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Life and Society
Can you name a place that's pretty much a "ghost town" anymore?
by Mrs. C 3 hours ago
Mrs. C
Poindexter
East Germany.
Calico, California. Kenny Rogers made an album about it. Especially cool is Dorsey, The Mail Carrying Dog! http://www.legendsofamerica.com/ca-calico2.html
Sunny_Gal
How about "Bannack, Montana"+5
stagood
My town (Burlington, Ia) has gone from 35,000 to 25,000 population due to factory layoffs. At this rate we could be next...+5
Ironhead
A small town about 20 miles from me called Birds. In 1996 Birds was hit by a horrific flood. FEMA aid bought out the damaged homes. The damaged homes were knocked down and cleared away. All that remains are a few houses, mobile homes, and two churches. Most of the residents have moved away. Only 30 people remain.
vincentcent
Calico. It's in southern Califoria and as long as I've heard of it, it has been called a Ghost Town. I've never been there! For all I know it is a lively place...a party hearty town! :) :)
Kiwi girl aka jeanie16
we have a ghost town in NZ, its a small mining village, that was thriving in the 1800's, its a long trek into the mountains in the southern alps, I walked it, or tramped it about 35 years ago with my then boyfriend, it was called macetown, quite erry and spooky, I would love to go back now and pick up the feelings,...........
Dudleytown, CT http://www.ghostvillage.com/legends/dudleytown.shtml
Bodie, California! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bodie,_California
Amber the curious one HaS aN aPpLe
Cheronobyl Ukraine
kybear
There are several places in Eastern Kentucky like that. The towns pretty much dried up when the mines closed.
EmptyWallet
Detroit MI :)
Name a place that is so noisy, you can't hear yourself think!!!
Can you name a flower that can also be a person's name?
When someone's says to you "Sorry, I forgot" do you accept that as a fair excuse?
What's a pretty safe bet?
Can you name one thing that you would like to "bring back" from the "Good Old Days"?
When someone asks you a vague question like "How's life?" how would you answer?
How much wood is in a stack that is 4'Hx16'Lx16"W? Is this one face cord,two face cord, or a full cord?
What is a classic example of "Life's not fair!"?
What's a good sign that you've had too much to drink (mean to be humorous)?
Can anyone tell me a good comeback if someone says to you "So when are you ever going to get a boyfriend?" (Because I tried saying "When I want one" But they replied "So you think you can just get one whenever you want?" And I didn't have a comeback)
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Too Many Zooz
Balkan Bump
The curious thing about being a fan of brasshouse? You’re pretty much talking about being into one solitary but extremely unforgettable band: the amusingly monikered Too Many Zooz.The musical style was “branded” by drummer King of Sludge, who recognized that there was no worthy existing classification for the New York trio, whose other two members are the equally unclassifiable Leo P (saxophone) and Matt Doe (trumpet).
“Brasshouse is a high energy musical conversation,” Matt insists. “Though I honestly don’t think there is a good way to describe it in words. It’s about many different feelings and sounds and emotions.”
It’s exactly this indifference to convention and trend that has garnered Too Many Zooz a fanbase that KOS describes as “wide-ranging and fanatical.” One of those fans? In 2016, Beyonce asked them to perform with her at the Billboard Music Awards…and it’s quite possible they got just as much attention as did she.
Yet for all this, the forward plan for Too Many Zooz, is, as ever, constant touring. The reason is simple: it’s their outrageous, electrifying live performances that consistently continue to add the numbers to their growing worldwide legion of fans.
Balkan Bump is the newest project from trumpet player, producer and ethnomusicologist Will Magid.
Balkan Bump launched to an unexpecting audience in late 2017 with his debut track “Aymo” alongside superstar collaborators Gramatik and Talib Kweli. Finding an affinity based in his own Balkan roots, Gramatik has championed the new project; debuting Balkan Bump’s first live performance at Gramatik’s anticipated NYE show at Terminal 5; taking Balkan Bump’s live show on the road for the Spring 2018 Re:Coil tour; and releasing Balkan Bump’s debut EP via his Lowtemp label imprint.
Musically, Balkan Bump is a fusion of live instruments, world influences and lush electronic production. His debut EP flaunts experience as an instrumentalist and arranger, fusing energetic Balkan brass with heavy electronic production and hip-hop/trap influences. This thrilling blend of live brass and electronic production carries over to Balkan Bump’s live show, as he joined Gramatik to unveil his horn-infused live set to a North American audience in Spring 2018. The rest of 2018 continued Balkan Bump’s touring success, with multiple festival appearances, two appearances at the famed Red Rocks Amphitheatre, and tour dates alongside CloZee, Beats Antique and Russ Liquid.
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Shining Force Cross Raid Version A
Shining Force Cross Raid Version A (Sega) is available in Japan today. Main feature of this version is the new "Half Beast" men race: so far only female characters can be created. In response to demand from fans, Sega has added three models for "Half Beast": panda, lion and wolf. New quests, new monsters and new bosses were also added to satisfy advanced players: they will face waves of enemies of all kinds that have many varied attacks. Players can now go hunting for treasures with new events scattered all over the map: they compete to win treasure boxes. A "Treasure" ranking, based on quantity and value of treasures won, was added.
Terminator Salvation hits Belgium
Terminator Salvation finally arrived in Belgium! Despite the dozen new quality video games released in Europe each year, rare are those who reach Belgium. For nearly 10 years, local operators are not buying any new products, the reasons are vandalism and the "unwanted" public these machines attract. Despite this, it happens that some dare to stand out from the competition to offer variety to its customers (it's rare but it happens). This is the case of the mobile arcade named Jeux Américains which recently acquired a Terminator Salvation deluxe machine. This shooter game adapted from the motion picture of the same name puts you in the shoes of John Connor, leader of the human resistance, during the war against the machines of Skynet. The originality of the game is to press the clip to replenish ammunition which energizes the gameplay (a button on the side of the weapon is used to launch grenades). The cabinet features two M4A1 replicas and those are much needed here because a single shot in the head is not enough to kill a Terminator. If you want to try Terminator Salvation, Jeux Américains is currently located aside the Jambes railway station (Namur) and will stay there until June 15. You'll then find it on the funfairs of Tienen, Namur, Charleroi, Tournai and Liège (see the arcade website for its current location). This is the latest version of the game with the "expert mode" available. They also have Ghost Squad deluxe and timeless classic Sega Rally 2. It would be a shame to not visit this place. Check out our Terminator Salvation review.
Mushihimesama Cave Festival Version 1.5
To celebrate its online festival, Cave releases a limited edition of Mushihimesama ver1.5 (original version was released end 2006). Under-titled "Cave Matsuri" (Cave Festival), this edition allows player to choose to begin with maximum fire power (attention because enemies are harder). Futhermore, the soundtrack has been arranged by Riyuu Umemoto (Espgaluda II Black Label/Akai Katana). The game comes in a nicely designed cardboard box and with a B1 poster and costs JPY 180,000 (1,560 €). This sale is limited in time: it starts today and ends tomorrow, and orders can be placed between noon and 20 hours (Japanese time) on Cave online shop.
Dragon Ball Zenkai Battle Royale
Dragon Ball Zenkai Battle Royale was expected since the trailer broadcasting last November. The wait is finally over as Namco Bandai Games title is out today in Japanese arcades. This fighting game is playable up to four players over the network. Players choose from 10 balanced fighters (in normal mode or expert) but each with their own specific, other characters will be added with later updates. Currently available characters are: Son Goku, Krillin, Vegeta, Frieza, Piccolo, Android #16 Android #18, Trunks, Cell and Nappa. The outfits can be customized with items won and saved on BANA Passport (as well as titles won). Characters levels fits player level to make the matches more exciting. Different game modes are available: vs2, 1vs3, ... In a four players battle royale, two players can win the victory and keep playing. During games, players can use sen beans to recover from life and a team can resurrect one of its members under certain conditions but these actions will affect the classification to keep playing. Dragon Ball Zenkai Battle Royale uses five buttons, many special moves are available by making combinations and fighting are both at ground level and in the air. The stages are interactive and can be used to hide by example and develop interesting strategies.
BlazBlue Continuum Shift II is released in Europe
We already mentioned BlazBlue Continuum Shift II when it was released in Japan in December. If you hear about it again today, it's because this game is officially released in the rest of the world. The information is reported by Arcade Heroes: Taito has announced the global release of the game. Contact your Taito distributor to obtain this title. In Europe, it is Electrocoin in the UK. Speak directly to Taito if there is no distributor in your area. As a reminder, this new version of the popular 2D fighting game by Arc System Works includes new characters (Platinum the Trinity, Makoto Nanaya, Valkenhayn=R=Hellsing and µ -No. 12 -) for a total of 18 fighters. The balance has been completely revised. BlazBlue Continuum Shift II is distributed as "main board with hard disk drive" or as "hard disk drive only" for those who already own a Type X² system. It straightly plugs in all JVS cabinets and supports 4:3 and 16:9 monitors. A good way to recycle old Naomi Universal cabinets for example. BlazBlue Continuum Shift II is a great game for a fraction of the price of Super Street Fighter IV Arcade Edition.
Ace Attorney in Joypolis
A new attraction has just opened at Joypolis (Tokyo): Gyakuten Kenji in Joypolis (Ace Attorney Investigations in Joypolis). Sega has teamed up with Capcom to release this attraction based on the video game Ace Attorney Investigations, the spin-off of the original Ace Attorney series starring an Attorney instead of a lawyer and whose second episode is just out on DS. As in DS version, the player takes the role the main character: Attorney Mitsurugi Reiji (Miles Edgeworth in the English version / Benjamin Hunter in the French version). The player begins the adventure in the Attorney's Office, he moves inside the attraction to collect evidence and to discover the culprit of a crime. To achieve his goal, he can consult PCs with touch screens, listening to witnesses and suspects. He also gets a card to save gathered informations and his degree of progress. To get to investigation end, twenty minutes will be needed to apprentices Attorneys.
Insert Coin(s) Videolounge Gamebar
A new gaming place opened in Las Vegas (512 Fremont Street) recently. The particularity is that this time, it's not gambling but video games! Retro oriented, the INSERT COIN(S) Videolounge Gamebar offers forty fully restored original arcade machines: Space Invaders, Asteroids, Centipede, Missile Command, Defender, Donkey Kong, Frogger, Galaga, Ms. Pac-Man, Burger Time, Dig Dug, Joust, Moon Patrol, Pac-Man Plus, Tron, Dragon's Lair, Elevator Action, Star Wars, Tapper, Gauntlet, OutRun, 720°, Operation Wolf, Tetris, Golden Axe, The Simpsons, Street Fighter II' Hyper Fighting, Mortal Kombat II, Raiden II, Virtua Fighter 2, The House of the Dead, Rampage World Tour, NFL Blitz 2000, Street Fighter III 3rd Strike, Tekken Tag Tournament, Marvel vs. Capcom 2, Capcom vs. SNK 2, ... INSERT COIN(S) is a concept that goes beyond the simple arcade, you can also drink at the illuminated bar of 50 seats, shake it on the dance floor on the music and visuals of ScreenWerks Video DJs or simply sit comfortably in one of the couchs playing of the many consoles available (Colecovision, Atari 2600, NES, Mega Drive, Super NES, Dreamcast, Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3). Many events and competitions will be organized regularly. The place is open from 16:00 to 4:00 on weekdays and from noon to 4:00 on weekends (it closes at 6:00 on Friday and Saturday). Happy hour every day between 16:00 and 19:00. Admission is free but like any drinking establishment in Las Vegas, access is denied to persons aged under 21. That's what lacked in Vegas!
Senko no Ronde DUO ver 2.3 and Dragon Dance releases
Two titles are released today on NESiCAxLive (Taito). These games are Senko no Ronde DUO ver 2.3 (Senko no Ronde DUO was already out in December on NESiCA) and Dragon Dance. Senko no Ronde DUO is a shoot developped by G.rev. Dragon Dance is a solo mahjong developped by AlwaysNeats and published by Success. In both cases, home versions has been released before arcade versions: on Xbox 360 for Senko no Ronde DUO (version 2.2) and on DS and PSP for Dragon Dance.
Antwerp Sci-Fi, Fantasy and Horror Convention
The Antwerp Sci-Fi, Fantasy and Horror Convention will be held this Sunday. The program is heavy with more than 50 European sellers of figurines and collectibles, the presence of Star Wars associations Rebel Legion and Teekay-421, a cosplay contest organized by Cosplay Belgium, an inflatable laser shooting arena and face painting (Elanor). But there's more! Jan Bartels will exhibit original props from movies like Gremlins 2, Evil Dead, Jaws, Close Encounters of the Third Kind and The Shining. There will be music with an horrorific DJ set by Chris Verelst and a live performance by Eekhoorn-x. Many special guests will answer your questions and sign autographs: short films directors Jonas Govaerts and Robin Pront, writers Mel Hartman and Meta Thirza and illustrators Micha Hoeylaerts and Gerben den Heeten. Of course, if this event is mentioned here, it's because video games will be part of the show: PushStart will bring consoles and Carl Jacobs will come with arcade machines and pinball tables! The convention will be held at Antwerp Expo on Sunday 1st May. A preparty is scheduled at the Roma (Borgerhout) on Saturday with screenings of old horror movies. The atmosphere will be provided by Radio Modern DJs. Now you know what to do this weekend!
Stunfest XI - 7th Battles of Roahzon
Each year, Rennes (France) gathers video game fans during a weekend for a festival full of activities: tournaments, demonstrations, screenings, concerts, competitions, conferences, ... The 2011 edition will be held at the Halle Francis Querné from Friday 29 April to Sunday 1st May 2011. The Stunfest is famous for its tournaments attracting many foreign players: this year, Versus Dojo organizes the following tournaments: The King of Fighters XIII on Saturday and BlazBlue Continuum Shift II and Street Fighter III 3rd Strike on Sunday. Friday and Saturday, a Super Street Fighter IV Arcade Edition tournament will be held where the two winning teams will earn their qualification for the "European Masters Challenge – Road To Tougeki 2011 The Final Showdown" which will designate the European team which will travel to Japan to participate in Tougeki 2011. AH2R will manage the "Ichigeki 2011" Street Fighter Zero 3 solo tournament on Sunday. Note the presence this year of Japanese player RF who was part of the teams that have won the Guilty Gear XX Accent Core and Street Fighter IV tournaments at Tougeki 2010. For those who just want to play without competition in mind, dozens of Japanese arcade cabinets set on freeplay are available (with titles like BlazBlue Continuum Shift II, Super Street Fighter II X and Street Fighter Zero 3). Many activities are planned including the screening of "Pixel Kombat" (a documentary about versus fighting), concerts of Flying Penguins, Divag and Friends, Spintronic and Garage Sale as well as numerous discussions, conferences and quizzes. You can buy your tickets (5 € per day) and your registration in the various tournaments at the 3 Hit Combo online shop.
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L.A. Art Diary: The Final Entry
by Michael Anthony Farley on July 31, 2017
In his final L.A. Art Diary post, Michael Anthony Farley explains why he can’t live in Los Angeles, even though it seems like everyone else is these days.
L.A. Art Diary Week Four (Everyone Loves Eames, Erotic Art, and More)
In his fourth week in Los Angeles, Michael Anthony Farley discovers that there’s not enough to do on weekdays and way too much to do on weekends. Here’s how he spent the weekend. Everyone loves Ray and Charles Eames, and erotic art.
Catch up on Week One, Week Two (and Week Two, Part Two), and Week Three.
In “The Wig Museum,” Jim Shaw Inaugurates An Institution For The End Of The World
In the Marciano Art Foundation’s The Wig Museum, Jim Shaw combines theatrical sets, beauty culture, the suburban nightmare, apocalyptic imagery and more. It might feel like the end times, but it’s a promising start to a new institution.
L.A. Art Diary: Week Two, Part Two
by Michael Anthony Farley on July 7, 2017
Michael Anthony Farley continues his L.A. tour. Artist Megan Gordon shows him around Chinatown, a champagne bus strands him at the beach, and drag queens get patriotic.
L.A. Art Diary: Week Two, Part One
Michael Anthony Farley continues his exploration of Los Angeles and its art scene. His first week of adventures can be found here.
L.A. Art Diary: Week One
by Michael Anthony Farley on June 28, 2017
Michael Anthony Farley is exploring Los Angeles (sans car) and will be reporting back on the art scene weekly.
Monday Links: If Trump Were a Woman
Maria Guadalupe, an associate professor of political science, teamed up with Joe Salvatore, a theater professor who specializes in “ethnodrama” to examine gender bias in the 2016 election. For a piece of experimental theater, Her Opponent, they recast Hillary Clinton as a man and Donald Trump as a woman. It turns out audiences actually liked Trump as a brash woman and couldn’t stand a male version of Clinton, contrary to the expectations of the researchers. [New York Magazine]
This is so smart. Rather than demolish an aging midcentury modernist housing block on the outskirts of Amsterdam, NL Architects and XVW Architectuur came up with an award-winning proposal for the building. They restored the shell of the building and fixed circulation issues, and then sold individual apartments (which could be combined to make larger units) as affordable stripped-down shells that new owners could take on as DIY projects to renovate as starter homes based on their own liking and budget. This seems like a much more logical solution to the issue of aging affordable housing than the American approach—which was to implode hundreds of thousand of units of high rise housing and then hand the land over to developers. [Dezeen]
Elmgreen & Dragset caused a minor panic in Krefeld, Germany when their new exhibition suggested the town’s Mies van der Rohe Haus Lange had been sold to private owners. In reality, they’ve restaged the iconic villa as the home of a fictional family returning to Germany from the UK following Brexit. [artnet News]
This seems like a better business model than most young galleries have: L.A.’s ShowGrow is a combination marijuana dispensary and art gallery. [Los Angeles Times]
From a show about environmental damage at the Norton Museum of Art to a show about the US-Mexican border at L.A.’s Craft & Folk Art Museum, cultural institutions across the country are getting political this year. [The New York Times]
Turkish painter Zehra Doğan is being jailed over a painting. The painting is based off a photo of the town Nusaybin in ruins after a battle between Turkish security forces and Kurdish separatists. She’s being charged with producing terrorist propaganda. This is absurd. [Fair Press]
Thank you Jillian Steinhauer, for doing the one piece of reporting/criticism on the “Fearless Girl” Wall Street statue that is more than a Clickhole headline like “Wow!” or “Inspiring: Fake Girl in front of Fake Bull.” [Hyperallergic]
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Australian Printer Magazine : April 2013
IN one of the frst signs that the fow of marketing dollars from print to digital may be slowing the AMI (Australian Marketing Institute) reports there is a decline in growth in marketers looking to increase their online digital spend. However, it is still a growing number, with those looking to increase social networking and web 2.0 spend up by 66 per cent, those who will increase online advertising up by 56 per cent, mobile and SMS up by 30 per cent. Digital PR will see an extra 34 per cent, direct marketing online will beupby38percentand viral marketing spend will rise by 23 per cent. The fgures show a drop of around 10 per cent on average over previous years, but still represent an increase in spend that printers can only dream about. The spend on digital media will increase by one per cent.to $33bn, with medium sized companies, those with a turnover of less than $150m upping their spend while the $150m plus business will be decreasing their spend. Digital ad growth slowing down ONE of the country’s more remote printers, Queensland’s Lotsa Printing, expects further growth and an increase in demand with the purchase of a new Fuji Xerox iGen4 digital press for its Port Douglas site. Increased demand, the new economically focused LNP government, and the demise of Geon with its ultra low prices are all cited as reasons for the investment. Peter Martin, owner of Lotsa Printing, told Australian Printer, “We have used digital and offset for more than 15 years. In the digital, we have always had a Xerox production machine, starting with the 4040 Docucolour in 1998. Xerox has always had great production machines and the iGen4 continues this trend with this press.” Martin says, “We are in a remote location and service is a critical aspect for us, Xerox has a dedicated technician in the area to service these machines.” And Lotsa is not just banking on the printer itself to generate work. He says that since the collapse of Geon and the closure of its sites in Queensland, including those in Townsville and Cairns, he expects the whole Australian market to beneft and not just Queensland. He says, “The main beneft is the end of unsustainable prices Geon established in the market place. They were always the cheapest and by substantial amounts, even on smallish jobs of a couple of thousand dollars. Clearly the fact they have gone broke is a result of not generating enough from their print activities due to those insanely low prices.” Martin says the iGen4 will give his business the ability to produce 660mm long sheets and will provide a signifcant increase in Lotsa Printing’s production capacity. He says, “Previously, we were only able to print six-page A4 brochures, A4 landscape books and presentation folders on offset equipment, meaning that small volumes have not been economical to produce. The iGen4 will now allow us to print and produce at a higher capacity. “The extra sizes are the major benefts of the iGen4. The bigger sheet also increases throughput in less time. In addition, the new matt toners and enhanced colour control produce a superior product to previous machines.” Martin adds that the iGen4 will continue to produce what the previous iGen3 did whilst adding new products. He says, “Digital printing is 21 per cent of sales and is growing moderately. The range of products we print is the full spectrum of print, from cards to posters, brochures, menus and point of sale items. “These days a client will request a product and the quantity determines whether it is offset or digital. They typically do not worry about the method of production as long as it meets their expectations for quality which digital presses of recent years achieve. “The iGen4 makes this even more acceptable. The reality is many clients cannot pick the method of production between offset and digital and the iGen4 means that even experienced professionals struggle to pick a difference.” Lotsa Printing was established in 1995 as a purely digital printer but has since expanded the range of equipment to produce a full spectrum of printed material for the commercial sector. The company now has four locations across Queensland (Townsville, Cairns, Atherton and the production hub in Port Douglas) and these days services markets as far afeld as regional Queensland, Papua New Guinea, and even Melbourne. Martin says the new economically focused LNP government was a big factor in his decision to invest in new machinery. Brought to you by Lotsa puts in new iGen4 Far North: Queensland printer Lotsa puts in new iGen4 in its Port Douglas production hub 100% Certified Renewable Energy Sustainable Forestry Initiative Environmentally Aware 10% Recycled www.longbottom.com.au www.longbottom.com.au Sydney: 02 9709 3299 its the real McCoy its the real McCoy The ULTIMATE SUSTAINABLE DIGITAL PAPER for your Digital Toner & HP Indigo Presses Available in Gloss & Silk
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Albion Rovers Football Club recognizes the special bond between the Club and its supporters. It recognizes and respects the contribution Supporters make to the existence of the Club. The Football Club makes every effort to ensure that it’s policies and practices are open, accessible and communicated as effectively and widely as possible.
The Club will conduct an annual review of this charter and associated activities and make changes as appropriate in line with guidance from relevant governing bodies.
Documentary evidence of this will be included in the Club’s audit submission.
1. Accessibility
2. Away Support
3. Loyalty and Membership
4. Consultation and Information
5. Community Activity
6. Merchandise
7. Staff Conduct
8. Customer Service
1) ACCESSIBILITY
The Club continues to strive for wider access to matches by offering:
• Reasonably priced Season Tickets allowing entry to all SPFL League matches.
• Season tickets, which recognise the following supporter categories – adult, pensioners, youths (12-16) and children under 12 years.
• Reasonable admission prices (agreed in conjunction with our opponents) for entry to Cup competition matches under the auspices of the SPFL and SFA.
• Free admission for less able supporters careers. Special needs are met by contacting the Stadium on 01236 606334 on or before match days.
• Free or reduced admission to replays of abandoned matches. If a match is abandoned after spectators are admitted to the ground, but prior to kick off, spectators are entitled to free admission to the re-arranged or a full refund. Vouchers will be issued for this purpose. If a match is abandoned after kick off, spectators are entitled to reduced admissions to the re-arranged match or a partial refund. Vouchers will be issued for this purpose.
2) AWAY SUPPORT
The Club does not charge admissions prices to visiting supporters which are different to those charged to home supporters. Concessionary rates offered to senior citizens and junior supporters apply equally to visiting supporters.
The Club complies with SPFL and SFA rules governing the allocation of tickets to visiting Clubs.
3) CONSULTATION AND INFORMATION
The Club consults supporters on a regular basis via quarterly meetings with the Albion Rovers Supporters Trust, Club Website (www.albionroversfc.com) and Match Programme. The Club also actively promotes on social networking sites such as Twitter and Facebook.
The Club publicises its position on major policy issues in concise format in the Match Programme, Club Website, Social Media and press releases as appropriate.
The Club undertakes research on the design and number of new strips.• The Club will not knowingly buy goods from any manufacturer who does not comply with the labour, safety and other relevant law the country has with respect to minimum wage, hours of work, overtime, sick pay and holiday entitlement.
ALBION ROVERS FOOTBALL CLUB SUPPORTERS CHARTER (CONT.)
4) COMMUNITY ACTIVITY
The Club supports appropriate activities both in the local community and the wider football community.
The Club seeks to promote close links with the local community and to introduce young people to football as players and spectators.
The Club supports and works with outside agencies, especially disadvantaged groups such as disabled, ethnic minority and the unemployed.
The Club supports and promotes the “Show Racism the Red Card” Programme
The Club supports charitable events in the local community and schools and makes regular donations to fund raising events throughout the community.
5) MERCHANDISE
The Club offers a range of branded goods to supporters and aims to ensure that these represent good value for money. These are available from the Stadium Shop and also online.
The Club carried out its obligations to prevent price fixing in regulation to branded goods.
The Club offers refunds on merchandise in accordance with its legal obligations.
6) STAFF CONDUCT
It is Club policy that there should be equal opportunity for all. This policy applies to external recruitment, internal appointment, terms of employment, conditions of service and opportunity for training and promotion, regardless of sex, marital status, creed, colour, race, age, disability, sexual orientation or ethnic or national origin. The policy applies equally to our customers, clients and suppliers.
7) CUSTOMER SERVICE
The Club:
• Strives to provide value for money in all aspects of its activities.
• Seeks to achieve the highest possible level of service.
• Treats all customers with respect and courtesy.
• Guarantees a prompt response to any contact from a customer.
Albion Rovers Football Club prefers any complaints to be made in writing by e-mail, fax or letter and it will be responded to accordingly. In the first instance customers are encouraged to contact the Administration Office who will ensure that a letter acknowledging a complaint will be sent within 3 working days and will endeavour to provide a full response within 10 working days.
ISSUED BY: Terry Gillooly
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Danilovskiy Monastery
MOSCOW / Culture / Sights
The Moscow Kremlin
The Kremlin Towers
In 17-th century the Kremlin was finally formed as the tsar residence. Almost all Kremlin towers got their beautiful hipped roof completion in the middle of the century. Each of the Kremlin towers has its own name.
This is the main Kremlin square. The Cathedral Square (Sobornaya Ploschad) has already been in 1326. It is surrounded by three cathedrals: the Assumption, the Annunciation and Archangel cathedrals. The actual Cathedral Square was built at the end of the 15-th century under the Moscow Grand Prince Ivan III.
Ivan the Great Bell-Tower
There was not large Ivanov Bell-Tower in the centre of the Kremlin at the beginning of the 14-th century under the Grand Prince Ivan the Moneybag. In due course it was in a bad state of disrepair and on the order of the Prince Ivan III a stone bell-tower was errected at the same place.
State Armoury
Here you will find works of art connected with the history of the Russian state and the development of its artistic culture. The museum building was erected in 1844 from a design by the architect Konstantin Thon, in whose work buildings of the so-called "Russian style" played a particularly important part.
Hall of Facets in the Kremlin
Main events of Moscow Russia took place in the Kremlin Hall of Facets. It was the gala throne-room for Russia Tsars. It was the largest and the highest room in Old Moscow (its square is five hundred square metres and the height is nine metres)
The Terem Palace in the Kremlin
After the conflagration in 1635, Russian master builders Bazhen Ogurtsov, Antip Konstantinov, Trefil Sharutin and Larlon Ushakov built new brick chambers for the tzar on to the parts of the older wooden palace erected by the architect Alevisio Fryazin in 1499-1508.
Tsar Bell and Tsar Cannon
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Humpback whales share seasonal “hit songs”
Bioacoustics, Ocean, Science Add comments
A ten-year study in the western Pacific has documented the ways that new humpback whale songs move through several distinct populations over the course of a breeding season. “Our findings reveal cultural change on a vast scale,” said Ellen Garland, a graduate student at The University of Queensland. Multiple songs moved like “cultural ripples from one population to another, causing all males to change their song to a new version.” This is the first time that such broad-scale and population-wide cultural exchange has been documented in any species other than humans, she added. (Ed. note: researchers have also suggested that cultural patterns are passed among sperm whale populations)
Once a new song emerges, all the males seem to rapidly change their tune. Those songs generally rise to the “top of the chart” in the course of one breeding season and typically take over by the end of it. “We think this male quest for song novelty is in the hope of being that little bit different and perhaps more attractive to the opposite sex,” she said. “This is then countered by the urge to sing the same tune, by the need to conform.”
More, including whale song audio, here.
Related story: Acoustic recorders reveal new humpback breeding areas in central Pacific.
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Island-hopping in Indonesia
Down under (Part 2)
We couldn’t quite picture being in Australia, since none of us had ever been this far away from home, but we knew we’d be glad to be back in “western culture”.
Asia’s nice- really nice, but we’ve just had it with the rain and the noise and the crowds and the difficulties looking for food.
Financially, traveling Australia seemed to be a luxury, but we found something in Adelaide for 30 AUD a night on Airbnb.
It was a trailer, but a fancy one. Old, yes, but with fridge, TV and even aircon.
The latter was much needed, as was soon proved when the sun threatened to cook us in our little metal home.
We spent the four days in Adelaide exploring the neighborhood- despite the heat. It wasn’t that bad anyway. We’d expected temperatures to climb up to 40 degrees, and our host said it was like this until we arrived, but during our stay, it never got hotter than approximately 35 degrees.
Our neighborhood was nice, suburban with friendly neighbors and no noise at all.
We strolled to Westlakes, through a seemingly endless jungle of cute suburban houses, all the way to Semaphore Beach.
Despite the sun, the cool wind made us shiver and we didn’t feel like swimming.
We’d booked a mini campervan from Wicked Campers, which we went to pick up on our last day in Adelaide.
It was smaller than expected and we couldn’t believe it at first, when they showed us where we were going to sleep the next couple of weeks.
The company rents mostly to young people and they design their cars and vans in cool ways, with flowers and peace signs and such. Ours, however, had a slogan on one of the doors that even we felt was a bit too much.
It was a bit embarrassing to have to drive around with it, but soon enough, we’d left Adelaide behind dived into Australia’s wilderness.
We had originally planned to visit the Outback, but this turned out to be too expensive, so we’d adjusted our route from Adelaide to Sydney.
Our first stop after an afternoon in the car was Salt Creek.
Thanks to the useful apps ‘WikiCamps’ and ‘WickedCampers’, we saw which campsites were nearby. There was a free campsite but comments of visitors said the road was really bad, so we chose a campsite for 18AUD / night.
Thanks to Africa, we know that small two-wheelers can do wonders, but this time, we wanted to be safe.
After setting up our bed and eating dinner, we went for a stroll through the bushland and along the river.
The sun was just setting and we met a couple of kangaroos.
It was nice to finally see a live one, since we’d encountered about ten dead ones on the road.
The car was a bit tight and the mattress a bit hard, but we got a good enough night’s sleep to explore the area further the next morning.
Salt Creek’s got its name for a reason, since there are big dried up salt lakes everywhere.
We also walked up to the dunes, but walking through hot sand while the sun was boiling our brains was too exhausting, so we gave up halfway to the beach and went back to our car instead.
That was smarter anyway, since we had a long drive ahead of us.
Cape Dombey
We weren’t sure what to visit on our trip.
René had set a couple of marks on Google maps and one of them was an Obelisk, which is a popular spot for tourists to take pictures, so we didn’t want to miss it either.
It was windy as hell and more interesting than the Obelisk, was the intense turquoise and deep blue color of the sea!
In Mount Gambier, we found a nice campsite with clean showers and a kitchen.
When we got ready for bed though, we discovered an unwanted passenger on the roof of our car…
it was a big spider and even though we love spiders, we were a bit scared since in Australia, you never know what wild things might kill you… René chased the spider away and we felt a bit sorry for her, because she looked like a young one and she didn’t know her new surroundings after sitting on our car for hours.
We later googled ‘Australian spiders’ and found out that it was a huntsman spider, which is a harmless kind.
The next morning, we went to visit the Umpherston Sinkhole.
It’s very impressive to see how our earth looks from the inside and the sinkhole had been transformed into a botanical gardens.
We didn’t see any possums though.
After the sinkhole, we drove to Mt. Gambier’s Blue Lake.
This one’s way bluer than the one in Switzerland though and it’s got its color from natural chemicals.
The lake changes every year in November from gray to bright blue- practically overnight, and then back to gray in March.
Ewens Ponds
You can’t swim in the Blue Lake, but luckily, the Ewens Ponds were on our way.
Placed in the middle of fields, surrounded by reeds, the ponds look like an entrance into another world.
The water is cold- probably about 12 degrees when we went there, and it’s crystal clear.
The ponds are quite deep as well and you can snorkel and even scuba dive there.
A tourist had warned us about the water temperature and suggested, we’d bring a wetsuit, but we had no idea where to get one and so we ended up snorkeling in our regular bathing suit.
And we must say, this is undoubtedly one of the biggest highlights of our entire trip!
Bright green, lush water plants stretched out underneath us, while the sunrays that broke through the water painted wonderful patterns on the stony ground.
The water is so clear that it actually reflects upside down :)
There’s three ponds in total and you can swim from one to the next through a narrow passage through the reed and by the time we reached the last one, René was shaking like a leaf and had to get out of the water.
Cobboboonee Nationalpark
One of the free campsites, which Australia has to offer, lies in the middle of a forest, in a national park… and we were its only guests…
A couple of walking trails lead through the woods and when we strolled around, we encountered some shy kangaroos, who jumped away as soon as they saw us.
Later though, we were preparing dinner and a kangaroo and a wallaby (who we mistook for a baby kangaroo at first) decided to pay us a visit, looking for food.
Sleeping in a forest, all alone in Australia’s wilderness, is a bit creepy, but it was also incredibly cool.
After the peaceful and quiet national park, we reached different terrain:
The Great Ocean Road- one of the most popular things for tourists in Australia.
A local had even warned us not to go, but the Great Ocean Road has so much to offer, we would have been fools if we’d skipped it.
Yes, there are lots of tourists. But there are also absolutely incredible and breathtaking sights that we’d never want to miss.
Cliffs, that look like someone had smoothened them with a file, stretch on almost endlessly. It was a kind of a ‘hop on- hop off’ tour, only in our own car and on our own terms.
Kennett River
Through the magnificent Great Otway forest, flanked by prehistoric looking fern trees, the Great Ocean Road led us farther through Australia’s wonders.
There were still many tourists around when we arrived in the Kennett River national park.
This is one of the places where you should have a 90% chance of seeing Koalas!
And we did…
It was a perfect birthday gift for Nici!
Big Hill Campsite
Another free campsite, but this time a crowded on.
We were lucky and got the last official free spot, but even hours after us, people kept arriving and they just put their campers wherever they found an empty spot.
Despite the amount of people, it was very peaceful.
We are amazed by how civilized travelers in Australia are. Apart from being incredibly polite and friendly, they also clean up after themselves and make sure to recycle. Plus, everybody talked in low voices, as to not disturb the wildlife and the other guests.
Due to that, we passed a very peaceful evening with birds, trees and luckily, no phone reception.
Sleeping in our car surrounded by nature had definitely made us more sensitive… and that hit us when we reached Melbourne.
We had planned to spend about three days here sightseeing… and we ended up skipping it altogether.
Two affordable campsites, we checked out, were full and after that, we were so stressed out and annoyed by the traffic, the noise and the crowds, that we literally fled the city.
Only when we were 150 kilometers away from Melbourne, did we stop to look for a campsite.
Well, sorry Melbourne… maybe some other time.
Nussi
New Zealand (North Island) 13/05/2018
New Zealand (South Island) 18/04/2018
Down under (Part 2) 09/04/2018
Island-hopping in Indonesia 04/02/2018
It’s all about the liquids (Vietnam) 07/01/2018
Trying to follow the sun 19/12/2017
Welcome (home) to Koh Tao 12/12/2017
From Westcoast to Eastcoast 21/11/2017
2,5 weeks in Unawatuna 06/11/2017
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Can a serious Democrat please run for president?
Damon Linker
Illustrated | SAUL LOEB/AFP/Getty Images, BNMK0819/iStock, str33tcat/iStock
I love those "Any Functioning Adult 2020" bumper stickers as much as any upper-middle-class suburban white liberal. But if I'm honest, it isn't really true. I will never vote for Donald Trump, but that doesn't mean I'll cast a ballot for any Democrat with a pulse. I would vote for no one rather than contribute to the victory of a candidate who fails to show minimal competence and capacity for responsible leadership.
Judged by that standard, the Democratic field isn't looking very good right now. Yes, it's early. There's plenty of time to mollify my concerns. But at the moment, none of the leading candidates seem like serious contenders.
This isn't just about me and my quirky obsessions. There's no make-or-break list of centrist policies I expect presidential nominees to embrace and advocate in order to win my support. I just want to see evidence that the person acts and speaks like a potential president. (Yes, of course, Trump failed that elementary test in 2016, and he continues to fail it nearly every day. But that doesn't mean those seeking to replace him get to play by new, vastly lower standards.)
Let's begin with Sen. Kamala Harris, who received a lot of attention for her debate performance on June 27. As an act of political theatrics, her confrontation with former Vice President Joe Biden over the latter's opposition to federally mandated busing of students to desegregate school districts during the 1970s was the undisputed highlight of the opening two-night Democratic debate. It was a gripping performance.
But it was also absurd. Is anyone — including Harris herself — in favor of reviving busing as a federal policy? Is there any evidence that such a policy is less polarizing in 2019 than it was in the mid-1970s, when it helped to conjure out of thin air that historically decisive electoral demographic known as the Reagan Democrat? The answer to both questions is no. Most astonishingly, we know that Harris isn't proposing to revive federally mandated busing because she's since clarified that her own position on the issue is … the same as Biden's (allowing local communities to use busing for desegregation while opposing a federal requirement that they do so).
But then why on Earth did she pick a fight with Biden over the issue? The most likely answer is that she suspected, rightly, that doing so would make the 70-something white male frontrunner squirm, appear defensive, and stumble around on the debate stage. In that she was correct: Mission accomplished. But what about the Republican attack ads that can now be crafted using her own words to make it sound like she favors federally mandated busing? Those ads will nicely compliment the other attack ads that will use Harris' own hand gesture on the debate stage to show that she favors abolishing private health insurance for tens of millions of Americans (which is broadly unpopular). The fact that on this, too, Harris has flip-flopped looks ridiculous — not least because she went through precisely the same flip-flop six months ago.
This is bad.
But so is Biden's own prevarication — not on busing per se, but on his wistful comments about the bygone days of his own deal-making with segregationist senators. Instead of clarifying his meaning — explaining that his point was that grandstanding displays of moral purity are less important than getting the people's business done in the nation's capital, that this happened more frequently in the past, and that he's well positioned to revive the best of the old ways — he let himself be battered in the press for two weeks and then backtracked and apologized. Just as he did a few weeks before that with his four-decade-long support for restrictions on federal funding for abortions (the Hyde Amendment). At this rate, Biden will have repudiated and apologized for his entire career by Christmas.
The problems afflicting Sens. Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders are different. Some of their ideas are very smart, and no one doubts what they believe in or where they come down on controversial questions of policy. Yet both candidates display a very old defect of the left: an unwillingness to acknowledge limits or constraints of any kind. Warren, in particular, has received a lot of justified praise for her multitude of plans, and I admire some of them. But she makes no effort at all to prioritize them, to rank them in order of importance. She wants to impose a (constitutionally questionable) wealth tax, but will the revenues it raises pay for free college and debt relief for student loans or universal child care? And what about the cost of Medicare-for-all? And her ambitious climate plan? And her "economic patriotism" agenda? And many other ideas — plans that, all told, would cost tens of trillions of dollars to implement?
Each idea on its own is ambitious, impressive, stirring — and expensive. But all together it looks like the policy agenda of a fairy tale America with infinite resources and revenue — or else a laundry list that would bankrupt the country. Either way, that list will make for a very effective GOP argument in favor of keeping the Republicans in control of the Senate to assure that not even one of the items gets enacted in the event of a Democratic win against Donald Trump.
Then there's the leftward lurch on immigration that has everyone from South Bend mayor Pete Buttigieg to former Texas congressman Beto O'Rourke and Sen. Cory Booker of New Jersey repudiating the positions of the last two Democratic presidents and embracing policies that sound an awful lot like the open-borders position the Trump campaign is dying to pin on the party. And the gratuitous expressions of wokeness that, like Julián Castro's nonsensical vow to protect abortion rights for "transgender women," seem designed to placate only a tiny number of Twitter-based radical activists.
None of it is the behavior of serious contenders for the presidency.
More Perspectives
Joel Mathis
Trumpism is built on racism
Conor Lynch
The Democratic foreign policy reckoning
More from Damon Linker
Liberals' astonishingly radical shift on gender
The distressing normality of Jeffrey Epstein's depravity
This Independence Day, celebrate freedom from politics
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Home / Al-Nahda / To Nobody’s Surprise, Sanctions on Eritrea Renewed
To Nobody’s Surprise, Sanctions on Eritrea Renewed
Salyounis November 18, 2017 Al-Nahda, All 74 Comments
(1) The Security Council voted to extend the mandate of the Monitoring Group on Somalia and Eritrea (SEMG) and to continue the sanctions on Eritrea for another year.
(2) The vote was 11 in favor, 4 abstentions and 0 against. The abstentions were Russia, China, Bolivia and Egypt.
(3) This means that in addition to the US, UK and Ethiopia, Italy, Japan, Kazakhstan, Senegal, Sweden, Ukraine, Uruguay voted for sanctions.
(4) This also means that the “diplomatic offensive” of the Eritrean regime into Kazakhstan, following Senegal into the Saudi camp, not to mention Eritrean ambassador to Japan’s (Ambassador Estifanos’s) prolific use of Twitter condemning Haji Mussa to a life sentence in solitary confinement when he should have been focusing his attention on Japan appeared to have borne no fruit. Also surprisingly, the insults the Eritrean regime pours on Italy, Sweden, UK and US, not to mention its instant recognition of Russia’s illegal annexation of Ukraine (Crimea), did not appear to have positively influenced the UNSC members. Weird.
(5) This is similar to the votes taken in 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, and 2016 so claims of Eritrea’s climb out of isolation are vastly overstated. But necessary propaganda to keep the restless mob in check. It is a psychological necessity to declare that, in all matters, victory is always just around the corner, if we just do exactly what we have been doing. Nkhid Tray: Andiamo!
(6) Since the original (2009) sanctions were primarily driven by two issues–Eritrea’s support for Al-Shabab and its failure to acknowledge its dispute with Djibouti–an argument has been made that since (a) there is no evidence that Eritrea supports Al-Shabab and (b) Eritrea has acknowledged its dispute with Djibouti, then, surely, the basis for the sanctions no longer exist and they must be lifted. Even Newsweek (yeah it is still around) made this argument. Nothing good can come out of an article that cites Ambassador Herman Cohen as an authority: a man who was seriously arguing for Ethiopia to make the push for lifting the sanctions.
(7) This argument is flawed for the following reasons:
7.1 SEMG’s conclusion that there is no evidence that Eritrea is supporting Al-Shabab in the last four years says nothing over whether Eritrea did the previous five years;
7.2 This is relevant because If the Eritrean regime stopped supporting Al-Shabab after the sanctions were imposed, then this tends to argue that the sanctions were effective in moderating the regime’s behavior. Media-wise, it certainly was giving moral and political support for five years (including for two years following the sanctions) and now its head of state is no longer preaching about the moral imperative of supporting all Somali “resistance” (explicitly including Al-Shabab); he has now lined up behind a government he mocked relentlessly. Halengi (the whip of) UN is strong, apparently.
7.3 More importantly, the mandate of the SEMG is not just to monitor whether Eritrea is supporting Al-Shabab and making progress in its dispute with Djibouti. To claim so is to fool oneself by selective reading of Resolution 1907 (2009) and Resolution 2023 (2011) The mandate is:
7.3.1monitoring Eritrea’s support for Al-Shabab
7.3.2 monitoring Eritrea’s progress in its dispute with Djibouti
7.3.3 monitoring Eritrea’s co-operation with SEMG
7.3.4 monitoring Eritrea’s support for regional (Ethiopia, Djibouti) armed opposition groups by hosting, training and providing them materiel
7.3.5 monitoring Eritrea’s role in being a base, a transit hub for arms or whether it is importing or exporting them
7.3.6 monitoring to see how transparent Eritrea is with its mining revenues;
(8) The opening statement of the SEMG report does not begin with “for the fifth consecutive mandate, the Monitoring Group on Somalia and Eritrea found no evidence that Eritrea is supporting Al-Shabab.” It begins with “for the fifth consecutive mandate, the Monitoring Group on Somalia and Eritrea was not permitted to visit Eritrea to meet with representatives of the Government or conduct investigations.”
(9) With respect to Al-Shabab, the report says that the Monitoring Group “has, for its fourth consecutive mandate, not found conclusive evidence of support provided by Eritrea to AlShabab.”
(10) As for the rest of the SEMG’s mandate,
10.1 The dispute with Djibouti is in some limbo with the Eritrean regime having told the AU fact-finding mission that it will get back to it after it checks the president’s very busy calendar. You know how he is always traveling all over the world, the world defined as distance between Asmara and Adi Halo.
10.2 Despite all the lies the Eritrea government told its supporters that Qatar only withdrew from the Djibouti side but not the Eritrea side of the border (how can Eritrea not know if Qatar had withdrawn or not from its own territories?), Qatar, which was part of the disinformation campaign for two months, fessed up to the SEMG, via an August 22 letter from its ambassador to the UN, that the country withdrew its troops from the whole region (Eritrea and Djibouti) on the same day (June 13, 2017.)
10.3 For two whole months (June 13 – August 22), Qatar and the Gov of Eritrea were lying to the people of Eritrea that Qatar had only withdrawn from the Djibouti side of the border. This made no sense to anyone who understood Qatar’s anger at Djibouti and Eritrea for taking sides with the Saudi alliance, and Qatar being triangulated by UAE forces in Asab and Yemen and would have been a sitting duck in the nowhere land of the Djibouti/Eritrea border. But the supporters of the Eritrean government–bless their hearts– have never been encouraged to develop their ability to think critically but to parrot sheepishly. That is how “nationalism” is defined in that corner.
10.4 The Eritrean regime is supporting every armed Ethiopian alphabet soup in Eritrea. These include Patriotic Ginbot 7 (PG7), Front for the Restoration of Unity and Democracy (FRUD), Benishangul People’s Liberation Movement (BPLM) and Tigray People’s Democratic movement (TPDM).
10.5 SEMG found that Eritrea was violating the sanctions by “providing Eritrean territory for training….availing of Eritrean territory for the launching of attacks on Djibouti and Ethiopia…supplying weapons and ammunition and other military materiel…permitting weapons and ammunition to move in and out of Eritrea.”
10.6 Of the four Ethiopian armed groups, SEMG found that the Eritrean regime is spending a lot of its energy to prevent TPDM (their four units) and BPLM (all of their 90 fighters) from disbanding or defecting, specially after their chiefs (Molla Asghedom and Abdulwahab Mahdi Issa respectively) defected back to Ethiopia.
10.7 With respect to TPDM, here’s a perfect example of how the regime of Eritrea squanders Eritreans lives:
” …another TPDM officer, Solomon Tesfay, also known as Akabi Zela, attempted to escape from Eritrea. When caught by the Eritrean military, Solomon killed six Eritrean soldiers before committing suicide. Three of the four TPDM units were subsequently disarmed again and sent to an area near Fanko in the Gash Barka region, while the fourth unit remained at a camp a short distance west of the town of Haykota, on the road between Barentu and Teseney.”
So notwithstanding the sanctions, the Eritrean regime’s brilliant strategy to bring the Ethiopian regime to its knees is to arm its opposition, train them, then when they are disgruntled and want to go back to Ethiopia, to shoot at them and then let them shoot back at our own soldiers using the weapons we gave them. It also includes squandering Eritrea’s treasury by providing a monthly stipend of $12,500 USD (190,000 Nakfa) to the impressive Ethiopian guerrilla group Ginbot 7, which has gained great acclaim across Africa for its military prowess.
10.8 Eritrea’s providing of a base to the United Arab Emirates (despite frequent screeches by the Eritrean regime that it would never, ever, ever allow any foreign power to have a base in Eritrea) was also considered a violation of the terms of the sanctions. Given the war crimes the Saudis and their allies are committing in Yemen, this is a very misguided policy that tarnishes Eritrea’s history as it is being done, very transparently, for one reason only: money. A clear-eyed view of the antagonists would show that the Yemeni Houthi rebels are the equivalent of Eritrea’s liberation fighters but money blinds politicians. A policy of neutrality would have served Eritrea very well, but a government like Eritrea’s which had isolated itself from everyone welcomes the first rich country waving cash.
(11) For three years (2006-2009), the Eritrean regime was warned that its foolish adventure in Somalia would result in sanctions. For three years, it ignored the warnings. Thus, when the sanctions came, it was no surprise to anyone (except the Isaiasists) and that’s why resolution 1907 (2009) was supported by Russia and China as well.
(12) After Isaias Afwerki foolishly trapped Eritrea into sanctions, when he should have known that once sanctioned, countries find it very hard to get out of sanctions, he continued his foolishness, for a while, until his closed system (epistemic closure) told him that if he stops shooting his mouth off about Somalia and tell his media to cool it about what great “resistance fighters and stakeholders” Al-Shabab are (after their bombing of civilians in Kenya and Uganda!), then the sanctions would be lifted.
(13) He and his advisors forget that unlike the Special Rapporteur (Sheila Keetharuth) whose report that its been denied access to Eritrea is reported to the Human Rights Council, the SEMG’s report that it has been denied access to Eritrea is reported to the Sanctions Committee, which is part of the Security Council.
(14) The Eritrean regime cannot give unrestricted access to the SEMG, and the SEMG will not settle for the Universal Studios Guided Tour that the Eritrean regime is fond of (Come And See! Hospitals! Schools! Solar Lamps!) and thus the stalemate. The SEMG will never agree to a guided tour, and the Eritrean government will never allow SEMG to take all its satellite photos and visit all the military camps and interview all the colonels who know too much.
(15) Therefore–and I have to say this to my Eritrean compatriots who, every year, are lied to and told that the sanctions are about to be lifted–the sanctions will not be lifted. Unless there is some “game-changer” like 9/11. These could be:
15.1 American and British nationals held hostage by, say, Ginbot 7 and TPDM; the Americans and Brits are then freed heroically by elite commando forces of Eritrea’s Defense Forces and Ginbot 7 and TPDM are killed in the shootout when they are shot in the back (no witnesses)
15.2 Total government collapse in Ethiopia (where the Eritrean government and its supporters continue to make dire predictions of its imminent demise since 2005 and have been right for 12 out of the last 0 collapses) and/or Sudan which necessitates holding your nose and striking a deal with the Eritrean regime;
15.3 Some Black Flag operation.
15.4 Wait for a miracle
16. Until then, be prepared to read the same SEMG reports with only the first paragraph changing from “for the sixth consecutive mandate…” and “for the seventh consecutive mandate…”
Previous One More Nonagenarian Star
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How so (my attitude)?
I am not going all YG on you but, please I don’t buy all the propaganda that comes out from EPLF / PFDJ. For example you said “to get rid off Eritreans from their homelands in order to make space for Amhara”. This is utter non sense. The only place the Amhara occupied in Eritrea was
1) Public services jobs
2) Millitary related jobs
3) and some Amharic teaching jobs.
What is wrong with african leaders? The love for power by african dictators is till death do them part, and robert mugabe is refusing to resign at 93, and even when his party, the people of zim, and the whole world are tell him to go away. He is not aware that he is exposing the country to chaos. He is to face impeachment, instead of resigning with some level of respect. Fortunately, it looks like the country is united against him.
This is just a hypotetical answer: Because the whole lifestyle in Africa is based on entitlememt–rather than on competition.
It’s the psychology of Louis XIV that all dictators share, and they live by the creed L’Etat, C’Est Moi (The State, That’s Me). In Eritrea, IA has said the following:
He expects to live another 40 years (Wikileaks)
he is in perfect health (Eri-TV interview, after rumors of his death in 2012)
The thought of retirement will never cross his mind (Al Jazzera interview)
The State is me.
The engineers of the coup um corrective action in Zimbabwe code named their intervention “Operation Restore Legacy”. Clearly, they have North Koreans in their PR depart.
It’s the psychology of Louis XIV that all dictators share, and they live by his creed L’Etat, C’Est Moi (The State, That’s Me). In Eritrea, IA has said the following:
The State is me. Can u blame the guy? Since 1980, ZANU helped construct a perfect bubble for him that he is indispensable to the State.
The engineers of the coup um corrective action in Zimbabwe code named their intervention “Operation Restore Legacy”. Clearly, they have North Koreans in their PR department.
“እንደ ማቱሳላ እንደነ አብርሃም፣ ዕድሜህን ያርዝመው አምላክ ዘለዓለም፣ (ፀሐዩ ንጉስ)”.
“አዲስ ንጉሥ እንጅ፣ ለውጥ መች መጣ፣”, a beautiful line, if it did not come from a royalist.
Why people sometimes shed tears when their nemesis are gone is a mystery. Is it tears of relief or tears of mass hysteria? In zim it looks like they are tears of happiness, as long as mugabe does not make it tears of remorse and pain.
Dictators and emperors think that if they go, the sun will stop shining. Unfortunately there are people who believe this ….
Some say that it is a sort of inter Zanu-PF reshuffle and not true change.
We knew he was a royalist long before he donned the uniform of His Majesty…way back with the lyrics you quoted which, in full, went like this:
Basra’sebat merfey, beTeQemeuw QumTa
Le’lewuT yagofereuw, zufan la’y siwoTa
Endamnaw baleQen, yamnawun ke’QeTa
Addis nigus enji, lewuT meche meTa
But, damn, he is a talented man.
The Addis Negus in Zimbabwe is going to be a 70 something year old guy to replace a 93 year old guy in a country where the median age is 19.
Iran & Hezbollah: Towards an Inclusive Manifesto & A Discourse Defining the Endgame
I personally do not agree with Iranians and Hezbollah Hegemony in the region
Iran and Hezbollah are seriously failing on developing a more genuine, more inclusive and more consensually widely acceptable Manifesto and a Political Discourse that are compatible with the Universal Values and Visions of the progressive non-Iranian, Non-Shiite forces in the Middle East.
In the height of the current political, security and strategic challenges facing the progressive forces in the entire Middle East, it is high times that both Iran and Hezbollah posing at this delicate juncture as deservingly spearheading the common interim interests of the progressive forces in the Middle Eastern region opting for freedom and justice, that both Iran and Hezbollah genuinely creatively pondering the nagging issue of defining an all-inclusive Endgame.
The Middle East now stands at a decisive juncture, Crossroad in the heating struggle for the geopolitical future of the Entire Middle Eastern region. As the Iran-Syria-Iraq-Hezbollah Axis seems to be achieving successes, gathering strength and momentum in decisive battlegrounds against American lead coalition of traditional and conservative local and regional forces, the Political Discourse of Iran and Hezbollah still come across partly exclusive, theocratic and predominately Persian colored nationalistic drive.
However, one is at a loss trying to figure out a convincing compatible shared ideology setting the Ultimate Goals of an Endgame between the Progressive Secular Forces in the Middle East and an Iranian-Hezbollah’s apparent mostly theocratic and nationalistic final goals.
True, the interests and general agendas on the tactical and intermediate strategic goals of the Progressive Middle Eastern Secular forces and the Iranian Axis forces – as the latter is predominately theocratic in ideology and Nationalistic in tendencies – are in tandem; however, unlike an enduring unifying ideology, any ideology, as in the example of Communism seeing the Mao Zedong’s mantle carried fructuously forward to its natural conclusion through future generations setting the tone and the system of the time; No Unifying Common Ideology except for convergence of interim interests in a common struggle that cement solidly and convincingly the long-term long march of Iranian Lead Regional Thrust and the varied Middle Eastern Progressive Secular Forces.
This fact leaves a hole in the common alliance in this common existential struggle of the Middle Eastern progressive secular forces and the Iranian mostly theocratic and nationalistic lead forces.
out of goodwill and genuine desire at forging wider understanding of a common front,admonishing the leaders of that movement to rethink a more inclusive strategy leveraging its widely gained popularity among the Middle Eastern Progressive Forces in the aftermath of the war of 2006; same issue, most urgently pops up rendering the internal Lebanese political situation the Achill’s Heel rendering Lebanon, Iran and Hezbollah vulnerable and the Lebanese Tender situation open to exploitation.
With the American lead coalition of conservative and traditional forces having experienced a major strategic loss on the battleground in Syria and Iraq, these forces are desperate to force themselves through the cracks of existing contradictions, foremost into Lebanon as in the example of the looming political crisis created and still unfolding by the Resignation of the Lebanese Prime Minister, Saad El-Hariri.
For Iran and Hezbollah, a wide territory remains to be covered at the public relations plan and genuinely in the substantive ideological side to creatively ponder options to rallying disparate progressive secular Middle Eastern Forces along common long-term goals. A Manifesto and a genuinely guiding Discourse need to be rethought through and redeveloped by the Iranians and the leadership of Hezbollah along a consensually redefined Endgame in congruence with the Universal Values and the Vision of the Progressive Secular Forces in the Middle Eastern Region.
Dear Said,
Why shall we worry about the Middle East? They
1) have advanced economy, and unique vision about every thing on society transformation,
2) a huge well educated human capacity than in our case,
3) know better their problems than us from outside,
4) is this our problem at all?
A question for you: does ever the middle east saw any progressive /transformative social movement?
The best bet for us will be to stay out of it. This is not an African fight; we do have more challenging problems.
In geopolitics of the region. Eritrea is affected one way or another .The UEA built Air base in Assab ,from where the UAE’S corvettes and a squadron of Mirage bombers wage war in Yemen, as the expansion accelerates, observers are asking whether the UAE is bent on “the pursuit of regional influence”, The UAE has won Berbera and Eritrea’s Asaab base by agreement .the expansion policy is mastermind by Abu Dhabi’s 56-year-old crown prince, Muhammad bin Zayed. He is the deputy commander of the UAE’s armed forces, and the younger brother of the emir of Abu Dhabi, who is also the president of the UAE.as reported ,Emirati soldiers have since then taken the ports of Mukalla and Shihr, 500km (300 miles) east, and two Yemeni islands in the Bab al-Mandab strait, past which 4m barrels of oil pass every day.
In neighboring Djibouti, military forces from the United States, Japan, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, and soon China, are already based there, conducting counter-terrorism or anti-piracy efforts along the Indian Ocean and the Red Sea. For Sunni Arab states like Saudi Arabia and the UAE, who are concerned about the expanding influence of Iran in the region, the port of Assab in Eritrea has also become a base to prosecute the war in Yemen and tighten the noose on Houthi rebels.
Your own reply tells me we have there no VESTED interest; at most it could be a periferial one for us.
As one can see from the current Syrian civil war, this confrontation does have a global-superpowers involvement; which means it will be around for a couple of decades to come.
No rush please, to get grilled in a fire for another 40 years to come.
Selamat said,
Could you give me an example or two, if any, of existing divergent end game, of both Iran and Hezbollah? Other than “Theocratic and Nationalistic.”
“…that both Iran and Hezbollah posing at this juncture as deservingly spearheading the common interests of the progressive forces in the middle east…”
“Iran and Hezbollah: Towards and inclusive manifesto and a discourse defining the end game.” An excellent read, thank you.
Hi Salyounis,
Herman Cohen tweeted:
“ In view of UN report clearing #Eritrea of all charges related to al-Shebab, US and #Ethiopia should jointly sponsor Security Council resolution to lift sanctions.“
Is Herman Cohen the biggest African expert troll or what ? What am I missing here? Why would the Ethiopian Gov initiate a resolution to lift the embargo?
Selam Legacy,
Lawyers and diplomats live to tell lies, that is how they make a living, and mr. herman cohen is doing exactly that . He is lobbying for the eritrean regime, being paid for his job. He must show that at least he is trying, whether he himself believes or not, what he says and writes.
He is in a way insulting the intelligence of the regime in asmara, when he says that ethiopia and the usa should coordinate actions to help lift sanctions, even though he knows very well that the usa government is being demonized day and night by the regime, and the ethiopian government is accusing asmara as the one causing instability in ethiopia by hosting and dispatching anti-government forces from time to time. No rational person expects ethiopia to be so naive to help her nemesis.
Herman Cohen has been told about the regime’s way of doing things, whether he believes it or not. That is, everything should be on the regime’s own terms, period.
This is the age when one can easily sell fake news, fake facts, fake hope, fake anything, and herman cohen is simply doing that
I think Cohen wrote that during Ethiopia’s one month presidency of the UN security council.
Fantiness:
Close but not quite:)
When Ethiopia had the rotating presidency back in August, Herman Cohen tweeted “As President of UN Security Council in September, #Ethiopia should propose long overdue lifting of sanctions against #Eritrea.” The quote Legacy quoted is just 5 days old and you notice now he is proposing that Ethiopia should jointly (with US) propose lifting the sanctions.
This was the answer he was given by a smart alec:
In view of @CohenOnAfrica expectation that @UN would ignore its own resolutions and lift sanctions before #Eritrea grants access to #SEMG, he should turn in his Expert Card and jusf watch I Love Lucy reruns.
I thought of three reasons: 95% the reason I gave, 4.5% meaning Ethiopia should initiate a positive gesture toward Eritrea to clear the way for dialog. the remaining 0.5% was reserved for his recent “Habesha Unite, Araboch meTu” chain of thinking, but I may have fell a victim of my own “positive first” trying-very-hard-self-discipline.
Actually, I just thought of the following after I wrote my last sentence. I wonder if this is a continuation to his Aga’zian style “Habesha Unite” recommendation. I reserve the right to change my mind as soon as I am done with my coffee, but for now, this scenario is fitting more than the other two.
Your “Moon Cheese” was hilarious. I have titled that post in my mind as “Summary of Saay’s Political Biography.”
Hey Fanti:
So this wouldn’t be awate forum if one thing didn’t lead to another making it impossible to find any thread when researching….
But speaking of “Habesha metu: areboch unite”, did you:
1. Notice that after TPLF finished its Congress, there is a lot of “I love you”, “we are one blood” going on between TPLF and ANDM types?
2. Know that our own Eyob works for Sheger Times? He has put a glossy image of Lemma power-posing on red carpet with the caption “Headed to 4 Kilo?”
3. Sisi is very mad at your country and he is saying that thing that Egyptians thing is an original, earth-shattering truth only they know: “water is life.”
Pick one subject and expound.
What is wrong with “I love you” and “we are one blood” between the parties you referred to? I wish the PFDJ will tell us the same thing, and call us to work together with our “political identity intact’ – as oppose to what they told us in early 90s, to come to our country leaving all our thoughts behind, just our “physical body” only as “non-thinking body.” You should always welcome good gestures. Who knows EPRDF will come with “new agenda that unite Ethiopians” and with “equitable power sharing” under the umbrella of the current constitution and decentralized Federal government.
Teodros Alem
Selam saay
1, “i love u” tells me tplf doesn’t change at all from its past behavior. Remember they used to wave ethiopian flag with out the star in ethio-eri war. “I love u” is the same old technique.
2,lemma. I think tplf is happy to make him pm if he give them guarantee that he will be like pmhd.
3,if Egypt distances itself from eritrea and be friend with tplf , i think tplf will love to accept Egyptian demand but that will put tplf in a much more problem with the people and the other eprdf specially andm.
Numero Uno:
:: TPLF Congress has not begun yet, it will take place soon. The current meeting is taking place as part of EPRDF’s suggestion I will touch a little more below. The meeting is paused following an agreement on the identity of the problems and it will continue soon with proposals perhaps at their congress or just before::
Remember our last EPRDF discussion based on Rene’s Aramba’na Kobo scenarios which I was almost winning? Besides his mean spirited chaotic wishes, Rene’s #1 scenario (EPRDF kisses and makes up) was intended as a way out, and it looks like his escape route is but assured.
The problem inside EPRDF is seriously different than what is circulating in the media, but the solution could coincide with some of the guesses. The OPDO-ANDM people to people get together and the similar TPLF-ANDM get together is part of what EPRDF discussed should be done as part of and preparation to All Ethiopian people to people discussion to counter those adamantly poised to create people-to-people-chaos for personal reasons.
The people-to-people discussion with immediate neighbor first will continue with all affected regions and it will close with the collective people to people discussion of all Ethiopians. The four member organizations that make up EPRDF have all agreed on the identity of the problems and they have agreed on what the solutions are. In both cases the agreements were unanimous. On the top brass of EPRDF there is absolutely no division in their analysis of the past or their plans for the future.
In short, the proposed solutions to the self-inflicted wound were a) self cleansing of sister organizations, b) renew camaraderie, and c) get back to work.
OPDO and ANDM’s self cleansing endeavor has gone its course and lots of purging and restructuring is supposedly underway. TPLF took the longest, mostly because there were some surprise discoveries made after the meeting began, but also TPLF may be doing the most through cleansing than it ever did before.
So, the “I love you” you are witnessing allover the place is not for the reasons the media concocted, but as a necessity to shield the people from being hoodwinked by the few bad apples determined to see chaotic Ethiopia.
MoQshush:
Numero Dos:
I am kind of leaning toward Lemma myself. He is young, articulate, relates better with young Ethiopians, I never heard him mention “Asab,” and he comes clean of old grudges with anyone. I only hope he train as foreign minister before he becomes PM though.
Numero Tres:
I think Al Sisi is appearing tough for PR consumption, but he could also mean business, but I strongly recommend Ethiopia reassure Egyptians we mean them no harm and recommend a second opinion on the recent “safety analysis” made which confirmed Egypt’s concerns.
In either case, I don’t know what Egypt can do really except to try to find a diplomatic solution. I believe an attempt to bomb the facility will only create long term problems for Egypt than for Ethiopia (local forces may take advantage of Egypt’s military entanglement with Ethiopia).
I upvoted downvoted and upvoted it just so I can say I upvoted you twice 😀
Thanks for the correction on the TPLF Congress. This the the post conference to the preconference. Used to make fun of TPLFs gemgams (marathon meetings) but the joke is on me as PFDJ never meets: it only has one way we-talk-you-listen seminars.
I am glad that you, and not I, said it: that this is Option 1 of Rene’s options: the kiss-and-makeup by the elite. If you want to know what PFDJ is doing-thinking, read “dHnet Hager” on Facebook. If you want to read their secrets, read “Sactism”. Similarly I have some guide posts for Facebookers on Ethiopia’s ruling elite and I noticed a sudden change in the tone of their posts.
2. Lemma looks good in tailored suits. That’s all I know 😉
3. You guys have to stop making Al Sisi nervous. I mean was PMHD trip to Qatar really necessary? He said water is national security and we don’t negotiate on national security full stop. Some meanie posted in the WP article that if water is so rare that Egypt might want to consider shutting down its huge golf courses. Of course with the Saudi alliance countries it’s now hard to tell how much of what they say is them talking and how much of it is as Audi Arabia. I mean they did get the Lebanese Pres to announce his resignation from Saudi Arabia. Some say even the fight the Eritrean government started with the DiA school (citing 1995 law to explain steps of 2017) is part of the new foreign policy of Saudi Arabia. Money is the root of all, full stop.
Egyptian politicians will never accept full heartedly the ethiopian dam a hundred years from now, even if ethiopia reassures them a million times, they know that ethiopia can not use the waters of the dam for irrigation, and the dam is a done deal. Ethiopia is going to start filling the dam with the aim to produce soon the first 700MV of electricity. The reaction coincides with this fact, and it is mainly for internal consumption.
Beyond the nile waters, egypt’s other major problem is ethiopia’s geopolitical role in the region, which as things are manifesting themselves the last few years is going to be important, provided ethiopian political forces do not spoil everything for the sake of political power, and thus leave an open window for egypt.
Egypt has serious internal problems, its ally and financier, the KSA, is in turmoil and no more loaded with financial surplus, the power of oil is diminishing, and income from tourism decreasing, and therefore the possibility of egypt starting war beyond may be an aerial bombardment is out of the question. As you said bombing the dam, will not benefit egypt, and she will never achieve her objective this way. In actual fact, that is when egyp’ts water security will truly become precarious.
Therefore, the last more or less saber rattling is a PR stunt, and nothing more.
The most important question is how much ethiopia is prepared for any eventuality, if egypt is forced to outsource her internal problems by attacking ethiopia.
Selqm horizon
I think Egyptian Main demand is the colonial agreement to be respected with gard or without gerd. The colonial agreement which say 80 something % of the water is egypt share.
Dear Teodrose
I could not understand in 2017 Egyptians could dream about this old one sided agreement, how on earth could they ever think that way ? I am shocked to disbelieve. Ethiopians must be United to build this dam even more dames if possible sale water to Egypt at a fair price. They can not demand water while Ethiopians children are at the mercy of USAID , let the Ethiopians build this . Eritreans should invest in this too . Go forward with Gerd . This must not be political
Selam blink
When u weak everybody try manipulate and disrespect u. Same thing is true b/t countries.
As for cooperation, i mean why would tplf lose its power for the thing they benefit so little?
Hi Teodros, you mean the GERD Dam is not that much import for TPLF and its constituencies?
I didn’t quite get your reasoning.
Hi mez
Tplf represent tigrai and i was talking about colonial era agreement of nile water not just gerd.
So i don’t see tigrai can benefit from the nile much except fair share of electricity and as a whole as a country . the nile itself is not in territory of tplf .
Hi Teodros,
I think you missed the whole class of geography.
Lecture me pls.
Greetings Teodros,
Please go ahead and take 101 MOC class, probably from Washington Uni, or MIT. That will solve your basic knowledge deficit in Nile Basin Geography.
Dear Teodros
TPLF will not sustain any power with out dividing the Ethiopian people across ethnic lines , they have zero interest on building a dam or any such in far away from their own ,if TPLF loved other ethiopians than themselves in power they could have shared the power structure with the real owners of the largest share of Ethiopian power. Gerd on the other side is the pride of all Ethiopians be it Tigrians and Amhara…all of them.
If I am not mistaken what’s now become GERD and other dams blue print study was commissioned by Haile Selassie a long time ago in the 60s. Melles re-initiated the implementation of the project. It’s good to give credit where is due.
Dear blink, you are accusing TPLF “they have zero interest on building a dam or any such in far away from their own”. From what we know a number of hydroelectric dams have been constructed in Ethiopia after TPLF came to power. And as far as I know only one of these was built in Tigray accross the Tekeze river.
Dear Abraham H.
I don’t recall the title of the article but one of Awate Veteran Berhan Ali I think called the Tigray and by extension TPLF is the nucleus of Ethiopia.
Based on my past reading, HS commissioned the study soon after Egypt, Sudan and British signed the deal without including all other source countries (where all under colony at the time) except for Ethiopia.
It was the blue print that Melles and EPRDF used to re-initiate the project because all past Ethiopian government efforts were blocked (either lack of funds or Egypt influences).
In of the interview Melles gave said, Ethiopia is ready to build the dam now without needing anyone finance.
Selam Teodros Alem.
The self serving 1929 agreement between britain and egypt, and the 1959 agreement between egypt and sudan, did not involve Ethiopia, and therefore, she has no obligation to respect it. Nevertheless, the location of the dam is such that it will not affect significantly Egypt’s water quota. If egypt insists that Ethiopia should continue to have zero percent, that is impossible.
Egypt’s problem is also a strong ethiopia, which may at a certain stage in the future become an important power of the region.
Selam horizon
Power of the region, the whole word is in competition to be regional or even world power so i don’t see any special about ethio-egypt.i lived in egypt for so many years when i was teenage and a can tell u the difference between ethiopia and egypt is so big and they know it.
Selam Teodros Alem,
Yes, the difference between egypt and ethiopia is big. First were the ancient egyptians and the pharoahs, then came the greeks with alexander the great who built alexandria, then the romans, and finally the arabs in the 7th century. Even the ottoman turks and the british were there. Therefore, Egypt was at the center of history and civilization, and every one of them have left behind their marks.
The last owners of egypt believe that they own the nile basin as well, as far south as tropical africa (the reason they have a special force trained for jungle warfare), and the red sea as far south as the bab el mandeb (where egyptian ships used to be stationed once upon a time).
That is also the reason sudan used to be anglo-egyptian sudan before independence. Arab sudanese officers were target practising with black africans, and it is said that churchill was outrageous when he heard about it. The human trafficking and organ harvesting in the sinai, and the slave trade in libya today, show how arabs continue to see africans. It nauseates me when i hear them say, our african brothers. I am not sure if i have read them say, our african sisters.
The arab world has caused its own decline, and regional powers like iran are rising, and that is why egypt does not want to see another regional power in the horn. That is also the reason the ksa is restless and ready to cause more crisis by undermining lebanon as if yemen is not enough, and trying to create a regional conflict with iran.
Egypt sees her regional influence (today, even sudan is no more within egyptian sphere of influence since the gerd, the only one remaining being eritrea), through denying ethiopia’s rights, by intimidating, undermining, destabilizing ethiopia, and lobbying in western capitals to deny her financial help, so that she will not be able to use the nile, and remains poor and backward.
Naturally, ethiopia cannot accept to be bullied around for ever. It is the reason she is trying to be assertive towards egypt, by building her economy and her defensive capabilities.
The reason i mentioned the different is big between ethio-Egypt is because u mentioned the competition about the power of the region that is way and most of egypt development started since anwar sadat time i mean the cities, the infrastructures.
Yemen and Lebanon r also arab countries.
Egyptian identity creation is not any different from the creation of other identities of the world and they r arab inside africa (aswan and nabian identity r arabs may be racially black or mix).that is who they r, they can’t be black or asian.
So r y trying to show your ethiopian patriotism by saying arab this arab that or what? And at the same time u r supporting not only unpatriotic group but also ethiopia hater group.
I have no problem if you accuse me for ethiopian patriotism, as long as I am not accused for pro-arabism. I have no problem with arabs as such, but with their foreign policy towards ethiopia, which has always been anti-ethiopian. Otherwise, we could have been good and trusting neighbors.
Egypt’s national interest should not encroach on ethiopia’s national interest, and this is what egypt had been doing over at least two centuries, if not more. It is as simple as that, and ethiopia has every right to defend her national interest.
Please, tell me who the unpatriotic and ethiopian hater groups are, whom you say i am supporting.
I will never accuse of of ethiopian patriotism simply b/c u can’t be ethiopian patriote and at the same time tplf supporter.
There is huge difference between tplf patriotism and ethiopian patriotism and i just want to clear that up.
I get your point. You take me for a tplf ethno-nationalist, disguising as an ethiopian patriot. True the two do not go together, as oromo- and amhara-ethno-nationalism, when weighed against ethiopianism.
Nevertheless, do not be so sure, there are people who abhor ethiopianism too. This is a difficult world, especially the cyber world, because nobody knows who is who. Therefore, it is better not to draw easy conclusions and brand people, and it serves us best if we discuss and refute opinions
Selam,Fante
the Sharing of the Nile Waters to express an opinion. The truth, notwithstanding nationalist fervors and deep Patriotism feelings, the Nile Waters have not been fairly distributed among the 11 African countries, foremost among those where the Water Nile originates. As Ethiopia contributes more than 75% of the total Nile Water, Ethiopia, and for long never benefited of its waters as considering the short rain fall restricted to only 3 months out of the year that subjects the in the past Ethiopians not to repeated famines for the absence of effective irrigation systems that through the years harvested thousands of Ethiopians. This, as Ethiopia never developed the Irrigation systems as Egypt did to guarantee continuous land cultivation year round. For Centuries now only two countries in Africa, the least contributors of the Nile Water, benefited disproportionately from the Nile Water: Egypt and Sudan. According to the British Agreement of 1929 for distribution of the Nile Water, None of the other upstream African Countries under British colonialist rule were allotted a drop of that water. Egypt is now getting nearly 60 billion Cubic Meters out of the Total 80+ billion Cubic Meters of the Nile Waters. Egypt that does not contribute a drop to the Nile Water enjoys 6+ million hectares under irrigation. Ethiopia, with a Geography exceeding Egypt/s by 10% and a comparable population as that of Egypt has a mere 300,000 Hectares under irrigation. It seems to me that Ethiopia and the other Upstream African countries are entitled to a fairer share of the Nile Waters as they too are increasing in population and they too need to address their population’s increasing agrarian demands. Egypt seems to still to have a wide room to implement more effective conservation programs of wide water wastage, need to first look inward to addressing Egypt’s increasing needs of water consumption.
Selam Saay, Sisi is very mad at Ethiopia right now, probably because he thinks Ethiopia is in big trouble with its internal strife and he wants to secure some consessions from Ethiopia regarding the GERD, if not derail the mega-project altogether.
Egyptian president have two other more pressing issues–not necessarily the GERD Dam by itself.
1) I quot him: ” “We’ve talked to our brothers in Sudan and Ethiopia from the very beginning about three points, including not touching the water [of Egypt’s share],” he said. This has to do more with the 2010 CFA document signed by 6 countries.
2) How to convince the Egyptian about the new normal with operational GERD.
Hi Abe:
I don’t think that’s it. Egypt is saying we (Egypt Sudan and Ethiopia) “ had failed to approve an initial study by a consultancy firm on the dam’s potential effects on Egypt and Sudan.” If A is depending on B, and B is delayed while A goes on its timetable, then B becomes superfluous. That is: can Ethiopia present Egypt a fait accomlis and say oh well that’s what the consultants say but we are done with our project?
Selam Saay, if I remember well, the Egyptians had demanded that Ethiopia halted the construction of GERD until the latest rounds of study were completed, but Ethiopia insisted on proceeding with the project, claiming previous studies. and the latest studies could go on while they continue to build. After all these arguments, all the three leaders were pictured with that iconic picture that shows them embracing each other. It seemed the Egyptians had accepted the enevitable, though now they seem to have got new impetus to up their demands.
Selam Abraham H,
Egyptian politicians could not derail the project when it started, and there is no way they can do it now the dam is approaching completion. For political reasons, sisi cannot standby and look as the dam starts filling, and going to start producing electricity soon. Last time the filling time was the point of contention, and nothing else.
Nevertheless, they will always hate this dam, and they will hate much more the coming dams in the future. They better cooperate, and that is the only way for mutual benefit. With confrontation, it will be a zero sum game for both.
Hi Abraham H,
I have a feeling that the recent flurry of diplomatic activities between Ethiopia and Qatar might be what is behind the reason for the latest Egyptian outburst. Alliances in the middle East is being crystallized and I can see why Egypt will see this as a serious threat to its National security. I hope the Ethiopian government has weighted the pros/cons.
Dear Saay,
From the preliminary news coming out of Mekele, it seems some “however minor” policy corrections will be on the way.
ናይቶም ሰዓብቱ ይገድድ, ወይ ድንቁርና! What happen to the bragging: Eritreans are not like the rest of Africans? Not much to say just wish to add to the “Game-Changer” scenarios- the violent death of Issias Afewerki.
The death of DIA will bring the sanction to an end.
Hi Peace:
Here’s one more “game-changer”:
America elects a president whose single mission is to undo everything Obama did.
If I were an advisor of IA, I would capitalize on that and I would begin by arranging an interview with Fox News (preferably with Fox and Friends) and spend the entire interview praising Trump and trashing Obama.
Sanctions would be lifted in a week.
Regime supporters did exactly that when Trump was elected. They got disappointed when they saw that he was not going to do what they wanted.
As you said if the regime tells Trump that the sanctions against eritrea were the work of the Obama administration, that could trigger his anti-obama reflex reaction.
that Pacific think-thank lady too.
I honestly don’t understand why the regime would want to have the sanctions lifted. It hasn’t prevented it from doing business in its usuall obsecure way. The sanction provides the regime with a good pretext for its failures. It keeps the few naive supporters and young PFDJ from raising serious issues.
Dear Abrehet,
The main problem the sanction for the regime, I think:
1) it cost more to do business with Eritrea. Like transportation, insurance, plain fare etc.
2) It prevents the regime from its venture as arms dealer.
3) the money it gets from mining doesn’t get scrutinized
4) it prevents to support opposition if Ethiopia and others in the region from arming / recruiting
The sanction also severely limited–the military-to-military activities between Eritrea and Egypt. This again created zero- influence (by Eritrea) on the very important Nile Basin geopolitical battle (continental dimension) to its own advantage; hence Egypt had to opt for Uganda and South Sudan as the latest battle ground for this.
Do you think the sanction can completely close the arms market to Eritrea with Arab friends on the sea ? Who on earth believe PFDJ are short of arm supplies?
It doesn’t but it limits it. Your attitude is exactly the attitude of the ERITREAN government that they believe they can get away by breaking the laws and decision of the SC. The best thing would be to comply with SC demands and end the sanctions legally. But PFDJ is gemel seriKa gumbuH gumbuH.
i would also like to add because of the sanctions Eritrea is considered very risky to do business and the reason there are very few companies operate in Eritrea and those who do like Nevsun (way undervalued). And tourism is also affected, specially after Asmara designation world heritage it should increase significantly.
Ab TraH meAkorka Haf Haf eyu enda HGDEF.
Hasadat FTRet, nnebson Temyom hager ZeTmuyu.
Dear Berhe
What attitude is this ? Why don’t you answer my question to Mez if you will without taking jabs !! Stop this kind of low fiber thing. What I asked was ,if Mez thinks PFDJ are short of arms , that is all. There is no legal thing in this pot of UNSC , stop telling yourself about this fantasy of legal thing.
That tourism or investment thing thing is just not impressive at the PFDJ time, what I find it shocking is this was not about disturbing the regional peace , this was not about arming G-7 and this was not about al shebab . We will be there to see what happen in the next years.
Dear Blink,
No body can 100% prevent Eritrea from getting arms from the global “Grey business” market or from “friendly countries” under the table. This can help to prop up your armament, in Eritrea. As far as this happenes within your own territory, nobody “from outside” cares about this; most likely including the current ruling Elites from south of Mereb River.
You could argue, Eritrea could arm anti- government entities, and send them over the boarder. This is being done now but 1) you can give them only LOW level armament, 2) Even with them, as of now, Eritrea had nothing to show such thing like a measurable “war like situation and chaos” south of the River.
If you want to go one notch up and get military treaties with other “like-minded regional and subcontinent al players” then the Embargo, under discussion will detect and escalate it-semiautomatically; this is where the BIG hurdel is. This is where Eritrea and Egypt lost two hundred years old ( and the most stubborn) geopolitical chase game–childish PIA.
Look, 1) Egypt “wouldn’t mind to go to war” to secure: a) the 55 bln cubic meter nile water per year, b) maintain its veto against any development in upper basin countries. Egypt did have a stake of 86% water flow uncertainty againest Ethiopia.
2) Eritrea does have: a) border issue, (you may also call it illegal territory annexation), b) trade term issue, c) intra government monetary issue, and more recently d) regional market issue.
Under ” normal” conditions, Eritrea and Egypt should have had: 1) multiple-multidisciplinary military training by now 2) strategically located Egyptian military posts on Eritran soil….
Such a scenario would have yielded solution for all problems we have, of course under Eritrean and Egyptian term.
What prevented that from happening? Answer: the consistent and continuous mis-steps by the Eritrean government.
Can this change? Answer: As far as the current Eritrean policy is in place: a) nothing will change; it will continue–to ostensibly–help to strengthen the adversaries stand againest the Eritrean national interest, b) even if Egypt is soo sexy to do some thing againest the current dynamics in Ethiopia–the lending hand from Eitrea is firmly back-handcuffed by this Embargo for the next two or three years.
I have no bad attitude or I’ll intention, here. I respect and appreciate every engagement and and line of thinking. I strongly beleive Berhe do the same.
Selam Berhe:
Excellent points Berhe.
I think when people think of UNSC sanctions on Eritrea, they only think of Resolution 1907 which was passed in 2009. They forget that the sanctions regime was vastly expanded two years later in 2011 when IA and his enforcers chose to escalate instead of diffusing things. It was Resolution 2023 that expressed concern on the Diaspora Tax, condemned the extortion methods used to collect it, and then:
14. Urges all States to introduce due diligence guidelines to prevent the provision of financial services, including insurance or re-insurance, or the transfer to, through, or from their territory, or to or by their nationals or entities organized under their laws (including branches abroad), or persons or financial institutions in their territory, of any financial or other assets or resources if such services, assets or resources, including new investment in the extractives sector, would contribute to Eritrea’s violation of relevant resolutions, including 1844 (2008), 1862 (2009), 1907 (2009) and this resolution
15. Calls upon all States to report to the Security Council within 120 days on steps taken to implement the provisions of this resolution
Which business is going to invest in such a country where it’s focus is not on making money but also to conduct due diligence that the taxes and fees it pays the host country are not going to fund armed groups it chose to host?
Friends and foe of PFDJ have been stuck on Resolution 1907 when the real thing is Resolution 2023, which is tough as nails. When SR Sheila Keetharuth was giving a press conference at the UN, she kept insisting that it was merely an arms embargo and she was flustered when Matt Russel Lee an “investigative” reporter for Inner City Press (who alway appears like he was just given the talking points by Yemane G) kept pounding the issue of economic sanctions.
Imagine a traffic cop pulls you over for driving without a license and gives you a court date to show proof that you have it. After he lets you go, you are suspected of running a red light and killing a pedestrian and there is a warrant out for your arrest. Then you go to court with a copy of your drivers license and tell the judge that the warrant should be dismissed because there is no evidence that you don’t have a drivers license. That’s how the PFDJ brain is wired and the fact that we don’t have a functioning legal system hasn’t just hurt Eritrean citizens it has deformed the PFDJ itself.
