a social security card]. Read narrowly, section 40302 could be construed to mean that only a driver's license must be accepted by the officer, and other forms of identification on need be accepted only if "satisfactory." However, we do not believe the Legislature intended such a narrow reading.
First, a California identity card issued under section 13000, though facially relegated to the category of "other satisfactory evidence" of identity by section 40302, was clearly contemplated by the Legislature to be the virtual equivalent of a driver's license for identification purposes. (§ 13005 [card shall resemble driver's license in appearance so far as possible, and shall contain same information].) Where, as here, a nondriver is cited for a [12 Cal. App. 4th 1187] Vehicle Code violation, it would be unreasonable to conclude that an officer could refuse to accept a valid identity card as "satisfactory" evidence of the citee's identity.
In another context, the Legislature has determined that any current written identification which contains at a minimum "a photograph and description of the person named on it, is signed by the person, [and] bears a serial or other identifying number" is "satisfactory evidence" of the identity of a person acknowledging an instrument before a notary. (Civ. Code, § 1185; see Stats. 1982, ch. 197, § 1, p. 669; Leg. Counsel's Dig., Assem. Bill No. 2353, 6 Stats. 1982 (Reg. Sess.), Summary Dig., p. 77 [noting purpose of bill to require notaries to accept certain "paper identification, such as a driver's license" as sufficient for purposes of acknowledgement].) We deduce from this relatively recent addition to the notary statute that there are some kinds of written identification which are, in the view of the Legislature, presumptively "satisfactory," and should be accepted by the officer in the context of a Vehicle Code arrest.
We conclude that proper interpretation of the phrase "satisfactory evidence of identity" requires an officer to accept as presumptively satisfactory any reliable documentary evidence of identity which bears the minimum amount of data required by the Vehicle Code licensing and citation statutes. The form of identification must bear a photograph and description of the person, their signature and a current mailing address, and must be current and serially or otherwise numbered. (See § 12811 [content of license]; § 40500 [form of notice to appear to include name and address of person cited].) Such documentary evidence is the functional equivalent of a driver's license because it is of equivalent reliability, and because it bears the information necessary to the citation process. When presented with such proof, an officer must accept it as "satisfactory." fn. 9
Our conclusion that only documentary evidence of identity should be found to be presumptively satisfactory is reinforced by the language of the statute itself, which requires evidence of identity to be "presented" for "examination" by the officer. (§ 40302.) A reasonable reading of the words implies that the evidence is capable of presentation and examination, acts which are ordinarily associated with tangible rather than oral evidence. The use of such language is an additional indication that the Legislature contemplated that documentary evidence would be the primary means by which a citee should establish his or her identity. [12 Cal. App. 4th 1188]
To sum up, we conclude the only reasonable interpretation of the identity requirements of section 40302 requires an officer to accept either a driver's license or its functional equivalent, but lacking that, the decision whether any other evidence of identity is satisfactory should be left to the discretion of the officer in the field.
[6a] Our conclusion regarding the proper interpretation of the meaning of "satisfactory evidence" in turn dictates the scope of the officer's duty to make a sufficient inquiry to elicit evidence of a citee's identity. We begin with the obvious; an officer must, at a minimum, ask a citee for a driver's license. fn. 10 Otherwise, every citee would be subject to mandatory and immediate custodial arrest unless they were able to display a driver's license before the arrest could occur. Moreover, because the officer must accept as satisfactory documentary evidence of identification which is functionally equivalent to a driver's license, an officer should make some further inquiry calculated to discover whether the citee has some form of written identification which is its equivalent. As in this case, a general request for identification satisfies the officer's duty as to all forms of presumptively satisfactory identification. Under the circumstances which ordinarily obtain when an officer issues a citation, a request for "identification" will alert the vast majority of our citizens that some form of documentary identification is required, the present case being a good illustration of the point. When asked for "I.D.," Monroe replied he had none "with him;" as it turned out, he understood the officer's question perfectly, for he had no written identification. Thus, a general request for "identification" satisfies the officer's duty to inquire.
[3c] , [6b] Based on our conclusions regarding the proper interpretation of section 40302 and the officer's duty of inquiry, we reject appellant's contention the language of the statute directing the officer to accept "other satisfactory evidence of his identity" requires the officer to accept verifiable oral assertions of identity, and by implication, imposes a duty on the officer to make inquiries calculated to elicit such evidence. As we have discussed, the decision whether to accept some evidence of identity other than a driver's license or its equivalent is within the discretion of the officer. It follows that once the officer has established that a citee has no presumptively satisfactory evidence of identity, it is within the officer's discretion to determine that under the circumstances, no other evidence of identity will be satisfactory. When that occurs, the officer may take the citee before a magistrate without further inquiry. We reject the implicit premise of appellant's arguments that an officer has some duty to make inquiries designed to [12 Cal. App. 4th 1189] elicit whatever evidence of identity a citee may have. Like the problem of defining "satisfactory evidence" for all circumstances, the difficulty of anticipating what inquiries should be made prevents any workable judicial resolution of what is essentially a problem for the officer in the field. Once the officer has made some inquiry which puts the citee on notice that he or she has a duty to produce "evidence of his [or her] identity," (§ 40302), we believe the officer has done all that is required by the statute.
We cannot accept the suggestion of the dissent that an officer must make some unspecified inquiry intended to elicit such oral assurances of identity as a citee may be able to provide, and may only take the citee into custody where there are specific and articulable facts from which the officer can conclude the citee has not accurately identified himself. (Dis. opn., post, at pp. 1200-1201.) First, such a requirement would invite judicial second-guessing. Unless we are prepared to require some specific inquiry, we leave the police officer to speculate when he has asked enough questions to satisfy some future judicial review, or when a court will agree the evidence of identity he has received was insufficient under the circumstances. (Cf. United States v. Ross (1982) 456 U.S. 798, 826 [72 L. Ed. 2d 572, 594-595, 102 S. Ct. 2157] (conc. opn. of Powell, J.) [noting importance of specific guidance to police and courts in recurring problem of automobile searches].) Second, nothing in section 40302 requires the inquiry the dissent would impose. Indeed, to the extent the dissent would impose a burden on the officer to establish why a particular attempt at identification was unsatisfactory, the dissent appears to contradict the premise that the burden of producing evidence of identity is on the citee. If the Legislature desired to impose that requirement, it could have done so. However, it has chosen in section 40302 to commit some discretion to the arresting officer, as it has done to an even greater extent in other Vehicle Code arrest statutes. (See §§ 40303, 40304 [decision to take citee into custody made in officer's "judgment" without other criteria].) In short, we believe the dissent's approach is neither practical nor authorized by the statute.