Excellent point. But remember when every year, the Security Council extended the mandate of SEMG because of PFDJ’s violation on the terms of the sanctions, these PFDJ goons will have the same talking point and you will have the same argument in an attempt to convince them. The outcome will remain deaf to the truth of the matter. So the question to you is, what good thing could come out from this yearly routine of recycled arguments?
Selamat Emma:
I think you would agree with me that our arguments should be fact-based. And on this matter (as I think I tried to show with Ms Keetharuth arguing with Mr Russell) it’s not just the PFDJ side that doesn’t argue based on facts. Our side is a bundle of emotions (understandable), the PFDJ is a bundle of emotions (understandable from their perspective) and the facts get lost in the shouting matches.
You are also making the assumption that Eritrea is PFDJ vs Oppo when there is a large middle ground which I call silent majority to the wrath of iSem, who is who I consider my target audience on complex topics.
And sometimes I write just because I am a writer. Yesterday was Chinua Achebe’s birthday, as Uncle Google reminded us with its doodle, and he once described himself “I am a protest writer with restraint.” I like that and aspire to it 🙂
Merhaba Saay,
The issue of Sanction is between international communities (in this case the UN) and the Eritrean government. It has never been between the opposition and the Eritrean government. When we write we don’t represent the opposition, we just represent our views on the subject. That is how I see it. Do we have our views on the subject? Yes indeed. But when you argue on the issue, isn’t it the truth from what you see it and the principles you stood for? Do you want to retreat from the arguments you made? Your writings has never been a “protest writer” rather it has been “a protesting writer” and still is. All your writings are from a conscious self-absolved writer. Go and read them again and change your writing styles, if you want to be only a “protest writer” who restrain himself from giving his own input on the issue that matters his own people and his own nation.
You misunderstood. And the day is too beautiful for friendly fire.
Just watched Mugabe give his resignation letter on Zimbabwe Tv.
Sing 99 bottles on the wall with me….
Saay (Aya Adi’U),
There is no friendly fire from my side. My comment is emanated from two statements of yours and here are as follows: (a) You are (referring to me) also making the assumption that Eritrea is PFDJ vs Opposition (b) You liked and aspired to Chinua Achebe description of himself, which says “I am a protest writer with restraint.” My comment only addressed to this two comments as oppose to the history of your writings. Please correct me if I have wrongly interpreted your statements especially on the aspiring statement of Chinua Achebe. Senay mishet.
Dear Aman..
I support your view.. Exactly,,, you have really you watch at him..
Selam Berhe, I really think the arms embargo is more of symbolic than substance. I mean, please look at the Assab port; it is literally packed with military boats and ship. I could count at least nine big ship offshore from Assab and the new UAE military base. The base itself is packed with all sorts of military hardware like attack helicopters, fighter jets, transport planes, tanks, armored vehicles, hangars etc. I could even see what looks like ground to air missiles, actually at least four of them on the south side of the runway.
Dear Abraham,
Saay has explained better the consequences of having sanctions. If Eritrea keeps ignoring them the UN:
1) keep the sanctions in place as is.
2) the UN can escalate and apply strict sanctions
3) the UN can authorized force, very unlikely as the threat is very small. But if Eritrea does something that violates the interests of the big nations like something to do in the Red Sea for example, they will react.
The problem is and Eritrea keeps on insisting they should be lifted and the US says NO.
And the SEMG reported it as violation of UN Resolution. But since UAE is an ally of the US and UK in the war against Yemen, none of the UNSC countries spoke about it as cause for concern. This is what the SEMG said on the subject:
55.Satellite imagery captured during the mandate further demonstrates the continuing presence of tanks and artillery of the United Arab Emirates on a site between the airport and the port facilities, including what appear to be multiple AMX Leclerc main battle tanks. Multiple fixed-wing and rotary-wing aircraft, for both combat and logistical purposes, appear to be operating from the airport, including several Dassault Mirage 2000 fighter aircraft. The construction of permanent infrastructure and facilities around the airport apron and the runway to the south of the airport has also continued.
56.Most naval vessels bearing the flag of the United Arab Emirates operating from Assab port stopped transmitting automatic identification system (AIS) signals in mid-October 2016. This was probably in response to an attack on the hybrid catamaran HSV-2 Swift 1 (IMO: 9283928), owned by the United Arab Emirates, in the Bab al-Mandab strait on 1 October 2016 (see S/2017/81, annex 13). Satellite imagery shows increased activity at Assab port since late 2016, with a significantly greater presence of naval vessels, including multiple landing craft, fast attack craft and patrol craft (see annex 7).
57.The terms of the agreement between the Government of Eritrea and the United Arab Emirates remain unclear. However, in a press release on 14 December 2016, the Ministry of Information of Eritrea declared that Al-Mayadeen, an Arabic-language television station, had “wrongly assert[ed]” that the “United Arab Emirates has acquired a 30-year lease for a military base in the Port of Assab”. The statement described the claim as “wild and speculative”.
58.The Monitoring Group maintains that the current terms of the arms embargo do not allow for continuing military activities by Member States involving the transfer of military materiel, assistance, personnel and training to or from Eritrean territory, nor are they covered under the terms of possible exemptions thereto.
I agree with you all is about interest. UAE is an ally of USA, so the security council are not worried about it. I think the Gov brought the sanction them selves by not taking the warning from US gov not to support Al-Shabab in 2007-2009. But now, the pen holder is playing politics. Even if the Gov allow the SEMG to enter Eritrea to do their investigation they will ask some thing else to be done before they can left the sanction. Let the Gov allow the SEMG and then I want the security council to left the sanction. Regarding the BS about Eritrea supporting Ethiopia opposition it is unfair. Isn’t Ethiopia supporting Eritrean opposition as correctly stated by Russian ambassador to UN. So why the double standard.
Selam Alex:
Well this goes to the “stupid or evil” question, doesn’t it.
In the early 2000s, EVERBODY was in Somalia and the Monitoring Group on Somalia (it wasn’t Monitoring Group on Somalia and Eritrea) would write everybody up for violating the arms embargo on Somalia. Everyone was cited: US, Egypt, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Belarus, Saudi Arabia, UAE….everyone was guilty of violating the arms embargo.
Then the world lined up behind the Transitional Federal Government, which has an exemption from the arms embargo, and those who were not in support of the TFG, said ok now the UN is really serious so we will stop. Every country except Eritrea which was loud in its support for the Somali “resistance.” For two whole years it was warned to stop, and for two whole years not only did it not stop, it was lecturing the world (including the Somalis) on the grave mistake they are making.
You need look no further than this: the 2009 Resolution 1907 was supported by the entire veto-wielding nations. All five voted yes. When you get the US, China and Russia (who have their own intelligence and satellites) to vote yes on a resolution, you are seriously in trouble.
On the Eritrean armed groups in Ethiopia,
1. There is no UN resolution against Ethiopia hosting them. If there was, Ethiopia would have shut them down in one day and then given SEMG proof that it had;
2. They are deemed not to be any threat to Eritrea. SEMG said that’s our opinion but if we are missing information tell us but the Eritrean officials were too proud to acknowledge they exist must less describe the threat they pose.
The gov will never allow the SEMG in because SEMG has a LOT of information that it will find easy corroboration for on military training sites for armed groups; shipment manifests; Djibouti POWs, interviews with Nevsun on mining revenues….it can’t let them in because what is now “we have reason to believe” would become “we have conclusive evidence.”
I think like you stated above the Gov does not want to let SEMG in because they will lose more than they gain. If they want the security council to lift the sanction they do not have any choice now but to allow them in. Either you do it or shut up. They need to close the opposition camps. If wayane are going to be toppled it will be from the uprising from the Ethiopian people not by some Ginbot 7 or other opposition that are in Eritrea. As a country we are losing more hosting them since like you stated in your article some are killing our brother/sisters from the EDF using the guns we provided to them.
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The Gathering Home of Saints
Devotional glimpses of our hope.
The Face to Face Meeting with Jesus
We read of Rebekah in Genesis 24:64, that when she saw Isaac, she "lighted off her camel." Actually, the Hebrew word allows the translation, she "fell off her camel"! What, I wonder, will be our emotions as we meet Jesus face to face?
All that journey Rebekah must have asked and learned so much about the Isaac she had never seen, and that faithful servant Eliezer, sent forth with the precious mission to find a wife meet for his master’s son, would readily tell her all that was in her heart to ask. Undoubtedly, he spoke of the great riches of Isaac’s father, and his righteousness and faithfulness, yet how, above all else he possessed, he treasured most the son of his love. He would speak with such feeling of that wonderful act of offering Isaac, and of that son’s readiness to be offered, that it would bring tears to Rebekah’s eyes. And he would tell her of the great promise of blessing and happiness for all mankind that resulted from this act of faithfulness and love.
Isaac was indeed someone very special to be honoured for the place he held in the purposes of God, but for Rebekah, there was a deeply personal meaning to all that she learned of this one she was on her way to meet. He was the one she was to marry. His future and her future were to become one. Everything they possessed would belong equally to each other, including that very special relationship with his father. Her only aim of existence would be forever to make him happy, just as her happiness would be his joy.
What would it be like that life of completed union? What would he be like, when, at the end of the journey, all her mental pictures and dreams would, like the light of a candle, be swallowed up in that first noonday glimpse of his smile as she meets him face to face?
Now does he walk to meet her, and as he steps towards her the whole objective and goal of the long journey is realized!
The express desire of Isaac’s father, the love of Isaac toward this future bride, the mission of Eliezer, the joy of Rebekah, for each it is the moment of blissful realization.
And so with us, the One "Whom, having not seen, ye (we) love, in Whom, though now ye (we) see Him not, yet believing (in His love and desire towards us), ye (we) rejoice," with the unspeakable joy of one betrothed to the most wonderful person in the whole universe, the express image of His Father’s glory. (1 Pet.1:8)
The face of Jesus, as described by Paul, was as a light from heaven above the brightness of the sun at noon. In that face Paul knew he had looked upon the glory of God. John, in vision, also saw that face as "the sun shining in its strength." (Rev.1:16 NKJV) The word he uses signifies its full dynamic power a brightness too great for human eyes to bear. Symbology, yet conveying great truth concerning this wonderful Being to Whom no human form nor any glory of the celestial spheres can compare. Such language is as the smoked glass that enables us to view the unviewable, and to glimpse something of that glory filtered down to human tolerance of vision, though humanly incomprehensible.
Face to face, what will it be,
When in glory I behold Him,
Jesus Christ, Who died for me?
And shall we say when thus we meet, "Who art Thou Lord?"
It was Eliezer who identified Isaac to Rebekah. That same Spirit of God that has led us all the way, will then complete its sacred task of union long before begun. There will be no mistaking that One endowed beyond all measure with that Spirit, that same Spirit that has so long linked our hearts with His. "Thine eyes shall see the King in His beauty..." (Isa.33:17) When we think of a person we think of his face. The face identifies, and the face is the index of character, the eyes, the windows of the soul. Only in such human terms may we now envisage that meeting with the Lord Jesus.
The woman’s description in the ‘Song of Songs’ of the one she loves can find no feature of her beloved that is not altogether lovable. The choicest language known to man is there used to describe this wonderful warmth and beauty of character that we call Our Lord Jesus. Here is that Wonderful Being Who, at His Father’s command, brought into being everything that is made. The mystery of the atom, and the secrets of life, the laws of the universe that hold all things together in a state of constant vibrant power, all is known to Him, the Wisdom of an all‑wise God. What immeasurable comprehension, skill, and mighty power.
We shall stand before that One, Who, having made the great nebulae of unfathomable space, and strung the necklace of a myriad stars to form the Milky Way of light across the heavens, at the same voice of His Father, descended to this earth, to be born of woman, and to share in wondrous intimacy every feeling of the human creature He had made. So close does He come, and so close shall we stand before the Source of that love, that uttermost love for me, witnessed at Golgotha, the same in glory. Do I know anyone who, in love for me, would die for me? What shall I say or do when I stand right there before my Saviour and Redeemer?
"Mary", "Rabboni!" When Mary then clung to the Saviour’s feet what depths of emotion overflowed and were shared between them both. What glimpse is here suggested to the mind of that sweet hour in the experience of each redeemed one when he meets his Saviour! Where human language fails, those depths of each heart’s gratitude and love will be expressed by perfect vehicles of adoration and praise. All that we want to say to Him that now we can only express in our tears, all the love we hold for Him, all will be told, face to face.
The veil still intervenes, hiding from our eyes the full knowledge of what that meeting yet will be, but our heart observes no such limitations. Our heart can pass, even now, beyond that veil to feel the warmth and preciousness of that indescribable moment. Our heart can feel the desires of His heart mingling with the desires of our heart, and that mutual ache is drawing us ever closer towards that moment of mutual satisfaction and delight.
Rebekah also was veiled, and only with the eyes of faith could Isaac anticipate the full beauty he would yet behold in her. Jesus, and His Bride, each by faith can penetrate that veil, and see beyond all present limitations of time those precious glimpses of that moment of joy unspeakable and full of glory when we meet. Then shall all veils be lifted, and we shall see face to face, and know Him as we are and shall be forever known of Him.
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'He was about God's work:' Family, friends remember Brady Hoffman, 17, who died in Feb. 15 crash
Sally Pearsall Ericson By Sally Pearsall Ericson Press-Register
Email the author | Follow on Twitter
on February 20, 2014 at 6:30 AM, updated February 20, 2014 at 8:29 PM
Brady Hoffman taught Bible lessons to children in Tanzania, Africa, during mission trips with Medreach, a nonprofit that helps churches to set up short-term medical mission teams to go to east Africa. "He begged his mother to let him bring that child home," family friend Toni Moore said of the little boy in the photo above. "There was a special bond between the two of them." (Courtesy of Medreach Inc.)
WILMER, Alabama – By all accounts, Mary G. Montgomery High School senior Brady Hoffman, 17, was a giver and a doer; a good friend who never met a stranger; and a devout Christian who left a legacy of faith in action.
Starting at age 14, Hoffman took three summer mission trips to Tanzania, Africa, with Medreach Inc., a nonprofit that assists churches to organize short-term medical mission teams to help people in east Africa.
On those trips, he took on several jobs, including being the camp cook, said Dr. Susan Ashbee, who traveled with him. “He was a good cook,” she said. “He did any job we asked him to do.
“He was just a model kid, full of life and happy and very spiritual, and he wasn’t afraid to share his faith with people, which is so amazing for a young person.”
Hoffman died on Feb. 15 on U.S. 98 at Big Creek Lake Bridge, in a head-on collision that claimed the lives of two other people: Robert Harvey Albritton Jr., 69, of Wilmer, and Mary G. Montgomery High School student Brandon Albritton, 15.
A second passenger in Albritton's vehicle, Brianna Albritton, 16, of Wilmer, was severely injured in the crash.
Brady Hoffman's memory book
Brady Hoffman's parents, Todd and Cherise, wanted to share the memory book that Brady created for his senior year. "My personality is very outgoing; I've never met a person I couldn't start a conversation with," he writes.
To view, click here: brady1.pdf
Hoffman’s funeral service is at 11 a.m. Thursday at First Baptist Church of Wilmer, with a visitation starting at 10 a.m. The Albrittons’ service will be at 1 p.m. at Valhalla Funeral Home, with the visitation from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.
This summer, Hoffman had planned to go on a six-week visit to Tanzania with Medreach. “He was so excited,” said longtime family friend Toni Moore.
In the fall, he planned to enroll at the University of Southern Mississippi, where he had earned a scholarship.
Medreach missionary S.L. Hudson has started an online fundraiser to honor Hoffman’s memory by raising donations to purchase Swahili Bibles in his name.
“Brady had a great love for the African people and we believe that by purchasing and distributing Bibles in his memory, we are growing the fruit from the seeds he helped plant,” she wrote on the nonprofit’s Facebook page. Every $10 donation “will get a Swahili Bible into the hands of a Tanzanian villager,” she wrote.
On the mission trips, Hoffman especially loved teaching Bible lessons to the children. “That was really why he went; he loved that part of it, being with the kids,” Moore said.
Hoffman would be pleased with the Bible drive, she said. “He had a passion for reaching the outermost parts of the earth; he loved Africa and he loved the African people.”
At MGM, Hoffman played on the tennis team and sang in the chorus. “He loved to sing,” Moore said. “He always sang, just walking through the house.”
He was in his fourth year with the tennis team, and recently won his first match of the season. Some of his teammates will be pallbearers at his funeral.
Hoffman was an avid volunteer, putting in time at Camp Smile, Ronald McDonald House, Habitat for Humanity, Light of the Village, Alabama Baptist Children's Home and Wilmer Kidz Camp.
He sang and volunteered at First Baptist Church of Wilmer, First Baptist Church of Theodore and Harvest Church. All three of the pastors – Terry Glasscock of Wilmer, David Gill of Theodore and Kevin Colley of Harvest Church – will participate in his funeral.
“We joked this week that one church couldn’t contain Brady,” Moore said. “He sang and played in the band in all of these different churches. He’d go wherever they wanted him. He was reaching so many other people.
“Since this accident, we’re realizing how many lives he has touched.”
Hoffman’s faith was always paramount, Moore said. “That’s what his mission was. … He was about God’s work.”
If any kids needed a ride to church, Hoffman would take them, she said.
Hoffman’s parents, Todd and Cherise, came to Mary G. Montgomery High School on Monday morning to meet with students at the flagpole for a gathering in memory of Hoffman and Brandon Albritton.
The Hoffmans' strong faith has helped them cope with the loss of their only child, Moore said.
“That’s God holding us," she said. "We don’t know how people get through something like this who don’t have God to lean on and trust in, and the hope that we’re going to see Brady again one day. … That’s what gets them through.”
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Showing posts from October 7, 2012
Future Drone Power - Part III: Fill'r Up
By Naval Drones - October 12, 2012
As a follow-up to our posts on powering drones in the future, Bluefin Robotics recently announced a unique concept: deep sea stations that recharge autonomous underwater vehicles. The system is designed to wirelessly charge a Bluefin 9 AUV's 1.5 kWh lithium-polymer Subsea Battery using inductive coils. In addition to recharging the vehicle, the system has the added bonus of downloading data from the vehicle and transmitting it back to a home base. The glut of data collected by modern 2 and 3D imaging sonars will require this sort of flexibility on long endurance AUV missions.
The future naval implications of this technology are expansive, however the actual implementation might be challenging. The system would work well in a permanent installation with AUVs on patrol keeping keep a navy port clear of mines or swimmers. In an expeditionary environment for say a mine-hunting mission, recharging stations might be installed by buoy tenders and kept powered from surface buoys with…
Israeli Shot-Down Drone Sea Launched?
Much speculation has occured regarding the mystery UAV the Israeli Air Force shot down over the Negev Desert last Saturday. A number of interesting theories have been proposed, including those connecting the drone with naval activity:
The Hezbollah-affiliated al-Mayadeen channel reported Sunday that the drone originated in Lebanon and flew 100 km into Israeli airspace, however the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon did not detect any UAVs leaving Lebanese airspace. Lebanese Hezbollah (LH) has been bolstering its UAV force with Iranian built tactical UAVs, so it might be possible that an aircraft flew undetected through across the border. The Israelis confirmed the drone did not originate in Gaza and some sources to point to Lebanon. The problem is that the aircraft would have flown at least 200 km and LH probably doesn't possess any UAVs in the inventory capable of this range.Twitterati@drunkenpredatorspeculates that the aircraft might have been an Ababil 3, launched at s…
Undersea Vehicle Navigation and Autonomy
Changing operational and environmental factors will drive future unmanned naval systems away from remote operation and towards autonomy. Today, a man-in-the loop is generally required to re-task platforms as the weather deteriorates, operational priorities shift, or maintenance problems occur. Automation will allow dynamic retasking to take place without human intervention. Additionally, unmanned systems will increasingly operate beyond line-of-sight from their controllers and in areas prone to GPS or other electronic jamming, spoofing, and interference by adversary forces. Moreover, as noted in the U.S. Air Force’s 2010 Science and Technology Roadmap, autonomous vehicles will enable “operational advantages over adversaries who are limited to human planning and decision speeds.” Unmanned Underwater Vehicles (UUVs) require automation for the reasons mentioned above plus the simple fact that normal methods of navigation such as GPS do not work due to the limitations of electromagnet…
DARPA RQ-4A Air-to-Air Refueling Program Analysis
Air-to-air refueling (AAR) has been commonplace in manned aviation for more than six decades. Today, remotely piloted vehicles fly hundreds, and sometimes thousands of miles from their launch bases to for intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance missions. The inability to refuel in-flight limits time on station and increases the number of aircraft required to surveil a given target location. DARPA's KQ-X program, initiated in 2010, was designed to prove the technologies required to refuel UAVs in-flight.
DARPA has released videos of the close-proximity test flight of two modified RQ-4A Global Hawk unmanned aerial vehicles. The final test flight last May demonstrated the ability of close formation flight for most of a 2.5-hour engagement at 44,800 feet. Although the UAVs did not actually pass fuel, post-flight analysis indicated that 60% of attempts would achieve contact between the
"Navy style" refueling probe and drogue.
Perspective from receiving aircraft…
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The Indian Helper (Vol. 4, No. 18)
The first page opened with a poem titled “How To Make Up,” followed by an article reprinted from The Sabbath School Visitor titled “Playthings of the Indian Children.” Next came a letter from Nancy Cornelius (Oneida) titled “Items of Interest From Nancy Cornelius,” which was sent from the Training School for Nurses at Hartford, Connecticut and described nurses’ hospital training. It continued on the fourth page. Page two included news of Richard (Cheyenne) and Nannie Davis (Pawnee) at their home in West Grove, Pennsylvania; news about Eugene Tahkapuer’s (Comanche) success on Outing in Massachusetts, good reviews of the school newspaper; news of former students at the Haskell Institute in the article titled “Old Pupils Heard From;” a piece called “Strength of Our School at Present” that listed enrollment at the Indian school and on farms; a piece about the new school building; an article on the evils of tobacco and other very short blurbs. Page three gave many holiday notices and included bits about students coming back to the school from Outing assignments, student health, football news, the death of Lucinda Hill (Oneida) who had returned West, the expected arrival of new students from the Crow Agency, teacher news, and an appeal for reports from students on Outing for the INDIAN HELPER. Page four featured a letter from a former Apache student titled “How Odellah Found Things at Wichita Agency Indian Territory,” followed by an article “Our Flag,” that explained the symbolism of the design and colors of the flag. The page closed with a “Riddle” sent by Annie Lockwood (Pueblo) and the “Answer to Last Week’s Puzzle.”
View Item:
View Other Issues Of:
Indian Helper, The (1887-1900)
Cornelius, Nancy
Davis, Richard
Davis, Nannie
Tahkapuer, Eugene
Hill, Lucinda
Ahtley, Odellah
Lockwood, Annie
Nursing Training
Former Student Death
Enrollment Statistics and Policies
Student Arrival
Groups & Organizations:
External Groups & Institutions:
Haskell Indian School
Hartford Training School for Nurses (CT)
Dickinson College Archives & Special Collections
CIS-I-0030
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Saturn - Aura series
Series: Astra, Aura, Curve, ION, L, LS, LW, Outlook, Relay, SC, Sedan, Sky, SL, Sports, Vue
All Saturn models
About Saturn
Saturn Corporation is a division of General Motors (GM) and a brand of automobiles. It was established on January 7, 1985 as a wholly-owned subsidiary of GM, and is active almost exclusively in the United States and Canada. GM began manufacturing Saturn automobiles in 1990, largely in response to the success of Japanese small-car imports in the United States. During the first decade of the 21st century, GM has moved the brand upmarket, to the mid-price segment that was once occupied by Oldsmobile and has positioned it as the company's "green" brand; touting fuel efficient hybrids and crossovers. Saturn is currently becoming the US brand for Opel vehicles, similar to Vauxhall Motors in the UK.
Saturn was named after the rocket that took American astronauts to the moon and not after the planet.. Saturn's motto was initially "A different kind of company, a different kind of car," but has changed several times throughout its history. Drawing from experiences gained through its NUMMI and CAMI Automotive joint ventures, GM organized the Saturn Corporation differently from their existing divisions, attempting to emulate the Japanese management techniques, which emphasize quality control and high product reliability. At Saturn, union workers would have more control and involvement in the plant.
The Saturn Corporation also created its own distribution network from scratch, which was both independent and different from those used by older GM divisions. There was much emphasis put on the quality of customer service, with insights drawn from travel and hospitality as well as consumer retail industries, rather than traditional automotive sales. The uniqueness of Saturn's distribution network was emphasized by referring to what would usually be called "dealers" as "retailers", and conversely "retail facilities" in lieu of "dealerships". Such "retail facilities" served non-competing "market areas". They are noted for their no-haggle pricing, where the cars are sold at their exact sticker price, their no-pressure sales environments, and professional sales staff. The Saturn Corporation strove to build a community spirit among their customers by hosting annual "homecoming" events at its former Spring Hill, Tennessee manufacturing plant, as well a day-to-day special events in retail settings.
Saturn values were initially communicated through image advertising created by the Hal Riney advertising agency.
Saturn Aura (2008)
4-door, petrol (gasoline) 6-cylinder 24-valve V engine, OHV (overhead valve, I-head), 3474 cm3 / 212.0 cu in / 212.0 cu in, 163.0 kW / 218.6 hp / 218.6 hp @ 5900 rpm / 5900 rpm / 5900 rpm, 297.0 N·m / 219.0 lb·ft / 219.0 lb·ft @ 3200 rpm / 3200 rpm / 3200 rpm, automatic 4-speed transmission, front wheel drive
S4 16v 2.4L A-4
Saturn Aura Green Line (2007)
5-seater sedan (saloon), diesel 4-cylinder 16-valve straight (inline) engine, 2393 cm3 / 146.0 cu in / 146.0 cu in, 122.0 kW / 163.6 hp / 163.6 hp @ 6400 rpm / 6400 rpm / 6400 rpm, 215.6 N·m / 159.0 lb·ft / 159.0 lb·ft @ 5000 rpm / 5000 rpm / 5000 rpm, automatic 4-speed transmission, front wheel drive
S4 16v 2.4L DOHC A-4
9.4 l/100km / 30.1 mpg-UK / 25.0 mpg-US
Saturn Aura Green Line Hybrid (2008)
4-door 5-seater sedan (saloon), 4-cylinder 16-valve straight (inline) engine, DOHC (double overhead camshafts, twin cam), 2401 cm3 / 146.5 cu in / 146.5 cu in, 122.0 kW / 163.6 hp / 163.6 hp @ 6400 rpm / 6400 rpm / 6400 rpm, 215.6 N·m / 159.0 lb·ft / 159.0 lb·ft @ 5000 rpm / 5000 rpm / 5000 rpm, automatic 4-speed transmission, front wheel drive, consumption 9.4 l/100km / 30.1 mpg-UK / 25.0 mpg-US
Saturn Aura XE (2006)
4-door 5-seater sedan (saloon), petrol (gasoline) 6-cylinder 12-valve V engine, OHV (overhead valve, I-head), 3510 cm3 / 214.2 cu in / 214.2 cu in, 167.0 kW / 224.0 hp / 224.0 hp @ 5800 rpm / 5800 rpm / 5800 rpm, 298.0 N·m / 219.8 lb·ft / 219.8 lb·ft @ 4000 rpm / 4000 rpm / 4000 rpm, automatic 4-speed transmission, front wheel drive
4-door 5-seater sedan (saloon), 4-cylinder 16-valve straight (inline) engine, DOHC (double overhead camshafts, twin cam), 2401 cm3 / 146.5 cu in / 146.5 cu in, 126.0 kW / 169.0 hp / 169.0 hp @ 6400 rpm / 6400 rpm / 6400 rpm, 217.0 N·m / 160.0 lb·ft / 160.0 lb·ft @ 4500 rpm / 4500 rpm / 4500 rpm, automatic 4-speed transmission, consumption 9.4 l/100km / 30.1 mpg-UK / 25.0 mpg-US
V6 24v 3.6L DOHC A-6
Saturn Aura XR (2006)
4-door 5-seater sedan (saloon), petrol (gasoline) 6-cylinder 24-valve V engine, DOHC (double overhead camshafts, twin cam), 3564 cm3 / 217.5 cu in / 217.5 cu in, 187.9 kW / 252.0 hp / 252.0 hp @ 6400 rpm / 6400 rpm / 6400 rpm, 340.0 N·m / 250.8 lb·ft / 250.8 lb·ft @ 3200 rpm / 3200 rpm / 3200 rpm, automatic 6-speed transmission, front wheel drive
V6 3.6L DOHC A-6
4-seater, 6-cylinder V engine, DOHC (double overhead camshafts, twin cam), 3598 cm3 / 219.6 cu in / 219.6 cu in, 188.0 kW / 252.1 hp / 252.1 hp @ 5800 rpm / 5800 rpm / 5800 rpm, 340.4 N·m / 251.0 lb·ft / 251.0 lb·ft @ 3100 rpm / 3100 rpm / 3100 rpm, automatic 6-speed transmission, front wheel drive
11.8 l/100km / 23.9 mpg-UK / 19.9 mpg-US
4-door 5-seater sedan (saloon), 6-cylinder 24-valve V engine, DOHC (double overhead camshafts, twin cam), 3564 cm3 / 217.5 cu in / 217.5 cu in, 189.0 kW / 253.5 hp / 253.5 hp @ 6300 rpm / 6300 rpm / 6300 rpm, 340.4 N·m / 251.0 lb·ft / 251.0 lb·ft @ 3200 rpm / 3200 rpm / 3200 rpm, automatic 6-speed transmission, front wheel drive, consumption 11.8 l/100km / 23.9 mpg-UK / 19.9 mpg-US
Beyond basic auto insurance
In addition to having enough liability protection, there are some other coverages you should consider:
Collision: Pays for damage to your car resulting from a collision with another car, an object or as a result of flipping over. It also covers damage caused by potholes. Even if you are at fault for the accident, your collision coverage will reimburse you for the costs of repairing your car, minus the deductible. If you are not at fault, your insurance company may try to recover the amount they paid out from the other driver’s insurance company though a process called subrogation. If the company is successful, you will be reimbursed for the deductible.
Comprehensive: Reimburses you for loss due to theft or damage caused by something other than a collision with another car or object, such as fire, falling objects, missiles, explosion, earthquake, windstorm, hail, flood, vandalism, riot, or contact with animals such as birds or deer. Comprehensive insurance will also reimburse you if your windshield is cracked or shattered; some companies may waive the deductible on the glass portion of this coverage.
Uninsured and Underinsured Motorist Coverage: Reimburses you, a member of your family, or a designated driver if one of you is hit by an uninsured or hit-and-run driver. Underinsured motorist coverage comes into play when an at-fault driver has insufficient insurance to pay for your total loss. These coverages are required in 19 states, but available in all. It is important to purchase the same amount of coverage for uninsured/underinsured motorists as you have for liability to others.
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Skip to Global Navigation Skip to Local Site Navigation Skip to Main Content
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About Loyola
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HistoryCollege of Arts and Sciences
Pre-Law History
Ghandi once said, "A small body of determined spirits fired by an unquenchable faith in their mission can alter the course of history.” Loyno’s history department seeks to do just that. In the pursuit of justice, we guide our students through an exploration of the past and all of its intricacies and nuances. Those higher levels of historical thought can only come through a scholarly search for understanding. In our program, you’ll learn to investigate and analyze the historical movements that have shaped contemporary society. Our graduates use those skills to excel in fields such as education, law, government, business, management, public relations, writing, and research. We’ll give you the tools you’ll need to follow St. Ignatius’ charge to “go forth and set the world on fire."
Overview of Courses
In addition to a core set of courses exploring global history, U.S. history, and historical research methods, you’ll select electives to tailor the program to your interests. Here’s a sample of what you can expect to learn and do:
Saints & Demons in Medieval Europe
The medieval church played a central role influencing the lives of Western Christians. This course examines the depth of that influence, emphasizing forms of religious expression, the church’s role in everyday life, canon law, and lay involvement in the church.
Women in African History
This course examines women in African history from ancient times to present, focusing on religious practices, colonialism, and social class. Students examine the construction of gender, social systems, reproduction, women’s exercise of power, and the attempt to control female bodies.
Oppression and Resistance
This course challenges students to critically evaluate the roles that racism, sexism, and prejudice have played in shaping the modern world. Students compare case studies of slavery, persecution, subjugation, and genocide and explore the violent and nonviolent resistance of marginalized peoples.
Money as Meaning
This course focuses on the relationship between money and other forms of communication, such as writing and printing. It examines the changing roles of various kinds of money across time, from early stone-age exchange systems through the birth of capitalism.
Download Major Sheet
HIST T124 Global History II
HIST A200 U.S. History I
HIST A201 U.S. History II
HIST A202 Historical Methods Lab
3 credit hours in U.S. History
3 credit hours in European History
6 credit hours in non-U.S./Euro History
9 credit hours of history electives of the student’s choice
HIST A400 Historiography
Plus 32 credit hours of general electives
History Course Information
Find out more about the history major:
Curriculum Requirements By Entering Year
Students looking for teacher preparation in Social Studies take the major courses from the History degree along with focus-area courses for teacher education. See the degree plan here, and the list of teacher-education course descriptions here.
For dining, our students choose between dining halls, cafes, or take out. Our vendor uses seasonal menus, featuring fresh and healthy ingredients.
For students with special dietary and nutritional needs, we can offer customized menus. Learn more »
Our campus is home to more than 85 student organizations, and if you don’t find one you like, we’ll help you start one!
Find what you’re passionate about, and make it the best four years of your life. Learn more »
Loyola is among the top in the nation for its study abroad participation, with 27.5 percent of its undergraduate students studying abroad.
We offer programs in more than 50 countries, with opportunities for students in all disciplines. Learn more »
College of Arts & Sciences Intranet | History Intranet
College of Arts & Sciences | Department of History | Phone: 504-865-3940 | Fax: 504-865-2010
Office Location: Bobet Hall, Room 428 | Mailing Address: 6363 St. Charles Avenue, Box 191, New Orleans, LA 70118
LORA | Bulletin | Blackboard | Wolfmail
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You are here City Hall homeCalendar of eventsMusicKate Rusby At Christmas
16th Dec 2018 7:30 pm
Buy Tickets for this Event
Tickets: £27.50*
*All online purchases will be subject to a £2 fee per transaction.
With a career spanning over 25 years in music, Kate Rusby is one of the finest interpreters of traditional folk songs and one of our most emotive original songwriters - melding old and new so you can barely see the join. A Mercury Prize nominee, Folk Singer of the Year, Best Live Act, Best Album and Best Original Song winner at the BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards.
Forever proud to call herself folk singer, Kate Rusby’s beautiful, expressive vocals never fail to connect the emotional heart of a song to that of her audience. Famously down to earth, for over twenty years Kate’s engaging personality and sharp Yorkshire wit have further endeared her to concert goers everywhere.
And it is in her special Christmas concerts that all these elements combine to exquisite effect. See the video on Kate’s YouTube explaining the importance of Yorkshire Carols! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OMh6QjMkvzE
After fifteen years of enchanting audiences up and down the land, Kate’s Christmas tour – captured on her 2013 Live At Christmas concert DVD – has for many, become as much a part of the festivities as Christmas pudding itself! Warm and inviting, spicy and sparkly she and her marvellous band – joined as ever by a sublime brass quintet – embody the sounds and joyous spirit of the best Christmases ever!
Kate’s band of merry musicians (including the fabulous brass quintet) this December will comprise of;
Damien O’Kane on guitar, tenor guitar and banjo
Steven Byrnes on bouzouki, guitar and tenor guitar
Nick Cooke on diatonic accordion
Duncan Lyall on double bass
Josh Clark on percussion
The key word here is, of course, ‘joy’. For, with her Christmas concerts, Kate is embracing and sharing a local South Yorkshire tradition of which she’s been a part ever since she was a child. For over two hundred years from late November to New Year’s Day on Sunday lunchtimes the good folk of South Yorkshire and North Derbyshire have flocked to their local public houses to sing their own, unique variations of familiar carols that, as Kate says, ‘were kicked out of churches during the Victorian era for being too happy!’ (And we might add too exuberant!)
“Kate Rusby remains Britain’s most popular female folk singer because she has mastered the art of Christmas songs” – The Guardian
Concessions:
Under 16s: £19.50
To view all terms and conditions of sale please click here
30th Aug 2019 7:30 pm
Sweeney Entertainments proudly presents: We Love Little Mix
1st Sep 2019 1:00 pm
21st Sep 2019 7:30 pm
The ELO Experience
22nd Sep 2019 7:30 pm
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CMBA Awards
CMBA Blog Profile: Hometowns to Hollywood
The CMBA profiles two classic movie blogs per month. Today we're featuring Annette from Hometowns to Hollywood.
In many ways, Annette of Hometowns to Hollywood is a classic film archaeologist.
Her travels to conferences across the United States allow Annette to discover the hometowns of classic movie stars. "I feel that studying the lives of eventual celebrities and walking the same streets that they had graced in days gone by ultimately makes these figures more accessible, relatable, and overall human," she says.
Hometowns that Annette has explored include Wallace, Idaho (Lana Turner), Cincinnati, Ohio (Tyrone Power), Helena, Montana (Myra Loy), and Indiana, Pennsylvania (Jimmy Stewart).
"We all have our favorites," writes Annette, "and Jimmy Stewart is mine. I admire the life he lived, the roles he played, and the optimistic, reflective attitude that guided him through his memorable life. He never forgot where he came from."
You can read more about Annette's visit to Jimmy Stewart's hometown HERE.
Posted by Silver Screenings at 6:00 PM 1 comment:
Labels: Classic Film, Classic Movie Blogger, Hometowns to Hollywood
CMBA Blog Profile: Mildred's Fatburgers
The CMBA profiles two classic movie blogs per month. Today we're featuring Beth from Mildred’s Fatburgers.
Mildred's Fatburgers has the wise-cracking, fast-talking personality of a smart, 1930s kind of dame – one who doesn't miss a beat and is very, very witty.
For example, here's a introduction to the film Scaramouche: "The Marquis is the kind of guy who kills poor people for poaching, gets girls in trouble, and makes duel-able mountains out of molehills with other gentry. In other words, just your average late 18th-century French aristocrat."
Beth's site covers multiple genres, such as drama, musicals and animation. One could argue her particular area of expertise is comedy, as evidenced by her review of the Marx Brothers' Duck Soup (1933).
"See Duck Soup again if you haven't in a long while," writes Beth. "It's only about an hour and 15 minutes, so your kids can watch it, too. Come for the spies, stay for the crazy."
Posted by Silver Screenings at 6:00 PM 3 comments:
Labels: Classic Film, Classic Movie Blogger, Mildred's Fatburgers
ABOUT the CMBA
The Classic Movie Blog Association (CMBA) was founded in 2009. An organization of bloggers whose purpose is to promote and celebrate classic movies, CMBA does this mainly by organizing and promoting classic film blogathons, establishing quality standards in blogging, recognizing classic movie blogging excellence, and supporting its members. Prospective members are approved by a vote of the current membership upon application, which occurs quarterly. Application information can be accessed by clicking here.
Click on image for a link to the CMBA's 2019 Spring Blogathon
THE CMBA 2018 FALL BLOGATHON IS A WRAP!
Click on image to link to participating member blog contributions!
CMBA MEMBER BLOG ROLL
Carole & Co.
'Gable And Lombard'? How about 'Powell And Lombard'? - Today's entry was inspired by "Supernatural" -- no, not the 1933 film that was Carole Lombard' lone journey into horror, but the long-running TV series o...
Movies, Silently
Fun Size Review: The Toll Gate (1920) - William S. Hart gets dark (well, darker than usual) in this western revenge yarn. He is supported by Anna Q. Nilsson, whose sensitive performance does much...
Make Mine Film Noir
Say Nothing: A True Story of Murder and Memory in Northern Ireland (Book) (2019) - *Say Nothing: A True Story of Murder and Memory in Northern Ireland**, by Patrick Radden Keefe* *New York: Doubleday, February 2019* *List of main charact...
Hometowns to Hollywood
Tarzan and His Mate (1934) - “The best weapon a woman has is a man’s imagination.”–Maureen O’Sullivan as Jane Parker One of the most interesting serials to reflect upon from the Pre-Co...
Louise Brooks Society
An Early Glimpse at Louise Brooks' Wichita, Kansas - On May 1, 1924 Louise Brooks was in New Brunswick, New Jersey -- performing at the Rivoli Theatre as a member of the Denishawn Dance Company. Some five day...
Lady Eve's Reel Life
Coming August 25: The Vive la France! Blogathon - On July 14 the *Vive la France! *blogathon was announced. Set for Sunday, August 25, it will be hosted by this blog and Silver Screen Modes. The subject...
The Movie Night Group's Guide to Classic Film
Bette Designs - Con man Sherwood Nash (William Powell) decides to forgo financial scams in favor of fashion scams when he meets would-be designer Lynn Mason (Bette Davis)...
#FaveVampireFilms - Your Favorite Vampire Films Tweetathon - What are your favorite vampire films? Last month, we had a grand time with our science fiction films tweetathon. So, in the spirit of movie sequels, we've ...
Even More Twice As Gay - Advertisements
Adventures in Blu-Ray: FM (1978) - Under the leadership of program director Jeff Dugan (Michael Brandon), L.A.’s QSKY soon becomes the #1 radio station in the market, with a dedicated staff ...
Cooking With the Stars: Katharine Hepburn’s Brownies - Cooking With the Stars: Katharine Hepburn’s Brownies Happy summer, classic movie chefs! After months of writing about some incredible stars and recipes for...
Classic Movie Chat
In Need Of A MARLENE DIETRICH Fix? Try Our Monday Quiz. - Ok, we admit it. We DO need a Dietrich fix. So here we go. Has any classic movie actress so indelibly dominated movies, recordings, live performance and ...
The King Murder (1932) Review, with Conway Tearle and Natalie Moorhead - Henry Barton Conway Tearle Elizabeth Hawtorn Natalie Moorhead Pearl Hope Marceline Day Released by Chesterfield Pictures Directed by Richard Thorpe Run tim...
Century Film Project
Waiting at the Church (1906) - This Nickelodeon release from Edison Studios uses a popular song as the source for its story, which would have cued exhibitors what music to play for accom...
Silver Screen Modes
ANNOUNCING VIVE LA FRANCE FILM BLOGATHON - On this Bastille Day (14 Juillet) we announce The Vive la France Blogathon will be hosted by Lady Eve’s Reel Life and silverscreenmodes.com this comin...
Rd 2 1960's Era Favorite Classic Movie Actresses Tourney - *Here we go with Rd 2 in the 60's era bracket* *1960's Era Rd 2: Which actress do you like more?* *1960's Era Rd 2: Which actress do you like more?*
4 Star Films
Canyon Passage (1946): Ole Buttermilk Skies - Portland, Oregon 1856 could lead us to many places but in these circumstances, it guides us to an enterprising mercantile store owner named Logan Stuart (D...
Stars and Letters
James Cagney on "Yankee Doodle Dandy" - This summer the Filmoteca in Barcelona is offering a wonderful retrospective of Hollywood musicals, giving me the opportunity to see some of my personal f...
Royal Flush: THE CINCINNATI KID (MGM 1965) - There are movies about the high-stakes world of poker, and then there’s THE CINCINNATI KID. This gripping look at backroom gambling has long been a favorit...
Korova Theatre Presents
THE HOUSE THAT JACK BUILT (Lars von Trier, 2018, Denmark) - This is the house that Jack built. This is the girl with the flat tire That lay in the house that Jack built. This is the woman, who lost herhusba...
Charlie Chan in Egypt ( 1935 ) - In this eighth installment of the 20th Century Fox Charlie Chan series, the famous Hawaiian detective sets off for Egypt to investigate the theft of arche...
Stardust and Shadows
FOXY BROWN (1974) - Classic film is not confined to black and white pictures of the ” Golden Age.” Many were glorious imitations of what has been done before, and that is co...
WHERE ARE THEY NOW: THE CAST OF THE MUSIC MAN - One of my all-time favorite movie musicals was 1962's The Music Man. The musical originated on Broadway and became a huge movie hit. Everyone who is a fan ...
The Bing Crosby News Archive
BING AND SWANEE RIVER - *Here is an excellent excerpt of a story on the song Swanee River. It was written by Leonard Kress, an excellent writer...* I recently listened to severa...
What We Watched: Cartoons and Kids' Shows - I'm joined once again by my brother Steve for a trip down memory lane to recall our TV memories from the 1960s and '70s, specifically Saturday morning s...
Dear Mr. Gable
Gossip Friday: The Legs Have It - From September 1940: On the set of Boom Town: The last time Claudette [Colbert] co-starred with Clark Gable was in “It Happened One Night.” It gave both of...
The Old Hollywood Garden
Four dialogue-free scenes in classic movies - In the words of Norma Desmond, ‘We didn’t need dialogue, we had faces’. Sometimes that’s all you need. Sometimes you don’t need dialogue to get the point a...
Grace Kingsley's Hollywood
Plans That Came to Nothing: Week of July 12th, 1919 - One hundred years ago this week, Grace Kingsley indulged in hyperbole: One of the biggest announcements of the year in filmdom is to the effect that Dougla...
SHAFT Triple Feature from Warner Archive, You Will Dig It - Warner Archive just released the one, the only, the original Shaft (1971) and...
Journeys in Classic Film
Ticklish Business Episode #69: Plan 9 From Outer Space (1959) - The Ticklish Trio are back with special guest Diana Ellis to talk about Edward D. Wood, Jr., the subjective nature of bad movies, Orson Welles, and the “wo...
Castle Films: Watching Hollywood Movies at Home Since 1937 - This is Western movie star Tom Mix. He made about 300 films during his movie career, from 1909 to 1935, and he often performed his own stunts (complete wit...
Three Favorite Movies in STRANGER THINGS 3 - **Warning! Mild spoilers ahead, but only related to minor incidents. No major plot points are discussed.* The third season of *Stranger Things* continues i...
Strictly Vintage Hollywood
Summer Reading Challenge #1 - Dottie Ponedel About Face - Last summer I signed up for the Summer Reading Challenge that is held over at Raquel Stecher’s Out of the Past blog. I never got around to posting anyth...
Silent-ology
Win The Blu-ray Set “The Extraordinary World Of Charley Bowers” And Rediscover A Quirky Forgotten Genius! - Calling all silent comedy fans!! Flicker Alley has a very exciting new release: a Blu-ray set of 17 shorts by the one and only Charley Bowers! And when I s...
GlamAmor
Cinema Style File - Barbara Stanwyck Straight Down the Line in 1944's DOUBLE INDEMNITY - A little over a week ago, I started my Pre-Code screening series *The Style of Sin* at the Egyptian Theatre and my first star was Barbara Stanwyck. As we...
Lady of Burlesque (1943) - In 1943, Barbara Stanwyck donned spangles and lace to star as Dixie Daisy, the titular “lady of burlesque.” This mildly goofy murder mystery seems an odd c...
Musings of a Classic Film Addict
The Janet Leigh Blogathon — The Romance of Rosy Ridge (1947) - Janet Leigh is one of those classic film actresses who has always intrigued me from afar. During my discovery of vintage cinema, I’ve had the pleasure of w...
Crítica Retrô
Taverna Maldita (1955) / Pete Kelly's Blues (1955) - A história começa em 1915 em Nova Orleans, onde um membro de uma família negra está sendo enterrado no campo, à margem do rio. Depois do funeral, uma corne...
Spellbound By Movies
Born After the Late Night Movie - Yesterday my dad revealed a fact about my birth I never knew–I was born after the late night movie! My parents sat on the couch to catch a film they want...
This Magic Moment: The Apartment - *While a film may be 2 hours or more in length, there are those special moments - unforgettable moments - that linger in the heart and mind. These moments ...
Poppity Talks Classic Film
Classic Film Talk: ‘Safari’ (1956) - Today we reminisce about Safari (1956) Directed by Terence Young Starring: Victor Mature & Janet Leigh * Published specifically for The Janet Leigh Blogath...
Film Fanatic
City for Conquest (1940) - “Call it applause, call it ambition, call it whatever you’d like — but it’d take a lot more than a man to come between you two.” Synopsis: An aspiring danc...
THE JANET LEIGH BLOGATHON: Columbo, Forgotten Lady (1975) - Michaela of *Love Letters to Old Hollywood* is hosting a blogathon tribute to lovely Janet Leigh. Click *HERE* to enjoy the contributions. *Forgotten La...
The Wonderful World of Cinema
More than just a film: The Manchurian Candidate (John Frankenheimer, 1962) - John Frankenheimer is one of those movie directors whose films, I feel, are so unique, that I couldn’t compare them with the work of anybody else. He fits,...
Classic Movie Man
Happy Fourth of July from the Classic Movie Man - Betty Hutton wishes you a happy and safe 4th of July!
Cinema Essentials
Smokey and the Bandit (1977) - If I asked you to name the biggest film at the US box office in 1977, you might well guess (correctly) that it was Star Wars. But if I asked you to name th...
Old Hollywood Films
5 Reasons: The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938) - This article is part of The Fourth Annual Olivia de Havilland Blogathon hosted by Phyllis Loves Classic Movies and In the Good Old Days of Classic Hollywoo...
Vienna's Classic Hollywood
HIRSCHFELD IN HOLLYWOOD - Great Al HIRSCHFELD drawing. How many can you identify? I got about 27 on a first look. Albert HIRSCHFELD (1903-2003) was an American caricaturist who was...
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Announcing the All About Al Pacino Blogathon - Al Pacino, in my humble opinion, is one of the greatest actors to ever live. He has given us so many iconic performances from his incredible turn as Michae...
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Cary Grant Won't Eat You
Rebecca Got a Bad Rep - **Spoilers abound** Of all the femme fatales on film and in print, Rebecca may top them all. The woman isn’t even alive at the start of the book or the Hit...
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Portal » Board index » Roleplaying Section » Omega » Omega 1x1
Drarry Camp Counselor AU - Nymeria and iamcrystalqueer
Moderators: Eferhilda, Alucard
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iamcrystalqueer
Post subject: Re: Drarry Camp Counselor AU - Nymeria and iamcrystalqueer
it really is oingo or be boingo'd on this bitch of an earth.
Location: A Pool of My Own Tears
Usually not one to get easily flustered, Draco still considered averting his eyes, just out of consideration for Harry's modesty. Who knew? Maybe Harry wasn't really okay with being watched by someone who was practically a stranger as he exited the water. They didn't really know each other that well after all, so Draco decided to look away and out on the lake instead.
"I care more about your modesty than my being in the dark," he says with a crooked grin, still looking at the lake rather than at Harry. After all, even if he still was somewhat convinced that Harry had a crush on Oliver, Draco still didn't want to make anyone uncomfortable with his homosexuality.
it’s quick, it’s easy and it’s free: pouring river water in your socks
Harry let out a genuine laugh at that. "I've been attending camp for too long to have any of that left, mate," he exhaled with a chuckle, glancing over at Draco with a toothy grin.
Eventually Harry changed his grip around the aluminum latter and looking down at the steps as he did. Immediately judging that the scene would quickly get indecent, Harry moved his left hand to cover his privates, as he finally took a step up, finally fully exposing his hips. Suddenly faced with the chill evening air, Harry took the remaining steps in a quick stride.
Once back on the dock and on his feet, Harry moved without any further comment back towards the lake shore in search for his abandoned clothes.
Even if Draco had promised himself not to look, he couldn't really stop himself from sneaking a peak at Harry once he got out of the water. It wasn't a bad sight by far, but he didn't want to make Harry uncomfortable, so he did his best not to stare. It wasn't like he was going to make a move on Harry after all and Harry seemed like a cool guy, so he wasn't that afraid of crossing boundaries with him.
"Well, it's different when it's someone you don't know as well, isn't it?" Draco asked, knowing that it would make a difference to him, so why wouldn't it to Harry?
Having passed Draco, Harry moved his hand from his crotch, thoughtlessly tugging at the wet material as he did, immediately feeling less exposed now that the fabric no longer clung to him.
"I guess," he answered, not really giving the question much thought. In a matter of moments, they were at a considerable distance and in the dark, Harry had quickly managed to forget any insecurities. "But it's not like you're much of a stranger anymore," he added, glancing over at Draco with a grin, before picking up his t-shirt from the wooden pole where he had left his clothes.
After a moment of hesitation, Harry pulled on his shirt with little regard for his damp chest.
Even if it was probably more a fact than a compliment, it still brought a soft smile to Draco's face. Even if he wasn't actually planning on coming back to camp after this year, it was still nice to know that he was starting to become an accepted part of the team. Pansy did tell him that people usually became part of the team quite easily, it usually took Draco a lot longer to actually bond with other people.
"You barely know me," he said despite himself, not sure what he was going for. "But sure."
Harry hummed at that, not fully agreeing with Draco's comment. "I'm getting to know you, though," he countered as an alternative phrasing of the same answer, his crooked grin audible in his voice.
For a couple of moments Harrys eyes lingered on Draco, before catching himself in doing so; he restlessly shifted his position, bending over forward to run his hands through his hair while avoiding to further drip onto his shirt.
"I'm dressed now," he declared as he once again straightened his posture, running both hands through his hair, pushing it backwards and out of his face.
Draco turned around to look at Harry once he got permission, feeling a bit more comfortable with looking at the partially naked Harry once there had been a verbal permission to do so. They were in a strange territory the two of them and Draco doesn't want to do anything to accidentally offend Harry.
"I guess you could say that," he said, mostly in response to Harry's first comment. They were getting to know each other in a way, but it was a slow process and Draco preferred to take it that way.
Posted: Thu Mar 29, 2018 4:41 pm
Harry's eyes lingered upon Draco's as he tugged at the seams at his ahoulders. His hair was still wet enough to drip onto his shoulders and down his neck, and Harry thoughlessly tugged at the clammy fabric in an attempt to stop ir feom clinglyng to his chest excessively.
An almost teasing grin peering forth at the corner of his mouth, before correcring himself: "I intend on getting to know you, at least."
Harry let the comment hang in the aie; he didn't find it that he needed any countering remark on it, nor did he find it to be bold enough that he even considered the possibilty of Draco being unconfortable by it. In a lighter tone, Harry therefore continued. "I'm gonna head back - are you gonna stick around?"
It was tempting to just stay by the dock alone and get a moment to think, but another part of Draco didn't feel quite done talking with Harry, so he wanted to go back with him. He knew that Pansy was going to tease him for it, but he really enjoyed Harry's company, even if they were an unlike match. The two of them really were getting to know each other, but it still felt a little odd to hear that Harry was doing it on purpose.
"I'll walk back with you," he said with a warm smile as he got up from his seated position and went to join Harry. "If you don't mind, that is."
Somewhere in the back of his head, Harry couldn't help but feel relieved and reassured by Draco's words; he was unable to keep a toothy grin at bay. For a moment Harry had feared he might have come across as unnecessarily bold, but it pleased him endlessly to see know that Draco at least didn't find him unbearably obnoxious.
"Not at all," he answered lightly, momentarily meeting Draco's eyes before glancing away and he bent down to grab his shorts and shoes. As he did, droplets continued to drip from his hair, and while straightening his posture he decided it would be counter productive to put any more layers. Besides, he noted, as he ran his forearm against his forehead, nobody but Draco was gonna see him is this state of undress at this time of day.
Draco smiled softly at that, still not quite qure how to actually feel about this friendship with Harry. It was a very unusual friendship to Draco at least, but he didn't really mind it. It was nice and unassuming to be around Harry, because the other didn't seem to expect anything from him, other than just his company.
"You should probably have brought a towel," he noted with a soft smile on his lips, noticing how Harry obviously hadn't prepared for his little swim in the lake. It was a little endearing actually, but Draco didn't voice that thought though, not wanting to come along as brazen.
Harry's features immediately lit up in a toothy grin, being humored by his own remark far before saying it out loud.
"Why, are you planning to get so close you might get wet?" he countered, taking half a step backwards back towards the shore side. His tone of voice was teasingly challenging, but the brightness of his smile undermined any harshness that might linger in his choice of words. With a toying wink of an eye, Harry turned his torso forward as he started moving back to the cabins.
"I spend the entire day at the lake, I'd use through an impossible amount of towels if I were to bring one every time," he remarked, on a more genuine note, not wanting to come across as unnecessarily bold.
"Maybe I did," Draco said with a crooked grin, feeling like he and Harry had exactly the kind of friendship where they could joke about things like that. It was a little difficult, especially seeing as they were still very new to all of this, but Draco figured that Harry would tell him if he was overstepping. He did seem like a good guy to help him fit in better at camp, even if he didn't have any intentions of coming back again.
"But you sure ruined that for yourself now," he added, looking straight ahead at where they were going, not sure if he wanted to see Harry's reaction to that statement.
Harry couldn't help but snort out a laugh at that, turning slightly so that Draco once again was in his field of vision. The other was looking towards the path ahead, which made Harry's lingering look feel less intrusive.
Friendships and exchanges like this were so easy to have, especially in circumstances as informal as a summer camp, and Harry genuinely appreciated how little offence Draco seem to take with Harry's jokes.
"I'll try to remember that next time I go skinny dipping," he responded, the laughing exhale still audible in the airiness of his voice, before once again turning his eyes forward.
Draco couldn’t help but softly grin at that. It was all very silly and the interaction wasn’t very in character for how Draco normally interacted with people, especially not people he didn’t know all that well. However, Harry just got that side out of him and Draco couldn’t quite explain why. He was just very easy to talk with and he could understand why Pansy always seemed to enjoy his company.
“Good, that’s all I ask for, a little bit of consideration,” he said with a soft smile, still looking at the path in front of him, rather than the man walking next to him.
Harry hummed at that in a tone that indicated that he wasn't sure if it was a fair ask. Harry was, after all and very obviously, very poor at planning enough ahead to bring anything anywhere.
"I'll try," he repeated with a soft chuckle, wanting at least to pretend to make an effort. However, he was fairly certain neither of them would suffer greatly if Harry had forgotten by tomorrow.
Walking barefooted, Harry specifically avoided walking on the graveled paths leading back towards the central camp fire; slightly hindered by that, he stopped at a distance of the first path leading away from it.
"I'm in C," he stated, nodding towards the group of cabins to his left. The counselor cabins were scattered among the campers's cabins for security reasons, and knowing Draco was staying in a different quadrant, the comment was almost said as a goodbye.
"I'll see you tomorrow, yeah?" he added with a smile, and, without waiting for a response, turned around and started walking towards his cabin.
It was strangely comforting to know that he would definitely be seeing Harry the next day, probably already in the morning, if they managed to still stick to their morning lake routine. It was nice to have something to wake up to, even if it was just meeting up with another counselor by the lake.
"See you tomorrow," he said in a soft voice, before he went to his own cabin, trying not to overthink the soft grin that had found its way to his lips.
It had taken Draco a while to get used to sharing bathrooms with the other counsellors, and even if he had sorta gotten used to it, he still preferred using them when they were mostly empty. This did mean that he had to shower and clean himself at odd hours, but he didn't mind. He was already on an odd schedule here at camp, so adding odd washing hours to the mix wasn't really that much of a hassle.
He had just stepped out of his shower and was wrapped in his bathrobe. He was brushing his teeth and trying to get ready to start the day. It was mostly quiet out, he could hear some giggling from the campers in the cabins, but it was a nice and calm morning out.
Knowing he would be spending the better part of the day in a kayak, Harry had decided to go on a morning run instead. When he had left, his hair was still clammy from the swim last night, but now, on his way back, it was yet again drenched in sweat.
He had been on a detour to his cabin in search for a change of clothes and a clean towel, before heading towards the shower house. Harry had been listening to music on his run, and was in the middle of taking out his ear buds when he pushed open the door to the men's baths with his shoulder.
Not having expected there to be any others at the showers this time of day, he was surprised to find Draco there.
"Good morning," Harry exhaled out, pleasantly surprised. Given the context of it all, Harry assumed Draco had just showered.
Harry lingered at the doorway for a moment, leaving his muddy running shoes on a drying mat in the hallway, before stepping into the tiled bathroom. Without much thought, he placed his clothes and towel on top of the counter, leaving a single sink between the two of them. Harry's eyes yet again found Draco, as he took a moment to bundle up the ear buds properly. "Sleep well?"
Having not expected to see anyone at that early hour, Draco jumped at the sound of Harry's voice. He knew that people could come and go as they pleased in the common washrooms, but he usually got them to himself that early in the morning. However, now that he did have to share the washroom with someone, he was okay with it being Harry, even if he hadn't had the time to apply his makeup yet and probably didn't quite look like himself.
"Good morning," he said with a soft smile. It was just familiar enough to start the morning with seeing Harry as the first person, so he didn't feel too uncomfortable about it, even if it still felt new and a little scary. "Just fine. You?"
"Alright," he answered, having turned to look at himself in the mirror. He briefly turned to properly meet Draco's eye with a smile, before once again settling with looking at Draco through the mirrored reflection. "I should probably have showered yesterday after having been in the lake, but you live and you learn, I guess."
As he spoke, his eyes hand instinctively found his own reflection, which, not having put in his contacts yet, was considerably sharper than Draco's. With a heavy exhale, Harry rubbed his eyes with both of his hands, as if the gesture would lessen the strain the blind run had put on them. Finally, Harry dug through his pile of clothing and pulled out a round pair of gold framed glasses and put them on.
The world immediately became sharper around him, and Harry's first instinct was to glance at Draco, who now looked fresh faced and newly showered.
"Have you been up long?" Harry couldn't help but ask. Even if Harry had been out on a run for close to an hour, it was still early enough that Draco's presence surprised him.
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Joyner Library Laupus Health Sciences Library Music Library
Digital Collections Special Collections Teaching Resources Center The ScholarShip Institutional Repository Country Doctor Museum
Articles in regional publications that pertain to a wide range of North Carolina-related topics.
19 results for Mecklenburg County--History
Currently viewing results 1 - 15
1.Yesterday in Mecklenburg County by Norris, Jeannie Faris The State Vol. 30 Issue 23, Apr 1963
Record #:
Norris, Jeannie Faris
Settled around 1750, the residents of Mecklenburg County have enjoyed a lucrative and varied history. Sustained through a variety of agricultural and eventually, commercial ventures, residents of Mecklenburg initially relied heavily upon cotton. Joining in the American dream of finding gold, Mecklenburgers first discovered the rare mineral in 1799. Dubbed by Cornwallis as the \"hornet's nest of stubborn revolutionaries,\" Mecklenburgers experienced the War of Sugar Creek, instigated a military campaign against a group of South Carolinian Tories, known as Scoffelites, and wrote their own Declaration of Independence. Mecklenburgers additionally participated in the Civil War, furnishing some 2,700 men to the cause, or one sixth of the county population.
The State (NoCar F 251 S77), Vol. 30 Issue 23, Apr 1963, p12-13, 31-37, il, por
Mecklenburg County--Economic conditions; Mecklenburg County--History
2.The Mecklenburg Eagle. by Krepela, Richard B. The State Vol. 28 Issue 16, Jan 1961
Krepela, Richard B.
One of Mecklenburg's family historians, Amanda Rose Coffey, has been collecting and cataloging information regarding two of the county's most famous families, the Coffeys and the Alexanders. Coffey has filed dozens of letters, diaries, ledgers, and relics in a series of boxes, some of which date to pre-revolutionary times.
The State (NoCar F 251 S77), Vol. 28 Issue 16, Jan 1961, p13, por
Mecklenburg County--History; Genealogy
3.Mecklenburg by Goerch, Carl The State Vol. 9 Issue 22, Nov 1941
Goerch, Carl
Continuing his travels around the state, Goerch describes the things of interest he found in Mecklenburg County. Charlotte, the state's largest city, is located there. Goerch writes that \"the county has one of the most interesting histories of any county in the state.\" President James K. Polk and Stonewall Jackson's daughter, Julia, were both born there. Davidson College was founded in the county in 1837.
The State (NoCar F 251 S77), Vol. 9 Issue 22, Nov 1941, p1-4, 24-24-27, il, por
Mecklenburg County--Description and travel; Mecklenburg County--History
4.Industrial and Agricultural Development of Mecklenburg County by Young, Dick The State Vol. 11 Issue 40, Mar 1944
Young, Dick
Charlotte has a long history dating back before the American Revolution. One event that spurred its growth was the discovery of gold that occurred before the California gold strike of 1849. Young examines the city's history and the agricultural and industrial growth over the last century.
The State (NoCar F 251 S77), Vol. 11 Issue 40, Mar 1944, p18-26, il, por
Mecklenburg County--History; Mecklenburg County--Industry and agriculture
5.Power and Influence in Mecklenburg County, 1850-1880 by O'Brien, Gail W. North Carolina Historical Review Vol. 54 Issue 2, April 1977
O'Brien, Gail W.
This social history uses an analysis of social structures, social groupings, social interactions, and power configurations to examine the exercise of power in the antebellum South. Focusing on the attributes of power-holders and their importance in shaping any society via the role of the planter/slaveholder, the author uses Mecklenburg County as a case study because of its representative antebellum attributes and the postwar changes that occurred there.
North Carolina Historical Review (NoCar F251 .N892), Vol. 54 Issue 2, April 1977, p120-144, il, por, f Periodical Website
Mecklenburg County--History
6.The Rosenwald Schools and Black Education in North Carolina by Hanchett, Tom North Carolina Historical Review Vol. 65 Issue 4, Oct 1988
Hanchett, Tom
This article examines North Carolina's experience with the Rosenwald Schools, using Mecklenburg County as the case study. Rosenwald Schools were an educational system for Southern black children who were excluded from white schools. Founded in the 1910s by Booker T. Washington and philanthropist Julius Rosenwald, the schools were a limited success. Over 5,300 schools were constructed throughout the South and Mecklenburg County had 26. By the 1930s though, the Rosenwald Foundation admitted that the schools were not accomplishing the desired effect of educating blacks to live in a white-dominated society. The foundation then stopped funding the schools in order to promote black and white cooperation through other methods.
North Carolina Historical Review (NoCar F251 .N892), Vol. 65 Issue 4, Oct 1988, p387-444 , il, por, map, f Periodical Website
Rosenwald, Julius, 1862-1932; Mecklenburg County--History; Rosenwald Schools
7.Four Mecklenburg County, North Carolina Chairs: An Examination of Style and Technology by Couch, Dale L. Journal of Early Southern Decorative Arts Vol. 14 Issue 1, May 1988
Couch, Dale L.
This article examines the chair-making tradition of Mecklenburg County through the analysis of four chairs from the late 18th century. By analyzing the chairs, the tradition can be traced back to prior forms before the artisans migrated to North Carolina, which affected the style and technology of construction.
Journal of Early Southern Decorative Arts (NoCar N 6520 .J67), Vol. 14 Issue 1, May 1988, p1-18, il Periodical Website
Mecklenburg County--History; Chair-making--Mecklenburg County
8.Beneath These Stones by Smith, Andy Charlotte Magazine Vol. 20 Issue 10, October 2015
Smith, Andy
Charlotte's Hebrew Cemetery is a Jewish burial ground that is not only a place to revere the dead, but also provides insight into Jewish culture and Charlotte's history. Mayors, politicians, Confederate soldiers, and other important Charlotte residents are buried here.
Charlotte Magazine (NoCar F 264.C4), Vol. 20 Issue 10, October 2015, p43-45, il, por Periodical Website
Mecklenburg County--History; Charlotte--History
9.Lives of the Wayside Inn by Davidson, Chalmers G. The State Vol. 39 Issue 12, November 1971
Davidson, Chalmers G.
In Davidson, North Carolina there is an old Wayside Inn that was erected by the Dinkins family to serve as a stopping place for travelers. This article discusses the history and uses of the Wayside Inn.
The State (NoCar F 251 S77), Vol. 39 Issue 12, November 1971, p8-10, il, por
Inns; Davidson College--History; Davidson College; Mecklenburg County--History; Mecklenburg County--Description and travel
10.Yesterday in Mecklenburg County by Not Given The State Vol. 30 Issue 24, April 1963
This article presents the history of Mecklenburg County, from the early days of its settlement to the origination of the county’s name.
The State (NoCar F 251 S77), Vol. 30 Issue 24, April 1963, p12-13, 31, il, por
Mecklenburg County--Description and travel; Mecklenburg County--History; Mecklenburg County--Industry and agriculture
11.The Past: 1968 by McShane, Chuck Charlotte Magazine Vol. 18 Issue 9, September 2013
McShane, Chuck
An examination of the life of an average citizen living in Charlotte in 1968 provides a view of the history of race relations, from the desegregation lunch counters to the still-present dangers for African Americans today.
Charlotte Magazine (NoCar F 264.C4), Vol. 18 Issue 9, September 2013, p64-71, il, por Periodical Website
Charlotte--History; Mecklenburg County--History; Race relations
12.Oakhurst Turns 100 by Brown, Virginia Charlotte Magazine Vol. 20 Issue 11, November 2015
Brown, Virginia
The east Charlotte neighborhood, Oakhurst, was established in 1915. Now over 100 years old, the neighborhood continues to grow and maintain its sense of history.
Charlotte Magazine (NoCar F 264.C4), Vol. 20 Issue 11, November 2015, p20-21, il, map Periodical Website
Mecklenburg County--History; Neighborhoods--Charlotte
13.The Hornet's Nest by Clarkson, Heriot The North Carolina Booklet Vol. 1 Issue 6, Oct 1901
Clarkson, Heriot
An essay on events in colonial and revolutionary North Carolina with a particular focus on Mecklenburg County and recurring religious and political themes.
The North Carolina Booklet (NoCar F 251 .N86), Vol. 1 Issue 6, Oct 1901, p3-24 Periodical Website
Mecklenburg County--History; North Carolina--History--Colonial period, ca. 1600-1775
14.Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence by Salley, A.S., Jr. The North Carolina Booklet Vol. 8 Issue 3, January 1909
Salley, A.S., Jr.
This article discusses the Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence, which is commonly believed to be the first public declaration of independence from the Crown, in the colonies. It includes a reprinting of the original declaration as well as correspondence between several colonial leaders regarding the declaration and the political climate in North Carolina.
The North Carolina Booklet (NoCar F 251 .N86), Vol. 8 Issue 3, January 1909, p155-248 Periodical Website
Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence; Mecklenburg County--History
15.The Spratt Burying Ground by Alexander, Violet G. The North Carolina Booklet Vol. 15 Issue 3, January 1916
Alexander, Violet G.
The Spratt burying-ground in Mecklenburg County, North Carolina is one of the oldest burying places in the state. Many of the inscriptions on tombstones found in the graveyard pre-date the American Revolution.
The North Carolina Booklet (NoCar F 251 .N86), Vol. 15 Issue 3, January 1916, p152-157 Periodical Website
Gravestones; Mecklenburg County--History; Cemeteries
East Fifth Street | Greenville, NC 27858-4353 USA | 252.328.6131 | Contact Webmaster
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The PROFESSIONAL WRESTLING
AUGUST 2018 WRESTLING DISCUSSION.
By The Natural, August 1, 2018 in The PROFESSIONAL WRESTLING
Bustronaut 4,063
LocationChampaign, IL
You think it's amazing that a "journalist" fat-shaming their friend made them indignant?
Also, I think it's amazing that you think they're all ok with a storyline that happened 9 years ago.
West Newbury Bad Boy 7,389
We Stan THE MAN
5 minutes ago, Ace said:
I find it amazing that people who work for the company who did the "Piggy James" angle are so indignant.
Working for the company which provides the best professional opportunities at the moment does not amount to an endorsement of everything that company has ever done.
Craig H 9,148
Joe West Fan Club
LocationSouf Bend, IN
Not to pick a side in this discussion, but they also recently did something similar with Dana Brooke.
But yes, Nia or others simply working for WWE isn't an endorsement of past scummy shit. I don't think it is anyway...
Now I'm honestly not sure
12 minutes ago, Betsy Zeidler said:
Even if you give him the benefit of the doubt and assume he was clumsily trying to be cute talking about her cosmetic surgery, which I'm more than willing to...
Like, I understand there are merits to discussing aesthetics and appearance in many parts of the entertainment business, and especially in professional wrestling. And there's a way to do that.
When it starts being about what Dave finds "attractive," all I hear is "Man, you see her before she got her tits done? VAVAVOOM! Now? *shrugs* Eh." Unsolicited publically in what would for Dave amount to a professional setting. It's not a great look.
Like WNBB said, it's basically THE place you want to get to. The storylines can be handwaved as "It's [blank's] character being a heel, it's not meant as an actual comment on the person"
Cristobal 8,179
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There's a fair point to be made about the fact that WWE is not a disinterested party in this discussion and it's certainly been one that has contributed to the double standard at play.
I'm not a fan of using it to diminish the point these women are making. Yes they feel more free to push back on Dave Meltzer than they do on their employer. So what?
Ace 4,281
It's blaming one person (who has now publicly apologized repeatedly) for something their own workplace has a history of perpetuating.
It's corporate culture vs an outsider (with a poor history of victim blaming, and grossness about looks) who is taken as gospel among marks.
ETA: They are BOTH bad, don't get me wrong. It takes a lot more to change a company than it does to (hopefully) change a dude's mind.
But I mean, should they then place any blame publicly on WWE or Vince or say something about them too? Or should they say nothing? I honestly don't know what the right move is, but I do think it's shitty that WWE has such a scummy history and the only thing recently called into question is Randy Orton fondling his dong before shaking hands with someone.
One of his apologies he still felt the need to comment on her physical appearance but ok.
tlk23 92
Seattle Yannigan
"I thought that they had a cool act in NXT and on the main roster, I don't get a thing out of them. I don't think their promos are particularly good. Their wrestling isn't good. I think Peyton Royce's transformation to look more attractive, I don't know. I don't want to say." - Dave
"She was more attractive in NXT?" - Bryan
"I thought so. Yes. To me, yes. But that's neither here nor there." - Dave
"No one is saying she's unattractive everybody." - Bryan
I know. No shit. I didn't say it at all. She doesn't stand out to me. When she was in NXT, she did..... She was a lot lighter." - Dave
So if he leaves out that last line, would everyone be ok? When did he say that wasn't true or just an observation? Nobody has a problem with Dave saying they/she is not a over as they were in NXT. Everyone would agree with that. He thinks that her character (everything from her mic skills, wrestling, to her look) was better at NXt.
It's not the last part. I think calling into question her "transformation to look more attractive" looks/sounds just as bad.
And frankly claiming it's going to cause women to become anorexic is hyperbolic bullshit.
2 minutes ago, tlk23 said:
So if he leaves out that last line, would everyone be ok?
No. I think the way he talks about what he finds attractive is yucky, especially when his history is taken into account.
But if he leaves the bit about her being "lighter" out, he's definitely having a much better day and this doesn't get any traction. He was being too cute and put his ass in the jackpot.
It takes far less than that to trigger eating disorders.
A neutral "I think she had a better look in NXT [In the context of professional wrestling]" would have been fine. No one care what you find attractive, nerds.
Niners Fan in CT 11,400
We Stan THE BOSS
Dave said stupid shit and WWE management is still horrible.. I just feel bad for the women, nobody says how Bray Wyatt has put on a lot of weight and all his matches suck now. The double standard is still very much alive.
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Hey, Trent Baretta, what do you think about all of this?
Oh, okay then.
No one care what you find attractive, nerds.
What is this about? Who exactly are you talking to? This is about what Dave said and the long history of how WWE has treated female performers.
I was talking to Dave, but if you took offense, perhaps I was talking to you too.
4 minutes ago, Casey said:
Maybe it's just his username, but Trent seems confused.
7 minutes ago, Betsy Zeidler said:
I wasn't involved in your conversation and don't worry you'll never make me lose sleep at night. Also, it was plural so I suppose you were talking to Bryan also.
matt925 161
He absolutely should not have said anything about a specific woman’s attractiveness, positive or not. First of all it’s creepy and no one in the world wants to hear it. But there’s no possible reason for it either. It’s a total lose-lose situation.
If all the women on the roster started looking really thin, then we should absolutely have a conversation about it. If someone was singled out or punished over a weight issue, we should absolutely be talking about it. Otherwise, there’s nothing at all worth discussing.
Now that he’s getting jumped on for it, eh, he messed up and he shouldn’t have been talking about it in the first place. After repeatedly apologizing he needs to just log off for awhile though.
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I haven’t seen a roast this bad since the Dean Martin days.
hammerva 3,283
So let me make sure I am right. Nobody has the right to be offended if you work in the WWE because of Vince right? Is that the hot take that we are going with now?
Saudi Arabia is being used the same way people use "chicago" or "Baltimore" to justify other bad things in society. Yes it sucked and even some of the WWE wrestlers admitted that but doesn't mean you get a free pass because of it
Oyaji 6,009
12 minutes ago, matt925 said:
Now that he’s getting jumped on for it, eh, he messed up and he shouldn’t have been talking about it in the first place. After repeatedly apologizing he needs to just log off for awhile though.
Wrestling is a looks driven business. It's not as clear cut as you're making it out to be. He clearly could and should have handled that better, and to me it was obvious he was talking about implants, but both he and Bryan talk about men's appearances all the time when taking into account their ability to be a star. Yes, there is a long history of men deriding women about their appearances, context/history matter, and he needs to be more thoughtful when commenting on such matters, but I don't think it is logical to say he should never talk about wrestlers' looks or attractiveness, because it matters in pro-wrestling, sports, and entertainment.
His apology, as flawed as it is, is a step in the right direction but guy definitely has an old man's mentality when it comes to women.
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First-time buyers feel ‘pushed out’ by bulk investors
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Waikato Stud's regally-bred filly Indulge started to live up to her star-studded family by getting her maiden win on the board at Geelong today.
The three-year-old's mother is Group 1 placegetter and Group 3 winner Splashing Out and she is the fourth runner and winner from the mare.
All four progeny to race are by Pins with the fillies' Shopaholic and Spending achieving black-type during their careers.
Trainer Danny O'Brien, who trained both fillies and the dam, was thrilled to get today's result for the Chittick family.
"Mark and Garry Chittick have been some of my biggest supporters throughout my career and its great to continue the legacy of one of their great bloodlines. A Waikato Stud bred and raced mare, by a Waikato Stud stallion. It's a great story," O'Brien said.
"Splashing Out was a wonderful horse for me and I take great pride that she has continued her career by leaving some wonderful racehorses, it's just a pity that she isn't still with us and producing high quality racehorses."
Indulge took up the running in the 1300m maiden and kicked clear at the top of the straight before holding on for the victory for Irish apprentice Kieran Shoemark.
"It wasn't the plan to lead but she jumped so well I had no option but to take it up, so her win was full of merit," Shoemark said.
"She will learn from that and I would expect that she will better when she has something to chase."
The win gave Andrew Balding's apprentice his 9th win of his loan period and he is hoping to push past the mark of 13 set by his good friend Oisin Murphy, who spent nine weeks in Australia last summer.
"Oisin is always ribbing me about his ability, so I would love to get one up on him if I can," said Shoemark, who completes his stint here after Saturday's week's Flemington meeting.
Photo by Slickpix Vic, to view Slickpix Vic website click here
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The Evolution of Serendipity
A key question for evolution has always been: How does biological variation arise? Darwin’s theory of evolution explained that natural selection killed off the less-fit variations, but how did the variation arise in the first place? In the nineteenth century the mechanisms of biological variation were not well understood and it was possible to imagine a sort of simple, perturbing force at work which gradually altered designs. This model did not match up very well with what Gregor Mendel was discovering about change in pea plants. About the same time that Darwin was working on revisions to his book Mendel was uncovering the fundamental laws of genetics. But Mendelian genetics would call for discrete jumps in biological variation rather than gradual modifications. It would take much work but about half a century later Mendel’s findings were integrated with Darwin’s theory of evolution. This neo-Darwinism was thought to be a great advance. Was not the poorly understood source of biological variation now revealed and reconciled with Darwin’s theory? But the neo-Darwinists had turned a blind eye to the elephant that was now in the room: Evolution now required a complex Mendelian machine to generate the needed biological variation.
This problem with neo-Darwinism is very simple. In order for evolution to continue, evolution first had to create the complex Mendelian variation machine. In other words, evolution creates the mechanism that evolution requires to work. It was an absurd level of serendipity that no one cared to notice.
Since the formulation of neo-Darwinism this problem of serendipity has only become worse. For the genes, alleles and various machinery required by Mendelian genetics were only the beginning. Indeed, it became increasingly understood that Mendel provided only a portion of the needed biological change.
Today evolutionists call upon a dizzying array of phenomenally complex mechanisms to produce jumps in biological change in an attempt to explain evolution. Horizontal gene transfer, cell fusions, directed mutations, domain shuffling and cis-acting regulatory changes are but a few of the new breed of mechanisms called upon to generate evolution’s new designs. Evolution created genes that can be transfered, mechanisms that do the transferring, cells that can be fused, DNA that can be mutated, processes to direct the mutations, domains that can be shuffled, regulatory schemes that can bring about changes, and so forth. As one evolutionist concluded, “hereditary variation arises from the non-random action of built-in biochemical systems that mobilize DNA and carry out natural genetic engineering.”
Natural genetic engineering? This is neo-Darwinism on steroids and its astronomical level of serendipity is absurd. Do evolutionists seriously think people will believe it is an undeniable truth that evolution created the phenomenally complex process of evolution, which then enabled evolution to occur?
How about an undeniable tale?
The evolutionist’s failure to reckon with their own credulity is astonishing. They contrive a truly silly idea while proclaiming it to be a fact we must accept. I would be the first to proclaim evolution as true if the evidence was there. But the evolutionists have not only failed to deliver—they have made themselves appear foolish.
Posted by Cornelius Hunter at Thursday, January 28, 2010
Labels: Complexity, Epigenetics, False expectations
Zachriel January 28, 2010 at 4:45 AM
Cornelius Hunter, most everything you post seems to be an argument from incredulity. You point to something complicated, throw up your hands, then exclaim it couldn't have just happened. Your conclusion is that generations of scientists are not only wrong, but "foolish" because they can't see what is obvious to you.
A valid replacement theory will not only explain the discrepancies, but explain why the old theory seemed plausible. Just saying the vast majority of scientists are fools is not a tenable position. And that requires understanding why scientists have thus far been unconvinced by your arguments.
You should start with what we can show with some certainty. Multicellular organisms arose only long after life had appeared. Fishopods. Dinosaurs roamed the Earth. Whales with hind limbs. Primitive hominids. Common Descent.
Lars January 28, 2010 at 5:03 AM
@Zachriel, "You point to something complicated"
Actually, he points to something logically self-contradictory. A mechanism that requires the pre-existence of machinery is solely responsible for the existence of that machinery.
"most everything you post seems to be an argument from incredulity."
It is easy to prove mathematically that you can't get odd numbers by adding together even numbers. Would you also call that an argument from incredulity?
Lars: Actually, he points to something logically self-contradictory. A mechanism that requires the pre-existence of machinery is solely responsible for the existence of that machinery.
Except it's not logically contradictory, only beyond what Cornelius Hunter considers consistent with his understanding of natural processes. In fact, complex molecules which were once thought to be unique to life can form spontaneously. And even random amino acid sequences can fold into complex three-dimensional "machines" with biological function. So it's not a logical argument.
Lars: It is easy to prove mathematically that you can't get odd numbers by adding together even numbers. Would you also call that an argument from incredulity?
No. That would a logical argument from given axioms.
To expand on that last point, the evolutionary claim today is rather like saying, "We don't know HOW nature got 3 by adding 2's together over and over. We just know for a fact that it did. After all, it had many millions of years. Any suggestion of additional operations, such as division, or input of odd numbers, is unscientific. Anyone who can't believe in the production of odd numbers from adding even numbers simply lacks imagination."
If cause A has been shown to be unsufficient to produce effect B (or even if cause A merely has not been shown to be sufficient to produce effect B -- everyone agrees OOL research has failed to do this), those are valid scientific reasons not to promote "A caused B" from hypothesis to fact. How is that an argument from incredulity?
"unsufficient" -> "insufficient"
Lars: How is that an argument from incredulity?
Because no on claims to have completely solved the problem of abiogenesis. It's called a Gap in scientific knowledge. However, there are a number of testable hypotheses that have proved fruitful, including those associated with RNA World; e.g. stereochemical affinities. There are no testable hypotheses that suggest Intelligent Design. In any case, there are no known *logical* barriers.
More importantly, we don't examine particulars in isolation. We start with what we can establish with some scientific certainty. That includes the evolution of complex structures and diversification from common ancestors.
Doublee January 28, 2010 at 6:41 AM
Where does the theory of evolution stand with respect to knowledge of what it takes to effect a major, or even minor, morphological change?
As a reader of the popular books and a frequenter of many blogs such as this one, I have yet to see a serious discussion of what it would take for evolution to accomplish what is claimed for it. The mantra of random variation and natural selection is repeated over and over. This is just a mere wisp of an explanation for the formidable engineering problem that I see.
To re-engineer a body plan, it would seem, is a very complicated process. Has anyone even outlined the steps necessary to accomplish such a feat?
An engineer, when he wishes to make something new or change an existing design, needs to define the details of what I would call the three "p's": parts, plans, and process.
Plans. A morphological change would require an alteration of the mechanism -- the process -- used to build the modified body plan. The "plan" needs knowledge of which parts to manufacture and when to provide them to the assembly line. Where is all this information stored and how is it modified to effect the morphological change?
Parts. The fundamental part is the protein. Then proteins have to be assembled into tissues and organs, and tissues and organs have to be assembled into the "final product", the new or altered body plan. The organization of all these parts into the final product is also part of the plan.
It seems that if science does not have an understanding of this process, then it is premature to claim that the theory of evolution has the same epistemological status as the theory of gravity.
Doublee: Where does the theory of evolution stand with respect to knowledge of what it takes to effect a major, or even minor, morphological change?
To understand that, we need to first look at the evidence for Common Descent.
Doublee: A morphological change would require an alteration of the mechanism -- the process -- used to build the modified body plan.
Genetics has been unraveling this mystery. Evolution works by slightly modifying the existing process, and it can be shown that small changes to developmental genes can change developmental patterns.
Zachriel,
I fail to see how the evidence for common descent would provide any clues to the intricate mechanisms required to effect a morphological transformation. If possible, could you expand upon your answer?
It seems to me that what I am asking can only come from very painstaking work in the laboratory. In other words how does the zygote "know" what to do next? How do the cells know how to differentiate themselves? Once they do, how do they know where to go?
And can a genetic mutation in and of itself affect all these processes? Doesn't a genetic mutation merely specify a new protein?
To phrase my (layman's) question in even broader terms, what is required of the putative random variation such that it creates a viable step in a morphological tranformation?
Indeed, how does that complex Mendelian machine create the needed variation required by evolution?
Zachriel January 28, 2010 at 10:00 AM
Doublee: I fail to see how the evidence for common descent would provide any clues to the intricate mechanisms required to effect a morphological transformation.
Because Common Descent defines the changes that are required. For instance, knowing that whales descended from land mammals determines the types of changes required. So we have this pattern of descent, and the question then becomes, what is the mechanism?
Doublee: And can a genetic mutation in and of itself affect all these processes? Doesn't a genetic mutation merely specify a new protein?
Developmental genes (such as hox genes) can affect many aspects of an organism. Think of a change that makes a skeleton longer, well, that one genetic change causes multiple changes in morphology so that other aspects of the organism scale with length. Everything gets longer (more or less). Otherwise nothing would work. Muscles and arteries wouldn't connect. There has been a lot of progress on how this process works.
Doublee: Indeed, how does that complex Mendelian machine create the needed variation required by evolution?
We really don't need to know how it works in detail in order to find strong evidence for evolution. Nevertheless, the evidence from developmental studies supports evolution.
MSEE January 28, 2010 at 11:02 AM
Zachriel says:
"Just saying the vast majority of scientists are fools is not a tenable position."
I don't recall having read this "saying" in Hunters blog. The majority of those in the life sciences are committed to the postulates of scientific materialism, which is a small minority viewpoint not only throughout history, but today in the USA as well. This is why scientists are regarded by many lay folks as an alien species. As there are plenty of anecdotal accounts of the private doubts of some in the life sciences that philosophical naturalism can account for EVERYTHING, the fact that these doubts are not made public should tell you something -- that something being fear of ostracism and loss of funding. This is why the life scientists that do come out with their doubts regarding neo-Darwinism, (and lets be real, there are plenty of them) are mostly retired. This has nothing to do with labeling anyone a fool, and everything to do with a philosophical hegemony which will eventually collapse, just as did its radical counterpart, Marxism.
Zachriel: Just saying the vast majority of scientists are fools is not a tenable position.
MSEE: I don't recall having read this "saying" in Hunters blog.
Cornelius Hunter: I would be the first to proclaim evolution as true if the evidence was there. But the evolutionists have not only failed to deliver—they have made themselves appear foolish.
"Appear foolish" because they have no evidence to support the fundamental claims of their scientific field of expertise, even as they sequence genomes and unravel the mysteries of heredity and development. We stand corrected.
Cornelius Hunter January 28, 2010 at 12:08 PM
Zachriel:
"Cornelius Hunter, most everything you post seems to be an argument from incredulity."
So astrology is a fact, because if we are skeptical we are guilty of incredulity. Evolutionists love having it both ways.
"You point to something complicated, throw up your hands, then exclaim it couldn't have just happened."
Except I never said that, but who cares about that.
"Your conclusion is that generations of scientists are not only wrong, "
Yes, and generations of scientists certainly have never been wrong before. How foolish to think the authorities could be wrong (when I agree with them, that is).
"but 'foolish' because they can't see what is obvious to you."
Obvious to anyone who can see the facts before him.
Zachriel January 28, 2010 at 12:27 PM
Zachriel: Cornelius Hunter, most everything you post seems to be an argument from incredulity.
Cornelius Hunter: So astrology is a fact, because if we are skeptical we are guilty of incredulity.
Nope. Reasonable skepticism is good. And we have reason to be skeptical of astrology, lack of empirical support, lack of a mechanism. But that wasn't your stated position.
Cornelius Hunter: Yes, and generations of scientists certainly have never been wrong before.
Yes, and there have certainly been foolish scientists, and scientists who "appear foolish." But there are usually reasons why there is a strong consensus in support of a theory, reasons grounded in evidence.
Nor is this a complaint about an ad hominem. Rather it is taked as your conjecture as to why the vast majority of biologists miss the facts that are so very obvious to you. But as such, it is a very weak conjecture, especially considering that these biologists include those who have sequenced the human genome and are unraveling the mysteries of development.
Cornelius Hunter: Except I never said that, but who cares about that.
Cornelius Hunter: In order for evolution to continue, evolution first had to create the complex Mendelian variation machine. In other words, evolution creates the mechanism that evolution requires to work.
Except that Mendelian variation is not required for evolution. Prokaryotes do quite well without it. And Mendelian variation is posited to have evolutionary predecessors, such as primitive gene exchange.
Of course there are going to be Gaps! That's why it is best to start with what can be most firmly established, including Common Descent. Once establishing Common Descent, then we can try to determine plausible mechanisms.
Doublee January 28, 2010 at 1:46 PM
Zachriel writes:
"We really don't need to know how [the complex Mendelian mechanism] works in detail in order to find strong evidence for evolution."
If we don’t need to know the details of the putative mechanism of evolution, then I don’t know what you mean by the phrase “strong evidence for evolution”. (It's akin to saying that we haven't found all the evidence yet, but we know he's guilty and we'll go to court with what we have.)
The veracity of the theory of evolution ultimately depends upon understanding the details. Science may not know all the details yet, but it seems that science at least needs to clearly understand the nature of the engineering problem that is presented by even the simplest morphological change and what is required to effect that change. If science cannot even do that, how can we be expected to believe that a land mammal can evolve into a whale? Now there is an engineering problem extraordinaire!
If the plausibility of the evolutionary mechanism cannot be demonstrated even in broad outline, then on what basis can you claim that there is strong evidence for evolution?
Ritchie January 28, 2010 at 4:43 PM
Doublee -
"If we don’t need to know the details of the putative mechanism of evolution, then I don’t know what you mean by the phrase “strong evidence for evolution”. (It's akin to saying that we haven't found all the evidence yet, but we know he's guilty and we'll go to court with what we have.) The veracity of the theory of evolution ultimately depends upon understanding the details."
Imagine this - you gate-crash the family reunion of a family you have never met. You select two random people. You take blood samples from them. We can, with these blood samples, show how these two people are related. We can tell if, for example, these two people are siblings, cousins, or are unrelated to each other by blood.
And yet there might still be considerable facts missing. If the two were half-siblings, we might not know which parent they share. But that does not cast doubt on the fact that we know them to be half-siblings. If the two are unrelated, then we would not know why they are at the party - perhaps they are married to someone there, or are just guests. But that lack of knowledge doesn't mean we aren't sure that the two are unrelated by blood.
In short, we can be as confident as we could ever hope to be how two random people were related and still not know fairly significant facts about either of them.
The same is true of animals. We know, for example, that all breeds of dog share a common ancestor. Genetics can determine this for a fact, and yet it does not necessarily tell us much about that common ancestor. We think it lived about 10-12,000 years ago, and that it was some sort of grey wolf, but beyond that our knowledge is sketchy. But that does not cast doubt on whether all dogs are related or not.
The same is true of all mammals - from bats to humans to dogs to whales, we know for a fact that we all share a common ancestor which dates back around 60 million years. And yet the details about it are rather hazy. We are fairly confident it was a small shrew-like animal, but beyond that we don't know a lot. But that does not cast doubt on our confidence that all mammals are related.
My point is that it is not wise to refuse to accept ANY part of evolution until is has answered ALL the details. We can determine whether or not creatures are related without knowing too many specifics on how.
"If science cannot even do that, how can we be expected to believe that a land mammal can evolve into a whale? Now there is an engineering problem extraordinaire!"
And yet, we know it happened. From a cache of fossils which nicely chart the transition of the whale from a dog-like land mammal to the marine creature we see today, including Pakicetus, Ambulocetus, Rhodocetus, Basilosaurus and Dorudon.
Surely the idea that these creature are unrelated is by far the more unlikely one? Pakicetus lived around 52 million years ago. And then, it disappears and Ambulocetus happens to appear - which looks a lot like Pakicetus, and in fact shares certain unique features, though also slightly better adapted to life in the water. And yet the two are unrelated... And then about 45 million years ago Ambulocetus just happened to disappear and Rhodocetus just happened to appear - which looks a lot like Ambulocetus, and in fact shares certain unique features, though also slightly better adapted for life in the water. And yet the two are unrelated... and so on.
When you put these finds side by side, isn't it far more statistically unlikely that these creatures are unrelated, and just happen to look so similar, including sharing several unique features? Doesn't the idea that they are actually related make far more sense to you?
"If the plausibility of the evolutionary mechanism cannot be demonstrated even in broad outline, then on what basis can you claim that there is strong evidence for evolution?"
It can be demonstrated. What do you know of Lenski's E. coli bacteria experiment?
laugh out loud January 28, 2010 at 6:36 PM
The problem is that a the mechanism for evolution is iteslf the product of evolution. But in order to create the product of evolution, you need evolution itself to ahve already evolved. But how could it have evolved without evolution, if it deoends on evolution. It the chicken and the egg scenario.
Zachriel January 28, 2010 at 6:58 PM
Doublee: If we don’t need to know the details of the putative mechanism of evolution, then I don’t know what you mean by the phrase “strong evidence for evolution”.
Darwin proposed a strongly supported theory of evolution and didn't have a working theory of genetics. He started by establishing Common Descent, then determined that natural variations and selection were sufficient to explain the rates and patterns of evolutionary change. Darwin's theory has been expanded and modified over the last 150 years, but the fundamentals remain intact.
Doublee: The veracity of the theory of evolution ultimately depends upon understanding the details.
Humans can know only the tiniest sliver of what there is to know. Science is capable of making progress into the void of ignorance, not by attempting the impossible and understanding everything, but by proposing and testing well-defined hypotheses. However, any new discoveries must be consistent with the theory, or the theory must be modified or discarded.
uoflcard: Most ID propents believe common descent to be true.
As common descent is one of the most fundamental facts in biology—organisms are what they are because of what they once were—then it seems that would be something that the ID Community really needs to work on.
uoflcard: It has nothig to do with the natural production of functional, complex, specific information, though.
It has everything to do with explaining the patterns in biology, including the mechanisms of evolutionary change.
uoflcard: There is a fundamental difference between complexity and specified complexity.
Yes, we know. However, no one can provide a reliable metric of CSI, and from the qualitative definitions usually provided, evolution can produce CSI.
uoflcard: Now if the pile formed an image that is a perfect replica of the The Starry Night Over The Rhone, we would question it’s “accidental” formation.
Sigh. Starry Night Over The Rhone is a painting of a reflection.
Imagine you looked and saw a perfect image of yourself.
uoflcard: “Fruitful” abiogensis research is one thing, although it depends on your definitin of “fruitful”.
Testable hypotheses that lead to new discoveries.
uoflcard: If you mean findings that can give anyone without unyielding faith in naturalism that life formed on its own, I would have to disagree.
More like how if we hypothesize that extant protein synthesis evolved from a more primitive system, there would be stereochemical affinities between codons and amino acids.
Ritchie January 28, 2010 at 11:42 PM
laugh out loud -
"The problem is that a the mechanism for evolution is iteslf the product of evolution."
Is it? How do you arrive at that conclusion?
Imagine we have the first self-replicating cell bobbing around in the primordial soup. It starts to self-replicate. Making copies of itself which then self-replicate in turn. But there is only so much of whatever resources it feeds from/needs to survive to go round. So eventually there will come a point where there will be too many of these replicated cells, and some of these replicated cells will have enough sustenance to survive, and some won't. Thus begins competition between living creatures.
How is evolution needed for evolution to begin?
johan January 29, 2010 at 1:25 AM
Imagine we have the first self-replicating cell bobbing around in the primordial soup. It starts to self-replicate. Making copies of itself which then self-replicate in turn.//
Richie, RNA molecules can only replicate once they have the necessary instructions to do so, human engineers succeed in the lab purely because they front-load these RNA molecules with the necessary base sequence.
Replication thus comes after information not before it. There is nothing magical about RNA molecules they don't generate their information required for replication by themselves.
Anyways I am glad to see that the origin of variation has moved over from random to non-random, we have indeed come a long way since Charlie, although I think it will still take time for evolutionists to comprehend the implications.
laugh out loud January 29, 2010 at 2:12 AM
Ritchie:
But how do the surviving proto-cells change? They survived because of random luck. But evolution means survival because of change.
johan: There is nothing magical about RNA molecules they don't generate their information required for replication by themselves.
Random RNA polymers can have autocatalytic activity.
laugh out loud: But how do the surviving proto-cells change?
Imperfect replication. Once life begins the rest follows.
Random RNA polymers can have autocatalytic activity.//
This is false,functional RNA catalysts arise only once RNA bases are specifically-arranged into information-rich sequences.
--Johan--
Johan: This is false,functional RNA catalysts arise only once RNA bases are specifically-arranged into information-rich sequences.
Bartel & Szostak, Isolation of new ribozymes from a large pool of random sequences, Science 1993.
johan January 29, 2010 at 10:05 AM
“ribozyme engineering” experiments have failed to produce RNA replicators capable of copying more than about 10% of their nucleotide base sequences. (Wendy K. Johnston, et. al, “RNA-Catalyzed RNA Polymerization,” Science 292 (2001): 1319-25.)
This is with the help of intelligent agents.
johan: This is with the help of intelligent agents
There is a reasonable probability of random sequences having biological functions, including autocatalysis. You had claimed otherwise. Please note that you pointed to a Gap as an argument. When that Gap was filled, you point to another Gap.
You're dated on RNA replicators.
Lincoln & Joyce, Self-Sustained Replication of an RNA Enzyme, Science 2009.
So we have random sequences with autocatalytic capability. We have demonstration in principle of RNA replication. We have plausible natural synthesis of nucleotides. These results don't constitute a complete theory, of course, but they are significant confirmations of the RNA World Hypothesis.
Steve January 29, 2010 at 5:44 PM
In the dark chambers of Langley, your's is a classic 'plausible deniability' argument.
Sure, its a nifty card trick and all. But you'll have to brush up on the slight of hand technique. People are 'evolving' better 'eyesight' as we speak.
Maybe now is the right time to contemplate a career move.
"...it is assumed...that a magic catalyst existed to convert the activated nucleotides to a random ensemble of polynucleotide sequences, a subset of which had the ability to replicate. It seems to be implicit that such sequences replicate themselves but, for whatever reason, do not replicate unrelated neighbors"
--Joyce and Orgel, ibid., p.7
"Incubation of the pool RNA...led to rapid and extensive aggregation; more than half of the pool RNA precipitated when incubated for 90 minutes at 37º C in high concentrations of Mg2+ and monovalent ions...and precipitation was even more rapid at higher temperatures. It appears that conditions that favor RNA intramolecular structure also stabilize intermolecular interactions; as molecules find regions of complementarity with more than one other molecule, RNA networks form and eventually become too large to remain in solution"
--David P. Bartel and Jack W. Szostak, "Isolation of New Ribozymes from a Large Pool of Random Sequences, " Science 261 (1993): 1411-1418; p. 1412.
There is a reasonable probability of random sequences having biological functions, including auto catalysis.//
There is a fundamental difference between biological function and auto catalysis, biological function is dependent on non-physical symbolic representation(prescriptive information)where as auto catalysis is a purely dynamical process.
“there is nothing in the physico-chemical world that resembles reactions being determined by a sequence of codes between sequences"
--Yockey-- bioinformatician & theoretical biologist
johan: "...it is assumed..." Joyce and Orgel, ibid., p.7
Did you actually read Joyce and Orgel, or did you pick up the decades-old quote somewhere, ellipses and ibid included?
johan: "Incubation of the pool RNA..."
Is there a question in there somewhere?
johan: There is a fundamental difference between biological function and auto catalysis, biological function is dependent on non-physical symbolic representation(prescriptive information) ...
Apparently not. When a complex polymer folds and functions as an enzyme, then it is a functional enzyme. Many such enzymes have been discovered in random sequences, including but not only autocatalytic enzymes. You've been misled into believing that random sequences can't form into complex, functional three-dimensional structures. It's a confirmed prediction of the RNA World Hypothesis.
Reverend Jerry Coyne Thus Saith
What Will be the 21st Century's Theory of Origins?...
Chaperonins: Open and Shut Case
Prestin and Darwin's Gardener
Proteins That Regulate Protein Production
New Intron Research Reveals Same Old Contradiction...
Ribosome Checks for Translation Errors (and a bunc...
A New Plant Defense: Switch the Flowering Time
Barbara Forrest Says ID is Creationism
What is Evolution (According to Evolutionists)?
Communal Egg Laying: Evolution Over Easy
Evolution's Kobayashi Maru Scenario
A Question for Joe Felsenstein (and Everyone Else)...
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A gift opens the way and ushers the giver into the presence of the great.
— Proverbs 18:16
The generous will themselves be blessed, for they share their food with the poor.
— Proverbs 22:9
A generous person will prosper;
whoever refreshes others will be refreshed.
Honor the Lord with your wealth,
with the first fruits of all your crops.
— Proverbs 3:9
Do not withhold good from those to whom it is due, when it is in your power to act.
— Proverbs 3:27
Speak up and judge fairly;
defend the rights of the poor and needy.
© TM
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Marion H. Youngquist was born and educated in Salem, Oregon. She was a news reporter in Oregon and Nebraska where she graduated from Midland Lutheran College, Fremont, She also studied at Coe College, Cedar Rapids, IA, UW-Milwaukee, and seminars in Europe. She scribbles on planes, ships and in airports--gathering dialog and situations she overhears. For ten years she was a synodical editor and correspondent for The Lutheran and a contributor to other magazines. For ten years she was a synodical editor and correspondent for The Lutheran and a contributor to other magazines. She has written plays for Wauwatosa Village Playhouse. Two full-length plays--The Distlefink and The Gift-Givers--have won prizes as well as her poetry. A poem, Fourth of July Night, was included in a 12-month song cycle by composer Charyl Zehfus. Youngquist also co-authored Little Critters, a children's musical, with Lorraine Brugh, composer, published by Contemporary Drama Service. Procula is her first historical novel, (about the wife of Pontius Pilate) officially released by Drury Publishing™, August 2005.
She belongs to the Wisconsin Fellowship of Poets, the Council for Wisconsin Writers, Tuesday A.M. Poets--Milwaukee, and The Dramatists Guild of America. Youngquist and her husband Ted, a Lutheran minister (deceased October 02, 2015), live in Wauwatosa, WI. They have four children, six grandchildren (another deceased), and three great-granddaughters."
Marion H. YOUNGQUIST
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Thursday, 11 June 2009 - Retail Sales In May Rise Again By 0.5% Led By Gas Station Purchases
Suspected U.S. drone kills up to 10 in Pakistan | 9 September 2009
Thai protesters vow to increase pressure next week | 10 April 2010
Seven charged with sectarian murder in Northern Ireland | International | | 29 May 2009
Office 2010 To Have Online Version Of Popular Software | 13 May 2010
Home | News Briefs | U.S. | World | Celeb Buzz | Entertainment | Sports | Business | Health | Sci / Tech | Politics | Weird & Offbeat --- Advertisment --- Retail Sales In May Rise Again By 0.5% Led By Gas Station Purchases June 11, 2009 11:14 a.m. EST --- Advertisment --- Mayur Pahilajani - AHN News Writer Washington, D.C. (AHN) - Retail sales in the U.S. increased in the month of May for the third time in five months, primarily from the gains registered by gasoline stations on higher prices. But the sales were in the positive territory for the first time in three months. The total sales in May increased by 0.5 percent on the seasonally adjusted basis, but sales were 9.6 percent below May 2008 data, according to a report by the Commerce Department on Thursday. "These are strong numbers which suggest that the American consumer has returned to the fray with some confidence," David Morrison, CFD Market Strategist at London-based GFT, said today. Morrison added, "As the US consumer is the driver for both domestic and global growth, this is another positive piece of data. The question now is whether this is sustainable or not." The market analysts on Wall Street had expected the retail sales data to show a 0.6 percent rise in the month of May, despite higher job losses in the month. The sales in April were revised higher, dropping by 0.2 percent from 0.4 percent originally. Gasoline station sales increased by 3.6 percent. Gas prices in the U.S. have climbed by almost 28 percent in the past six weeks, and it was 19 cents a gallon higher in the last two weeks of May. The report showed that excluding gasoline station sales, the total retailers' sales gained by just 0.2 percent. Auto sales advanced by 0.5 percent, compared to a drop of 0.4 percent in April. Excluding auto sales, the other retailers' sales increased by 0.5 percent, which is more than 0.4 percent projected by the market analysts. In April, auto sales were down by 0.4 percent. According to the data, the other sales, excluding both auto and gas station sales, increased by just 0.1 percent in May. Sales at food and beverage stores as well as grocery shops were higher by 0.4 percent in May. Furniture & home furnishings stores showed a drop in sales by 0.4 percent, purchases at Electronics and appliance stores were down by 0.5 percent. Sales declined by 0.4 percent at Internet retailers; while purchasers at sporting goods, hobby, book and music stores dropped by 0.8 percent. Copyright © 2003 - 2009 AHN - All rights reserved.Redistribution, republication. syndication, rewriting or broadcast is prohibited without the prior written consent of AHN.License AHN news for your website, business, digital signage network or publication. Home | News Briefs | U.S. | World | Entertainment | Sports | Business | Health | Sci / Tech | Politics | Weird / Offbeat © 2009 AHN Client Login | Submit News | Privacy Policy | Terms of Use | Contact | Content Services All Rights Reserved
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Malaysia to deploy underwater vehicles in MH370 search: Official
AFP , Thursday 15 May 2014
A couple are silhouetted as they watch a Malaysia Airlines plane on the tarmac from the viewing gallery at Kuala Lumpur International Airport in Sepang, Malaysia, April 10, 2014 (Photo: AP)
Malaysia Airlines to end hotel stays for MH370 families
Malaysia to release initial MH370 report Thursday
Obama lands in Malaysia
MH370 relatives reject Malaysian conclusions on plane
Malaysia is considering deploying underwater vehicles as authorities prepare for a long-term search effort for missing flight MH370, an official said Thursday.
Deputy defence minister Abdul Rahim Bakri said national oil company Petronas would provide two autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) to help search for the Malaysia Airline Boeing 777-200, which disappeared without a trace.
"Up to now Petronas has given full commitment, dedicating at least two AUVs to help the search," he said in a press conference.
As the so-far futile search continues, he said Petronas was also mulling providing underwater sonar equipment and remotely operated vehicles.
Abdul Rahim said Malaysia's oil and gas firm Sapura Kencana was offering a multibeam echo-sounder which was being considered by the government.
Meanwhile, a resumption of the search was hindered Wednesday by technical troubles, with a mini-sub lasting only two hours in the water before it had to be raised.
Australian vessel Ocean Shield, carrying the US Navy Bluefin-21 submersible, arrived back in the southern Indian Ocean search zone Tuesday following a port visit to Perth after the air and sea hunt was scaled back.
The plan was for it to resume scouring the seabed where transmissions believed to have come from the plane's black box flight recorders were heard last month.
MH370 vanished on March 8 with 239 people on board after mysteriously diverting from its Kuala Lumpur-Beijing route.
It is believed to have crashed into the sea far off Australia's west coast.
Air and sea searches over vast stretches of the Indian Ocean have failed to find any sign of the plane.
Australia, which is leading the hunt, has stressed that it believes it is looking in the right area based on satellite communications from the plane.
Officials have said an intensified undersea mission will begin once new and more sophisticated equipment to complement Bluefin-21 can be obtained to search at depths of more than 4,500 metres (15,000 feet).
The ocean bed in the prospective search zone is not just deep but largely unmapped, meaning specialist sonar equipment and other autonomous vehicles are needed.
Malaysia has vowed to continue the search for the missing MH370 plane until it was found.
Malaysia Airline
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Death Toll Rising "Infection Legacy"
By Gregory Adams
Alberta death metal squad Death Toll Rising have their crushing new Infection Legacy LP hitting store shelves October 22, but the band are ready to "spread the disease" of their self-released set a little early with a stream of the title track.
A detuned thrash attack starts off the song, but the progressive death metal arrangement also features a mid-tempo stomp, the guttural vocals of Jesse Berube, blitzkrieged blasts, and some decidedly bluesy bends preceding a deep-diving solo. It sounds something like a mix of classic Carcass and At the Gates, and you can catch the feverish metal fest down below.
To shed a bit more light on where Death Toll Rising are coming from on Infection Legacy, the band have offered the following statement:
The title track, "Infection Legacy" is based on a story arc from Resident Evil 2 (fun nerd fact there). Musically we didn't set out to write a title track, or lead track, but when it came time to name the album we went through all our nine songs and kind of threw out, which ones didn't have a strong enough theme, or maybe too specific of a theme. We settled on Infection Legacy because the song itself ended up being very strong and really encompasses the direction we have headed.
The album is actually book ended by a "prologue" and an "epilogue," in which two different characters from the Infection Legacy story are recording their thoughts on their survival and a way out. Naming the album Infection Legacy gave us plenty of options as well for art and design. For the artwork decided to NOT go with the whole zombie motif, as it as been played out to death in recent years, so we took the art and the look to the cellular level. A few people have coined the term 'evil sperm' for the album cover, which doesn't bother us even though that is not necessarily what it is.
Infection Legacy is the follow-up to 2010's Defecation Suffocation.
METAL AND HARDCORE
More Death Toll Rising
Death Toll Rising
Death Toll Rising Defecation of Suffocation
Hot girl choking on poop. This was the explanation behind the title of the Edmonton, AB quintet's first full-length. But despite the idiocy...
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A Third Way?
From: Terry W. Colvin (fortean1@frontiernet.net)
Date: Sat Jul 08 2000 - 19:53:22 MDT
Next message: Spudboy100@aol.com: "Re: Mother Goose Prophecies"
Previous message: Doug Jones: "IR imaging/ rocket photos"
Next in thread: Anders Sandberg: "Re: A Third Way?"
Maybe reply: Anders Sandberg: "Re: A Third Way?"
Maybe reply: Corbally: "Re: A Third Way?"
Science Frontiers, No. 129, May-June, 2000, pp. 2-3
In the never-ending, ever-acrimonious "dialog of the deaf" between the
Darwinists and the Creationists, we are perpetually exposed to their
extreme, non-negotiable positions. The Darwinists insist upon their
one-gene/one-protein genome in which random mutations slowly accumulate
and adapt living things to the changing environment. The Creationists
only accept a one-time, supernatural creation of "kinds" plus minor
adaptations ("microevolution").
J.A. Shapiro, a professor at the University of Chicago, is searching for
a "third way," a "scientific", non-Darwinian way. Shapiro maintains that
five decades of genetic and molecular-biology research have transformed
our vision of life. He compares the conceptual changes to those
accompanying the transition from classical physics to relativity and
quantum mechanics. This "new" theory of evolution---his "third" way---
will emerge from the convergence of biology and information science.
Genomes, asserts Shapiro, are not really the static "beads on a string"
envisioned by the Darwinians. Rather, they are fluid and complex.
Genes are now seen as multipurpose elements that turn on and off as
required for the survival and well-being of the organism they belong to.
In this paradigm-eroding paper (referenced below), Shapiro describes
four categories of molecular discoveries that have revised our thinking
about how evolution works: (1) Genome Organization; (2) Cellular-Repair
Capabilities; (3) Mobile Genetic Elements and Natural Genetic Engineering;
and (4) Cellular Information Processing. He then writes:
The point of this discussion is that our current knowledge of
genetic change is fundamentally at variance with new-Darwinist
postulates. We have progressed from the Constant Genome, subject
only to random, localized changes at a more or less constant
mutation rate, to the Fluid Genome, subject to episodic, massive
and non-random reorganizations capable of producing new
functional architectures. Inevitably, such a profound advance
in awareness of genetic capabilities will dramatically alter
our understanding of the evolutionary process.
Toward the end, Shapiro approaches, as he logically must, the really
crucial point in the Darwinism-Creationism debate. Is there guiding
intelligence at work in the evolution of life? He cannot answer this
question at this time, and neither can science in general. He puts
his hope for a definitive answer on the fact that we are now "on the
threshold of a new way of thinking about living organisms and their
variations." It is time, he says, for the Darwinists to abandon
their "posture of outraged orthodoxy," to become real scientists,
and to use the new insights we have gained about the workings of the
genome and try to answer this most-fundamental of all the questions
that face science.
(Shapiro, James A.; "A Third Way," Boston "Review", February/March 1997.
Cr. D. Moncrief.)
Terry W. Colvin, Sierra Vista, Arizona (USA)
< fortean1@frontiernet.net >
Home Page: < http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Stargate/8958/index.html >
Sites: Fortean Times * Northwest Mysteries * Mystic's Cyberpage *
TLCB * U.S. Message Text Formatting (USMTF) Program
Member: Thailand-Laos-Cambodia Brotherhood (TLCB) Mailing List
TLCB Web Site: < http://www.tlc-brotherhood.org >[Allies, CIA/NSA,
and Vietnam veterans welcome]
Southeast Asia (SEA) service:
Vietnam - Theater Telecommunications Center/HHC, 1st Aviation Brigade
(Jan 71 - Aug 72)
Thailand/Laos
- Telecommunications Center/U.S. Army Support Thailand
(USARSUPTHAI), Camp Samae San (Jan 73 - Aug 73)
- Special Security/Strategic Communications - Thailand
(STRATCOM - Thailand), Phu Mu (Pig Mountain) Signal Site
(Aug 73 - Jan 74)
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ForbiddenFiction
Just another Enspire Publishing Sites site
Free Erotica
Story Catalog
By Content Label
All Novel
All Novellas
Story features one or more main male characters identifying as gay or homosexual.
Brush with Death by E.E. Grey
Dead people don’t make good boyfriends. At least, that’s what Grant tries to remind himself. A painter, Grant moved into his apartment to be alone and to work on his art, only to discover the resident ghost, Joey. It’s not all bad. Joey is a pretty good listener, a good model – and he’s hot. (M/M)
Brother Dave’s Traveling Damnation Show by Jamie Freeman
Being mistaken for the boyfriend of a homophobic televangelist and kidnapped at gunpoint isn’t a great way to begin a Friday evening, but when sex, religion, and gunplay collide, surprises are bound to happen. It’s all part of the show when Brother Dave’s Travelling Damnation Show comes to town. (M/M)
Held in Dreams by Ava Burquette
Elaine is an ordinary human with ordinary dreams, maybe a little too shy for her own good. At least that’s what she tells herself, until she is kidnapped off of a city bus by a strange and charismatic man named Ghalib who has come looking specifically for her. Ghalib definitely isn’t ordinary. He isn’t even human. He’s a Dream Architect, one of the beings who create dreams for humanity. His world is the realm of passion, imagination and nightmares, where humans may be kept as pets, or personal slaves. Ghalib is obsessed with Elaine, whose vivid, erotic dreams he finds irresistible. If Elaine is to contend with Ghalib on her own terms, she’ll have to do more than let go of her shy, inhibited waking manner. She will have to realize her own dreams. (F/M. F/F, M/M)
The Night Rules by Gabriel Barone
Giles and Aidan are childhood friends who grew up together but went separate ways. Aidan is a successful, nominally straight, businessman; Giles is a sex worker, risking himself with unpleasant and sometimes unstable clients to pay his rent. A lifelong bond holds them together, restricted to an occasional night’s passion by strict rules Aiden requires to protect his public image. One night though, as Aiden sleeps off the evening’s sexual adventures, Giles makes a decision that changes everything for the two of them. (M/M)
Backdoor Politics by C.L. Mustafic
Kamal is a by-the-book mercenary and hitman who keeps to himself, dealing with the brutal politics of the Bosnian underworld. He has very few ties to the world around him since the war that left him broken and betrayed by his lover. An encounter with a fellow mercenary, whose job it is to kidnap the son of the only man Kamal ever loved, leads Kamal to do something irrational. In an isolated cabin in the mountains of Bosnia with his hostage, Kamal follows the well laid-out plan of his predecessor, but somewhere along the way things get personal. The boy in his care becomes more than just a stand-in for his father, but a job is a job and Kamal is a professional. When questions and tensions begin to mount, Kamal begins to put the pieces together for himself, and doesn’t like what he finds. Can Kamal get his revenge and the boy or will he have to settle for one or the other? (M/M)
Where Home Lies (Rebel Mage #3) by Elizabeth A. Schechter
No longer in exile, the rebel mage Matthias can finally return to his home enclave and settle into a new life with his beloved Solomon. As he struggles with his role leading the new town of Sanctuary, upheld by the people who once rejected him, Matthias knows all too well that the relative peace he’s found is temporary. The forces that razed Haven are still out there, still looking for him, still seeking to destroy everything he now protects. While there are alliances to make, mouths to feed, and people who look to him to protect them, his enemies will just have to wait.
When tragedy strikes, Matthias, Solomon, and Matthias’ cousin Tam are forced back onto the road again, this time seeking answers in the forbidden north; answers that may lead to new beginnings, or to the end of everything they’ve ever known. (M/M, M/F)
Arctic Restitution (Arctic Absolution #3) by Lynn Kelling
As he approaches his twenty-second birthday, the three-year anniversary of the brutal attack in an alley that nearly cost him his life in a few different ways, Jaye Larson thinks he’s left behind the ghosts from his years spent incarcerated, but when he’s delivered a mysterious letter with terrifying implications, old monsters rear their ugly heads. His normal new life in remote Zus, Alaska, with his lover, Dixon Rowe, the heart of a found-family that supports Jaye in ways he’s never before dreamed possible, is threatened by old deals and ties he begins to fear may never be broken. While old alliances strive to draw Jaye backward, Dixon and the rest of their family are called to step up to keep him steady. When the letter turns out to be just the first clue in a chain leading both Jaye and Dixon back inside the walls of the Federal Corrections Institute of Sheridan, Oregon, all of them are left facing carefully-held secrets and terrible new truths that refuse to be ignored. (M/M)
Backstroke by E.E. Grey
Nik isn’t looking for love when he takes a summer internship at Hot Shot Sports magazine─in fact, it’s the last thing on his mind–but when Tiernan, a handsome Olympic hopeful, offers a distraction from the stress of life, he has to decide if he wants to take full advantage, or if he’s just using Tiernan as an excuse to forget about his problems. After a disastrous Olympic trials four years ago, Tiernan is determined to stay focused this time around. He can’t afford any distractions, but the cute photographer documenting his Olympic progress might just be worth the risk. (M/M)
Sensual Showers by Alicia Cameron
While Sascha is busy, Syrus and Cash find a way to entertain themselves. Sy’s hesitations make sense in the context of his history, and Cash realizes just how close they can get. (M/M)
Begging by Alicia Cameron
While Sascha is busy, Sy and Cash find a way to entertain themselves. Sy’s hesitations make sense in the context of his history, and Cash realizes just how close they can get. (M/M)
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Home » 2012 » February
Collaboration between & with Students, Educators, Leaders
Locally~Regionally~Nationally~Globally
collaborative networking, design, reflective questioning, thinking skills, training, Uncategorized, video, visual mapping No Responses »
post by Robert Price
between us in pairs, groups, schools, and global networks
Collaborative Networking is one of Thinking Schools Ethiopia’s Six Starting Points of Thinking which includes reflective questioning; thinking skills; visual mapping; collaborative networking; developing dispositions; and structuring environment. This blog posting will explore Collaborative Networking.
The techniques for cooperative learning are many and there are many models for establishing collaborative groups, classrooms and schools. The research on cooperative learning in school and the need for high quality collaborative groups in the work place connect to the recent evolution of social networking through new technologies as learners engage other learners around the globe. Collaborative Networking (i.e. collaborative learning at all levels) can greatly change the success of students, educators and the community as thinkers and learners. It is sustainable and a low cost high impact methodology – a transformative design. Like all implementations aiming for sustainable success: whole school implementation with a goal of mastery is important if not vital. In this post we’ll briefly look at collaborative networking from within the classroom to whole school to global including:
Collaborative Learning – Students
Collegial Coaching – Teachers and School Leaders
Collaborative Learning between Schools Regionally and with Country
Collaborative Learning between Schools Globally
Peer to Peer sharing and learning
Collaborative learning is an environment in which two or more people learn or attempt to learn something together. People engaged in collaborative learning capitalize on one another’s resources and skills:
asking one another for information,
evaluating one another’s ideas,
monitoring one another’s work,
learning from each other’s prior knowledge – schema,
Collaborative learning is based on the model that knowledge can be created within a population where members actively interact by sharing experiences. Several examples of many that are very effective include Think-Pair-Share; Three-Step Interview and Learning Teams (one page outline – pdf file). Visual Mapping and Reflective Questioning are very effective elements to use within cooperative learning.
An example excerpted from a chapter on the Thinking Schools Ethiopia project in an upcoming book on Thinking from Corwin Press models the potential of collaborative learning on a global level:
A vivid example of the potential this had for our collaborative effort occurred during my fifth visit to Ethiopia when students at Children’s Home Academy were using a laptop in their garden to Skype with a school in North Carolina, USA. The students in Ethiopia were in the student’s garden – one of five at the Children’s Home Academy that provides food for the student lunches. The North Carolina students were tethered to the classroom computer talking about a garden they were envisioning. It was apparent that the food movement in the USA has much to share with and also learn from locations in parts of the world that actually need to have school gardens.
Collaborative learning methodologies can support the development of increasingly complex types of thinking. Benjamin Bloom developed a hierarchy of six types of thinking which become increasingly complex and demanding. Though the “levels” have increasing complexity, at any age level or at any time within a classroom context a teacher or student may move between different levels. There is no linear sequence required for use of this taxonomy. The six levels (as revised by Andersen)
Collegial Coaching is a model that improves teaching — especially performance (i.e. pedagogy) — by observing, learning, and coaching each other within our learning community. Successful Collegial Coaching includes:
openness to observe and learn as professional colleagues;
creating systems of observation and learning;
using techniques that provide a means to learn from each other regularly.
Collegial Coaching includes regular collaborative coaching, discussion groups, and practicing collaboratively in real classroom environments.
Observation techniques should be clear with goals and techniques to support our collaborative learning. We use techniques based on research to fully develop our abilities as focused observers. An example might be deciding on a specific focus to observe for (e.g. a specific student behavior) then while observing writing and sketching observations + questions. We all bring skills to learn from — new and veteran teachers. By honoring, and pooling our varied and collective talents, the goal of providing the best possible learning environment(s) for students reaches new heights. The Instructional Coaching model initially includes coaching support from outside sources, but ultimately our greatest resources are peer to peer within our teaching and learning community.
An example of one Collegial Coaching Model usually in small groups (3-4 best) where the educators regularly observe each other. The model includes:
The Briefing – The participants initially meet to provide an overview of the lesson and determine the observation focus. It is best to select a facilitator for these sessions. The briefing format includes:
The Lesson – The lesson will provide an opportunity to observe strategies and techniques that interest all the participants. The lesson format includes:
The Debriefing – The teachers will meet immediately after the lesson to share observations. It should involve all participants including the teacher leading the lesson.
Within Schools—Between Schools
A professional learning community (PLC) is an extended learning opportunity to foster collaborative learning among colleagues within a particular work environment or field. It is often used in schools as a way to organize teachers into working groups.
Collaborative Learning between Schools
Locally, Regionally, Country, Globally
The methods used by students and educators in a classroom, within a school and local area can be expanded further – including within a region, country and globally. There are many technology tools to support such expanded collaborations – especially when the collaborative learning methodologies are solidly grounded and implemented initially on a local level.
While ALL six starting points of thinking are relevant and integrative with Collaborative Networking Visual Tools, Reflective Questioning, Structuring Environment are very instrumental in building success. Additionally, Community Building Exercises can be a very effective method of building understanding and respect of the collaborating people.
Visual Mapping for Organizing, Understanding and Sharing Our Thinking
design, thinking skills, video, visual mapping No Responses »
Visual Mapping – Visual Tools…
Visual Mapping is one of Thinking Schools Ethiopia’s Six Starting Points of Thinking which includes reflective questioning; thinking skills; visual mapping; collaborative networking; developing dispositions; and structuring environment. This blog posting will explore Visual Mapping. Schools that participate with Growing Thinking Schools professional development training can participate in sessions on Visual Mapping and Thinking Maps® as part of their whole school transformative design. Read more on Thinking Schools Ethiopia and Thinking Schools Trainings on this website.
Visual mapping transforms the way we SEE thinking — SEEING the patterns of our thinking and with other people’s thinking. They are a tool to organize our thinking supporting deeper thinking and understanding. Visual mapping improves comprehension, writing and presentations. Think of how a road map is used: to ‘map’ out a journey and understand where a place is in context to other locations. Visual mapping for organizing and seeing thinking provides a ‘road map’ for the mind. Thinking Schools Ethiopia uses Thinking Maps® in trainings – eight maps representing eight different ways the brain cognitively thinks and understands things.
An excerpt from the book Visual Tools for Transforming Information Into Knowledge by David Hyerle (2011, Second Edition, Corwin Press) will provide an introduction with visual tools. Thinking Schools Ethiopia is in the process of translating the highly respected book into Amharic courtesy of the author and publisher. The excerpt Summary Definition of Visual Tools from the book follows below:
“Visual tools are nonlinguistic symbol systems used by learners, teachers, and leaders for graphically linking mental and emotional associations to create and communicate rich patterns of thinking. These visual-spatial-verbal displays of understanding support all learners in transforming static information into active knowledge, thus offering a complementary representational system to more traditional literacies grounded in speaking, writing, and numerating. These linear and/or nonlinear visual forms are also metacognitive tools for self-assessment in each content area and for interdisciplinary learning that may unite linguistic, numerical, and scientific languages together on the same page. There are three basic categories of visual tools, each with specific purposes and visual configurations:
brainstorming webs for fostering creativity and open mindedness;
graphic organizers for fostering analytical content and process specific learning;
conceptual mapping for fostering cognitive development and critical thinking
Watch the video below on Thinking Maps and brain research with Pat Wolf known for her work with the translation of brain research to classroom practice.
A fourth category is a unique synthesis language of visual tools that has been used extensively across schools called Thinking Maps® (Hyerle, 1996; Hyerle & Yeager, 2008). This common visual language of visual tools integrates the creative dynamism of webs, the analytical structures of content-specific learning, and the continuous cognitive development and reflections fostered through conceptual mapping. Over time, new visual languages may develop that integrate different visual tools and thus enabling a greater range of thinking, communication, and reflection. Visual tools are used for personal, collaborative, and social communication, negotiation of meaning, and networking of ideas. These graphics are constructed by individual or collaborative learners across media networks and mediums such as paper, white boards, and computer screens. Because of the visual accessibility and natural processes of “drawing out” ideas, many of these graphics are used from early childhood through adulthood, and across every dimension of learning, teaching, assessing, and leadership processes. Visual tools are also used across cultures and languages and may become keys to new levels of more democratic participation and communication in human systems. Across traditional cultures and new “virtual” cultures, visual languages ultimately may be used for uniting diverse and distant learning communities as people in schools, communities, and businesses and in different countries seek to understand each other through seeing each others’ thinking and perceptions through multiple frames of reference.”
Thinking Schools Ethiopia professional development training starts with the initial two day Growing Thinking Schools training. During this workshop leadership teams develop their ‘journey’ with a visual flow map of the steps they will have the staff train and master. While each school might have different starting points, visual mapping is often an excellent entry point for developing the whole school with Thinking Schools Ethiopia. Visual Mapping is one of the six starting points of thinking that the staff may decide to learn, use and master.
More on Visual Mapping:
Research: Thinking Foundation: www.thinkingfoundation.org
Thinking Maps®: www.thinkingmaps.com
Thinking Schools International: www.thinkingschoolsinternational.com
Mindmapping: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mind_map
Concept Mapping: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Concept_mapping
See the 14 February blog posting for information on David Hyerle – international expert on Visual Mapping and the creator of Thinking Maps who will be in Addis Ababa from the 4th-8th March. Contact Bereket Aweke for more details.
Thank you Geoffrey Suddreth, General Manager of Thinking Maps®, Inc. and David Hyerle, creator of Thinking Maps® and founder of Thinking Foundation for providing use of Thinking Maps® with professional development for school leaders, NGO leaders and educators in Ethiopia.
Video below is a collection of still images of Thinking Maps® by children and educators in Addis Ababa and Hossana Ethiopia
Crafting Your Child’s Future… Thinking Schools Ethiopia
By: Edda Zekarais
This article is taken from the upcoming March issue of ” The Eminence” magazine.
www.eminence-se.com
‘Isn’t thinking a key component of most learning and isn’t student learning the primary function of all schools? Unfortunately, a great deal of evidence would appear to indicate that a significant proportion of pupils pass through their 15,000 hours of schooling without being required to do much real thinking at all. External tests and examinations are prepared for and passed at every level by means of drills and rote-memory exercises with the result that a great deal of superficial information may have been accumulated without any reflection on its value or the meaning. Meanwhile, the notion of an autonomous (and group orientated) learner and problem-solver has been completely lost.’ (Professor Bob Burden (University of EXETER-UK)
Indeed, can we take a moment and reflect on the type of routine education we have had? Better yet, if a parent, what sort of education/ learning system have we put our most valuable children into? If a teacher, what have students learnt with us today? If part of the school administration, what values have we imparted on our students and have we truly made an effort to engage with our students beyond reminding them to pay tuition fees, respect school rules or even keep grade scores up so that our school is successful?
Fundamental as these and other related questions might be, they only tend to be asked contextually. In other words, they are left as questions to be asked and responded to by those in the system of education. It is rather unfortunate that it fails to be understood that such bearings only hamper and limit the exploration of maximum capacities to teach and learn. What such a statement alludes to is the fact that, learning and teaching should not only be limited to teacher and student, and within the confines of a school compound.
The truth of the matter is, raising questions alone without suggesting or providing tangible solutions to such issues is equally hazardous as doing nothing at all.
On the other hand, the beauty of the matter is, profound dedications and contributions have been made to address the issue(s). In addition, time and time again, across continents, it has been proven this effort works! This is in reference to Thinking Schools International. Initiated in the UK and US by David Hyerle and Richard Cummins, Thinking Schools International has been integrated into schooling systems in the UK, Norway, South Africa, Malaysia, India, Brazil and Northern Ireland.
Defined a
‘Thinking School is an educational community in which all members share a common commitment to giving regular careful thought to everything that takes place. This will involve both students and staff learning how to think reflectively, critically and creatively, and to employing these skills and techniques in the co-construction of a meaningful curriculum and associated activities. Successful outcomes will be reflected in student’s across a wide range of abilities demonstrating independent and co-operative learning skills, high levels of achievement and both enjoyment and satisfaction in learning. Benefits will be shown in ways in which all members of the community interact with and show consideration for each other and in the positive psychological well-being of both students and staff.’
(Professor Bob Burden (University of EXETER-UK)
Understanding the benefits associated with Thinking Schools approach or learning, Eminence Social Entrepreneurs in collaboration with Thinking Schools International (TSI) have created Thinking Schools Ethiopia (TSE). This partnership without doubt comes at a crucial moment in the thriving academic sphere of Ethiopia.
Education is a basic foundation for any country’s development, especially in the context of developing nations. In our context, Ethiopia’s globally appraised growth will require constant human capital productive involvement. This condition creates obligation to cultivate these required skills from childhood and continue building them even in adulthood life circumstances. In such environments, progress is visible and achievable considering; each and every single person becomes a stakeholder in the processes created therewith.
Approaches and ideas set forth by Thinking Schools International also apply for Thinking Schools Ethiopia. In other words, the ‘whole-school’ teaching-learning approach is to be implemented within Ethiopia and in the long-run across the region. A vigorous pilot programmed phase between 2009 and 2011 was completed with utmost success. Following, TSE conducted pre-implementation training with government and private schools, the latest one having taken place November 2011. Consequently, the Addis Ababa City Administration Education Bureau signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Eminence (TSE) officially making it possible for the latter to commence preparations for initially working with schools in Addis Ababa.
This whole school method of teaching changes systems of the teaching-learning processes by making everyone a learner and teacher at the same time. Conventional schooling systems that focus on teacher-dominated learning, non-child/ learner friendly learning environments/ spaces, non-creative thinking, minimal parent and school administration involvement, etc are some of the aspects that TSE will work with in schools.
Of recent, Thinking Schools Ethiopia has received support from UNESCO-IICBA (UNESCO International Institute for Capacity Building in Africa), which serves as great acknowledgement and also encouragement at the same time for this grand initiative in the area of education.
I would like to see this continue in some form…this was a complete success…to have on an ongoing basis…for public school teachers…that would assist the whole education system in the country because this was a workshop about changing minds…acquiring a new set of beliefs about what education is all about… (Awol Endris, Dr— Program Director at UNESCO – IIICBA)
Future prospects for TSE hold expansion within Ethiopia and eventually in the region. In all of the engagements that will follow the progress, TSE will further strengthen Eminence’s social responsibility based initiatives that are crafted for wider community good.
“…I have started up using Thinking Maps…managing my own classrooms…now every single individual in my classroom is very much engaged in what we try to do…this has become a two way communication…” Mr. Addis – English Teacher
Video of Mr. Addis interview including how the integration of Thinking Schools Ethiopia training has impacted him as a teacher and the affect on his students…
Additional thoughts from Mr. Addis on the need for participant centered professional development training…
Eminence (Thinking Schools Ethiopia) to Host Thinking Schools International Co-Founder & Thinking Foundation Head
books, collaborative networking, thinking skills, video, visual mapping No Responses »
By:Edda Zekarias (Communications Officer at Eminence)
Dr. David Hyerle will be visiting Eminence (Thinking Schools Ethiopia) on March 3-8, 2012. During this visit, he will meet and discuss with select government officials and partners both from the government and private sector.
Brief Intro
Growing Thinking Schools from the Inside Out
The creation of his Thinking Maps model emerged from his experiences as a middle school teacher in inner city Oakland, California, USA. His development of Thinking Maps was also informed by his work with the Bay Area Writing Project and the Cognitive Coaching model.
Visual Tools
Current Books by David Hyerle:
Visual Tools for Transforming Information Into Knowledge
Corwin Press, Second Edition, © 2009, 192 pages
By David Hyerle
Prologue by Arthur L. Costa
Foreword by Robert J. Marzano
Student Successes With Thinking Maps®
School-Based Research, Results, and Models for Achievement Using Visual Tools
By David Hyerle and Larry Alper
Foreword by Patricia Wolfe
Developing Connected Leadership
Solution Tree Press
By David Hyerle, Larry Alper, Kim Williams
read more about the book
The Process of Developing Cognition
Starting the Vision
Growing Thinking Schools
From the Inside Out — a Transformative Design
Learner Centered Professional Development
collaborative networking, dispositions, reflective questioning, structuring environment, thinking skills, training, video, visual mapping No Responses »
This is the first of several upcoming postings that will provide an overview of the Thinking Schools Ethiopia process – beginning with the initial Growing Thinking Schools two day workshops. The upcoming blogs will look into each of the Six Starting Points of Thinking (visual mapping, reflective questions, environmental structure, collaborative networking, thinking skills and dispositions) as well as assessment and IT integration. Each of the six starting points of thinking will be highlighted separately and how they are a transformative design collectively in upcoming blogs. Any reflections and/or questions are appreciated in the ‘responses’ section.
The initial two day Growing Thinking Schools sessions is for school leadership teams about to embark on whole school transformative design change using Thinking Schools Ethiopia thinking methodologies. The leadership team is comprised of the principal and other key faculty and staff who are school leaders in teams of 4-6 people per school. It is not about one size fits all. It is taking 21st century thinking methodologies that we know work (research as learned through practice) and then the school leadership team determining where their school (and school community) is currently, and how best to vision, create, achieve and sustain their goals. Mastery and sustainability are key visions of Thinking Schools Ethiopia. The initial two day Growing Thinking Schools sessions include learning and using Thinking Schools Ethiopia’s six starting points of learning to:
—learn (and reflect) about ourselves
—learn (and reflect) about our schools (and/or NGO organizations) as a collaborative team
—learn together as teams building a collaborative network between different schools and people
—learn thinking methodologies in a participatory centered (mirroring student centered) manner
—learn collaboratively within our leadership team AND between other school’s leadership teams
—develop understanding, thinking out ideas, learning each other’s perspectives (frame of reference), and developing an initial Growing Thinking Schools plan with visual tools…
—create a plan that includes mastery for the leadership team, the teachers, the school support staff, the students, and the greater community.
Click on the images above to see the full photos and/or visual mapping.
The images are left to right:
building community;
visual mapping with Working Field Guide;
Growing Thinking Schools training;
visual overview of Growing Thinking Schools implementation in Ethiopia
Each of the six starting points of thinking will be highlighted separately and how they are a transformative design collectively in upcoming blogs.
The video clip below shares participants reflections
from a recent Growing Thinking Schools Ethiopia training.
Innovation and Ideas are Bidirectional
Locally & Globally
collaborative networking, dispositions, structuring environment, thinking skills, video 1 Response »
posted by Robert Price & Bereket Aweke
click on responses above to leave a comment
Thinking Schools Ethiopia is part of the Thinking Schools International network that includes thinking schools in the United Kingdom (over 400 schools), South Africa, Norway, Northern Ireland, Malaysia and other countries. It is a vision to share bidirectionally, innovations and ideas between and among all schools in a collaborative manner to benefit students worldwide. This begins with respecting that innovation and ideas originate globally, then using 21st century methods (of thinking) to collaborate. The Thinking Schools Ethiopia project really began to take form when we started using Skype to communicate. This provided a tool for sharing ideas via text, voice and in view.
A vivid example of the potential this had for our collaborative effort occurred during my fifth visit to Ethiopia when students at a K-8 school in Ethiopia were using a laptop in their garden to skype with a school in North Carolina, USA. The students in Ethiopia were in the student’s garden – one of five at the Children’s Home Academy that provides food for the student lunches. The North Carolina students were tethered to the classroom computer talking about a garden they were envisioning. It was apparent that the food movement in the USA has much to share with and also learn from locations in parts of the world that actually need to have school gardens.
While the Thinking Schools approach is a systems approach that focuses on sustainability, funding for Ethiopia, a country with one of the lowest per capita incomes in the world (212 out of 228 countries) and currently the eighth highest population growth rate in the world, can dampen the potential. We believe there are some excellent mechanisms that can be implemented to provide support for innovation at a low per school cost and develop sustainability from within. Preparing a highly skilled team of master facilitators within Ethiopia along with a body of action research from Ethiopian educators should support the potential into a realization.
The recent memo of understanding (MoU) between Thinking Schools Ethiopia (part of Eminence Social Entrepreneurs – an Ethiopian founded and owned organization in Addis Ababa) provides a starting point of bidirectional change – an idea and ideal of global collaboration. And further supported with UNESCO’s recognition of Thinking Schools Ethiopia being a model of ‘modern pedagogy’.
Ethiopia has been an independent nation since ancient times, and is one of the oldest countries in the world. The workshops to date with over 2000 Ethiopian educators have provided a context, and a foundation to the potential. Most importantly the potential of the children – a generation of thinkers to come…
The video clip below shares a Thinking Schools Ethiopia demonstration lesson facilitated by Robert Price. During the use of collaborative learning, visual mapping (Thinking Maps), reflective questions and structuring environment, the students discussed deforestation and other current events. Like the garden example above, the students’ hands-on personal experiences genuinely lend a collaborative potential of sharing ideas and innovations in a bidirectional manner…
33 Principals
TSE & Initiative Africa
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FNE Visegrad 2011 Country Profile: Czech Republic
Michal Prochazka 2011-10-11
The 2011 year offered some surprizes, with the arrival of new foreign TV productions while the audience share for Czech films fell to 17 percent in the first five months - a shock to the local industry, after 2010‘s record high of 4.7 millions viewers for local hits. It wasn't until summer when two hits - Bioscop‘s historical war drama Lidice from producer Adam Dvořák (www.bioscop.cz) and Men in Hope by filmmaker Jiří Vejdělek and Tomáš Hoffman´s Infinity Prague - brought audiences back to Czech films, with each film topping 400,000 spectators. Another topic in the news was the debate over the proposal for the long-awaited cinema law which will be heading for a vote in the Czech parliament in October.
The State Fund for Support and Development of Czech Cinematography which is the main source of film financing is to end in November. The public broadcaster Czech Television (www.ceskatelevize.cz) will stop paying some 150 milions CZK a year (6 million euro) from advertising income into the State Fund. Czechs desperately need a new cinema law, changes to the State Fund for Cinema, and new cash flow for film projects, festivals, and digitalisation of cinemas in 2012.
"The main idea of the proposed law is that commercial TV stations would deliver 2 percent of their advertising income to help finance the State Fund," says Helena Fraňková, director of the Audiovisual Department of the Ministry of Culture (www.mkcr.cz). The draft is being prepared by its team of experts through consultation with the representatives of associations and film professionals in order to finalise a compromise version that would be accepted by Minister of Culture Jiří Besser as well as by the right-leaning government touting "fiscal responsibility".
The proposal for production funding from commercial TV comes after many years of reluctance to participate in the cinema sector. But the commercial stations now appear ready to compromise. The proposal is that they trade their 2 percent contribution for the complete elimination of advertising on public television.
The new proposal defines the basic statutes, structures, technology and production principles for the 21st century as the old 1992 law is generally outdated. There are some major changes but no one expects a major revolution. The proposal raises the State Fund fee from each cinema ticket from 1 CZK to 1 percent of the ticket price. Another change would affect the work of the State Fund Board. Upon the approval of the law its members would decide on two expert opinions prepared by a panel of 20 advisors: one based on economic merit and the other based on artistic merit.
Commercial TV stations have also become more directly involved in film production and distribution locally, with Czech HBO (www.hbo.cz) becoming an important coproducer. On 10 October Czech HBO begins showing its first locally-produced series In Treatment, shot by filmmakers Petr Zelenka, Marek Najbrt and Jaroslav Fuit with film star Karel Roden in the main cast.
In 2011 Czechs entered into their second year of a tax incentives policy that allows foreign productions a rebate of up to 20% of the amount spent in the country. The Czech Ministry of Culture budgeted CZK 300 million (17.6 million USD) for rebates but the fund had already been dispersed by March. "We estimate such tax incentives would bring 1.2 billion CZK (70 million USD) of investments this year. The rate of return of the support money back into the state budget is 18 percent," says Ludmila Clausová from the Czech Film Comission (www.filmcommission.cz).
Around 20 projects were approved for 2011 with several large international TV films scheduled to be shot in the Czech Republic, including the ten-episode ABC Studio TV series Missing. The crew of this familly drama and political thriller locally produced by service company Stilking Films (www.stillking.com) is spending more than 90 days shooting while spending 425 million CZK/ 17 million euros in eligible expenses with 74 million CZK /3 million euros in tax incentives.
Numerous other foreign TV productions participated in the tax incentive plan. French GMT Productions‘ two-part French TV film Merlin l'enchanteur (Merlin the Magician) for TF1 was shot in Barrandov Studios with the services of local local OKKO Production (www.okko.cz). The Czech spend of 75 millions CZK/ 3 million euros earned them 15 milions CZK / 0.6 million euros in tax incentives. The Danish project Royal Affair (Zentropa Entertainments with Sirena Films, www.sirenafilm.com), starring Mads Mikkelsen got CZK 13.6m / 0.5 million euros on 74 million CZK/ 3 million euros in local expenditures. The German TV historic drama Die Kastellanin (The Castellan) shot with WILMA-FILMS (www.wilmafilm.cz) for SAT1 TV and Austria's ORF will receive CZK 9.2 m / 0.37 million euros back for 46 million CZK / 1.84 million euro spent at Czech locations. The British film Belle at the Ball (hosted by local service company Milk and Honey, www.milkandhoneyfilms.com) receives 27 million CZK / 1.1 million euros on its 193 million CZK/ 7.7 million euros expenses. Finally the American production of Wenceslas Square also produced through Milk and Honey gets 23 million CZK / 0.92 million euros on Czech expenses of 118 million CZK / 4.72 million euros.
A number of major Czech-international film productions are also benefitting from the programme. Juraj Jakubisko film´s poetic Slovanská epopej (www.jakubiskofilm.com) claimed expenses of 42 m CZK /1.68 million euros and 8.5 million CZK / 0.34 million euros on tax incentives revenue. Marie Poleďnáková´s comedy You Kiss Like a Devil, a sequel to the local hit You Kiss Like a God, had spending of 31 million CZK /1.24 million euros in the production from major Czech distributor company Falcon (www.falcon.cz) for a rebate of 6.3 million CZK /0.25 million euros. Two mixed animation-fiction productions from Negative (www.negativ.cz) received funding: Alois Nebel and Blue Tygr were reimbursed with 2.5 million CZK and 3.6 million CZK respectively. Industry support goes to INFilm (www.infilm.cz) for the production of Perfect Days allocated 3.8 million CZK / 0.15 million euros and The Holy Quarternity, receiving 3.6 million CZK/ 0.14 million euros. INFINITY Prague´s project of the 2011 sexual comedy blockbuster Men in Hope by Jiří Vejdělek applied with 19 million CZK / 0.76 million euros spend for 3.9 million CZK / 0.15 million euros in rebates. The list also includes BUC-film´s (www.bucfilm.cz) Leaving directed by Vaclav Havel, which spent 3.7 million CZK / 0.14 million euros for a return of 0.7 million CZK.
The Czech Film Commission noted that there were potentially more projects than the tax incentive rebate could fund, and that could bring additional spending to the Czech Republic. The first year‘s experience with the programme indicated that in order to stay competitive, Czech film service companies should fight for "no roof tax incentives funding" that could be assigned beyond the one calendar year period, to be renewed automatically on an annual basis in order to attract more money into Czech Republic and generate bigger and stabilised investments.
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Georgian Short Documentary The Trader to Be Broadcast on Netflix Featured
FNE Staff 2018-01-15
The Trader by Tamta Gabrichidze
TBILISI: A Georgian short documentary The Trader / Sovdagari directed by Tamta Gabrichidze will be broadcast on Netflix starting 9 February 2018.
The Trader had its premiere at the Hot Docs Documentary Film Festival 2017, where it won best short documentary award.
This 23-minute film follows a man who travells by a minivan through Georgia to sell everyday goods and second-hand clothing.
This is the second Georgian film to be broadcast on Netflix after My Happy Family directed by Nana Ekvtimishvili and Simon Gross, which has been available on Netflix starting 1 December 2017.
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Articles Opinions Press Releases War Blockade Civil Society Prisoners Diplomacy
Systematic violations of Palestinians’ right
December 16, 2018ArticlesComments Off on Systematic violations of Palestinians’ right
Press Release – Euro-Med Monitor
Euro-Med: PA should open a serious investigation into systematic violations of Palestinians right to peaceful assemblyEuro-Med: PA should open a serious investigation into systematic violations of Palestinians’ right to peaceful assembly
OPT – The repressive practices by the Palestinian Authority’s security services against peaceful protests critical of the PA’s policies are deeply concerning, says the Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor.
The latest in a series of protests was yesterday’s demonstration in the southern West Bank city of Hebron. The PA’s reaction to protests is no less than a serious failure to abide by the international laws and treaties ratified by the Palestinian Authority, adds the non-profit watchdog.
Incidents of abuse and excessive use of force against protesters by the security services have been documented by Euro-Med’s team. The security services have cracked down on several demonstrations taking place on Friday afternoon in different cities of the West Bank.
One of the incidents was that of Jamil Karama, who was beaten during a Hebron demonstration by the security services on the head and face and other parts of the body while his wife was trying to stand in between.
A number of journalists filming the incident were also assaulted. Malik Jbari, a photographer, said he was beaten and arrested by the Palestinian security for hours after confiscating his phone for filming the attack on Malik Karama and his wife.
Journalist Abdul Karim Msaytef was also arrested after he documented the security services’ attack on a demonstration in the city, while youths threw stones at security guards preventing them from reaching the PA headquarters in Ramallah.
According to another testimony by journalist Assem Shenar, the security services in Nablus opened fire at Hisham Beshkar at the city’s roundabout, and armed men disguised in civilian clothing chased him, and then fired at journalist Shenar as well while he was documenting the incident.
Several demonstrations were staged in different cities of the West Bank following calls to express their opposition to the Israeli occupation. Hamas, the PA’s rival, also called on its supporters to take part in demonstrations commemorating its founding yesterday.
Despite the conflicting narratives of the organizers of the demonstrations and the Palestinian Authority officials regarding the events, eyewitnesses said the security forces had been pre-equipped to rally near the locations of the demonstrations with sticks and weapons, especially in Hebron. The security forces also dressed in civilian clothes in the demonstration taking place in Nablus.
The security services’ assault on protesters in Hebron only happened after Hamas women first assaulted the security forces and called them names, said Hebron Gov., Maj. Gen. Jibreen Bakri.
The batons used to beat Hamas supporters were not violent, said Adnan al-Damairi, a spokesman for the security services.
The testimonies we have gathered and the videos we collected show no sign of protesters starting to assault the security services. But even if that did happen, the inhumane and brutal beating by the security men cannot be justified, said Sarah Pritchett, Euro-Med’s spokeswoman.
These protests are not the only ones suppressed by the PA’s security services. Throughout June and July 2018, the security services cracked down on protesters for demanding the lifting of the PA sanctions on Gaza.
These sanctions are aimed primarily at pressuring the Hamas de facto rule in Gaza but has severely affected the enclave’s population already suffering from a relentless Israeli blockade for well over 10 years.
Testimonies and videotapes also show the security services’ excessive use of force against protesters, violating their right to peaceful assembly. This use of force was indiscriminate, disproportionate and deliberate.
Khawla Alian was injured while participating in a June 13 demonstration in Ramallah that demanded the PA’s lifting of sanctions on Gaza. In the demonstration, masked members of the security services threw a sound bomb under her feet, resulting in a deep injury.
Mu’tasim Hamid and Mohammed Majid Hassan were also beaten after participating in the same demonstration. Members of the General Intelligence Service detained Hasan until dawn the next day and interrogated him about the reasons for his participation in the demonstration.
Suha Badran Dar Jbara has been held since November 3 in Jericho’s Central Prison until today. She was on an open hunger strike on November 22 in protest of her bad conditions.
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Jump to: Board index » Other Topics » Announcements
Blackmagic URSA revolutionizes on set workflow
Get all your news and announcements here!
Katie Colledge
Blackmagic Design today announced Blackmagic URSA, a high end digital film camera designed to revolutionize workflow on set for feature films, commercials, episodic TV production and much more.
Blackmagic URSA is built to handle the ergonomics of large film crews, as well as single person use, with multiple accessories including a massive 10” fold out monitor, large user upgradable Super 35 global shutter 4K image sensor, built in scopes, and internal dual RAW and ProRes recorders.
The larger professional size of the Blackmagic URSA has the space for powerful cooling that allows higher frame rates. The camera has a modular camera turret, which includes the sensor, lens mount and lens control connections. The turret can be removed and replaced or upgraded in the future when new sensors are developed. There are four models to choose from:
Blackmagic URSA EF: Super 35 sensor, supports EF mount lenses from Canon, Zeiss etc
Blackmagic URSA PL: Super 35 sensor, PL mount lenses
Blackmagic URSA Broadcast B4: Ultra HD sensor and B4 lens mount for broadcast
Blackmagic URSA HDMI: No sensor and a ‘cheeseplate’ of mounting points, allowing any third party camera to get the benefits of the Blackmagic URSA camera body
The Blackmagic URSA EF model will retail for $5,995.
The Blackmagic URSA will be demonstrated on the Blackmagic Design NAB 2014 booth at #SL219
To learn more, please visit: http://www.blackmagicdesign.com/press/p ... seID=60307
Re: Blackmagic URSA revolutionizes on set workflow
Thank you and congratulations! URSA looks promising; like Alexa's little cousin.
The large, attached monitor is a little funky, but I'll still take two PL's when they're available.
When can I pre-order in the US?
jeremyhyler
fix your 'old' camera before you make new ones.
Founthouse
Hey BM
Sorry to say this, but the monitor is a terrible idea... add a replaceable VF. You don't want a monitor that you can't remove... and another thing.. it makes it look like a toy. Other than that great camera.
Fabio Bersani
How can we buy your new camera if the previous camera you made was a crap? Please fix soon the issues of the BMPC 4K !!!!
MagicWego
Hardly delivery of the BMCC 4K arrive 1 year later!
You take out a piece of news will be on drugs without the first one 4k with the utility version 1.7 still records in RAW!!!
Even the manufacturers of washing machines do better...
Be serious!
FLACCOMIO
Production and Post-Production Cinéma
Ok I use my assistant to translate better.
So what I mean is that the delivery of the 2st BMCC 4K cameras on the market took almost one year.
It's still not possible to shoot in raw with this camera even with the 1.7 update whereas a new BMCC Camera is today out...
It's quite amazing. even washing machine resellers do better job.
It will be better that engineers could at least work on the firmware to provide raw and if possible in 60p for BMCC 4K camera
Darko Djerich
Location: Sydney,Australia
Fantastic news!
Love it,they listen,this is gonna be HUGE !
I am in for this one,WOW
Creative Film Enterprises Pty Ltd
creativefilm.com.au
imac5k i7 48gb mid '17 BMD eGPU shogun flame 4k mbp 15" r9 370x phase one p40+,ursa mini4.6 ef bmcc ef bmpcc micro panel ronin mx dji Inspire 1 RAW V2 4k Osmo RAW...
I get a really bad taste of this announcements. Two weeks ago i could finally buy the BMPC 4K. To work with this professional I have to buy a lot of extra tools to make this camera work. I have to buy an expensive Juicelink audio amplifier because you can't record quality sound with wireles microphones and you cant see audiolevels. I have to buy a external LCD monitor because outside you will see really nothing and i have to buy an external battery because the camera battery will work for only 45 minutes. Production??? You call this....
I have to buy me an fortune of extra tools to make this a real working production camera and now you announce two months after releasing the BMPC a new camera with everything you forgot on the previous camera's. So what about me? I bougth this camera two weeks ago because they told me it was a "production camera". Is it like; "sorry you have to buy an new "complete" camera or can i get a rebate and change my BMPC when the URSA comes out.
Putin Xyj
So... how about shooting from shoulder, with no viewfinder and a huge screen into your nose?
Perrone Ford
Well, I have high hopes for this. As it so happens I am shopping for a replacement for my Sony EX1 with higher resolution to take us into the future. A fully shootable Scarlet is a bit too much to bite on, and the BMPC is a bit too bare.
Sadly, our fiscal ends in June, and you don't list shipping until July. And I am not sure how optimistic that ship date is. Everything about this camera hits the right buttons for my needs Right mounts, right sized sensors, no need for an external monitor in most cases, can take big batteries, can be easily rail mounted, XRLs (finally), right codecs, SDI in/out.
Well done. I wish it was available now as I've got a historical documentary to shoot next month that is going to have to be done in HD on the Sony, or 2.5k if I want to risk shooting it on my personal BMCC.
Chris Tritschler
Seems very heavy for handheld work. Almost twice the weight of the current de facto handheld camera, the Sony PDW 800, at around 9lbs. That maybe an unfair comparison given that the Ursa uses a Super 35mm sensor but then so does the Aja Cion and that tips the scales at an even more manageable 7.4 pounds. What isn't unfair, however, is taking this weight issue seriously. Camera operators deserve to go home after a days hand held without being in pain. Could this camera have further health and safety issues over the likes of the widely used PDW 800 ? For example, a limit on the time it can be operated hand held - wonder if BECTU (the union in the UK) will have a view on this ?
Loyalizer
What does Blackmagic have against hi frame rates? The iPhone 5s can do 120fps, a freakin' cell phone. I noticed you can connect a DSLR to the URSA, can I connect my iPhone to it for great action shots.
Blackmagic, you are doing some amazing things, granted. but a little short on the frame rate side. The BMCC 2.0 hopefully will do 90-120fps, and the BMPC at least 120fps in its next version.
It would have thought the URSA could do up to 120fps, especially since it seems to do nearly everything else. Or is that a future upgrade sensor?
It's not like the URSA has to do 1000fps, maybe up to 320 or 360 at least.
There shouldn't be any difference. For years we shot docco and drama on digi beta then HDCAM. Going hand held was just a matter of flicking the trusty VCT 14. Why on earth isn't the URSA designed for drama - where you often want to go hand held ? For years I shot on an Arri SR or an Aaton XTR - they were docco and drama cameras. 35mm was a different story but for a broad range of TV drama we shot on shoulder mount cameras that could be easily and securely tripod mounted. Surely enough we are going to have to go back to those days and that's where AJA have the more sensible ergonomics and that's a camera costing just a little more.
Last edited by Chris Tritschler on Wed Apr 09, 2014 6:32 pm, edited 2 times in total.
Where does it say it's not for hand held work, which is basically all TV and Film (at least at some point ) ? Let's not forget it will come in 2/3inch B4 - the domain of EFP cameras like the PDW 800. And weight isn't just a factor for 'handy looky' (as Ikegami called it in their user manuals !) '- my Vinten Vision 100 (a £4k tripod) will struggle to counterbalance that weight - is their target market really going to be able to afford a set of Ronfords or similar ? Maybe it would help if BM told us exactly what it is suitable for. I was hoping it was suitable for film making, myself. If it's not for drama or docco then what is it for ? Commercials then ? - ah wait a minute, three of the last six I shot had hand held @ 120fps so maybe not.
daniloguate
fix your 'old' camera before you make new ones. What about the BLACK HOLE??? in BMCC and BMPC??
I don't own a BMCC myself but really feel for those that have invested. Worse of all must be seeing your investment lose a huge chunk of it's value.
I hired one the other day and it was far from a finished product. Not being able to check the time remaining on the drive cost us two hours per day, the Zebras not having a range (e.g. +/- 5%) and the way the 709 conversion is handled and/or a lack of dynamic range may have cost us the series.
However, on a positive note I did light a job shot on the pocket - I think that's a great little camera. A very clear vision nicely executed.
chrisser1976 wrote: There shouldn't be any difference. For years we shot docco and drama on digi beta then HDCAM. Going hand held was just a matter of flicking the trusty VCT 14. Why on earth isn't the URSA designed for drama - where you often want to go hand held ? For years I shot on an Arri SR or an Aaton XTR - they were docco and drama cameras. 35mm was a different story but for a broad range of TV drama we shot on shoulder mount cameras that could be easily and securely tripod mounted. Surely enough we are going to have to go back to those days and that's where AJA have the more sensible ergonomics and that's a camera costing just a little more.
Hmm ok...
RED One 10 pounds without batteries, screen, or anything else.
Arri D21 18.8 pounds bare, 23.8 with viewfinder
Panny HDX900 9.9 pounds bare, 16.7 ready to shoot
Sony F35 11 pounds bare
Sony HDC-3300 10.5 pounds bare
Arri 435 14.3 pounds without mag.
Looks to me, the URSA fits right in with other common Digital Cinema cameras when they are rigged similarly with confidence monitor, battery, recording load, etc. And it appears to be maybe a pound or two heavier than traditional 2/3" shoulder mount cameras when they are rigged similarly for 2 person operation.
This is NOT a shouldercam. It is NOT a 2/3 broadcast camera. See the integrated rail mounts? Your shoulder cam's don't have that because they weren't designed for the same job.
Yes, the AJA Cion is lighter. However, I note that it is not carrying a screen of any kind (just an EVF). It's got a shoulder mount which means they were intentionally trying for that form factor. It's also going to be nose heavy as is obvious by looking at where they put the battery mount, and where the sensor housing and everything else is. Put a piece of glass on that bigger than a 50mm, and all the weight is going to be on your arms all day.
So here's my read, and it's been the same since we started dealing with these digital cameras...
2/3" camera ops are going to complain about any form factor that doesn't seem similar to what they are used to. DSLRs are too small, DCP cams are too big and unweildy. Cinema guys coming from panavisions, or big Arris, see the 2/3" style cameras as things they want on steadicams, not what they want on their real mounts. DSLR guys think all the other stuff is too big and heavy, and then spend 2 years and $5k putting rails, cages, handles, and all other manner of stuff on their tiny cameras to make them into function DCP cams. But they still don't have meters, framing lines, or any of the stuff that makes a DCP camera do what it does so well.
The URSA seems to try to walk the line between all markets. Mount your DSLR in front of it and tie in with an HDMI cable. It's a little heavy for the 2/3" guys but has a lot of the same ergonomics same batteries, etc.. And for the DCP guys, they'll feel mostly at home with PL mount, confidence monitor, framing lines, good codecs, etc.
I give BM a lot of credit for this camera. It's got numerous compromises sure, but hits a great price point for the feature set and if they get it shipping with no major glitches, it should do well.
Don't feel bad for us. My BMCC does EXACTLY what I want it to do the way I expected it to do it. Those who were realistic about the camera seem EXTREMELY satisfied. And my investment has lost none of it's value. It will "B" camera to this new camera very nicely. It's almost as small as a DSLR and I can rig it practically anywhere.
As far as not being able to check time remaining costing you two hours, that's not the camera's fault. That's the fault of whoever is keeping your shot log. Just the same as if you'd been shooting on film. I shoot my BMCC just like it was a small film camera, and have had zero issues. I've never seen a film camera with zebras, or 709 conversion. I use a light meter and have had no surprises on set regardless of whether I am on DSLR, BMCC, EX1, DVX100, or any other camera.
chrisser1976 wrote: I don't own a BMCC myself but really feel for those that have invested. Worse of all must be seeing your investment lose a huge chunk of it's value.
It is a 2/3 inch broadcast camera - at least a version will be. I did 52 days fairly straight on a feature on a RED one and that was terrible to. Too heavy being just one problem, taking ages to switch to HH another.
When I shot on film there was always a footage gauge. Sometimes drama sometimes doc but never relying on the Script super to tell us when to change rolls.
Yeah light meter will work but meters can drift - it's called a K factor. When exposure changes in shot then Zebras are way more useful in my opinion. Yes film cameras didn't have Zebras but they did have TTL meters. I suppose if you treat it like a Bolex then that's one thing - but maybe not call it a 'production' camera. May be a B camera ? People have mentioned 'no problems' on set - but I'd really like to see something that works well on location too.
2/3 Inch cameras have had (albeit retrofitted) 15mm and 18mm rails for years. Chroziel seemed to sell loads. All of our hire cameras had them. They were great for shooting Drama - ours worked on 'The Office', 'Spaced', 'French and Saunders','The Fast Show' and the next day on doccos. Why don't you want that from a camera. ? A mainstream camera for the 4K era. Aja seem to get it - why not black magic ? If you're a jobbing cameraman or woman then that's the minimum starting point really.
Recording capacities - am I missing something here ?
You need 128gb of space to record 5 minutes of RAW footage.The largest capacity you can get is 128gb - good news though the camera has two slots so you can shoot for ten minutes without changing rolls. Back to shooting on film days. The cost of those two cards ? £2400. Two @X!ing thousand xxxtard four frig%&* hundred quid. Let's say we’re on a corporate with a fairly trigger happy director (director wants to shoot RAW as unsure of destination and wants to cover all bases - it has happened) covering ob doc and we shoot 50 mins of rushes per day (one and a 1/4 digi beta tapes - about £25 in the good old days). We’ll need five cards - that’ll be SIX THOUSAND POUNDS PLEASE, SIR - more than the camera. Erm, no. It would cheaper if the camera ran on cocaine and Parisian prostitutes.
Is it just me or is the president of the company suggesting hand held was a consideration is developing Ursa ?
It's a 2/3" broadcast camera the same way a DSLR is a movie camera. Big compromise, but people have been doing it for years.
Yes, film has a footage gauge, just like this camera will have timecode. Check the start time, increment 5 minutes or whatever, and there's your roll time. Yes, you need to have some awareness. Yes, the camera SHOULD be able to tell you time remaining. Should tell you battery time remaining too...
I don't see this thing as anything other than a B camera on a big shoot, and certainly an "A" camera on what would be a DSLR shoot. This is your locked down camera, while you run and gun on a DSLR. Or get the HDMI version and attach it to this for your dolly and sticks shots, and take the DSLR and put it on a small rig for your run and gun. I just don't see this as a primary shoulder cam. Especially not with a 10" screen in your way.
Yes, you could retrofit rails on 2/3" cameras. But that wasn't how they came standard. You can retrofit all the pieces in Arri's catalog to a GH3 but that doesn't make it RED. And that's my point. We adapt as required to get the shots we need. This thing is not going to displace the 2/3" shoulder cam for what those cameras do well. As far as AJA "getting it", what that means is that the camera format is what you prefer. For DSLR shooters, the CION is AJA "not getting it". Especially since it's PL mount only FORCING you into the most expensive glass around. It's a matter of perspective.
In terms of recording capacities, we are looking at the very beginning of CFast. When Compact Flash came out it was 256MB. You could get about 30 frames on a card from the still cameras of the time. Today, they wouldn't hold a single frame. When the HVX200 came out, P2 cards per hour were about what these CFast cards cost now. Yes, they could have gone with SSD, but dual SSDs would have taken a LOT more space in an already large and heavy camera, have much higher operating temps, and the cost savings wouldn't have been much. Most of the big films I see are writing uncompressed to Codex recorders. Those units costs twice as much as this camera minimum and the storage is $3500 a piece.
And while we're there, those AJA Pak media SSDs are running $700 for a single 256GB module. The CION doesn't even do RAW onboard. If Blackmagic enable their ProRes and DNxHD recording onboard like their other cameras do, then I think we'll see cost per hour fall right in line with the CION, but it will stiff offer the ability to shoot RAW in camera unlike the AJA.
Right now, I am getting 30 minutes per 240GB SSD on my BMCC shooting uncompressed RAW. The URSA cost's 3 times as much and the media costs 3 times as much. Seems fair to me. Not cheap, but it is what it is. Kodak Vision3 is running about $175 per minute and that's non-renewable.
The truth is, digital cinema has ALWAYS been a lot more expensive than "video". HDCam vs Still. B4 lenses versus PL. VariCams versus Arri D20/D21. Now, the digital cinema (low end) is CHEAPER than 2/3" but the media is not. Again, a tradeoff.
This camera is certainly not going to be for everyone. I think we can agree on that. And I think probably the user it's going to get the least traction with, is the 2/3" shooter. Panasonic seems to produce the right cameras for that market. Perhaps because they've been so invested in that market for so long.
chrisser1976 wrote: http://vimeo.com/91449750
Sounded to me like he was saying the initial BMCC was designed to be more handheld and this one was designed for larger shows which is why he mentioned the shoulder mount.
You may well be right. It's not very clear though.
Good point about PL. Ursa with it's upgradable mount/sensor is at an advantage. Cfast problem depends on how quickly the media costs come down. If Aja announced an EF mount then I'd put the deposit down on that even with higher than SSD media costs. Also am I right in thinking the Ursa doesn't have an Opitical low pass filter or back focus adjustment ? But with a theatrical release documentary overseas coming up the lighter Aja seems the most sensible option though we'd need to hire in PL lenses.
Shooting ob doc on SLR comes a cropper because of the rolling shutter. Ursa has a global shutter which would help for hand held, whilst you're working on the hernia.
chrisser1976 wrote: Good point about PL. Ursa with it's upgradable mount/sensor is at an advantage. Cfast problem depends on how quickly the media costs come down. If Aja announced an EF mount then I'd put the deposit down on that even with higher than SSD media costs. Also am I right in thinking the Ursa doesn't have an Opitical low pass filter or back focus adjustment ? But with a theatrical release documentary overseas coming up the lighter Aja seems the most sensible option though we'd need to hire in PL lenses.
No OLPF that I can see. And the BF adjustment... not sure. I think since the mount and sensor come as a unit, it may be a case of they think that's fine. I suppose anything will need to be shimmed. But don't hold me to that.
Again, I just don't see this thing as being all that viable in the Docu world or even TV. This thing wants to be on sticks, or a dolly, or a jib, or something else where you don't physically have to deal with it's weight. Much the same as the large film and digital cinema cameras we've seen for so many years.
Those digital cinema cameras from the One to the Alexa are in my view a footnote until we get to 4K inEFP form factors. It would just make so much sense - a self contained camera that shoots with a super 35mm camera that can go on the shoulder or on the tripod in an instant. It'll happen - and the Ursa and Aja Cion are steps in the right direction. User upgradable sensor and mounts are a great idea and because of that and the price I'm not ruling Ursa out - it would be great for the PSC studio stuff I do - at least with a separate recorder - but the current in-camera media costs and weight make it hard work for location stuff. The Aja wins hands down for me on those two but PL only is a big minus - EF would be better as I have a set of primes in that fit and can get replacements from any camera store anywhere in the world.
So we know BMCC intend a version of this to be 2/3 inch for broadcast. Now we know they also intend it to be used on the shoulder.
There's a picture of a guy hand holding the camera. You'll need to scroll down bit.
http://www.blackmagicdesign.com/product ... ccessories
Blackmagic website says:
When you need ENG style on the shoulder shooting, URSA features a separate down converted HD-SDI video output and a 12V power outlet that is dedicated for electronic view finders. The dedicated viewfinder output makes it simple to connect to third party EVFs or even additional on set LCD monitors, and power them directly from your camera. The viewfinder output includes all kinds of camera status information including frame rate, battery level, ISO setting, record format, record status, graticule markers and more. If you’re working in Ultra HD then for the best compatibly, the monitoring output can be selected to down convert to regular 1080 HD so you an use any third party monitoring or EVF, even regular televisions for on set monitoring!
Christer and Perrone, this is a very interesting exchange you are having. Thanks for sharing so much information with us. Good to see you working through the pros and cons fairly.
Sent using Tapatalk HD
Thanks Rick. Deposit put down tonight with option of switching to the AJA or a refund after testing.
chrisser1976 wrote: Thanks Rick. Deposit put down tonight with option of switching to the AJA or a refund after testing.