[3d] Applying the principles we have discussed to the case at bench, we conclude Officer Brown's decision to take Monroe into custody pending an appearance before the magistrate was reasonable and permitted by section 40302. After his arrest for violation of the open container statute, Monroe was asked if he had any identification; he responded he did not. fn. 11 At that point, Officer Brown had discretion to either continue to question Monroe to [12 Cal. App. 4th 1190] elicit other evidence of Monroe's identity, or to determine that Monroe should be taken before a magistrate. Officer Brown's decision to take the latter course was authorized by section 40302. We therefore reject Monroe's claim that the ensuing custodial search of his person was illegal because the custody was not permitted by the arrest statute, and turn to his claim the statute is constitutionally invalid if read in the manner we find is correct. fn. 12
C. Due Process
Because we conclude the decision to accept evidence of identity other than a driver's license or its equivalent is a matter for the discretion of the officer in the field, we must reach appellant's claim the statute is unconstitutionally vague. Appellant's claim rests principally on the United States Supreme Court's ruling in Kolender v. Lawson (1983) 461 U.S. 352 [75 L. Ed. 2d 903, 103 S. Ct. 1855]. In Kolender, the Supreme Court invalidated part of a California criminal vagrancy statute as it had been interpreted by the California courts. The statute, Penal Code section 647, subdivision (e), fn. 13 had been read to allow arrest and prosecution where the arrested person failed to provide an officer with "credible and reliable" evidence of their identity when asked to do so. (People v. Solomon (1973) 33 Cal. App. 3d 429, 438 [108 Cal. Rptr. 867]; see Kolender v. Lawson, supra, 461 U.S. at pp. 355-357 and fn. 4 [75 L.Ed.2d at pp. 907-909] [Solomon expressed law of California on point].) The Supreme Court held the statute as interpreted was fatally vague because it "encourage[d] arbitrary enforcement by failing to describe with sufficient particularity what a suspect must do in order to satisfy the statute," i.e., to satisfy the officer that he or she had sufficiently identified himself. (Kolender v. Lawson, supra, 461 U.S. at p. 361 [75 L.Ed.2d at p. 911].) The court reasoned that "the full discretion accorded to the police to determine whether the suspect has provided a credible and reliable identification necessarily entrust[s] lawmaking to the moment-to- moment judgment of the policeman on his beat. ... [The California statute] furnishes a convenient tool for harsh and discriminatory enforcement by [12 Cal. App. 4th 1191] local prosecuting officials, against particular groups deemed to merit their displeasure, and confers on police a virtually unrestrained power to arrest and charge persons with a violation." (Id. at p. 360 [75 L.Ed.2d at p. 911] [internal marks and citations omitted]; and see e.g., People v. Mirmirani (1981) 30 Cal. 3d 375, 382 [178 Cal. Rptr. 792, 636 P.2d 1130]; Bowland v. Municipal Court (1976) 18 Cal. 3d 479, 492 [134 Cal. Rptr. 630, 556 P.2d 1081].)
There is no question that to the extent the "satisfactory evidence" language of section 40302 leaves the determination what is "satisfactory" to the citing officer, it is vague under the principles set out in Kolender v. Lawson, supra, 461 U.S. 352 [75 L. Ed. 2d 903]. As we interpret it, section 40302 in some cases leaves the determination what is reliable evidence of identity entirely to the officer. If section 40302 defined a criminal offense, there would be little question that it would be invalid after Kolender. However, it is not such a statute, and the same analysis does not apply.
Section 40302 and similar procedural statutes do not define criminal behavior. They are specific legislative delegations of executive discretion to police. Their application presupposes the citee has been arrested for the commission of a public offense, albeit of a special variety. (§ 40302 [statute applies when "any person is arrested for any violation of this code"]; see Simon, supra, 7 Cal.3d at p. 200 [Vehicle Code violator is "arrested" when officer has probable cause and begins process of citation].) Once a suspect is legally arrested for violation of a valid criminal statute, there is no constitutional bar to full custody and detention to protect the public and to ensure the arrestee is brought before a magistrate; in short, full custodial arrest is justified. However, the fact that taking the citee into custody under section 40302 is justified because the reliable evidence of identity we have discussed is not presented, does not require the officer to then so act. He retains the executive discretion, but is not required, to obtain other evidence of identity. In sum, the decision whether to implement that power and take the suspect into custody or to cite and release is a discretionary exercise of executive power which here has been expressly delegated to police. Such delegations are permissible, and are not subject to a due process challenge on the ground the delegation of discretion creates a risk of arbitrary enforcement. (See Sundance v. Municipal Court (1986) 42 Cal. 3d 1101, 1133-1134 [232 Cal. Rptr. 814, 729 P.2d 80].)