And that is the RIGHT way to do it. Get the camera in hand, test whether it will work for you, and if so, buy it. If not, find something else that will. The idea of buying a camera, sight unseen, and then being angry when it does not meet expectations is crazy to me.
I also found that the camera can shoot to ProResHQ at it's 4k output, so that gives me much more time on the internal cards than RAW. I secured budget for the camera today. Camera, lens, likely an Atomos recorder, a new video card to handle native 4K, and an upgrade to Avid MC7 which can cut 4k. Unfortunately, we cannot do a pre-order, or at least I don't think we can, so this is going to be a bit dicey.
This conversation reminds me of one I had many years ago on another forum, where I outlined the reasons I felt that 2/3" cameras would never be considered Digital Cinema Cameras. A lot has changed in that time, but I stil feel that way. Users who are used to 2/3" format cameras, servo-zooms, auto-focus, v-lock batteries, etc, are just coming from a TOTALLY different place than cinema people. I think in large part that's still true.
I see the Digital Camera market broken up into distinct camps, all with varying expectations on a camera they find suitable for filming a movie:
1. Guys who cut their teeth on film cinema cameras and still think that way. These guys would likely never think about putting a camera on their shoulders. This is a world of sticks, steadicams, jibs, techno-cranes, dollys, etc.
2. Broadcast guys. These are the 2/3, 1/2", 1/3" or even 3/4" for the old timers. Cameras go on sticks or the shoulder. Period. Handheld means shoulder mount. Locked down means sticks.
3. Handycam guys. This group was the XL1, DVX, HVX, mini-DV crowd. They built up companies like Letus, Cinevate, and others. Struggling to get their 1/3" and 1/4" sensor cameras to have that S35 look. Handheld was/is the norm. Maybe a light set of sticks, a fig-rig, a shoulder rig, or a steadicam jr.
4. DSLR guys. This is the new set. They've cut their teeth on pocket cameras, M43, GoPros, etc., and anything that gets away from 8-bit 4:2:0 is pushing the envelope.
Clearly this is an oversimplification but it speaks to the market and it's interesting to see how BM has targeted each of these groups. The BMPCC into group 4, the BMCC into group 3, and the new URSA trying to bridge the gap between groups 1 and 2. What is most entertaining is seeing the push and pull between groups 1 and 2. Broadcast folks thinking the URSA is too heavy, while the Cinema folks are saying it weighs about the same as the other cameras they typically shoot with. Cinema guys wondering why in the WORLD anyone would even consider the screen too big since it would NEVER be on anyone's shoulder, and the broadcast guys wondering why it doesn't record more than 15 minutes at at time!
On the surface, the broadcast cameras and the cinema cameras are quite similar. But it's the small details that really differentiate those cameras, and I fear that the URSA may have too many compromises from both camps to work well for either. Fortunately, it's cheap enough for both groups to say, "Lets see if we can make it work."
When I hear people complain about the weight, I just smile because I am old enough to remember seeing movies made on the older Panaflex's and Arriflexes which were 20-30 pounds bare and closer to 40 pounds rigged up. Even the most popular choice of 35mm cameras in my lifetime, the Arri 435 is 14-18 pounds bare depending on model, and the modern Panaflex cameras are around 18 pounds. Hell the old Mitchell's were probably close to 50-75 pounds, which is why you used them with a geared head.
For a more recent example, the IMAX Lightweight camera weighs 46 pounds unrigged, and that camera was used on the Batman series, even finding it's way onto the Steadicam rig. I had a chance to speak to Howard Hall about this, who's shot more IMAX than anyone else I know. He was in line for an Epic when we spoke a couple of years ago.
I say all that to say this. The URSA, if it's executed well, will be an incredibly popular camera. It's got most of the right stuff, it's got a terrific price, and can really be handled well without looking like a toy through the lens. I hope to have one this summer, if all goes well. Going to the CION might a bridge too far for our budget, and we may be back looking at a Sony.
After a lot of research this is where I'm at:
Black Magic have intended this camera for a degree of hand held - this is evidenced in their website photography and text and reinforced with the addition of a 2/3 inch model complete with ND filter wheel. They are suggesting it can be kitted out with an EVF - essential for handheld and much documentary work (particularly if the alternative is a 10 inch screen close to the eye). They had to if they want this to be a drama camera. I think it's weight rules it out of some documentary work but not arts doc or historical where you're mostly on sticks.
I don't wholly recognise the categorisation of people into HDSLR and Digital cinema guys. Many people own or use on a regular basis different styles of camera. That has a lot to do with the job you're shooting - In a single week I can shoot on Alexa, PDW 800 and my HDSLR. I don't often think whilst on the PDW 800 'I wish I was on the other two' but I do wish for an electronic version of an Aaton XTR or an SR3 when I'm on the Alexa or even more so a RED. That camera would be a 4K EFP style camera and that's what both the Ursa and CION are. People telling me this isn't an 'ENG' camera seem to neglect the whole 'EFP' way of working at the end of the Super 16 era (particularly in UK drama). I'm still convinced that the future is 4K in an EFP shape. We may have used digital cinema cameras for years now but then people used starting handles on cars for years.
I am convinced that in the world of broadcast and perhaps documentary filmmaking, the future is 4k in an EFP shape. I am just as convinced that in narrative cinema, this shape will will never be popular for numerous reasons.
But I concede that you and I will never agree on this, and that's ok with me. Thank you for civil discourse and for allowing both ideas to have room to breathe here in the discussion.
chrisser1976 wrote: I'm still convinced that the future is 4K in an EFP shape. We may have used digital cinema cameras for years now but then people used starting handles on cars for years.
mikerissi
I was fortunate enough to attend NAB this year and take a look at the URSA camera up close.
I was impressed. I like the camera. It is heavier than I would have hoped, but in most other respects, it is a game changer in my opinion. Very, very impressive piece of hardware for the money. Grant Petty and his crew are to be highly congratulated, I think!
I DO have some comments. As an owner of Nikon glass, I would love to see a version of this camera with a Nikon mount. The nice thing about Nikon mounts is that they are also easy to adapt for use with Canon EF and PL, but the reverse is not the case,, unfortunately.
MFT, on the other hand, can be adapted for use with Nikon lenses as well. So if no Nikon mount can be accomplished (due to licensing issues or other such frustrations), and MFT mount would also be a great option for the URSA.
The global shutter is a HUGE deal for professional users. It is so great to see that on a 4K sensor at such a reasonable price point. 12 stop range is pretty good. Need to go up to 14 to kill Sony and Panasonic, but let’s be realistic. Look at the URSA price point. Fantastic. Sensors will probably be improved over time and the design allows changing them out instead of discarding the whole camera.
I don’t like that internal recording is limited to CFast cards. Option to record to SSD as well would be a fantastic added feature. I realize Cfast cards are needed for slow motion recording. Fine. But for most pro users, 23.98P, 25 or 29.97P is going to be the frame rate of choice . RAW option is marvelous, but ProRes Codec will be the usual choice to save file space. (Also DNx4K hopefully. More on that below). SSD is plenty fast enough for pro level, high end compressed, even at 4K.
That is really the way to go. The good news is that URSA sends out a 12G 4k signal out of SDI connector, so THAT means you can use the upcoming Atomos SHOGUN recording to record 4K in ProRes to an SSD!!!! All hail Atomos for that!
If Blackmagic is smart, they will create a new Hyperdeck Shuttle to record 4K to SSD ASAP. What a combo that would make with this URSA camera!!! Even better would be to add the SSD recording option internally in the URSA, but external option in form of new Hyperdeck shuttle (3.0?) would be an excellent start.
One thing that is a GLARING problem for Windows users is that AVID has not yet released DNx4K!!!
We really need DNx4K, because there is no viable option to render ProRes in the Windows world, and there is therefore NO reasonably efficient and ubiquitous way to render a finished show in 4K in the Windows environment. That is ridiculous. Truly ridiculous.
I have spoken to reps at Avid many, many times about this, but Avid seems to me like they are sitting on their hands. They are really behind the ball on this.
But back to BlackMagic. I should mention they have a "Studio Camera" now with 4K and an MFT lens mount, but it is not well suited to location/field work in terms of “rugged” design. Moreover, the sensor on THAT camera is NOT global. Dropping global shutter on that is a big mistake in my opinion.
I would love to see the MFT mount on the URSA, but obviously retain the Global Shutter. As I’ve pointed out, MFT mount (or better yet, Nikon mount) could open up the lens options marvelously!!!!
Glass is such a major consideration these days. Why not make the options as great as possible and attract as many people as possible. I believe Blackmagic could take over a massive chunk of the market by addressing some of the things I’ve listed here. FWIW, even so, the URSA is a great step in the right direction and earns my “BEST OF SHOW” award at NAB. Possibly use some sturdy, lighter weight materials for the body in the future... Just a few more steps in the right direction like that, more lens mount options, recording option to SSD, and it’s the winner across the board. Potential to wipe out everyone else in one fell swoop.
Are you listening, Grant Petty???? I hope so. If not, Katie Colledge, please forward this post! In the meantime, great progress!
mikerissi wrote: I DO have some comments. As an owner of Nikon glass, I would love to see a version of this camera with a Nikon mount. The nice thing about Nikon mounts is that they are also easy to adapt for use with Canon EF and PL, but the reverse is not the case,, unfortunately.
Glass is such a major consideration these days. Why not make the options as great as possible and attract as many people as possible. I believe Blackmagic could take over a massive chunk of the market by addressing some of the things I’ve listed here.
I don't follow you here. The URSA has an EF mount available. Just like the Canon DSLRs. I use my Nikon lenses on EF mount all the time. I fail to see why this would present any problem.
As far as having a MFT mount, to what end? The glass spectrum is quite well covered by having the Canon and PL mounts available. This gives access to Anamorphic and Spherical cinema glass, the entire catalog of Canon glass, the entire catalog of Nikon glass, all the old M42 screwmount glass of which I have some, etc.
mikerissi wrote: One thing that is a GLARING problem for Windows users is that AVID has not yet released DNx4K!!!
I agree that would be nice.
mikerissi wrote: We really need DNx4K, because there is no viable option to render ProRes in the Windows world, and there is therefore NO reasonably efficient and ubiquitous way to render a finished show in 4K in the Windows environment. That is ridiculous. Truly ridiculous.
Well, this is not TECHNICALLY true. You CAN encode to ProRes 4444 on Windows using ffmbc. (http://www.authorityfx.com/encoding-vid ... n-windows/). Unfortunately, this is not at 4K. Additionally, as for outputting the finished show, are you familiar with h.265? Or do you mean output a master of the show and not a deliverable/streamable?
While it is great to hear that you are happy with the use of adapters to use your Nikon lenses with EF mounts, the folks at Nikon gave me a somewhat different answer when I asked them about this...
perroneford wrote:
My desire to see a version of the camera with a native Nikon mount (also MFT) may be less of a concern, at least in most practical uses, after reading more on the subject from other users, such as yourself. I have seen some "Youtube" informal demonstrations of Nikon lenses on the Blackmagic CC using EF mount and they were impressive, though not exhaustive from a technical standpoint in terms of mathematical match, particularly on focusing planes. Circles of confusion can have more than one meaning here! Ha!
I visited Nikon while at NAB this year and they would not confirm that infinity focus was maintained properly through the use of a Nikon lens to Canon EF mount adapter. My impression from talking to them (and others) was that the difference in flange distances created a definite problem. Maybe someone from the camera design team at Blackmagic can address this from a mathematical standpoint.
="perroneford wrote:
For compressed file based delivery of video, so far professional post houses such as FotoKem in Burbank (which I frequent) seem only to recognize the upper flavors of Apple’s ProRes and DNx(HD) for passing quality control standards. Contractual deliverables that I have met and expect to meet in the future require one or both of these two codec standards to be met for quality control. HD is still acceptable for many situations. But that's not the point. 4K will soon become the standard for Masters as a deliverable. That is why DNx4K ought to be available right now.
For those who are interested in the problems with various lens mounts and associated issues concerning the use of lenses with adapters which may or may not solve flange distance mismatches, the following link explains it in general terms. Again, I spoke with reps from Nikon about using their lenses with an adapter on Canon EF mount. Unless they were being deliberately evasive with me, there will be issues. And in a professional environment, I do not believe this can be tolerated.
On the other hand, perhaps the information I was given by Nikon was incorrect. It wouldn't be the first time a rep was wrong.
http://camera-wiki.org/wiki/Flange_focal_distance
Regarding Avid's missing DNx4K codec, I assure you it is a serious problem. Blackmagic users on Windows WANT to use Resolve to output 4k files. Right now, Windows users are limited, in the professional sense to outputting 4K with file sizes which are enormous and in many cases, wasteful. If anyone knows how to output ProRes 4K files on the Windows platform with Resolve, do tell.
I spoke with Resolve Demonstrators at NAB, and they agreed with me -- specifically that this issue of rendering files with professionally recognized QC standards, namely professional 4K files with reasonable compression for efficiency(!), is only going to become more pressing as users discover something is missing on the Windows side. Rendering huge files is not sensible or practical when the alternative is so plain.
One of the reasons think EFP/super 16 form factors will return to TV drama and probably cinema in the 4K (except for maybe high end blockbusters which will always be expensive and slow to shoot due to their FX requirements) is speed of production - time is the most expensive consumable on set and even on location. I should be clear here that I don't think the new generation of 4k EFP cameras will be an F900 with a 4K sensor and recording mechanism, rather a development of it and the Ursa is a step in that direction. I also think form factors will vie away from the EFP shape from time to time to accommodate new technologies like continuous tone, light field sensor and photon based storage (having great fun guessing at future technologies here !).
Of course all of our crystal balls are tinted by our own experiences and I can only speak within my experience which is of the UK TV drama and low budget features world.
Gregory Mandry
Is there a suggestion that you can buy the one camera and two different chips and mounts sections for the same camera?
A camera that can be set up for a 2/3 chip and a S35mm chip, that you can swap for different jobs, now that is kind of useful. Seems to me that this is the big divide in the camera world at the moment, jobs that need large chip sensibilities and ones that need 2/3 optical qualities. At the moment the only option is to own two different cameras, this function would be a great step in bridging both requirements.
Shame about the weight issues as being able to sling it on your shoulder in 2/3 mode and run around all day would have made it a sure thing.
There is a 2/3 inch Ursa in the pipeline so presumably they wii sell the sensor modules to 'convert' the EF or PL Ursa to B4 mount. I don't think the modular system is designed to be switchable on a daily basis as the couplings may get damaged. I'm still looking at the Aja Cion because of it's weight. Shame it's only been announced as a PL mount.
In a previous post, I was asked why I thought an MFT mount version of this camera would also be desirable. In such a case as I have suggested, presumably, the sensor size would be the same as the newly released Blackmagic "Studio 4K Camera", but would have the global shutter!
Here is a link to a product made by a company called Metabones which has been receiving raves from some pretty intelligent folks, including Phillip Bloom. (If you don't know who he is, you should probably check out his web site. He has some good reviews of all kinds of cameras, including all earlier Blackmagic camera models.)
From what I've gathered, this "Speed Booster" adapter works exceptionally well with the Blackmagic MFT mount cameras and Nikon lenses. I have seen no reports of any problems with infinity focus using this combination of optics.
http://www.metabones.com/products/detai ... FG-m43-BM1
mikerissi wrote: In a previous post, I was asked why I thought an MFT mount version of this camera would also be desirable. In such a case as I have suggested, presumably, the sensor size would be the same as the newly released Blackmagic "Studio 4K Camera", but would have the global shutter!
I have two metabones adapters for Nikon lenses that I use with my BMCC. Both work exceptionally well, and were fairly priced. But that doesn't help me understand what purpose a MFT mount would have on the URSA.
The primary problem with the MFT sensor (and thus the MFT mount) was that with a sensor that small, it was nearly impossible to get wide angle lenses with the quality of the Nikon and Canon offerings. People wanted to mount their Nikon and other full frame glass onto the M43 version of the Pocket camera and other M43 cameras and still get a reasonable wide angle. These adapters do that nicely. The added benefit of the speed increase is nice in some cases, but really overkill if you are already using good prime or zoom lenses.
The BMPC eliminates the "wide angle" problem because it is already a large sensor, and wide angle lenses are plentiful for it's sensor size.
Does this make sense?
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Home » Gaming » News » Children of Morta’s Steam Free Preview Event is Live NOW
Children of Morta’s Steam Free Preview Event is Live NOW
June 19, 2019 MaddOx 0 Gaming, News,
11 bit studios are proud to announce a Steam free preview event for Children of Morta starting on June 19th at 5pm CEST/8am PDT running until June 22nd. For a limited time, lasting only 72 hours, players will be able to experience this highly anticipated, story-driven, action RPG from developer Dead Mage and publisher 11 bit studios as they get a taste of things to come.
Running concurrently with the start of the free preview, pre-order sales begin on Steam with a 10% discount in addition to access to the soundtrack at launch. Children of Morta is set to release this summer for Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, and PC.
See the new teaser below:
Marek Ziemak, Executive Producer at 11 bit studios commented:
We’re excited to give the community a taste of Children of Morta. We’re confident about the game’s development and are certain that, once people try it during the free weekend, they’ll be hooked. Even though it’s still in development, it already looks fantastic and is a title we’re proud of. With the additional time until launch for polish, we’re confident that this is going to leave an impact on everyone that gives it a shot.
Join an extraordinary family as they battle a mysterious and deadly corruption that threatens to engulf their homeland – the guardians of Mount Morta must stand firm against an ancient evil or lose all they hold dear.
In the preview demo, players will uncover the first chapter of the game’s story and be introduced to two of the family members – father, John, and his eldest daughter, Linda. The pre-release demo covers the story’s introduction, gives insight on gameplay, and hits its climax that sees players take on the first boss of the game.
The digital version of Children of Morta will be available on Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, and PC for 21.99 USD/EUR. The retail edition from Merge Games will be released on Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, and PC (in Europe and Australia) alongside the digital release.
Tags: 11 bit studios, Children of Morta, Dead Mage, Free, Marek Ziemak, Preview, Steam
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News Author: @GhanaGist - September 6, 2016
Emily Maitlis’ Stalker Jailed For Restraining Order Breach
A man has been jailed for three years after being convicted of breaching restraining orders not to contact BBC presenter Emily Maitlis and her family.
Edward Vines, 46, sent letters to the journalist and her mother accusing her of making up allegations of harassment.
His trial at Oxford Crown Court heard he had an “ongoing obsession” with the Newsnight presenter.
Ms Maitlis, 45, had said contact from Vines made her “worry about my safety and that of my family”.
The jury heard the letters focused on a friendship the pair formed while studying at Cambridge University in 1990.
Vines, 46, of Grosvenor Road, Oxford had always admitted breaching the order, but said he was left with “no alternative” after Ms Maitlis failed to explain the breakdown in their friendship 25 years earlier, months after Vines told his fellow undergraduate he loved her.
‘Unshakeable obsession’
The court also heard he had been seeing a psychotherapist for five years to try to make sense of the former friendship.
Image copyrightFACEBOOK
Image captionEdward Vines has been seeing a psychotherapist for five years
Jurors took less than an hour to find Vines guilty of two counts of breaching a restraining order imposed in 2009, by sending two letters to Ms Maitlis and emails and letters to her mother, Marion Maitlis, between 10 May and 26 June 2015.
Passing sentence, judge Peter Ross said Vines has “plagued” the presenter’s life.
“You never had any reasonable excuse to contact Ms Maitlis. You have an unshakeable obsession underpinned by a delusion that a relationship existed.
“You have known that for 25 years this woman wanted nothing to do with you,” he added.
BBC News presenter Emily Maitlis met Edward Vines when they were students at Cambridge University
In a statement read in court during the trial, Ms Maitlis said she had not read the letter and had handed it straight to the BBC’s security department when she saw Vines’s name on it.
“When Edward Vines contacts me it causes me considerable stress and makes me worry about my safety and that of my family,” the statement said.
Vines, who was flanked in the dock by nurses from the secure hospital where he currently resides, has previous convictions including for breaches of restraining orders in 2008, 2010, 2013, 2014 and also earlier this year.
On Monday, he received an 18-month sentence for each of count of breaching a restraining order to run concurrently.
That sentence is to run consecutively with another 18-month sentence for the two counts he pleaded guilty to earlier this year.
Tags:BBC News, Edward Vines, Emily Maitlis, News
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Breaking DALYs down into YLDs and YLLs for intervention comparison
Posted on March 15, 2015 April 26, 2016
Sebastian Farquhar and Owen Cotton-Barratt
Global public health remains a top contender for the best way to improve welfare through aid. Within health interventions, it is natural to allocate marginal spending to avert the most expected DALYs (disability adjusted life-years) per dollar.1
However, not all DALYs are the same and there are important differences between years of life lost (YLLs) and years lived with disability (YLDs). Not accounting for these categories separately may introduce a bias in decision-making because DALYs do not address non-health outcomes for individuals and the effects of outcomes on others. These effects are different in situations which involve primarily YLLs as opposed to YLDs. This analysis is of particular practical importance to effective altruists because two of the most promising interventions address different types of DALYS – deworming primarily averts YLDs and bed nets to prevent malaria primarily avert YLLs.2 This make us more inclined towards deworming as a top intervention than a naive evaluation would suggest. More sophisticated analyses incorporate terms that address many of these effects, but may still undervalue deworming relative to malaria nets.
This document is primarily written for people who already place a high weight on DALYs in identifying top public health opportunities. It does not argue for the use of DALYs, or consequentialist reasoning in identifying public health opportunities.
Overview of YLLs and YLDs in DALY calculations
The burden of disease, as calculated by the World Health Organisation in its 2010 Global Burden of Disease (GBD) assessment, divides DALYs into two categories – YLLs and YLDs. YLLs accrue when an individual dies. The gap in life-span between their age at death and the maximum life expectancy3, shown in dark blue in the graph below, contributes to the YLLs. The gap, while the person is alive, between full health and the degree of disability attributed to the condition, shown in light blue, contributes to YLDs. Note that the conditions which are assigned a ‘disability weighting’ and create YLDs include but are not limited to conditions that are traditionally thought of as ‘disabilities’.4
Graph adapted from Gold M., Stevenson D., and Fryback D. 2002
YLDs and YLLs in malaria and schistosomiasis
Although malaria causes a great deal of morbidity, its largest contribution to the burden of disease comes from lives lost, primarily of children under five. Indeed, when evaluating the health impact of a charity distributing bednets, charity evaluator GiveWell explicitly only addresses under-5 mortality. The best estimate for YLLs caused by malaria is roughly 20 times greater than that for YLDs.
Parasites of the sort that deworming addresses, however, cause more harm by making people ill than by killing people. For schistosomiasis, a parasitic worm, the best estimate for YLDs caused is roughly 10 times greater than that for YLLs, although there is substantial uncertainty.
DALYs are only about the individual
DALYs measure the impact of conditions on the health of individuals. However, if we are choosing between health interventions, and care about their benefits to broader society, we should also consider the effects of health interventions on others.
Many health conditions have significant externalities. More severe conditions can have large impacts on the lifestyles of families and friends. Transmissible conditions carry a very direct externality in the chance of spreading the condition to others. Death can be traumatic for those who knew the deceased. Even where one of these obvious mechanisms is not in place, a health condition which reduces the productivity of an individual will reduce the ability of a community to provide for its needs. Caring for individuals can also consume social resources that could have been spent elsewhere if those individuals were healthy. These effects are typically acknowledged as important, but are then ignored because they are hard to measure.
Without any good ways to measure these externalities, it might be reasonable to use the impact on the individual as a proxy for size of the total effect. However, it seems likely to us that the average size of the externality will depend on the type of direct health effect, and in particular may vary for YLLs and YLDs.
YLDs have larger associated externalities than YLLs
YLDs can have very large externalities. The cost of care and treatment can be very high even on a per person per year basis. In the developed world, life-time costs associated with managing conditions can be enormous. The life-time care costs related to the amputation of a leg in the US have been estimated at $509,275.5 The Global Burden of Disease 2010 assigns a weighting of 0.021 for amputation of a leg, long term, with treatment. So the health burden of an amputated leg would take more than 47 years to accumulate a single DALY, which is longer than the life expectancy of the average amputee. Since the marginal cost of DALYs, even in rich healthcare systems, is much less than this, the full impact of the condition will be substantially underestimated by only considering the health effects. In the developing world, although absolute costs of care are lower, the presence of conditions can dramatically reduce family incomes, both because individuals find it harder to work and because family members find their options for work restricted by the need to care for the individual.6 Because the costs of managing the conditions which create YLDs can be so high, the non-health benefits of avoiding that YLD can be high as well. This saving is not included in a cost-effectiveness analysis which only examines DALYs per dollar.
It is very difficult to weigh up the magnitude of the impact of the trauma and loss associated with YLLs. It seems likely, however, that these are often lower than the externalities we need to consider for health conditions which cause the same number of YLDs. An intervention that prevents the need for an amputation, for example, would avert as many DALYs as extending a life by less than a year. It is unlikely that the typical externalities of a death occurring a few months earlier than otherwise are on the order of $500,000 in scale, even in rich countries. Although there is clearly variation, as a rule of thumb YLDs are likely to be associated with larger externalities. Therefore, all else equal, we should prefer interventions that reduce YLDs. Because deworming primarily averts YLDs, this argues for preferring deworming to bed-nets when the costs per DALY are similar.
The externalities depend on age differently for each category
Health economists used to age-weight DALYs such that both YLDs and YLLs for the very old or very young were treated as less significant as those in the middle of life. However, in the current GBD framework there is no age-weighting. This is because DALYs represent only intrinsic health losses, and there is no principled reason why health should be more important at different ages. While this may be the correct approach to take for DALYs themselves, once we consider the indirect effects of health on other things we value, it becomes clear that age is relevant in choosing programmes. However, the effects are quite different for YLDs and YLLs.
YLDs in youth often have larger externalities
Where health conditions are present in young people the externalities are often larger. Young people are still developing rapidly and ill-health may negatively impact this development.7 These conditions can affect both individual well-being and also the process of accumulating human capital. Even where health conditions last for only a year in youth, they may have substantial effects throughout life which are not captured in health calculations. By contrast, a year with a condition which impairs development late in life will typically have a much smaller effect on the flourishing of the individual over their whole lifetime. Therefore, where interventions avert YLDs, they are better when they avert them younger, all else equal, and particularly in childhood. Deworming mainly averts YLDs in young people. The evidence for developmental effects of deworming in children could be improved by further investigation – but there is no disagreement that any such effects are stronger for children than adults.
YLLs in middle age often have larger externalities
The age-weighting used in previous versions of the Global Burden of Disease placed a high weight on DALYs created for young and middle-aged adults and a lower weighting on the very young and the very old. There are a variety of reasons for this sort of weighting, but many of these reduce to instrumental claims about the value of lost labour productivity, about the social disruption, or about the grief caused by a death.
Bereaved parents report stronger feelings of grief when losing older children than younger children, especially in resource poor contexts. Similarly, bereaved widows report feeling more grief when losing younger spouses.8 And adults of working age are more likely to have dependents, who may have a hard time adapting after their death. So the impact of death on others can depend on age, which should be a consideration in prioritising interventions.
From an economic perspective as well, the externalities of death in youth and middle age are higher than those at either tail. This is because society has expended some resources in developing human capital, but individuals still have a substantial period of continued productivity in front of them. It is not appropriate to consider this as a health effect of the death. However, when deciding which interventions to pursue it can be important to consider productivity losses, especially in comparatively poor contexts where economic growth has comparatively large welfare benefits. In these environments, parents may also depend on their children to look after them in old age, which means a child’s death later in life can be a pressing concern for their welfare.
As a result, where interventions mostly avert YLLs, one should prefer interventions that mostly avert deaths in young and middle-aged adults, all else equal. Malaria net distribution mainly averts YLLs due to infant and under-5 deaths. This makes us think it is a little less effective than the simple DALY calculation suggests.
An assessment of promising health interventions that cares about broader societal impact requires separate treatment of YLLs and YLDs. YLLs and YLDs cause different kinds of externality. This is relevant for a decision between two contenders for top interventions – deworming and malaria bed-nets – and may encourage us to prefer deworming. However, some of these effects are already modelled in intervention analyses which place less emphasis on DALYs averted.
1. For example, a simple reading of the work of the Disease Control Priorities Project 2nd edition, suggests such an approach. Some evaluators, such as GiveWell, place much less emphasis on averting DALYs.
2. You can examine the data at GBD Compare.
3. The maximum life expectancy used in GBD 2010 is based on the lowest mortality rate found world-wide for each age-bracket. It is therefore, at 86 years, higher than the current at birth life expectancy in most countries.
4. Indeed one of the complications in assigning the current DALY weightings is that, as people are instructed to consider only ‘health’ effects, conditions such as complete hearing loss, are assigned comparatively low weightings because they represent different ableness rather than ill health as such.
5. MacKenzie EJ, Jones AS, Bosse MJ, Castillo RC, Pollak AN, Webb LX, Swiontkowski MF, Kellam JF, Smith DG,Sanders RW, Jones AL, Starr AJ, McAndrew MP, Patterson BM, Burgess AR. Health-care costs associated with amputation or reconstruction of a limb-threatening injury. J Bone Joint Surg Am. 2007 Aug;89(8):1685-92. The costs reported in this study are slightly out of date and based on the USA. In general, treatment costs have not fallen over the period, although it is possible that shifts to lower cost interventions may have reduced the representative cost since publication.
6. For example see this survey by the World Bank.
7. Of particular relevance to deworming, for example, is the indication that increased deworming substantially increases future earnings and future health. Baird et al. 2011 found that between 2 and 3 additional years of deworming as a child increased earnings as a young adult by around a quarter, partly because individuals worked more hours and were sick less often and partly because they were able to move into higher earning paid labour.
8. Ball J. Widow’s Grief: The impact of age and mode of death. J. Death and Dying. 1976
Posted in CBA methodology, Prioritisation research, Research notes, Techniques.
Matt Sharp
Hi Seb and Owen. Interesting and insightful article!
I have a few queries. The first relates to my failure to understand one of your points. The second and third relate to a couple of factors I think are worth considering but you haven’t mentioned.
Firstly, I’m not fully understanding the line of argument in the section ‘YLDs have larger associated externalities than YLLs’. I particularly get lost with the sentence “Since the marginal cost of DALYs, even in rich healthcare systems, is much less than this, the full impact of the condition will be substantially underestimated by only considering the health effects”
If you could clarify this, it would be appreciated! However, I’m also unsure as to why you’re using the example of a leg amputation. Presumably it’s because this is an example where large externalities associated with YLD are generated. But surely the question is whether it’s true that deworming averts more YLD externalities than bednets?
Secondly, I agree that ‘YLDs in youth often have larger externalities’ than in later life. And while ‘Deworming mainly averts YLDs in young people’, isn’t this also plausibly true of bednets? See, for example, the cognitive impairment on schoolchildren reported here:
http://www.malariajournal.com/content/9/1/366
I also wonder what the impact of discounting has on all this. If most of the benefits of deworming come from the individual benefits and externalities gained several decades into the future, this is less certain to occur than an intervention that has immediate life-saving impact.
Thirdly, I agree that ‘YLLs in middle age often have larger externalities’ and this works against bednets if we’re considering bereavement and productivity. However, reducing child mortality seems to be a strong stimulant of fertility decline, which in turn seems to have positive economic consequences.
Thanks for the in-depth comments.
On your first question, our intention is to understand the general relationship between YLLs and YLDs — is a DALY associated with either about equally bad, or is one systematically worse for society? We think this general question is important, as well as the specialised version which looks at deworming and bednets. The amputations provide an example that’s relatively tractable to think through.
The sentence that confused you is saying that:
1) The amount e.g. that the UK is willing to spend to avert a DALY is £30,000. There are unfunded opportunities to buy DALYs at a little over this threshold.
2) The costs to society of treatment of a DALY coming from amputated limbs is around ten times this.
3) Therefore the health effect is only a small fraction of the total impact of amputation. We should be willing to take opportunities to avoid amputations at a much steeper rate than £30,000/DALY, because we will get large benefits in avoiding future costs (even if these won’t be entirely borne by the health system).
On your second point, it’s true that bednets have a significant effect of averting YLDs in young people, a large majority of the DALYs caused by malaria in the young are YLLs rather than YLDs (http://vizhub.healthdata.org/gbd-compare/), and this ratio is very likely similar for the DALYs averted by malaria. I absolutely agree with your comment about discounting; this will reduce the expected impact of averting YLLs, but probably not by all that much. I have a book chapter coming out on this topic; drop me an email if you’d like to see a draft.
On the third point, I agree that fertility decline is a substantial benefit. I’m not sure that we understand all the mechanisms of benefit well enough there to quantify it precisely. My understanding is that the fertility decline approximately cancels out the child mortality, so that you end up with similar populations surviving into early adulthood before or after the intervention. You can informally think about how bad it is for the family’s welfare (in DALY-equivalents, ideally) to have an extra child and have that child die as an infant.
Katherine Steiner
“This analysis is of particular practical importance to effective altruists because two of the most promising interventions address different types of DALYS – deworming primarily averts YLDs and bed nets to prevent malaria primarily avert YLLs. This make us more inclined towards deworming as a top intervention than a naive evaluation would suggest. More sophisticated analyses incorporate terms that address many of these effects, but may still undervalue deworming relative to malaria nets.”I
I found these 3 sentences very confusing, although I think I’ve got them figured out now. Because you hadn’t really started to argue that YLDs might be underestimated compared to YLLs, it was hard to judge which way this was supposed to read – whether deworming might be undervalued or overvalued.
Are you saying:
1) A naive evaluation would treate YLDs and YLLS equally, and lead us to undervalue deworming, because
2) Deworming mostly prevents YLDs, and you think that these have greater externalities, so are more important to prevent than YLLs, and
3) More sophisticated analyses try and take these externalities into account, but may not completely manage it, so still undervalue deworming a bit.
Also, there’s a spelling mistake in the second sentence, and I don’t think your footnote links work.
Ole Koksvik
Thanks for a great article!
I found the information in note 3 astonishing. If the DAILYs in use in comparisons, when dominated by YLLs, use this calculation, does not this point alone suggest that the interventions concerned are strongly overestimated?
The following seems right.
“From an economic perspective as well, the externalities of death in youth and middle age are higher than those at either tail. This is because society has expended some resources in developing human capital, but individuals still have a substantial period of continued productivity in front of them.”
However, I was wondering, would people’s entering the workforce early, with little education, tend to reduce this effect? After all, I’d have thought that a signicant part of the ‘investment’ gone into the development of human capital occurs during pregnancy.
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Armada by Ernest Cline - A Review
Greetings Starfighter!
Earnest Cline’s stock in trade is his geek cred and nerd-dom. He’s a card carrying member of everything dork-worthy and pop-culture related from the late 70s science fiction/fantasy/gaming era forward. In his debut novel, “Ready Player One”, this DeLorean-driving master wove together that tapestry of geek-chic trivia, first-hand experience and scifi speculation to create a wonderful bit of wish fulfillment. With “Armada”, Cline dips back into that well, answering the what-if that every game console player has secretly—or not so secretly—wished: What if this is real? What if I’m being trained to fight actual alien invaders?
Cline’s story introduces us to the story of Zach Lightman, and his merry band of gamer misfits who are gonna save the world. Zach, a modern teen with more than one foot square in the 80s/90s era of entertainment, has been selected, along with most of the planet, by the Star League-like Earth Defense Alliance because of his impressive skills to fend off the “evil” armada of the Europan invasion. The threat had been kept secret from the public, but was sprinkled on our collective subconscious over the decades so that if/when the time came, Earth could join together as one species and stave off annihilation.
As with “Ready Player One”, Cline is able to craft some excellent primary characters. As our guide into this “what-if” fantasy, Zach is the most rounded and accessible. The problem comes from the supporting and secondary characters, who seem interesting, but aren’t given any time to really develop. Where Cline was able to pull the trick of making real-seeming characters on the barest of information, here the lack of details flops. Readers almost would have been better off with fewer, but more rounded characters that we could have gotten behind, while having more cardboard extras fill in the background.
The timeline of the story is set on fast-forward, with the major action taking place over a few dozen hours. This feels like a miss opportunity, where Cline could have really drawn together the myth and mystery of his aliens and their motives, while at the same time giving us a real sense of camaraderie and joy/loss with each success or failure. There is almost no time for the reader to really connect with anyone beyond Zach, which limits Cline’s potential audience.
Overall, “Armada” is a wonderful addition to the Cline library, and readers will not be disappointed as the newest Duke of Fanboy’s effort delivers everything that was promised. While not quite up to the same bar of “Ready Player One”, “Armada” is a quick, clean and easy read with a fun jazz riff on classic science fiction tropes. Eagerly awaiting Cline’s next effort for another dive into his world.
Secret Project—Revealed
A Victorian Birthday and Mementos Mori—Guest Blog ...
Some Notes on Guns
Game of Thrones- Redux
Monday You Can Fall Apart
Warcraft - Movie Review
Secret Project—Background
Let's Keep It Real
A Quick Note on Bullets
Secret Project
Shakespeare Meets Black Adder
A Quick Note on Spears and Swords
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BTLNHL #14: Buffalo Sabres
By JVDW
In BTLNHL Countdown
Bob: Okay, we’ve got this hockey team, and we have to make a logo for them. Any ideas?
Lucy: What’s the team called?
Bob: The Buffalo Sabres.
Lucy: How about a buffalo with some sabres?
Bob: I like your thinking!
Okay, so the Sabres don’t have the most creative, ingenuous or outside-the-box-thinking logo, but that’s not always a bad thing (just ask Gary Busey). If you’re a team based in a town called Buffalo, you’ve pretty much got a basis for a team logo right there, and some of the other Buffalo teams decided to just go with that, like the Buffalo Bills (named after the famed buffalo hunter,“Buffalo Bill” Cody, not to be confused with the target of John Lennon’s scorn, Bungalow Bill), or the very redundant Buffalo Bisons. According to my secret sources (aka Wikipedia), the Sabres’ organization wanted something different, so they crowdsourced the team name in a contest and came up with Sabres. No idea what a sabre has to do with a buffalo, or the city of Buffalo, but that’s what crowdsourcing gets you.
So, how you mix these two relatively disparate elements into one logo? “You don’t,” said the logo designer. And in this case, I think it was the right choice. I’ve already talked extensively about the dangers of using animals in a professional sports logo, and they wisely steered clear of having a cartoon buffalo holding a sword in one hand and a hockey stick in the other. Really, how stupid would that look? The only thing worse would be something like a fabric crop, say cotton, dressed like a king and playing hockey. Good thing nobody did…oh, wait a minute.
Anyway, they wisely left the two alone, and just put them together in a circle, neither interacting with each other or really aware of each other. The buffalo is just charging, as buffalos are wont to do (sometimes without much good sense) and the two sabres are just hanging out, like they’re mounted on the wall. The result is a quirky logo that’s well constructed and, as such, has a lot of character to it. It’s a good thing the buffalo and sabres didn’t switch positions, otherwise it could be misconstrued as a hamster wheel.
The buffalo itself is a great example of using animals and animal caricatures in the design of hockey logos for a professional league. It’s simple and pared down to its core, but still has a lot of strength and dynamism to it. The only stupid thing is the red eye. Really, is this necessary? In most cases, the buffalo is too small to even notice the red eye and besides, how many buffaloes have you seen with red eyes? We get it, the buffalo’s angry. Gotcha. Good thing I have some handy-dandy red-eye removal technology.
The other element, the sabres, are again simple, pared-down but still has some style and character to it thanks to the design of the handles. It really is well done.
But I’d be remiss if I didn’t bring up the Sabres’ logo legacy. This vintage logo came back into full-time usage in 2010, after 14 years of general awfulness, including a flaming demonic buffalo that is the epitome of everything I dislike about animals in logo design and bad ’90s-era “xtreme” design. It’s a complete mess and would have been very low on this BTLNHL list had it still been around. The only thing that could have been worse is a buffalo that looks like a slug, and that’s exactly what came next. Really? Seriously? Luckily for Buffalo fans everywhere, they went back to their original branding after realizing how good it looked after the inaugural Winter Classic. The only hangover from those 14 years of darkness is the red-eye, which is kind of like Steve Zissou’s crazy-eye.
So, this heritage logo is a vast improvement over the previous logos. But the new version isn’t exactly the same as the original. The blue is a little bit darker, which I like (as it has more strength and contrast against the white ice) and they added a grey outline around everything, which I don’t like at all, because adding the grey didn’t create just one outline, but two, with another outline of the darker blue around everything as well. Is that really necessary? Having just a grey outline (instead of a grey and blue outline) looks awful, so how about no outline at all, except around the outside of the logo? I think it’s much better. The outlines just detract from the beauty of the elements inside the circle.
Speaking of the circle, it’s always a simple and great choice to get elements together into a cohesive logo. It doesn’t always work, but in this case, it does well.
So, we’re deep into the top half of the countdown now, with the quirky but well-executed Buffalo Sabres coming in at #14.
The BTLNTL Countdown Posts
BTLNHL #5: Montreal Canadiens
BTLNHL #6: Pittsburgh Penguins
BTLNHL #7: Chicago Blackhawks
BTLNHL #8: Toronto Maple Leafs
BTLNHL #9: Phoenix Coyotes
BTLNHL #10: Vancouver Canucks
BTLNHL #11: Edmonton Oilers
BTLNHL #12: New York Rangers
BTLNHL #13: Calgary Flames
BTLNHL #15: Winnipeg Jets
BTLNHL #16: Minnesota Wild
BTLNHL #17: New Jersey Devils
BTLNHL #18: Nashville Predators
BTLNHL #19: Carolina Hurricanes
BTLNHL #20: New York Islanders
BTLNHL #21: Ottawa Senators
BTLNHL #22: Tampa Bay Lightning
BTLNHL #23: Columbus Blue Jackets
BTLNHL #24: Washington Capitals
BTLNHL #25: San Jose Sharks
BTLNHL #26: Florida Panthers
BTLNHL #27: Dallas Stars
BTLNHL #28: Los Angeles Kings
BTLNHL #29: Colorado Avalanche
BTLNHL #30: Anaheim Ducks
Worst to First Jerseys: St Louis Blues
24 Responses to “BTLNHL #14: Buffalo Sabres”
January 12, 2012 at 7.40am
Hm, I don’t disagree with any of this analysis, and I know you work hard on these, but it feels like something is missing. Maybe I want to hear more about the details of the logo, and not just the overall theme?
Like, what do you think of the, erm, “motion lines” above and below the buffalo? What about the simplification of the handles of the swords, in the current logo compared to the original?
January 12, 2012 at 2.40pm
I did actually consider saying something about the motion lines, and I played around with them in Photoshop, deleting them, adjusting them, etc. but honestly, I couldn’t decide what I liked best. The lines add to the movement of the buffalo for sure, but they add clutter to to the overall design. In the end, it seemed to be a wash, so I didn’t bother to bring it up. I could take it or leave it.
For the sabre handle, the change is pretty minimal, but I like the simplification (as I seem wont to do). It’s a good touch.
Thanks for pointing those out!
mjk716 says:
First off, I have LOVED reading this blog since I stumbled on it and, save for a few logos, I generally completely agree with your rankings. As a Sabres fan, I kept thinking about where this logo would land, and this seems about right. The solution to solve the awful grey outline problem you put forth is spot on.
A note on the naming of the team, which I pulled from the Sabres’ official website:
(As correctly stated they held a contest which drew over 13,000 entries.)
“The name ‘Sabres’ had been suggested by not one, but four different people and appealed to the owners. As public relations director Chuck Barr wrote in a press release, “a sabre is renowned as a clean, sharp, decisive and penetrating weapon on offense, as well as a strong parrying weapon on defense.”
And on the colors:
“From there the Knox brothers, Seymour and Norty, chose blue and gold for the uniform colors based on a polo club of which their father, Seymour H. Knox, belonged.”
Can’t wait to see how you stack the top 5 or so logos… it would be a challenge for me.
It’s a challenge for me too! It feels like it’s going to get trickier from here on in. Most people can agree on things they don’t like, but agreeing on things they do like is a bit harder. Wish me luck!
And thanks for the additional info!
ollie says:
just an fyi, the buffalo’s red eye has been around since before the flaming goat head appeared. it seems to come in and out of use from the beginning pretty much. I agree with the gray piping, its use on the jersey is even worse than in the logo. completely unnecessary, in my opinion. lastly, as a sabres fan i will say that their logo deserves to at least be ahead of the canucks, based solely on it making more sense for a buffalo to appear in a buffalo team’s logo than an orca to appear in a vancouver team’s logo and the flames logo is just sort of …. uninspiring i guess. but it’s ok, i get it, you’re probably canadian and buffalo is only on canada’s waiting list.
Agree re: Orca, not at all re: Flames. The Flames logo is simple and shows great continuity with the team’s time in Atlanta. Too few relocated teams do that.
The orca makes a lot of sense for Vancouver. I’ll explain why when they take their place in the countdown.
Douglas says:
I’m a graphic design student as well a huge fan of your site, and an even bigger Sabres fan. As a confessed lover of typography and lettering, I’m very surprised you didn’t at all bring up Buffalo’s 40-year anniversary 3rd jersey design and specifically the logotype. Love to know what you think of it!
Cool, thanks, glad you like the site! It’s much appreciated.
I’m trying to stick primarily only to the main team logo (and not mentioning much on jerseys and/or alternate logos) at this point, but I’m definitely wanting to write more about those things later on. Stay tuned!
cdr says:
I was interested to see if you were going to bring up the Muslim Brotherhood symbol. I’ve always kind of wondered if maybe it was inspired by that to some degree, but maybe it’s just me.
My guess is the similarities between the logos are purely a coincidence.
Richard Mitchell says:
February 27, 2012 at 8.06pm
I dont understand where you people get a flaming goat head There the Buffalo sabres not the f**king Buffalo Goatheads…… And if you look at the logo its not flaming…… at all its only an accent to make the jersey pop… And i can bet that the blog owner is shaking his head since i keep comenting on stupid sh** like this in another one of his blogs…. I have an obsession i guess you could say…. But dude every NHL logo is pretty much just random BS…. Like tampa…. Lightning bolt…….. The philidelphia flyers…. A, P and F with a wing forming the f…. I could keep going on but its simple… Every sport has stupid random logos…. and lots of stupid names…. Life keeps on Goin 🙂 Much love editor Your keeping me entertained
November 1, 2012 at 6.23am
There is actually a funny thing about this, Ever consider the fan who made the “Sabres” Maybe mean a Sabretooth tiger? which is what they associated with the logo
BTLNHL #3: Philadelphia Flyers | Hockey By Design says:
April 7, 2013 at 3.56pm
[…] Canucks BTLNHL #11: Edmonton Oilers BTLNHL #12: New York Rangers BTLNHL #13: Calgary Flames BTLNHL #14: Buffalo Sabres BTLNHL #15: Winnipeg Jets BTLNHL #16: Minnesota Wild BTLNHL #17: New Jersey Devils BTLNHL #18: […]
BTLNHL Finals: Boston Bruins v Detroit Red Wings | Hockey By Design says:
October 17, 2013 at 7.46pm
BTLNHL #4: St. Louis Blues | Hockey By Design says:
October 18, 2013 at 9.38am
June 2, 2014 at 5.57pm
Just stumbled upon this. Couldn’t agree more on the outline. It took a pretty cool logo and just made it blurry. I don’t know if non-designers notice it, but the first time I saw it I thought I needed new contacts. Tiny thin lines never look good on sports logos. I guess the designer was like, “We can’t just use the old one as-is. We need to improve it. Got it! An extra outline!” I don’t get it.
June 3, 2014 at 9.59am
Yeah, outlines are unfortunately too common in sports. The Sharks logo (old and new) is a strong offender as well, but there’s tons of them out there.
January 7, 2015 at 8.48am
Not sure if it’s been mentioned already, haven’t read through every comment but the White Buffalo with the red eye is a Native American belief, prosperity or good luck, that’s why the Sabres logo has a red eye.
Thanks Mike, had no idea. Now it actually makes sense, but it’s still a strange inclusion as there is nothing else in the logo to connect to Native American mythology or design style.
BTLNHL #5: Montreal Canadiens | Hockey By Design says:
February 20, 2015 at 8.57am
BTLNHL #18: Nashville Predators | Hockey By Design says:
February 20, 2015 at 11.02am
BTLNHL #19: Carolina Hurricanes | Hockey By Design says:
รับสอนพิเศษ says:
December 3, 2015 at 7.40am
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Leave a Reply to BTLNHL Finals: Boston Bruins v Detroit Red Wings | Hockey By Design Cancel reply
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TV News: Marcia Wallace, Edna Krabappel on ‘The Simpsons,’ Dies at 70
Submitted by PatrickMcD on October 26, 2013 - 5:19pm
Bill Dailey
Carol Kester
Marcia Wallace
Merv Griffin
Patrick McDonald
The Bob Newhart Show
LOS ANGELES – Marcia Wallace, who created two classic TV roles on “The Bob Newhart Show” and “The Simpsons,” passed away in Los Angeles, according to her agent on Saturday. She was 70 years old. In the 1970s, she was known as Carol Kester, Bob Hartley’s assistant on that Newhart show. In 1990 – one season after “The Simpsons” began – she took on the voice role of Edna Krabappel, the frazzled and man-hungry fourth grade teacher of Bart Simpson.
TV Review: Clever, Fun ‘Toy Story of Terror’ Makes ABC Debut
Submitted by BrianTT on October 16, 2013 - 9:00am
Toy Story of Terror
CHICAGO – Was “Toy Story 3” the last great Pixar production? With the modest critical reaction to “Cars 2,” “Brave,” and “Monsters University,” it seems an entirely defensible position to take. In fact, one could easily argue that “Small Fry,” the “Toy Story” short that premiered with “The Muppets,” and “Partysaurus Rex,” which played with “Finding Nemo 3D,” should be considered higher on the Pixar hierarchy than “Cars 2” and maybe even “Brave.”
TV Review: ‘American Horror Story: Coven’ Casts a Spell
Submitted by BrianTT on October 9, 2013 - 10:46am
American Horror Story: Asylum
Frances Conroy
Lily Rabe
CHICAGO – Take this with a giant grain of salt but FX’s “American Horror Story: Coven” shows incredible promise in its premiere episode tonight, setting a number of creative plates spinning in directions that could be fascinating. Why the salt? Well, “American Horror Story: Asylum” started with similar promise and quickly became cluttered and unfocused.
TV Review: NBC’s Struggles Continue with ‘Sean Saves the World,’ ‘Welcome to the Family’
Submitted by BrianTT on October 3, 2013 - 2:43pm
Justina Machado
Linda Lavin
Mike O'Malley
Ricardo A. Chavira
CHICAGO – People often ask me why low-rated NBC shows like “Community” keep getting renewed (or how “Whitney” and “Up All Night” got a second season) and I often turn to a sports analogy — they have no one in the minor leagues to replace them.
TV Review: Rebel Wilson Brings Routine to TV for ‘Super Fun Night’
Lauren Ash
CHICAGO – It seems logical that Rebel Wilson, the scene-stealer from “Pitch Perfect” and “Bridesmaids,” would get her own sitcom. Logical, yes. A good idea, maybe not. Wilson’s “Super Fun Night,” premiering this evening on ABC at 8:30pm CST after “Modern Family,” is not yet super and not too much fun to start.
TV Review: NBC’s ‘Ironside’ is Worst New Drama of 2013
CHICAGO – As the TV world was bombarded by new shows last week, I heard a number of complaints about the new dramas and comedies. “Hostages” was too cliched. “The Blacklist” wasn’t believable. “SHIELD” wasn’t fun enough. “Lucky 7” was, well, just awful. People, those shows will look even better if you happen to stumble upon “Ironside,” premiering tomorrow night on NBC.
Blu-ray Review: ‘Hannibal’ is Best Drama on Network TV
Submitted by BrianTT on September 27, 2013 - 9:02am
Thomas Harris
CHICAGO – Has there ever been a network TV show more cinematic than “Hannibal”? Especially when one watches it commercial-free in “binge” format on the newly-released Blu-ray, one can even more distinctly appreciate the fact that the first season of Bryan Fuller’s incredible show, the best on network TV, plays like long film. Scratch that.
TV Review: CBS Misses Comedy Mark with ‘The Crazy Ones,’ ‘The Millers’
Submitted by BrianTT on September 25, 2013 - 4:59pm
Hamish Linklater
JB Smoove
Margo Martindale
CHICAGO – There are very few recurring weak points in the CBS lineup. They’ve been dominating total viewers for years with mega-hits like “NCIS” and “The Big Bang Theory.” But there is one thing they haven’t been able to figure out — something to partner with “TBBT.”
TV Review: NBC Has Likable Hit in ‘The Michael J. Fox Show’
Betsy Brandt
Conor Romero
Juliette Goglia
Katie Finneran
Wendell Pierce
CHICAGO – Seriously, if “The Michael J. Fox Show” doesn’t connect with NBC’s target audience, they might as well give up. Yes, the show could use a stronger lead-in but it pairs well with “Parenthood,” also returning tomorrow night, September 26, 2013, and it’s the most straight-up likable new sitcom of the season. The first episode is a bit rocky and overly self-referential but it settles in nicely over the next two and already looks like it could be on for years.
TV Review: James Caan Comes Home in ‘Back in the Game’
Submitted by BrianTT on September 25, 2013 - 10:14am
Glenn Ficarra
Griffin Gluck
John Requa
Lenora Crichlow
Robb Cullen
CHICAGO – From Archie Bunker to Frank Barone, TV has a long history of crotchety, irascible, borderline offensive fathers who really love their kids. To the long list, we can now add Terry Gannon (James Caan), the scene-stealer from ABC’s “Back in the Game,” premiering tonight, September 25, 2013 in a coveted time slot between the returns of “The Middle” and “Modern Family.”
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Babylon Honda Blog
Your West Babylon, NY Honda Dealer
Category: Electric Vehicles
All-New 2019 Honda Insight Debuts at New York International Auto Show
April 10, 2018 Frank Inzirillo Electric Vehicles, Honda
This past March, Honda debuted the all-new 2019 Insight at the New York International Auto Show. The 2019 Insight is the fifth new electric vehicle introduced by Honda in the past year, joining vehicles like the Clarity series and 2018 Accord Hybrid in Honda’s electric lineup. Honda continues to make further inroads into electric vehicle technology, providing the smartest and most up-to-date technology to American drivers.
The 2019 Honda Insight will arrive at dealerships throughout the country early this summer. It is a premium compact sedan and slots between the popular Honda Civic and Accord. Its sleek styling, dynamic driving experience with zippy acceleration, and exceptional fuel efficiency are sure to draw a variety of drivers. The Insight will deliver an expected 55 mpg in the city*, making no sacrifices to achieve such a feat. It will also offer three selectable driving modes so drivers can pick the mode best suited to the road situation at hand.
This smart electric vehicle will offer comfortable seating for up to five passengers, as well as tons of smart entertainment and safety technology. The Insight will come equipped with Honda Sensing®, Honda’s state-of-the-art suite of driver-assist and safety technologies. Included within this suite is Forward Collision Warning, Adaptive Cruise Control with Low-Speed Follow, and Lane Keeping Assistance System.
If you want to learn more about the new Honda Insight come talk to the team at Babylon Honda. We’re as excited for this car as you are!
Leave a comment 2019 Honda, babylon Honda, Electric, Insight, March, New York International Auto Show, Vehicle
Honda’s New Partnership Focuses on Electric Vehicles
March 2, 2017 Frank Inzirillo Concepts, Electric Vehicles, Honda
Only a handful of automakers have chosen to stick to hydrogen fuel cells instead of moving to electric- and battery-powered vehicles. The Honda Clarity made a name for itself but a lack of infrastructure has pushed the Japanese automaker in another direction. Honda’s new partnership puts a new focus on electric vehicles. Unlike other automakers, however, Honda’s vehicles will use both batteries and fuel cells.
Honda has partnered with Hitachi to produce more affordable electric motors. The joint venture is a sign that, while Honda isn’t walking away from hydrogen power, the company is pushing for more alternative fuel sources.
Hitachi has a reputation for building electric motors for vehicles of all shapes and sizes. As federal emissions standards grow tighter, the call for more affordable electric powertrains has been deafening. The Honda-Hitachi partnership aims to lower the cost of mass producing engines.
The partnership will originally launch in Japan manufacturing operations. The venture will eventually expand to operations in North America and China as well. While Hitachi and Honda will work together, Hitachi will continue to produce motors for other automakers while Honda will use in-house motors in some vehicles.
We here at Babylon Honda are happy to see such an incredible automaker getting ahead of the game when it comes to electric vehicles! The world could certainly use more green vehicles!
Leave a comment Electric Cars, Honda
Honda Advocates for Drivers to “Remove the Distractions”
Spring Vehicle Maintenance Tips to Keep Your Car Running Smoothly
Good Housekeeping Best New Car Awards Go to Accord and Odyssey
March Events in Babylon, New York
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IMED5312 Integrated Medical Practice 2 Part B
Non-standard teaching period UWA (Perth) Multi-mode
Parts A and B must be completed to fulfil the requirements of the year.
The Doctor of Medicine (MD) course is based around six themes of Professional, Leader, Advocate, Clinician, Educator and Scholar. This unit provides teaching in all of these themes within the clinical attachments and related teaching in Year 3 of the MD course. This includes eight-week duration clinical placements in surgery and psychiatry, internal medicine, general practice and ophthalmology, paediatrics and child health, and womens' and infants' health. Students undertake clinical care of patients under the supervision of experienced clinicians in a real clinical environment including ward rounds, operating theatre experience, outpatient clinics, emergency department attachments, community practices and other clinical encounters. Students engage in small group learning sessions to discuss evidence-based practice in related clinical disciplines in hospital and community health contexts. Students are expected to apply the knowledge, skills and professional attitudes gained in context within these clinical rotations.
Students are able to (1) display professional behaviour in the educational and clinical settings, discuss challenges to professionalism in specified clinical disciplines, and reflect on professional behaviours in the clinical setting; display critical and insightful self-reflection of own personal values, wellbeing, personal difficulties and professional performance and implement effective management strategies when necessary; and comply with medicolegal responsibilities and recognise and discuss complex ethical and legal issues in medical practice; (2) outline the principles of health management including business planning, resource planning, healthcare reform and human resources; and work effectively in a team; explain the roles and boundaries of different health professions; and participate effectively in interprofessional teams; and compare the Australian and global health systems using economic methods; and explain the journey of the patient within the health system in specified disciplines; (3) discuss the role of the doctor in advocacy at an individual and organisational level in the delivery of health care; discuss how to provide culturally secure, comprehensive, multidisciplinary heath care and health services for Aboriginal people and communities; and display the ability to work in partnership with Aboriginal people; display a culturally secure clinical approach and discuss contributing factors and consequences of health inequalities; and explain health maintenance, promotion and disease prevention strategies with patients and colleagues; (4) integrate knowledge of the classification, epidemiology, aetiology, anatomy, pathophysiology, clinical and pathological manifestations, natural history, diagnostic principles and therapeutic principles with specified core medical conditions and presentations; perform an accurate, relevant and timely clinical assessment for the specified core presentations and for individual health status; and derive a prioritised and justifiable differential diagnosis or problem list; and plan a diagnostic strategy including selecting or performing and interpreting specified investigations; discuss the integration of scientific knowledge, clinical findings and patient preferences when formulating a management plan; and select and use therapies under supervision applying their evidence base to individual patients; assess and respect the patient's values, preferences, context, and perspectives, and explain the effects of these on shared decision-making, diagnosis and management; display caring, compassionate and empathetic behaviours with patients/carers/families and communicate professionally, respectfully, courteously and effectively with patients, carers, families and other health professionals; and apply a quality framework to medical practice and display a commitment to continued improvement of clinical performance; (5) demonstrate critical self-reflection skills as both a teacher and learner and capacity for life-long learning; discuss and apply effective approaches to developing mentoring and support relationships; plan and implement patient education based on the principles of patient education and counselling; implement teaching sessions that are guided by the principles of effective teaching and learning; and seek and effectively respond to constructive feedback, provide constructive feedback to others, display effective self-assessment skills; and evaluate different assessment methods and strategies; and (6) apply research-based knowledge from medical sciences as the basis for clinical practice; apply EBP strategies and tools to specified core medical conditions and presentations and clinical practice; and use clinical information and support systems and resources in a relevant, effective and professional manner.
Indicative assessments in this unit are as follows: (1) in-training assessment during the clinical attachments including case presentations, quizzes, workbooks, case discussions; (2) end-of-year written examinations; (3) professional behaviour and attendance assessment; and (4) portfolio assessment. Further information is available in the unit outline.
To pass this unit, a student must: (a) achieve an overall mark of 50 per cent or higher for the unit; and (b) achieve the requisite requirements(s) or a mark of 50 per cent or greater, whichever is higher and specified in the unit outline, for the in-training assessment during the clinical attachments including case presentations, quizzes, workbooks, case discussions, end-of-year written examinations, professional behaviour and attendance assessment, and portfolio assessment components.
Supplementary assessment is available for those students who obtain a mark of 45 to 49 inclusive in this unit, as per the MD progression rules.
Senior lecturer Joanne Somerville
IMED4221 Integrated Medical Practice 1
SAHE5321 Research Aboriginal Health Unit 3
SRUR5321 Rural Specialisation—Research Project 2
SMED5321 Research Project 2
SAHE5322 Service Learning Aboriginal Health Unit 3
SRUR5322 Rural Specialisation—Service Learning Unit 3
SMED5322 Service Learning Unit 3
PUBH5752 Health Systems and Economics
IMED5803 Introduction to Research in Health Professions Education
IMED5801 Principles of Teaching and Learning
IMED5333 Special unit: MBBS Scholarly Activity 3
PUBH4401 Biostatistics I
Approved quota: 180—the MD quota less students allocated to rural clinical school
30-40 hours per week
Non-standard teaching period [TS-C-6_2019]
Students are required to achieve a pass in the combined written examination component of the unit mark, AND the professional behaviour and participation component, AND the portfolio component, AND the in-training assessment component to pass the unit.
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The Year That Was For Me - 2012
Recap of some of the stuff I did in 2012.
Saw snow for the first time in my life at Auli. Enjoyed the all-boy trip with Vasu, Ranjan, Koni, Kiran and Vasu's son Aditya. We assembled in Dehradun and drove into the hills. On the way back from Auli we stayed overnight on the banks of the Ganga at Rishikesh.Other places I visited this year were an interesting hillock near Jadcherla and a Hanuman teple in Hayathnagar which were both Koni's discoveries, Bangalore, Mysore, Chandigarh, Pune and Shivthargal (near Pune). One short visit to Delhi and to Ghaziabad with Raja to visit IMT. One nice visit to Taramati Baradari with Shobhs and Anjali. Travel was bleak last year save the Auli trip!
Met Vijay Lokapally the well-known cricket and sports journalist, Krishna Shastry Devulapalli the humour novelist, Huma Kidwai the novelist, and Saeed Mirza the famous film maker and now, novelist.
Wrote 373 blog posts which is a sharp decrease from last year. But I love writing the blog and it has made me a better person in many ways because it forces me to do things that I might not have - new experiences, new people, new thoughts. The decrease was during the second half of the year when I was busy with the cricket selection assignment.
Read and reviewed 47 books. I enjoyed reading the Mahabharatha (in three versions), Freedom at Midnight, The Last Nizam and they helped me understand my context better in terms of where I come from. Several new books, many by new authors, some old classics as well but overall I think there is some improvement required in the kind of stuff I read.
Watched and reviewed 54 or so movies, most of them thanks to Koni this time. Once again the Irani movies completely blew me off my feet, some of the new Hindi movies were good. But then again, like the books, I feel there is much scope to improve what I see. I have my sights set on some which are in my possession but which have been languishing for want of attention. The Classics for instance, and the ones I missed out from last year.
Went to music concert - again alone - and enjoyed the 'Guns and Roses' experience. Plan to go to at least one music concert a year by myself.
Went to a play by myself - 'Hamari Potti ki Shaadi' at Lamakaan and enjoyed myself thoroughly.
Conducted a Creative Writing workshop for school children of the age of 10-15 at Oakridge High School and enjoyed the experience. Taught me much about how writing itself.
Interviewed some interesting people - Anupama Raghvan my friend who is also a kidney donor on the process of organ donation, Anita Rajnarayan the tarot reader and hypnotherapist and also a good friend of mine, Vijay Lokapally on sports journalism and two interviews with Anjali who gave me the perspective of life as seen by a four and a half and a five year old.
Have begun a walking and exercise routine which is nice and allows me to play with my thoughts while keeping my physical side active. Worked on health and am glad to have kept it in good shape. I think I am better of now than last year.
Attended the Hyderabad Literary Festival on all three days and enjoyed myself thoroughly. I even participated in a panel discussion!
There were talks at TRR College of Engineering, Triveni Group of Companies, SMILDA, Gap Miners and others, workshops at University of Hyderabad, Mars and Sorokasoft, and one 'In conversation' with Anita Nair which was a first and one that I thoroughly enjoyed.
Took up a new assignment which has been a great learning experience in many ways.
Most of all, enjoyed all the time I could spend with Anjali and looking at the world through her perspective.
Overall it was a year that pulled me in many directions and put me in several situations that were new. Certain things that I wanted to happen did not work out such as publishing 'The Misfit' and the 'Champion's Mindset', workshops and lectures, some travel plans. But it was a year of tremendous growth in several other ways.
Much thanks is owed to Shobha for all that she puts up with and more for being a wonderful companion through the days. Anjali for being a constant source of joy. My family for keeping me grounded and keeping me going with their unconditional love and support. My friends for making me laugh and making life fun and exciting. Raja, Prarthana and Vinod for the books they shared with me. Sagar and Koni for the movies. Gap and HCA for the assignments as with all other clients of mine. Amar for the workshops and the discussions. Vinod for the coffee and bajji rendezvous.
More as I remember through the day.
Posted by Harimohan at 3:56 PM 1 comment:
2012 in Movies
Here are movies that I watched at home or in the theatres and reviewed. I watched 53 this year, liked some and did not like some.
In January (10) I watched - 'Color of Paradise', 'My Friend Pinto', 'The Peaceful Warrior', 'Shagird', 'Dhobi Ghat', 'Memento', 'Ra One', 'Alvin and the Chipmunks' and 'Chillar Party'.
In February (11) I saw - 'Dirty Picture', 'Money Ball', 'Rhapsody in August', 'The Way', 'The Smurfs', 'Throne of Blood', 'Reincarnation of Peter Proud', 'V for Vendetta', 'Ghost Writer', 'Rabbit Proof Fence' and 'Zelig'.
In March (6) I saw - 'Kahaani', 'Manhattan', 'Kashmakash', 'Citizen Kane', 'Good Night Good Luck', 'The Descendants'.
In April (2) it was - 'Pan Singh Tomar', 'Ides of March'.
In May (4) it was - 'Chhota Bheem', 'The Great Dictator', 'Johny English Reborn' and 'The Silent Movie'.
In June (2) - 'The Devil Wears Prada' and 'Vicky Donor'.
In July (1) - '12 Angry Men'.
In August (2) - 'Unstoppable' and 'Hugo'.
In September (6) - 'Barfi', 'We Bought a Zoo', 'A Separation', 'Doghi', 'Young Frankenstein' and 'Ferrari ki Sawari'.
In October (6) - 'Student of the Year', 'Cocktail', 'Taken 2', 'Zorba the Greek', 'Faltu' and 'Blazing Saddles'.
In November (1) - 'Borat'.
In December (3) it was - 'English Vinglish', 'Tourist' and 'Offside'.
The best of the lot - 'A Separation', 'Color of Paradise', 'Memento', 'Rabbit Proof Fence', 'Zelig', 'Kahaani', '12 Angry Men', 'Pan Singh Tomar', 'Chillar Party', 'Alvin and the Chipmunks' and 'English Vinglish'. The big disappointments were 'Student of the Year', 'Borat', 'Faltu', 'Cocktail', 'My Friend Pinto', 'Ra One'.
At 53, its a sharp drop in movies from the 80 odd last year!
Animal Farm - George Orwell
Reread this old classic to check for the change in perspective, if any. What George Orwell's classic showed me when I read it this time was that things are frighteningly the same - in 1945 (when he first wrote it) as in 1985 (when I first read it) and in 2012 today.
Sample this. Manor Farm is a farm run by Jones the farm owner. All the farm animals are made to work hard in return for very little. One of them, Old Major, a boar, tells the animals in the beginning of a dream he had where he saw humans being overthrown and the farm belonging to those who actually worked - the animals. A rebellion, he says, and the farm animals listen. In a few days Old Major dies. His rebellion happens soon after his death, when farmer Jones forgets to feed the animals in his drunken stupor, and is attacked by the hungry animals. Led by two young pigs Snowball and Napolean, who have the sharper brains of the lot, the animals drive Farmer Jones away and take over the farm, rename it the Animal Farm, and declare war on all that walks on two legs. Snowball is an articulate, hardworking, progressive pig while Napolean is an inarticulate, mischievous and power hungry pig. Over a period of time the two pigs fight for leadership over the farm until Napolean unleashes his army of dogs (that he raises in secret) and drives Snowball away. Now as the supreme commander, he used false propaganda, ill treats the animals, puts down any form of rebellion and makes for himself a luxurious life in Farmer Jones farmhouse, eating the best food and drinking whisky even. In time he actually starts meeting other humans (which is against their first principles) and starts making deals with them. The saddest day is when he sells off the loyal and hardworking horse Boxer to a slaughter house.
But pay attention here. The way he and other pigs in the Management do not appear when the loyal and hardworking Boxer falls due to exhaustion, whisk the old horse away without any intimation to other animals allegedly for better treatment, spread false stories about how the brave horse was given the best treatment and make unconvincing speeches of sympathy when Boxer dies ring all too familiar with the behavior f the Government in the recent incident that shook the nation - the horrific Delhi gang rape case. It's bone chilling really to know that nothing has changed since 1945, that Orwell could actually write down this formula for society and that we are all living it exactly as he'd written it down even now. The last scene where the fattened and power-hungry pigs start walking on two legs imitating humans, making deals with humans over dinner where they all get drunk and fight - a scene witnessed by all the animals of the farm from the window - ends with another chilling line - that at that table the pigs and the men look alike with their many chins and the greed in their eyes.
Written as a brilliant satire deriding Communism in Russia, which Orwell, a confirmed socialist, believed was in cahoots with Western Capitalists, 'Animal Farm' is frighteningly alive even in this age. We see pigs like Napolean ruling us even now, their sycophants like Squealer spreading lies and falsehood, their goons like Napolean's dogs attacking the weak and unarmed, the stupid and uneducated public which believes in any propaganda that the state feeds them. We also see how the system, or those in power, use their people, how they sell off their own loyal employees, how they do not hesitate to make a profit even when one of their own is dying or dead (or raped). Nothing has really changed. Not in Manor Farm. Not in our world.
George Orwell's brief at the back of the book is interesting. He was born in 1903 in Bengal, where his father worked for the Opium Department of the Government of India. Orwell wrote six novels, mostly with political hues and with sharp criticism of prevailing systems. He died when he was 47.
'Animal Farm' is one of the books that you wish you could write - so simple, so powerful. Characters like the pigs - Napolean, Squealer and Snowball, Boxer the valiant and hardworking horse who represents the working class (believing that their only job is to work harder and that the Master is always right), the stupid sheep who come in numbers and disrupt any meaningful dialogue by their loud, meaningless bleating, are all unforgettable. Even if you'd read it before, read it again - it's only 118 pages long. 'Animal Farm' remains an even bigger inspiration for me to aspire to write something as simple and as timeless and as powerful.
The Year In Books -2012
This year (2012), I've read 47 books so far. Much of history has been read and appreciated, much of non-fiction too and some wonderful fiction as well. Next year is the year of the classics for me.
In January (6) I read 'Quantum Theory Cannot Hurt You' by Marcus Chown first. Then, 'The Monk, the Moor and Moses Ben Jalloun' by well known film maker and now writer Saeed Akhthar Mirza, 'Iceboys in Bellbottoms' a debut novel by by Krishna Shastry Devulapalli, 'A Calendar too Crowded' a book of short stories by Sagarika Chakraborty, 'Creators' a non-fiction book on some of the world's greatest creators by Paul Johnson and 'Between Tears and Laughter' by Mulkraj Anand.
In February (4) I read 'After Dark' by Haruki Murakami, 'The Eighteenth Parallel' by Ashokamitran, 'The Last Nizam' by John Zubrycki and 'Freedom at Midnight' by Dominic Lapierre and Larry Collins.
In March (6) I read an old classic 'Kidnapped' by Robert Louis Stevenson, 'The Struggle and Betrayal of Telengana' by K. V. Ranga Reddy, 'The Mahabharatha' by Kamala Subramaniam, 'The Children's Mahabharatha' by Shanta Rameshwar Rao, 'Istanbul' by Orhan Pamuk and a hilarious 'God Save the Dork' by Sidin Vadukut.
April (4) brought 'Anatomy of an Illness' by Norman Cousins, 'Nampally Road' by Meena Alexander, a re-read of 'You Can Heal Your Life' by Louise Hay and a fine piece of historical fiction 'Empire of the Moghuls, Raiders From the North' by Alex Rutherford.
In May (4) I read 'The Power of your Subconscious Mind' by Dr. Joseph Murphy, 'Nine lives' by William Dalrymple, 'Write it down and make it happen' by Henriette Anne Klauser and 'How to write a damn good novel' by James N. Frey.
In June (7) there was Ram's 'The Happiness Hypothesis' by John Haidt and Rajesh's wonderful collection of books that included 'Alexander the Great, The Art of Strategy' by Partha Bose, 'A Whole New Mind' by Daniel H. Pink, 'Mindset, A New Psychology of Success' by Dr. Carol S. Dweck, 'Legs on Everest' by Mark Englis, 'RAFA My Story' by Rafael Nadal with John Carlin and 'Bob Woolmer's Art and Science of Cricket' by Bob Woolmer, Prof. Tim Noake and Dr. Helen Moffet.
July was the month I could not complete a single book.
In August (1) I managed to read Osho's 'Osho - Book of Man'.
In September (3) read 'Beyond the blues' and Out of the blue' by 'Aakash Chopra' and 'Ha ha therapy' by Dr. G. Lakshmipathy.
October (4) brought 'Man's Search for Meaning' by Viktor E. Frankl, 'Cut like wound' by Anita Nair, 'The Art of Captaincy' by Mike Brearley and 'The Mahabharatha' by Shiv K. Kumar.
In November (5) I read 'Just Married, Please Excuse' by Yashodhara Lal, 'The Hussaini Alam House' by Huma Kidwai, 'The Prince' by Nicollo Machiavelli, 'The Sky is crazy' by Yvonne Lee, 'Niccolo Machiavelli's Prince - 52 ideas Interpreted' by Tim Phillips and 'The Magic' by Rhonda Byrne.
December (3) brought to me 'The Secret of the Nagas' by Amish, and rereads of 'Without Feathers' by Woody Allen and 'Animal Farm' by George Orwell.
This is a longer list than last year's which is good. I would have liked to do a few more classics but I am pleased with the history and non-fiction book I read. I read three versions of the Mahabharatha and thoroughly enjoyed all of them, enjoyed reading historical writing - 'Freedom at Midnight', 'The Last Nizam', 'The Empire of the Moghuls', loved the non-fiction writing 'Mindset', 'RAFA My Story', 'Legs on Everest' 'The Happiness hypothesis', 'The Magic', 'You Can Heal Your Life' and 'Nine Lives'. In fiction I enjoyed Anita Nair's 'Cut Like Wound', Huma Kidwai's 'The Hussaini Alam House', Yashodhara Lal's 'Just Married, Please Excuse', 'Krishna Shastry's 'Ice Boys in Bell Bottoms', Sidin Vadukut's 'God Save the Dork'.
Met with authors Saeed Mirza, Krishna Devulapally, Meena Alexander, Sagarika Chakraborty, Anita Nair, Shiv K. Kumar and Huma Kidwai this year.
Much thanks is owed to Raja , Ram, Vinod, Prarthana, Shobhs, Mythily, Harsha, Dr. Krishnan, Rajesh and Sagarika Chakraborty for lending and recommending their books to me. I have had the most wonderful time reading.
Things we Grew Up With - Inland Letters and Aerogrammes
Till late eighties or even till the PCO (Public Call Office) boxes appeared all over the place, the only way of communicating privately with one another was either to travel and meet them in person or to write to them. Here is where the postal department came into use big time. The post offices were amazing for the simplicity with which they worked and till today, I find that it is one of the most underrated and undervalued departments we have. Through the postal department you could reach anyone, anywhere in India. And the world.
The modern day youngster finds it very easy to get in touch with friends and family. Pick up the mobile and call. Or get online and skype. But imagine if the mobile and the computer were not around. Then? That was our situation. We would go to the post office, buy those postal cards (if the news could be read by anyone and did not need any privacy settings), or buy an inland letter or an envelope which gave you some privacy or if you needed to write to someone abroad, buy an aerogramme. Once we got these letters and cards you needed to know the addresses, pin codes etc and then you needed to sit down and write. We'd fill in letters with tonnes of news, stories, and sometimes even pictures drawn by us. We'd fill up the margins to fit in some more precious words, scent them sometimes, young women would kiss the letters and leave traces of lipstick (which would stay with the young man forever). The receiver would receive the same with unbridled joy and read and reread them in private places and preserve them (I still have some old ones) for posterity. The joy of waiting for the postman (remember the song Dakwala aaya) was next to nothing. People would grab their letters, settle down in corners, smile and laugh and be in state of joy so everyone would know that he or she got a letter that day. Ah, sheer bliss.
The upside or downside to this whole thing was that it was a long drawn process. First you needed to go to the post office and buy those letters. Then you'd think well before writing, sometimes you had to plan financially as I had to when I would write to friends on those expensive aerogrammes, and pretty much communicate what you want to in a limited space. No room for follow up sms's or late night calls or fb posts. Once written and posted, the letter would reach in its own time, ranging from three days locally to a week or 10 days abroad. And after the recipient receives it, he or she would write back in his or her own time. The earliest would be the same amount of time surely.
Love stories were made, pen friends were made, long standing relationships were formed through letters. Several people still take great solace in letters of love and affection written by well meaning friends and relatives and remember a time when the heart yearned for these good words from faraway. The entire package was pretty much, a labour of love - from the effort needed to buy the letter and write - there was truly much investment and engagement. If we looked for comparisons, a letter to an email or an sms would compare like this - a life long love story to a one night stand. That is how the intensity would be. And perhaps the respect and dignity that the other person was accorded.
As with many things, like letters and even printed photographs, the physical element of getting them out and looking at them transports you away to another place. The email on screen or the sms in your mobile can never replicate that feeling ever. Those who wrote and received letters would understand the pleasure of anticipation,of quiet and patience, of knowing. For all its slowness, the snail mail truly was the champion of feelings and emotions, of clarity and sensitivity, of love and courage (in cases where letters fell in the wrong hands).
Let me get some pics of these items which are all still available in Post Offices. It's a good indicator of inflation to know that an inland letter now costs almost as much as an aerogramme did those days. Of course no one receives letters from people they know anymore. All we get is bills and marketing information. In fact it must be almost embarrassing if one receives a letter. But it might not be a bad idea to write a few once in a while. To the post office ahoy!
Hamari Potti ki Shaadi - A Hilarious Play
I must mention that I did one of those out-of-comfort-zone things and went to watch a play all by myself a few days ago. What's the big deal you may ask. The big deal is this - firstly, I don't watch too may plays and secondly, not alone. (My style for watching a play is that I must be led to it dragging and kicking which is not possible if I go alone.) But this play sounded interesting and the poster that Huma forwarded through the email looked promising - 'Khichdi Khatta Kheema Productions invites you to Hamari Potti ki Shaadi'. The place was Lamakaan which is familiar territory and one where one could lose oneself comfortably especially in the back rows. And the timing, just perfect for me.
Any play with Hyderabadi humour is bound to be funny and I went with my hopes up. Also, the producers and actors were Huma's nieces and nephews so I figured they'd bring in the Hyderabadi humour with a touch of class and some old world charm. They did not let me down and put up a fine show with a funny and well written script that had lots of Hyderabadi humour interspersed with much Dakhani dialogue. The artistes backed their script with strong and confident performances and in my view, they have a good thing going. They are talented without doubt, they worked hard at the details, they gave out a message and they had fun. Can't ask for more really. The future of Hyderabadi humour, (and several other things Hyderabadi in fact, what with Huma writing a brilliant novel with 'The Hussaini Alam House') seems to be in safe hands.
Anyway on to the play itself. It is set in a household in the old city (Moghulpura if I am not mistaken) where three women reside. The potti who is well-educated and working and twenty four and now seemingly too far advanced in age for marriage, her mother who is in panic mode about her daughter's single status and a cranky, capricious and positively wicked granny who lusts after Salman Khan and cares for little else except her own comforts. The father is away in Saudi, working. How the women try to fix the marriage of the girl and how they meet a bunch of 'namune' or aspiring grooms (and their double standards about the bahus they want despite being rather good-for-nothing themselves) is the general gist of the play.
Written and directed by Anjum Jaffery and Danish Zubairy, who also star in key roles as the 'potti' in question and the 'potti's' cranky and unpredictable nani who lusts after Salman Khan, the play has Neha Deshpande playing the potti's mother, completing the triangle. I loved the way the irreverent granny (Danish) improvised on the fly and pulled off impromptu punch lines with the ease of a magician and cannot but help admire the mother (Neha) who did a fantastic job what with the volume of dialogue and the central presence that she had. Anjum was perfect in her role as the educated young girl caught between these wildly fluctuating standards. Abu, Mujeeb and Fazaaz Zubairy play the three extreme suitors who come to see the twenty four year old potti (Danish doubles up as another suitor) and drive everyone up the wall. There is a voice of one other cranky matchfixer who sends these suitors to the potti's house and that dialogue between her and the mother was hilarious.
Good show Khichdi Khatta Kheema Productions and keep going. You have some serious talent.
And while at that, good show for me too for doing one of those out-of-comfort-zone things!
Posted by Harimohan at 11:31 PM 2 comments:
Thought for the Day - Do you play to win or do you play not to lose?
Worth thinking about. Do you play to win. Or do you play not to lose. Or, let me put it another way, a more general way.
Do you want something. Or do you not want something and hence pick whatever is left.
Clarity - Pic Satish Nargundkar
The first thought of wanting something shows clarity of thought and thereby, purposeful and well-directed action. The second thought leaves you slightly indecisive and unsure in your thought and action because you have still no particular goal that draws your action.
The first thought is one of courage, of brutal clarity and also of honesty. It would therefore help if while deciding, you sit with yourself and ask yourself what you want as the clear outcome. If you can get yourself to see it clearly, your thought, word and action will be clear and purposeful. But if you are at a stage when you still say 'I only know I don't want this. But I don't know what I really want out of this' - then there is still some way to go. You will be on the path but with far less conviction and clarity.
Be clear about the outcome. All else will fall into place with amazing precision.
Posted by Harimohan at 9:47 AM 2 comments:
Things We Grew Up With - The Radio and the Transistor
The Radio and its smaller sibling, the pretty little Transistor, were the prime source of all real-time connection with the outer world in those growing up days. That was how important they were! To look for a suitable example, perhaps these two instruments were as important as the mobile phones are these days - they not only provided news but also entertainment of various forms such as music, poetry and I remember, once hearing only the dialogues of films. Imagine your life without a mobile phone these days!
The one source for all this audio content was the All India Radio which was our life line. Radio announcers were superstars those days as they spun us along with the magic of their words and their deep or sweet voice as the case may be. Amin Sayani is still a super star!
All households listened to the morning and evening news with a grave silence, or listened to the music or whatever. One could hear radios blaring from all houses with trademark music, jingles etc. The radio was seated in a high place normally, and we'd crowd around it sitting on the floor and catching the words and music as it dripped. As technological masterpieces which cost a large part of the salary radios would be operated only by the elder males of the family. Children were told not to touch it - lest something happened to them (the radios, not the children!). There were more children than radios anyway!
Radios came in several sizes and shapes and looked quite imposing to us rustics - we'd gaze like idiots at anything mechanical or electrical. Naturally we were scared of radios which looked like small spaceships with their switches, lights, knobs and crackling sounds. They were normally covered respectfully with embroidered cloth or something like that.
The radios were respected and dignified and were the symbol of the older generations. Similarly transistors, which were not really anyone's sisters, were the symbols of youth and freedom for the simple reason that they were portable. They allowed the owner to flaunt it and get away from home. A transistor in the ear was a sign of coolness those days and the equivalent of the youth we see with their ears plugged with head phones these days. Most times transistors were used to listen to live commentary of cricket or hockey or some such sport. People would carry transistors to offices and disrupted office productivity greatly.
Most of today's youngsters may wonder why anyone would have a radio the size of a large sized television at home. Or for that matter even have a transistor stuck in their ears to listen to cricket commentary. But back then the big radio was the one source of entertainment and information for us. It played songs, gave us news of war or politics or of holidays or important deaths. In fact we'd be excused if we actually built our houses around the radio. Or even a temple.
I must remember ours - a huge spaceship type - from Phillips. The transistor was a Murphy perhaps.
20 Things From the 80s That We Grew Up With
The past thirty years have moved on so fast technologically that several things that were essential for us to lead our lives back in the 80s are now objects that will make no sense to today's kids. Let me try and capture some of these essentials here and see if I can make a comprehensive list for posterity. If one can find these items, or some reminiscences of them, perhaps even a museum!
Each one separately has to be written about because each in its own way deserves an explanation lest their importance in our lives back then is not fully understood.The list goes somewhat like this and I invite everyone to add to it (before we all forget about them).
1) Radio / transistor
2) TVs / TV stands / TV boxes with shutters / TV antennae
3) Telephones /Trunk calls and PP numbers /Telephone Directories / Phonograms
4) PCOs / CTOs
5) LPs / EPs / Gramaphones
6) Inland letters / Aerogrammes / Cards /Telegrams
7) Birthday cards / Greeting cards
8) Bicycles with dynamos (even license plates)
9) Cassette players / cassettes
10) 5 1/2 inch and 3 1/2 inch floppies / Early computers
11) Ink blotters / ink fillers / fountain pens
12) Carbon copies / ammonia prints
13) Negatives / Camera rolls / Prints / Albums
14) Cars with crankshafts to start
15) Encyclopedias
16) Water boilers
17) Milk bottles on the doorstep / Milk booths
18) Video players / Video cassettes
19) Cycle rickshaws / Trailer buses / Double decker buses
20) Alarm clocks
More surely?
20 Celebrities Who Influenced Me
I tried to put together a list of celebrities and heroes who influenced me and perhaps made me the person I am today by making me want to be like them or do things like they do or did.The list is in random order.
1) Socrates, the Brazilian soccer skipper for his sheer coolness quotient and oodles of charisma. Ever since I saw the Soccer World Cup in 1986 I have been hooked to that event and nothing impressed me more than the manner in which a supremely confident Socrates wrong footed the goal keeper in a penalty kick that he took off two paces. Of course he missed another similar one but for that penalty-taking style, his dark and mysterious looks, the well-read Socrates added some magic into my life.
2) Amitabh Bachchan, was probably the single most personality that affected our generation and made us all surly, unromantic and perhaps angry (or sullen) males with long hair over our ears, bell bottoms on our trousers, anger in our eyes, a deepness in our voice and an aloofness from females. In fact my friend Vardha rates Amitabh as the one factor that meddled with our love lives - he reckons we'd been better off if we had Rajesh Khanna as our idol he feels! But Amitabh induced a madness into us that pervaded through the 70s, 80s and even the 90s and left an impact that was too deep for that generation. For me.
3) ABBA, the pop group from Sweden introduced western pop music in a manner that shook my life up. Even since I watched the movie 'ABBA the movie', I pretty much bought all their albums, listened to them, learnt to sing them, listened to other contemporary groups, and slowly and steadily got hooked on to music so bad that it never left me. Did I want to be like them when I saw the movie? Oh yes.
4) Wodehouse, for the unbelievable way in which he wrote his books. Where does he get that crazy turn of phrase that makes you unable to control your laughter and laugh out loud, to roll in the aisles. I loved to dwell on his books on long summer vacations and to this day I wish that I'd be able to write one book that made readers laugh like his books did. To this day I can make out the sound of the laughter from someone who is reading a Wodehouse in a public place. It is unmistakable, uncontrollable laughter.
5) Bjorn Borg, or Ice Borg as they called him, was an inspiration for the way he played his tennis in a manner that was completely devoid of emotion. His icy calmness, his numerous wins under pressure and the air of mystery around a man who never was much in the public eye made Borg on of our big heroes. Oh, to be a Borg and play the way he did under pressure.
6) Mother Teresa, was someone who I could not help but admire for the work she has done. Nothing to say about her but just a deep admiration for carrying on the work of God without much ado. It all seems beyond you when you see what one person can do if she makes up her mind to do anything.
7) James Bond, represented to me by Sean Connery first, and later Roger Moore, epitomised all that was slick, western and Hollywood, the alpha male of our dreams dreams. Cars, fights, dialogues, women ...Mr. Bond was probably the one male we all least fantasised about being in our wildest fantasies. He could do everything except dance around trees.
8) Bruce Lee, provided us all much needed inspiration in the field of fighting for ourselves, of strength for which we need not look outside. It was a crazy experience watching Enter the Dragon and walking out with tight fists ready to bash up anyone. It was breathtaking to watch those stunts and that intense movie, but Bruce Lee and his karate stoked the imagination of a whole generation of our people. Karate became popular too and the fact that one could fight back barehanded.
9) Kapil Dev, for bringing fight into the Indian side and with it a great spirit that anything was possible if we showed some courage. The way he came back and bowled with a strain in the Sydney test that we won against Greg Chappell's team was incredible. Those were the days of the radio and we listened to that commentary early in the morning and boy was it magical. Kapil went on to give us more magic, 175 not out against Zimbabwe, the World Cup win and so much more. For the first time we felt like we had men representing our team and I felt that it would not be a bad thing to be like him.
10) Gavaskar, for being the first sports superstar we ever had. He took his boundaries with the game higher and higher and fought a lone battle almost against most quality sides. It's amazing to see so much excellence being devoted by one man for so little return in terms of wins but he went on and on. Wonderful stuff.
11) Meryl Streep, was someone I fell instantly in love with when I first saw her in a movie - Falling in Love perhaps or was it Out of Africa. I have seen most of her movies since and am more deeply in love with her than ever. As an artiste she is way up there and now after so many years I still wonder at how she goes on and on and churns out so much quality in her work. And I fall more and more in love with her.
12) Mohammed Ali, For bringing a passion to excel and win in sports to such a high level. He raised his entire skill to another level - first by raising his skill and training in a manner that was not conventional and then by playing psychological games on his opponents and ensuring that he won fights that were sometimes above his weight almost.
13) Pink Floyd, for their iconic album The Wall. I cannot imagine even now how they composed their music and thought they'd get away with it. Its completely crazy to make stuff all for yourself and then in some weird way it connects. No time, no context - just a feeling. And Roger Waters for that concert in Bangalore that just blew my mind and made me wonder what passion was about and how one could carry it with them all their lives. It was again a work of love that transcended time and place.
14) Gandhi, for the sheer madness of the ideas and convictions he stood by and lived by. How can anyone think like that and live like that and get a whole word to believe and follow those high principles that he believed in. What was he thinking when he set out to fight for freedom, for rights with the most audacious idea of non-violence, of satyagraha, of non-cooperation. How did he ask others to do what he did, how did he do what he believed was right when he walked into the homes of untouchables. He is the one person who is beyond comprehension for me, so big, so powerful and so courageous, that I am sure no one would ever have been able to conceive such a character even in fiction. If I had the smallest amount of faith and conviction in my thought and act as he did, I would be more than content.
15) Che Guevara, for bringing some weird kind of romance into our lives and keeping alive that rebel in us. We knew of him, heard of him and adored the air of mystery he brought into our lives.
16) Hrishikesh Mukherjee,for making me want to live the simple life, for following certain principles, for the simple pleasures that middle class life offers. Romance was sipping coffee in road side bandis, in Kamat hotels, humour was found in everyday situations, principles were fought for and passions lived by. I have been deeply inspired by his work and movies like Anand, Namak Haraam, Chupke Chupke, Satyakam and others will always remain with me and have perhaps guided many choices i have already made in my life.
17) Kishore Kumar, for singing such wonderfully uplifting songs that make life so much more bearable and fun yesterday, today and certainly tomorrow. Nothing bonds the many people I know than listening to Kishore Kumar songs like Kehana Hai, Yeh laal rang, Chingari koi bhadke, Nadiya se dariya, Main shaayar badnaam and so many more and we all collectively step back into a time when life was different, when friendships were forever, when love was about sacrifice. He sang some of the most uplifting and romantic numbers I have ever heard including Koi roko na, Musafir hoon yaaron,Pyaar manga hai tum hi se, Rim jhim gire saawan and so many more.
18) Steve Waugh, for bringing a certain kind of mad focus to win to the game. He was another of those who could do anything to scrap his way out of a tough situation in cricket and during his time there was probably none more mentally tougher. One could never take anything away from him and I always wondered how wonderful to carry so much pride and so much fight.
19) Michael Jackson, undoubtedly the biggest phenomenon we saw in our lifetime and one who took music performances to another level. I could never figure out what made him what he was - his music, his performances, his life, everything was so different. He was out of the ordinary and out of the league.
20) Woody Allen, for his absolutely amazing body of work and the craziest ideas that he seems to dig out right out of everybodys head. Just the kind of stuff we don't want to talk about but he puts it across so wonderfully. He is someone you'd like to be but also know you can never be.
I guess I will add some as I go along but for now these are the people who have influenced me and who I owe much to.
Without Feathers - Woody Allen
Re read this old Woody Allen classic looking for some laughs. Of course there are laughs aplenty as you wonder at Woody’s zany sense of humour. But honestly, there are also times when you wonder how this stuff got published! But Woody is a favorite of mine and I will stick to the parts I liked.
For example in his articles he ponders about ‘love’ in this fashion – "Is it better to be the lover or the loved one? Neither, if your cholesterol is over six hundred." And there are several such gems. Two plays, several articles, stories with the amazing Inspector Ford who solves murder mysteries as easily as snapping his fingers, a story of guys who need whores with high IQs to excite them and whores who charge for discussing Melville and other literary heavyweights (The Whore of Mensa), If the Impressionists had been Dentists, and many more such impossible situations and solutions make up this book. Did I laugh out loud? Yes, several times and none more than when he ponders over whether Shakespeare was Marlowe or vice versa. Sample this - "Marlowe’s young wife took up the pen and continued to write the plays and sonnets we all know and avoid today."
Woody’s neurotic, hypochondriacal and completely absurd view of the world, or rather his world, cannot but make you laugh and look at life with far less stress and tension. Life cannot be too bad when we have people like this around. I mean, Woody seems to have so many more issues and problems than we have and seems to be dealing with them well so there is hope! As he says gravely “How wrong Emily Dickenson was! Hope is not ‘the thing with feathers’. The thing with Feathers turned out to be my nephew. I must take him to a specialist in Zurich."
I love Woody Allen. He is one of those guys I’d want to think like, be like, write like, make movies like, and make up stories like.
The Days of the Beasts
Men are insecure. And are growing more and more insecure by the day. Whether in the guise of being 'religiously offended' or 'angered by immorality' or 'having their culture demeaned' or even 'being sexually stimulated' there are more insecure male beasts out there today in India (and abroad) than ever. Everyday the masks keep falling off from the faces of more of these who cannot operate alone, who do not have the guts to handle a confident woman, (forget it, they cannot even handle themselves) and need a mob, deadly firearms or weapons or the safety of the night to approach a girl, a school child or even more defenceless targets if they can find them. They use all the force they can get to handle any of these small targets - including the backing of the ever willing system - lest these defenceless people fight back.
What does it mean? That these men represent manhood? That they are our heroes who make lewd remarks, who make physical contact, who molest, ill treat? These mobs, these people who get together and rape innocent children, women? No. It only means that our society has an increasing number of these men who cannot handle themselves, their own shadows. They cannot even handle a school child without covering their faces, without firearms. They cannot engage in a discussion and get their viewpoint across to anyone - even a fourteen year old like Malala Yousufzai of Swat - and need weapons to silence her. They cannot engage with confident women unless they are in gangs of six or ten and are armed with iron bars. They cannot reply to a facebook comment and express their 'angry viewpoint' and would rather seek to mob, maim, get the system to back them to arrest two girls who voiced their opinion on facebook. They cannot vent their anger at adults so they shoot kindergarten school children with firearms. They cannot get normal sex so they rape their own daughters, grnadchildren and the young children of their friends and neighbours. They are sick, and people who shield them are sicker, and for just being like this and doing such stuff they should all be institutionalised for mental ill health. These are not normal people. Its not capital punishment that they need - they need admission to the Mental Health Institutes
But where have they come from? Where did they get this disease from? From the rest of our society of which we are all part of of course. We have grown them. We have nurtured them. Because we are scared of bullies. We elect them. We pander to them. We are scared of abuse. We are scared of putting our viewpoint across. We are scared of complaining. We will do anything, even sell our souls, as long as they do not bother us. Let the system handle it and if it cannot, too bad.
The ones who can, the people with authority in the system, are the ones who should be the first casualties. From the very top right down to the bottom - the criminals themselves. Where are the resignations? Where is the outrage from the system? From our moral police? From the self appointed guardians of our culture? From elected representatives? They are too busy trying to say the right things, trying to look righteous, indignant, and hoping that things will become normal again. Considering that public memory is so short, we might just move on. How many such incidents have we forgotten about, lit candles for and moved on? Countless.
But this time, instead of moving on until another incident I suggest we do something else as well. After all we are part of the larger society that elects these leaders of ours, that these public servants of ours are supposed to serve and protect, that these law breakers take for granted. We have a role too. Because we might be next in line.
I'd say every member of society who has felt the pain of the Delhi incident and of the many such incidents resolve today, individually, to merely stand up and complain to the authorities each time they see an injustice. Each time there is something wrong going on. Complain, whine and get some action. Get ready to visit the police station, the courts. Does not matter. Its a small price to pay for setting a society right. Get ready to assist victims when small crimes start on the road. To collar the eve teasers and hand them over. To walk up and tell the drunks and louts to get out of the locality. To tell young children who start these drinking, smoking ways in dark alleys to go home and do it in front of their parents and not near your house. Does not matter if they abuse you. Or even beat you.
Get beaten once, get arrested even if it means you suffer a bit. It is okay. We must learn to suffer a bit of pain. We must sacrifice our time, our false dignity even, perhaps even some money. We must get used to this - this standing up for someone else. It's important not for them - but for our own sake. For our children. For the future.
If we do not stand up for another, now, no one will stand for you too. If we do not share their concern, we can as well stop shouting ourselves hoarse against injustice. It is not just the candles and the faceless comments on social networking sites. We need to get down to concrete action. What is the worst that can happen? At least you might not see something as ghastly as what happened to the young lady in Delhi. She deserves her peace. This is one way to tell her that what she went through was not for nothing. That she at least pricked our conscience enough to make a whole bunch of educated, easily offended,sensitive middle class realise their basic duty as citizens.
To stand up against injustice. To not look the other way and hope it won't happen to you. It just might be you, if you do not start gathering your courage now.
The Secret of the Nagas - Amish
The sequel to the 'Immortals of Meluha' did not not match up fully to the first. It picks up where the first part of the trilogy left off and goes into a tale of vengeance where Shiva is now hunting for the villain who killed his friend Brahaspati. Now married to Sati, Shiva moves to Kashi where Sati delivers their child Kartik. All the while there is a Naga warrior who is stalking Sati and it appears that he loves her and is protecting her. Then there is a new category of people that gets added to the Meluhans, the Nagas, the Suryavanshis and the Chandravanshis - the Brangas. It is decided that the Nagas are the evil ones and they have a pact with the rich and unpredictable Brangas - and that the Nagas must be killed for evil to end. Of course the Nagas also have access to some medicine that has some supreme healing powers. Now where does that leave the Meluhan somras?
To add to this drama we have man eating lions, a bandit named Parshuram who has a battleaxe and who joins the Neelkanth and his band, several twists in the tale, the introduction of Ganesh (can he be left behind with Kartik already there?) and a steady stream of characters. After a while I lost track of who is what and who belongs where really but it did not matter. Shiva is searching for the evil but where the story did not grip me was that there was no real evil that could be felt by me. This in turn makes Shiva that much weaker and normal and not the the saviour he is made out to be. I was being told by the characters that something big was going to happen, that Neelkanth would deliver us all from the mess, but nothing really seems to be happening. The part where the man eating lions attack a village was one of the interesting parts of the story but that looked like an aside, something that was not really relevant to the story save the appearance and discovery of Ganesh.
The warriors and their group move on but where and why was not clear to me. Perhaps I did not pay too much attention as I read it over a period of time but the worrying factor was that it did not draw me too much into it to be concerned. (As one of the characters says - the opposite of love is apathy and that is a dangerous place to be in.) There was just no real and present danger to anyone, no major passions, so things kept moving from one mediocre event to another without much involvement. The love story between Parvateshwar and Anandmayi was rather stretched and unconvincing and perhaps even needless unless it was used as a device to add some romance to the story. But then the sensual Anadmayi is wasted as the romance falls rather lamely once Parvateshwar falls for her. What happened to the passions? The overt sensuality?
If there is one thing I realised after reading the 'Secret of the Nagas', it is that when you have sequels, you must somehow get the plot together mush more tightly than the first. The reader is coming with a set of expectations (which they did not have for the first) and hence it has to be less predictable and more tighter and crisper. Amish plots well and it's an interesting story but we need something more tangible than a man's personal passion to make the Shiva that Amish crafted more credible. There is talk of saving India but that particular thread does not come across urgently nor even convincingly. That could have been an interesting cause and a worthy one for Shiva but I felt that it got lost in his personal vengeance which makes Shiva as normal as anyone else. One other area I would have liked Amish to go deeper as he writes more, is the feeling and emotional part. There are many dramatic moments that he leaves unexplored, which could have been squeezed for more impact on the reader. Overall the 'Secret f the Nagas' was more like a transition between the first part and the last of the trilogy. By itself it did not work for me but as the link in the whole it fits in. The pluses as I mentioned were Amish's plotting, the twists and turns, the many interesting facts he throws about, be it about lions, martial arts, ships and certainly the nuggets of sound philosophy he drops by throughout the book. The minuses were that there was no real villain to match Shiva's carefully built stature, no great cause yet, and it was rather two dimensional for me. But Amish is a fine writer and he could well spring a surprise in the last of the trilogy and I believe, in all that he writes as he moves along on this journey.
Anjali - Interview with a five year old
Continuing my series of interviews with Anjali, now a six monthly affair, we sat down today after many missed appointments in the last one month, owing mainly to a rather busy schedule of Anjali. It was only when I was close to tears today that she agreed to do this. We stuck to most of the standard questions.
What do you like most these days?
Watching the movie 'Chicken Little'. Days we spent with no Mamma (when Shobhs was away for 10 days in Mumbai attending a workshop). Doing my skit. Dancing. Trying to go to school first.
Who do you like the most?
My parents. My friends. All my classmates.
Why classmates?
Because they are my friends.
What do you do with your friends?
We play at the sandpit. All the time. One time you should come late.
What food do you like?
Chicken biryani. Fried rice at school. Crispy friend chicken. Noodles. Liver. Barbecue.
What don't you like?
Vegetables. They don't taste nice. Only carrot and kakdi I like.
I also don't like putting too much energy into my skit. I don't like that. I don't like skating. So much time I have to do it. I'll be sweating.
What movies and tv shows do you like?
Alvin and the Chipmunks. Barbie and the Nutcracker. Winnie the Pooh. Dora. Doraemon. Chhota Bheem. But that movie was scary!
Getting birthday toys. Getting toys from Santa. Playing with my friends. Helping Mamma.
How can we be happy?
Anyway. We just have to enjoy. We have to find a way to enjoy. Just as if you are getting bored in skating. Think of it as if you're playing a race. That makes it exciting.
What do you think of life?
(After some thought)
(After some more thinking she continued)
It's happy. It's sad. It's whatever we think. When we are very happy we are all laughing. That's all about life.
What do you think of your school?
School is fun. Playing in the sandpit. All the bestest. We love school.
What are the things you'd like Santa to get you?
I'd like it if he got me another wonderful gift. Soft toys. Nice little...I don't know. Bubbles jigsaw puzzle.
What are the things that scare you?
Someone dressed like a skeleton scares me. Scary dreams scare me. I get a dream. I am going on a platform which ends suddenly. I jump from the end to the road below. It's very high.
Then what happens?
I get up in my bed. What else?
(I laughed.)
Not funny. Very scary.
What do you do when you are scared?
Nothing. I just feel scared. I feel scared to do skipping. I'll fall or what. I'm very scared.
What makes you laugh the most?
Jokes. Yours.
Who makes you laugh a lot?
Choudary mama. Ranjan mama. Mamma. Mythily atta.
What makes you cry?
Mamma shouting at me. Once I felt sad in school.
What's your favourite story?
Three Billy Goats Gruff. Beauty and the Beast. Cinderella.
You like music?
Que la. Diego song.
If you want to ask God for one thing what would you ask?
I want a nice garden with flowers. Butterflies. With nectar in them.
What do you think of adults?
They take care of us. They help us. They teach us.
They're good people?
And children?
They're naughty.
Who do you like playing with?
Manasi.
What do you play with her?
I don't want to tell.
Do you like books?
Clifford. Pepper. Bruno. Bubbles.
Who are your favorite cartoon characters?
Dora. Team Umy Zoomie.
They make me happy.
What are they teaching you in school?
Maths. English.. Hindi. In Hindi they are teaching pa for 'patang'.
Is it good for you?
Because otherwise when I become big I won't know anything.
What did you learn so far?
I learnt to read even big words like 'continue'.
What are your favorite games?
Wii. Kinnect. X Box. Football. Cricket. Try to play shuttle.
What do you think of money?
Money helps us get some clothes. It helps us get some food to eat. Toys. CDs. Everything we need. Mamma brought this tree with money only.
So it's a good thing?
Yeah. It's a good thing.
Did you like the interview?
What was the happiest thing that you remember? When was the time you felt happiest?
Getting two toys - one where the two dogs climb up a staircase and another of Doraemon.
And that ended the interview with a rather restless Anjali going off hopping and skipping to watch some cartoon on television.
Posted by Harimohan at 8:19 AM 1 comment:
Thought for the Day - Clarity and Acceptance, the same thing?
Clarity at its highest level, and acceptance, would be the same thing perhaps.
Pic courtesy Satish Nargundkar
And they'd probably converge with honesty, love, courage and trust, peace and joy, gratitude and compassion.
Somewhere up there, at the higher ends of the spectrum, they are all probably the same. In fact, at that level probably thought and action would be almost simultaneous.
And perhaps, thought and manifestation would be instantaneous too. All it requires is for us to take the plunge with courage and faith.
Thought for the Day - How To Be The Best You Can Be
What comes between you and your best part? As I see it it's probably the ego. The I.
Pic courtesy. Satish Nargundkar
We are what we are. And there is a creative energy that is continuously expressing itself through us. If we let it express itself without getting in the way - we are at our best. Simple as that.
When restrict ourselves by getting in the way with our doubts and fears. These doubts and fears are nothing but our ego wanting to create some importance for itself. Some drama. Am I good enough? What will people think of me? Will I impress people? It is all a series of 'I' and 'Me' and 'Myself'.
But let us say you do it without the ego. Just the work itself. Do it dispassionately. Or even passionately for a higher purpose. For God even. Let the breath of God flow through you as it is meant to.
It might not be inappropriate to remember what Zorba the Greek said. Zorba believed that there are three types of men and they are distinguished by what they do with the food they eat - whether they waste it in sloth, or convert it into work and good humour or the best kinds of all, who do the work of god.
Get yourself out of the way. You'll find yourself as you were meant to be.
Your best, your magnificent self.
English Vinglish - Movie Review
This one is a must watch. 'English Vinglish' marks a solid and promising debut by Gauri Shinde who is a wonderful story teller who takes her story telling very seriously. She does not lose her focus on her story nor her characters, displays full faith in both (and does not seek to provide any unnecessary thrills by the side), she really cares for her characters and all this shows in the fine details that go into the film. If there were two things to pick - 'English Vinglish' stands out for that loving care that Gauri has taken in crafting this film and the superb performance by Sridevi who shows the stuff she is capable of and grows on you moment by moment as Shashi Godbole, the middle class Maharashtrian housewife who suffers from a lack of self-respect because her knowledge of English is 'weak'. Ah, how many of us would identify with her straightaway.
From the first shot of a middle class Maharahstrian household in Pune waking up to morning coffee, Gauri has you hooked. The main cast of characters include Satish Godbole (Adil Hussain) as the flamboyant corporate executive married to Shashi (Sridevi), a conservative Maharashtrian girl who does not know much English and is constantly poked fun of by her teenaged daughter Sapna and her husband who share their private jokes about her English, and their cute little son (great find). Shashi is a good cook who prides her culinary talents and keeps herself busy with making and selling laddoos on order for her clients. Her cooking and her laddoos become her identity - though of course, she is much more than that and no one seems to recognise that. A grandmother at home completes the Pune cast. The story gets going when Shashi is invited to the USA by her sister who has settled down there for her elder niece's wedding and she is asked to go three weeks ahead. With her faltering English Shashi manages somehow and decides to do something about it by joining a 'Learn English in 4 weeks' course secretly. She meets a great cast of characters at the English class including her gay English teacher, a Pakistani, a Tamilian, a Mexican, an African and a Chinese. But sadly her final test coincides with the wedding and she has to make a few difficult choices which it turns out are not so difficult after all.
Watching the movie and the attitudes of an India we grew up in towards English speaking and non-English speaking people, I'd say that this movie has far more searching questions to ask of us and our identities. It is not merely a funny social drama of a middle aged woman struggling to find acceptance and respect due to her not knowing English but a layered question. It is a subtle commentary on how knowledge of English is certainly not our identity nor a giver of wisdom or even of intellectual superiority (that is assumed by a rude 'whatever' these days), how communication can transcend mere mechanics of language and how we Indians (and many others who live in other countries perhaps) need to shed many more masks that we have acquired to cover our feelings of 'not feeling good about ourselves' as Shashi Godbole says. And this difference between the rooted ones and the ones who are not is never as clear as the time when Sridevi romps home shining like a star, confident in her roots, her values and her own space in the world as she decides that laddoo making is more important than her final test and that a Hindi newspaper to which she is used to is more comfortable than reading the NYT because everyone else is. Gauri Shinde's biggest achievement in this film is the way she tears up our hypocricy about English speaking (and with that little pin she opens up a can of worms on our double standards on things like our attitude to sexuality, to money, to our so-called middle class values, to religion and so much more). She does this so subtly and yet tells a fine story in such a smooth manner that it hardly jerks, that there is hardly a ripple as she cuts and weaves through some delicate relationships, some deep wounds, some harsh decisions. Fantastic stuff.
Sridevi is unbelievably good. I have never been a fan of hers really in her earlier avatar considering the kind of movies that were made then but then you see her enter the role of Shashi Godbole and lead us all into her own world so beautifully, you cannot but agree that she fully deserved the 10 minute standing ovation she (and Gauri) got at the Toronto Film Festival and her comparisons to Meryl Streep and Audrey Hepburn, and more. The support cast is brilliant too with everyone fitting the part perfectly and doing a great job at it too. All in all it leaves you with a fine taste in your mouth and you are like on of those people who cannot but rave after eating one of Shashi Godbole's laddoos and reach out for more. Wah bhai wah.
Thought for the Day - Who Says You Have No Talent? You Have the Capacity to Love Don't You?
Who says you have no talent?
You have the capacity to love which is all the talent in the world you need.
Pic courtesy. Satish N
We have all been blessed with that magic potion called love that can change all things, our very lives, and transform them into pure gold. Open it up and pour it into whatever you are doing and it becomes an alchemical process. It changes the entire reaction and lifts it to a higher state.
And the more you pour of your love, the more you get of it. If you are stingy with it and do not use it, your quota of the magic potion remains small. And you are forever left wondering why everyone else is happy, is more talented, is more lucky.
Get that magic potion out and use it. You don't need any other talent. Just add a bit of love to whatever you are doing.
The Paradoxes of Our Lives - To Express Yourself Fully, Seek Not to Impress
It is our s desire to express ourselves to the fullest. Our constant cravings for 'being free', 'for being ourselves' etc indicate our desire to express ourselves more. But what is stopping us from expressing ourselves fully?
Others obviously. We'd say that people 'do not understand us' etc. Hence we cannot express (look at what happened to the cartoonist, the painter, the writer, the dancer, the actor...)
What we want really is to impress people first and get their buy-in. After they assure us that whatever we say or do will be fine with them (however mediocre) - we will 'express'. But why will they do that if we do not have the conviction to express ourselves first? All experience shows that we cannot first 'impress' them without 'expressing' ourselves fully.
To express ourselves - to be 'free' - we need to first take that leap of faith (as little birds do when they first learn to fly) and discover for ourselves what we are capable of. We need to first impress ourselves with our ideas, acts, convictions and continue to express ourselves in the manner we know best. Write, create, paint, speak, make money, stitch, make shoes, make food. Spread love. Smile.
There is much we can do if we wish to 'express' ourselves to 'impress' ourselves. There is little we actually will do if we seek to impress others.
The day you find you are honest enough, 'free' enough, 'yourself' enough, the day when people's opinions cease to matter to you - you will find that people are 'impressed' with your 'expression'.
To 'express' fully, give up the need to 'impress' others.
In fact to express fully, you need only to impress yourself. When you impress yourself, you lose sight of others, of society. And by losing yourself in the act, you free yourself.
10 Brands From My Childhood That Faded Away
10 brands I grew up with that faded away (10 that come to mind now - sure there are more!)
1) Thril: Cannot forget this Thums Up equivalent, a cola drink manufactured by God knows which company. It had a nice logo and maybe a nice ad too then in the early eighties. But I remember drinking it at the Bhagyalaxmi store near ESI hospital many times - in its rather short life.
2) Apsa: This was a mango soft drink that the AP Beverages Corporation manufactured and marketed. i remember how they used the double decker buses that the APSRTC used to ply those days to advertise this drink. It was a slightly sweeter and perhaps a tad less tastier than Maaza but it was an option.
3) Dyanora: The television boom was begun with the reliable and solid EC television perhaps but Dyanora was soon to take over a large part of the market share. At least as a brand it was more noisier with ads etc and some new features.
4) Cavenders: Loved seeing the ads in the movie theatres of a green mountainside and a model shooting clay pigeons. The ad had a fine sense of adventure and something nice and relaxing about it. Perhaps one of the better cigarette ads I saw. As a brand I remember it well, though I never saw anyone smoke it.
5) Binaca: I'll never forget Binaca because there was a sales campaign that they did which had a small plastic animal toy in each Binaca toothpaste box. I bought so many Binaca toothpastes even after they discontinued the campaign. I loved the few animals I got and will forever be grateful to Binaca for that little magic they added in my life. As for the toothpaste, I don't remember much except people saying 'Binaca smile' and later 'Binaca Geetmala'.
6) Forhans: Another toothpaste brand. I don't know if it is still around but it had a slightly clinical and formidable air about it. Anyway my parents seemed to be convinced about it so Forhans it was for us.
7) Signal: Another toothpaste brand and one I won't forget because the Signal chaps did a quiz and free dental check up campaign at our All Saints School. I was surprised I did not win the quiz because I was sure I did well. But I remember that they gave us all one small toothpaste box. Signal was unique with its red stripes on white - I never figured out how the stripes cam on the toothpaste.
8) Luna: I don't know if it's still around but I remember that it seemed like a Bullet to my twelve year old mind. It was the first motorised two wheeler I ever rode too and one that I almost crashed.
9) Cheetah Fight: This was an interesting brand of matches that had a picture of a man fighting with a cheetah if I remember right. Another match brand was Three mangoes which was simple enough - three mangoes. Life was rather boring until Ship came along in this market. But I remember people would collect match box covers.
10) Allwyn Pushpak: One of the many brands that Allwyn launched - this was a scooter. It looked similar to the Vijay Super or a slimmer Lambretta and was manufactured and marketed by the AP Government's AP Scooters Ltd. I cannot forget it as my eldest brother-in-law owned one and this was the one where I learned to ride a geared two wheeler. It was stable as a house, but the gears were tough and sometimes needed two hands to operate it.
And some more that are on the fringe of the mind somewhere.
Anjali - On Making Friends
I found it interesting when Anjali told me that - 'Everything is my friend.' I asked her if she meant that everyone is her friend. 'No,' she said emphatically. 'Everything is my friend. The car, the cat, the dog, the cow, the school bag...they all love me.'
Smile, ask name, class and say 'dost'
- Pic by Anjali
How does she know they love her, I asked?
'Because they all help me.'
Fair enough. How come I never thought of that.
I asked her how one gets to be friends with everything.
'Simple. You go near them, smile, ask their name and then ask which class they are in. And then we say 'dost'.
That was really simple. I should try that sometime. I could get some friends for myself.
What if someone does not tell their name and which class they are in, I asked.
'Oh, then its ok. It is their choice who they want to be friends with na. I cannot force them to be friends with me. It's ok.'
It is after all a matter of personal choice. It is a matter of respecting that boundary. How do we lose this perspective when we grow older? Thanks Anjali.
Ian Chappell on Captaincy
Here are some excerpts from a fine article by Ian Chappell on captaincy that I found on the web. (http://www.wandererscricket.com/captaincy.html.). Chappell's article is exactly the way he speaks - blunt and to the point. Overall he feels that the good captain is one who gets the best out of his players, who earns his players respect, who knows and invests in his players individually and addresses their anxieties, who has a good knowledge of the game, good observation and memory, who thinks ahead, who acts first and aggressively, who hates losing and who is not afraid to make things happen, who always appears calm and who is open to ideas.
Chappell stresses on this issue and rightly so. The captain needs to earn the respect of his team. No statement is truer than this."Respect is not something you ask for. It must be earned."
I agree that a captain needs to invest time in knowing his players. “Captaincy is not an 11 to six job. A skipper must be prepared to plant some seeds by spending time with his players after hours if he wants to reap rewards on the field and become a respected leader”.
I found this thought very interesting - that the captain must earn respect as a human being. It puts all the right values of integrity, fairness, clear headedness into place. - "Respect is vital to a captain. He must earn it in three categories: as a player, as a human being and finally as a leader."
In far too many places I have heard that a captain must be first prepared to do anything that he asks his team members to do for him - and it is right - else you'll never earn your team's respect."...weren't asking their team-mates to do anything they weren't prepared to tackle themselves and quickly earned respect as leaders."
Knowledge of the game, common sense and daring
Good captaincy is all about taking responsibility (even for delegating responsibility), being fully aware and not being scared - and it needs preparation in more ways than one.
"A good knowledge of the game which he applies with common sense and a dash of daring…on the way to a rating of excellent."
Be responsible for your decisions, lead the way you think is best
Chappell is pretty clear that since the captain is the one who is in charge, he is better off taking responsibility for his decisions himself. He cannot blame someone else for the result.
"The captain gets the pat on the back when it goes well and the kick in the backside when it unravels. Therefore, he should be responsible for his decisions, rather than captain by committee."
Any captain must remember this. Your team will always be referred to as "Your Team" so be careful with how you want people to remember your team.
"Ray Steele’s advice (the manager of the 1972 side in England) - 'Remember this team will be known as Ian Chappell's 1972 Australian team. Your name will always be attached.' Hence..captain the side the way you think best."
Get the best out of the team
This is really interesting - on how to get the best out of your team.
"A good captain is someone who gets the best out of his team. There is one sure way for a skipper to get the best out of a team: make the cricket interesting."
On the importance of going all out for a win (as the one means of making the game interesting).
"A captain shouldn't fear losing, but he should hate losing. There's a big difference. The former will be a defensive captain, the latter aggressive. Why? Because in the first case the captain will do everything in his power to avoid defeat, including manoeuvring into a position from which he can't lose before he goes for the win. The second type will go flat out for victory from ball one and only opt for the draw when all hope of winning is lost. It's a captain's duty to make the game interesting for his players."
On two methods of going for a win and making the game interesting!
"Attacking captains Richie Benaud and South Australian skipper Les Favell had different ways of achieving the same result. Richie expected his team to bowl as many overs in a day as possible, working on the theory that the more balls delivered, the more opportunities to take wickets. Les, demanded that SA make 300 in a day's play. He reasoned that scoring quickly allowed the bowlers more time to take wickets and hence gave the team a better chance of winning. If we batted first and were 320 for 7 at stumps, 'Favelli' was as happy as a new parent, but if we were 280 for 2 then look out, he was like an Indian on the warpath."
Communicate roles and targets
To communicate roles clearly to players (and not assume that they will know what to do) is a big part of the captain's job. Tell them what is expected of them.
"In addition to making the cricket interesting, a skipper would be well advised to inform his teammates exactly what part they are expected to play in the overall plan. This is best done by talking to the players individually."
Be ahead, plan ahead
This is the hallmark of a thinking captain and is most important. Again it comes from endless thought, discussion, introspection and observation.
"On the field, a captain must be proactive rather than react to situations. Like a good snooker player, who is always a couple of shots ahead in his planning, a captain should be at least two overs in front of the game."
Get the initial advantage
A bit of courage, a dash of aggression is most important to a winning record.
"Wherever possible a captain should make things happen, rather than sit back and wait for the opposition to make mistakes, particularly when the match is in its formative stage. Treat it like a boxing contest: you can shadow-box for the first few rounds, sizing up your opponent, or you can walk forward, land a big punch and see what effect it has on the opposition. I prefer the cricketing equivalent of the latter method."
Observe and file away
This will happen automatically when the captain is proactive and wants to win badly. He will observe and file away because he knows every little helps.
"A good captain must be observant and have a good memory. Listen, watch and file things away. You never know when they might bring about the downfall of an opponent."
A calm demeanour gives a lot of strength to the team as everyone looks to the captain when the team is in distress. If the captain appears ruffled the team loses faith and gives up.
"A skipper can also help himself if he remains outwardly calm on the field at all times. There may well be moments when your guts are churning as the tension bites, but by maintaining composure, a captain helps keep his team focused on their task rather than worrying about the consequences if it all unravels. To help bring about a calmness on the field I preferred to create an atmosphere where the players feel comfortable coming to me with suggestions, rather than me seeking their advice."
Be Open to Ideas
Being open to ideas gives space to everyone to express. Of course the captain must know which advise to take and to what extent and which advise not to.
"Remember, 11 heads are better than one you never know where the next good idea will come from. Fast bowler Jeff 'Bomber' Hammond came to me in his debut Test and said, 'I think I can bounce Kalli ( Alvin Kallicharran) out.' I replied, 'Jeez, Bomber, Kalli's a good hooker and the Sabina Park pitch is pretty flat.' After a short discussion, I told Jeff he had two bouncers and if they didn't work we'd go back to the original plan. Hammond's first Test wicket reads: Kallicharran caught Marsh bowled Hammond 50. Bomber's first bouncer was well directed and Kalli gloved it."
Treat each player differently
Wonderful stuff this and one which Mike Brearley also puts so well. Something I always found difficult to understand and practice because I'd wonder how to know each one ticks. The only way to find out how each one responds is only by investing time with each individual to know his personality.
"A captain must get to know his players; find out which ones react well to a pat on the back and which ones respond to a kick up the backside. Hence the need to spend time with the players after hours."
Invest time with players and address their anxieties
More on the above, but going a step further. If you can get here as a captain, you'll have your team dying for you.
"A captain demands 100 per cent from his players when they're out on the field, therefore he should return the compliment when it comes to the players' off-field needs. This can result in discussions on cricket technique, personal problems or even financial hassles."
Overall a wealth of information and some fine practical pointers to leaders and captains that could come in good use if practiced. And get great results for the team. Thanks Ian Chappell, for sharing your wisdom.
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SENSEI CHIBA DOJO CHAMPS HISTORY GALLERY BOOKS EMAIL
This website is dedicated to the legacy of
Darrell Craig's HOUSTON BUDOKAN Inc.
Sensei Craig has retired and is no longer teaching the Classical Martial Arts of Japan.
Much of his knowledge and teachings have been captured in his Books
CLICK TO VIEW ALL PICTURES IN OUR GALLERY!
Under the teaching and direction of Kyoshi Shihan Craig, the Houston Budokan served as a center for the study of the traditional martial arts of Japan and Okinawa for 50 Years. Here, the students had available to them instruction in an unusually broad range of forms and disciplines taught with the central purpose of enhancing the student's physical and mental well-being. Darrell Max Craig is now retired and working on his next novel.
KENDO --The way of the sword -- Kendo means the way of the sword in Japanese and is, in essence, Japanese fencing. Traditional Japanese fencing was originally practiced by Bushi or Samurai. Kendo deals with the physical and mental skills necessary for sword fighting. The goal of Kendo to develop the physical and spiritual aspects of the practitioner. Kendo is the most popular of the martial arts in Japan.>/p>
GOSHIN JUJITSU--The way of self defense -- Jujitsu or Goshin Jiu-Jitsu as taught today encompasses empty-handed self-defense techniques developed from the centuries old military arts (Bujutsu) of the Japanese Samurai Warriors. The term Jiu-Jitsu, formulated in the Tokagawan era, translates to the art (Jiu) of yielding, softness, subtleness or pliability and (Jitsu) from Bujutsu. The arts of Zen, Aikido, Judo and Karate-do evolved from the same historical influences.
JUDO--The way of gentleness -- Judo means "the way of gentleness." Early Judo was similar to Jiu-Jitsu in several significant ways, including dress, techniques, and philosophy. Today, Judo is an Olympic Sport and is generally practiced in almost every country in the world. The first Judo school, called the Kodokan, in Tokyo, was founded in 1882, and it still sets the guidelines by which all forms of Judo are practiced.
KARATE --The way of the empty hand -- Karate-do translates as "the way of the empty hand," an unarmed, defensive art with a history that spans many centuries, originating in the Shaolin fighting arts of China and later developing in the Ryukyu Islands (Okinawa), combined with indigenous grappling techniques, and in Japan. Japan-Karate-do Ryobu-Kai is founded on the search for the ideal style of Japanese karate.
KOBUDO --The way of ancient weapons -- Kobudo is an ancient weapons art. At different times and for various reasons during its history, weapons were banned on the island of Okinawa. The resourceful Okinawa’s adapted everyday farming and fishing implements as weapons for self-defense. Over time, the use of these weapons became formalized into a beautiful, graceful, and effective art that has been passed down from generation to generation.
IAIDO --The way of drawing the sword -- Iaido is the art of drawing the sword out of its scabbard, cutting one's opponent with a single killing blow, removing blood from the sword, and returning the sword to its scabbard with a minimum of exertion. The essence of Iaido is to form a non-combative discipline practiced exclusively for an individual's spiritual cultivation.
LOGO OF THE HOUSTON BUDOKAN DOJO
The logo of the Houston Budokan can be interpreted as follows:
This character means two people fighting
This character means STOP or END
When put together, the character means MARTIAL.
The red in the center of the emblem represents the red sun as seen in the Japanese flag. The circle which encloses the red sun represents that there is not a destination in budo, only an endless journey. The dominant eight lines extending from the circle represent Happo No Kuzushi or the eight directions of balance, which is the basis of all Japanese martial arts. The octagon shape of the logo is an exact miniature replica of the roof of the great Budokan in Tokyo.
HISTORY of HOUSTON BUDOKAN DOJO
The Houston Budokan was first established in 1966 in northwest Houston, Texas under the name of The House of the White Moon. From 1966 to 1984 it relocated several times until it moved to its current location at 4230 Mangum. In 1969 the Dojo changed its name to the Houston Budokan Inc. and adopted its current logo. From 1966 to 1969, The Dojo taught only karate and kobudo. Kendo and Iaido were introduced to the Dojo's currirulum in 1969 and in 1975 the Dojo floor was covered completely with a Katame mat and Judo, jujitsu and aikido were added to the curriculum. When the Houston Budokan moved to it's current location the additional floor space allowed two completely different arts to be taught simultaneously.
JUDO AND KENDO SIDES OF BUDOKAN
JUDO AND KENDO SHRINES IN THE DOJO
CHAMPIONS OF THE HOUSTON BUDOKAN
When students wore the Houston Budokan pin they connected yourself to a martial art legacy. From its beginning in 1966 to the present.
The Houston Budokan has produced hundreds of recreational Martial Artists as well as 17 national champions and world competitors in three arts. These include:
Claudia Smith, Barbara Anderson, Wendy Craig, David Simmons, Chris Becker
Tommy Callaway, Claudia Smith, Mehran Viseh
Darrell Craig, J. Faninto
Darrell Craig, Darren Craig, Rick TheBerge, Bob Lawson, Lanny Morton, Gordon Small, Kenichi Sooda
International Competitors
Bill Smith, Rick TheBerge, Darren Craig, Darrell Craig, Vernon Williams
CHAMPIONSHIPS OF THE HOUSTON BUDOKAN
Craig Sensei has directed students to the following National and International Championships:
3 SILVERS - 2 BRONZE - HOUSTON OPEN JUDO TOURNIMENT (2010)
1st PLACE KATA - 3 - 1st PLACE SHINI - TEXAS STATE JUDO TOURNIMENT (2010)
2 GOLD - PAN AMERICAN GAMES (2009)
2 GOLD - 1 SILVER - TEXAS A&M JUDO TOURNIMENT (2009)
1st PLACE KATA - 1st PLACE SHINI - HOUSTON OPEN JUDO TOURNIMENT (2009)
2 SILVERS - WORLD JUDO MASTERS CHAMPIONSHIPS (2008)
2 GOLDS - USA JUDO CHAMPIONSHIPS (2008)
2 GOLDS - USA JUDO OPEN JUDO CHAMPIONSHIPS (2007)
3rd PLACE - US JUDO NATIONALS (2006)
WINNERS OF THE HOUSTON OPEN JUDO CHAMPIONSHIPS (2006)
1GOLD - THE SWAMP CLASSIC JUDO CHAMPIONS (2004)
2 BRONZE - THE SWAMP CLASSIC JUDO CHAMPIONS (2004)
1 GOLD - JUDO NATIONALS (2003)
2 GOLD - WORLD MASTERS (2002)
2 GOLD & 1 SILVER - PAN AMERICAN GAMES (2001)
1 GOLD & 3 SILVER - NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS (2000)
KARATE:
1st PLACE - TEXAS KARATE OPEN CHAMPIONSHIPS (2009)
2nd & 3rd PLACE - U.S.A.N.K.F. TEXAS CHAMPIONSHIPS (2008)
1 GOLDS - U.S.A.N.K.F. TEXAS CHAMPIONSHIPS (2005)
1 SILVER - U.S.A.N.K.F. TEXAS CHAMPIONSHIPS (2005)
1 BRONZE - U.S.A.N.K.F. TEXAS CHAMPIONSHIPS (2005)
1 SILVER & 2 BRONZE - U.S.A.N.K.F. NATIONALS (2001)
KENDO:
3rd PLACE - UNIVERSITY of TEXAS TEAM TOURNAMENT (2010)
2 - 3rd PLACES - NABESHIMA CUP CHAMPIONSHIPS (2009)
3rd PLACE - KENDO TEAM TOURNAMENT (2006)
2nd PLACE - LONGHORN TEAM TAIKAI (2005)
1st PLACE - NABESHIMA CUP CHAMPIONSHIPS (2005)
1st PLACE - INTERNATIONAL TEAM CHAMPIONSHIPS (2001)
The Houston Budokan has been involved over the past quarter century in establishing the Following:
1969 - Southern U.S. Kendo & Iaido Federation under the direction of the USKF (First regional kendo federation recognized outside the state of California)
1970 - United States home office for Seishin Kai Junse Goshin Budo Jujitsu or Taiho Jitsu Ryu
1979 - Hokkushin Itto Ryu was established outside of Japan for the 1st time in its history under the leadership of Sensei Haratane Chiba
Email Darrell Craig at: sensei@houstonbudo.com
© Copyright 2003-2011 Houston Budokan Inc. All Rights Reserved Phone: 713-682-9014
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The Very Best of NYC Comedy
June 14, 2013 Gena Hymowech
Paula Poundstone, Alaska: Red for Filth, The Vaudevillians, Homo Comicus
Paula Poundstone has been making us laugh for over 30 years on cable specials, in film, on late night TV, and as the author of her memoir There Is Nothing In This Book I Meant to Say. An observational comic in the style of Ellen DeGeneres, she pokes fun at everything from Pop Tarts to parenthood. On July 26, she will bring that trademark wry humor to City Winery in a stand-up set that is sure to leave you laughing and thinking. Don’t miss the comic who Comedy Central ranked as one of the top 100 of all time.
Look up the word “kooky” in the dictionary and you’ll probably find a picture of Judy Tenuta. The accordion-playing “Love Goddess” is known for her memorable appearances on VH1, Hollywood Squares and The Match Game, plus roles in cult flicks like Going Down in La-La Land and the gay classic Butch Camp. She’ll be taking the stage July 11-12 at the Laurie Beechman Theater in a new show entitled Judy Tenuta: Full Frontal Tenudity. Get ready for a wild and crazy set, because when Judy’s in town, all bets are off!
Two stars from RuPaul’s Drag Race are also coming to the Laurie Beechman Theater this summer. Alaska stars in her own solo show Alaska: Red for Filth, proving she’s got more than enough personality and attitude to hold her own. Running from August 8 to the 11, the show promises to put camp and vaudevillian filth high up on a pedestal, where they most definitely belong. Meanwhile, Drag Race contestant Jinkx Monsoon will bring her musical comedy show The Vaudevillians to the stage July 9 to the 26, with composer and musician Major Scales.
Nervous flyers, relax: Pam Ann is in the house. Everyone’s favorite airline stewardess makes a quick landing in New York with what may be her most outrageous comedy show ever. Get ready for laughs galore as Pam pokes fun at the airline industry’s latest troubles and screens footage from her self-titled Australian TV talk show. Pam Ann: Cockpit is at Joe’s Pub through June 16.
On July 3, monthly comedy showcase Homo Comicus will feature a mix of gay and gay-friendly funny folk at Gotham Comedy Club. Past performers have included Kate Clinton, Michele Balan and Jessica Halem. Check gothamcomedyclub .com for July’s exciting lineup.
comedylgbtq comedylgbtq eventsNYC events
Have A Gay Old Laugh At These 10 Pride Comedy Shows
June 17, 2019 Isabelle Lichtenstein
All Eight Female Disney Villains, Ranked By Lesbianism
April 26, 2019 Isabelle Lichtenstein
Interviews with Queer Women
From Stand-Up To Improv, These Queer Comedians Are Slaying The NYC Comedy Scene
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Home Healthy Living Mental Health
Mental Health: Finding the Help You Need
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Depression Risk Assessment
This questionnaire can help you find out how likely you are to have depression.
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Binge Drinking Dangers for Young People in Alcohol Abuse
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DXM is a common ingredient in many cough and cold remedies. It's also become a popular substance to abuse by teens searching for a cheap, easy high. Here's what you should know....more
Talking About Sex with Your Teen in Teens and Tough Issues
Studies show that about half of U.S. teens have had sex by age 18. Read on for helpful tips about educating your kids about sex....more
Teen Suicide in Teens and Tough Issues
Suicide is when a teen causes his or her own death on purpose. Before trying to take his or her own life, a teen may have thoughts of wanting to die. Read on to learn how to recognize the warning signs, and how to get your teen help....more
Helping Teens Embrace Self-Care in A Healthy Outlook
Before your teens leave home, teach them to make their own healthcare decisions. One way is to provide information and include them in their own self-care from an early age....more
What You Need to Know About Mental Illness in About Mental Health, About Mental Health
Learning symptoms of mental illness can help you recognize when you or a loved one need help....more
Where to Turn for Mental Health in About Mental Health, About Mental Health
It's normal to feel stressed or anxious now and then. But it's time to call for help if emotional issues interfere with your life, your job or your personal relationships....more
For Adults: Take Care with Antidepressants in Adults and Depression
Learn all about antidepressants, including how they work, tips for taking them, and possible side effects....more
Major Depression in Adults and Depression, Seniors and Depression
Depression is a serious mood disorder. It touches every part of your life and is caused by a chemical imbalance in your brain. Treatment involves medicine and counseling....more
How to Beat Serious Stress in Managing Stress
Managing Stress in Managing Stress
Emotional stress can have a serious effect on the body. But a healthy, well-balanced diet and regular exercise can help. Read on for more tips....more
Managing Work-Related Stress in Stress and the Workplace
Domestic Violence in Adults and Abuse
Abuse often begins with verbal behaviors such as name-calling, threats, and hitting or throwing objects. It can become worse, including pushing, slapping, and holding against the victim's will....more
Recognizing Domestic Violence in Adults and Abuse
Domestic violence is behavior someone uses to control a spouse, partner, date, or elderly relative through fear and threats. Read on for detailed information....more
Alternatives to Alcoholics Anonymous in Adults and Alcohol
Today there are alternatives to 12-step programs. Some treatment programs teach problem drinkers to reduce their drinking. This approach appeals to people who otherwise might not seek treatment....more
Helping a Friend With an Addiction in Adults and Alcohol
When a friend shows signs of abusing alcohol or other drugs, it's hard to know what to do or say. Here's how to help....more
Boosting Your Mental Health in For Your Well Being, Staying Mentally Fit
Good mental health is just as important as good physical health. But we all face changes in life that can challenge our emotional well being....more
Why You Should Try Yoga in For Your Well Being
Yoga is a series of stretches and poses that you do with breathing techniques. It offers the powerful benefits of exercise. And since yoga is gentle, almost anyone can do it, regardless of your age or fitness level....more
Mental Health: Finding the Help You Need in About Mental Health, About Mental Health
When your life seems to be spinning out of control, it's OK to seek professional mental health help....more
Comprehensive Psychiatric Evaluation in About Mental Health, About Mental Health
A psychiatric evaluation will look at symptoms and when they happen, as well as what impact they have on family and work relationships....more
Helping Someone with Memory Loss in Seniors and Memory
In older people, it's easy to mistake memory problems for the everyday forgetfulness that some people experience as they grow older....more
When It’s More Than the Blues in Adults and Depression, Seniors and Depression
People with heart disease are at increased risk for serious depression—and unfortunately, many of them don’t know it....more
Depression Not a Normal Part of Aging in Seniors and Depression
Depression is not a natural part of growing old. It's a health condition that should be treated aggressively. Read on to learn more....more
Common Conditions See All
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Medicines to Treat ADHD in Children in ADD-ADHD
Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) in Children in ADD-ADHD
Interacting with a Child Who Has Autism Spectrum Disorder in Autism
If you are a parent or grandparent of a child with ASD, it can be heartbreaking if you feel like you just can't connect with him or her. Here are some things to know that can help you and your relationship....more
Bipolar Disorder in Bipolar Disorder
Bipolar disorder is a mood disorder. People with bipolar disorder switch between periods of mania and periods of depression. There is no cure, but medicine and therapy can help manage symptoms....more
Overview of Mood Disorders in Depression
A mood disorder is a mental health class. The term is used to broadly describe all types of depression and bipolar disorders....more
Major Depression in Depression
Depression and Suicide in Depression and Suicide
Most people who commit suicide have a mental disorder, most commonly a depressive disorder or a substance abuse disorder....more
Dysthymia in Other Mood Disorders
Dysthymia is a milder, yet long-lasting form of depression....more
Seasonal Affective Disorder or SAD in Other Mood Disorders
Seasonal affective disorder (SAD) is a type of depression. It happens during certain seasons of the year, most often fall or winter. Here's what you need to know....more
Binge Eating Disorder in Eating Disorders
Binge eating disorder is an illness that resembles bulimia nervosa and is characterized by episodes of uncontrolled eating or bingeing. It differs from bulimia because its sufferers do not purge their bodies of the excess food....more
Understanding Compulsive Overeating in Eating Disorders
The disorder may develop when others make repeated negative comments about a person's weight....more
Grief and Loss in Grief and Loss
Grief moves in and out of stages from disbelief and denial, to anger and guilt, to finding a source of comfort, to eventually adjusting to the loss....more
When a Family Grieves in Grief and Loss
Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD) in Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder
Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is a common anxiety disorder. It causes unreasonable thoughts, fears, or worries. A person with OCD tries to manage these thoughts through rituals....more
Q and A: Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder in Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder
Rituals such as hand washing, counting, checking or cleaning are often performed in hope of preventing obsessive thoughts or making them go away. Performing these rituals, however, provides only temporary relief, and not performing them markedly increases anxiety. Left untreated, obsessions and the need to perform rituals can take over a person's life. OCD is often a chronic, relapsing illness....more
Can Optimism Make a Difference in Your Life? in Stress
A growing number of scientific studies indicate that optimistic people tend to live longer and have better physical and mental health than pessimistic people....more
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If you tend to worry a lot, even when there’s no reason, you may have generalized anxiety disorder or GAD. Medicine and lifestyle changes can help....more
Substance Abuse or Chemical Dependence in About Substance Abuse
Substance abuse is a recognized medical brain disorder. It refers to the abuse of illegal or legal substances. Alcohol is the most common legal drug of abuse. Substance dependence describes abuse of drugs or alcohol that continues, even when serious problems related to their use have developed....more
Alcoholism and Family History in About Alcohol Abuse
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Prescription Drug Addiction in About Prescription Drug Abuse
Three kinds of prescription drugs are potentially addictive: opioids, tranquilizers, and stimulants....more
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Mental Health: Finding the Help You Need in About a Mental Health Evaluation
Comprehensive Psychiatric Evaluation in About a Mental Health Evaluation
Getting the Most from a Mental Health Support Group in Support Groups
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Helping Someone with Memory Loss in Support Groups, Caregiving
Finding Support for Emotional Issues in Support Groups, Types of Therapy
How do you know when your emotions are the everyday kind that are likely to get better with time? Or when it's time to get help? Read on to find out....more
The Power of Meditation in Staying Balanced
Meditation allows you to become more aware and more deliberate about your actions. It teaches you how to respond rather than react to situations in your life....more
Can Optimism Make a Difference in Your Life? in Staying Balanced
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Caregivers Need to Care for Themselves in Caregiving
More than 22 million Americans are involved in some form of helping elderly family members or friends with their daily routines. If you're part of this group, whether you call yourself a caregiver, or simply a good daughter or son, you know that caring for an aging parent or friend has its rewards and its trials....more
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Pirouet Records
NRW Distribution
PIT3097
www.pirouet.com
Print, Radio, Online
- Solstice
Solstice: exploring the boundaries of darkness and light
Frank Kimbrough counts among a handful of New York-based pianists who have been refining and expanding the language of ensemble playing over the last few decades (this November he marks 35 years in New York and his sixtieth birthday). Declared a “a near-visionary whose piano-improvising, composing, and band-leading skills seek out the dark corners of untrod jazz terrain” by The New Yorker, Kimbrough is noted for his exquisite ensemble, trio and solo recordings as well as his duo work with Lee Konitz, Scott Robinson, Joe Locke and Paul Bley, his work as a sideman in Dewey Redman’s quartet, and his long-term involvement with the Jazz Composers Collective and the Maria Schneider Orchestra. On Solstice, acclaimed players and longtime musical companions, bassist Jay Anderson and drummer Jeff Hirshfield join Frank to explore the music of some of the jazz masters who have left a personal imprint on his life.
PIT3097_PR_en_mail.pdf
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F.T. Island Club
F.T. Island Images on Fanpop
choi jong hun
added by ivabella
Seunghyun in "Style Wave"
added by lilly_hyunie
F.T Island Litmus Winter 2009
added by moonlight123
Lee hong gi
concerto Tickets Sold Out Within An Hour!!!
posted by animeadd8
Thats the spirits!!! Flowerboy band, FT Island, will embark on their Asia tour successivo year.
FT Island will tour Asia countries like, Japan, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Thailand and Singapore in January and February. Of all these countries, ticket sales for their Taipei, Taiwan concerto started first and they were all sold out within an hour, which shocked the organisers.
Though FT Island has never been to Taiwan for any promotions yet, tickets for their concerto to be held at the 3000-capacity Dr. Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall in Taipei were all sold out. Their concerto will be held on 27th February 2010.
According...
FT Island Tired!!!
Have te seen some of the pre-released foto of FT Island photoshoot for Marie Claire September 2009 issue? I'm not sure if each of te knows about this. Straight to the main point, based from my reading, the photoshoot ended with a great success. As the boys managed to appear 'manly' and look cool in the outfit.
What most of primadonnas doesn't know (maybe...), the photoshoot was made at 3am! So, the boys were really tired at that time (definitely!).
This wasn't the first kind-of-incidents happened. There were a lot of it (i guess) such as during the Gayo Daejun's festival at the very end of...
The F.T. Island Club
F.T. Island Wall
F.T. Island Updates
F.T. Island Images
F.T. Island Videos
F.T. Island Articles
F.T. Island Links
F.T. Island Forum
F.T. Island Polls
F.T. Island Quiz
F.T. Island Answers
F.T. Island Fans
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Is Troussier Right For Malaysia?
It's been reported as a done deal on his wikipedia entry but I have seen nothing official yet. Frenchman Phillipe Troussier has been quoted as saying despite several other offers Malaysia is his preferred port of call for his next position.
"My choice is Malaysia. The FA of Malaysia (FAM) has not only offered me to serve as national coach, but also wants me to become its technical director. The national body is keen to have me oversee its football system," Troussier told news.xinhuanet.com
He is reportedly asking for $1.5 million a year to take over in KL where he will replace Rajagopal, the most successful coach in recent history for Malaysia having guided them to the ASEAN Cup in 2010.
However, Malaysia have bigger ambitions. They want to compete on a bigger field than just ASEAN even though they have failed to qualify for the 2015 AFC Asian Cup to be held in Australia.
What will Malaysia get for their wang if they do get the Frenchman?
Well, these are the countries he has managed.
1993 - Ivory Coast
1997 - Nigeria
1997 - 1998 - Burkina Faso
1998 - South Africa
1998 - 2002 - Japan
2003 - 2004 - Qatar
2005 - Morocco
And success? Well, he won the AFC Asian Cup in 2000. And AFC Coach of the Year in the same year.
In 2008 he coached Ryukyu in Japan's third division followed by a three year stint in China with Shenzen Ruby in their second tier which seems less than harmonious.
For RM 5 million are Malaysia getting a good deal? Or are they just looking for a glamorous foreign name who has a reputation for not sticking around too long? One who knows next to nothing about Malaysian football and Malaysian players?
Surely there are better options out there? Coaches with the background in the region and the local knowledge?
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Student Recital
Art Workshop
Art Performance
JakArt School of Art opens violin lessons. We proudly present to you our violin teachers:
Heri Sunarta
We call him Pak Heri. He was born in Yogyakarta on January 31. He began studying violin since 1987 under the guidance of Yulinda Anwar in Yogyakarta Musical High School and graduated after four years with an award. In 1991 he started his musical career in Jakarta by joining several chamber music and orchestra including Philharmonic Indonesian and Jakarta Symphonia Orchestra. In 1993 he joined the Music Camp in Melbourne, Australia, and one year later he joined the ASEAN Youth Music Workshop in Brunei Darussalam. Pak Heri got a scholarship to study violin under the guidance of IG Nice Wiswakarmawa where he increased his violin music skills. Currently Pak Heri is one of the best violinists in Jakarta and also a leader in some famous orchestras in Indonesia. In early 2007, Pak Heri started joining the JakArt School as a senior violin teacher.
Pak Heri’s vision and mission in teaching violin is to share knowledge in music and teach students to play music well and properly with emphasis on discipline and responsibility.
Nazila Izzet
We call her Ibu Lala. She was born in Semarang on September 14. She studied violin formally for the first time at Yogyakarta Musical High School with R. Joehant and continued with Pipin Garibaldi. Then, she continued her formal studies at the Music Department of the Indonesian Institute of the Arts Yogyakarta (ISI) under the guidance of Frits Wagenvoorde. After that she studied violin under the guidance of IG Nice Wiswakarma and Jean Paul Minalli – Bella.
In 1992, Ibu Lala joined the ASEAN Youth Music Workshop organized by the ASEAN Committee in Brunei Darussalam and the European Community – Indonesian Music Camp organized by the EU – Indo Gout in Yogyakarta.
She started her career as a violin teacher at the Cressendo School of Music in 1996 until 1997, then at the Cikini College for the next two years. She also has become a violin teacher in Bina Bangsa School in 2008 – 2010. Since 2002 until today Ibu Lala is active as a violin teacher in the JakArt School.
Ibu Lala’s vision and mission in teaching violin is giving the best of what we can give without expecting anything.
+62.21.7503729
E-mail: info@jakartschool.com
Wisma Subud 1A
Jl. RS. Fatmawati No.52 Cilandak
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Jane Clare Cooper
Researcher and writer
The Canadian Nightingale
Bertha’s Playlist
Illustrations from the Book
Who has been reading about Bertha?
Complete the puzzle yourself
1907: Metcalfe Wins the Cup!
Supporters of the hockey book
Private Sully Goes to War
Embroidering History
A Historical Tour of 1900 Metcalfe
A Historical Tour of 1900 Metcalfe, Ontario. Metcalfe, ON: Metcalfe Women’s Institute/Osgoode Township Museum, 1996-2011. ISBN 0-9680882-0-1. 18 pages.
“This historical tour will take you past the finest village buildings which survive from a hundred years ago and more, most of which are still thriving institutions or businesses. Only two of the buildings chosen are no longer standing – the Commercial Hotel, where Victoria Park is now, and the Continuation School, where Metcalfe Public School is now. The remaining buildings have all had renovations, but a close look will find many features visible from an earlier day that can help us to imagine what an earlier economy and social life was like. …. In a world which is changing so rapidly, it is important to pause and take stock of our past to appreciate how the strengths of our smaller communities have developed, and to think about how they can be maintained.”
Originally written twenty years ago as a walking-tour guide, the history told in this booklet remains relevant. All the buildings still stand and most remain open to the public.
The guide provides an easy introduction to the history of the village, and will appeal to both long time residents, and visitors to the community.
Downloadable from the Osgoode Township Museum website, or read the book online.
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New releases: Van Westen's 2008 white wines
The best white wine vintage in the Okanagan in many years was (in my view anyway) the 2008 vintage. Nearly all the 2008 I tasted over the past eight months were packed with fruit flavours, made ever more savoury by the vintage’s bright acidity.
Alas, many of the 2008 whites are sold out now … but here comes Robert Van Westen (photo above). Never one to rush his wines, he has just released the 2008 whites from his Van Westen Vineyards. It is one more chance to taste that vintage’s terrific whites. The wines are all under screw cap, further preserving their freshness.
There are three wines, all with labels beginning with V, a particular conceit at Van Westen Vineyards, and one that may prove limiting in the future, as when he releases his first Cabernet Franc as Vrankenstein, not a label I would expect to see on the table at, say, Bishop’s, however good the wine will surely be.
One never knows, of course. Robert and Tammi, his wife, have a regular list of customers in the Vancouver area to whom they deliver their wines personally. This engaging couple could sell ice cubes in Inuvik. Selling V wines should be easy for them.
Especially if they are selling the Van Westen Viognier 2008 ($24.90). Happily for Robert and for the rest of us, Viognier is a grape that begins with a V, grows brilliantly in the Okanagan and produces wines of distinction. The variety, unusual for a white grape, has a bit of tannin in the skins, resulting in wines with excellent structure. This wine is full on the palate, with aromas and flavours of apricots and tangerines. The bright acidity of 2008 turbocharges the fresh fruit flavours and gives the wine a crisp finish. Only 120 cases were released. 90.
Van Westen Vino Grigio 2008 ($18.90) is Robert’s take on Pinot Gris. Only 333 cases were released. Here is another delicious white packed with fruit – ripe pears, peaches and papayas, with a hint of anise on the finish. Again, the bright acidity adds to the crisp, refreshing finish. 88.
Van Westen Vivacious 2008 ($18.90) is primarily Pinot Blanc with a touch of Pinot Gris (230 cases released). Pinot Blanc can be a rather neutral wine but not when made by Robert Van Westen. A portion of this wine is barrel-fermented and aged on the lees, which were stirred regularly to enrich the texture and to add complexity to the crisp apple flavours. On the finish, there are stone fruit and mineral flavours, even a note of austerity. Definitely a food wine. 87-88.
posted by JohnSchreiner at Goodgrog @ 12:52 PM 0 Comments
New from Australia - Yabby Lake wines
Had it not been for the arrival of samples on my door step, I might never have heard of the Yabby Lake Winery.
It is one of the hundreds of Australian wineries created in the gold rush of that country’s winery proliferation in the 1990s. Since then, some have closed and others have been absorbed by conglomerate wine groups.
Yabby Lake remains family-owned and, judging by the quality of the wines, will come through the current cycle in that industry successfully.
You could look up Yabby Lake on the web. Since I have already done that, let me save you the time by providing a tiny snapshot about this winery. (There’s not much more on their website, anyway.)
What makes the wines exciting is the vineyard’s cool climate location on the Mornington Peninsula, about an hour south of Melbourne.
This region has emerged as something of a playground for Melbourne’s wine lovers, with about 30 wineries in close proximity of each other. The Peninsula has emerged as one of the best places in Australia for Pinot Noir and Chardonnay. British wine writer Jancis Robinson, who was there for a tasting early in 2009, heaped praise on the wines of the peninsula.
An Australian businessman named Robert Kirby was, in 1992, among the pioneers of viticulture on the peninsula. The Yabby Lake vineyard was planted a few years later. The Kirby family also planted a vineyard in 1999 at Heathcote, just north of Melbourne, a long established viticultural region in the state of Victoria. Here, they grow only Shiraz on some of the oldest soil in Australia.
The resources to get into the wine business appear to have been generated by a business now known as Village Roadshow Ltd. It was started by the Kirby family in 1954 to operate drive-in theatres around Melbourne. It has grown into a substantial media company It operates cinemas, produces movies, and runs theme parks in Australia and in the U.S.
Given their apparently deep pockets, the Kirby family has invested in top vineyard sites and has hired top winemakers and consultants to produce top-ranked wines. For example, one of their consultants is a New Zealand winemaker called Larry McKenna who has a stellar reputation as a Pinot Noir maker.
For much of its wine history, Australia was not known for either Pinot Noir or Chardonnay. Prior to the 1980s, these varieties either were not grown or were grown in inappropriate terroirs. Who can forget the big, blowsy, over-ripe and over-oaked Chardonnays of that era?
The Mornington Peninsula is great terroir for both these varieties. The wines are full of flavour, not too alcoholic and finish with the crisp, bright focus that comes from the lively acidity.
The Yabby Lake wines are represented in western Canada by Renaissance Wine Merchants Ltd. of Vancouver. You might need that information since only one of the wines reviewed here is in the liquor store system. The others are all speculative listings; they are more likely found in private wine stores. They are all worth seeking out. Here are my notes.
Cooralook Chardonnay 2008 ($17.99 in the LDB): Yabby Lake’s entry-level brand, this wine is an excellent value Chardonnay – crisp, refreshing, very subtly oaked so as not to mask the attractive citrus flavours. 88.
Cooralook Pinot Noir 2008 ($20.38). Another good value wine, this tasty wine has flavours of raspberry and spice with the classic fleshy texture of Pinot Noir. 88.
Yabby Lake Chardonnay 2006 ($42.82). This sophisticated, barrel-fermented Chardonnay is a complex blend of six clones of Chardonnay. The wine delivers laser-focused flavours of lime and lemon. The oak comes through as a subtle hint of hazelnut. Even though this is a medium-bodied wine, the abundance of fruit gives it a richness on the finish while the acidity gives it crispness. 90-92.
Yabby Lake Pinot Noir 2006 ($50.98). Here is a full and satisfying Pinot Noir, an almost jammy wine with black cherry, spice and strawberry notes, with a hint of sweet mocha on the finish. 92.
Heathcote Estate Shiraz 2006 ($42.82). Are you tired of soft, syrupy Australian shirazes? Then try a cool-climate take on the variety. The wine is dark, with aromas of spice and cherry. On the palate, there are flavours of currants, cherries and spice. The wine has a rustic earthiness to the finish (remember that it grew on old soils) and good acidity and structure, all part of the wine’s interesting personality. 90.
Inniskillin's Discovery Series - Sandor Mayer's toy box
The winemakers who work with the Vincor wineries in the Okanagan are among the most talented in the valley. But Inniskillin Okanagan’s Sandor Mayer (photo above) occupies a special place among that group: he runs the toy store.
His colleagues all make wine with what you might consider the mainstream varietals – Merlot, Chardonnay and so on. Sandor also gets to work with those grapes but Vincor assigned him the additional task of working with some of the exotic varietals from its vineyards.
These are released under the “Discovery Series” tag, almost always in small lot quantities. The ultimate objective is to test additional varietals in the Okanagan and then plant more acreage of the best. Sandor was assigned the job of making these wines several vintages ago, starting with a hugely successful Zinfandel. Other interesting varieties have now turned up on his crush pad. Judging from the current releases under this series, everything is a keeper.
I would speculate that Sandor got the assignment partly because of his background in research and partly because he is a willing hard worker, as he proved when he got the job to redevelop what is now the Inniskillin Dark Horse Vineyard.
Born in Hungary in 1958, he began making wine at 14 with his father before getting a university degree in winemaking and viticulture. He went to work with Hungary’s major wine research institute and then moved on to a vineyard manager’s job in the country’s famed Lake Balaton region. When neither the salary nor the opportunities were adequate, he and his wife, Andrea (also a winemaker), slipped out of Hungary. After a year in Austria, an uncle in the Okanagan sponsored their emigration to Canada in 1988.
The timing was bad. There were almost no jobs in British Columbia’s shrunken wine industry after two-thirds of the vines has been pulled out in 1988. Mayer took what he could get – a cellar job here, another one there. Finally, Alan Tyabji hired him in the summer of 1990 to replant the vineyard at what was then Okanagan Vineyards.
This property, south of Oliver, had been the first estate winery in the south Okanagan. After it failed, it was acquired first by a car dealer and then in 1987 by Tyabji, a former Calona Winery executive. He was just in time to take advantage of the 1988 grape pullout program, when government compensated producers who pulled out Okanagan Riesling and other mediocre varieties. Tyabji pulled out everything in his vineyard. A couple of years later, when he was able to order premium vines from France, he hired Sandor to get the vineyard ready.
The property was then an ugly tangle of wires, posts and dead vines. “Many times, I went up to the vineyard, looked at the big mess, scratched my head and went home,” Sandor recounted later. But he hung in there and gradually the Dark Horse Vineyard emerged, among other strengths, to be one of the finest Cabernet Sauvignon sites in the Okanagan.
Inniskillin bought the vineyard and winery in 1996. Except for a brief stint at the Jackson-Triggs winery, Sandor has been Inniskillin’s winemaker ever since.
Not everything that was planted at Dark Horse in the early 1990s was best for the sun-bathed site. Varieties better suited to in cool sites, such as Gewürztraminer, have been replaced. Several of the Discovery Series varieties now grow here: Marsanne and Rousanne, two Rhone whites, and Tempranillo, the Spanish red.
Other grapes for the Discovery Series wines grow in various Vincor vineyards in the south Okanagan. Here are notes on the wines. Most are available only at the winery or in restaurants, although the winery surely will ship case-lot orders. Contact Audrey Silbernagel at 800.498.6211.
2008 Discovery Series Marsanne Rousanne ($24.99). This is one of the most satisfying whites I have tasted from the Okanagan in some time. It begins with citrus and apricot aromas. On the palate, there are flavours of melon, apple and more stone fruit. The wine is fresh and crisp, but with good weight on the palate and with a lingering finish. Only 340 cases were made. 90-92
2007 Discover Series Chenin Blanc ($16.99). At 1,800 cases, this is the highest volume wine of any of the Discovery wines, and is available in Alberta and Manitoba stores as well as in B.C. The wine begins with lush tropical aroma, shows flavours of peach, mango, guava and tangerine. The wine has a honey-like late harvest character on the mid-palate but is balanced to finish dry. This wine is an unforgettable tour de force. 90
2007 Discovery Series Malbec ($24.99). There are 575 cases of this wine, which is a world-class Malbec of power and elegance. It begins with aromas of pepper and spice. Rich and full on the palate, the wine presents flavours of spice and cherry and blackberry and chocolate. Every sip invites another. 92
2006 Discovery Series Petit Verdot $29.99. The winery has released 400 cases of this wine, seldom seen as a single varietal because most is used in luxury red blends. This is a bright, vibrant wine, with aromas of spice and cherry and red berries, and with flavours of cherry and currants with a touch of spice and a hint of mocha on the finish. The tannins are ripe but firm, suggesting this wine will cellar well for some years yet. 88-90
2007 Discover Series Sangiovese ($29.99). Sangiovese is an Italian red that has often flopped when planted outside of Tuscany. I prefer this wine to a lot of Tuscan reds I have had. It is fleshier, bigger on the palate with ripe tannins and with classic aromas and flavours of spice and cherries. Only 100 cases were released. 90
2007 Discovery Series Tempranillo ($29.99.The winery has released 200 cases. The medium-bodied wine has an attractively dark garnet hue, with aromas of red fruit, oak and mocha. It has flavours of cherry and cranberry and spice. The wine needs decanting to round out the tannins. This would be a candidate for further cellaring. 88-90
2007 Tempranillo Icewine ($99.99). I believe Tempranillo icewine is a world first for British Columbia. In a decade of dedicated icewine tasting, I have never before tasted one elsewhere. (It would never get cold enough in Spain, not that the Spanish need another dessert wine anyway.) Here, D'Angelo Vineyards and now Inniskillin had produced this wine. It has a lovely ruby hue, with aromas and flavours of strawberry and plum jam. The wine is beautifully balanced; the sweet finish is vibrant and fresh, never cloying. 90
posted by JohnSchreiner at Goodgrog @ 11:35 AM 0 Comments
Is there Nothing Sacred at Blasted Church?
The newest release from Blasted Church Vineyards, Nothing Sacred 2007, is a milestone wine.
It is the winery’s first full-out Bordeaux blend. It is also the wine that says that Richard Kanazawa (photo above), the winemaker who joined Blasted Church in 2007, has put his stamp fully on the portfolio.
The wine also marks the beginning of other important changes that are coming here. The most noteworthy is that, next year, Blasted Church will begin offering its wines under new labels and in lighter (more environmentally friendly) bottles.
Based in Okanagan Falls, Blasted Church began life in 2000 as Prpich Hills. New owners two years later changed the name, hiring Vancouver marketing guru Bernie Hadley-Beauregard for the re-branding.
He came up with Blasted Church, a name inspired by an old church in Okanagan Falls that was moved there in the 1920s from a mining ghost town in the south Okanagan. The movers famously set up a charge of dynamite to loosen the building nails in what the locals soon called the blasted church.
Even cleverer than the name were Bernie’s labels (see an example above) – lively caricatures that made the wines stand out in any wine store or restaurant table. The winery had a lot of fun with the labels. For example, in a bit of strategic flattery, the images of senior Canadian wine writers appear on the Pinot Gris label.
The labels were an immense hit with consumers and played no small part in the growth of this winery into a 20,000-case producer.
When the labels were rolled out, Hadley-Beauregard advised Blasted Church to revisit the branding in four years. For one reason or the other, it has taken an extra three years for this to happen – but happen it will, next year.
“We are performing a rather neat brand rejuvenation project at Blasted Church in the new year,” Hadley-Beauregard told me in a recent email. “Essentially, the current (and very successful) label series will be retired, and a completely new series introduced throughout 2010 (as each of the new vintage wines come to market).”
No doubt, there is a market rationale for this. From the winemaking point of view, there is also a rationale: the wines of Blasted Church have become too seriously good for irreverent (pardon the pun) labels.
At last two developments account for the continual improvement in the wines.
First, Blasted Church has had professional viticulturists looking after its vineyards for several years. The current vineyard manager, Morton Serbon, who joined the winery last summer, is trained and experienced in Australian vineyards.
Second, the winemaking regime has stabilized. Due to various unfortunate circumstances, the winery has had six winemakers since 2002. Even though all were more than capable, the style of the wines never quite settled down.
Richard Kanazawa looks like a keeper. Born in Langley in 1972, he came to winemaking by chance. After a brief stint as a professional rugby player in Japan, he came back to Canada needing a job and got one delivering wines for Domaine de Chaberton. He studied food technology at the BC Institute of Technology, hoping that would springboard him into a winemaker’s job. When it did not, he went to Australia in 2002where he studied winemaking and worked with several wineries.
Returning to Canada in 2004, he found a job at the Red Rooster winery. Before leaving that winery for Blasted Church, he made the 2006 Malbec with which Red Rooster won its first Lieutenant Governor’s Award for Excellence.
In the 2007 vintage, he shared cellar responsibilities with winemaker Kelly Moss. Shortly after vintage, she moved to Ontario for family reasons. Richard got the 2007 whites into bottle and finished the 2007 reds. Since then, he has been the senior winemaker here.
His 2008 white wines have been released for some months now. The Gewürztraminer (89-90), the Riesling and a blend called Mixed Blessings are sold out. Still available is a tangy, herbal Sauvignon Blanc ($18.99), fruity Pinot Gris ($19.99), underrated Chardonnay Musqué ($17.99) and the winery’s most popular aromatic white blend, Hatfield’s Fuse ($17.99). All of these score 88 to 90.
For Hatfield’s Fuse fans, the winery is making about 6,000 cases from the 2009 vintage.
The 2007 reds were finished very well. Nothing Sacred 2007 ($39.99) is a blend of 33% Cabernet Sauvignon, 33% Merlot, 23% Malbec and 11% Cabernet Franc. Individual parcels of fruit came from vineyards on the Naramata Bench, Oliver and Osoyoos as well as Blasted Church’s Skaha Lake Bench Vineyard. Each lot was processed separately and aged in new French oak. In the end, 216 cases of a fine hand-crafted wine have been released. It is an elegant and complex red with the spice of Malbec defining the aroma. On the palate, there are flavours of currants, black cherry, cedar and blackberry. This is a 91 point wine, perhaps more with a few years in the cellar.
The winery’s Syrah 2007 ($25.99) is a generous wine with the classics notes that are beginning to define Okanagan Syrah – pepper on the nose and the finish, along with earthy, gamy flavours of plum and blackberry. 89.
At a recent tasting Richard also brought a barrel sample of the Syrah 2008. This wine includes some Viognier in the blend. Perhaps that accounts for the additional elegance of what will be a very delicious wine when released. 90.
The only 2008 red released so far is The Dam Flood ($18.99), a cheerful blend of 60% Merlot, 40% Lemberger, a juicy, quaffable red with flavours of plum and blueberry. 88. The winery has released 1,500 cases of this.
Just about to be released is Pinot Noir 2008. The 2007 is still in the market for $25 and that’s fine because the 2008 needs another six months or so to begin showing its potential.
At a recent tasting, Richard also brought along barrel samples of several exciting reds that are not yet finished. The Malbec Syrah 2008 (the sold-out 2007 vintage sold for $40) is a marvellous combination of Malbec’s coffee, plum and spicy notes with Syrah’s pepper and gamy flavours. 90.
There were also promising barrel samples of Petit Verdot, Cabernet Sauvignon and Malbec from the 2008 vintage. Clearly, Blasted Church has good wine with which to launch whatever the rebranding will look like.
Dutch treats in the B.C. wine industry
Photos: Rob Van Westen (top) and Fort Berens owners Rolf de Bruin and Heleen Pannekoek
This is my column in the current issue of the Deep Cove Crier, reproduced here for your interest.
By sheer coincidence, two immigrant couples from Holland with economics degrees from rival Dutch universities and a former Dutch dairy farmer have just begun making wine in British Columbia.
That brings to seven the number of wineries run by individuals of Dutch heritage, with a possible eighth in the wings.
While there is a melting pot of many nationalities in our wine industry, this column zeroes in just on the remarkable Dutch collection.
Ancient Hill Vineyards (4918 Anderson Road, Kelowna BC V1X 7V7. Tel: (250) 491-2766
This winery, which will open its tasting room next spring, is on a hillside east of Kelowna International Airport. Ancient Hills is owned by Richard and Jitske Kamphuys (rhymes with compass). He is a graduate of the famous Erasmus University but he never practised economics. The couple came to Canada in 1992 to take up a rural lifestyle on an Okanagan apple orchard.
In 2005 they tore out the trees, replacing over several years with 27,000 vines (Baco Noir, Pinot Gris, Gewürztraminer, Lemberger, Zweigelt and Pinot Noir). The first crush in 2009 was done in an attractive new winery, designed by architect Robert Mackenzie.
The winery is in one of the Okanagan’s most historic vineyard areas. In the 1930s, Hungarian-born Eugene and Virgil Rittich pioneered the Okanagan’s first serious trials with vinifera grapes not far from Ancient Hills. The orchardists who previously owned the Ancient Hills property planted vines in 1944 after being encouraged by the Rittich brothers. A hard winter five years later killed most of the vines although 40 unidentified vines remain on the property. The current owners have uncovered a fair bit of the history.
Celista Vineyards (2319 Beguelin Road, Celista, BC, V0E 1L0. Tel:
(250) 955-8600.) This Shuswap vineyard may be a few years away from opening a winery. However, owner Jake Ootes (rhymes with Otis) had another Shuswap winery make wine from his grapes this fall, allowing him to see what his vineyard delivers before investing in a winery.
Jake was born in Holland in 1942 and came to Canada with his parents when he was eight. He has had a remarkable career that included being an assistant to the commission of the Northwest Territories, publishing newspapers and magazines in the north, and going into politics. He was the NWT’s minister of education before retiring and, with his wife Margaret, moving to a lovely farm on the north side of Shuswap Lake and planting vines.
Echo Valley Vineyards (4651 Waters Road, PO Box 816, Duncan, BC, V9L 3Y2. Tel: (250) 748-1470. This winery was opened in 2003 by Alfred Brennink, a retired architect, and his son, Edward. This secluded property is worth the visit for its beautiful location.
If you go, telephone first. Alfred, who bright his family to Canada in 1979, is returning to Europe and the winery has been for sale during the past year. The future for this winery remains uncertain.
Fort Berens Estate Winery (PO Box 758, 1881 Highway 99 N., Lillooet, B.C., V0K 1V0. Tel: (250) 256-7788). This winery, which bills itself as Whistler’s local winery, opened in October on the site where the Hudson’s Bay Company started, and then abandoned, Fort Berens in 1859.
The owners are Rolf de Bruin and his wife, Heleen Pannekoek, who emigrated to Canada last year with two young children. The couple met at the University of Groningen where both studied business and economics. She had a 15-year career with ING Bank and he was a successful management consultant.
About five years ago, they made a lifestyle decision to leave the corporate fast track. Having vacation in British Columbia several times and being interested in wine, they chose to develop a winery here. They were getting discouraged at the price of vineyard land in the Okanagan when they learned of the grape growing trials on the banks of the Fraser River spearheaded by the former mayor of Lillooet. Late last year, Rolf and Heleen leased (with an option to buy) farm property. This spring they planted 20 acres of vines. They’ve opened with purchased Okanagan wine and they began making wine in 2009 with Okanagan grapes.
House of Rose Vineyards (2270 Garner Rd., Kelowna, B.C. V1P 1E2
Tel: (250) 765-0802.) Vern Rose, a native Albertan, started this winery in 1993. Due to ill-health, he sold the winery in 2009 to his daughter Aura and her Dutch-born husband, Wouter van de Hall.