Our Supreme Court's decision in Sundance v. Municipal Court, supra, 42 Cal. 3d 1101 provides the basis for our rejection of appellant's vagueness challenge. In Sundance, a taxpayer and four public inebriates brought suit to enjoin (among other things) alleged constitutional abuses committed by Los [12 Cal. App. 4th 1192] Angeles County officials in their enforcement of Penal Code section 647, subdivision (f), the public intoxication statute. (42 Cal.3d at p. 1108.) fn. 14 Among the challenges raised by the plaintiffs was an attack on an administrative rule which set guidelines under which police were to determine whether certain arrestees under the statute should be released before charges were filed against them. (Id. at p. 1133.) Under the guidelines, police had the option of refusing release if the public inebriate in question was a " 'continuing police problem.' " (Ibid.) There was no dispute that the provision granted police almost unlimited discretion in the decision whether to release. (Ibid.) Plaintiffs argued the grant of discretion was unconstitutional because the regulation failed to give adequate notice of the prohibited conduct, and risked arbitrary enforcement by impermissibly delegating policy choices to " 'policemen, judges, and juries.' " (Id. at p. 1134, fn. 20, quoting Grayned v. City of Rockford (1972) 408 U.S. 104 [33 L. Ed. 2d 222, 92 S. Ct. 2294].)
The Sundance court fn. 15 rejected the plaintiffs' claims on the ground that the police regulation in question was not a criminal statute and did not purport to regulate the conduct of the public. (Sundance v. Municipal Court, supra, 42 Cal.3d at p. 1133.) The court noted that the basic policy choice, i.e., to make certain conduct illegal, had been made by the Legislature. Because the regulation did not purport to usurp that function, it was not subject to the requirement that it give adequate notice of prohibited conduct. (Id. at p. 1134.) For the same reason, the court held that the regulation was a permissible delegation of prosecutorial discretion to police. (Ibid.)
We find the present problem analogous if not identical to that presented in Sundance. A citee subject to custody under section 40302 is already under arrest; the decision whether to cite and release the citee or bring him before a magistrate is a discretionary function akin to the decision to prosecute. It is an administrative matter unrelated to the policy choice made by the Legislature, i.e., that certain conduct should be prohibited. Thus, under the principles stated in Sundance, the discretion granted by section 40302 is not subject to a vagueness challenge. Section 40302 prescribes the procedure for arrest of a Vehicle Code violator; it does not prohibit conduct, nor is it the [12 Cal. App. 4th 1193] basis for arrest. We conclude Monroe's vagueness challenge is without foundation. fn. 16
It is important to note that though we find no basis for a constitutional challenge to the form of police discretion authorized by section 40302 and similar statutes, a citee who believes that discretion has been abused is not without a remedy. Like a challenge to the discretionary decision to prosecute, a challenge to an officer's decision to take a citee into custody must be based on a showing the decision was made on invalid criteria, such as pretext, race, religion, or other classification unrelated to the purpose of the statute, i.e., to ensure the compliance of a citee with the promise to appear. In those cases in which the officer has used the custody procedure for some other purpose, the officer's decision is open to challenge. (Sundance v. Municipal Court, supra, 42 Cal.3d at pp. 1133-1136; see, e.g., Wayte v. United States (1985) 470 U.S. 598, 607-608 [84 L. Ed. 2d 547, 555-556, 105 S. Ct. 1524] [selective enforcement]; cf. Com. v. Williams (1990) 390 Pa.Super. 493 [568 A.2d 1281, 1287] [given probable cause, discretionary decision to arrest not constitutionally significant absent evidence of discriminatory enforcement].)
Our conclusion that section 40302 is not subject to a vagueness challenge is reinforced by the lack of any authority finding any similar statute vague, despite the fact that statutes granting police discretion to cite and release minor offenders are commonplace. The majority of jurisdictions have expressly provided some sort of discretionary citation mechanism. Under these provisions, which typically involve traffic and other minor offenses, police have discretion under various circumstances to cite and release rather than to take the offender into custody. (See Williams, The Law and Politics of Police Discretion (1985) pp. 80-82 [discussing state citation law]; LaFave, Arrest (1965) pp. 168-173; Kamisar et al., Criminal Procedure (5th ed. 1980) p. 402, fn. a; see, e.g., § 40303 [where custody not required by law, officer may nonetheless take citee into custody in his "judgment" for specified violations]; § 40304 [highway patrol officer may in his "judgment" either cite or take non-Vehicle Code offender into custody]; Pen. Code, §§ 853.5, 853.6, subd. (i); Ill. Ann. Stat., ch. 38, § 107-12 (West 1980) [officer "may" [12 Cal. App. 4th 1194] issue citation]; Fla. Stat. Ann., § 901.28 (West 1985) [discretion to arrest on failure to supply satisfactory identification]; Alaska Stat. § 12.25.180, subd. (b)(1) (1991) [same].) These procedural statutes are representative of the delegation of discretion to police to decide when a particular offender should be issued a citation or taken before a magistrate, or in the case of the identity statutes, to determine what evidence of identification is satisfactory when a citee cannot produce a driver's license or its equivalent. As such, these statutes are a recognition of the practical importance of discretion in the everyday administration of traffic laws, which is the category of penal law which most directly affects the majority of citizens, and is their most likely point of contact with police. There are many circumstances under which arrest and custody for minor violations would be inappropriate and undesirable, even though the offender lacks any official identity document. To allow a vagueness challenge to these procedural statutes would be incorrect, and would cause untold confusion and harm to both the administration of minor traffic matters, and to those unfortunate enough to fall outside the inflexible categorization which would necessarily result from an attempt to shear police of discretion in the decision to cite and release for minor offenses. For that reason as well as those discussed above, we decline to allow Monroe's vagueness claim.
D Other Claims
We briefly dispose of Monroe's other claims of error. [2b] As we have noted, there is no merit in his claim the officers lacked probable cause to arrest him for violation of the open container statute. (See fn. 4, ante.) [7] For similar reasons, we reject the claim the investigative stop of the car in which Monroe was riding was invalid. (See, e.g., In re Tony C. (1978) 21 Cal. 3d 888, 893 [148 Cal. Rptr. 366, 582 P.2d 957].) We remind Monroe that we must view the evidence in the light most favorable to the ruling below. So viewed, there were "specific and articulable facts causing [the officers] to suspect" Monroe was a fugitive from a murder charge. (Ibid.) Monroe matched the description of the suspect in several particulars, was in a neighborhood frequented by the suspect, and was in a rental car connected with the state in which the suspect was reportedly seen. These facts, coupled with Monroe's seeming attempt to hide his face from the officers when they pulled up next to his car, were enough to warrant the investigative stop. fn. 17
[2c] We find no merit in the claim the officers were required to terminate their investigation and release Monroe immediately upon learning he [12 Cal. App. 4th 1195] was not the murder suspect. Viewed in the light most favorable to the ruling, the evidence supported the trial court's implicit conclusion that the officers discovered the open containers of alcohol either before or at the same time they realized Monroe was not the one they sought. Accordingly, there was probable cause to arrest Monroe, and no basis for immediate release.
We reject without extended discussion Monroe's contention the search of his person was prohibited by the rule of Simon, supra, 7 Cal.3d at page 209 (search of person not permissible in connection with custody under § 40302.) Pursuant to initiative constitutional amendment, "courts may not exclude evidence seized in violation of either the state or federal Constitution unless exclusion is compelled by the federal Constitution," absent some specific statutory mandate. (In re Lance W. (1985) 37 Cal. 3d 873, 888 [210 Cal. Rptr. 631, 694 P.2d 744].) United States v. Robinson (1973) 414 U.S. 218 [38 L. Ed. 2d 427, 94 S. Ct. 467], holds any "custodial arrest" supports a full search of the person taken into custody, without regard to the nature of the offense for which the arrest was made. (Id. at pp. 234- 235 [38 L.Ed.2d at pp. 439-440].) Monroe argues Robinson left open the question whether an arrest pursuant to section 40302 would subject the arrestee to full search. We disagree. The only question left open in Robinson was whether such a search would be reasonable where the defendant was subjected to a " 'routine traffic stop' " only, without being taken into custody. (414 U.S. at p. 236, fn. 6 [38 L.Ed.2d at p. 441].) Here, Monroe was taken into custody; Robinson holds a search incident to that event is constitutionally reasonable. (See generally, 2 LaFave, Search and Seizure (2d ed. 1987) § 5.2, pp. 438- 441.) Because the rule of Simon is a judicially created exclusionary rule not required by the federal constitution, it has been abrogated under the principles stated in In re Lance W., supra, 37 Cal.3d at page 888. Appellant's position that Simon requires reversal is therefore without merit.
[8] Finally, appellant argues the trial court abused its discretion when it refused to refer him to the California Rehabilitation Center (CRC) as an alternative to a state prison sentence. (Welf. & Inst. Code, § 3051.) Welfare and Institutions Code section 3051 provides that, upon conviction for any crime, a court shall suspend execution of sentence and refer the defendant to CRC if it appears the defendant is either addicted to narcotics or is about to become so. However, the statute also provides the court may decline to make the CRC referral if "in the opinion of the judge, the defendant's record and probation report indicate such a pattern of criminality that he or she does not constitute a fit subject for commitment." (Welf. & Inst. Code, § 3051; see, e.g., People v. Sanford (1988) 204 Cal. App. 3d 1181, 1183 [251 Cal.Rptr. [12 Cal. App. 4th 1196] 707].) Here, the court specifically found a pattern of criminality rendering Monroe unfit for rehabilitation. The record supported the trial court's finding. (See, e.g., People v. Ellers (1980) 108 Cal. App. 3d 943, 956 [166 Cal. Rptr. 888] [standard of review].) In the period 1985 through 1989, Monroe had suffered prior convictions of theft, battery, receiving stolen property, and firearms and narcotics offenses. The probation officer noted Monroe's "extensive criminal history," his parole violations, and the statement of Monroe's parole officer that Monroe "exhibited the attitude of a professional criminal." We find no abuse of discretion.
The judgment is affirmed.
Peterson, J., fn. * concurred.
SMITH, Acting P. J.
I respectfully dissent. The majority interpret section 40302 of the Vehicle Code (all further undesignated references are to that code) in such a manner that a person cited for a simple traffic infraction may, at the election of the citing officer, be handcuffed and involuntarily transported to a distant booking station solely because he lacks what they call "presumptively satisfactory" written identification. This result is not only inconsistent with the intent behind the identification statute, but opens the door for arbitrary treatment under the guise of routine police procedure.
At the outset it is important to clarify what was said in the critical exchange between Officer Brown and Monroe. Brown stated that Monroe was still seated in the car when he asked him his name; Monroe gave the name "Erik Monroe." According to Brown, within "five to ten seconds" of this initial contact he noticed a Big Gulp cup containing beer on the floorboard and smelled alcohol. Brown then testified: "I asked him if he had identification. [¶] Q. Was Mr. Monroe able to produce any identification to you? [¶] A. Well, I also asked him to step from the vehicle. He complied. He stepped from the vehicle, and he said, 'I don't have any I.D. with me.' " (Italics added.)
On the next page of the transcript the officer offhandedly referred to Monroe's reply as "I don't have any I.D." Defense counsel, however, alert to the important distinction, later asked the officer to clarify the discrepancy. [12 Cal. App. 4th 1197] Officer Brown confirmed that the first version he gave was correct: "Q. Officer, when you asked Mr. Monroe for identification, he said that he didn't have any with him, is that right? A. He said he didn't have any, yeah, or any with him, yes." (Italics added.)
Although credibility is a matter for the trial court and we cannot interfere with its resolution of conflicts in the evidence (People v. Leyba (1981) 29 Cal. 3d 591, 596 [174 Cal. Rptr. 867, 629 P.2d 961]), there is no conflict where an apparent inconsistency is ultimately resolved by the witness himself. Secondly, our duty to view the evidence most favorable to the ruling below carries with it the simultaneous duty to resolve the issue in light of the whole record, not based on " 'isolated bits of evidence' " favorable to the prosecution. (People v. Johnson (1980) 26 Cal. 3d 557, 577 [162 Cal. Rptr. 431, 606 P.2d 738, 16 A.L.R.4th 1255], quoting People v. Bassett (1968) 69 Cal. 2d 122, 138 [70 Cal. Rptr. 193, 443 P.2d 777].) The obvious import of the officer's testimony and a proper reading of the record compels the conclusion that Monroe's reply to the officer's request for identification was: "I don't have any I.D. with me."