OVINO Winery (1577 Yankee Flats Road, Salmon Arm, BC, V1E 3J4. Tel: 250 832 8304.) John Koopmans, who was born in Holland in 1956 and came to Canada in 1977, got tired of dairy farming and planted a four-acre vineyard instead. The first estate-grown wines were made there in 2009 and he plans to open the tasting room in 2010 on this lovely rural property about 20-minutes from Salmon Arm.
Sonoran Estate Winery (5716 Gartrell Road, Summerland, BC V0H 1Z7. Tel: (250) 494-9323. This winery was opened in 2004 by the Smits family, who came to Canada in 1981 and came to the Okanagan in 2000, initially running a bed and breakfast. Son Adrian, the winemaker, and his wife Sarah, are Sonoran’s public face. This winery has a good restaurant attached to its tasting room.
Van Westen Vineyards (2800B Aikens Loop, Naramata, B.C. V0H 1N0. Tel: (250)496-0067. The Van Westen family has grown tree fruits near Naramata since coming to Canada in the 1950s. The winery, which opened in 2005, is run by Robert Van Westen (one of the sons) and his wife Tammy. The tasting room, in a corner of an old packing house, is only open occasionally. It is worth phoning for an appointment because Rob’s wines are among the best in British Columbia.
Bella bella! Sperling Vineyards's first wines
With the release this fall of the first wines from Kelowna’s Sperling Vineyards, winemaker Ann Sperling (photo above) has re-connected with the Okanagan, where she first began making wine 25 years ago.
But this is more than a story of the hometown favourite coming home after stellar success elsewhere. It is the story of fulfilling the dreams of Ann’s forebears, the Casoro family, pioneering Okanagan grape growers and vintners. As you will see from the tasting notes, Ann (her mother, Velma, is a Casorso) has done her family proud.
The Casorso family came to the valley when Italian immigrant Giovanni Casorso arrived in 1883 to work for the Oblate Mission’s farm. Soon he had his own homestead near the mission, succeeding brilliantly as a farmer (he was Onion King one year). When tobacco was grown in the Okanagan, he was one of the largest tobacco growers. Perhaps it is a coincidence but the barn on the label of Sperling Vineyards wines looks a bit like a tobacco-curing barn.
The family first got into the wine business when Rosa, Giovanni’s wife, and Pete, one of their sons, invested in the consortium that in 1931 launched what became Calona Wines. When the Capozzi family gradually bought control of the winery in the 1950s, Pete refused for years to sell his shares. “His pastime for many years was to go to their board meetings and raise hell,” Ann says.
A family history credits Charles Casorso with planting the first Kelowna vineyard near Rutland about 1925. His brothers Pete and Louis ordered vines in 1929 and planted grapes on Pioneer Ranch, as the family property was known. It appears, however, the major crops grown here were apples until Pete retired in 1960, turning the farm over to his daughter Velma and her husband, Bert Sperling, who are Ann’s parents.
Bert converted the entire property to grapes. Initially he grew the same hybrid and labrusca varieties that everyone else had before switching to Riesling, along with four hectares of Sovereign Coronation table grapes. Over the years he sold wine grapes to Calona, then to Growers in Victoria, and, in recent years, to Mission Hill.
Ann has vivid memories of growing up on the Pioneer Ranch. “When I was very young, the area that is now under vine had grapes, peaches, cherries, apricots and prune-plums growing on it,” she remembers. “All the grapes at that time were labrusca or labrusca hybrids. The exception was the Perle de Csaba. It is a vinifera and a Muscat type. It ripened early, in late August, and tasted wonderful. I certainly attribute my love of Muscat and Moscato d'Asti to having gorged myself as often as possible on those grapes.” In the 2009 vintage she used those grapes for a light sparkling wine to be released with the coquettish name, “Sper … itz.”
With food sciences degree at the University of British Columbia, Ann began her winemaking career at André’s Wines in 1984. She moved to CedarCreek Estate Winery in 1991 and was soon making award-winning wines. She moved to Ontario in 1995, began a career as a consulting winemaker. She made inaugural vintages for highly-regarded Malivoire Wine Company and currently is director of winery operations for Southbrook Vineyards, a rising Niagara star.
The decision to reconnect with the Okanagan flowed from a family conference about the future of the vineyard. “It has always been in the back of my mind that I wanted to make wine here because I am so familiar with every foot and every slope and every grape on the property,” Ann says. In 2008, Sperling Vineyards got its toe in the business by making about 500 cases. In this vintage, production has risen to 1,800 cases.
This year, the family intend to get a winery license and open a tasting room in Pioneer Country Market, a market and delicatessen that Ann’s mother has operated since 1985 on Benvoulin Road in Kelowna, not far from the Father Pandosy Mission.
Meanwhile, Sperling Vineyards has been making its wine at nearby Camelot Vineyards. Ann also makes the wine for Camelot and for Clos du Soleil winery in the Similkameen Valley. Both are still relatively small producers and, as Ann points out, there is little overlap in the portfolios of all three of her British Columbia clients.
Sperling Vineyards has debuted with five wines. Here are some notes.
Sperling Vineyards Pinot Gris 2008 ($19). This is deliberately not a mainstream Okanagan Pinot Gris fruit bomb but rather is a crisp, lean white designed to pair with westcoast seafood dishes. It begins with citrus aromas, shows flavours of lemon, lime and minerals and ends with tangy acidity and a dry finish. 88
Sperling Vineyards Old Vines Riesling 2008 ($29). Here is a Riesling to rival that of nearby Tantalus Vineyards. Both vineyards, fine Riesling sites, were planted in 1978 with the highly regarded Clone 21B Riesling (developed by Hermann Weiss in the Mosel and now grown all over the world). This is a wine with a pristine laser-like clarity of fruit and acidity. It begins with aromas of herbs and citrus, shows abundant flavours of lime and has a refreshingly tangy finish. 90
Sperling Vineyards The Market White 2008 ($16). Here is the fruit bomb for those who like a glass of wine or two before dinner and something a little off-dry with food. It is a blend of Pinot Gris (60%), Gewürztraminer (32%) and Riesling (8%). This aromatic white is an easy to drink charmer, with layers of flavour (grapefruit, lime) and with the fleshy texture that comes with residual sweetness. 88
Sperling Vineyards Old Vines Foch 2008 ($26). This is the winery’s big red. Ann made a similar wine at Malivoire where it has become a cult favourite in Ontario. I predict the same for this wine in B.C. Think of Australian Shiraz. Bold and fleshy, with smoky aromas of plums and black cherries, the wine offers gamy flavours of prunes lifted by the sweet spice of American oak. The spice on the finish is delightful. 89-90
Sperling Vineyards Riesling Icewine 2008 ($36 for a 200 ml bottle). Ann made only about 400 tiny bottles of icewine last vintage and none this year, and that is by design. At Sperling Vineyards, icewine will always be the niche product “that it is meant to be,” she says. This is another wine with a laser focus: bright, tangy, with intense tropical flavours of lime and grapefruit. The wine is beautifully balanced – not too sweet because the natural sugar in the wine is not over the top and is balanced with what the Germans would call “racy” acidity. 90
I can just hear Rosa smacking her lips as she tells her great-granddaughter: “Bella, bella.”
Blue Mountain and a pinch of Salt
You might suppose that the Culinary Institute of America will never advise that one should locate a restaurant in Blood Alley in Vancouver’s occasionally rough Gastown.
This is a dim alley with 10 (!) dumpsters at one end and, occasionally, individuals putting something into their arms with needles.
Yet there, at 45 Blood Alley, is Salt Tasting Room. One of Vancouver’s funkiest little restaurants, it has been there for at least two years. A number of Okanagan wineries have hosted wine dinners here this year.
The latest wine dinner, on November 30, featured Blue Mountain Vineyard and Cellars. A sold-out house sat on metal stools along both sides of the very long table in the Salt Cellar, sipping Blue Mountain wines paired with cheese and cold cuts. A simple, affordable and quite successful evening.
This is a far cry from the annual events Blue Mountain used to have each January or February. These were toney charitable fund raisers in the ball room of one of Vancouver’s top hotels. Between 10 and a dozen top restaurants had stations around the room, preparing signature dishes paired with one of the Blue Mountain wines.
The guests at those events, all in their finest dress, represented the Vancouver business and professional community. Most are on the winery’s coveted e-mail lists that inform clients of new wine releases. It would be hard to imagine most of them venturing past those dumpsters to Salt.
The dinner at Salt, however, let Blue Mountain tap into a different and younger demographic, most of them probably not yet signed up to a place on an e-mail list. Congratulations for the Blue Mountain agent in Vancouver, Christine Fawcett, for doing what it takes to keep the Blue Mountain client pipeline full in a wine environment far more competitive that when Blue Mountain opened in 1991.
As for the toney crowd, take heart: shortly after thus tasting, Blue Mountain announced that it is resuming its charity event with a $90 per person tasting at the Four Seasons in Vancouver at 6.30 p.m. on January 26, 2010. The format will be familiar: 10 top restaurants will offer signature dishes paired with Blue Mountain wines. Proceeds benefit the B.C. Childrens Hospital. Tickets are sold through the winery, at 250-497-8244 - and they sell out faster than Olympic tickets.
The winery soon will have additional wines to show. In 2010 the winery will release the first addition to its portfolio since it opened. This fall, Blue Mountain harvested the first crop from a young Sauvignon Blanc planting. From what I hear, the tank and barrel samples are exciting.
This is winery focussed on Burgundy and Alsace varietals. The flagship red varietal here is Pinot Noir. The only other red is Gamay. Currently, the winery produces three whites – Chardonnay, Pinot Blanc and Pinot Gris – and two excellent sparkling wines.
The dinner at Salt featured several of these wines. All but two are currently available from the winery and possibly in such private stores as Everything Wine.
Blue Mountain Brut Gold Label ($23.90). This is a crisply disciplined wine with a satisfying weight and with toasty flavours on the palate but with a wonderfully clean finish. The cuvée is Pinot Noir and Chardonnay with a dash of Pinot Gris. 88-90
Blue Mountain Pinot Blanc 2008 ($17.90). This is a complex example of this variety. About 40% was aged on older barrels, contributing to roundness in texture. There are flavours of apple and citrus and the finish lingers. 88
Blue Mountain Pinot Gris 2008 ($20.90). About 40% of the wine in this blend was fermented in barrel, adding some weight and richness to this crisp and refreshing wine. There are flavours of citrus and pear. 88
Blue Mountain Gamay Noir 2008 ($20.90). Think of a Beaujolais Cru when you taste this wine. It is full-bodied with spicy notes of raspberry. 87
Blue Mountain Pinot Noir Reserve 2006 ($35.90). This is a lovely wine, with toasty and berry aromas and flavours of raspberry and strawberry. 88
Blue Mountain Pinot Noir Reserve 1997 (N.A.) No doubt about it – this was the star of the evening. In 12 years, this has developed into a rich, silky red with flavours of mocha and strawberry. The finish is long and satisfying.
I am often asked how long B.C. reds will age. Well, we have an answer with this Pinot Noir from Blue Mountain which is at its peak now.
Upper Bench Altitude and other big reds
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Camelot trio of wines for summer 2019
Rubik's Cube winemaking at Blue Mountain
Howard Soon named to Order of Canada
Syrah: best BC Iconic Reds
8th Generation Rose and friends
Quails' Gate white is BC's number one white
Stag's Hollow turbo charges Vidal
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Stoneboat Vineyards releases its first sparkling wine
Photo: Tim (l), Julie and Lanny Martiniuk (r) with Stoneboat Piano
The newest sparkling wine in British Columbia is Piano Brut from Stoneboat Vineyards. The winery poured the $22.90 wine, its first sparkler, during the recent Vancouver International Wine Festival.
There are interesting back stories to this wine. It was created with the help of a federal grant that enabled the winery to acquire the skill and the technology of the Charmat method.
I was a bit surprised when I read that Stoneboat had received a grant to create its new sparkling wine with a technology that is more than a century old. The explanation is that no Okanagan winery has used the Charmat method in a generation. The team at Stoneboat had to learn all over again how it works and what equipment is needed.
“We have been looking at this for about four years,” says Lanny Martiniuk, the long-time Oliver grape grower whose family opened Stoneboat in 2007.
Lanny’s decision to add a sparkling wine to the Stoneboat portfolio was accelerated last year when a winery that has purchased his grapes for years warned it might not need them any longer. There is a rising surplus of grapes in the Okanagan.
“Maybe we should look at more ways of utilizing our grapes,” Lanny concluded.
The Charmat method is named for a French scientist, Eugène Charmat, who in 1907 perfected a method of fermenting wines in bulk that actually had been invented in Italy. He was an enologist at the University of Montpellier, which is still a major wine school.
The process is sometimes also called the Martinotti method, named for Federico Martinotti, who was a director of an experimental wine institute in Asti. Here in the late 19th Century, he worked on the fermentation of sparkling wine in a tank; this is the method that was perfected by Charmat.
Today, it is used in the production of Prosecco and other moderately priced sparkling wines.
It is, in fact, one of four methods of getting bubbles into wine. The cheapest is by putting wine in tanks, pressuring the tanks with carbon dioxide and then bottling without loss of pressure. The disadvantage is that the bubbles are not very long lasting in the glass.
Two methods require fermentation in bottle. The méthode champenoise is used in Champagne and everywhere else for premium sparkling wine. The wines, with fine and long lasting bubbles, are sold in the same bottles in which the secondary ferment takes place. There is the transfer method in which the wines are fermented in bottles that are then emptied, under pressure, into tanks for racking and blending, before being transferred, still under pressure, into new bottles.
The Charmat method strikes a happy medium between the complexity of bottle fermentation and the simplicity of carbonating.
It is ironic that Stoneboat had to relearn a process that once was licensed to a Canadian winery. In 1928, Canadian Wineries of Niagara Falls, a predecessor to Chateau-Gai Wines, got a 25-year license to use the Charmat method in North America.
Chateau-Gai was so pleased with its “Canadian Champagne” that, in 1955, it arranged for a store window display of the product in Paris and then milked the publicity back in Canada. The headline on an article in the Globe & Mail Magazine was: “He Sells Ontario’s Wines in the very heart of France.” Champagne producers were outraged and litigated for the next quarter century to stop Canadians from using Champagne on the labels of their sparkling wines, especially those made by the Charmat method.
In the 1970s, Chateau-Gai was acquired by Labatts, along with Casabello Wines in Penticton. If my memory serves, Casabello had Charmat tanks. Both Chateau-Gai and Casabello were acquired by what became known as Vincor, which closed the wineries and likely scrapped the Charmat tanks. The sparkling wines made by Sumac Ridge and by Jackson-Triggs employ the traditional Champagne method.
Stoneboat calls its wine Piano Brut, no doubt inspired by the grand piano in the winery’s tasting room. Several members of the family are good musicians.
To produce the wine, Stoneboat had to import two 5,000-litre pressure tanks from Italy. Two are needed so that the wine, when it has finished fermenting, can be racked to the other tank while remaining under pressure. The capacity of the tanks limits the production to about 500 cases of wine in each production cycle. Stoneboat also plans to produce a sparkling rosé this summer.
Piano Brut is built around Pinot Blanc and Müller-Thurgau, a very good blend that yields a slightly aromatic wine with flavours of citrus and apple and with a crisp, tangy finish. The Charmat process captures fresh, fruity flavours and minimizes yeast notes commonly associated with bottle-fermented bubbly.
Road 13 Vineyards attracts attention
Helios Winery planned for West Kelowna
Rustico recruits for its “Wine Posse”
D'Angelo big reds for spring release
Tied House rule untied and other good news.
Wine Access magazine is shut down
CedarCreek scores with Earls
Donald and Elaine Triggs announce their new winery...
Saturna Island releases four whites
Plume 2010: a wine that punches above its weight
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European Parliament elections 2009 (85): The EP's information campaign and information deficits in Germany
On Friday I went to the information point of the European Commission and the European Parliament Information Office in Berlin, right by the Brandenburg Gate.
I was interested how much the European Parliament elections would dominate the public relations activities within this service point where Germans and international tourists pass by.
To make it short: Until now, the EP elections do not dominate the information activities, although they took an important share of the materials presented. For a list of these see below.
What I would like to mention is that when I asked the staff member at the desk about public events and campaign elements organised in the city, I didn't get a satisfactory answer. The only event recalled was the press conference of the major German TV stations presenting the spots for the EP elections on 27 April 2009.
I was told that all the other events were organised by local partners, but all I could get was a printout of a list of projects all over Germany, mostly without particular dates and location.
The most relevant information I could extract from this list was that the promotional material of the campaign will be distributed from 01 May 2009. But no hint to the public event of Can You Hear Me, to the Europawahlgang '09 kick-off event or to any other particular activities going on.
I also couldn't get the information how many posters of the EP campaign would appear in Berlin and when this would happen.
I think the information office should put a much stronger focus on the elections, and it needs to co-ordinate with local partners (and vice-versa) to make sure that the activities organised will receive maximum attention.
Why should you spend money on websites, printed materials, and TV spots when you miss to show that also real-life events are going on where people can participate actively instead of just consuming information?
Having an information office at one of the best locations in Berlin and not using it for the promotion of events from local and national partners is an example of lack of synergy between the institutional side and these partners.
This deficit needs to be addressed as quick as possible, at least from my point of view!
Materials I got on the EP elections at the EU information point
1) A special issue (N° 26) of the "EU-Nachrichten" ('EU news) on the European Parliament elections
The issue presents, on 24 pages, the history and work of the European Parliament. Nice, very readable. Also very interesting are the pages 20-21, where the web 2.0 activities of MEPs are presented, but against expectations in a rather critical tone, pointing to ignorance and lack of responsiveness from the side of many politicians.
2) The booklet "Europa 2009" (download; PDF)
On 105 pages information on the European Union, with the first 20 pages dedicated to the European Parliament and the European Parliament elections. That is already quite a read, and although the design is modern, I have a doubt that many citizens (and the design addresses rather the younger generation) will read the full booklet.
3) Postcard "Per Handy zur Europawahl"
On the postcard it says "Via mobile phone to the European Parliament elections" and it offers the possibility to register to receive a short message that will remind you of the elections some days before.
4) Flyer "Berlin wählt Europa"
"Berlin elects Europe" is the flyer of the city and federal region of Berlin. The flyer is ugly. No need to read it. But on Berlin's website for the EP elections (which was printed on the flyer) I discovered the following campaign spot focused on a Berlin audience:
Under the category "European parliament elections 2009" I am following up national and European activities on the path to the European Parliament elections 2009.
For an overview over all articles in this category have a look at the overview article.
For the five newest post see also the sidebar.
Tags: European Parliament elections 2009
The Europeanisation of law-making in Germany: Over...
Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe re...
European Parliament elections 2009 (92): How the E...
French finance minister praises EU co-operation in...
A comparision of India's parliament with the Europ...
Federation of Young European Greens (FYEG) with ne...
European Parliament elections 2009 (91): French mi...
Parliamentary Assembly debates next Secretary Gene...
European Parliament elections 2009 (90): The "Euro...
10 years of the Bologna Process: A more or less gr...
EU Commission conclusions on the changeover to the...
European Parliament elections 2009 (89): German ca...
European Parliament Intergroups - Necessary co-ord...
History blogging: The challenges of EU governance
European Parliament elections 2009 (88): The PES c...
The public relations of the EU-Council after its b...
European Parliament elections 2009 (87): The Austr...
The Czech EU-Council Presidency (15): Czechs refus...
European Parliament challenges the Council, its bu...
What was going on at the ECOSY Congress?
The scope of media freedom in Europe expanded by E...
Why do I blog?
Siim's budget, José's campaign
History blogging: Nosemonkey and EU geekery
Better rankings, not better universities?
Unhealthy acronym by the European Commission: RAPE...
European Parliament elections 2009 (86): Are the S...
Watching Europe - Mit Blick auf Europa
European Parliament elections 2009 (85): The EP's ...
Scholz & Friends, me, and the PR for EuroparlTV
European Parliament elections 2009 (84): Getting t...
EuroparlTV: How many MEPs...?
Zero impact, the naked emperor, and the blogging c...
Council Working Party on Information to discuss ac...
European Parliament elections 2009 (83): PES and E...
European Parliament elections 2009 (82): Eurotopic...
European Parliament elections 2009 (81): PES witho...
European Parliament elections 2009 (80): Eurobarom...
The Commission recommends its staff to be intransp...
The story of a survey on the European elections
Examples of law-making in the Council: Measures fo...
Heaven or hell: Will Moldovan protests enter the n...
A book. A garden. Europe.
European Parliament elections 2009 (79): Can You H...
Human rights and the rule of law in Moldova under ...
European Parliament elections 2009 (78): The posit...
Europatweets.eu: MEPs on Twitter united
The Moldovan case: Some backgrounds on the politic...
Developing story: Violent demonstrations in Moldov...
European Parliament elections 2009 (77): Weekly po...
European Parliament elections 2009 (76): PES and J...
Anyone but Blair: Stop Blair!
Modern pirates conquering the European Union on pa...
Elections in Moldova: Governing Communists win, op...
Laurent Schouteten new president of the EPP Youth
Rasmussen NATO Secretary General: The secret condi...
European Parliament elections 2009 (75): The manif...
Constructive exchange between EU and NATO: Barroso...
Who will be the last new MEP?
EU Parliament demands postponement of EU summit
European Parliament elections 2009 (74): 38 partie...
Shocking: Only old white men can be EU Commission ...
European Parliament elections 2009 (73): What MEPs...
Social MEP complains that Obama doesn't come to th...
Beautifully naive - or how to use Facebook for pol...
European Parliament elections 2009 (72): Lithuania...
A new blog from a eurocrat inside the Commission
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Lovebite showing at This Is My Body
The film documentation of Lovebite will be exhibited at Birkbeck College University of London, as part of a conference which explores peoples responses to medical procedure. The show has been curated by the Irish Museum of Contemporary Art and features artists from Ireland and the UK.
Opening Reception Friday, July 1st, 4 – 7pm
Wine reception and music by Les Keye Sunday, July 3, 6pm
Show open 10-5 daily through July 10
http://imoca.ie/imoca2/wordpress/
This is My Body
In Honour of Polly Garter, G39
In Honour of Polly Garter will be a ritualistic performance, which will see me bless the space. This blessing will prepare the site for its new future, whilst honouring its past. I will also remember Polly Garter whilst performing the action outside the Gallerie's main entrance. Poor Polly Garter from Dylan Thomas's Undermilk Wood who has a love of being loved and making babies.
¿AreWeNotDrawnOnwardToNewEra?
preview 2 July 2011
On 2 July g39 will close its doors on 13 years of history in advance of our imminent relocation. Before that happens we have one last exhibition and one final special event to say goodbye to number 39. Please join us to welcome in the new era.
After 12 years in its three-storey townhouse, g39 as we know it is coming to a momentous end. The organisation must relocate to new premises and the space will be given back. In a parting gesture, we have invited a selection of artists to contribute to a final grand exhibition. They will be making work that marks the end of the building’s use as a cultural hub and a centre for artistic development in Wales.
Over the last twelve years the building has seen extensive renovation work and temporary conversions in order to display artists’ work. Walls and doorways have been built and unbuilt, apertures have been sliced into ceilings and floors, windows have disappeared and reappeared. These conversions are being entirely undone in preparation for our departure. The space is back to its bare, undecorated state. It is this environment that the artists have been invited to work with, and they will be responding to this de-purposed building with a meaningful gesture that marks their time here.
Throughout the duration of exhibition they will contribute to an accumulation of works and ideas, culminating in a final closing event thoughout the day and night on 2 July 2011, the eve of the gallery’s thirteenth anniversary.
This special event will give audiences and artists alike a chance to say one final goodbye to the building, and possibly to announce the latest developments in our relocation.
Long Live the Website!
Finally, after months of lovingly labouring over my website it is complete and ready for you all to see. Building it was a brilliant process in which I had the chance to reflect chronologically on my practice.
Please visit it for context on my artwork- both old and new. It will be regularly updated as I have a lot of exciting projects coming up. However, I will still be a committed blogger as I find addressing people through this direct medium very liberating.
www.kathrynashill.com
¿AreWeNotDrawnOnwardToNewEra?preview 2 July 2011On...
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Competence, Skill and Craftsmanship!
The new EU Trademark
Jan Stein M.Sc., Founding Partner
Auth. Patent Attorney (SE)
European Patent Attorney
Mr. Jan Stein has more than 30 years patent experience and drafts and prosecutes European Patent Applications, Oppositions (including Prior Use), Appeals and Oral Proceedings. He has been an expert witness for five years in the Danish Court of Appeal and the Danish Supreme Court and also in Norwegian court.
During the period 2006-2010 Jan headed the patent dept. of Groth & Co. KB, a mid-size patent agency.
In 1993, Jan founded a forty full day course in European patent practice ("the EQE-programme"), a preparation course for candidates for the authorisation of European Patent Attorneys, and was heading it until 2011. The EQE-programme became part of the training programme of Albihns AB in 1997, and of the Swedish IP Academy in 2006. Jan still holds lectures in different topics of the European patent law, and has been involved in the development of the courses held by the European Patent Academy, organized by the EPO.
Jan is founding partner of Ipracraft AB and holds a Master Degree in Mechanical Engineering (Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm).
Email to Jan Stein
Sven Berg M.Sc
Mr. Sven Berg has more than 30 years of patent experience. Sven is well acquainted with drafting and prosecuting European as well as Swedish patent applications, oppositions and appeals, including oral proceedings. Further, Sven works with infringement analysis and searches in computer data bases.
Sven has more than 10 years of experience as patent attorney and 23 years as patent examiner at the European Patent Office (EPO) in Munich.
Within the patent area, Sven has worked in the technical field of applied physics, in particular optics, ultrasound, contact lenses, microwaves but also in the fields of packaging, electrical connectors, integrated circuits, spark plugs, transportation devices to mention a few.
Sven also has wide knowledge of copyright law regarding works of art
Email to Sven Berg
Peter Thomasson M.Sc., Partner
Mr. Peter Thomasson drafts patent applications in the Swedish and English languages within the Mechanical field and prosecutes them before patent authorities both in Sweden and abroad. Peter has experience from identifying and evaluating matter suitable for patent applications in R&D projects and of giving advice within the field of IPR to clients according to their differing needs. Peter has also experience from opposition procedures at several patent offices and has represented clients in oral proceedings before both the Swedish Patent Office (PRV) and the Swedish Court of Appeals (PBR). Peter has also participated in oral proceedings before the European Patent Office (EPO) and at the Oslo District Court as technical advisor. Peter has also experience from lecturing about IPR for patent system users. Peter has further translated Finnish and German patent documents into the Swedish language. In 2015, Peter took part in the drafting of responses from Swedish associations of Patent Attorneys to the Referral regarding the Final report of the Patent Law Inquiry regarding the proposed new Swedish Patent Law.
Peter has some 25 years of experience of patents and has been active as a Patent Attorney in Sweden since 1999. Prior to this, Peter was IPR Manager at a company within the Ericsson group (1995 - 1999) and a Patent examiner at the Swedish Patent Office (1991 - 1995).
Peter holds a M. Sc. (mech.) degree from the Royal Institute of Technology (KTH) in Stockholm, and is a member of SPOF and SIPF and joined Ipracraft AB in January 2016.
Email to Peter Thomasson
Elisabeth Einemo, Partner
European Trademark and Design Attorney
Auth. IP Attorney (SE)
Ms. Elisabeth Einemo has more than 30 years trademark experience. During the period 1983 – 2008 Elisabeth worked as an IP consultant with Groth & Co.’s legal and trademark department in Stockholm, and during this time also with Groth ‘s subsidiary Enderborg Trademarks AB.
After leaving Groth & Co. she has worked as an IP consultant in co-operation with Markolog HB, in particular in WIPO and OHIM trademark cases and oppositions. In 2014 Elisabeth joined Ipracraft AB and has now become partner of the company.
Elisabeth has a longtime experience in handling trademark matters in Sweden, in OHIM, WIPO and internationally, including advisory, trademark strategies, oppositions, drafting and negotiating agreements and handling trademark and other intellectual property portfolios. Elisabeth has participated in several ECTA conferences and is a member of SIPF (Association of IP Professionals in Swedish Industry) and IP-Samfundet (Swedish Intellectual Property Attorneys’ Association). Elisabeth has knowledge in the Swedish, Norwegian, English, German and French languages.
Email to Elisabeth Einemo
Patrik Blidefalk, M.Sc. Partner
Patrik holds a Master Degree in Electronic Engineering
Royal Institute of Technology (KTH), Stockholm
Mr. Patrik Blidefalk has some 20 years experience of patents i general, out of which some 10 years as patent attorney and some 10 years as patent examiner at the Swedish Patent Office (PRV).
Patrik drafts and prosecutes patent applications within the field of electrotechnology, such as telecommunications, electric power engineering, electronics and software-related inventions. In particular within telecommunications and medical technology.
Patrik also handles patentability analyses and is advisor in infringement cases.
He has also done lecturing in patent practice.
Languages: Swedish, English, German
Membership: SIPF (Association of IP Professionals in Swedish Industry)
E-mail to Patrik Blidefalk
Lennart Tåquist, M.Sc.
Mr. Tåquist has a very broad experience from multi part proceedings (patent litigation, nullity suits, injunctions, European oppositions, appeals and oral proceedings) and licensing.
Mr. Tåquist has a Master Degree in material science and graduated from the Royal Institute of Technology in 1967. He started his patent career in 1969 at Stockholms Patentbyrå (now renamed Zacco). In 1971 he switched to the industry to become an in-house counsel at the patent department of Sandvik AB, a global company with interests in development of metal machining tools, mining tools, highly alloyed stainless steels, and cemented carbides. He became the head of the patent department in 1978 and headed it as Vice President of IP until 2008, and Senior IP Advisor until 2015.
E-mail to Lennart Tåquist
Gerhard Miksche Ph.D.
Gerhard has extensive experience in IP licensing and patent infringement/nullity litigation in Sweden and abroad. Over the years Gerhard has provided a substantial number of patentability and patent infringement/freedom to operate opinions. He has also drafted, filed and prosecuted a wide range of patent and trademark applications in Sweden and abroad.
Gerhard has a broad technical, industrial and scientific competence extending from mechanics over chemistry, wood & pulping technology and biochemistry to medical technology and pharmaceuticals.
In 1971 Gerhard obtained a licenciate of philosophy degree in organic chemistry at the University of Göteborg where he later defended his doctoral thesis in wood chemistry. After interludes at the Technical University of Lund as lecturer in organic chemistry and at the National Institute of Occupational Health at Umeå as head of department, Gerhard joined the National Board of Technical Development (STU), a governmental agency funding applied R&D, as an administrator of projects in the fields of pharmaceuticals, medical technology, and biotechnology.
NEWS ABOUT US
We are proud to announce that
Mr. Sven Berg, European Patent Attorney, with more than 30 years of patent experience has joined our team of IP attorneys
Published 1 September 2018
We are moving to larger and more convenient premises.
Our new visiting address is in the middle of
KTH Campus
Teknikringen 35
Published 16 February 2018
We are glad to welcome Mr. Patrik Blidefalk, who is a patent attorney specialised in IT/Telecom, Electronics and Medical Engineering!
Published 3 October 2016
European Patent Office (EPO)
European Patent Institute (epi)
EUIPO
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Obama Fails to Sweet Talk Putin
by Jonathan S. Tobin
At today’s meeting in Mexico between President Obama and his Russian counterpart, the U.S. leader sought to persuade Vladimir Putin that America had no desire to come between Moscow and its loyal client state Syria. Counting on his personal charm and instinctive belief that a demonstration of his good will toward those who are hostile to the United States will solve most problems, Obama thought he could convince Putin to back off on his support for the murderous Assad regime and join the West in pushing for an end to the slaughter in Syria. But the grim look on the faces of both Obama and Putin after they endured two hours of each other’s company indicates just how badly the American failed.
Obama’s attempt to sweet talk the former KGB agent went about as well as some of his previous efforts to apologize his way into foreign popularity. It’s not just that Putin doesn’t trust Obama — though he obviously doesn’t — but that after three and a half years in power and one failed “reset” later, the U.S. president still doesn’t understand the basic dynamic of Russian attitudes toward the United States. The meeting, the first between the two men, was clearly a dialogue of the deaf. The net result is another humiliation for Obama who not only has failed to do anything about the massacres in Syria but also will now be seen to have tried and failed to get Assad’s patron to abandon him. For his part, Putin has looked Obama in the eye and saw a man determined to kowtow to Moscow, a sign of weakness that Putin could not mistake and will not fail to exploit in the future.
The cold shoulder given to Obama by Putin only underlines the downward spiral of U.S.-Russia relations. With the Russians sending missiles to Syria and now reports from Iran discussing the possibility of joint military exercises with Russia, Obama, whose camp mocked Mitt Romney’s description of Russia as America’s number one geopolitical foe, is seeing Putin restore his country’s Soviet-era influence over parts of the Middle East.
Obama cannot be blamed for Putin’s bad behavior or the Russian’s determination to cut America off at the knees any chance he gets. But the president’s characteristic try at romancing Putin may set the stage for even worse to come. Just as his past appeasement of Russia by dumping missile defense for the Poles and the Czechs failed to win the Putin regime’s failure, by starting the talks by conceding that after the theoretical fall of Bashar al-Assad Syria would remain under Moscow’s influence, Obama increased the likelihood that the Russians will continue to push the envelope in their ongoing effort to undermine U.S. influence. Rather than making it clear to the Russians that the United States would not tolerate such misbehavior or the continuation in power of a murderous tyrant, Obama has worsened an already fraught relationship and virtually guaranteed that Assad has nothing to worry about no matter how many people he kills.
The fault here is not just the bad intentions of the Russians but also the hopeless romanticism of the U.S. administration about winning the hearts and minds of foreign leaders and their nations. Though it has long been obvious his belief that his charm and demonstration of good will would be enough to overcome stark policy differences with other countries is a self-serving myth, President Obama continues to blunder along, trusting in the power of his personality. That will cost the Syrian people dearly. If he continues along these lines and lets the Russians, Chinese and the Europeans drive the effort to pressure Iran to give up its nuclear program in the ditch, the cost for the Middle East and the world will be even higher.
Jonathan S. Tobin
Source: http://www.commentarymagazine.com/2012/06/19/obama-failed-attempt-to-sweet-talk-vladimir-putin-syria/
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Dem Visits Cuba to Learn about “Economic Development” and “Quality of Life” - Humberto Fontova
by Humberto Fontova
Another Democrat parrots communist-scripted lies.
Move over AOC! Just when you thought AOC (or her scriptwriter) was unbeatable. Just when you thought blather from public servants could not possibly become more daft. Just when you thought AOC’s throne atop the pinnacle was unreachable and her crown secure—New Orleans’ Democrat mayor LaToya Cantrell (or her scriptwriter) lunges for the royal scepter.
You see, amigos: The Democrat mayor and a retinue of associated New Orleans city officials spent all of last week in Havana, Cuba to, in the mayors office’s own words:
“see firsthand how (Cuba’s) history has produced unique opportunities and challenges in the areas of economic development, trade, health care, education and other quality of life issues.”
I realize this sounds like shameless AOC idiocy one-upsmanship. I realize that learning about “quality of life” from a place that saw multiple times as many desperate people die trying to escape it, as died trying to escape over the Berlin Wall, sounds like shameless click-bait, or even a Saturday Night Live or Monty Python skit. So here’s the proof.
In a way, however, the visit seems appropriate. After all, the rulers of one place drove out practically all productive residents with punitive socialist policies that converted a once charming and prosperous place into a huge slum except for a few tourism enclaves. The other place is named Cuba.
From Stalinist Cuba Democrat Cantrell dutifully performed all the traditional Democrat rituals mandatory for such visits, primarily hailing Cuba’s glorious “healthcare and education!”
“Mayor of New Orleans highlights Cuban achievements,” crowed the totalitarian regime’s KGB-founded media:
“According to the Ms Cantrell, the level of the literacy in Cuba is very high, and when she compares this indicator with New Orleans, it is perceptible that there is much to learn from Cuba. She said the same thing happens when analyzing the primary health system, and stated that the U.S. city can take experiences in order to perfect their mother-child program.”
But let’s be fair. Is Democrat mayor LaToya Cantrell unique in parroting these communist-scripted lies? Haven’t we heard these howlers before and almost ad nauseam from liberals? Let’s see:
"Castro has some real accomplishments to point to. Under his rule, the impoverished Caribbean island has created health and education systems that would be the envy of far wealthier nations ... and there is near full literacy on the island."
No, amigos, that’s not Bernie Sanders or Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, or Corey Booker or Kamala Harris, or even CNN or the New York Times. In fact, it was the London Sunday Times! (owned by Rupert Murdoch!)
If anything proves the devilish proficiency of the Castro regime’s propaganda apparatus the prestigious (for many) Sunday Times editorial from 2006 serves as exhibit A.
For the record: In 1958, that "impoverished Caribbean island" had a higher standard of living than Ireland and Austria, almost double Spain and Japan's per capita income, more doctors and dentists per capita than Britain itself, and lower infant mortality than France and Germany – the 13th-lowest in the world, in fact. Today, Cuba's infant-mortality rate – despite the hemisphere's highest abortion rate, which skews this figure downward and assuming we believe figures from “doctors” persuaded to lie by pistols held to their head -- is 31st from the top.
So, relative to the rest of the world, Cuba's health care has worsened horribly under Castroism. And a nation with a formerly massive influx of European immigrants needs machine guns, water cannons and tiger sharks to keep its people from fleeing, while half-starved Haitians, a short 60 miles away, turn up their noses at any thought of emigrating to Cuba.
In 1958, 80 percent of Cubans were literate, and Cuba spent the most per capita on public education of any nation in Latin America.
During its war of independence near the turn of the 20th century, Cuba was utterly devastated, having lost a quarter of its population. So, Cuba's (capitalist) achievements in national prosperity, health, and education came practically from scratch and in about the same number of years as Castroism’s stint in power.
Can any sane person claim that given that record – and given Cuba's expenditures on public education – illiteracy would not have been eradicated in a few short years?
Better still, Cubans today would be not “literate” in the leftist sense of the term (i.e. rote indoctrinated with Marxist imbecilities) but also educated, allowed to read George Orwell and Thomas Jefferson along with the arresting wisdom and sparkling prose of Che Guevara. A specimen:
"To the extent that we achieve concrete successes on a theoretical plane – or, vice versa, to the extent that we draw theoretical conclusions of a broad character on the basis of our concrete research – we will have made a valuable contribution to Marxism-Leninism, and to the cause of humanity."
I quote "this intellectual, this most complete human being of our time" (Jean-Paul Sartre's description of Che Guevara) exactly. As we see, Cuba's prisons aren't its only torture chambers. With such reading assignments, Cuba's classrooms amply qualify for an inspection by Amnesty International.
Without Castro, Cuba's full literacy would have come about probably as quickly – and without firing squads, mass graves, and a political incarceration rate higher than Stalin's. Most countries in Latin America with lower literacy rates than Cuba had in 1958 have done just that.
"During the 1980s," continued the amazing editorial from the prestigious Times of London, "one could still conceivably argue that Cuba's dictatorship was preferable to its US-backed counterparts in Chile, Argentina, Nicaragua or El Salvador, which went one step farther by murdering thousands of their citizens."
Here one blinks, looks again – and gapes. “One step farther?” Forget for a second that none of those “right-wing” regimes abolished private property, free travel, free speech. None abolished free enterprise and mandated food rations for its subjects. None set up government snitch groups on every city block. Forget that far from being "US-backed counterparts," Pinochet's Chile and Somoza's Nicaragua had economic sanctions slapped on them by U.S. President Jimmy Carter.
Forget the peripheral ignorance; let's look at the central stupidity:
You long to believe otherwise, you grope for an extenuation, you hope you misread – but it's inescapable: The editorial staff of one of the world's most prestigious newspaper (one owned by Rupert Murdoch, no less!) was unaware that Castro and Che Guevara’s regime killed people.
Humberto Fontova
Source: https://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/273490/dem-visits-cuba-learn-about-economic-development-humberto-fontova
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NIH Consensus Development Conference on Optimal Calcium Intake : NIH Consensus Development Conference, June 6-8, 1994, Masur Auditorium, Warren Grant Magnuson Clinical Center, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland, sponsored by the Office of Medical Applications of Research and the National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases and cosponsored by the Office of Research on Women's Health, Office of the Director [and others] ; CME sponsorship by National Institutes of Health, Continuing Medical Education
The Resource NIH Consensus Development Conference on Optimal Calcium Intake : NIH Consensus Development Conference, June 6-8, 1994, Masur Auditorium, Warren Grant Magnuson Clinical Center, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland, sponsored by the Office of Medical Applications of Research and the National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases and cosponsored by the Office of Research on Women's Health, Office of the Director [and others] ; CME sponsorship by National Institutes of Health, Continuing Medical Education
The item NIH Consensus Development Conference on Optimal Calcium Intake : NIH Consensus Development Conference, June 6-8, 1994, Masur Auditorium, Warren Grant Magnuson Clinical Center, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland, sponsored by the Office of Medical Applications of Research and the National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases and cosponsored by the Office of Research on Women's Health, Office of the Director [and others] ; CME sponsorship by National Institutes of Health, Continuing Medical Education represents a specific, individual, material embodiment of a distinct intellectual or artistic creation found in University of Missouri-St. Louis Libraries.
NIH Consensus Development Conference on Optimal Calcium Intake, 1994
National Institutes of Health (U.S.), Office of Medical Applications of Research
National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases (U.S.)
National Institutes of Health (U.S.), Office of Research on Women's Health
Bethesda, Md., The Institutes, 1994
iv, 109 pages
Cover title: Optimal calcium intake
"Program and abstracts"--Cover
NIH Consensus Development Conference on Optimal Calcium Intake : NIH Consensus Development Conference, June 6-8, 1994, Masur Auditorium, Warren Grant Magnuson Clinical Center, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland
NIH Consensus Development Conference on Optimal Calcium Intake
NIH Consensus Development Conference, June 6-8, 1994, Masur Auditorium, Warren Grant Magnuson Clinical Center, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland
sponsored by the Office of Medical Applications of Research and the National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases and cosponsored by the Office of Research on Women's Health, Office of the Director [and others] ; CME sponsorship by National Institutes of Health, Continuing Medical Education
Conference papers and proceedings
Government publications -- United States
Calcium -- metabolism
Calcium in human nutrition -- Congresses
Calcium -- deficiency
Calcium -- Physiological effect -- Congresses
Nutrition -- Requirements -- Congresses
Calcium in the body -- Congresses
Optimal calcium intake
government publication level undetermined
http://bibfra.me/vocab/lite/meetingDate
http://bibfra.me/vocab/lite/meetingName
1994 K-432
QU130 .N691n 1994
National Institutes of Health (U.S.)
Calcium in human nutrition
Calcium in the body
(WaOLN)1593481
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Data Citation of the Item NIH Consensus Development Conference on Optimal Calcium Intake : NIH Consensus Development Conference, June 6-8, 1994, Masur Auditorium, Warren Grant Magnuson Clinical Center, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland, sponsored by the Office of Medical Applications of Research and the National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases and cosponsored by the Office of Research on Women's Health, Office of the Director [and others] ; CME sponsorship by National Institutes of Health, Continuing Medical Education
http://link.umsl.edu/portal/NIH-Consensus-Development-Conference-on-Optimal/kzJYnS8n5Yk/
http://library.link/portal/NIH-Consensus-Development-Conference-on-Optimal/kzJYnS8n5Yk/
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Kontrol Homme
Copyright © 2018 Kontrol Magazine
BET’s Ink Paper Scissors Creator John Carter Talks Life & TV
Entertainment, Exclusive Interviews, Kontrol Homme Report, TV
November 11, 2016 by Mark Pollard
Written By: Mark Pollard
Ink Paper Scissors is BET’s newest fall lineup, about the come up of Atlanta’s one-stop beauty shop whose eclectic staff and salon drama will surely keep you entertained wanting more. Who’s the brains behind such a dope concept do you ask? His story is literally every college student or broadcast journalists dream creating your own concepts and producing great shows. John Carter is a young entrepreneur/producer who is taking television by storm. His resume is just as long as his goals and his style is definitely identifiable. Get the rundown on how this young mogul in the making got his start and where he plans on taking it in the future.
“I got my start, in 2006 I received my degree in broadcast journalism and went on to intern for BET where I worked everywhere from Spring Bling to Black Girls Rock.”
“So that’s really where my career took off there, BET.”
From 2007 to now Carter has been a part of an array of well-known television productions from MTV’s 16 & Pregnant, America’s Got Talent, and was even a part of a pilot for NBC which later went on to becoming the hit show The Biggest Loser. Throughout his journey through network television is what propelled him to go on and produce his own original content. Where in 2010 making a career move to the Black Hollywood of the south, Atlanta, and just a simple trip to the barber shop gave him the kick starter to a whole new reality format.
“So when I first moved to Atlanta in 2010, a friend of mine was getting her hair done and at the time I was looking for a barber and you know just by word of mouth a stylist by the name of Sonja Marie referred me to her celebrity barber friend Hollywood who was at the time cutting hair at Salon Ramsey. So he goes on to introduce me to the owner, and the owner was actually looking for someone to do a promo for the shop, you know something real fly to put out and get publicity, and in doing that I shot the promo and made it look like a reality show and then from there on I took it to my people over at BET, connected with the right people and now it’s on TV, Ink Paper Scissors.”
So what was it about Salon Ramsey that made for good TV? Carter goes on to explain what was so different about the Atlanta salon, and why it made for a great reality concept.
“So I did this project like 4 years ago and for me, I’ve never seen anything like Salon Ramsey in my life. Coming from Denver, then off to school in Texas and then moving to Atlanta I have never seen so many black people in a city let alone a salon where it’s like a free market of hair. You can go into Salon Ramsey and get anything from a haircut to getting your nails done, tattoos, alcohol, you can even get your teeth whitened.”
“I have never been to a place like that. It was so hood, yet cool at the same time.”
Speaking of style and hair, Carter is no stranger when it comes to the word expression or unique. From head to toe Carter can be well identified as a trendsetting maven, with his unconventional blue hair, drawing a brief reference to a more modern and innovative David Ruffin with the cut and style, to his clothing of choice, rocking just about whatever the hell he feels like wearing whether its labels or not but with a swag and attitude that’s so contagious you have to give the man credit for great style.
“My style is whatever I feel like today.”
“Moving to Atlanta being on set and doing what I do it’s like my image must match either my personality or my occupation so I attribute my fashion sense all the way to the blue hair, the clothes, piercings, and tattoos. Being able to just express creativity through my style and on top of being my own boss, and having no one to answer too, I can be as free as I want now.”
Motivation and drive run deep when it comes to Carter’s drive for success.
“In all honesty I feel like God has put me here for a reason, he didn’t make me this tall (6’4) to not be seen, he didn’t make me this loud to not be heard, and he didn’t give me this loud outspoken personality to just sit in a corner and be quiet.”
“I honestly feel like my drive comes from nothing but the man above.”
With all of that being said Carter is no stranger when it comes to business, and Carter is well ahead of the game when it comes to the negotiations and commercial aspect of production as well.
“I love what I do, and I love creating and producing these shows from the crazy concepts I have in my head.”
“However, one thing you always have to make sure is, that your business is legit, because the game is just that, a game, and they will play you any chance they can get. Any advice I would give to any upcoming producer or entrepreneur just trying to expand or turn their hobby or passion into a career is to make sure your very knowledgeable in what you’re trying to accomplish and that you can set your business up as a business and not just a hustle.”
Carter Continues,
“I don’t want to be known as just a TV Producer, I have several things I want to accomplish. I want to have my own clothes my own hair color line, restaurants etc.”
“I want to be a mogul like Diddy, but in my own right.”
So what’s next on John Carters long lists of business endeavors, everything! And we mean just that, from a barber board coming out where you’ll be able to choose your own signature John Carter hair style to of course his many up and coming productions that are soon to be hitting our TV screens in the near future.
“I don’t want to give away too much but I can say there are projects in the work, and you should definitely be on the lookout for John Carter Productions.”
“Just Know I’m coming!”
Carter, who credits a big part of his come up to the BET Network wanted to conclude with this statement:
“I just Want to thank BET for just opening the door for young black producers and entrepreneurs”
You can catch Ink Paper Scissors, Tuesday nights at 10pm on BET. You can also follow John Carter on Instagram @its_johncarter your dope for reading!
Tags: ATL, atlanta, BET, effyeahmark, john carter, john carter productions, Kontrol, Kontrolmag, MTV, Reality, Salon Ramsey, tv
Mark Pollard
Men's Fashion & Entertainment Writer
A young college graduate of many trades, big dreams and great style. "EffYeahMark": Writing / Photo Taking / Film Making Collective. Stay tuned for my journey and read along as I inform you on the latest in men's fashion and celebrity entertainment, your dope for reading.
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Home / Donate Now / work / Battling Thalassemia ( 200 check-ups)
Battling Thalassemia ( 200 check-ups)
Thalassamia is an inherited disorder which leads to decreased production and increased destruction of blood cells. A check up camp can help detect the patients with this disorder. The impact can range from mild to severe and life -threatening. Timely diagnosis can help dertermine the treatment needed for the Patients.
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Give food grains to10 families for 1 month
You can’t build a peaceful world on an empty stomach. Almost 200 million people go hungry everyday in our country. Anajdaan ( food grains distribution) is an initiative to address the problem in our small way. Give a month of food grains (rice, wheat, pulses, sugar, and oil) to 10 needy families to ensure that no one sleeps hungry.
Sponsor a Meal for 400 Cancer Patients
7000 Indians die of hunger everyday. Provide hot and nutritious meal to over 400 Cancer Patients and their families who come from all over India for Cancer treatment in Mumbai and are forced to stay for long duration of time, putting them to great financial hardships. Sposoring a meal ensures that no one sleeps hungry.
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Sanitation is more important than freedom. Poor sanitation facility robs the women and girls of this basic human dignity and posing a grave health, safety and hygenie issue. We are building 350 toilet blocks in Dahanu to make the villages open defacation free. Donate a toilet block to ensure dignity, health and hygeine to one family.
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AboutMacon
Macon , officially Macon–Bibb County, is a consolidated city-county located in the state of Georgia, United States. Macon lies near the geographic center of the state, approximately 85 miles south of Atlanta, hence the city's nickname "The Heart of Georgia."
Located near the fall line of the Ocmulgee River, Macon is the county seat of Bibb County and had a 2017 estimated population of 152,663. Macon is the principal city of the Macon metropolitan area, which had an estimated population of 228,914 in 2017. Macon is also the largest city in the Macon–Warner Robins Combined Statistical Area , a larger trading area with an estimated 420,693 residents in 2017; the CSA abuts the Atlanta metropolitan area just to the north.
In a 2012 referendum, voters approved the consolidation of Macon and Bibb County, and Macon became Georgia's fourth-largest city . The two governments officially merged on January 1, 2014.Macon is served by three interstate highways: I-16 , I-75 , and I-475 .
The city has several institutions of higher education, as well as numerous museums and tourism sites. The area is served by the Middle Georgia Regional Airport and the Herbert Smart Downtown Airport. The mayor of Macon is Robert Reichert, a former Democratic member of the Georgia House of Representatives. Reichert was elected mayor of the newly consolidated city of Macon–Bibb, and he took office on January 1, 2014.
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By Angitha Pradeep
Saudi Aramco has awarded two contracts involving engineering, procurement, construction and installation services to Saipem
Italy-based Saipem has announced that it has won two contracts worth over $3.4 billion from Saudi Aramco for the development of land facilities of the Berri and Marjan gas fields, in the Arabian Gulf.
The projects have been awarded to the Onshore E&C division of Saipem and will encompass engineering, procurement, construction and installation services for the Saudi oil company.
The first contract for the Berri field called, ‘PK-01 Expand Abu Ali Crude & KGP Gas Facilities’, will involve expansion through the installation of new process units, of the Abu Ali oil-gas separation plant. It is located at the Abu Ali island, about 50 km north of the Ras Tanura refinery, and of the gas treatment plant of Khursaniyah.
The second contract, ‘Gas Treatment and Sulphur Recovery’ is related to the Marjan field and will concern the construction of a gas treatment unit and of another unit for the recovery of acid gases for sulphur production.
According to a statement from Saipem, the treatment of acid gases will almost completely eliminate the release of sulphur oxides into the environment, while more than 99.9 per cent of gases will be recovered.
Stefano Cao, CEO of Saipem said: “The awarding of these new complex contracts testifies to the evolution of our historic relationship with Saudi Aramco and confirms the strategic positioning of Saipem in the Middle East.”
“This commitment allows for the realisation of industrial processes to exploit natural resources with maximum respect for the environment and the reduction of the carbon footprint,” he concluded.
Related Items:contract wins, featurednews, Italy, oil and gas, Saipem, saudi arabia
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Brain Game: Fabio Wins Forehand Battle
The forehand broke.
Fabio Fognini stunned Rafael Nadal 6-4, 6-2 in the semi-finals of the Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters on Saturday with Nadal’s forehand starting strong but misfiring the further the match progressed.
Nadal was broken in his first service game, then broke back twice in a row to lead 3-1 in the opening set. His forehand was behaving perfectly well in the first four games, as he made an impressive 46 of 47 forehand groundstrokes and returns, including one winner.
And then it started disintegrating into the beaten red earth. Nadal lost 10 of the next 11 games to trail 6-4, 5-0, with the Spaniard committing at least one forehand error per game, and sometimes four. Rarely have we seen forehand errors flow as freely from Nadal’s racket, as he described his performance as “one of the worst matches on clay in 14 years”.
Nadal put 46 forehands in the court in the first four games, but only put 89 forehands in play in the next 14 games to the end of the match. It completely moved from an asset to a liability. The stark contrast can also be seen in the error column, as he had just one forehand error in four games, then 26 forehand errors in the next 14 games.
Overall, Nadal committed 27 forehand errors while hitting just five winners.
Nadal’s Forehand: Winners & Errors
Forehand Return = 0 winners / 3 errors
Serve +1 Forehand = 1 winner / 5 errors
Return +1 Forehand = 0 winners / 3 errors
Rally Forehands = 4 winners / 16 errors
Total = 5 winners / 27 errors
What was shocking to see was how little control Nadal had over his forehand in the big moments. When serving at 4-4 in the opening set, Nadal hit seven forehands in the game, with four of them being errors. He lost his serve to love.
Fognini’s forehand was solid throughout the match, particularly when returning serve. He hit 19 forehand returns for the match, missing just one of them.
Fognini’s Forehand: Winners & Errors
Forehand Return = 0 winners / 1 error
Serve +1 Forehand = 3 winners / 4 errors
Fognini won several small battles around the baseline, which all helped add up to his impressive victory. Fognini’s average groundstroke speed for the match was 123km/h, which was faster than Nadal at 118km/h. Overall, Fognini played more down the line than Nadal (43 per cent to 32 per cent) from the baseline, identifying another area where he felt more control.
Court position was also a telling indicator of how well Fognini owned the baseline exchanges. The Italian only hit 22 per cent of shots from at least two metres behind the baseline, while Nadal hit 42 per cent of all shots after the serve and return from back deep behind the baseline. The Spaniard was trying to buy more time and not have his shots rushed, but it in turn opened up angles for Fognini to attack. Nadal only played 34 per cent of his shots from that deep in the court in his quarter-final victory over Guido Pella.
Nadal will now play in the Barcelona Open Banc Sabadell where he is the top seed. Fognini has one more match in Monte-Carlo – the final on Sunday against Dusan Lajovic.
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Elevated Cuisine
One of Peru’s most acclaimed culinary landmarks, Nikkei Restaurant, is set to debut its first location in Miami this summer with Osaka.
Words by Anja Maltav | June 26, 2019 | Lifestyle
Helmed by award-winning Chefs Rogger Quispe and Juan Urrutia, Osaka is a multi-sensory experience that merges millenary Japanese techniques with the best Peruvian flavors and ingredients. The Osaka brand currently successfully operates in South America with 9 restaurants, making Miami the 10th location, followed by London in 2020. Osaka was conceptualized in 2001 by Diego Herrera and Diego De La Puente, two friends whose surfing world travels resulted in the creation of a restaurant influenced by both their Peruvian roots and their love and passion for the ocean and for Asian culture and cuisine. Sixteen years later, what started as a pop-up became the leading Nikkei reference in the region. It is also the only Peruvian restaurant to top the rankings in most countries in South America. Osaka’s design is Japanese-inspired, infusing modern architecture, feng shui and signature Peruvian accents. Offering visitors a new experience, the Miami venue will introduce new dishes while retaining signature staple highlights of the Nikkei menu; 1300 Brickell Bay Dr., Ste. CU-3 & CU-10; 786.627.4800; OsakaNikkei.com.
Vibrant Influence
Lip-Smacking Good
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Pure and Applied: A traditional doctoral program in mathematics, offering broad training in mathematical foundations and specialized training in a research area for future faculty in universities and colleges or careers in industry and government research agencies.
The Pure and Applied Mathematics Specialization requires at least 60 credits in mathematics numbered 6000 or higher, excluding MATH 6990 and MATH 7990. At least 6 credits must be selected from seminars or classes numbered 7000 or higher, and no more than 30 of the credits can be completed in MATH 7970 (Dissertation Research). The qualifying examination for this option is in Real Analysis. The dissertation should be a publishable, significant contribution to research in an area of mathematics. PhD students in the "Pure and Applied Mathematics" specialization must obtain a minimum grade of "B" or better in at least two of the 6000-level topic tracks listed in Appendix C of the Graduate Program Handbook.
PhD students in the "Pure and Applied Mathematics" specialization must obtain a minimum grade of "B" or better in at least two of the 6000-level topic tracks listed in Appendix C of the Graduate Program Handbook.
Statistics: Data science, theoretical and applied statistics for students seeking careers in academia, industry, or government.
The Statistics Specialization requires at least 60 credits in statistics at the 6000 and 7000 level, excluding STAT 6990 and STAT 7990. With the permission of the student’s supervisory committee, some of these credits may be in mathematics or in another discipline. At least 6 credits must be selected from seminars and classes numbered 7000 and higher, and a maximum of 30 credits may be completed in STAT 7970 (Dissertation Research). Students in this specialization take a qualifying examination in Probability and Mathematical Statistics. The dissertation constitutes a publishable, significant contribution to research in statistics.
Interdisciplinary Studies: Advanced training in mathematics and/or statistics in the context of another field of inquiry, such as biology, ecology, business, economics, engineering, or education. For faculty and research careers crossing boundaries between disciplines.
The Interdisciplinary Studies Specialization requires at least 60 credits numbered 6000 or higher, excluding MATH 7990, STAT 7990, MATH 6990, and STAT 6990. No more than 30 of the credits may be completed in MATH 7970 or STAT 7970 (Dissertation Research). At least 20 of the credits should be in mathematics and/or statistics, of which at least 6 should be in seminars and classes at the 7000 level. An additional 10 credits in the student’s chosen interdisciplinary area are also required. Students in this specialization may take a qualifying examination in Real Analysis or in Probability and Mathematical Statistics, depending on whether the majority of their coursework is in mathematics or in statistics. The student’s PhD supervisory committee should include two persons in the student’s selected interdisciplinary area, and the comprehensive examination should have a significant interdisciplinary component. The dissertation for a student in this specialization should involve the development and application of mathematical or statistical methods to solve problems in the chosen interdisciplinary area, and should be publishable in journals in that area.
Mathematics: Prepares students to work as mathematicians in government, business, and industry and serves as a “stepping stone” to doctoral programs in mathematics or related subjects.
This program prepares students to work as mathematicians in government, business, and industry. This degree may also be a “stepping stone” for students who ultimately wish to pursue a doctorate in mathematics or a closely related subject.
This degree requires 30 credits of approved coursework at or above the 5000 level. At least 18 of these credits must be at the 6000 level or above, excluding MATH 6990 and MATH 7990 (Continuing Graduate Advisement). Generally, most of the coursework will be in mathematics, but the student’s supervisory committee may approve courses in statistics, physics, engineering, or any other discipline, if it seems such coursework is appropriate for the student’s program of study.
Students in the MS Mathematics program must obtain a minimum grade of "B" or better in at least two topic tracks from the 5000-level or the 6000-level topic tracks listed in Appendix C of the Graduate Program Handbook. MS Mathematics students may substitute one topic track if they can document they have had something equivalent in a previous degree program.
The MS in mathematics has two options. The Plan A or the thesis option requires taking 6 credits of MATH 6970 (Thesis and Research) and working with a faculty member on a substantial research project. The research must be presented in a thesis, which must be approved by the student’s supervisory committee and the dean of the School of Graduate Studies. An oral defense of the thesis must be arranged through the School of Graduate Studies.
The Plan B or project option requires taking 3 credits of MATH 6970 and working with a faculty member on a smaller research project. A written report of the research must be approved by the student’s supervisory committee. An oral defense of the report must be scheduled through the School of Graduate Studies.
All students in the MS program in Mathematics must pass a written qualifying examination covering the introductory analysis and advanced calculus material presented in MATH 4200, MATH 5210, and MATH 5220. Students may take this exam before beginning formal coursework in the MS program, and must take the exam at the end of the first full year of matriculation. The exam is typically given twice a year, in May and October. Matriculated students who fail on their first try must pass the exam at the next scheduled opportunity. A detailed exam syllabus is contained in the Graduate Handbook, available from the department.
Statistics: Applied statistics and data science for careers in government, business, and industry, as well as preparation for a variety of doctoral programs (statistics, computer science, economics, biology, ecology, natural resources).
This program is primarily designed to prepare students for careers in business, industry, and federal, state, and local government. Students pursuing graduate degrees in other disciplines, such as biology, natural resources, engineering, business, economics, epidemiology, and the social sciences, may elect to earn an MS in statistics concurrent with their other degree programs. For most students, the MS in statistics will prove sufficient for career preparation. However, some graduates may ultimately pursue a doctorate in statistics, biostatistics, or a closely related discipline.
This degree requires 30 credits of approved coursework at or above the 5000 level. At least 18 credits must be at the 6000 level or above, excluding STAT 6990 and STAT 7990 (Continuing Graduate Advisement). All students must pass either the Math 5710/Math 5720 sequence or the STAT 6710/STAT 6720 sequence (Mathematical Statistics I and II). Generally, most of the coursework will be in statistics, but the student’s supervisory committee may approve courses in mathematics, biology, economics, or any other discipline if it deems such coursework to be appropriate for the student’s program of study.
The MS in Statistics has Plan A (thesis) and Plan B (report) options.. The Plan A and Plan B options require students to work with a faculty member on a research project, taking 6 or 3 credits of STAT 6970, respectively, and presenting the results of the research in a written report. For both the Plan A and Plan B options, the report must be approved by the student’s supervisory committee. A Plan A report (thesis) must also be approved by the dean of the School of Graduate Studies. Both Plan A and Plan B reports require an oral defense that must be scheduled through the School of Graduate Studies.
There is no qualifying examination for students in the MS program in Statistics. The qualifying requirement is that students must earn a B or better for both semesters of either the MATH 5710/MATH 5720 sequence or the STAT 6710/STAT 6720 sequence.
Industrial Mathematics: Applied and computational mathematics and statistics for students seeking employment in government, business, and industry.
The Industrial Mathematics master’s degree is designed to broaden the learning experiences and job opportunities for master’s students in mathematics. The program of study incorporates fundamental applied mathematics and interdisciplinary coursework in support of an industrial internship experience.
This degree requires 36 credits at or above the 5000 level -- 30 credits in coursework, 3 credits for research (6970, plan B), and 3 credits for internship (6250). A maximum of 3 of these credits may be taken at the 5000-level (i.e., one 3-credit course in another department). See the departmental website or the Graduate Handbook for more detailed information about coursework requirements.
Students are also required to complete a final project based on work done during an internship, either with a company or possibly with another department on campus. The project will include a technical write-up suitable to the industry/field, and presentation to the involved faculty and students in the program. This follows the Plan B option listed for the Master of Science in Mathematics degree.
Master of Mathematics: Broad background in mathematics, statistics and pedagogy designed specifically for secondary teachers.
This program is designed specifically for secondary school teachers of mathematics. The purpose of this degree is to provide students with a broad background in mathematics.
This program requires at least 36 credits approved by the Graduate Committee within the Department of Mathematics and Statistics. At least 21 of these credits must come from mathematics classes numbered above 5000, and the remaining credits must be chosen from approved courses offered within the Emma Eccles Jones College of Education and Human Services. The GPA for the 36 credits and for the 21 math credits must be at least 3.0.
All students in the Master of Mathematics program must pass a written qualifying examination. They may take the Advanced Calculus Exam, covering the introductory analysis and advanced calculus material presented in MATH 4200, MATH 5210, and MATH 5220, or the qualifying exam in Mathematics Teaching. Students may take these exams before beginning formal coursework in the program, but must take these exams before the end of the first year of matriculation. The Advanced Calculus exam is typically given twice a year, in May and October, while the Mathematics Teaching exam is given in May. Matriculated students who fail on their first try must pass the exam at the next scheduled opportunity.
Master of Data Analytics: Training the next generation of statisticians, business analysts, and computer scientists to meet the demand for individuals with data management and analysis skills in Utah and the United States.
Full program page: www.usu.edu/mdata
Do you love using quantitative skills to make a difference? If you are interested in big data, data science, or analytics, and have an undergraduate background in statistics, computer science, economics, or another related quantitative field, we'd love to have the chance to work with you and help you achieve your potential in this exciting degree program!
This professional M.Data program integrates coursework in four departments (Mathematics and Statistics, Management Information Systems, Economics and Finance, and Computer Science) to give graduates a broad but focused collection of tools for the management and analysis of data, particularly Big Data.
Suggested preparation for this program is coursework in a quantitative field such as statistics or management information systems, along with some programming training involving algorithms and data structures. Previous work experience is not required, but would definitely be helpful if it involved data analytics or database interaction.
Because this is a professional (non-thesis) masters degree, we cannot offer assistantships or tuition waivers for students in this program.
This program requires at least 33 credits total, including 17 credits from the program core. The remaining 16 credits are determined by the emphasis or track a student chooses – Statistics, Management Information Systems, or Economics. In addition, students are expected to already have the equivalent of STAT 5100 Linear Regression and Time Series; if not, students will need to take STAT 5100, and their program of study will include 36 credits. A student’s committee may approve substitutions for elective courses from another track.
M.Data Program Core: CS 3430 Computational Science: Python and Perl Programming [3 cr]; STAT 5050 Introduction to R [1 cr]; STAT 5650 Statistical Learning and Data Mining I [2 cr]; STAT 5560 Statistical Visualization I [2 cr]; ECN 5330 Applied Econometrics [3 cr]; MIS 6230 Database Management [3 cr]; plus a 6000-level STAT/MIS/ECN Capstone Project and Internship in Data Analytics [3 cr].
M.Data Statistics emphasis: (in addition to the 17-credit program core) Each of STAT 5080 Data Technologies, STAT 5150 SAS Predictive Analytics, SAS 5680 Statistical Thinking for Big Data, STAT 6560 Statistical Visualization II, and STAT 6650 Statistical Learning and Data Mining II. Choose two elective courses from STAT 5120 Categorical Data Analysis, STAT 5410/6410 Applied Spatial Statistics, STAT 5500/6500 Biostatistics Methods, STAT 5570/6570 Statistical Bioinformatics, STAT 6100 Advanced Regression Analysis, CS 5665 Introduction to Data Science, CS 5810 Applied Data Science Incubator, CS 6665 Data Mining, or CS 6675 Advanced Data Science and Data Mining.
M.Data Management Information Systems emphasis: (in addition to the 17-credit program core) Each of MIS 5150 Emerging Technologies: Data Cleansing, MIS 5150 Emerging Technologies: Tableau Business, MIS 6500 Advanced Business Intelligence and Data Mining. Choose three elective courses from STAT 5080 Data Technologies, STAT 5150 SAS Predictive Analytics, MIS 6330 Database Implementation, or CS 5664 Introduction to Data Science.
M.Data Economics emphasis: (in addition to the 17-credit program core). Each of ECN 5600 Financial Economics and FIN 6320 Computational Methods. Choose four elective courses from FIN 5100 Financial Markets and Training, FIN 6300 Fixed Income*, FIN 6460 Investment Analysis*, FIN 6470 Derivatives Markets*, ECN 7310 Econometrics I, ECN 7320 Econometrics II, STAT 5080 Data Technologies, or STAT 5150 SAS Predictive Analytics. (* - must select at least one of these)
Summary Requirements
Exam or Other
qualifying requirements
M.S. Mathematics 30 credits (at least 18 credits
at a 6000 level or above
including research) Comprehensive exam in Advanced Calculus, and B or better in at least two topic tracks Plan A: 6 credits research
Plan B: 3 credits research
M.S. Statistics 30 credits (at least 18 credits
including research) B or better for both semester of either Math 5710 & 5720 or
STAT 6710 & 6720.
STAT 6710 & 6720 is required for all students Plan A: 6 credits research
M.S. Industrial Mathematics 36 credits (at least 15 credits at
6000 level including reseach,
9 credits outside Math & Stat) B or better in one of Math 5410 or 5420, one of
Math 5610 or 5620 and STAT 5100.
Professional internship (MATH 6250) also required. Plan B: 3 credits research
Master of Mathematics 36 credits Comprehensive exam in Mathematics Teaching
or Comprehensive exam in Advanced Calculus No research
credits required
Master of Data Analytics
33 credits (plus STAT 5100 if not
already taken; 17 credits from
program core,and 16 from emphasis area
No exam, but a Capstone Project and
Internship in Data Analytics is required of all students.
No research credits required.
Ph.D. 45 with prior Masters
72 without prior Masters,
(no more than 15 at 5000 level) Comprehensive exam determined by committee; for "Pure and Applied" and "Interdisciplinary Studies" options, also B or better in at least two 6000-level topic tracks 18 - 24 credits research
3900 Old Main Hill
Animal Science 108
mathstat@usu.edu
Calculator Rentals
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Mia and the White Lion (2018)
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AWCON 2018: Nigeria, South Africa Set For Another Fight
Super Falcons.
Three precious points are at stake at the Robert Mensah Stadium in Cape Coast, as the Falcons not only go for the Banyana’s jugular
After Saturday's stalemate between the Super Eagles and Bafana Bafana, it will be the turn of the females on Sunday.
Eight –time champions and Cup holders, Super Falcons clash with the Banyana Banyana of South Africa in the opening match of Group B of the 11th Women Africa Cup of Nations.
Three precious points are at stake at the Robert Mensah Stadium in Cape Coast, as the Falcons not only go for the Banyana’s jugular in order to defend their continental title, but also to earn a place at next year’s FIFA Women’s World Cup finals in France.
READ ALSO: AFCON 2019: Super Eagles Qualify Despite Draw Against South Africa
Sunday’s opening match is important to both teams as the restoration of Equatorial Guinea – another strong side in African women football – to the finals means fierce battles in Group B for the two tickets to the championship’s last four.
Only the top three finishers in Ghana will fly Africa’s flag in France next year summer.
Equatorial Guinea, restored to the tournament after the CAF Appeal Board overturned an earlier decision by the Disciplinary Board to put Kenya in the draw, will clash with Zambia’s Chipolopolo Queens in the day’s second match.
Nigeria Vs South Africa (3.30pm)
Zambia Vs Equatorial Guinea (6.30pm)
Don’t forget to please share this story with your friends and family...
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Meet a Planet Hunter
NASA’s Kepler mission has found the smallest planet outside our solar system. Its name, Kepler-10b, doesn’t exactly roll off the tongue. But you’ll definitely want to remember it. Scientists are calling Kepler-10b the “missing link” in the search for Earth’s twin.
An artist's rendering of Kepler-10b. NASA image
That's because most discoveries have been large and gaseous planets... like Saturn or Jupiter in our solar system. But Kepler-10b is different. It’s rocky, like Earth, meaning we would be able to stand on it. There’s just one little problem. Kepler-10b has the right composition… but it doesn’t fall into what’s known as the “Goldilocks zone.” That would be an area that’s not too hot and not too cold.
Kepler-10b orbits 3.2 million kilometers away from its star. That's more than 20 times closer than Mercury is to our sun! Temperatures on this new planet can exceed 1,371 degrees Celsius, hot enough to melt iron. Not exactly an ideal place for life as we know it... but we're getting warmer. (Unfortunately, too warm this time!)
So how do we know all this about an object some 560 light-years away from us? Listen to Kristie’s conversation with planet hunter Natalie Batalha below.
Post by: CNN Writer, Melissa Hassett
Filed under: General • Space
Catch News Stream with Kristie Lu Stout weekdays at 8pm HKT/ 12pm GMT / 8am ET on CNN International.
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@edienaite That is beautifully tender portrait. Thank you for sharing your talent.
KLuStout
4:42 am ET June 29, 2019 RETWEET
@duyeonkim @CNN Thank you Duyeon! Power on. 💪🏽
RT @klustout: Going back to Cali for a long-awaited vacation. I will be back on air and online. See you then! Peace out. ✌�#cnn #cnn #hongk…
RT @klustout: After 9 years, we have reached the finish line. Today we aired the last episode of News Stream, live from #HongKong. To eve…
RT @CarnegieEndow: What does the future hold for Hong Kong’s protestors?@klustoutut joine@jrpsakiki on th#WorldUnpackeded podcast this week…
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Nicole Motahari: Overachieving English Major
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Posted on 24 December, 2014
John Milton’s Satan and Marvel’s Loki portrayed by Tom Hiddleston in the popular films are both mischievous characters at the beginning of the plotlines of their lives, and soon after become corrupted. The parallels in the films of Thor, The Avengers and Thor: The Dark World hold many similarities with Paradise Lost. While Loki is the primary example of such parallels, the triumvirate of God (The Father), The Son and Satan is maintained as a strong theme in the films through the emphasis on the triumvirate of Odin (The All Father), Thor and Loki.
As discussed in class, the events of Paradise Lost hold themes from a strong subcurrent of political strife that occurred in John Milton’s life, which also transfers over to the Marvel films. In class, it was speculated that perhaps the reason that Satan was written so charismatically sympathetic was that to some extent, Milton was using him as a tool to convey his own emotions. In the 1640’s, England was in the midst of a civil war between the Royalists who supported King Charles I and the Parliamentarians who though that if the king was not doing an adequate job of ruling the country, the people had the right to depose him. In 1649 Charles was deposed and there was no king until 1660 when Charles II regained the throne.
Milton did end up getting punished and thrown into jail for his support of the Parliamentarians, which directly leads to the discussion of Paradise Lost and the Marvel movies for this essay, for this is where we find Satan and Loki after their own sins against the ruling party. At the opening of Milton’s book, Satan has been cast down from Heaven for “aspiring to set himself in glory above his peers” (I.38-39), just as Loki was cast down from Asgard for his aspirations of replacing Thor and taking Odin’s place and is imprisoned in Thor: The Dark World.
Both Loki and Satan are expert shape shifters, and while the angels themselves can alter their figures, the primary use of their abilities is usually relegated to disguising themselves so as to not overwhelm Adam and Eve or reducing their glamour. Satan on the other hand is portrayed utilizing his shape-shifting abilities primarily for malicious or conniving purposes. The difference in these transformations is shown in the descriptions of how each shape shifts. For example, when Michael is sent down to cast Adam and Eve out of Paradise, he is described as changing his shape so that he is “not in his shape celestial, but as man clad to meet man” (XI. 239-240). Michael is portrayed as a powerful and handsome warrior “prime in manhood where youth ended” (XI.245-246).
Michael’s elevated status is emphasized by describing how his clothing is all related to the skies, and therefore by proxy, the heavens, as described by Milton in lines 240-250 of Book Eleven in the “military vest of purple” that “Iris had dipped the woof” (XI.241,244), with Iris being the Greek goddess of rainbows and purple being a color reserved for royalty, thus emphasizing how important and pure Michael is, going on to explain that his “starry helm” (XI.245) was unbuckled and showed his perfection. It goes back to the scale that was discussed in class, with the various states of water, with solidity being at the bottom and water vapor being the most pure and elevated of the stages. Milton is going through great effort to show how high Michael ranks on that scale and by doing so, causing the readers to imagine that if this is Michael debasing himself, what would his glory be when he is not shrouded for human eyes?
Unlike Michael, Loki’s shape-shifting is not primarily utilized for noble purposes or for shrouding himself from human eyes, but rather for making mischief and malice. In Thor, Loki and Thor are discussing one of Thor’s previous triumphant battles in Nornheim, and Loki mentions how he slyly “veiled us in smoke to ease our escape” (Branagh, Thor), much like how Satan disguised himself as a “rising mist” (4.75) in order to enter Paradise so that he could tempt Eve into eating the fruit. Loki also uses his shape shifting to fake his own death, so that he may take the throne of Asgard for himself, as seen in Thor: The Dark world when we see Loki transforming into an Einherjar soldier to return to Asgard, similar to the manner that Satan takes on the appearance of a “stripling Cherub” (III.636) when he returns to Heaven in order to fool Uriel into revealing the location of Paradise. Of course, the primary example of Loki’s malice is the very last scene of Thor 2, in which we see that Loki has somehow disposed of Odin and taken his place and form, ruling Asgard in Odin’s stead.
On the topic of Odin, the parallels between God in Paradise Lost and the film portrayal of Odin must be mentioned. The two characters are both named similarly, just as God is referred to as “th’Almighty Father” (III.55) on multiple occasions, the name Odin is referred to as is “The All Father” (Branagh, Thor, Taylor, Thor: The Dark World). The way Milton portrays God in the text is a possible parallel of his political beliefs. While as a good Christian, Milton finds a way to eventually redeem God by highlighting the Almighty Father’s forgiveness towards Adam and Eve, the unfavorable portrayal at the start could possibly be a reflection of Milton’s personal feelings towards the monarch figure, thereby also making Satan a more sympathetic character than he appears to be in various other texts.
In the films, Odin is just as reliant on Thor, his first-born as God is on the Son in Paradise Lost, portrayed when God says “O son, in whom my soul hath chief delight, son of my bosom, Son who art my Word, my wisdom and my effectual might” (III.168-170). While Odin is not as verbose as God, we see his favoritism in his behavior towards Thor versus Loki. We especially see this after Loki’s return to Asgard in Thor: The Dark World as a prisoner after he has set ruin to New York and tried to take the Tesseract for his own. When being sentenced, Loki jeers at the thought of Thor becoming king, to which Odin replies “Thor must strive to undo the damage you have done. He’ll bring order to the nine realms and then, yes, he will be King” (Taylor,Thor: The Dark World). This calls to mind the sacrifice the Son makes when God says that he will pardon Adam and Eve and allow for a hope of redemption if someone will go down from Heaven and die for them. Similarly, Odin is content to let mankind die, as portrayed when he tells Thor “Humans lives are fleeting. They’re nothing” (Taylor, Thor: the Dark World), but Thor goes down to Earth anyways during The Avengers and Thor: The Dark World to save the people of Earth, just as the Son volunteered to be the one to go down to Earth.
While in Paradise the actual sacrifice of the Son is not portrayed, the effects of the Son’s sacrifice are explained by god in that “thy merited imputed shall absolve them…and from thee [men will] receive new life…be judged and die and dying rise, and rising with him raise his brethren…so Heaven’ly love shall outdo Hellish hate,” (III.290-298). So by dying for mankind, the Son shall redeem men and his love will overpower the hatred of Satan. This draws a connection to the battle scene in Thor, where Loki has sent The Destroyer to kill Thor and humans. Thor sacrifices himself in an attempt to save humans from further destruction by Loki’s ahnd, saying “Brother… for whatever I have done to wrong you, whatever I have done to lead you to do this, I am sorry. But these people have done nothing to you. They are innocents. Take my life, and know I will never return to Asgard” (Branagh, Thor).
Thor sacrifices himself for mankind, his Heavenly love saving them from Loki’s hellish hate. He does die, or so it seems in that scene, for Odin stripped him of his magical powers when he cast Thor out from Asgard onto Earth, leaving Thor a stronger than usual mortal man. He is killed by the Destroyer, however, when Thor sacrifices himself to save humans, he is brought back to his former godliness so to speak. Only then is he truly worthy of Mjolnir and his kingship, just as in Paradise Lost, when God claims that the Son shall reign as “both God and man, Son both of god and man, Anointed universal King; all power I give thee,” (III.16-18).
An interesting concept that also helps tie in the analogous features of the film characters and Milton’s characters is the utilization of thunderbolts and lightning. Many creation stories have their gods wielding some type of power, and especially in the Marvel films, Thor is seen utilizing his thunder and lightning powers, as do God and the Son in the text. Satan himself tries to replicate these powers, by using a canon in the battle of rebellion against God, saying “they shall fear we have disarmed the thunderer of his only dreaded bolt” (VI.490-491). As described in the text, once the Son came into battle, “one spirit in [the seraphim] ruled and every eye glared lightning, and shot forth pernicious fire among th’accursed, that withered all their strength” (VI.848-850).
While one might state that this effect was from the seraphim themselves, and not just because of the Son, the phrase I would like to point to is that “one spirit ruled” (VI.490). If this was just a matter of the seraphim doing that, it would have been their individual selves who were using the lightning, not that great force of the one ruling spirit, which in this case is the Son. Only through the Son can the Seraphim access that higher power of the actual thunder and lightning. Similarly, no one can utilize Mjolnir’s powers of thunder and lightning, but Thor, the Son of Odin, the Allfather.
Furthermore, this is another example of the good graces of the son, and therefore by proxy, God. The Son has the power to kill or rather un-create the rebel angels, created originally by God, and corrupted by Satan. However, he chooses to reign in his powers, not killing them, but instead casting them out of Heaven, for “half his strength he put not forth, but checked his thunder in mid-volley, for he meant not to destroy, but root them out of Heav’n” (VI.853-855). By doing so, Milton redeems that image of a tyrannical hierarchy discussed previously in the paper, and provides an image of forgiveness for the readers to use in the softening of God’s heart through the mercy shown by the Son.
While the Son in Paradise Lost drives Satan out of Heaven, he does not physically throw Satan and the other rebel angels down to Hell. The Son opens the “crystal wall of Heav’n” (VI.860), and the angels are faced with a choice. Either they can turn back to face the wrath of God and the Son, or they can jump and fall to Hell. Therein lies another tool that Milton utilizes to soften the image of God, for the Son, God’s emissary in the battle, gives the rebel angels free will. It is their choice to jump. They are not pushed or thrown out of Heaven directly. They have that last opportunity to put down their weapons and repent, but out of fear of the consequences, they choose to condemn themselves for eternity. This parallels Milton’s perspective that was discussed in class, that Milton believed you were not predestined for salvation or damnation, but rather believed that you chose your way through your own actions.
Just as Satan chooses to jump, Loki chooses to fall from Asgard. After trying to destroy Jotunheim and the Frost Giants in a last effort to prove himself worthy of the throne and Odin’s affection, the two brothers battle it out until Thor and Loki are grasping onto the shattering Bifrost with Thor holding Loki via Odin’s scepter Gungnir. Loki desperately yearning for Odin’s love and approval endears to the Allfather that “I could have done it, Father! I could have done it! For you! For all of us!” (Branagh, Thor). However, when Odin’s reply is “No, Loki” (Branagh, Thor), Loki lets go of Gungnir, choosing to fall from Asgard, as Satan chose to fall from Heaven.
Speaking of the Bifrost, which is the vast rainbow ice bridge that connects Asgard and Earth, there are various other sprinklings throughout the film that are similar to those in Paradise Lost. While they do not fit specifically in the relationship of the triumvirate figures in either text, they still merit mentioning. The greatest one, is of course the strong parallel between the Bifrost itself and the bridge built by Sin and Death. Death uses his “mace petrific, cold and dry” (X. 294) with his mother/sister Sin’s help, the two of them “wrought… a bridge of length prodigious joining the wall of this now fenceless world” (X. 300-303), allowing Death and Sin easy access to Earth, just as the Bifrost allows easy access to Midgard (Earth) for the Aesir (people from Asgard).
The final major connecting point regarding Loki and Satan is their inner nature. The lack of contentment and their misery brews inside them. Contentment is not in their nature, no matter how hard they try to reach that goal of domination. No matter how sympathetic their characters might be, they are not the good guys. Ultimately, they are villains, not tragic heroes, and their inner thoughts and emotions portray them as such. For Satan, that prime point is in Book Nine, where he holds a soliloquy regarding the possibility of repentance.
With envy, he dreams of Paradise on Earth, and wonders what it would be like to return to Heaven once more, but he stops himself, knowing that for him, there would be no joy, claiming that “All good becomes bane, and in Heav’n much worse would be my state” (IX.122-123). As discussed in class, Satan knows that the discontentment and corruption he experiences comes from within. He knows that he cannot “hope to be myself less miserable by what I seek, but others to make such as I… for only in destroying I find ease” (IX.126-129). Loki also carries this with him, explaining to Thor that “Satisfaction is not in my nature” (Taylor, Thor: The Dark World). Loki knows that even if he sees Jotunheim crumble and himself on the throne of Asgard, he will still not be content.
Inherently, the true evil of Loki and Satan lies in that dissatisfaction they both house in their hearts. The reason why God and the Son can rule is because they were supreme rulers, not merely deities who dream of rising up to take the throne for themselves. They don’t hold discontent and try to push that discontent on anyone else. As Thor said “I’d rather be a good man than a great king” (Taylor, Thor: The Dark World), and that is what sets them aside from others. Thor and Odin allow for free will in their disciples, instead of manipulating them like Loki and Satan did. The latter two’s inner corruption ties the films and Paradise Lost together concretely pulling into play all the aforementioned points, the triumvirates paralleling each other through their character traits.
Milton, John. “Paradise Lost.” The Complete Poetry and Essential Prose of John Milton (Modern Library). Ed. William Kerrigan, John Rumrich, and Stephen M. Fallon. New York: Modern Library, 2007. Print.
Thor. Dir. Kenneth Branagh. Perf. Chris Hemsworth, Natalie Portman, Anthony Hopkins, Tom Hiddleston. Paramount, 2011. DVD.
Thor: The Dark World. Dir. Alan Taylor. Perf. Chris Hemsworth, Natalie Portman, Anthony Hopkins, Tom Hiddleston, Christopher Eccleston. Paramount,DVD.
From Page to Screen: The Rhetoric of Tolkien and Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings Trilogy The Lord of the Rings: A Journey through sentence Diagrams
Travel This Site
© 2019 Nicole Motahari: Overachieving English Major
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With Two NN's
Let it be recorded that at 9:15PM Eastern Time on April 20th, 2009--a new era began in Washington, DC. The Atlanta Braves' Kelly Johnson took a called first strike. A fastball from a young man named Jordan Zimmermann--with two NN's. The much anticipated debut of Our Washington Nationals most appealing young pitching prospect. For six full innings, he was nothing short of spectacular.
It didn't matter that this particular game was delayed at the start for 2 hours and 10 minutes.
It didn't matter that this particular game would not end before a new day had begun.
And it didn't matter that very few were on hand to witness the final three outs of this game.
What mattered was that Jordan Zimmermann pitched as crisp and as sharp of a Major League Debut as anyone realistically could have expected. He threw strikes, didn't work from behind. All night long, he challenged The Atlanta Braves hitters. And only made one truly bad pitch. A two strike fastball right down the middle of the plate to Matt Diaz in the top of the 4th inning. A mistake pitch that any veteran hitter is not going miss.
Called up to help resurrect a struggling pitching staff, Our New Number 27 left no lingering doubts that he has the talent to be a quality starter. Not many pitch their very first game in The Major Leagues displaying such confidence. When Zimmermann did give up a hit here or that two run homer there--he didn't change his style. Unfazed, Jordan stuck with his game. And in doing so earned some early respect from his new teammates, those few fans on hand watching at Nationals Park--and certainly The Atlanta Braves.
Impressive also describes this performance.
Pounding the strike zone with his fastball, Jordan used that 95MPH pitch to set up an 88 MPH Slider and one wicked slower curve clocking in the low 80's all night. And when The Atlanta Hitters began to sit on his high speed fastball--Zimmermann went with his off-speed stuff. Getting to J-Zimm at times, The Braves challenged Jordan. But like a veteran of many years on the mound, Zimmermann remained calm--never showing much emotion--not even on Diaz's home run in the top of the 4th.
Fortunately for Jordan, his Washington teammates responded to his high energy effort with arguably their finest all-around game of this young season. A few clutch hits, some solid fielding and a bullpen that was able to hold a lead. Yes, Joel Hanrahan closed this one out to record his first save of 2009--before what could not have been more than 100 people when this game, thankfully, ended at 12:12AM on April 21st.
Final Score from rainy and dreary Nationals Park--Our Washington Nationals 3 and The Atlanta Braves 2. Curly "W" Number Two scintillating to watch. Jordan Zimmermann had brought a fresh new outlook with him down from Syracuse this day. And The Bang!! Zoom!! Of The Fireworks!! signaled a new day had truly dawned. Washington's fresh young stud pitcher--that from outset of Spring Training has NEVER BEEN AFRAID to pitch to Big League Hitters--had garnered his very first Major League Win.
Not even The Weather Gods could put a damper on the latest Curly "W" Put In The Books. A solid victory that lifted the spirits and helped to wash away the sour taste of the past three final inning losses to The Florida Marlins.
No, not many were on hand to witness, officially 12,473 (although realistically just a few hundred), but the diehard fans that lasted throughout this long evening well know, they all saw something special tonight, up close and personal. And his name is Jordan Zimmermann.
Hopefully those initials will also stand for No-No's, No Hitters Thrown.
Game Notes & Highlights
Jordan Zimmermann would finish his six strong innings by throwing 51 of his 72 pitches for strikes. He allowed six hits, mostly on fastballs, a few were bloop hits, and he walked only one batter of the 22 he faced. Zimmermann learned a hard lesson on his home run pitch allowed to Diaz. He should have never gone back to his fastball on two consecutive pitches against a dead fastball hitter. Matt Diaz can crush the ball. And he did when Jordan didn't throw his slider or curve--and it cost him--but not the game. J-Zimm becoming the second Nationals Rookie Pitcher to win his debut. Collin Balester also won his last year at Florida. Jeff Francouer becoming Jordan's first strikeout in The Big Leagues.
Kip Wells, wearing Number 32, made his Washington Nationals debut this evening as well. The Journeyman pitcher throwing a scoreless 7th inning and then watched as Our Manager Manny Acta sent the right hander out to the mound for the top of the 8th, only to get Atlanta's Manager Bobby Cox to announce left handed pinch hitter Greg Norton into the game. Once that became fact, Manny simply walked out to mound, called on Joe Beimel, his lefthander of choice and proceeded to get The Braves Manager to waste Norton and replace him with the right handed hitting Martin Prado. It was good baseball by Manny. Especially when Beimel retired both hitters he faced before the rain storms returned. After the latest delay concluded, Garrett Mock, now wearing Number 49, retired the only batter he faced to complete the 8th inning.
Joel Hanrahan trotted out for the 9th, looking strong and finished off The Braves in four hitters. His first save of 2009 that completely and finally shut up a small group of Tomahawk Chopping Fans standing behind Atlanta's 3rd Base Dugout.
I don't think Derek Lowe has ever struggled so much facing Washington since Baseball returned to DC. On most any given night, Lowe is one of the best sinker ball pitchers in the game. This damp night, he battled the elements all night long. A heroic seven inning 115 pitch performance, but it wasn't vintage Derek Lowe and that allowed Our Washington Nationals to get just enough runs off of him to win this affair for Jordan Zimmermann.
Jesus Flores, struggling at the plate over his past six games, broke out with a fine game this evening. If it was not for wet and heavy air knocking the ball down, Our Number 3 would have poked a Grand Slam in the bottom of the 4th. What looked like a SURE THING, but fell just short of The Braves Bullpen--caught by Atlanta's Leftfielder, Diaz--to the absolute surprise of everybody in the park--including The Braves. That stroked ball had Grand Slam written all over it. Flores settled for a sacrifice fly. And eventually knocked the game winning run in the bottom of the 6th on a clean single to left scoring Elijah Dukes who had singled with one out and advanced to 3rd on another single by Josh Willingham.
Elijah Dukes would knock in Washington's first run of the evening in the 4th, when he singled on a line drive to Jeff Francouer in right. An rbi hit that plated Nick Johnson who had walked, advanced to second on a Ryan Zimmerman single and advanced to third on a deep fly to left center by Adam Dunn.
Eight hits total by Washington this evening--two apiece for Flores and Dukes. Adam Dunn reached base for the 12th straight game this season--that's every single game played in 2009 folks. Our Number 44 leads The National League in On Base Percentage.
In the top of the 8th, moments before the final rain delay began--Joe Beimel fielded a bunt for a base hit on the wet turf off the bat of Atlanta's Kelly Johnson. Beimel fell to his knees, but was able to recover and throw Kelly Johnson out at first. An excellent play that was staged up by one wild Defensive Play Of The Game in the top of the 5th. With Atlanta Catcher David Ross on first base via a leadoff walk, Derek Lowe attempted to sacrifice his teammate to second base. Lowe popped up his bunt attempt and Nick Johnson charging in--deked catching the ball and let it hit the grass. Immediately, he turned and tossed the fielded ball to Anderson Hernandez covering first base--retiring Lowe. Hernandez then proceed to get into a rundown with Ross now stuck between first and second bases. But Anderson waited too long to throw the ball to an awaiting Alberto Gonzalez standing on second base--as Ross ran toward his bag. Knowing now that he was in trouble, Hernandez threw the baseball to Gonzalez and promptly hit Ross right in the back of the head, the baseball bouncing off Ross' helmet and over Alberto's outstretched arms and into short left field. Ross, stunned to be hit, over slid the base, and fell toward third. Josh Willingham backing up the play, picked up the errant baseball and hard tossed it to Gonzalez still over second base. Alberto tagging out the surprised David Ross for The Defensive Play Of This Game. It was funny to watch and the entire scenario received a standing ovation from many of those on hand--for the hilarity of it all.
Teddy came out totting an umbrella during the 4th inning Presidents Race. To say the least, he didn't win. Abe did, pulling away from George.
They fixed the HDTV Scoreboard player positions on the information given for each batter at the plate. Since the first home game, under the name of the player hitting, it read Ryan Zimmerman Third (not base), Elijah Dukes center (not centerfield) or Alberto Gonzalez short. Beginning this evening, the HDTV Scoreboard says Third Base, First Base, Rightfield. Thank you.
When the game was delayed for over two hours due to rain, many in The Stars & Stripes Club were lounging while watching The Washington Capitals take on The New York Rangers in New York on Comcast SportsNet. When the game eventually started, not many remained.
Finally, after the last rain delay, The African Queen and I had entire sections all to ourselves. Sections 218, 219, 220 and 221 became Prime Time Foul Ball Retrieving Zones. Of course, not a single baseball was sent our way. Too bad, because there was no competition. There were so few people on hand at the end, there is no doubt, every single player in the infield and in the dugout could hear Sohna cheering--probably even the outfielders.
Tonight's InGame Photos--Alex Brandon (AP)
All Other Photos--Nats320 (All Rights Reserved)
Jimbobo said...
That first pitch from Zimmermannnnnnn to Kelly Johnson looks ALMOST identical to the first pitch from Perez to Johnson on opening night. Even ahve the faded opening logos on the bases.
VCUAlum Kyle said...
SBF,
What number was Garrett Mock last night? Julian Tavarez is now wearing his old number 50, so I was just curioius. I went to bed after the 8th inning rain delay and did not get to see him pitch.
Great Win last night. My friends and family were calling me around 9 for the 1st pitch saying, FINALLY, we have been waiting to see our new Zim all day!
Andrew Lang said...
Well there was Jeff Zimmerman who last played in 2001 so being a Zim isn't rare but 2 Zim's on 1 team? That is super rare. Maybe Elias Sports Bureau can give us the stats on that!!!
www.baseball-reference.com/pl/player_search.cgi?search=zimmerman
Going by the embroidery on Ryan's batting gloves and sometimes on his cleats, he was smart to add 11 after the ZIM so ZIM27 doesn't grab his Under Armour batting gloves.
Congrats to a great team effort!!!
Followup to my other post, here is a pic of Ryan Z's batting gloves with the ZIM 11
http://i11.ebayimg.com/05/i/001/23/32/76a0_3.JPG
Jordan Zimmermann is just what the team needs, a calm, unflappable, solid pitcher, AND he can bunt! Great family as well, we had a wonderful time in the rain delay with the Wisconsinites.
yazzy1956 said...
When you look up the word(s) die-hard in the dictionary, it should have your pictures.
I have decided to cancel my season's tickets for next year. The last straw? My wife got yelled at by one of the food workers at the carving station in the Stars & Stripes Club on Sunday because my wife was interrupting her profanity laced conversation with a co-worker. Of course she had no name badge so we couldn't turn her in and I doubt it would do any good. Despite all their PR to the contrary Kasten and the Lerners could care LESS about customer service. This isn't about the crummy product on the field, it is about treating your best customers with even a basic sense of respect.
I know you guys have a relationship with Kasten so you might want to pass this little story along to him so he knows what a fine job Levy Restaurants are doing. And he has lost a season's ticket holder from 2004 as a result!
I also want to comment on the Elijah Dukes story in today's Post. We all know about Elijah's checkered past. However, here is a guy who you can tell is trying hard to turn his life around. And who better to talk to kids about sticking to it than someone who is trying to learn from his own mistakes.
So what does Acta do? Fine the guy for being 5 minutes late! Yeah, "rules are rules," "gotta treat all the players the same," let's reel off all the tired sports cliches you can Manny. And who cares whether Elijah didn't set this up through the team so the Nats could get the PR value out of it.
Funny when his little Met Pet Milledge was late Manny refused to bench him even though Kasten and Rizzo practically ordered him too. What about the same rules applying to Milledge, Manny?
Screech's Best Friend said...
VCUAlumKyle: Mock now wears jersey Number 49, which was the number Daniel Cabrera was originally assigned in Washington. Then Daniel traded Number 49 with Collin Balester for Number 40. Then Cabrera switched to 45 and Balester was sent down. Tavarez was 55 when picked up by Washington but had seniority over Mock for Number 50 once Garrett was optioned to AAA Syracuse.
It was also strange seeing anyone other than Chad Cordero wear 32. Kip Wells has that number now.
Jordan Zimmermann's Number 27 has only been worn two other times for Washington in The Majors. Zach Day in 2006 and Bullpen Coach Rick Aponte in 2007 & 2008. Although in Spring Training until he was let go this spring, Jose Rijo also wore Number 27.
An Briosca Mor said...
"Funny when his little Met Pet Milledge was late Manny refused to bench him even though Kasten and Rizzo practically ordered him too. What about the same rules applying to Milledge, Manny?"
Milledge was late on a game day last season - twice, IIRC - and was sat down both times for violating the rule about being late. When he was late this year, it wasn't to a game but instead to an off-day workout. I don't know the intricacies of Manny's rules, but clearly that is a different situation than being late to a game. Apparently the rule is different there, or perhaps there wasn't even a rule in place for that because they so rarely have off-day workouts. It's certainly not unfair to have an ad hoc punishment in such a situation, and Milledge was punished by being fined.
As for Dukes, he should have been aware of what the punishment was for being late to a game because he was late once last year and paid the price then.
"Although in Spring Training until he was let go this spring, Jose Rijo also wore Number 27."
Let's hope that doesn't taint the number for Zimmermann. May the only cursed number for the Washington Nationals remain #7 and #7 alone! (I notice Bonifacio is not wearing 7 for Miami. NOW he wises up...)
NatsGuy said...
Do you guys realize that if Hanrahan had gotten his job done against Florida last weekend and they had a good pitching performance on opening day they would be .500 now. No one would be complaining. There are bigger things to worry about in life than a baseball game. Enjoy it for what it is, a distraction.
Sam R said...
Good to see you and the African Queen last night. Lexi wanted to stay past the 4th, but it just got to be too late for her with school in the morning. She would have loved patrolling for foul balls with you in an empty club section.
Take Me Out To The Ballgame!
NatsGuy: We actually had that same conversation with Sam R and his daughter Lexi last night during the rain delay before the game in Stars & Stripes Club. If our bullpen hadn't faltered so poorly, it's reasonable to suggest a .500 record so far this year. No, you can't take it back, it's happened, but everything is not as dire as believed.
Kenny G said...
I thought I heard TAQ when I was watching the bottom of the 8th after the rain delay... but I wasn't sure. Either way, I figured you guys would be there the whole way! Good show of dedication!
Actually, there were so few people at the end that I called out, not to loudly, to an usher we know that was standing inside Presidents Club. From Section 218, he heard me right away and we actually had a back and forth conversation--not evening yelling to be heard. Funny.
When we got home I watched till the grand ending. During the broadcast towards the end Rob Dibble made an interesting comment that for the opposing pitcher it is much harder with very small vociferous crowd because you hear each and every jeer plainly as opposed to when there are 20K + folks making a noise that equates to just a hum. You could hear every jeer on TV it was great!
Just think if you had to wait 33 years for a team. Now thats something to complain about. I would rather see a bad team grow than none at all. If they had been real good from the start we would have taken everything for granted.
NatsGuy: Well documented throughout Nats320 (check the archives under Washington Senators/Frank Howard) I did wait 33 years, it's why Sohna and I are more patient than others have shown. Born and raised in Alexandria, Virginia. Diehard Washington Senators and Frank Howard Fan. The Senators moved to Arlington, Texas when I was 12 years old.
Any truth to the rumor that Beimel injured his leg and will be headed to the DL?
Andrew Lang: See updated post.
I read your blog b/c your enthusiasn and hope for this team is nothing short of amazing...the Nationals need about 30,000 more completely positive fans like you...so that they can stop being so awful...it's just hard to watch...I try to go and support them, but they are just so bad...and their advertising is worse- if the only thing they have going for them is that they beat the Mets twice late last September...or that they have Elijah "impregnating his 17 year old foster sibling" Dukes...
bring on the good guys! And keep up the good work- when I feel REALLY bad for the Nationals, I know I can read your blog and feel less bad for them...
and GO JZ! was great to see him do so well last night against the evil braves!
(also, good to see they spelled Nationals right last night!)
Edward J. Cunningham said...
Just think if you had to wait 33 years for a team. Now thats something to complain about. I would rather see a bad team grow than none at all. If they had been real good from the start we would have taken everything for granted.I was too young to see the Senators when they were here (I was born in '68), but I was writing letters to Peter Ueberroth. I stopped going to Orioles games (unlike other fans in the area) once Peter Angelos (unlike his predecessors) publicly opposed the return of major league baseball to D.C. The way I see it, it's my duty to support this team now that it's here.
I have a ticket for tonight's game, but I will be unable to attend since I will be meeting friends coming in from out-of-town who are mourning the sudden death of a poster on a message board we frequent. But I'll see about going tomorrow night.
DND said...
When we have a team become the Twins and another become the Rangers and then nothing for 33 years I'm willing to be patient.
We know what it's like to have a team become the Twins and another become the Rangers and zippo for 33 years. We are patient people. Keep up the good work.
TVworkTV said...
As an indication that the baseball gods do not like it when you leave before the final out, after reluctantly heading out at the top of the 7th, our Nats express driver got lost on the way back to RFK. Fortunately the guy in front of me was familiar with the area and guided her back through town. One good side - the delay did get me free parking in Vienna when we finally got to my car!
Lesson - go the distance.
9th Inning Implosion
Baseball Equipment Drive This Weekend
Surprised, Troubled, Enchanted & Humbled
Hangover Effect
The African Queen's Southern Gentleman
Dream Foundation Gala To Be Aired On MASN
Nearly Speechless
The Fledgling Mayor Of NatsTown
Alex Cintron?
Day-Night Doubleheader May 16th
Earth Day Wednesday At Nationals Park
Can't Catch A Break
Ryan Zimmerman Contract Extension Press Conference...
Autism Awareness Day
"Major Changes Coming Tomorrow, Guaranteed!"
This Loss Really Hurts
Faltering Down The Stretch
Raising The Flag Of Victory
Lot 7 At RFK This Friday Night--Nats Express
Easter Egg Roll/Autism Month/Military Appreciation...
Performance, Attitude & Responsibility Count
8 Is Not Enough
Melancholy Day
Charlie & Dave Taking Your Questions Each Sunday
Good For Shawn Hill
Delay Of Game
Well Worth The Read
Definitely Not Coming
Danny Espinosa
Smooth As Glass
The Josh Gibson Foundation
Nationals Park Artworks Unveiled
Deja Vu All Over Again
The New Yankee Stadium Menu
Duly Noted
D.C. Public High School Initiative
Like Old Times--But New At The Same Time
Phil Bucco--New Executive Chef--Nationals Park
Stan Kasten Availability During Today's Media Tour...
New Offerings At Nationals Park
New Batting Practice Option
Fresh New Photos From Nationals Park
Lot 7--Not Lot 8--For Nats Express This Saturday
More Info On Full Season Ticket Holder Appreciatio...
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Captain Marvel ***1/2
Carnage **
Carnal Knowledge ***
Casablanca ****
Casino Royale ****
Catch Me If You Can ***
Catfish *1/2
Cedar Rapids **
Cellular **
Chaplin **1/2
Chappie **1/2
Chef ***
China Moon **1/2
Chocolat ***
Chronicle ***
Cinderella ***
Cinemacon 2016
City Slickers ***1/2
Clash Of The Titans ***
Clear History ***1/2
Cliffhanger ***1/2
Clifford *
Cloud Atlas **
Clue ****
Cocktail ***1/2
Coco ***1/2
Cocoon ***
Colossal ***1/2
Comic Con 2016
Commando ***
Compliance ***1/2
Confessions of a Dangerous Mind **1/2
Contagion **1/2
Contraband **1/2
Cool World *
Cop Car ***1/2
Cop Land ****
Coraline ***1/2
Couples Retreat **1/2
Cowboys and Aliens *1/2
Crash ***1/2
Crazy People ***
Crazy, Stupid Love ***
Creed ***
Crossing Over *1/2
Croupier **1/2
Cube ***1/2
Cyrus **
Daddy’s Home **1/2
Dallas Buyers Club **1/2
Dances With Wolves ***
Dangerous Liaisions **1/2
Dark Phoenix ***
Darkman ***
Date Night **1/2
Dawn of the Planet of the Apes ***1/2
DC Course Correction
Deadpool ***1/2
Deadpool 2 ***
Death To Smoochy **
Death Wish ***
Deep Impact ***
Deep Rising *1/2
Deja Vu ***
Delicatessan **1/2
Desperado ****
Despicable Me ***
Despicable Me ***1/2
Detour ***
Devil ***
Diamonds Are Forever **
Diary Of A Wimpy Kid: The Long Haul *
Dick Tracy **1/2
Die Hard ****
Die Hard: With A Vengeance ****
Dirty Rotten Scoundrels ***1/2
Disclosure ***
Disney Buys Fox
District 9 ***1/2
District B13 ***1/2
Disturbing Behavior **
Django Unchained ****
Do The Right Thing ****
Doctor Strange ***1/2
Dogma **
Don Jon ***
Don McKay **1/2
Don’t Breathe ***
Don’t Think Twice ***1/2
Donnie Darko ***1/2
Dope ***
Double Jeopardy **
Downsizing **
Dracula (Langela) **
Drag Me To Hell ***1/2
Dreamgirls ***1/2
Dredd ***
Drinking Buddies **
Drive ***1/2
Driving Miss Daisy **1/2
Drumline **1/2
Duel **1/2
Easy A ***1/2
Edge of Darkness ***1/2
Edge of Tomorrow ***1/2
El Mariachi ***
Election (Chinese) **1/2
Election ***1/2
Elysium **1/2
Encino Man *
End of Days **
End of Watch ***
Enemy ***
Enemy At The Gates ***1/2
Enough Said ***
Entourage **
Eraser **1/2
Eve’s Bayou ***
Every Which Way But Lose **
Everybody Wants Some ***
Everything Must Go **
Everything Or **
Everything or Nothing: Bond **
Ex Machina ***1/2
Executive Decision **1/2
Extract **1/2
F/X ***1/2
Face / Off ***
Fall Movie Preview
Fantastic Four **
Fantastic Mr. Fox ***1/2
Fantasy / Adventure
Fargo ****
Fast and Furious 6 **
Fast and Furious Tokyo Drift *1/2
Fast Five ***1/2
Fatal Attraction ***1/2
Fences **
Ferdinand ***
Fever Pitch ***1/2
Final Analysis **
Finding Nemo ***
Fire and Ice ***
Fire In The Sky ***1/2
Fist Fight **
Fist of Legend ***1/2
Flashdance **1/2
Flight ***1/2
Flirting With Disaster ***
Focus **
Force Majeure ***1/2
Four Christmases **1/2
Foxcatcher ***
Freaks **1/2
Fred Claus **
Frequency ***
Fried Green Tomatoes **
Friends With Benefits **1/2
Friends With Kids **1/2
Fright Night **
From Dusk Till Dawn ***1/2
From Paris With Love **
Frozen ***
Frozen ***1/2
Fruitvale Station **
Full Contact **1/2
Funny People **1/2
Furious 7 ***
Fury **1/2
Galaxy Quest ***1/2
Game Change **1/2
Game Night ***1/2
Gang Related **1/2
Gangs of New York ***1/2
Gangster Squad **
Garden State ***1/2
Gasland **
Gattaca ***
Get Hard **
Get Him To The Greek ***
Get Out ****
Get Smart ***
Ghost Rider: The Spirit of Vengeance *1/2
Ghost World ***
Ghostbusters **1/2
GI Joe: Retaliation *1/2
Girls Trip **1/2
Glory ***1/2
Godzilla **1/2
Going The Distance *1/2
Gone Baby Gone ****
Gone Girl ***1/2
Good Morning Vietnam ***
Good Night And Good Luck ***
Good Will Hunting ****
Goodfellas ****
Goon **
Gothika *1/2
Gravity ***
Green Book ***1/2
Green Room ***
Greenberg ***1/2
Gremlins ***
Grown Ups *
Grumpy Old Men **
Guardians of the Galaxy ****
Guardians of the Galaxy, Volume 2 **1/2
Hail, Caesar! ***
Half Nelson **1/2
Hallpass **
Hannah and Her Sisters **1/2
Happy Death Day ***
Happy Death Day 2 U **
Hard Candy **1/2
Harry Potter **
Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows, Part 1 *1/2
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2 **
Haywire **1/2
Heartbreakers **
Heat ****
Heavenly Creatures **
Heist ***
Heist / Crime Movies
Hell Or High Water ****
Her ***1/2
Hesher **
Highlander **
His Girl Friday ***1/2
Hitchcock ***1/2
Home Alone ****
Homicide ***
Hoodwinked **1/2
Hook ***
Horrible Bosses ***
Horrible Bosses 2 *1/2
Hot Tub Time Machine ***1/2
Hot Tub Time Machine *1/2
Hotel Rwanda **1/2
Hotel Transylvania ***
Hotel Transylvania 2 **1/2
How Marvel Movies Changed The Game
How To Lose Friends And Alienate People **
Howard Stern’s Private Parts ***1/2
Hugo ***
Hunt For The Wilderpeople ***
I Heart Huckabees *
I Know What You Did Last Summer ***
I, Tonya ***
Identity ***1/2
Identity Thief **
In A World ***1/2
In And Out ***
In Bruges ***1/2
In Like Flint **
In The Loop **
In The Valley of Elah ***
InAPPropriate Comedy *
Inception ****
Independence Day ***
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull **1/2
Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade ****
Inferno **1/2
Inglorious Basterds ****
Ingrid Goes West ***1/2
Inherent Vice **
Inside Lewyn Davis ***
Inside Man ****
Inside Out ***
Insidious ***1/2
Insidious: Chapter 2 *1/2
Insomnia ***1/2
Internal Affairs **1/2
Intersection **
Interstellar ***
Into The Wild **1/2
Into The Woods **
Invasion Of The Body Snatchers ***
Inventing The Abbots **
Invictus **1/2
IP Man ***
Iron Man ****
Iron Man 2 ***
Is March The New May?
It **1/2
It Could Happen To You **1/2
It Follows **
It’s A Wonderful Life ***
J. Edgar **
Jack Reacher ***1/2
Jack, The Giant Slayer **1/2
Jacob’s Ladder ***1/2
James Gunn and How Everyone Won
Jason Bourne *1/2
Jaws ***1/2
Jeff Who Lives At Home **1/2
Jersey Boys **
Jiro Dreams Of Sushi **1/2
Joe ***1/2
John Wick ***1/2
John Wick Chapter 2 ***1/2
John Wick Chapter 3: Parabellum ***
Johnny Handsome **
Judgement Night ***1/2
Jumanji, Welcome to the Jungle ***
Jurassic World ***
Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom *1/2
Just Go With It *1/2
Justice League **1/2
Justice League: What Went Wrong?
Keeping Up To Date With Marvel
Kick Ass ***1/2
Kick Ass 2 **
Kicking And Screaming ***
Kill Bill: Volume 1 ****
Kill Bill: Volume 2 ***1/2
Kill Your Darlings *
Killing Them Softly **1/2
Killshot *1/2
King Arthur: Legend of the Sword **1/2
Kingdom Of Heaven *1/2
Kingsman: The Golden Circle ***
Kingsmen: The Secret Service ****
Kiss Kiss Bang Bang ***1/2
Kissing Jessica Stein **1/2
Knight and Day **
Knock Knock **1/2
Knocked Up ****
Kong: Skull Island ***
Kramer Vs. Kramer ****
Krampus ***
Kubo and the Two Strings ***1/2
Kung Fu Hustle ***1/2
Kung Fu Panda ***1/2
Kung Fu Panda 2 **1/2
Kung Fu Panda 3 ***
La Dolce ***
La La Land ***1/2
Ladybird ***1/2
Larry Crowne *1/2
Lars And The Real Girl ***
Layer Cake ***1/2
Leaving **1/2
Leaving Las Vegas **1/2
Lee Daniels’ The Butler
Legends Of The Fall ****
Les Mis **
Less Than Zero **1/2
Lethal Weapon ***
Liar Liar **1/2
Life Itself **
Life of Crime ***
Life of Pi ***1/2
Lights Out **
Limitless **
Lincoln ***
Little Man Tate **1/2
Little Odessa **1/2
Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels ****
Locke ****
Lockout **
Logan ***1/2
Lone Star ***
Long Shot ***
Looper ***1/2
Love Actually ****
Love and Other Drugs **1/2
Lovelace **
Lucy **
Machete ***1/2
Machete Kills *1/2
Machine Gun Preacher **1/2
Mad Max: Fury Road ***
Madagascar 3 **1/2
Made ***
Maleficent ***
Man of Steel ***1/2
Man of Tai Chi **
Man on Fire **
Man on Wire *1/2
Manchester By The Sea ***1/2
Margin Call **
MARVEL At the Movies
Masterminds ***
Match Point ***1/2
Me and Earl and the Dying Girl ***
Megamind ***
Men In Black 3 ***
Mermaids **1/2
Metropolitan ***
Michael Clayton ****
Mid Year Review: The Best and the Most Popular
Middle Men **
Midnight In Paris ****
Midnight In The Garden Of Good And Evil **
Midnight Special ***
Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates ***
Miller’s Crossing ***1/2
Minority Report ****
Mission Impossible ***
Mission Impossible 2 **
Mission Impossible 3 ****
Mission Impossible: Fallout ***1/2
Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocal ***1/2
Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation ***1/2
Moana ****
Modern Romance ***1/2
Molly’s Game ***
Mommie Dearest **1/2
Money Monster *
Money Train ***
Moneyball ***
Monsters ***1/2
Monsters Inc ****
Monsters University **1/2
Moon ***
Moonlight **1/2
Moonrise Kingdom ****
Mortal Kombat ***
Mortal Kombat: Anihilation **1/2
Most Anticipated Movies of 2016
Moulin Rouge ***1/2
Movie 43 **
Mud **
Mudbound ***
Murder By Death **1/2
Murder By Numbers ***1/2
Murder Mystery **1/2
Murder On The Orient Express **
Muriel’s Wedding **1/2
My Man Godfrey ***
My Neighbor Totoro **
My Week With Marilyn **
Napolean Dynamite ****
Narc ***
Nebraska **1/2
Neighbors ***
Neighbors 2 **1/2
Netflix Vs Spielberg
New Han Solo and Where The Star Wars Films Are Headed
New York Stories **1/2
New York, I Love You **
Night Falls On Manhattan ***
Night Shift ***
Nightcrawler ***1/2
Nightwatch **1/2
Nine To Five **1/2
Ninja Assassin **1/2
No Country For Old Men ****
No Escape ***1/2
No Looking Back **1/2
No Strings Attached *1/2
No Way Out ***1/2
Nocturnal Animals ***1/2
Noises Off **1/2
Non-Stop ***
North Country ***
Now You See Me **
Nowhere Boy **
Oblivion **1/2
Observe and Report **
Obvious Child ***
Ocean’s 8 **
October Sky ***1/2
Odd Man Out **
Office Christmas Party ***
Office Space ***1/2
Old School ****
Oldboy **
Olympus Has Fallen **
Once ***
Once Upon A Time In Mexico ***1/2
Ordinary People ***1/2
Oscar Race 2017
Our Idiot Brother **
Out Of The Furnace **1/2
Overboard **1/2
Oz **1/2
Pacific Heights ***
Pacific Rim ***1/2
Pacific Rim: Uprising *
Pain and Gain **
Panic Room ***1/2
Paranorman **1/2
Passengers **1/2
Patch Adams **1/2
Paths of Glory ***1/2
Patriot’s Day ***1/2
Paul *1/2
Payback ***
Peggy Sue Got Married ***
Permanent Midnight *1/2
Phil Spector **
Pi ***
Pineapple Express ***1/2
Pitch Perfect **
Pixels **
Planes, Trains, and Automobiles **1/2
Planet Of The Apes ***1/2
Play It Again Sam **1/2
Politics: How Trump Leads to Black Panther
Pollack **
Poltergeist ***1/2
Ponyo **
Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping ***1/2
Princess Mononoke ****
Prisoners ****
Project X **1/2
Prom Night *
Prometheus ***
Promised Land **1/2
Pulp Fiction ****
Pushing Tin **1/2
Quick Change **1/2
Rabbit Hole ***1/2
Rachel Getting Married **
Raiders Of The Lost Ark ***1/2
Raising ****
Ralph Breaks the Internet ***
Rampage *1/2
Rampart **1/2
Ratatouille ****
Ray Harryhausen: Special Effects Titan **1/2
Ready Player One ***
Rebel Without A Cause ****
Recent Great Movies
Red Heat ***
Red State **
Red State *1/2
Redbelt ***1/2
Reel Steal ***
Return To Oz ***
Return To Paradise ***
Revenge *1/2
Revolutionary Road **1/2
Revolver *
Rio Bravo **
Rise Of The Guardians **1/2
Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes ***1/2
Road To Perdition ***1/2
Robin Hood **1/2
Robocop ***1/2
Rock N Rolla ***1/2
Rock of Ages **
Rocketman **1/2
Rocky ***1/2
Rocky II ***1/2
Rocky II ***
Rocky III ***1/2
Rocky IV ****
Rogue One: A Star Wars Story ***
Roma **
Romancing The Stone ***
Room ***1/2
Room 237 **1/2
Rough Night **
Rough Night **1/2
Rumble Fish **1/2
Rumble In The Bronx ***
Run All Night **1/2
Runner Runner **
Safe House **
Safe Men **1/2
Safety Not Guaranteed ***
Salt ***1/2
San Andreas ***
Sausage Party ***1/2
Savages ***
Saving Mr. Banks ***
Scarlet Street **1/2
Scott Pilgrim Vs The World ***1/2
Scream 2 *1/2
Scream 3 **1/2
Scrooged ****
Sea of Love ***1/2
Searching For Bobby Fischer **1/2
Searching For Sugarman **1/2
Season Of The Witch *1/2
Secret Window **1/2
Seeking A Friend For The End Of The World *1/2
Seven ****
Seven Psychopaths ***1/2
Sex Tape *1/2
Sex, Lies, and Videotape ****
Shakespeare in Love ***
Shaolin Soccer ***
Shazam ***
She Done Him Wrong ***
She’s Out Of My League *1/2
Sherlock Holmes ***1/2
Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows **1/2
Sherlock Jr. ****
Shock Corridor **1/2
Shoot ‘Em Up **
Shooter *1/2
Short Circuit **
Short Term 12 ***
Shutter Island ****
Sicario ****
Side By Side **1/2
Side Effects ***1/2
Sightseers **1/2
Signs ***
Silver Linings Playbook ****
Silverado ****
Sin City: A Dame to Kill For *1/2
Sing Street ***1/2
Single **
Single White Female **
Sisters *1/2
Six Degrees of Separation **
Skyfall ***1/2
Skyline *
Sleepless in Seattle ***1/2
Sliver **1/2
Small Time Crooks **
Snake Eyes **1/2
Snatch ***1/2
Sneakers **1/2
Snow White And The Huntsman ***
Snowden ***
Snowpiercer **
Soapdish ***1/2
Solo: A Star Wars Story ***
Some Velvet Morning **1/2
Sonatine **
Sophie’s Choice **1/2
Sour Grapes **
Source Code ***
Southpaw **1/2
Spectre **
Spider Man, Venom, and two studios NOT sharing well
Spider-Man: Far From Home ***
Spider-Man: Homecoming ***1/2
Spiderman: Into The Spiderverse ***1/2
Split ***
Spotlight ***
Spring Breakers *
Spy ***1/2
St. Vincent **1/2
Stand By Me ***1/2
Star Trek ****
Star Trek Into Darkness ***
Star Trek: Beyond **
Star Wars: Han Solo and the Firing of it’s Directors
Star Wars: The Force Awakens ***1/2
Star Wars: The Last Jedi ***
Stardust ***
State of Grace ***1/2
Step Brothers ***1/2
Steve Jobs ***1/2
Still Alice ***
Straight Outta Compton ***1/2
Stranger Than Fiction ***1/2
Stretch **
Stuck On You **
Suburbicon **1/2
Sucker Punch *1/2
Suicide Kings ***
Suicide Squad **
Sully ***
Summer Box Office
Summer Movie Preview
Summer Of Universal
Sunset Boulevard ***
Super ***
Super 8 ***1/2
Super Troopers **
Superbad ****
Superhero Movies Coming Soon
Superhero Movies of 2018
Superhero Movies, 2016
Swimming With Sharks *1/2
Swingers ****
Swordfish ***
Synechdoche New York *1/2
T2 Trainspotting ***
Tag ***
Take Me Home Tonight **1/2
Take This Waltz **
Taken ****
Taken 2 *1/2
Taken 3 **1/2
TAPS ***
Team America: World Police **
Ted ***
Ted 2 *1/2
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles ***
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles **1/2
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows **
Terminator Genisys **1/2
That’s My Boy *
The 40 Year Old Virgin ***1/2
The A Team **
The Accidental Tourist *1/2
The Accountant ***
The Accused **1/2
The Adjustment Bureau **1/2
The Adventures Of Priscilla Queen Of The Desert ***
The Adventures of Tintin **
The Amazing Spider Man ***1/2
The Amazing Spider Man 2 **1/2
The American **1/2
The Apartment ***1/2
The Aristocrats **1/2
The Artist ***
The Avengers ***1/2
The Avengers: Age of Ultron **1/2
The Awful Truth **1/2
The Bank Job ***1/2
The Beach ***
The Big Lebowski ****
The Big Short ***
The Big Sick ****
The Bone Collector *1/2
The Book of Eli ***
The Boondock Saints **
The Boss Baby ***
The Bourne Identity ****
The Bourne Legacy **
The Bourne Supremacy ***1/2
The Bourne Ultimatum ***1/2
The Boxtrolls ***
The Bride of Frankenstein **1/2
The Burbs ***
The Campaign **1/2
The Central Park Five ****
The Comedian **1/2
The Company Men *1/2
The Conjuring **1/2
The Counselor *1/2
The Da Vinci Code **1/2
The Darjeeling **1/2
The Dark Crystal ***
The Dark Knight ***1/2
The Dark Knight Rises ***
The Death of Superman Lives: What Happened? ***
The Departed ****
The Descendents ***
The Devil’s Advocate ***1/2
The Devil’s Own ***
The Dictator **1/2
The Dilemma **
The Disaster Artist ***1/2
The Doors ***1/2
The Driver *
The Drop ***1/2
The Edge of Seventeen ***
The Emperor’s New Groove
The End of 2015
The End of the Tour **1/2
The Equalizer ***
The Evil Dead 2 ****
The Expendables **
The Expendables 2 *1/2
The Fabulous Baker Boys ***
The Fate of the Furious **1/2
The Favourite ***1/2
The Fighter ****
The Fighter ***1/2
The Five Year Engagement **
The Foot Fist Way *1/2
The Founder ***1/2
The Game ****
The Gate **
The General’s Daughter ***
The Ghost Writer ***
The Gift **
The Gift ***
The Gingerbread Man **1/2
The Girl **
The Girl on the Train ***
The Giver *
The Godfather ****
The Godfather Part II ***1/2
The Good German **1/2
The Good Girl ***
The Grand Budapest Hotel ****
The Great Gatsby **1/2
The Green Hornet **1/2
The Green Lantern *1/2
The Grey ***1/2
The Grudge **1/2
The Guilt Trip **1/2
The Hangover ****
The Hangover II **
The Hangover III **1/2
The Hateful Eight ***1/2
The Heat ***1/2
The Help ***
The Hitman’s Bodyguard **
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey ***
The Hobbit: The Desaulation of Smaug **1/2
The Hospital **
The Host **1/2
The House ***
The Hunger Games **1/2
The Hunger Games: Catching Fire ***
The Hurt Locker ****
The Ice Harvest ***
The Ides Of March ***1/2
The Immitation Game ***
The Immortals *1/2
The Incredible Burt Wonderstone **
The Incredibles ***1/2
The Infiltrator **1/2
The Internship **
The Interview ***
The Intouchables ***
The Iron Giant ***
The Jungle Book ***1/2
The Kids Are Alright **1/2
The Killer **1/2
The Killing of a Sacred Deer ***1/2
The King Of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters **
The King’s Speech ***1/2
The Ladykillers ***
The Last Days of Disco ***
The Last King Of Scotland **1/2
The Last Of The Mohicans ***1/2
The Last Samurai ***1/2
The Last Seduction ***
The Last Stand **1/2
The Laws Of Gravity ***
The Lego Batman Movie ***1/2
The Lego Movie ***1/2
The Lego Movie 2 **1/2
The Lego Ninjago Movie ***
The Life **1/2
The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou **1/2
The Life of David Gale **1/2
The Limey ***1/2
The Lincoln Lawyer ***
The Little Mermaid ****
The Lives of Others ***1/2
The Lobster ***
The Long Good Friday ***1/2
The Long Kiss Goodnight ***1/2
The Lookout ***
The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King ***1/2
The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers ***1/2
The Losers **
The Lovely Bones **
The Machinist ***
The Magnificent Seven **
The Man From Earth ***
The Man Who Knew Infinity **
The Man Who Wasn’t There ****
The Man With The Iron Fists **1/2
The Man With Two Brains ***
The Martian ***1/2
The Master **
The Meaning of Life **
The Mechanic ***
The Mighty Ducks ***
The Money Pit ***
The Muppet Movie ****
The Naked *1/2
The Neverending Story ***
The Next Big Trend: Bad Vs Badder
The Next Three Days **
The Nice Guys ****
The Night Before ***
The Omen ****
The Other Guys ***
The Others **1/2
The Overnight **
The Panic In Needle Park **
The Peanuts Movie ***
The Perks of Being A Wallflower ***
The Pick-Up Artist **
The Place ***
The Place Beyond The Pines ***
The Polar Express ***1/2
The Post ***
The Prestige ***1/2
The Prince of Egypt ***
The Princess Bride ***1/2
The Punisher ***
The Punisher: War Zone **
The Purge ***
The Purge **1/2
The Quick and The Dead ***1/2
The Raid 2 **
The Rainmaker **1/2
The Raven **
The Red Violin **
The Ref **
The Revenant ***
The Rock ***1/2
The Rocketeer ***
The Rover *1/2
The Rules of the Game ****
The Running Man ***
The Sandlot ***
The Santa Clause **1/2
The Savages *1/2
The Secret **
The Sessions **1/2
The Seven Ups *
The Seven Year Itch **1/2
The Shallows ***
The Shape **1/2
The Shape of Water ***
The Shining ****
The Silence of the Lambs ****
The Sitter **
The Skeleton Twins **1/2
The Social Network ****
The Spanish Prisoner ****
The Spectacular Now ***
The Substitute **1/2
The Superhero Movie Game In 2019
The Tao Of Steve ***
The Theory of Everything **
The Thin Blue Line ***
The Thing ***1/2
The Three Amigos! ***1/2
The To Do List **1/2
The Town ****
The Two Jakes **
The Usual Suspects ****
The Vanishing ***
The Verdict ***
The Visit **1/2
The Walk **1/2
The Watch ***
The Way Back ***1/2
The Way Of The Dragon **
The Way Of The Gun **1/2
The Winter Roundup / Start of Awards Season
The Wizard of Lies ***
The Wolf ***1/2
The Wolfman **1/2
The Wolverine ***
The Worlds End ***1/2
The Year In Movies (Dec 2016)
They Came Together *1/2
They Live **1/2
This Film Is Not Yet Rated **
This Is Forty **
This Is Spinal Tap ***
This Is The End ****
This Is Where I Leave You **
Thor ***1/2
Thor Ragnorak ***
Thor: The Dark World **1/2
Three Billboards Outside Ebbing Missouri ***1/2
Three Kings ****
TMNT **1/2
To Rome With Love ***
Tomb Raider **1/2
Tomorrowland **
Too Big To Fail **
Top Five **
Top Secret **
Top Ten Animated Films
Top Ten Black Comedies
Top Ten By Genre
Top Ten Comedies
Top Ten Dramas
Top Ten Film Noir
Top Ten Gangster Movies
Top Ten Horror Films
Top Ten Kung Fu Movies
Top Ten Law Enforcement Movies
Top Ten Musicals
Top Ten Mystery / Thrillers
Top Ten of All TIme
Top Ten Romantic Comedies
Top Ten Science Fictions
Top Ten Sports Movies
Top Ten War Movies
Top Ten Westerns
Total Recall ****
Toy Soldiers ***1/2
Toy Story 3 ***1/2
Toy Story 4 ***
Toys **
Traffic ***1/2
Training Day ***1/2
Trainspotting ****
Trainwreck ***1/2
Tree Of Life *1/2
Trick R Treat **1/2
Triple 9 ***1/2
Triple Frontier **1/2
Trollhunter **
Tron **
Tron Legacy ***
Tropic Thunder ****
Troy **1/2
True Grit ***1/2
True Romance ***1/2
Trumbo ***
Tucker & Dale Vs Evil ***1/2
Twisted *
Two Joker Movies and How DC Lost Their Minds
U Turn ***
Un Chien Andalou **
Uncle Buck ***
Underworld **
Unfaithfully Yours **1/2
Unforgiven **1/2
Unknown **1/2
Up In The Air ***1/2
Urban Legend ***
Us ***1/2
V For Vendetta ***1/2
Vacation *
Valkyrie **
Van Wilder *1/2
Vanilla Sky ****
Venom ***
Venom: A Fantastic Cast Coming Together
Vertigo ****
Vice **
Vicky, Christina, Barcelona ***1/2
VIEWS OF THE PAST
W 1 1/2
Wag The Dog ***
Waiting For Superman **1/2
Walking and Talking **1/2
Wanderlust ***
War Dogs ***1/2
War For The Planet of the Apes **
War Of The Worlds **1/2
Wargames ***1/2
Warm Bodies **1/2
Warrior ***
We Bought A Zoo **
We Need To Talk About Kevin **
We’re No Angels ***
We’re The Millers **
Wedding Crashers ***1/2
Welcome To Collinwood ***
Wet, Hot, American Summer ***1/2
What We Do In The Shadows **1/2
What’s Your Number? **
While We’re Young ***
While You Were Sleeping **
Whiplash ****
White Palace *1/2
Who Framed Roger Rabbit ***
Why Him? *
Wild ***1/2
Win Win ****
Winter’s Bone ***
Wish I Was Here **
With Great Power: The Stan Lee Story **
Witness For The Prosecution ***
Wolfen **1/2
Wonder Boys ****
Wonder Woman ***
Wonder Woman and What it Means
Working Girl ***
World War Z ***
Would You Rather **1/2
Wrath Of The Titans **1/2
Wreck It Ralph ***1/2
X-Men ****
X-Men **1/2
X-Men and Fox
X-Men Days of Future Past ***1/2
X-Men III: The Last Stand ***
X-Men Movies Ranked and Reviewed
X-Men Origins: Wolverine **
X-Men: First Class ****
X2: X-Men United ****
Yankee Doodle Dandy **1/2
Year End Round Up (2015)
Yearly Movie Reviews
Yesterday ***1/2
You Can Count On Me ****
Young Adult ***
Young Guns **1/2
Your Highness **1/2
Zack and Miri Make A Porno *1/2
Zero Dark Thirty ***
Zero Effect ***
Zodiac ***1/2
Zootopia ***1/2
One Liner Review:
A very funny, very raunchy high school movie that absolutely delivers on the laughs.
Brief Review:
In 1999, the movie american pie came out and everyone embraced it because it was a movie about teenagers and sex and didn’t shy away from what was on teenager’s minds. the movie wasn’t just another sweet romance, but actually dared to give us gross out moments, such as a boy humping a pie. still, there was something missing. these teenagers just weren’t quite raunchy enough. they were holding back. superbad is the movie that tells it like it is. it’s the real american pie, unafraid of anything. it’s characters curse at teachers, not in a disrespectful way, but in a “this is just the way i talk.” kind of way. When jonah hill’s character, seth, tells his home economics teacher that everyone knows the class is a joke, he is not saying it to be mean, but saying it because it is true. that’s basically the mentality of this movie. keep it real.
the movie is about two friends, seth and evan (michael cera in his breakout movie role.) The storyline follows them during the course of one day and night, starting with seth picking evan up for school in the morning, and ending with the morning after a wild party. the party is the climactic scene, which sounds formulaic and like other movies, such as can’t hardly wait. but what makes this movie unique is that this is not the final party of the year or the senior prom or anything like that. in fact, at the start of the movie, the characters don’t even know about the party yet. this is just a regular friday, which happens to be towards the end of the year.
the conversation that kicks the movie off has seth talking on his phone to evan, while driving over to his house, discussing porno magazines. seth wants to get a subscription to one when he goes away to college next year, and now he tells even about all of the different ones and why he prefers one to another. the conversation gets pretty raunchy pretty fast. but it also has logic, like pick the one that sounds the cleanest so that when your parents see it on the bill, you can just say it’s something else.
the boys stop off at a convenience store before going to school, and they are talking about their past sexual conquests. while having all of these conversations, they also drop in movie references every now and again, to keep this movie relevant for the fanboy culture that america has now become. they mention the coen brothers and disucss how orsen welles peaked too early in his career when he made citizen kane. these are references that not everyone will get, and i love that the movie is not afraid of that. any film could make a reference about titanic or some other mainstream movie, but superbad is a judd apatow film and as such, it knows the conversations smart kids who watch a lot of movies might actually have (like the characters talking about total recall in knocked up.)
we follow the boys into school and get a little break from all of the conversations about hand jobs and blow jobs. at least for a little while. we watch them interact with girls in class. evan has a crush on a girl named becca and she catches him staring at her boobs in class. they talk by the lockers and he tries to give her a friendly punch on the arm, but ends up hitting her boob instead. all of this would be stupid if the reactions weren’t so damn funny. when he’s caught staring at her, evan pretends he was just looking around the room. and when he hits her boob, the two of them both freeze up, as if they can’t believe that just happened.
seth, meanwhile, is partnered up with jules (emma stone, in her breakout movie role), the girl he is interested in, for their home economics class. he has a hilarious montage where he pretends to be doing things to her, behind her back, often using the cooking supplies to help him. we also get to see each of the boys in gym class. and we meet foglle, (Christopher mintz-plasse), a nerd who they are friends with, who thinks he’s pretty cool. this guy is getting a fake id after school today and is very excited about it.
the real plot to the movie starts to unfold when jules tells seth that she is having a party tonight and invites him. then she asks him if he can use the fake i.d. to get alcohol for the party. suddenly seth feels like jules has entrusted the entire fun of the party to him, and so he and his friends set out to get alcohol and use foggle’s id. only one problem…the name he gave is mclovin. actually there are a few problems, such as the age he gave, 25. and each of these problems gets discussed and ridiculed. the conversations in this movie are absolutely brilliant. for everything that seth can ridicule about foggle’s id, he has a reason to go with it for why he made it this way. and the arguing is a lot of fun.
fogle tries to buy the alcohol for the party, only things go horribly wrong and he ends up with the police. but from there, this movie tries to break the mold. foggle doesn’t find himself being taken in by the police, brought to jail, or anything like that. instead, he becomes friends with them and rides around with them for the night. they go after drunks causing disturbances, race around parking lots, and even have shoot outs.
meanwhile, seth and evan have also gone on a strange path. since they were unable to get their alcohol from foggle, they are willing to try anything, including going along with a strange guy to a party where he insists they will be able to get alcohol. only no sooner do they set foot into the party, do they find out that the guy who brought them there wasn’t invited and is actually getting beaten up. it really is one crazy situation after the next, only the thing that makes it work is that there are no gangsters or criminals here. this isn’t date night or adventures in babysitting, where regular characters get involved in things that are way above them. instead, this is a movie that keeps the problems as close to real as it can. the cops aren’t assholes trying to arrest people, for example, but are just regular guys trying to have fun and be young again.
superbad might be part romance, but it is much more about interactions with friends and talk about sex. the movie was written by seth rogen and his buddy evan goldberg, and they really did a fantastic job crafting this dialogue and script. and the casting of every role is right on the money. jonah hill handles the material flawwlessly. he really does carry the movie, although michael cera and christopher mintz-plasse are both great two. the cops are kind of second rate, which is fine, since they are not the main characters of the film. but even for those roles, some very talented actors fill the jobs. seth rogen and bill hader. the plot of superbad might end up being just another teenage movie that ends with a party, but it’s the journey to get there that makes this movie so much fun. the dialogue and ideas here are very creative and very funny.
2016, Mid Year Roundup
The State of Superhero Movies
A Winter Worth Watching
Vonnie Brock on Yearly Movie Reviews
Copyright © 2019 newdaymoviereviews.com. All Rights Reserved. Journal Lite by Slocum Studio
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Home > Sex > Naked bike ride sex
Naked bike ride sex
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Mark may have been looking at his best friend, who was also his biggest crush - and Malcolm may have been looking at his little sister, who he's known all of his life; but they where both seeing the same thing.
At this point, both guys had their eyes set firmly on Andrea. Take a right, then left on 4th Street. Cgi girls nude. Louis business districts many of which took it on their own to host watching parties to support the ride and were greeted with smiles, cheers, and at times stripping by onlookers, in cars and on the street alike.
Despite having similar political messages neither of these groups knew of the existence of the other until collaboration began many months before the first WNBR event. At the body painting gathering, one reporter ended up stripping to his underwear while filming. Naked bike ride sex. How can you make small talk with her while staring at her shaved little pussy?! It took a lot of convincing to assure everyone that the two were, indeed, just very good friends.
Follow Park until 17th st. But now, between her thick thighs, nearly blocked by her tiny hands and skinny little wrists, was the most gorgeous, smooth, juicy, slit of a pussy he had ever seen. Change picture Your current user avatar, all sizes: Of course he said yes! Retrieved 29 September Those we talked to had mixed feelings about the event. Andrea has so happy to see her brother that she hugged him and wouldn't let go for about a minute and a half.
As WNBR is clothing-optional, organizers urge those who are uncomfortable going naked or who fear legal scuffles simply not to go fully nude. Head north until Russell. Sexy naked lady games. It wasn't much of a surprise, then, when out of the blue during their junior year, Andrea texted Mark, asking if he wanted to go to the Los Angeles Naked Bike Ride with her and a few friends. The party starts at 6: Mark was a bit apprehensive at first; being naked in public was one of his biggest fears.
Organizers only allow rides to be organized in public areas for maximum outreach, not in established or ghettoized areas. Retrieved from " https: Inthere was a shift towards simplifying the message and focusing on cycling advocacy. Oil has become a treasured commodity — associated by some with the costs of war and climate change.
His heart began to flutter just thinking about it. And, every time she responded, she would text with something on the lines of; " I mean there's a possibility that I could go nude, but I'm not sure Mark could only continue his own visual exploration of Andrea's sea of soft skin.
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Nevertheless, they day of the Naked Bike Ride eventually came.
Las Vegas is home to the largest erotic museum on the planet. She shook her head with a smirk and said, "Wow, you're handling this just about as badly as I thought you would.
Bohemianism Counterculture Clothing-optional bike ride Critical Mass Culture jamming Direct action Flash mob Smart mob Outline of cycling List of places where social nudity is practised List of nude events.
He was also a little worried about being naked next to Malcolm, who was nearly 5 inches taller than him and, if stereotypes are to be believed, likely to have a larger member than him.
Google Maps of Routesubject to change. Lesbian mature hot. Each act is critiqued by a variety of judges, including comedians, porn stars and local celebrities. The animal, which is known and prized for its fuzzy coat, had its first spotlight competition at the Pennsylvania Farm Show. Turn left on Market. We have the right to peacefully assemble.
Certainly not something he'd feel confident showing to a bunch people, whether they were strangers and friends. Turn right on Locust until 23rd street.
Turn right on Russell, then left on Compton. His hand, which had been at his side, was now sandwiched between his shorts and Andrea's beautiful, soft, ass-cheek. You have a new user avatar waiting for moderation. Boxers were really no different.
Hartmann says the ride is a fight against body shaming and fossil fuels. Simon rex naked. Naked bike ride sex. We had some rollerbladers, and we had a camel. The boys - who where still sitting on the ground - now had a phenomenal bottom-up view of Andrea's entire body.
One alpaca rocked 70s style pants while another was transformed into the scarecrow from the "Wizard of Oz. Andrea was just looking for a good time. Many were also rocking body paint, which they could put on in a pre-ride gathering at the rock garden. Something about a college girl being naked in public just seemed so hot to him, but the fact that it was Andrea, the girl that he had spent the last three years secretly lusting over, made this seem like a dream come true.
Retrieved from " http: Please email nakedbikestl gmail. I don't know how it'll go with families in town.
Note Chicago has about participants as of late, but we can catch up. We have all heard the famous slogan: Some cities have restrictions on nudity in public areas, and some cultures have harsh restrictions on public nudity.
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Public nudity is illegal in Clark County. Denise crosby nude photos. We even had a few folks inquire about starting a ride in their cities Springfield and Kansas City. It would be a lot weirder now. We have the right to peacefully assemble. It took a lot of convincing to assure everyone that the two were, indeed, just very good friends.
Just Andrea being naked for him to enjoy and stare at all day. Naked bike ride sex. In other cases, such as in Ottawa[4] police have attempted to stop the ride or have attempted to encourage riders to wear some level of clothing. Andrea, not knowing that anyone else had begun to strip, turned around to check on the boys and, while her first glance landed innocently on Malcolm's chest, her eyes did land solidly on his hanging dick for about a solid 2 seconds.
No arrests were made. The ride will start sometime around 8: He knew that, while he found Andrea incredibly sexy, she was just a bit too "free-spirited" for him. Turn right onto Arsenal, left onto Spring Ave. Yes, riders in a post-industrial city of a merepopulation, with a small but steadily growing cycling community, and often thought of as conservative.
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On her tits Creative advocacy stimulates people to contemplate the issues. Mark interrupted with a wink, "Okay, so you can show us your pussy, but you can't talk about. You guys'll be looking at me like this all day so
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Girls nude videos download Andrea, on the other hand, was always looking for something new to do, hoping to end every night with a new experience.
RILEY STEELE LESBIAN We had very few traffic issues considering the size of the ride and the fact that riders, rather than a police escort, were leading the ride, and due to limited resources, only one police car was available for traffic safety.
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Piklik, a name associated with meticulously hand-made quality cotton nightwear, began in 1975, when it first started its retail business in one of the world’s fashion capitals: London. With its unique blend of East-meets-West designs, the sleepwear was an instant success, attracting interest from all over Europe.
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Jenners of Edinburgh
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Magasin du Nord
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Orion Reads
a diary of books etc.
tolkien twain kingston
am still reading the Tolkien/WWI bio. it's incredibly interesting, altho i suspect absolutely only if you're a pretty serious tolkien nut. if the only elvish you know is in the movies, you probably won't be interested. it's actually kindled a desire to read, who would have thought it, some WWI history books, and while i'm at it, i should really just read world history again. does Zinn have a world history book ?
michelle got me Puddinhead Wilson, i think to make fun of me. i was enjoying it quite a bit until i lost it. i think it's under the bed. i'm approaching the decision that Twain's reputation as a racial activist is largely undeserved. this is solely from light readings of his books, mind, not any serious research. as an author he strikes me as first and foremost a humorist, and all other themes are distinctly subservient. if it's funny to show the hypocrisy of whites, he'll write it. if it's funny to show the ignorance of slaves, he'll write it. perhaps his interest shifted by the time he wrote Huck Finn, but his other writings don't really seem to hold up the mantle of racial radical. i welcome dialogue on this.
have started Maxine Hong Kingston's famous Woman Warrior. I feel i may have tried reading this before. She writes so well that i partially wish i were chinese american and could feel more relevancy to my life. Why wasn't Maxine Hong Kingston born a white middle class computer geek instead of confused chinese american second-generation girl ? So, it's hard for me to pay attention for whole chapters, but each page is a pleasure.
TOM SWIFTY OF THE DAY
"We've got to get rid of that Danes girl!" Tom declared.
god that's funny.
posted by good old o at 10:40 PM | 3 comments
andrew vacchs
Andrew Vacchs was at A Clean Well-Lighted Place for Books in sf this evening, touring re his new book Two Trains Running. I.. was about to write that i'm not really a Vacchs fan, but i have read at least ten or so of his books, so i guess i defacto am. For those who don't know, Vacchs is a child-abuse activist who prosecutes child abuse cases and writes gritty, violent novels which deal with the same cause in which the child abuser always ends up horribly dead. The books are famously formulaic, but really it's hard not to get behind them, especially when bad things come to bad people.
(author, not character)
I expected him to be intense in person, and he is, but much more approachable and easy-going than uh, i expected. He did not actually read from his new book (which is Not a Burke novel) but instead pretty much just talked about whatever, which was pretty cool. He fielded questions on anything but the audience primarily asked what he thought of various current events, etc.
Yes, he talked about dogs. No, he didn't talk about cars, full-figured women or blowjobs.
Those interested in child advocacy and more will find lots of relevant stuff at vacchs.com.
Michelle recommended that i pick up John Updike's The Poorhouse Fair at a used book sale we were at, and i did and boy am i glad. It's such a treasure to find a good author whom you haven't read yet. The Poorhouse Fair is a very well written portrait of aging, basically. Altho to some degree i ahve the sense that it may not be about that at all and i'm not reading deep enough! Haha. Anyhow. Updike's tone is for the most part breezy and comfortable, and he only strays into overt metaphysics once or twice.
Am back to Tolkien and the Great War, which is good.
Michelle also happened upon a copy of Songs of a Dead Dreamer which seems to be the same edition as the one i have but in worse condition, for sale for about $100 on the internet! huh!
Go blow off some steam by making up a few Tom Swifties !
posted by good old o at 4:34 PM | 0 comments
Ligotti, on Tolkien, John Updike, Jonathan Lethem
I think i finished the Ligotti book. If not i'm pretty close. (I love falling asleep reading)
Most of the short stories in Songs of a Dead Dreamer are good but only barely. A few i'd skip. And a few are existentially creepy like nobody's business. Among these really good ones, which i'd recommend to anyone, are:
* Alice's Last Adventure
- the story of a now late-middle aged authoress of a series of popular spooky children's adventures. alice is now cynical and alchoholic and when small things start to stand out to her as extremely strange, nobody (neither us nor she) knows if she's just going nuts or if the demons are coming for her. this story is a *masterpiece of understatement*. if there's one thing i can't stand it's an author with a sledgehammer in his hand, and here ligotti is with his lightest touch.
* Dream of a Mannikin
- This unfortunately can't be done anything remotely like justice in, i think, fewer words than the story itself. Ligotti is real good at imparting the yes, you may in literal fact be dreaming right now and awake at any moment or worse. This is a crisp, powerful, and deeply haunting short story. Essentially it's the story of a psychologist who receives a patient who is recommended to her by her lover & professional rival, who has often tried to make the psychologist interested in Other Planes of existence and such, and the upshot is that this patient is having deeply disturbing multi-level dreams wherein she first dreams that she is a little girl putting clothing on puppets (shades of her real-life job as a dresser of store-window mannequins) but then in the dream she falls asleep and dreams that she is a puppet, being none-too-kindly dressed and walked about the stage by some unseen god figure. She then wakes up from this second-level dream not to the first-level dream, but to reality which is attended by much disconcertion exaggerated by a conviction and glimpse of a mannequin's head receding into the headboard of her bed. Naturally when our hero tracks down the place of work of the patient, she finds nobody is employed there by her name or description, but there is a mannequin in the shop window which is dressed in the clothes the young patient was wearing. Meanwhile this is only the groundwork for the layered relationship between our two psychologists, and it really goes from there and gets creepier and creepier.
* Notes on the Writing of Horror
- Pretty skillfully done, this takes a pretty obvious idea and does it very well so that in the end you really are somewhat disturbed. It's not going to sound good here, but it is. Ligotti writes as a famous writer of horror composing a small article on the topic of how to write horror. He begins with a simple horror story and demonstrates how it can be rendered in various flavours: Realistic, Gothic, Experimental. (The story is one of a man about to go on a Big Date, but unfortunately buys a pair of haunted trousers which necrotise his legs in the middle of the ghetto.) However after the three traditional styles he moves on to "another style" and "the final style" during the course of which the article begins to be really scary in itself.
Am reading Tolkien and the Great War by John Garth. If you're not a Tolkien fan, this will bore you to tears. If you've read The Book of Lost Tales or The Lays of Beleriand etc, it's pretty interesting stuff. It's the most detailed biography of Tolkien i've read so far, which isn't really saying much as i haven't read any straight-up biographies of him, but it certainly casts light on some stuff in the Letters which were a bit foggy at the time.
Am about halfway thru John Updike's The Poorhouse Fair. I think this is the first Updike i've read (readen?) and it's pretty good. It's a close-up portrayal of old people and regular people at a Poorhouse in New Jersey, circa 1950. Am enjoying it immensley.
I bought Jonathan Lethem's Fortress of Solitude a while ago, but after thumbing through it i don't think i'm going to read it. Which is strange because i loved As She Climbed Across the Table and of course Motherless Brooklyn.
A Confederacy of Dunces, Thomas Ligotti
Well, it's official. A Confederacy of Dunces is, in fact, the most charming book i've ever read. It's basically a story about a fat offensive bombastic antiachieving slob named Ignatius and his misadventures in colorful New Orleans. Some folks are too irritated by Ignatius as a character to read the book, and honestly, i can't fault them; you'll probably love or hate this book and it's not one where i'm going to argue that my side is right.
Ignatius speaking with a hot-dog vendor:
Ignatius chewed with a blissful savagery, studying the scar on the man's nose and listening to his whistling.
"Do I hear a strain from Scarlatti?" Ignatius asked finally.
"I thought i was whistling 'Turkey in the Straw.'"
"I had hoped that you might be familiar with Scarlatti's work. He was the last of the musicians," Ignatius observed and resumed his furious attack upon the long hot dog. "With your apparent musical bent, you might apply yourself to something worthwhile."
Ignatius chewed while the man began his tuneless whistling again. Then he said, "I suspect that you imagine 'Turkey in the Straw' to be a valuable bit of Americana. Well, it is not. It is a discordant abomination."
"I can't see that it matters much."
"It matters a great deal, sir!" Ignatius screamed. "Veneration of such things as 'Turkey in the Straw' is at the very root of our current dilemma."
"Where the hell do you come from? Whadda you want?"
"What is your opinion of a society that considers 'Turkey in the Straw' to be one of the pillars, as it were, of its culture?"
"Who thinks that?" the old man asked worriedly.
"Everyone! Especially folksingers and third-grade teachers. Grimy undergraduates and grammar school children are always chanting it like sorcerers." Ignatius belched. "I do believe that i shall have another of these savories."
It's a darned shame that John Toole killed himself at thirty-two.
Am currently reading (devouring) Songs of a Dead Dreamer by Thomas Ligotti, which Kai, bless her, got me from her bookshop. I didn't think he actually had any books, just appearances in strange places. It's a late-80s book of existential horror, which really is beyond me to describe. I try to paraphrase the feeling by paraphrasing a segment from I Have A Special Plan For This World, by Current93 with words by Ligotti:
Imagine, the voice said,
a language that is conceived solely to speak
of a world that is populated with people and things.
take away the things,
take away the people.
Take away the world and the words,
and what remains
it asked me.
.. they're sort of koans of Horror.
Unfortunately several of the stories still rely on just very bad essentially physical things happening to good people, but there's enough of the existential in there to make me love it. I suspect that Ligotti's later work is more distilled and distances itslf further from the simple physical terror genres. At least i hope so, as the physical terror genre doesn't do much for me.
posted by good old o at 11:56 AM | 0 comments
Am about halfway thru John Toole's A Confederacy of Dunces. I think it's possibly the most charming book i have ever read.
On the horizon: Kai just found me a Thomas Ligotti book in her bookshop ! This guy is so impossible to find, but writes the best horror i've ever read, including Lovecraft. I like both of these gentlemen because they write about horror, not merely terror.
A Wild Sheep Chase
Another Murakami! I've now read three Murakami's: Hardboiled Wonderland, Norwegian Wood, and A Wild Sheep Chase. I love them all, but think Hardboiled Wonderland remains my favorite, followed by the Sheep Chase, and finally, lovingly, by Norwegian Wood.
I'm not sure what to say about A Wild Sheep Chase.
There's a distinct same-ness to Murakami's characters and tones, and it's a wonderful sameness, and Sheep Chase has it.
Keeping to broad strokes,
there's plot, there's some action, there's lots of humor, there's mysticism (i think), and there's um, Magic, and of course Strangeness.
See what i thought of Norwegian Wood here.
Saints and Strangers
Saints and Strangers is a collection of short stories by Angela Carter from the late 60s thru early 80s. Janina and Patrick told me to get it at the Strand. The back cover says she has an "distinctly unique voice" and for once, a back cover is dead on the money; Carter's prose is really incredibly different and refreshing. It's not a prose you can read without paying attention.
I'd say about a third of the stories are Excellent, a third are Good, and a third i just skipped.
One story covers the day in the life of the involved characters of Lizzie Borden's famous act, just up to the commencing of the act. It's an incredible story, well worth the cover price alone.
American Prometheus
I finished a bunch of books lately.
American Prometheus, the 2005 biography of Robert Oppenheimer was only the second or third biography i've ever read, and much more massive than the other two combined. I picked up the book because since late childhood, .. well.
sometime in high-school i had what i think was a formative dream. (a literal sleepytime dream, not a "I Have A Dream" dream) Actually it was a nightmare. By high-school i already self-identified pretty strongly as both a scientist and a left winger, and i had this nightmare where essentially i was one of the scientists who worked on the Manhatten Project. In the dream the Bomb was a small witch's cauldron of sort of boiling silver liquid, and i think we even delivered it on broomstick, but the emotional feeling of guilt the dream delivered packed a powerful punch and i think has stayed with me my whole life.
So i've been vaguely obsessed with scientists' guilt over the A & H-Bombs for some time, and pretty much all i knew about Oppenheimer was that he pretty much symbolized this, and of course is famous for his words just after the first A-Bomb test: "Now i am become death, the destroyer of worlds." Other than that, i knew pretty much nothing about Oppenheimer, nor did anyone i asked.
Oppenheimer was clearly a genius, a sort of rennaissance man who loved poetry almost as much as he loved physics. His early life was pretty dismal: at one point he literally left a poisoned apple on his mentor's desk. But he picked himself up and became a rapidly rising star in atomic physics. In the 30s he flirted with various Communist Party um, causes.
The war loomed, and just before it, the fact that an A-Bomb was possible was realized, and Oppenheimer was chosen to lead the American bomb effort.
He succeeded, and approved of the bombs (plural!) being dropped on Japan, even tho he was aware at the time that the Japanese were essentially defeated, and probably aware that they were merely seeking acceptable terms of surrender.
After the war he was extremely influential in Washington, and devoted his efforts to curtailing development of atomic weapons, especially the hydrogen bomb, which is some 1,000 times more destructive than the atomic bomb.
Eventually however, he made enemies in Washington and was put to an absurdly rigged trial and his security clearance was revoked in the early 60s. This pretty much crushed him and marked a turning point for american science: Up to then, it seemed as if scientists who developed weapons had a legitimate voice in the use of those weapons. Afterwards, it was clear that scientists were expected to shut up and do their jobs.
My evaluation of Oppenheimer's character is that he was essentially a genius and a good and compassionate guy, except he was unfortunately enamoured of power, and respected it too much in others, and lusted after it himself.
I forgot to mention that i think the book itself is not very well written.
I'm pretty unfamiliar with the biographical genre,
but the writing stuck in my craw several times.
Notably the narrator was a pretty opinionated guy.
He'd say thing like "Weil was typical of the bloated egos Oppenheimer ecountered at the Institute." (p. 385) - Which while it may certainly be true doesn't seem like a very narrator-like thing to say. And so on.
Or here: "Quite bluntly, any attempt to label Robert Oppenheimer a [Communist] Party member is a futile exercise - as the FBI learned to its frustration over many years." (p. 136)
That may be a useful summary of stuff, but i just feel the narrator shouldn't go around just asserting things. - Hmm. Or possibly i should be More mistrustful of the slick narrator whom you never notice. Anyhow.
Name: good old o
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The Threats Facing Private Equity?
By Leo Kolivakis December 12, 2018
Sebastien Canderle, the author of The Good, the Bad and the Ugly of Private Equity, sent me a guest comment, Can private equity handle the growing threat of disruption?:
When I started working in London in the early 1990s, I came across the book The Insider’s Guide to Raising Venture Capital. Back then, venture capital referred to both start-up financing and leveraged buyouts. While the book is now out of print, one of the key questions asked by the author was “what is a safe level of debt?”, to which he candidly answered “a level which can be serviced in a recession.”
It was important to make LBOs recession-proof because economic downturns impact profitability and loan repayment. Many private equity-backed businesses had collapsed in the aftermath of the late-1980s buyout bubble, succumbing to extreme leverage as the economy headed south.
How things have changed! Nowadays, recessions are seen as opportunities for PE fund managers to glide from amend-and-extend agreements to covenant-loose restructurings. Post-financial crisis, many financial sponsors were able to push back the debt maturity wall faced by their portfolio companies as imprudent lenders struggled to survive. Admittedly, the PE firms’ efforts were helped by the central banks’ decision to keep interest rates close to zero, the ideal scenario for operators that use debt on an industrial scale.
Yet, despite their financial engineering prowess and the current economic boom, fund managers have recently seen a number of high-profile transactions crash unceremoniously. Two PE-owned retailers that folded in the last 15 months are Toys “R” Us, sponsored by KKR and Bain Capital, and British discounter Poundworld. PE firms can take the blame for these companies’ downfall, but the reason they went bankrupt is not macroeconomic. The economy is far from being in a recession. Overindebted businesses are facing a new foe: market disruption.
Some content distributors, including EMI Music, collapsed shortly after the 2008 financial crisis. As content increasingly became digitised, users started buying (or pirating) movies and songs directly from the Web. But the number of victims that have fallen to technological disruption has recently reached a crescendo. Amazon was blamed for the bankruptcies of brick-and-mortar retailers Toys “R” Us, Gymboree and Rue21.
Other retail chains, such as TPG-backed Poundworld, were unable to handle disruption with a distinct political flavour. Management blamed Brexit and the ensuing sterling devaluation for the collapse of the business earlier this year, although previous entrepreneur-owner Chris Edwards argued that the new team did not understand the discount model, so other factors could have played a part.
The retail crisis is far from being the only sign that disruption is spreading. Traditional media outlets have also been affected. First, advertising spending moved online, turning Facebook and Google into giant ad platforms. As advertisers followed viewers to the Web, many buyouts of advertising specialists, such as outdoor operator Clear Channel and radio broadcaster iHeartMedia in the US, suffered greatly. The latter filed for Chapter 11 six months ago, a full decade after its acquisition by Bain Capital and Thomas H. Lee.
Content production is not being spared. Today, Amazon and Netflix are successful film producers, dealing a blow to content providers like Univision, an American TV and radio broadcaster targeting the Hispanic population. Univision has been under PE-ownership for 12 years and counting; its IPO has been withdrawn twice already. The financial sponsors, including TPG, Thomas H. Lee and Providence Equity among others, seem stuck with this corporate zombie as valuation multiples for media assets have come tumbling down.
Disruption in all its forms is a formidable threat to cash flows. The pace of change has risen markedly in recent years and is forecast to stay on an upward trajectory. To address this point, PE firms will need to develop a new skill set. Financial innovation is useless when a business model is being disrupted. Instead, transformational re-engineering of an operational nature is indispensable. To individuals who spent the last decade honing negotiation skills to push lenders into a corner during economic slumps, this is a huge challenge. Disruption is often structural rather than cyclical. Renegotiating covenants and loan maturities won’t accomplish much when a business is affected by a fundamental and permanent business model redefinition.
This is not good news for private equity. After laboriously adapting to the unpredictability of economic cycles, the industry must now tackle a more persistent threat. Unless it acknowledges this fact, LBO zombies and bankruptcies are likely to become more frequent. That leaves fund managers with a much tougher question to answer: what is a safe level of debt in the face of disruption?
This is another excellent guest comment from Sebastien Canderle.
You might recall Sebastien wrote another guest comment for this blog over two years ago on private equity's misalignment of interests.
Having worked at top private equity funds, he knows what he's talking about and I encourage my readers to read all his books on private equity which you can order here.
As for the subject he covers above, it's painstakingly clear that private equity funds are not prepared for the growing threat of disruption.
Some of these high-profile deals which he discusses above were so blatantly evident disasters to me. For example, why did private equity ever get involved with Toys "R" Us? That company was in a death spiral for years and no PE giant was going to turn it around.
We live in an age of major disruption. This truism holds true for every business out there, for PE funds and their large pension and sovereign wealth fund clients plowing billions into this asset class.
Quite worryingly, even though private equity deal valuations are ticking up and firms are increasingly turning to debt as a means of funding deals, institutional investors remain bullish on the asset class.
Worse still, performance persistence in private equity is diminishing. Further, the returns themselves are not what they used to be. And in even further bad news, new research from a leading Massachusetts Institute of Technology academic shows that co-investment vehicles may not be a panacea for these problems:
In private equity, the flow of capital and the number of funds have both doubled in the last two decades, hurting the persistence of returns, which until now has been thought of as the defining aspect of private equity.
New research by Antoinette Schoar, chair of the finance department and the Michael M Koerner Professor of Entrepreneurship at MIT Sloan School of Management, shows that persistence of returns from private-equity funds in the last decade has gone down, undoing the seminal research she co-authored with Steve Kaplan, from the University of Chicago, that showed “returns persist strongly across funds raised by individual private equity partnerships”. See Private-Equity-Performance-Returns-Persistence-and-Capital-Flows
“I deal with LPs [limited partners] frequently that say there has to be persistence in returns, given our earlier research, which showed that top-quartile funds had a 33 per cent chance to stay in the top quartile,” she says…But [this persistence we saw in the 1990s has gone down over time.]…The question now is, why is this happening and what implications does this have for investors in private equity?”
Schoar’s new research shows the variance in returns between the top and bottom quartiles still exists, but the persistence has decreased.
“Being in the top quartile is still as important as before, but because persistence is going down, you can’t rely on a top-quartile fund in 2000 staying top quartile. What this means for investors is your life is even more difficult.”
Schoar attributes this change to the evolving nature of competition and the available capital.
“Private-equity fundraising over the last two decades has increased. The capital under management and the number of funds have doubled,” she says.
These structural changes to competition and available capital in the last decade have caused the top funds to grow at a much quicker rate than they have in the past, she says.
“There is more competition, but the concentration of [assets] in the hands of the biggest and best-performing funds is also growing more quickly than we saw in the 2000s,” Schoar explains. “You could say it is efficient that this happens, because we want capital to be with the best performers. But it also means the top funds have to expand their investment portfolios.”
The very nature of venture capital and private equity, where illiquidity is greater and opportunities are tougher to scale, means the marginal returns to capital go down, even at the top performers, when funds become larger.
“This is a very strong relationship – when the fund size increases, the marginal return on the funds goes down. Research suggests this is something that has accelerated in the last decade,” Schoar says.
More bad news – a co-investment warning
Sounds grim. And Schoar says co-investment as a solution is uncertain at best.
The recent trend of investors favouring co-investments, special-purpose vehicles and direct investment in private equity is a result of the changing trends in performance and persistence, she says.
Within the changing landscape of private equity, it seems that many LPs have been tempted to get involved in the investment process by going into co-investment because persistence and performance are going down.
“But our data suggests we should be very cautionary about it because we see massive variances in the performance of co-investment,” Schoar says, “and the timing [often] seems quite detrimental to the fund performance.”
Schoar and fellow author Josh Lerner, from Harvard Business School, are now working on new research examining co-investment returns. Using data from State Street, they have access to 1500 main funds and their co-investment vehicles.
“Our results were really stunning, we didn’t expect them,” she says. “The variance is humungous.”
While the research, including determining the drivers of this variance, is a “work in progress”, she says some of the reasons for the poor performance of some co-investments is bad timing.
In addition, the co-investment deals are particularly large, in some cases three times as large as the investment the same entity makes in its main fund.
“For an LP, the co-investments are even more difficult to diversify than normal” in private equity, she says.
Schoar states that, in some ways, the large variance in co-investment returns should not be a surprise, because of the nature of co-investment vehicles.
Much of the decision-making “goes back to the investment team at the LP…So one should be careful to see whether the LP is big enough, sophisticated enough and has the internal resources to make that trade-off.”
She also warned LPs looking at co-investment to think about when general partners are most incentivised to include LPs in a co-investment.
“The incentives might not be aligned,” she says.
Professor Schoar sounds like a very smart lady who really understands her subject matter.
Let me add my two cents here. No doubt, performance persistence is still there among top private equity funds but it has come down considerably as billions keep flowing into the asset class.
If you also factor in "disruption" and the inability of top funds to adapt to major disruption, then it shouldn't surprise us that performance persistence is withering.
As far as co-investments, I'm all for them because they reduce overall fees but I have a caveat. If the LPs don't have highly experienced teams, they shouldn't be co-investing alongside the private equity funds.
I'd love to see if professor Schoar's research looks at Canadian versus US public pensions when looking at the variance of returns in private equity co-investments. I suspect Canadian pensions have been much more successful with their co-investment programs because they hire people who are able to quickly ascertain whether a co-investment is worth it and they compensate these people properly.
Lastly, Julie Segal of Institutional Investor reports, The Threat Facing Private Equity in 2019:
Even as private equity firms are flush with cash and continuing to raise capital, they’re facing the rising risk in 2019 that increased interest rates will push up their costs and drive down values, according to a new report.
Private equity firms have a record $1.14 trillion in dry powder, or cash waiting to be invested, according to the annual global asset management outlook from Moody’s Investors Service. While business conditions remain strong for private asset managers, they could face headwinds next year in the form of rising interest rates, the report said.
“Higher interest rates may raise the cost of financing assets, while simultaneously driving prices lower,” wrote the authors of the report.
Even with an aging bull market and rising volatility, the asset management industry is likely to be stable next year, according to Moody’s. The firm expects asset managers’ revenue growth to continue — even if not as strongly as in previous years — but the increase in stock and bond market volatility may drive redemptions from investors.
Although asset managers are facing a tougher future, with fee pressure and an aging client base, they have gotten better at controlling their costs with technology and other measures.
“Cost management, supported by technology substitution, has preserved operating profit margins per dollar of AUM [assets under management],” wrote the report’s authors. The next market downturn will put these changes to the test, they wrote.
Moody’s says regulatory efforts, particularly in the U.K., to protect investors with increased disclosures of fees and performance, could be a potential drag on managers’ revenue by pushing down demand for certain products.
“U.K. regulators have been very keen to raise the question about whether a user of asset management services is getting what they’re paying for,” said Neal Epstein, senior credit officer and one of the report’s authors, in an interview. “They’re asking questions like why should products have such a uniform fee structure in a competitive market and why are margins high if people are getting products that are very hard to distinguish from passive.”
When investors buy products based on a benchmark, “the more you spotlight performance comparisons, the harder it is for all of these asset managers to look good,” Epstein added. “Not everyone is above average. In the U.S., regulators have been willing to let the market determine this. “
Epstein said domestic regulators have been instead focusing on issues such as liquidity and the potential of open-end mutual funds to withstand a “run” — that is, if an asset manager can handle a critical mass of investors redeeming from their funds in a short time period.
Asset managers made a number of acquisitions this year, many focused on expanding their reach geographically, and to add alternative investments such as private debt as well as data science and other technology capabilities. Moody’s expects more acquisitions to come next year.
Epstein said asset managers are modestly leveraged and have the flexibility to make acquisitions. In addition, the business case for consolidation remains strong, including expanding into alternatives or in fast-growing areas of the world like Asia.
“It really is symptomatic of the underlying story: that asset managers have to adjust to changes in the underlying markets,” said Epstein.
I hope you enjoyed this comment on the threats facing private equity.
Please remember to support this blog by donating or subscribing via PayPal on the right-hand side, under my picture. I thank all of you who take the time to do so.
I also thank Sebastien Canderle for his insightful comments on private equity.
Below, Mark Thierfelder of Dechert LLP discusses the firm's new report on global deal making and the state of private equity. Read a previous comment of mine on private equity going public.
And an older clip (September, 2018) where Joseph Baratta of Blackstone joined 'Squawk Box' to discuss private equity deals like Blackstone-Reuters and how Blackstone is viewing the news deal. Listen to his comments, very interesting.
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Beyond the Americans With Disabilities Act?
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Can Pensions Beat a 60-40 Portfolio?
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Volume 37, Issue 4 (2-2014) Research in Medicine 2014, 37(4): 205-210 | Back to browse issues page
Salimpour F, Mazooji A, Mazhar F, Barzin G. Comparative study of antibacterial properties of four species of Salvia L. as a medicinal plant. Research in Medicine. 2014; 37 (4) :205-210
URL: http://pejouhesh.sbmu.ac.ir/article-1-1250-en.html
Comparative study of antibacterial properties of four species of Salvia L. as a medicinal plant
Fahimeh Salimpour , Ali Mazooji, Flore Mazhar, Giti Barzin
Department of Biology, Basic Science Faculty, Islamic Azad University, North Tehran Branch, Tehran, Iran , drsalimpour@gmail.com
Abstract Background: By increasing resistance of pathogenic bacteria to antibiotics, many attempts have been made by the researchers to find new compounds as a substitute for non-effective antibiotics. The aim of this research is a comparative study of antibacterial properties of four species on standard strains of Escherichiacoli, Shigellaflexneri, Klebsiella pneumonia, Candida and Candida albicans. Materials and methods: In vitro investigation was done in the research institute of Islamic Azad University, North Tehran Branch. After collecting the species from natural habits, the essential oil composition isolated by hydro-distillation and analyzed by capillary GC and GC/MS. Also, the antibacterial activity of each extract was tested on five bacteria species using MIC method. Results: Based on our results, the chemical composition in the taxa varied with regard to predominance of sesquiterpene and monoterpene such as occidental and germacerne D, respectively. The most percentage of the total components is given to S. aethiopis and the minimum to S. atropatana. All species have inhibitory effect on bacterial species especially in 5% concentration. S. aethiopis has antibacterial effect on Escherichia coli. Moreover, S. oligophylla has inhibitory effect on Candida albicans and S. macrosiphon has antibacterial effect on Klebsiella pneumonia. Conclusion: Since some of the concentrations of extracts especially in 5% showed significant antibacterial activity on given bacteria. Therefore, it provides more information regarding probable substitution of that for current antibiotics. Keywords: Lamiaceae, Essential oil composition, Antibacterial effect, Salvia.