Here, Monroe had already given the officer his name and showed cooperation by immediately complying with the request to step out of the car. Monroe's response "I don't have any I.D. with me" was the equivalent of saying "I don't have any documentary evidence in my possession," or more colloquially, "I left my wallet at home." This statement simply informs the officer that the person forgot to bring along written identification.
As the majority correctly note, California has a multitiered system in dealing with persons who are stopped and cited by law enforcement officers for minor traffic violations, a scheme which "in effect presumes that in the vast majority of cases the violator will not be taken into custody ...." With certain exceptions, the officer will "prepare a written notice to appear (i.e., a citation or 'ticket'), and ... release the violator 'forthwith' when the latter in turn gives his written promise that he will appear as directed ...." (People v. Superior Court (Simon) (1972) 7 Cal. 3d 186, 199 [101 Cal. Rptr. 837, 496 P.2d 1205] (Simon).)
Section 40302, subdivision (a) (section 40302(a)), sets out one exception to the officer's normal duty to cite and release a person stopped for a minor traffic violation. Unlike companion statutes which truly grant the officer the option of taking the citee into custody in more serious cases (§ 40303 [person arrested for certain enumerated offenses "shall, in the judgment of [12 Cal. App. 4th 1198] the arresting officer," either be given a notice to appear or be taken without unnecessary delay before a magistrate], § 40304 [whenever person is arrested by highway patrol officer for misdemeanor not specified in the Vehicle Code, "he shall, in the judgment of the arresting officer," either be issued a citation or be brought before a magistrate]), section 40302(a) is couched strictly in mandatory terms. It declares that when a person is cited for a violation of the Vehicle Code not declared to be a felony, he "shall be taken without unnecessary delay before a magistrate" when he "fails to present his driver's license or other satisfactory evidence of his identity for examination." (§ 40302(a), italics added.)
As noted in Simon, section 40302 is procedural not penal in nature and cannot itself form the basis for a lawful custodial arrest. Nevertheless a person "who is actually taken into police custody for transportation before a magistrate pursuant to section 40302 ... is under arrest' in the traditional sense of the term. [Citations.]" (Simon, supra, 7 Cal.3d at pp. 200-201.)
The next issue is what constitutes "satisfactory" evidence of identification. The majority conclude that every citizen of this state must, to ensure that he or she will not be taken into custody for a vehicular infraction, carry what they term "presumptively satisfactory" documentary identification-either a driver's license or its functional equivalent. (Maj. opn., ante pp. 1186-1187.) Lacking that, say the majority, a citizen stopped for a minor traffic offense may either be cited and released or hauled down to the police station to be brought before a magistrate, at the option of the citing officer. This remarkable conclusion goes far beyond the statutory purpose behind section 40302.
The citation and release system "is essentially an honor system, requiring the good faith and cooperation of the person cited." (Simon, supra, 7 Cal.3d at p. 201.) Clearly, when an officer stops a person for a traffic offense it is important that the citee properly identify himself, since a promise to appear without evidence that the person signing it is who he says he is "signifies little." (People v. Mercurio (1970) 10 Cal. App. 3d 426, 430 [88 Cal. Rptr. 750].) Section 40302 is designed to satisfy that concern.
The identification statute requires that the citee present "for examination" either a driver's license or other satisfactory evidence of identity. In the words of Justice Mosk, he must be able to convince the officer-"either by exhibiting his driver's license or by 'other satisfactory evidence'-that the name he is signing on the written promise to appear corresponds to his true identity. [Citation.]" (Simon, supra, 7 Cal.3d at p. 201.) Since "other satisfactory evidence" is defined by reference to a driver's license, it follows that documentary evidence which constitutes the functional equivalent of an [12 Cal. App. 4th 1199] operator's license should be accepted by the officer, absent some reason to doubt its authenticity. fn. 1
It does not follow, however, that unless a citizen carries such identification at all times, he risks being transported against his will to answer for a vehicular infraction. There is nothing in section 40302 which implies that such punitive measures might flow from a failure to carry written identification. It is not uncommon for law-abiding individuals to occasionally leave home without taking along a driver's license or other written evidence of identity. The majority's interpretation gives the police the power to impose onerous sanctions on forgetful persons who have committed trivial violations of the law.
In today's computer age the officer in the field has a host of readily available methods of verifying the identity of a person who does not happen to have written identification in his possession. For example, a licensee who forgot his license will still be able to give a full name, address and date of birth and may even be able to recite his driver's license number from memory. In a matter of minutes, the officer can relay this data into a central computer and discover whether the record on file matches the description of and information given by the person he has stopped. A person who does not have a driver's license may be tested on certain information he gives regarding his residence, telephone number and/or place of employment. The officer may be able to ask another person at the scene whose identity has been verified to vouch for the citee's identity. Arrest and parole records are other sources of verifiable information.
The statute's use of the term "examination" does not, as the majority infer, preclude satisfactory proof of identification by oral means. The dictionary defines "examine," as "to inquire into carefully," and "to test by questioning in order to determine ... fitness, or knowledge." (Webster's Ninth New Collegiate Dict. (1984) p. 431.) By exhibiting identifying documents, by orally presenting the officer with verifiable identifying information, or through a combination of both, a detainee may be able to provide satisfactory evidence of his identity.
Oral evidence as an alternative means of identification necessarily forms an integral part of the honor system which the Legislature intended to create in establishing the cite and-release procedure for minor traffic offenses. No [12 Cal. App. 4th 1200] state interest is served by punishing a person for not having adequate written identification. The "satisfactory evidence" requirement is there for the sole purpose of providing reasonable assurance that the cited person will fulfill his promise to appear to answer for the infraction. It follows that as an alternative to producing a valid driver's license or its equivalent, the detainee should be allowed to convince the officer by other satisfactory proof that the name he is signing on the promise to appear corresponds to his true identity. Indeed, it appears to be an already common practice among law enforcement officers to exhaust nondocumentary methods of confirming identity before taking a traffic citee into custody. (E.g., People v. Grant (1990) 217 Cal. App. 3d 1451, 1455,1459 [266 Cal. Rptr. 587]; People v. Long (1987) 189 Cal. App. 3d 77, 88, fn. 4 [234 Cal. Rptr. 271].)
I conclude that under section 40302(a), a cited person must be allowed to identify himself to a law enforcement officer through either the presentation of a valid driver's license or by offering other competent proof. "Other satisfactory evidence" in this context includes written evidence of identity and/or verification by oral means. Accordingly, an officer who cites a person for a minor traffic offense has a duty to question him in a manner which encompasses both of these prongs of section 40302(a) before taking that person into custody for failure to present satisfactory identification. The officer need not recite any magic words, as long as he gives the detainee a reasonable opportunity to identify himself. Once proper inquiry has been made, the burden passes to the citee to convince the officer of his identity through satisfactory means.
Contrary to the majority's suggestion, nothing in this analysis requires an officer to accept oral assurances of identity. The individual officer may still weigh the sufficiency of the identification which has been provided. But this "discretion," if one may use that term, is not the complete unbounded discretion of which the majority speak. It is a discretion which can be abused if the officer acts unreasonably or arbitrarily. Since the honor system embodied in section 40302 presumes that most violators will be cited and released, an officer should have some specific articulable reason to doubt that the cited person has accurately identified himself before taking him into custody. (Cf. People v. Grant, supra, 217 Cal.App.3d at pp. 1455, 1459; People v. Long, supra, 189 Cal. App. 3d 77, 88, fn. 4.)
The majority's concerns that requiring the officer to allow the cited person the opportunity to identify himself orally would saddle the court with the task of "requir[ing] some specific inquiry" or would relieve the citee of his burden of producing identification (maj. opn., ante, p. 189, italics omitted) are unfounded. The statute refers to "other satisfactory evidence" of identity. [12 Cal. App. 4th 1201] My conclusion that such evidence may take oral as well as written form and that the citee must be given a chance to produce either or both provides an easily workable standard for the officer and in no way infringes upon the precept that it is still the citee's burden to identify himself and the officer's prerogative to determine the adequacy of the identification.
Here, Officer Brown's request for identification was met with the response that Monroe had no documentary proof in his possession. Clearly, Monroe had the ability to identify himself orally (thereby providing assurance that his promise to appear would be honored) as shown by the parole number and other information he gave to the officer following his arrest. Instead, without giving Monroe the opportunity to identify himself by alternative means, Officer Brown effectuated an immediate custodial arrest. Only after Monroe was handcuffed and searched did Officer Brown ask identity-related questions which, as it turned out, were answered quite truthfully.
The majority harp on an imagined demand by this dissent that the police officer conduct some Miranda-like interrogation before an arrest can take place. That assumption is without justification. The problem here is not that Brown failed to utter any "magic words" but that he spoke no words at all to indicate to the citee that he could offer "other satisfactory evidence" to prove his identity. In other words, the officer, without tracking the language of section 40302(a) and contrary to the purpose of that section, leapt at the opportunity to arrest Monroe.
Because Monroe was taken into custody solely on the basis of his statement that he possessed no written identification and without having been afforded the chance to offer nondocumentary proof of his identity, the custodial arrest was unlawful. And since the only justification for the search advanced by the People was a search incident to the custodial arrest, it follows that the warrantless search violated Monroe's Fourth Amendment rights.
The majority's conclusion not only misreads the legislative intent behind the statute, it poses constitutional problems. Courts have a duty to construe a statute in a manner which will preserve its constitutionality and avoid challenges for vagueness. (Pryor v. Municipal Court (1979) 25 Cal. 3d 238, 253-254 [158 Cal. Rptr. 330, 599 P.2d 636]; In re Kay (1970) 1 Cal. 3d 930, 942 [83 Cal. Rptr. 686, 464 P.2d 142].) "[A] statute must provide sufficiently definite guidelines for the police in order to prevent arbitrary and discriminatory enforcement. 'A vague law impermissibly delegates basic policy [12 Cal. App. 4th 1202] matters to policemen, judges and juries for resolution on an ad hoc and subjective basis, with the attendant dangers of arbitrary and discriminatory application.' " (People v. Superior Court (Caswell) (1988) 46 Cal. 3d 381, 390 [250 Cal. Rptr. 515, 758 P.2d 1046], citing Grayned v. City of Rockford (1972) 408 U.S. 104, 108 [33 L. Ed. 2d 222, 227-228, 92 S. Ct. 2294].)
In Kolender v. Lawson (1983) 461 U.S. 352 [75 L. Ed. 2d 903, 103 S. Ct. 1855] (Kolender) the United States Supreme Court held void for vagueness Penal Code former section 647, subdivision (e), which required an individual to provide "credible and reliable" identification when requested by a police officer who had reasonable suspicion of criminal activity to justify a Terry detention. The court held the statute was unconstitutionally vague because it "vests virtually complete discretion in the hands of the police to determine whether the suspect has satisfied the statute," (Kolender, supra, 461 U.S. at p. 358 [75 L.Ed.2d at p. 909]) and "encourages arbitrary enforcement by failing to describe with sufficient particularity what a suspect must do in order to satisfy the statute." (Id., at p. 361 [75 L.Ed.2d at p. 911].)
The majority imbue section 40302(a) with the same constitutionally offensive attributes described by the Supreme Court in Kolender. If the cited person does not present a driver's license or a document of equal value "satisfactory evidence" is, according to the majority, whatever the citing officer decides it is. One person may present the officer with copious, verifiable nondocumentary evidence of identification and be arrested, searched and booked. Another may simply tell the officer that he is John Doe of 123 Roe Street and be released. Allowing the result to turn solely on the personal predilections of the officer "furnishes a convenient tool for harsh and discriminatory enforcement by local prosecuting officials, against particular groups deemed to merit their displeasure. ... [Citations.]" (Kolender, supra, 461 U.S. 352, 360 [75 L.Ed.2d 903-911], internal quotation marks omitted.)
To gloss over the troublesome consequences of their reasoning, as the majority do, by calling the statute "procedural" misses the point. Since a person taken into custody for transportation before a magistrate under section 40302 is " 'under arrest' in the traditional sense of the term" he is deprived of his liberty just as surely as one who has been arrested for a jailable offense. (Simon, supra, 7 Cal. 3d 185, 200.) The majority's trivialization of the intrusion by pointing out that the arrestee is not technically "incarcerated" (maj. opn., ante, p. 1185, fn. 8) is of little comfort to those who are not only subjected to search and seizure but deprived of their freedom of movement for reasons which the police need not explain or justify. [12 Cal. App. 4th 1203]
The majority's use of Sundance v. Municipal Court (1986) 42 Cal. 3d 1101 [232 Cal. Rptr. 814, 729 P.2d 80], to authorize limitless discretion by the officer is likewise far off the mark. Sundance involved a police regulation governing whether to keep persons arrested for public drunkenness in jail or release them. An inebriate taken into custody by the police has violated the law and is already subject to incarceration. The only remaining decision is whether to book him or let him go, a matter unquestionably within the realm of prosecutorial discretion. By contrast, the traffic citee has not done anything for which he may be taken into custody or jailed-in fact, incarceration for a person guilty of no more than a traffic infraction is statutorily proscribed. (Pen. Code, § 19.6; see Review of Selected 1968 Code Legislation (Cont.Ed.Bar 1968) pp. 248-251.) Thus, the person stopped for a traffic violation stands in much the same posture as the Terry-stop suspect in Kolender.
I find it inconceivable that the Legislature intended the anomalous result that a person who cannot be deprived of his liberty for a traffic infraction even were he to be found guilty, may nevertheless be subjected to custodial arrest at the option of the officer writing the ticket merely because he does not happen to have written evidence of identity in his possession. fn. 3
By imposing a de facto requirement that one present formal documentary evidence of identity upon being cited for a nonjailable violation of the Vehicle Code and granting the officer unbridled authority to search, seize and transport those who do not possess such documentation, the majority encourage arbitrary treatment of our citizens and convert what is essentially a procedural statute into a penal one, conferring virtually unrestrained power on the police to arrest and take into custody persons who have merely forgotten to carry paper identification with them. (See generally Kr..uger, [12 Cal. App. 4th 1204] Police Demand For Documentary Identification (1992) 13 Crim. Justice. J. 243.)
Equal treatment should be afforded the motorist who has forgotten his driver's license on a spur-of-the-moment afternoon trip to the suburban hardware store as well as the one returning from a social event at midnight in the inner city. Both should be granted the same right to prove identity by nondocumentary means before undergoing the degrading process of a custodial arrest. Requiring the officer to permit identification by both written and oral methods before depriving the citee of his liberty promotes such fair and evenhanded treatment.
I would reverse the judgment.
FN *. Presiding Justice of the Court of Appeal, First District, Division Five, sitting under assignment by the Chairperson of the Judicial Council.
FN 1. Unless otherwise indicated, all further statutory references are to the Vehicle Code.
Section 40302 provides in part: "Whenever any person is arrested for any violation of this code, not declared to be a felony, the arrested person shall be taken without unnecessary delay before a magistrate within the county in which the offense charged is alleged to have been committed and who has jurisdiction of the offense and is nearest or most accessible with reference to the place where the arrest is made in any of the following cases: [¶] (a) When the person arrested fails to present his driver's license or other satisfactory evidence of his identity for examination."
FN 2. As noted, Officer Brown gave several versions of his conversation with Monroe. Whether read to include the words "with me" or not, Monroe's statement to Officer Brown made it clear he could not produce any written evidence of his identity. Under our reading of section 40302, that inability left Officer Brown with discretion to either continue to question Monroe, or to take him into custody. Because our conclusion would remain the same no matter which version of Officer Brown's testimony was believed, we need not and do not attempt to resolve the conflicts in his testimony on the point, if any exist.
FN 3. Because we conclude Officer Brown's decision to take appellant into custody was proper, we do not reach the question whether a search of his person would have been lawful absent full custody.
FN 4. We reject appellant's contention the arrest was unlawful because he had not violated section 23223. Appellant relies on People v. Squadere (1978) 88 Cal. App. 3d Supp. 1. [151 Cal. Rptr. 616] Squadere held conviction under section 23223 was improper where the only evidence against the defendant was the presence of open containers under the seats of the car, without any evidence establishing the defendant knew the containers were there. (88 Cal.App.3d at pp. Supp. 3-4.) Appellant's reliance on Squadere is misplaced. First, the inquiry whether probable cause exists is not the same as that undertaken by an appellate court reviewing a judgment for support by substantial evidence. Second, Squadere is factually distinguishable; in Squadere, the open containers were under the seat, while here, the container was on the floor in front of appellant. Finally, Squadere itself points out that personal possession of the container may be proved by circumstantial evidence. (Id. at p. Supp. 4, fn. 2.) The presence of the container at appellant's feet was enough to ground a reasonable belief he personally possessed it. (Cf. People v. Williams (1971) 5 Cal. 3d 211, 215 [95 Cal. Rptr. 530, 485 P.2d 1146] [possession proven where officer saw contraband on floor of car as defendant got out].) We conclude Officer Brown had probable cause to arrest for violation of section 23223.
FN 5. As we have noted, a Vehicle Code violator is technically under arrest when an officer has probable cause to believe that person has committed a Vehicle Code offense, and begins the process of issuing a citation to appear in court. (Simon, supra, 7 Cal.3d at p. 200.) For convenience and clarity, we refer to such a violator as a "citee." Our use of the term assumes the decision to issue the citation is legally correct.
FN 6. There is little if any legislative history which sheds light on the subject. The present statutory language was first added to the arrest provision of the predecessor to the Vehicle Code in 1925, and has been carried through without comment in substantially the same form to the present day. The relevant portion of the 1925 enactment was as follows: "Whenever any person is arrested for any violation of the provisions of this act [the California vehicle act of 1923, see Stats. 1923, ch. 266] ... the arresting officer shall, upon production but without surrender of the operator's or chauffeur's license of the person arrested, or other satisfactory evidence of the latter's identity, take the name and address of such person and the number of his motor vehicle and notify [him to appear]" (Stats. 1925, ch. 240, § 19, p. 415, italics added.)
FN 7. For example, in 1971, approximately half of all misdemeanor arrestees in California were cited and released. (2 ABA Standards for Criminal Justice, std. 10-2.1 (2d ed. 1980) p. 10.23.) Presumably, the figure for Vehicle Code infractions is much higher.
FN 8. In most cases, the custody is only that incident to the trip to the magistrate, as in this case. (§§ 40306, 40307.) After that appearance, the violator must be released on bail or on his or her own recognizance, and if the appearance is impossible due to the unavailability of a magistrate or equivalent, the violator must be released after two hours. (Ibid.) To the extent the dissent may be read to equate the custody authorized by section 40302 to incarceration for a criminal offense, we think it overstates the case. (Dis. opn., post, pp. 1202-1203.)
FN 9. By our conclusion we do not elevate any form of identification to a position superior to that of an ordinary driver's license; as with such a license, an officer may determine from all the circumstances the identification is false, altered, or for some other reason suspicious, and act accordingly. (See, e.g., § 14610 [unlawful use or alteration of license].)
FN 10. Our statement that the officer must accept certain forms of identification is qualified by the assumption the officer has no reason to believe the identification is false.
FN 11. The dissent places great emphasis on the distinction between a statement that a citee has no identification, and a statement that the citee has no identification available for presentation to the officer. We see no functional difference; in either case the officer is justified in concluding the citee cannot or will not produce a driver's license or its equivalent.
FN 12. We note there were several factors which, in retrospect, make Officer Brown's decision seem reasonable. Appellant had turned away from the officers when they attempted to look at his face, had no written identification, and was riding in a rental car while drinking beer. Under the circumstances, Officer Brown might well have decided Monroe could not produce any evidence of identity which would, under all the circumstances, assure his compliance with the promise to appear.
FN 13. Penal Code section 647, subdivision (e) provides that a person is guilty of a misdemeanor who "loiters or wanders upon the streets or from place to place without apparent reason or business and who refuses to identify himself or herself and to account for his or her presence when requested by any peace officer so to do, if the surrounding circumstances are such as to indicate to a reasonable person that the public safety demands such identification."
FN 14. Penal Code section 647, subdivision (f) provided that "every person who is 'found in any public place under the influence of intoxicating liquor ... in such a condition that he or she is unable to exercise care for his or her own safety or the safety of others, or by reason of his or her being under the influence of intoxicating liquor ... interferes with or obstructs or prevents the free use of any street, sidewalk or public way' is guilty of disorderly conduct, a misdemeanor." (Sundance v. Municipal Court, supra, 42 Cal.3d at p. 1108.)
FN 15. The decision in Sundance was fragmented. However, a majority of the court necessarily joined in the lead opinion, which was issued "by the Court." (Sundance v. Municipal Court, supra, 42 Cal.3d at p. 1108.) Accordingly, we follow that opinion, and do not concern ourselves with the views expressed in the various separate concurring opinions.
FN 16. We do not agree with the dissent's claim that a traffic citee is in a markedly different category from the public inebriates considered in Sundance. (Dis. opn., post, at pp. 1202-1203.) A traffic citee is an arrested public offender who, when unable to produce identification, is by statute made subject to the level of custody required to bring him before a magistrate or equivalent official. The public inebriates in Sundance were arrested offenders who were by statute and rule subject to incarceration. In both cases, police are given discretionary power to determine the extent to which the offenders will be deprived of their liberty, though the degree of deprivation differs. The fact that traffic offenders may not be incarcerated for their crime and inebriates may be is a distinction without a difference.
FN 17. In a portion of his argument of this point, Monroe implies the stop was pretextual. Appellant cites no authority, and does not attempt to show the trial court's implicit conclusion to the contrary was not supported by the evidence. We therefore do not address the implication.
FN 1. Section 12811 requires every California operator's license to contain the driver's name, age, mailing address and signature as well as a brief description and photograph of the driver for purposes of identification. Documentation which contains similar identifying material thus provides reasonable assurance that the person has accurately identified himself to the officer.
FN 3. My conclusion is underscored by the legislative history of Penal Code section 853.5 which addresses itself to the citing procedure to be employed in the case of nonvehicular infractions. That section provides: "In all cases, except as specified in Sections 40302 [and others] of the Vehicle Code, in which a person is arrested for an infraction, a peace officer shall only require the arrestee to present his driver's license or other satisfactory evidence of his identity for examination and to sign a written promise to appear. Only if the arrestee refuses to present such identification or, refuses to sign such a written promise may the arrestee be taken into custody." (Italics added.)
The italicized language was inserted into the statute by a 1980 amendment, originating as Assembly Bill No. 2296 (AB 2296). (Stats. 1980, ch. 238, § 1, p. 480.) The bill analysis prepared by the Assembly Committee on Criminal Justice states, "AB 2296 is intended to create statewide, uniform treatment of persons cited for infraction violations, permitting custody only under the most specific and necessary of conditions. Proponents indicate that inasmuch as jail would be a prohibited sanction if the person is convicted of an infraction, it makes little sense to incarcerate a person who is merely arrested and charged with the infraction." (Bill Analysis, Assem. Com. on Criminal Justice, Mar. 17, 1980, p. 1, italics original.)
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0009.json.gz/line882
|
Subsets and Splits
No community queries yet
The top public SQL queries from the community will appear here once available.