Keywords: Keywords: Lamiaceae, Essential oil composition, Antibacterial effect, Salvia.
Received: 2014/05/3 | Accepted: 2014/05/3 | Published: 2014/05/3
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Westmoreland-TopLine Farms adds 25 acres of high-tech greenhouses
by Keith Loria | March 06, 2019
The family-owned Westmoreland-TopLine Farms in Leamington, ON, regularly offers beefsteak, cluster and Roma tomatoes, seedless cucumbers and mini seedless cucumbers and Bell peppers. There’s also plenty of specialty items, with products like baby eggplant, grape, cherry, cocktail, chocolate, heirloom and long, red San Marzano styles Roma tomatoes, cocktail snacking cucumbers and mini sweet peppers.
Additionally, the greenhouses boast a strong organics section, which includes organic cluster, beefsteak and grape tomatoes, organic seedless cucumbers, organic mini cucumbers, organic mini peppers and organic peppers.
“We’re a Canadian producer and shipper and also have a significant program out of Mexico with grower-partners in the country, and also have one farm in the U.S. (Punxsutawney, PA), which produces long English seedless cucumbers,” said Dino DiLaudo, vice president of sales for the company.
Westmoreland-TopLine Farms regularly offers beefsteak, cluster and Roma tomatoes, seedless cucumbers and mini seedless cucumbers and Bell peppers, as well as plenty of specialty items.“The greenhouse industry has been growing for many years now thanks to a superior quality over a lot of conventional products.”
Therefore, success for Westmoreland-TopLine Farms has come from being able to offer a higher quality and more consistent and reliable supply of products 12 months out of the year.
“We do have a small gap in December and January for tomatoes, but we are 12-month supply on seedless, long English and the mini-seedless cucumbers,” DiLaudo said. “Overall, that has helped us continue to grow. We have good strong quality and strong service.”
The company also prides itself on having very tight food-safety controls and traceability.
DiLaudo feels there’s no stricter food-safety program in the produce industry than for greenhouse growers, and he credits that with helping the business grow.
“We are able to monitor almost every element of the process and track stuff right back to the row it was harvested and the date it was harvested,” he said. “We can really refine our food safety down to a precise science to where the product came from and who the grower was.”
Over the last year, Westmoreland-TopLine Farms has seen some shortages in supplies at different times during winter months because of cold weather, but DiLaudo said there are always challenges to overcome and the company is well positioned to get ahead of any problems and remain successful.
“We have seen a strong market this winter for basically all commodities,” he said. “There’s a weakening market on some of the tomatoes right now, but overall I would say the winter production season has been strong.”
Since starting to grow organics four years ago, Westmoreland-TopLine Farms has been increasing its organic offerings every year.
“We’ve been seeing more and more demand so we’ve been increasing our tomato and pepper offerings,” DiLaudo said. “It’s still a small percentage when it comes down to our total shipment, but it’s been a welcome growth area for our industry.”
Other opportunities for growth come from high-flavor items such as snacking tomatoes and cucumbers.
“People are choosing healthier snacks and these are very conducive to lunchboxes for children,” DiLaudo said. “We’re finding that grape tomatoes, mini sweet peppers and mini seedless cruncher cucumbers are all growing in popularity as they replace other snacks.”
Westmoreland-TopLine Farms tries to stay on the cutting edge of innovation and has recently added another 25 acres of high-tech, state-of-the-art greenhouses, which will come into production this spring for the first time.
“We try to stay relevant and be innovators when it comes to new varieties and new packaging when it comes available,” DiLaudo said. “We’re expanding our Roma tomato offerings, which is fairly new for us. We’ve seen some demand for it and success, so we will continue to expand those items and think it has great potential.”
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Miyamoto discusses Zelda Wii U's open world
On Dec 18, 2014, by Jonathan Nielson
In a recent interview with YouTuber iJustine, Shigeru Miyamoto divulged some new information regarding the upcoming Zelda title for Wii U. Sitting alongside his usual translator and Nintendo’s… Continue reading
Flappy Bird tops list of 2014's most searched-for games
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Flappy Bird, the mobile game that sparked widespread controversy following its removal from digital stores in February, was the sixth most popular global search trend on Google this… Continue reading
Minecraft set to receive Telltale Games treatment
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Telltale Games and Mojang have today announced that they are to create a new episodic game series based on one of the most popular video games of all-time,… Continue reading
The Top 10 Worst Video Game Adaptations in TV and Film
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Our world is a vicious circle of recycling. Media is first created, then gets an adaptation; then the adaptation gets a reboot and that gets a video game…. Continue reading
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News PS4
Original Red Faction Now Available for PS4
On Dec 23, 2016, by Caleb Mina
Looking to blow some environments up in the original game-changing experience that is Red Faction? Fire up the PS4 then, as today THQ Nordic announced that the original Red Faction has been made available for PS4. The game is available now on the PlayStation Network, and carries a price tag of $14.99.
Back in 2001, Volition and THQ released the game on the PS2 and fans quickly decided they liked the idea of being able to destroy their environments in real-time, using their then-unprecedented Geo-Mod technology. The geometry modification enabled the aforementioned destruction, and did so in great fashion as Red Faction is still highly-regarded to this day.
For those unfamiliar to Red Faction, the game is set on Mars during the late 21st century, and sees players take control of Parker. Parker is the leader of a rebellion against the Ultor Corporation. The Ultor Corporation is corrupt and creates deplorable living environments for its inhabitants.
Of course, the emulated version of the acclaimed game features trophy support for those enthusiasts out there, while also featuring up-rendered graphics and textures.
PlayStation Network PS4 Red Faction THQ Nordic Volition
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New Circle Crypto Payment App Adds Monero
Review larrycameron80
Source: Crypto Briefing
Circle Crypto has added privacy coin Monero (XMR) to its growing list of assets, which are available across the Circle family for investing and payments.
The new listing, which was announced on the company’s website on Monday, brings the total number of tradable coins on the platform up to seven. Fellow privacy coin Zcash (ZEC) was added last week.
Welcome, Monero. 👋
Another coin just joined the Circle Invest family, and it’s available for you to buy right now. Learn more about Monero: https://t.co/w2AVUw8Kb3
— Circle (@circlepay) May 7, 2018
Using blockchain technology, Circle is a peer-to-peer payments network which can also facilitate fiat currency conversions. The cryptocurrency trading application, known as Circle Invest, began operation earlier this year.
After starting life in 2013 as a Bitcoin wallet service, Circle received $140m in venture capital from four rounds of funding, including a $50m investment from the major American investment bank Goldman Sachs, which announced last Wednesday that it was planning to open a Bitcoin trading desk in the coming months.
Although Circle distanced itself from its beginnings for a while, and began modeling itself as a mobile version of PayPal, the significant price rises at the end of last year took it back to its crypto roots.
In February of this year, Circle announced plans to buy the cryptocurrency exchange Poloniex in a deal reportedly worth over $400m, with plans to turn it into a fully regulated crypto exchange.
Coming Full Circle Crypto
By making it near-impossible to connect users to their online spending, privacy coins like Monero have recently been in the spotlight with concerns over their use as a means to facilitate illegal activities, such as money laundering and drug trafficking.
Just last week, rumors emerged that regulators in Japan were seriously considering a potential ban on the buying and selling of privacy coins.
With the Cambridge Analytica-Facebook scandal still hanging heavily over most of the countries where Circle operates, a move to back privacy coins could be a sign of confidence that at least for now, coins that protect users’ online identities won’t be facing an outright ban.
Monero has experienced a strong price rise in the afternoon’s trading, rising by 5% around $222 at 14:00 GMT to $235 at 22:00. This means that the coin’s market cap increased by $200m, according to CoinMarketCap.
The post New Circle Crypto Payment App Adds Monero appeared first on Crypto Briefing.
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Xenoverse
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The Biafra Prophecy, The Prince And The End Of The World
BIAFRAN HISTORY
The Biafra Prophecy, The Prince…
Biafra is at the centre of the earth, the prime meridian. Biafra is the beginning of time and Biafra existed before the illegal creation called Nigeria. Nnamdi Kanu who happens to be a prince has always informed those that care to listen that the messages he brought to the world was ordained and that he was mandated to carry out the mission of Biafra restoration. Could his coming be part of the revelation made by Nostradamus, the man who saw tomorrow over 400 years ago?
A warning to those who chose to sell their birthright for a bowl of porridge, the likes of most Biafran Governors, the Nduka Eyas, the Okorochas, Obianos, the Igbokwes of this world to remember what happened to Judas Iscariot. And for the likes of Umunna whom while a British white woman MP was writing and calling for the release of our hero and leader Nnamdi Kanu, he was busy pledging support for Buhari to be aware. Posterity will never forgive them!
What are the prophets really saying? Did Nostradamus see Biafra? The rising and setting of the sun is an unbroken ordinance of God: no one can prevent the sun from running its course. For, the sun is like a champion rejoicing to run his course. It rises at one end of the heavens and follows its course to the other end. Nothing can hide from its heat (Psalm 19: 5-6).
So, will the Rising Sun of Biafra, which many a Nigerian military dictator gleefully declared as being set forever, rise again? Is the Rising Sun of Biafra breaking upon the Trigger of the African Continent? “The Sun rises and the sun sets, then hurries around to rise again” (Ecclesiastes 1:5). Did the man who was reputed to have “Seen tomorrow” see the Sun of Biafra rising?
A piece of information volunteered by one Mr. Francis Anyibe through his e-mail address, indicates that Nostradamus actually saw the Rising Sun of Biafra.
Read his mail: “If you are among those who presume that the Rising Sun of Biafra is set forever, you better had a rethink. Reason? A perceptive exploration of the predictions and prophecies of ‘the man who saw tomorrow,’ Nostradamus, revealed a marvelous prophetic inevitability of Biafra as a sovereign, strong, separate nation. Nostradamus, the 16th century famed Jewish-French doctor predicted over 400 years back, that “A Powerful Prince will arise in the world at the Trigger of the Gun. He will be the envy of other princes. They (the other princes) will try to subdue his rise but all will be a failure.
“An insight into this prediction reveals that the Trigger of the Gun is at the position of the yet-to-be-actualized Biafran Republic, and that Nostradamus’ Powerful Prince will come from this gestate republic – Biafra. It is noteworthy to recall that at the discovery of the African Continent, the name initially given to it was ‘The Gun,’ because of its semblance to the shape of a gun.
“Looking at the map of Africa, Biafra (bordered and deriving its name from the Bight of Biafra) is at the position of the Trigger of the African Gun – geographically speaking. It then follows that the Nostradamus’ predicted-powerful Prince will come from Biafraland.
“And how can that Prince arise without a sovereign Biafran State in place? What this translates into is that a sovereign Biafra is inevitable. It is as certain as “day following night,” Mr. Anyibe concluded.
One proven fact about Nostradamus’ predictions and prophecies is they hardly fail. He prophesied the coming of the first and second presumed anti-Christs – Napoleon and Hitler. He equally “saw” the Arabian prince wearing a blue turban who became a terror unto Europe and America – Osama Bin laden. This came to past equally. So, could it be that the Rising Sun of the Democratic Republic of Biafra is breaking upon us? Is Biafra, a nation designed in Heaven and chosen for world mission, actually the Trigger of the geographical Gun called Africa? We shall see!
Chibuike John Nebeokike
PreviousPrevious post:Again, Nigeria Fails To Stop BiafraNextNext post:ISRAEL AND BIAFRA ALLIANCE: THE TSUNAMI THAT IS HITTING A RICKETY NATION
UNIMAGINABLE EVIL PERPETRATED IN BIAFRA (THE ASABA MASSACRE)
UKNC-O HISTORY LESSON: Biafrans Liberate Owerri: Heroes Fight Like Biafrans – Part 4
UKNC-O HISTORY LESSON: The Plan To Liberate Owerri: Heroes Fight Like Biafrans – Part 3
Play/Listen To Galaxy Radio Interview With IPOB UK National Coordinator, Dr. Justice Ukachi-Lois Hosted By Dr. Aboo Rahtata on 20th May 2019. Topic: 30th May Biafra Heroes Day
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News from Western Kenosha County and the stateline area
Richmond-Burton
Westosha Central
Home and Life
Paddock Lake-Salem
Stateline area
Hi-Liter
Decade of climbing the ladder
Posted by Jason Arndt / May 16, 2019
Wheatland teen attains Eagle Scout status
Travis Senft, who belongs to Troop 318 out of Wheatland, constructed this walking bridge over a small creek in Kenosha’s KD Park as his Eagle Scout project. Senft shows off the more than 40 badges he’s earned, with help from Sapphire, the family dog.
Travis Senft, of Wheatland, started as a Cub Scout in first grade.
And over the past 10 years he was able to accumulate more than 40 badges and has earned the rank of Eagle Scout.
He belongs to Troop 381 and said he has benefited from invaluable experiences while learned about himself and others — and he wants to use those tools to give back.
“Scouting has taught me countless life lessons and given me incredible opportunities,” Senft said in a news release. “As I worked on my Eagle Scout project, I am excited to give to the community that has given me so much. As I consider my future goals, I look back on my Scouting career and how it has prepared me for future challenges and opportunities.
“These experiences helped me better understand the definition of leadership,” Senft added. “By facing the challenges that were present as a Scout, I have learned that anything can happen and I always have to be prepared for what lies ahead.”
Senft is taking flying lessons, so one major item on his horizon is a potential career as a pilot.
“I am hopeful that I can complete my private pilot licenses before I graduate high school,” he said in the news release. “Becoming a pilot also will help me learn how to make good decisions. As a pilot you need to understand situations and make decisions based on the information you have available to you.
“You’ll also quickly understand your limits and what it takes to improve them,” he added. “If flying wasn’t challenging, it wouldn’t be nearly as rewarding. I feel my Boy Scout experiences will help me in the future in coming a professional pilot.”
Senft’s Eagle Scout project was a wooden walking bridge over a small creek at KD Park in Kenosha.
His objective was simple: “This bridge will help people have a safe and fun experience while walking the trails at KD Park,” he said.
However, his time and determination on his project doesn’t mean he’s done with Scouting.
“It is a test in which I use the knowledge and skills that I have learned throughout my years of Scouting to provide leadership and guidance to my peers,” Senft said. “Becoming an Eagle Scout will be the start of a new chapter in my life, one in which the values I have developed will lead me in being the best person that I can be.
“The men and women leaders in my troop have been inspirational in their support and help through my Scouting career,” he added. “I plan to stay with the troop as a leader to help as much as I am able to in passing my knowledge on to younger Scouts in the hope that they will find the journey to Eagle as rewarding as I have.”
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SIMSBURY YOUTH HOCKEY ASSOCIATION (SYHA) SCHEDULING
Policy Paper Sections 5.1 through 5.5 (July 2011)
Director(s) of Scheduling. Whenever in this Policy Paper the term Director of Scheduling is used, it will mean those Board member(s) or person(s) so appointed holding that position, or, in the event that ice scheduling and game scheduling are assigned to each Division, the person in the Division responsible for ice scheduling and/or game scheduling. The Director(s) of Scheduling shall schedule practices and games for SYHA teams and Divisions subject to the provisions of this Policy Paper and in consultation with the President and with the Vice President of On-Ice Operations.
Opponents. All SYHA teams will play teams in the same age classification. This will not preclude scrimmages between SYHA teams in adjacent Divisions, provided that USA Hockey rules for the younger Division shall apply (e.g., no checking in a Squirt-Peewee scrimmage).
Practice to Game Ratio. The Director of Scheduling will prepare a Master Schedule of home ice allocation by Division, and will schedule all practices and home and away games for the travel teams in all Divisions. SYHA believes that both practices and games are essential to player development, and that hockey and other player and family commitments must be appropriately balanced. Each year, the Director of Coaching, in consultation with coaches and Division Directors, will evaluate the ratio of games and practices and work with the Director of Scheduling to create appropriate overall guidelines for SYHA.
SYHA recognizes the constraints of the cost of participation, CHC game requirements for tournament eligibility, the relatively late start of the SYHA season, and limited ice availability all have an impact on this ideal ratio. Each Division Director will assist the Director of Scheduling to allocate ice time within the Division so that travel teams attain a minimum 1:1 ratio. To the extent practical, the Director of Scheduling will attempt to minimize periods during which several games are played without intervening practice time. SYHA endorses the use of half-ice practices as the most practical way to maximize the utilization of ice time and achieve the desired practice to game ratio. Occasionally, the Director of Scheduling may make full-ice practice times available to Travel Teams.
Cancellations; Schedule Changes. The Head Coach may, in consultation with the Division Director, cancel a game or practice. The Head Coach or team manager will notify the Director of Scheduling as soon as possible, who then will facilitate the cancellation of any scheduled home or away Travel Team or House team game. The Director of Scheduling is the only person authorized to change the Master Schedule or to reschedule lost ice time.
Game Frequency. As a general rule, teams should play games only on weekends, and only play one game per day. While not encouraged, occasional local weekday games are permitted.
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0 In Reads/ Ron Rambles
Your Sunday Read: After You
If you have not read Me Before You, you would not understand After You, its sequel. Let alone enjoy it. So go ahead and close this window, read through Me Before You and then, come back. This contain spoilers to Me Before You, as well.
I read Me Before You twice, as an eBook and a hard copy. Both times, I clutched my phone and the actual book to my chest dramatically after *THAT* moment. Crying as if there was no tomorrow. If my memory serves me right, both times have been the ugliest cries I did over a book. And it’s the same freaking book. I knew its second installment was out but I have not yet moved on from Lou & Will, Will & Lou. I wasn’t prepared for just Lou. Tomorrow’s here and I finally get to read After You.
Summary, Minor Spoiler Ahead
Louisa Clark, without Will Traynor, is a gray, unenthusiastic, non-fashionable Louisa Clark. The first chapter basically gives us an insight as to how far Lou’s moved forward emotionally, about 18 months after Will’s death. In the midst of one of her rooftop trips (to try and cure her heart), a sudden figure shocked her and sent her falling off the roof.
Louisa lives. But along with that came suspicions from her family, of her being too sad that she may have jumped off from the roof. She decided to join a support group to make sense of her grief. Through this support group, she met Sam. Sam, whom she first recognized as the medic who soothed her after that awful fall.
Warning, Major Spoilers Ahead
Sam became Lou’s first infatuation since Will. But this wasn’t just what transpired after meeting him. Louisa met Will’s daughter. Who she discovered was the figure causing her to lose her balance and fall. Two new people in her life, both from that awful night. Lou balanced through the emotions of grief from losing Will, guilt of trying to help Will’s daughter, opening herself to a relationship with Sam while trying her best to stay alive.
Ron Rates 3/5
Albeit sometimes After You felt unnecessary, especially the long lost daughter storyline, it was somehow realistic. I loved how her life after didn’t just magically stitch itself back up. Nor did she completely fell for a “knight in shining armor” and act as if Will didn’t happen. The author guided us through her thoughts, her guilt, her grief, her annoyance, her anger and her being Lou. It was a process throughout the book. And not just with Lou but also with Lou’s family, how it affected their lives after people learned they were connected with the “atrocity” in the Traynor house. Also, a glimpse of what is now the divorced parents of Will, and how they reacted to having a long lost granddaughter.
Do I think this book was needed? No. But did it give us closure after the tragedy that was Will Traynor? Perhaps. Life after you, after Will, was underwhelming and so was this book.
Your Sunday Read: Eleanor & Park
Love, Weekend: The Day
Three Cheers For Three Years Of RDT
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Saudi Money In Syria - Sowing The Seeds Of ISIS 2.0
Wednesday October 18, 2017
Thamer al-Sabhan, Saudi Minister for Gulf Affairs
There is dangerous news evolving from Raqqa, Syria. While ISIS is largely defeated seeds get sown for its reappearance.
The Kurdish forces under the label SDF and led by U.S. special forces have defeated ISIS in Raqqa. Cleanup operations continue. The victory came only after the the U.S. and its proxies agreed to give free passage to the last few hundreds of foreign and Syrian ISIS fighters and their families. Since these boarded buses and were moved out of Raqqa on Saturday night nothing has been heard of them.
On Monday the U.S. coordinator for the fight against ISIS, Brett McGurk, brought an unwelcome visitor into Syria.
Raqqa24 @24Raqqa - 9:49 AM - 17 Oct 2017 Brett McGurk visited Ayn Issa today with the Saudi minister Thamer al-Sabhan (former Ambassador to Iraq) & joined 3 different meetings. #R24
First meeting was with the local council of #Raqqa then with reconstruction committee at the least they met with elders of Raqqa
Picture of the visit of Brett McGurk and Thamer al-Sabhan. Source: Unknown (larger pic)
The visit was confirmed by a (pro Kurd) journalist:
Wladimir @vvanwilgenburg - 5:06 PM - 17 Oct 2017
Wladimir Retweeted Raqqa24
I was there. No pictures allowed. Meeting was indeed about reconstruction.
Thamer al-Sabhan is the Saudi Minister for Gulf Affairs. He is known to be extremely sectarian and anti-Shia.
In 2015 Thamer al-Sabhan was appointed as the first Saudi ambassador to Iraq since the Iraqi takeover of Kuwait in 1990. He made no friends in Baghdad when he ranted against the Popular Mobilization Units, which had stopped and fought back ISIS. He denigrated the most revered religious scholar in Iraq:
Sabhan asserted that “whoever listens to Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani’s Friday sermons and Muqtada al-Sadr’s statements can feel the threat that Shiite religious authorities pose.”
Al-Sistani is well know for caring for all Iraqis and for speaking out against any form of sectarianism. This was an insult and threat to a very high religious authority with a huge following.
Sabhan's loose talk did not go down well with the Iraqi population and its political circles. Immediately demands were made to kick him out of Iraq. Sabhan then claimed that an Iraqi official had told him that Shia groups directed by Iran were out to kill him. The Iraqi government denied that claim. But Sabhan continued to stir inner-Iraqi strife. The government finally asked Riyadh to call him back. In October 2016 Sabham was recalled from Iraq and appointed minister. He recently demanded "to eliminate the rogue Iranian regime."
To invite him to Syria, as Brett McGurk (on order from the White House?) did, is a dangerous provocation.
The Trump administration is not willing to spend money on the rebuilding of Raqqa which was largely destroyed (video) by thousands of U.S. air and artillery strikes. The State Department promised to "lead" efforts to restore water and power supplies in Raqqa, but it wants to put the financial burden elsewhere:
'We will assist and take, essentially, the lead in bringing back the water, electricity and all of that,' State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert told a briefing. 'But eventually the governance of the country of Syria is something that I think all nations remain very interested in.'
Thamer al-Sabhan will be asked to cough up money for "reconstruction" and "governance." But Saudi Arabia does not have humanitarian interests. Just witness the slow genocidal war it is waging on Yemen. Saudi Arabia will only support groups and populations that are willing to follow its extreme Wahhabi version of Islam.
ISIS follows largely the same creed as the Saudis do. ISIS used Saudi schoolbooks in its schools. Many of its leading members come from Saudi Arabia. It is generally assumed that Saudi donors financed ISIS - at least in its early days.
The ISIS members leaving Raqqa under free passage went where? The Syrian forces fighting ISIS along the Euphrates further east report that ISIS fighters have largely vanished from the area. They either melted into the general population or moved north of the Euphrates to hand themselves over to the U.S. proxy forces. What will happen to them? Who pays to feed their families?
ISIS was born out of the Sunni resistance against the U.S, occupation of Iraq. Around 2010/11 the resistance was perceived to be a dead force. But to others it was still a valuable anti-Shia instrument and money from the Sunni gulf regimes continued to flow. The Sunni terror groups in Iraq slowly grew back. The Obama administration saw ISIS develop but intentionally let it grow for its own political purposes. The U.S. military at times supported it in its fights against the Syrian state.
ISIS is not even completely defeated, yet the seeds for its next incarnation already get sown. Thamer al-Sabhan will use the money he spends in Syria to further stir the anti-Shia pot. He will finance those who will promise him to resist the "Shia axis" of Iran, Iraq, Syria and Lebanon. "Former" ISIS members will be welcome to join the "rehabilitation" work.
One hopes that the "resistance" axis in Syria will finds ways and means to kill these weeds before they grow back to size.
Reprinted with permission from Moon of Alabama.
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RUSSIAN JOURNAL OF CARDIOLOGY 2012, 6 (98)
SLEEP APNOEA SYNDROME AND CARDIOVASCULAR DISEASE: A MODERN VIEW
Gordeev I. G., Shaydyuk O. Yu., Taratukhin E. O.
This review presents the modern evidence on the association between sleep apnoea syndrome and cardiovascular disease. Among other aspects, the recently discovered mechanisms linking sleep apnoea and the development of atherosclerosis, coronary heart disease, and cardiac arrhythmias, are discussed. The authors focus on the sleep apnoea syndrome impact on quality of life.
Russ J Cardiol 2012, 6 (98): 5-12
Key words: apnoea, hypopnoea, atherosclerosis, cardiac arrhythmias, heart failure, quality of life.
N. I. Pirogov Russian Research Medical University, Therapy Faculty, Hospital Therapy Department No. 1, Moscow, Russia.
Russ J Cardiol 2012, 6 (98): 13
PREDICTIVE ROLE OF CHROMOSOME 9P21.3 POLYMORPHISMS AND THEIR ASSOCIATION WITH FAMILY HISTORY OF CORONARY HEART DISEASE IN PATIENTS WITH MYOCARDIAL INFARCTION
Shesternya P. A. 1, Shulman V. A. 1, Nikulina S.Yu. 1, Martynova E. A. 1, Demkina A. I. 1, Orlov P. S. 2, Maksimov V. N. 2, Voevoda M. I. 2
Aim. To investigate the association between single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) rs10757278 and rs1333049 of the 9p21.3 locus and family history of coronary heart disease (CHD) in myocardial infarction (MI) patients.
Material and methods. The MI group (n=243) and the control group (n=280) were comparable by such parameters as age, gender, arterial hypertension, diabetes mellitus, hypercholesterolemia, overweight and obesity, abdominal obesity, and smoking history. However, the groups were significantly different in terms of family history of CHD (p=0,004). Genome DNA was extracted from venous blood using the phenol-chloroform extraction method. The SNPs rs10757278 (9p21.3) and rs1333049 (9Sр21.3) were tested using real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and the AB 7900HT device, according to the producer’s protocol (TaqMan probes, Applied Biosystems, USA).
Results. A statistically significant association between MI and the CC rs1333049 genotype or the GG rs10757278 genotype was observed in the whole study sample and separately in men and women. The MI odds ratio (OR) for carriers of the CC rs1333049 genotype was 2,02 (95% confidence interval, CI, 1,32–3,08) in the whole sample, 1,91 (1,11–2,95) in men, and 2,91 (1,22–6,91) in women. For carriers of the GG rs10757278 genotype, respective OR values were 1,98 (1,30– 3,02), 1,77 (1,08–2,87), and 2,94 (1,26–6,87). Among participants without CHD in family history, OR for the CC rs1333049 genotype (1,92, 95% CI 1,16–3,16) and the GG rs10757278 genotype (1,82, 95% CI 1,10–3,00) were comparable for those among MI patients with CHD in family history (respective OR 2,19 (1,28–3,75) and 2,23 (1,31–3,81)).
Conclusion. For the first time in Russia, the association between MI-related polymorphisms of the 9p21.3 chromosome and family history of CHD was analysed. Two SNPs (rs1333049 and rs10757278) of the 9p21.3 locus predicted MI risk independently from either conventional risk factors or CHD in family history.
Russ J Cardiol 2012, 6 (98): 14-18
Key words: myocardial infarction, polymorphisms, rs10757278, rs1333049, 9Sр21.3 locus, family history.
1Prof. V. F. Voyno-Yasenetskyi Krasnoyarsk State Medical University, Krasnoyarsk; 2Institute of Internal Medicine, Siberian Branch, Russian Academy of Medical Sciences, Novosibirsk, Russia.
APOLIPOPROTEIN A1 GENE AND ITS ROLE IN DYSLIPIDEMIA DEVELOPMENT ACROSS ETHNIC GROUPS OF PATIENTS WITH ESSENTIAL ARTERIAL HYPERTENSION
Bairova T. A., Dolgikh V. V., Kolesnikova L. I., Munkoeva D. M.
Aim. To assess the impact of insertion-deletion polymorphism of apolipoprotein A gene on the development of dyslipidemia among adolescents with essential arterial hypertension (EAH), in regard to the ethnic group: non-indigenous Slavic vs. indigenous Buryat.
Material and methods. In total, 399 adolescents were examined: 226 patients with the verified EAH diagnosis and 173 controls. Among EAH patients, 144 adolescents (63,7%) were from the non-indigenous ethnic group, while 82 (36,3%) were from the indigenous one; among controls, the respective figures were 94 (53,4%) and 79 (45,7%). Dyslipidemia was diagnosed using the unified criteria. For genetic analyses, total DNA was extracted from venous blood samples, using a non-enzymatic method. DNA fragments were amplified in the polymerase chain reaction (PCR), using the reagent kit “SNP express” according to the producer’s protocol (Litech, Moscow).
Results. The deletion allele prevalence in adolescents from the indigenous ethnic group was 8,2% among controls and 8,0% among EAH patients (p=1,000). In the non-indigenous ethnic group, the respective figures were 7,9% and 9,8% (p=0,493).
According to the multivariate analysis results, lipid levels in non-indigenous carriers of various insertion-deletion ApoA1 genotypes could be predicted as follows: triglyceride (TG) levels = 1,552 + (-0,653 ApoA1 (II); model F=7,174, p=0,009; R 2=9,4%; very low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (VLD-CH) levels = 0,613 + (-0,189 ApoA1 (II)); model F=4,738, p=0,033; R 2=6,3%.
Among indigenous patients – carriers of various insertion/deletion ApoA1 genotypes, this polymorphism did not appear to have a significant impact on lipid metabolism parameters.
Conclusion. The genome impact on clinical and biochemical phenotype is variable and differs across ethnic groups. Multivariate analyses have demonstrated that TG and VLD-CH levels are associated with the insertion/deletion ApoA1 gene polymorphism. Therefore, this genetic marker could be regarded as a “modifier” gene which determines biochemical polymorphism in non-indigenous patients. In adolescents from the indigenous ethnic group, this molecular and genetic marker appeared irrelevant.
Key words: gene, dyslipidemia, apolipoprotein, ethnos, adolescents.
Research Centre of Family Health and Human Reproduction, Siberian Branch, Russian Academy of Medical Sciences, Irkutsk, Russia.
ENDOTHELIAL FUNCTION CHANGES IN PRE- AND POST-MENOPAUSAL WOMEN WITH ARTERIAL HYPERTENSION
Prokofyeva E. B., Avtandilov A. G.
Aim. To assess the impact of climacteric disturbances in menopause on the dynamics of endothelial function among women with arterial hypertension (AH).
Material and methods. The study included 129 women: 101 with elevated blood pressure (BP) levels and 28 without AH. All participants underwent echocardiography, 24?hour BP monitoring (BPM), brachial artery (BA) Doppler ultrasound, and reactive hyperemia test with nitroglycerine. The parameters of 24?hour BPM, left ventricular myocardial mass index, diastolic function, and endothelial function were analysed by age and the time of the climacteric disturbance development.
Results. According to the 24?hour BPM results, examined women had Stage I–II AH. AH duration increased with age and reached 4,67±0,45 years for pre-menopausal women, 6,47±0,57 years for women in early menopause, and 12,48±0,94 years for women in late menopause. Left ventricular diastolic dysfunction was registered in all three groups; among women in late menopause, it was significantly more pronounced than among pre-menopausal women (p<0,05).
Mean values of BA diameter were 3,88±0,07, 4,11±0,08, and 4,08±0,08 mm among women in pre-menopause, early menopause, and late menopause, respectively (p<0,05). The reactive hyperemia test demonstrated inadequate BA dilatation in 36,1%, 46,9%, and 60,6%, respectively.
Conclusion. Endothelial dysfunction was more pronounced among women in late menopause, which supports the presence of the association between more severe vascular disturbances and menopause among hypertensive women, as well as suggests a post-menopausal increase in cardiovascular risk levels.
Key words: arterial hypertension, women, menopause, endothelial dysfunction.
AGE AND ARTERIAL STRUCTURE AND FUNCTION IN MEN WITH ARTERIAL HYPERTENSION AND LIPID METABOLISM DISTURBANCES
Petrosov S. L.
Aim. To assess arterial structure and function in men with arterial hypertension (AH) combined with dyslipidemia and obesity, in comparison to men with AH and normal body weight.
Material and methods. The study included 205 men with the combination of AH, dyslipidemia, and obesity, as well as 42 men with AH and normal body weight. All participants (age 20–71 years) underwent ultrasound examination and oscillometry.
Results. Men with disturbed lipid metabolism demonstrated a tendency towards the increase in intima-media thickness (IMT) of common carotid artery (CCA), starting from the age of 45 years. Endothelial dysfunction, manifested as reduced endothelium-dependent vasodilatation, manifested from the age of 35–38 years. These changes occurred, on average, 15 years earlier than in AH patients without dyslipidemia and obesity. Among men with AH and disturbed lipid metabolism, CCA IMT values strongly correlated with age, body mass index, waist circumference, peak systolic blood flow velocity, cholesterol levels, and pulse wave velocity.
Conclusion. Obesity and dyslipidemia are not only strong predictors of cardiovascular risk, but also aetiological factors of vascular pathology.
Key words: arterial hypertension, obesity, dyslipidemia, endothelium, age-related changes.
Moscow City Polyclinic No. 190, Moscow, Russia.
MODIFIABLE AND NON-MODIFIABLE RISK FACTORS IN PREDICTING THE RECURRENCE OF ATRIAL FIBRILLATION IN PATIENTS WITH ARTERIAL HYPERTENSION
Arakelyan M. S. 1, Poteshkina N. G. 2, Mogutova P. A. 2
Aim. To identify the most important risk factors of recurrent atrial fibrillation (AF) and their prognostic value in patients with arterial hypertension (AH).
Material and methods. In total, the study included 60 patients with Stage 1–3 AH (Grade I–III, cardiovascular risk 2–4): 20 with the first episode of AF (33%) and 40 with recurrent AF (67%). In all patients, sinus rhythm was restored with pharmacological or electric impulse therapy. At baseline and 6 months after restoring sinus rhythm, the assessment of medical history, antihypertensive and antiarrhythmic therapy, echocardiography, and Doppler ultrasound were performed. To identify silent cardiac arrhythmias and conductivity disorders, Holter electrocardiography monitoring was performed; coronary heart disease was verified with the bicycle stress test. Statistical analyses were performed using the Statistica 6.0 software.
Results. The early recurrence of AF was associated with Stage 3 AH, AF in anamnesis, and left atrium dilatation.
Conclusion. The combination of Stage 3 AH, AF in anamnesis, and left atrium dilatation was associated with a higher risk of recurrent AF, compared to each of these factors in isolation.
Key words: Atrial fibrillation, arterial hypertension, left atrium dilatation, modifiable and non-modifiable risk factors, risk prediction.
1L. A. Vorokhobov City Clinical Hospital No. 67, Moscow; 2N. I. Pirogov Russian Research Medical University, Moscow, Russia.
FUNCTIONAL STATUS OF HEART AND KIDNEYS AND CARDIO-RENAL INTERACTIONS IN PATIENTS AFTER CORONARY REVASCULARISATION INTERVENTION
Statsenko M. E., Bolotov D. V.
Aim. To assess cardio-renal interactions and the functional status of heart and kidneys in patients with acute myocardial infarction (AMI) who underwent the post-AMI coronary revascularisation.
Material and methods. In total, 100 men, aged 45–60 years, were examined, including 50 AMI patients who underwent the revascularisation surgery. Cardiac structure and function, as well as excretory, glomerular, and tubular renal functions, were assessed.
Results. Patients who underwent revascularisation demonstrated lower creatinine levels. In this group, the prevalence of the serum creatinine concentration >115 ?mol/l and glomerular filtration rate (GFR) <60 ml/min was significantly lower than in the patients treated conservatively. Urine levels of ?2?microglobulin, reflecting the tubular renal function, were significantly lower in AMI patients after revascularisation. In addition, the revascularisation group demonstrated an improvement in cardio-renal interactions, compared to the conservative treatment group.
Conclusion. Among AMI patients who underwent coronary revascularisation, in comparison to the patients treated conservatively, there was an improvement in cardio-renal interactions and a positive dynamics in both cardiac structure and function and renal functional status. In the revascularisation group, renal function parameters were significantly associated with the parameters of cardiac structure and function, which confirmed the existence of cardio-renal interactions.
Russ J Cardiol 2012; 6 (98): 39-44
Key words: coronary revascularisation, renal function, cardio-renal interactions.
RENAL AND CORONARY PREDICTORS OF POST-MYOCARDIAL REVASCULARISATION PROGNOSIS IN PATIENTS WITH CORONARY HEART DISEASE
Batyushin M. M.1, Levitskaya E. S.1, Terentyev V. P.1, Savis’ko A. A.1, Dyuzhikov A. A.2, Kulikovskikh Ya. V.3
Aim. To assess the impact of renal and local coronary risk factors (RFs) on cardiovascular survival in patients with coronary heart disease (CHD) before and after myocardial revascularisation.
Material and methods. The study included 90 CHD patients with indications for myocardial revascularisation. In all participants, the presence of renal RFs (microalbuminuria (MAU) and increased levels of ?2?microglobulin (?2?MG)) was assessed at different intervention stages. In addition, the number of coronary arteries (CA) affected by atherosclerosis, as well as CA atherosclerosis severity, was assessed.
Results. Among the majority of CHD patients with myocardial revascularisation indications, MAU was observed at all intervention stages. The end-point incidence was associated with MAU, ?2?MG levels, the number of CA affected by atherosclerosis and CA with hemodynamically non-significant stenosis. The levels of ?2?MG significantly correlated with atherosclerotic plaque growth rate.
Conclusion. The increased risk of coronary events was associated with elevated levels of MAU and ?2?MG and the increased number of CA affected by atherosclerosis and CA with hemodynamically non-significant stenosis. Elevated CV risk was linked to ?2?MG levels of ?0,1 ng/ml. The levels of ?2?MG increased in parallel with the CHD progression.
Key words: myocardial revascularisation, atherosclerosis, microalbuminuria, ?2?microglobulin, survival.
Rostov State Medical University 1, Rostov Region Clinical Hospital of Cardiology and Cardiovascular Surgery 2; Regional Vascular Centre 3, Rostov-on-Don, Russia.
NEURAL NETWORK MODEL FOR DIAGNOSING MYOCARDIAL INFARCTION
Zagidullin B. I. 1, Nagaev I. A. 2, Zagidullin N.Sh. 3, Zagidullin Sh. Z. 3
Body surface potential mapping (BSPM) is a non-invasive and effective method for diagnosing coronary heart disease (CHD) and acute myocardial infarction (AMI). However, most existing systems of BSPM are unable to create standard diagnostic criteria.
Aim. To develop the neural network model (NNM) for diagnosing Q?wave AMI and to assess the model effectiveness.
Material and methods. The BSPM method in 90 leads was used in 96 controls, 35 patients with anterior Q?wave AMI, 43 with posterior Q?wave AMI, 14 with inferior Q?wave AMI, and 21 with lateral Q?wave AMI. The input NNM layer was decomposed into five subsets corresponding to horizontal levels of registered signals, using amplitudes of Q, R, S, and T waves and the ST segment. The output layer produced the probability of the norm (controls) and different AMI locations.
Results. Exploring the NNM performance in controls and AMI patients, sensitivity of 100% and specificity of 97,4% was observed. Sensitivity reached 100% for anterior Q?wave AMI, 94,4% for posterior Q?wave AMI, 85,7% for inferior Q?wave AMI, and 83,3% for lateral Q?wave AMI.
Conclusion. Our data have demonstrated the effectiveness of NNM in AMI diagnostics.
Key words: body surface potential mapping, neural network modelling, acute myocardial infarction.
1Tatar Republic Hospital of Emergency Medical Care, Naberezhnye Chelny; 2Bashkir Republic Cardiology Dispanser, Ufa; 3Bashkir State Medical University, Ufa, Russia.
LIPID PROFILE AND CALCIUM AND PHOSPHATE METABOLISM IN PATIENTS WITH CORONARY HEART DISEASE AND AORTIC STENOSIS
Rodicheva O. A., Levashov S.Yu., Volkova E. G.
Aim. To compare the parameters of lipid profile and calcium and phosphate metabolism in patients with coronary heart disease (CHD) or CHD combined with aortic stenosis (AS).
Material and methods. The study included 147 CHD patients, aged over 60, with stable angina pectoris, (functional Class (FC) I–IV) and degenerative calcific AS. The comparison group included 41 CHD patients without calcification or stenosis of aortal valve. In all participants, the parameters of lipid profile and calcium and phosphate metabolism were assessed.
Results. Dyslipidemia was more prevalent in CHD patients without AS (85,4% vs. 68%). AS was linked to lower levels of total cholesterol and triglycerides. However, the combination of AS and mitral calcification was characterised by higher levels of low-density and non-high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL–CH and non- HDL–CH). More severe AS was associated with decreased levels of non-HDL–CH and elevated levels of parathyroid hormone, ionized calcium, and alkaline phosphatase. There was a direct correlation between the levels of parathyroid hormone and the presence of calcific AS (r=0,532; p=0,013).
Conclusion. The results obtained confirm the disturbance of lipid and calcium metabolism among patients with calcific AS, which suggests that this cardiac valve pathology could be regarded as a manifestation of ectopic calcinosis.
Key words: coronary heart disease, aortic stenosis, dyslipidemia, phosphorus and calcium metabolism, calcification.
Chelyabinsk State Medical Academy, Chelyabinsk, Russia.
DYNAMICS OF HEART RATE VARIABILITY AND VENTRICULAR ECTOPIC ACTIVITY IN IVABRADINE-TREATED PATIENTS WITH CHRONIC HEART FAILURE
Surovtseva M. V., Koziolova N. A., Chernyavina A. I.
Aim. In patients with chronic heart failure (CHF) of ischemic aetiology, to assess the dynamics of heart rate variability (HRV) and ventricular ectopic activity during the complex, ivabradine-including therapy.
Material and methods. In total, 90 patients with CHF and stable angina pectoris were examined. All participants were randomised into three equally sized groups: Group 1, receiving perindopril and ivabradine, as a part of the complex treatment; Group 2, receiving perindopril, bisoprolol, and ivabradine; and Group 3, receiving perindopril and bisoprolol. The therapy duration was 6 months. At baseline and in the end of the treatment phase, the following parameters were assessed: HRV measures (mean 24?hour hear rate (HR), SDNN, triangular index (HRVti), and mean weighted variation of rhythmogram (MWVR)); mean 24?hour QT, QTc, QTc dispersion (QTcd), and ventricular extrasystolia (VE).
Results. The treatment was associated with a significantly greater reduction of mean 24?hour HR in Groups 1 and 2 vs. Group 3 (p<0,001). In Group 3, the SDNN increase was significantly lower than in Groups 1 and 2 (p<0,001), where SDNN values were similar (p=0,091). Group 3 also demonstrated a significantly lower increase in MWVR, compared to Groups 1 and 2 (p<0,001). This parameter was similar in Groups 1 and 2 (p=0,065). The increase in HRVti was more pronounced in Group 2 than in Groups 1 and 3 (p<0,001). The reduction in the total 24?hour VE number was significantly more pronounced in Group 2 than in Groups 1 and 3 (p<0,001). The dynamics of 24?hour QTc and QTcd was similar across three groups.
Conclusion. Including ivabradine in the complex therapy of patients with CHF and stable angina pectoris was associated with improved HRV, no marked QTc or QTcd changes, and a moderate preventive effect on VE.
Key words: heart failure, heart rate variability, ventricular ectopic activity, complex treatment, ivabradine.
Academician E. A. Vagner Perm State Medical Academy, Perm, Russia.
COMBINATION THERAPY WITH ATENOLOL AND AMLODIPINE AND CORRECTION OF CARDIOVASCULAR AUTONOMIC DYSFUNCTION IN PATIENTS WITH ARTERIAL HYPERTENSION
Kiselev A. R. 1, Gridnev V. I. 1, Karavaev A. S. 2, Posnenkova O. M. 1, Shvartz V. A. 1, Ponomarenko V. I. 3, Prokhorov M. D. 3, Bezruchko B. P. 2
Aim. To assess the effects of the combination therapy with atenolol and amlodipine on the synchronisation of 0,1?Hz rhythms of heart rate variability (HRV) and distal vessel filling (DVF).
Material and methods. The study included 25 patients with Stage 1–2 arterial hypertension (AH), aged 58±8 years. The registration of 0,1?Hz oscillations in HRV and DVF was performed during the passive tilt test with spontaneous breathing; each test stage lasted for 10 minutes. Synchronisation was assessed by the phase difference between 0.1 Hz-rhythms in HRV and DVF. Frequency values of the HRV spectrum in LF and HF-ranges were also assessed. The duration of combination therapy was 8 weeks.
Results. In patients with AH and a markedly manifested autonomic dysfunction, the therapy with atenolol and amlodipine was associated with some improvement in the functional interaction between HRV and DVF 0,1?Hz rhythms. In the rest of AH patients, the treatment was linked to stable levels of cardiac 0,1?Hz regulation and slightly decreased synchronisation levels. All participants demonstrated an increase in the influence of respiratory parasympathetic effects.
Conclusion. The combination therapy with atenolol and amlodipine effectively corrected autonomic cardiovascular dysfunction in patients with Stage 1–2 AH.
Key words: autonomic regulation, synchronisation, 0,1?Hz rhythm, therapy, atenolol, amlodipine.
1Saratov Research Institute of Cardiology; 2N. G. Chernyshevskyi Saratov State University, Faculty of Nano- and Biomedical Technology; 3Saratov Branch, Institute of Radio Engineering and Electronics, Russian Academy of Sciences, Saratov, Russia.
METABOLIC EFFECTS OF VARIOUS ANTIHYPERTENSIVE DRUG COMBINATIONS
Alimova E. E., Leonova M. V., Belousov Yu. B.
Aim. To investigate the effects of various antihypertensive combinations on metabolic parameters in patients with arterial hypertension (AH).
Material and methods. The study included 144 AH patients and 7 groups of combination therapy: Group 1 (n=30) – trandolapril/verapamil SR; Group 2 (n=19) – perindopril/indapamide; Group 3 (n=15) – felodipine/metoprolol; Group 4 (n=20) – amlodipine/atenolol; Group 5 (n=20) – ACE inhibitor/hydrochlorothiazide (HCT); Group 6 (n=22) – telmisartan/lacidipine; and Group 7 (n=18) – metoprolol/HCT. In all participants, the parameters of lipid, carbohydrate, and purine metabolism were assessed. The effects of antihypertensive combinations on the risk of metabolic disturbances were studied using the factor regression analysis of quantitative and qualitative parameters (factors) as weighted ordered functions.
Results. The negative effects on the levels of cholesterol (CH), triglycerides (TG), and glucose were most pronounced for the combination of metoprolol and HCT, while the combination of amlodipine and atenolol demonstrated the weakest negative effects on CH and glucose levels. The levels of CH, TG, and uric acid were affected to the least extent by the combination therapy with ACE inhibitor and HCT, which was also associated with a reduction in glucose levels. The combination of trandolapril and verapamil SR had the largest positive effect on the levels of CH, TG, and uric acid, together with a beneficial effect on glucose levels. The combination therapy with perindopril and indapamide was the most beneficial for the levels of CH and TG, while the felodipine/metoprolol combination had the most pronounced positive effects on TC and glucose levels. The combination of lacidipine and telmisartan was the most beneficial for glucose levels, but negatively affected the levels of uric acid. The perindopril/indapamide combination demonstrated negative effects on glucose levels.
The full doses of diuretics and ?-blockers negatively affected the levels of TC and glucose, while the full doses of ACE inhibitors benefited these metabolic parameters.
Conclusion. The combination of a ?-blocker and HCT was the least desirable, in terms of metabolic safety, for the treatment of AH patients. Including ACE inhibitors in the combination therapy demonstrated beneficial metabolic effects. To minimise the pre-existing metabolic disturbances and prevent the negative metabolic effects of diuretics, full doses of ACE inhibitors are required.
Key words: Arterial hypertension, combination therapy, metabolic effects.
N. I. Pirogov Russian Research Medical University, Moscow, Russia.
COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF TOTAL DISEASE COSTS IN PATIENTS WITH ARTERIAL HYPERTENSION: THE RESULTS OF THE OPEN, MULTI-CENTRE OBSERVATIONAL PROGRAMME «PRORYV»
Tarlovskaya E. I., Mal’chikova S. V.
Aim. To compare total disease costs by the treatment regimen and blood pressure (BP) control levels among patients with arterial hypertension (AH).
Material and methods. Pharmacoeconomic analyses of total disease costs were performed for two treatment regimens and 4115 patients participating in the open, multi-centre observational programme “PRORYV”: a retrospective cost analysis for the 12 pre-inclusion weeks and a prospective cost analysis for the 12 weeks of the programme participation.
Results. The treatment with a fixed-dose combination of perindopril and amlodipine (Prestance) was more expensive for the patients than the pre-inclusion treatment (955,15±849,96 vs. 566,78±432,70 RUB per person per month). However, total direct costs for the Prestance-treated patients were 2,6 times lower (3164,07 vs. 8245,33 RUB per person for 12 weeks). Total treatment costs were also lower: 3463,47 vs. 14226,03 RUB per person for 12 weeks, respectively. Switching to a more effective treatment regimen (Prestance) modifies the distribution of the therapy costs, due to decreased incidence and duration of hospitalisation episodes and reduced number of medical visits and ambulance calls.
Conclusion. The reduction in the AH treatment costs and modification of their distribution provides an opportunity for a wider use of more effective medications. Switching one patient from ineffective treatment to Prestance covers the costs of additional treatment of 310% patients (n=12757) for 12 weeks.
Key words: total disease costs, arterial hypertension.
Kirov State Medical Academy, Kirov, Russia.
SALT CONSUMPTION. CARDIOVASCULAR SYSTEM AS A TARGET ORGAN. PART III
The review discusses the clinical impact of salt consumption on the cardiovascular system status. The therapeutic potential of reduced salt intake, in order to facilitate regression of cardiovascular disturbances, is also discussed. Daily consumption of standard or increased amounts of salt results in the complex multilevel changes of cardiac chambers, arterial and venous vessels, and microcirculation in individuals with normal and elevated blood pressure (BP). The underlying mechanisms, both hemodynamic and non-hemodynamic, are present even in normotensive people. Reduced salt consumption is associated with the regression of structural cardiovascular disturbances.
Key words: arterial hypertension, salt consumption, cardiovascular system, target organ.
N. I. Pirogov Russian Research Medical University, Post-diploma Medical Education Faculty, Therapy Department, Moscow, Russia.
RESTENOSIS AND IN-STENT STENOSIS: PATHOGENETIC MECHANISMS AND PROGNOSTIC MARKERS
Berezovskaya G. A. 1, Ganyukov V. I. 2, Karpenko M. A. 1
The paper focuses on various aspects of restenosis and in-stent thrombosis, as complications of percutaneous coronary intervention. The complex assessment of this problem is warranted, as it remains far from being resolved, despite the recent technical and therapeutic advances.
Key words: restenosis and in-stent thrombosis, platelets, apoptosis, fibronectin, leptin, antiaggregants.
1V. A. Almazov Federal Centre of Heart, Blood, and Endocrinology, St. Petersburg; 2Research Institute of Complex Cardiovascular Problems, Siberian Branch, Russian Academy of Medical Sciences, Kemerovo, Russia.
David M. Aronov
Rafael G. Oganov
Veniamin N. Fatenkov
Anatoly V. Govorin
X Russian Research Conference with international participation «Rehabilitation and Secondary Prevention in Cardiology»
Jubilee All-Russian Conference «Noncommunicable Disease and Population Health in Russia»
Russ J Cardiol 2012, 6 (98): 100-104
Russian Journal of Cardiology 2012, 5(97)
Russ J Cardiol 2012, 4 (96): 5
CARDIOVASCULAR MORTALITY IN 12 RUSSIAN FEDERATION REGIONS – PARTICIPANTS OF THE “CARDIOVASCULAR DISEASE EPIDEMIOLOGY IN RUSSIAN REGIONS” STUDY
Shalnova S. A. 1, Konradi A. O. 2, Karpov Yu. A. 3, Kontsevaya A. V. 1, Deev A. D. 1, Kapustina A. V. 1, Khudyakov M. B. 1, Shlyakhto E. V. 2, Boytsov S. A. 1
Similar to most developed countries, cardiovascular disease (CVD) is a leading cause of mortality in Russia. The levels of CVD mortality in working-age Russian men and women are the highest in Europe and characterised by marked fluctuations. Up to 60% of fatal CVD cases could be explained by the population levels of cardiovascular risk factors. Presently, however, no data are available to demonstrate the varied prevalence of these risk factors in Russia. The information on the actual health status and cardiovascular risk factor levels in the Russian population could be obtained only in epidemiological studies. Therefore, the Russian Ministry of Health and Social Development initiated the study “Cardiovascular Disease Epidemiology in Russian Regions”. This study involves 12 Russian regions which differ by their climatic, geographic, economic, and demographic characteristics. This analysis presents the official levels of CVD mortality in respective Russian regions and the associations between mortality and regional per capita income. A marked inter-regional heterogeneity in fatal CVD levels, as well as a significant regional gradient in CVD mortality by income, demonstrates the urgent need for the wide implementation of risk factor monitoring across the Russian regions.
Russ J Cardiol 2012, 5 (97): 6-11.
Key words: epidemiology, cardiovascular disease, Russian regions, mortality, per capita income.
1State Research Centre for Preventive Medicine, Moscow; 2V. A. Almazov Heart, Blood, and Endocrinology Federal Centre, St. Petersburg; 3Russian Cardiology Scientific and Clinical Complex, Moscow, Russia.
TREATMENT SPECIFICS AND CLINICAL OUTCOMES IN PATIENTS WITH ACUTE CORONARY SYNDROME AND ANAEMIA: RECORD REGISTRY RESULTS
Erlikh A. D., Gratsianskyi N. A., on behalf of the RECORD Registry participants
Aim. To analyse the treatment characteristics and specifics in patients with acute coronary syndrome (ACS) and anaemia, based on the data from the Russian ACS registry (RECORD).
Material and methods. The recruitment of the patients (November 2007 – February 2008) was performed, using the independent Russian ACS register RECORD.
Results. The study included 796 patients (mean age 64,7±12,1 years; 57,2% men). ACS with ST segment elevation (ST ACS) was registered in 246 patients (30,1%), while ACS without ST segment elevation (non-ST ACS) was observed in 550 patients (69,9%). Anaemia at admission was registered in 228 participants (29,0%). The anaemia group had a higher proportion of elderly patients – those with diabetes mellitus, heart failure in anamnesis and at admission, and high risk by the GRACE scale. These patients were less often hospitalised in “invasive” hospitals. In hospital, anaemic patients less often received clopidogrel and underwent reperfusion in ST ACS or invasive procedures in non-ST ACS. Low baseline levels of haemoglobin (<110 g/l) independently predicted the risk of in-hospital death (odds ratio 4,6; 95% confidence interval 1,9–11,2; p=0,001). Anaemic patients had significantly higher risk of in-hospital death, compared to their non-anaemic peers (10% vs. 5,2%; p=0,012). In the group of anaemic patients with non-ST ACS, the risk of adverse outcomes (death or new myocardial infarction during hospitalisation) was significantly lower in those who underwent percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) (4,1% vs. 18,2%; p=0,04) or PCI and coronary artery bypass graft surgery (3,6% vs. 17,6%; p=0,013). However, in non-anaemic patients, no such difference was observed: 5,8% vs. 4,2% (p=0,6) and 5,6% vs. 4,1% (p=0,6), respectively.
Conclusion. First, in RECORD Registry participants, haemoglobin levels <110 g/l independently predicted the risk of in-hospital death. Second, anaemic patients were characterised by a higher number of risk factors, lower rates of invasive procedures, and a significantly higher risk of in-hospital death. Third, in patients with non-ST ACS and anaemia, the absence of coronary interventions was linked to a significantly higher risk of death or new MI during hospitalisation.
Russ J Cardiol 2012, 5 (97): 12-16.
Key words: acute coronary syndrome, registry, anaemia.
Clinical Cardiology Department, Research Institute of Physico-Chemical Medicine, Russian Federal Medic-Biological Agency, Moscow, Russia.
PROGNOSIS IN PATIENTS WITH ST SEGMENT ELEVATION MYOCARDIAL INFARCTION, IN REGARD TO THE PRESENCE OF TYPE 2 DIABETES MELLITUS AND SELECTED TREATMENT STRATEGY IN THE ACUTE PERIOD
Belen’kova Yu. A. 1,2, Tavlueva E. V. 1, Karetnikova V. N. 2,1, Zykov M. V. 2,1, Kashtalap V. V. 1,2, Ganyukov V. N. 1, Barbarash O. L. 1,2
Aim. To assess the results of endovascular revascularisation in patients with acute myocardial infarction (AMI) and ST segment elevation (STEMI), in regard to the presence of Type 2 diabetes mellitus (DM?2), in the real-world clinical settings.
Material and methods. The study included 423 STEMI patients, with or without concomitant DM?2. In the DM?2 group (n=77, 18,20%), percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) was performed in 35 individuals (45,5%); in participants without DM?2, the respective figure was 54,91% (n=190). The follow-up period lasted for one year. The adverse long-term prognosis included repeated non-fatal MI and/or stroke, cardiac death, unstable angina, and decompensated heart failure (combined end-point).
Results. In patients who underwent PCI, the presence of DM?2 did not affect substantially (p>0,05) the incidence of adverse clinical outcomes: it reached 28,57% (n=10) in participants with STEMI and DM?2 and 30,53% (n=58) in STEMI patients without DM?2. However, among individuals who did not undergo PCI, DM?2 was associated with increased incidence of the combined end-point: 52,38% (n=22) among those with STEMI and DM?2 vs. 42,95% (n=67) among those with STEMI only. Repeated interventions due to stent thrombosis (n=2; 5,71%) or stent restenosis (n=4; 11,43%) were non-significantly more frequent among patients with DM?2, compared to the non-diabetic patients (1,05% (n=2) and 3,68% (n=7), respectively). Therefore, PCI in STEMI patients with DM?2 substantially improved the long-term prognosis, halving the incidence of the combined end-point. By contrast, this incidence was reduced only by 1,5 among patients who did not undergo PCI. To summarise, the presence of DM?2 is associated with adverse long-term prognosis only in STEMI patients who do not undergo PCI.
Conclusion. The presence of DM?2 significantly aggravates long-term prognosis in AMI patients who do not undergo PCI.
Key words: myocardial infarction, diabetes mellitus, percutaneous coronary intervention.
1Research Institute of Complex Cardiovascular Problems, Siberian Branch, Russian Academy of Medical Sciences, Kemerovo; 2Kemerovo State Medical Academy, Kemerovo, Russia.
EFFECTS OF ENDOVASCULAR INTERVENTION VS. THROMBOLYSIS ON INTRACARDIAC HEMODYNAMICS AND LEFT VENTRICULAR REMODELLING IN ACUTE MYOCARDIAL INFARCTION
Makoeva M.Kh., Semitko S. P., Avtandilov A. G.
Aim. To assess the dynamics of myocardial contractility, geometry, and diastolic function in patients with acute myocardial infarction (AMI) after endovascular intervention vs. thrombolysis.
Material and methods. In total, 60 patients (mean age 48,9±2 years) with AMI and ST segment elevation (STEMI) were examined within the first 6 hours from the AMI onset. All participants were divided into three groups: Group I – 22 patients with primary stenting; Group II – 22 patients with the stenting within 24 hours after successful thrombolysis; and Group III – 16 patients with effective thrombolysis and no endovascular intervention. At Day 1 and 7, all participants underwent Doppler echocardiography with the assessment of left ventricular (LV) diastolic function, LV size and volume parameters, total and segmental myocardial contractility (biplane Simpson’s method).
Results. According to the comparative analysis results, LV volume parameters did not deteriorate substantially only in Group I. By Day 7, Group III demonstrated a restrictive type of LV diastolic dysfunction, persistent reduction of ejection fraction, and more pronounced disturbances of local LV contractility, compared to Groups I and II.
Conclusion. In STEMI patients, primary stenting of the infarct-related artery more effectively prevents early pathological LV remodelling, compared to successful thrombolysis or post-thrombolysis endovascular intervention.
Key words: acute myocardial infarction, endovascular intervention, remodelling. Russian Medical Academy of Post-diploma Education; City Clinical Hospital No. 81, Moscow, Russia.
COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF LEFT VENTRICULAR VOLUME PARAMETERS BY VISUALISATION METHOD IN PATIENTS WITH MYOCARDIAL INFARCTION
Yaroshchuk N. A. 1, Kochmasheva V. V. 2, Dityatev V. P. 3
Aim. To investigate the parameters of systolic function in patients with acute Q?wave myocardial infarction (AMI), comparing the results of two-dimensional echocardiography (2D EchoCG), three-dimensional real-time EchoCG (3D EchoCG), and computed tomography (CT) as a verification method. To study the parameters of dyssynchrony, which develops due to mechanic myocardial heterogeneity in AMI patients.
Material and methods. In total, 82 patients (61 men and 21 women; mean age 52±21 years) were examined within the first 6 days of AMI. The comparison group, comparable by age and sex, included 65 individuals without clinically manifested cardiovascular pathology. All participants underwent standard examinations, electrocardiography (ECG), 24?hour ECG monitoring, EchoCG, angiography, and CT. Mechanic dyssynchrony was assessed by dispersion of the time to the minimal volume of 16 segments (strain dyssynchrony index, SDI).
Results. The difference for end-diastolic volume (EDV; 2D vs. 3D EchoCG and 2D EchoCG vs. CT) was statistically significant (respective p?values 0,014 and <0,005). Ejection fraction (EF) and local contractility index (LCI) were significantly different for 2D vs. 3D EchoCG (p=0,0002 and <0,005, respectively). EF values were similar for 3D EchoCG and CT (p=0,3). SDI values in AMI patients were significantly higher than in the comparison group participants (6,8±2,7% vs. 2,9±1,6%; p<0,001). In patients with anterior AMI, the SDI differences were observed for one vs. two-vessel (p<0,05) and one vs. three-vessel pathology (p<0,005), but not for two vs. three-vessel pathology. Patients with inferior AMI did not demonstrate any marked differences in SDI values. Among patients with SDI >5,1, the incidence of clinical complications (pulmonary oedema, ventricular fibrillation, high-grade atrioventricular block) was higher by 55% (p<0,05; r=0,35). SDI was also associated with high-grade ventricular arrhythmias (p<0,005; r=0,48).
Conclusion. Three-dimensional visualization provides an opportunity to assess systolic function parameters more accurately. SDI values were linked to the number of affected coronary vessels. The significance of the observed differences was related to AMI localization. SDI could be regarded as a determinant of both mechanical myocardial heterogeneity and the risk of clinical and arrhythmic complications in AMI.
Key words: myocardial infarction, systolic function, echocardiography, index of systolic dyssynchrony.
1City Clinical Hospital No. 3, Kamensk-Uralsky; 2Sverdlovsk Region Clinical Hospital № 1, Yekaterinburg; 3Ural State Medical Academy, Yekaterinburg, Russia.
GASTRO-DUODENAL ULCERS AND EROSIONS ASSOCIATED WITH UNSTABLE ANGINA: CLINICAL AND MORPHOLOGICAL FEATURES AND THE ROLE OF PATHOPHYSIOLOGICAL FACTORS IN THEIR DEVELOPMENT
Osadchyi V. A., Sergeev A. N., Rasskazova Yu. V., Bukanova T. Yu.
Aim. To investigate clinical and morphological features of gastro-duodenal ulcers and erosions associated with unstable angina (UA) and to study the role of the disturbances of gastric secretion, microcirculation, and haemostasis in their development
Material and methods. The study included 82 UA patients with gastro-duodenal ulcers or erosions confirmed by the clinical findings and endoscopy results. Parameters of gastric secretion, gastro-duodenal tissue blood flow, systemic microcirculation, and haemostasis were assessed with the methods adapted to the pathology of interest.
Results. Acute erosions were found in 73,2% of UA patients, acute ulcers in 11,0%, and recurrent ulcers in 15,8%. Clinical manifestations of acute erosions typically included various dyspeptic symptoms, or, less often, diffuse epigastric pain during the first treatment days. For acute ulcers, moderate abdominal pain syndrome was often less intense than the gradually receding and disappearing symptoms of gastric dyspepsia. Recurrent ulcers were characterised by the combination of moderate abdominal pain, often without a typical circadian rhythm, and dyspeptic symptoms, typically persisting throughout the first two weeks of treatment. The symptoms of minor gastro-duodenal haemorrhage were registered in 33,3% of UA patients with acute ulcers, 11,8% of the participants with acute erosions, and 7,7% of the individuals with recurrent ulcers. The development of gastro-duodenal erosions and ulcers in UA patients was associated with increased acidic and peptic gastric secretion, reduced production of protective mucus, and disturbed blood flow in gastro-duodenal tissues, which could be regarded as a manifestation of Stage 1–2 haemorrhagic syndrome.
Conclusion. Gastro-duodenal erosions and ulcers in UA patients have some morphological, clinical, and pathogenetic features which should be taken into account in order to facilitate the early diagnostics and adequate choice of pharmacological therapy.
Key words: unstable angina, gastro-duodenal ulcers and erosions, clinical features, disorders of gastric secretion, microcirculation, and haemostasis.
LONG-TERM TRENDS AND PREDICTORS OF THE CLINICAL COURSE AND OUTCOME IN ACUTE CORONARY SYNDROME
Provotorov V. M. 1, Shevchenko I. I. 2
Aim. To analyse the long-term trends in the acute coronary syndrome (ACS) outcomes; to identify the predictors of ACS clinical course and outcomes using a discrimination model.
Material and methods. From 1993 to 2011, over 31000 patients with suspected ACS, including 8686 patients with acute myocardial infarction (AMI), were hospitalised to the Acute Cardiac Care Unit of the Voronezh City Clinical Hospital of Emergency Medical Care No. 10. The present analysis includes 565 patients (311 men, 55%).
Results. Over 18 years of the follow-up, no significant increasing or decreasing trend in in-hospital mortality was observed. In all hospitalised patients, the mean level of in-hospital mortality was 3,91% per year; in ACS patients, it was 13,65%. The outcome predictors included age, degree of myocardial damage, Killip class, the degree of ST segment deviation, ST segment depression, and corrected QT interval dispersion. A discrimination model was created, which identified the groups with poor, ambiguous, and good prognosis. Overall, the classification matrix was accurate in 96,4% of the patients.
Conclusion. The long-term trend in the levels of in-hospital mortality among ACS patients failed to demonstrate any marked reduction. The proposed discrimination model accurately predicted the clinical course and outcomes of ACS.
Key words: acute coronary syndrome, Killip class, discrimination model, trends and predictors of ACS clinical course and outcomes.
1N. N. Burdenko Voronezh State Medical Academy, Voronezh; 2Voronezh City Clinical Hospital of Emergency Medical Care No. 10, Voronezh, Russia.
ANTIHYPERTENSIVE THERAPY EFFECTS ON REGULATORY AND ADAPTIVE STATUS OF PATIENTS WITH FUNCTIONAL CLASS I–II CHRONIC HEART FAILURE
Kanorskyi S. G. 1, Tregubov V. G. 2*, Pokrovskyi V. M. 1
Aim. To identify the optimal therapeutic strategy in Functional Class (FC) I–II chronic heart failure (CHF), in accordance with the effects of different drug classes on the regulatory and adaptive status (RAS).
Material and methods. The study included 200 patients with FC I–II CHF, who were randomised into two groups. The first group included 104 patients (mean age 52,8±1,9 years) who received metoprolol succinate extended-release in the mean daily dose of 87,7±7,6 mg. The second group included 96 patients (mean age 55,0±1,4 years) receiving quinapril in the mean daily dose of 21,0±5,5 mg. At baseline and 6 months later, 24?hour blood pressure monitoring, the cardio-respiratory synchronism test, treadmill test with the VO2max assessment, echocardiography, and the measurement of the plasma levels of N?terminal pro-brain natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP) were performed.
Results. Both medications improved the parameters of left ventricular (LV) diastolic function. However, only quinapril effectively improved LV structure, geometry, and systolic function. Only in the quinapril group, exercise capacity and stress test VO2max increased, while the reduction in NT-proBNP levels, together with the improvement in RAS parameters, was more pronounced.
Conclusion. Compared to metoprolol succinate, quinapril demonstrated more pronounced positive effects on cardiac structure and function, as well as on RAS parameters, in patients with FC I–II CHF.
Key words: chronic heart failure, metoprolol succinate, quinapril, cardio-respiratory synchronism, regulatory and adaptive status.
1Kuban State Medical University, Krasnodar; 2City Clinical Hospital No. 2, Krasnodar, Russia.
MARKERS OF INCREASED RISK OF SUDDEN CARDIAC DEATH IN PATIENTS WITH STABLE ANGINA AND ARTERIAL HYPERTENSION: ASSOCIATION WITH THE PROGRESSION OF LEFT VENTRICULAR HYPERTROPHY
Surovtseva M. V. 1, Koziolova N. A. 1, Chernyavina A. I. 1, Shatunova I. M. 2
Aim. To analyse the markers of sudden cardiac death (SCD) in patients with stable angina and arterial hypertension (AH), in regard to the progression of left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH).
Material and methods. In total, 90 patients with Functional Class II–III stable angina, AH, and LVH were examined. The following parameters were assessed: left ventricular myocardial mass index (LVMMI), left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF), heart rate variability (HRV) parameters (SDNN, HRVi, CBBP); mean 24?hour HR levels, QT and QTc intervals, QT dispersion (QTds), ectopic ventricular activity; mean 24?hour blood pressure (BP) levels; levels of serum markers of myocardial collagenolysis and N?terminal pro-brain natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP).
Results. In all participants, LVEF was preserved, without significant difference between the tertiles. The increase in LVMMI was linked to a significant increase in the total number of ventricular extrasystoles (VE) over 24 hours (p<0,001) and the mean number of paired (p<0,008) and polytopic (p<0,011) VE per patient; reduced HRV, based on the SDNN dynamics (p=0,004); increased mean 24-hour pulse BP (p=0,003); elevated levels of tissue inhibitors of matrix metalloproteinase-1 (p=0,017) and NT-proBNP; and decreased levels of procollagen type I C-terminal telopeptide (p=0,011).
Conclusion. In patients with stable angina, AH, and preserved LVEF, the LVH progression is associated with an increased number of SCD markers: increased ventricular ectopic activity, reduced HRV, increased mean 24-hour BP, and elevated levels of NT-proBNP and serum markers of myocardial fibrosis, which confirms the increase in the risk of SCD in parallel to the increase in the LVMMI.
Key words: stable angina, arterial hypertension, left ventricular hypertrophy, sudden death markers.
1Academician E. A. Vagner Perm State Medical Academy, Perm; 2Gazprom Polyclinic, Moscow, Russia.
EFFECTIVENESS OF THE SEATTLE HEART FAILURE MODEL IN PREDICTING THE LONG-TERM PROGNOSIS AMONG MEN WITH CORONARY HEART DISEASE
Krasnova O. A., Sitnikova M. Yu., Ivanov S. G., Fedotov P. A.
Aim. To assess the life prognosis in patients with chronic heart failure (CHF) – male residents of St. Petersburg – according to the Seattle Heart Failure Model (SHFM) and compare it to the observed survival.
Material and methods. A retrospective survival analysis was performed in 135 patients with Functional Class (FC) II–IV CHF of ischemic aetiology. At baseline, anamnestic, clinical, functional, and instrumental data were collected. Observed five-year all-cause mortality was compared to that predicted by SHFM. Statistical analyses were performed in SPSS 15.0.
Results. Over the five years of the follow-up (60 months), 67% of the participants (n=88) survived. Observed one-, two-, and five-year survival in FC II CHF patients was 95%, 92%, and 74%, respectively. In FC III CHF patients, the respective figures were 92%, 85%, and 61%. Predicted one-, two-, and five-year survival, according to the mean risk estimates by SHFM, was 98%, 95%, and 89% for FC II CHF individuals, and 96%, 92%, and 80%, respectively, for the FC III CHF participants. Therefore, for the first five years of the follow-up, the SHFM predictions exceeded the observed survival by 3–15% and 4–19% in CHF patients with FC II and FC III, respectively (p1,2<0,05). There was a statistically significant association between the observed survival and smoking, concomitant chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and hypertension duration before the CHF manifestation.
Conclusion. The SHFM markedly overestimated the observed survival in male patients with systolic CHF – St. Petersburg residents. Therefore, in this population, this instrument cannot be recommended for the CHF prognosis assessment. There is a need to develop a survival model for Russian patients with CHF, which would incorporate additional determinants of adverse prognosis.
Key words: long-term prognosis, systolic heart failure, Seattle Heart Failure Model.
V. A. Almazov Federal Centre of Heart, Blood, and Endocrinology, St. Petersburg, Russia.
“WAITING LIST” PROBLEMS: REASONS FOR PATIENTS’ REFUSAL OF PLANNED CORONARY ARTERY BYPASS GRAFT SURGERY
Sumin A. N., Osokina A. V., Kochergina A. M.
Aim. To identify the reasons for the patients’ refusal to undergo a planned coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) surgery, after being put on the “waiting list” for the intervention.
Material and methods. From January 2010 to March 2011, 1,057 patients (100%) were put on the CABG “waiting list” of the Research Institute of Complex Cardiovascular Problems, Kemerovo. Due to various reasons, 74 individuals refused to undergo the surgery (7%). The reasons for refusal were identified during a telephone interview of 65 patients; for 51 (4,8%), the refusal was confirmed. The final analysis included 51 patients – the main group, who refused the intervention due to various reasons. Clinical and anamnestic parameters of these patients were compared to those of the control group (51 consecutive patients hospitalised for the planned CABG). For both groups, the primary medical documentation was used to determine the waiting period between establishing the need for CABG and the planned hospitalisation, as well as to record the results of coronary artery angiography (CAG). In addition, we analysed the results of echocardiography (EchoCG; left ventricular ejection fraction, LVEF) and the levels of creatinine, urea, potassium, sodium, glucose, haemoglobin, white and red blood cells, and erythrocyte sedimentation rate, measured before CAG.
Results. The most prevalent refusal reasons were fear of the intervention (35,3%) and good self-perceived health (33,3%). The third most common reason was no explanation of the intervention importance to the patient by the doctor (9,8%). In the control group, the hospitalisation for planned CABG significantly more often took place within one month after CAG, compared to the main group (n=17 and 6, respectively; p<0,01). By contrast, in the main group, hospitalisation for CABG was significantly more often planned for the sixth month after CAG, compared to the control group (n=12 and 4, respectively; p=0,02). According to the multivariate analysis results, waiting for the intervention for longer than one month was associated with an increased likelihood of refusal.
Conclusion. The prevalence of CABG refusal among “waiting list” patients was 4,8%. The main reasons for refusal included no symptoms of coronary heart disease progression, fear of intervention, and no explanation of the intervention necessity. The key additional factor associated with refusal was the waiting time over one month.
Key words: coronary heart disease, coronary artery bypass graft surgery, waiting list order.
Research Institute of Complex Cardiovascular Problems, Siberian Branch, Russian Academy of Medical Sciences, Kemerovo, Russia.
SLEEP APNOEA SYNDROME EFFECTS ON CLINICAL COURSE AND QUALITY OF LIFE IN PATIENTS WITH CORONARY HEART DISEASE
Shaidyuk O. Yu.
Aim. The sleep apnoea syndrome (SAS) is a widely prevalent but under-studied condition which might aggravate the clinical course of various diseases. This study aimed to assess the influence of SAS on the clinical course of coronary heart disease (CHD) and quality of life (QoL) of CHD patients.
Material and methods. The study included 186 patients with various CHD forms and 24 controls with angiographically confirmed absence of CHD. The patients were divided into groups of effort angina, post-infarction cardiosclerosis without chronic heart failure (CHF), and with Functional Class (FC) II–III CHF (NYHA classification). All participants underwent cardiorespiratory monitoring and QoL assessment (WHOQOL-BREF and SAQL questionnaires). Based on the SAS severity, two subgroups with low (0–10 per hour) and high (11–30 per hour) index of apnoeahypopnoea (AHI) were defined.
Results. SAS affected the clinical course and QoL to the greatest extent in patients with CHF. Among effort angina patients, this effect was weaker, while no negative impact of SAS was registered in patients with post-infarction cardiosclerosis without CHF.
Conclusion. The management of CHD patients should incorporate the screening for possible SAS and target SAS, if present, as one of the factors aggravating the clinical course of the main pathology.
Key words: sleep apnoea, coronary heart disease, quality of life.
CARDIOMETABOLIC RISK AND MODERN METHODS OF ITS CORRECTION IN PREGNANT WOMEN WITH CHRONIC ARTERIAL HYPERTENSION
Padyganova A. V., Chicherina E. N.
Aim. To assess the effects of antihypertensive therapy on the dynamics of cardiometabolic risk factors among pregnant women with chronic arterial hypertension (AH) in the second trimester.
Material and methods. In total, 37 pregnant women with chronic AH were examined. The clinical and anamnestic data were analysed, and the levels of office blood pressure, body mass index, blood lipids, systemic inflammation markers (C?reactive protein, fibrinogen), and glucose were measured. Subclinical pathology of target organs was assessed via the measurement of left ventricular myocardial mass index (echocardiography), glomerular filtration rate, and microalbuminuria.
Results. Slow-release nifedipine therapy improved the parameters of lipid metabolism and target organ status. Metoprolol therapy was linked to an improvement in cardiovascular and renal structure and function. However, metildopa treatment was associated with some increase in glucose levels and a significant elevation in total cholesterol levels.
Conclusion. The complex assessment of cardiometabolic risk factors and target organ status is particularly important for a differential choice of antihypertensive therapy in pregnant women.
Key words: cardiometabolic risk, pregnancy, chronic arterial hypertension.
HORMONAL HOMEOSTASIS IN FEMALE CORONARY HEART DISEASE PATIENTS FROM DIFFERENT AGE GROUPS
Kasumova F. N.
Aim. To perform a clinical and epidemiological survey of women with coronary heart disease (CHD) from different age groups, in comparison with healthy people without CHD.
Material and methods. We examined 122 women of childbearing or menopausal age (20–69 years), including 102 patients with clinical and epidemiological evidence of CHD. The control group included 20 healthy women. In all participants, the levels of the following hormones were measured: estradiol (E), progesterone (P), testosterone (T), cortisol (C), and estradiol: testosterone ratio (E: T).
Results. Hormonal homeostasis disturbances, typical for each age group, were identified. The levels of sex hormones could be regarded as additional risk factors of CHD in women of childbearing age and menopausal women.
Conclusion. In the age of 30–39 years, decreased E and P levels are combined with elevated T. Among 40–49-year-old women, E decreases and T increases, without any marked P dynamics. In age groups of 50–59 and 60–69 years, P levels are substantially decreased, without significant changes in E and T levels.
Key words: coronary heart disease, female sex hormones, hormonal homeostasis.
A. A. Aliev Azerbaijani State Institute of Post-diploma Medical Education, Therapy Department, Baku, Azerbaijan.
CENTRAL HEMODYNAMICS IN ELDERLY PATIENTS WITH CHRONIC HEART FAILURE: THE EFFECTS OF COMPLEX TREATMENT INCLUDING PERINDOPRIL/INDAPAMIDE AND LOW-INTENSITY LASER THERAPY
Filippova T. V., Mel’nikova Yu. A., Efremushkin G. G.
Aim. To assess and compare the effects of perindopril/indapamide (Noliprel) and low-intensity laser therapy (LILT) on central hemodynamic parameters in elderly patients with chronic heart failure (CHF).
Material and methods. In total, 160 CHF patients, aged 60–96 years, were randomised into four groups. Group 1, “Noliprel” (n=26), received Noliprel and other medications; Group 2, “LILT” (n=54), received LILT and other medications (not Noliprel); Group 3, “Noliprel + LILT” (n=27), was administered complex treatment with LILT and Noliprel; and Group 4, a comparison group (n=53), received pharmacological therapy only. At baseline and 20 days after the start of the treatment, central hemodynamic parameters were assessed, using Doppler echocardiography method.
Results. At baseline, our participants typically had normal systolic function, in combination with diastolic dysfunction and increased heart chamber size. By the end of the treatment phase, reverse cardiac remodelling was observed in Noliprelreceiving patients. In the “LILT” group, myocardial function improvement was not accompanied by marked morphological changes. The combination of Noliprel and LILT had a complementary beneficial effect on intracardiac hemodynamics, particularly in Functional Class III CHF.
Conclusion. In elderly CHF patients, including Noliprel and LILT into the complex CHF treatment demonstrated a larger positive effect on central hemodynamics, compared to the standard treatment.
Key words: chronic heart failure, elderly age, central hemodynamics, Noliprel, lowintensity laser therapy.
Altay State Medical University, Barnaul, Russia.
ORAL TREATMENT WITH NICORANDIL AT DISCHARGE IS ASSOCIATED WITH REDUCED MORTALITY AFTER ACUTE MYOCARDIAL INFARCTION
Sakata Y. 1, Nakatani D. 1, Shimizu M. 1, Suna Sh. 1, Usami M. 1, Matsumoto S. 1, Hara M. 1, Sumitsuji S. 1,2, Kawano Sh. 3, Iwakura K. 4, Hamasaki T. 5, Sato H. 6, Nanto Sh. 1,2, Hori M. 7, Komuro I. 1, on Behalf of the Osaka Acute Coronary Insufficiency Study (OACIS) Investigators.
Background. Previous studies showed that nicorandil can reduce coronary events in patients with coronary artery disease. However, it is unclear whether oral nicorandil treatment may reduce mortality following acute myocardial infarction (AMI).
Methods and Results. We examined the impact of oral nicorandil treatment on cardiovascular events in 1846 AMI patients who were hospitalized within 24 h after AMI onset, treated with emergency percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI), and discharged alive. Patients were divided into those with (Group N, n = 535) and without (Group C, n = 1311) oral nicorandil treatment at discharge. No significant differences in age, gender, body mass index, prevalence of coronary risk factors, or history of myocardial infarction existed between the two groups; however, higher incidences of multi-vessel disease, and a lower rate of successful PCI were observed in Group N. During the median follow-up of 709 (340–1088) days, allcause mortality rate was 43% lower in Group N compared with Group C (2.4% vs. 4.2%, stratified log-rank test: p = 0.0358). Multivariate Cox regression analysis revealed that nicorandil treatment was associated with all-cause death after discharge (Hazard ratio 0.495, 95% CI: 0.254–0.966, p = 0.0393), but not for other cardiovascular events such as re-infarction, admission for heart failure, stroke and arrhythmia.
Conclusions. The results suggest that oral administration of nicorandil is associated with reduced incidence of death in the setting of secondary prevention after AMI.
Keywords: nicorandil, acute myocardial, infarction, mortality, secondary prevention.
Adopted translation from Journal of Cardiology (2012) 59, 14–21.
1Department of Cardiovascular Medicine, Osaka University Graduate School of Medicine, Suita, Osaka, Japan; 2Department of Advanced Cardiovascular Therapeutics, Osaka University Graduate School of Medicine, Suita, Osaka, Japan; 3Cardiovascular Division, Kawachi General Hospital, Higashi-osaka, Osaka, Japan; 4Division of Cardiology, Sakurabashi Watanabe Hospital, Osaka, Osaka, Japan; 5Department of Biomedical Statistics, Osaka University Graduate School of Medicine, Suita, Osaka, Japan; 6School of Human Welfare Studies Health Care Center and Clinic, Kwansei Gakuin University, Nishinomiya, Osaka, Japan; 7Osaka Medical Center for Cancer and Cardiovascular Disease, Osaka, Osaka, Japan.
BLOOD PRESSURE VARIABILITY AS A NEW TARGET FOR ANTIHYPERTENSIVE THERAPY: FOCUS ON THE FIXED COMBINATION OF AMLODIPINE AND PERINDOPRIL ARGININ
Gorbunov V. M.
The assessment of blood pressure variability (BPV) based on the office BP measurements (“visit-to-visit” BPV) has recently gained more attention. A retrospective meta-analysis demonstrated that in the cohorts of patients after stroke or transient ischemic attack (n?2450), this parameter strongly and independently from mean BP levels predicted the risk of stroke. In the ASCOT-BPLA study, the “visit-to-visit” variability of systolic BP was a strong predictor of stroke and coronary events, as confirmed by the results of the multivariate regression analyses adjusting for conventional risk factors. Throughout the follow-up period, BPV values were significantly lower in the amlodipine/perindopril group, compared to the atenolol/diuretic group, which was associated with a reduced risk of cardiovascular complications. BPV appears a promising new target for antihypertensive therapy. Statistically significant BPV reduction denotes the stability of the treatment effects and other beneficial pharmacodynamic effects. The most extensive evidence base exists for the combination of amlodipine and perindopril.
Russ J Cardiol 2012, 5 (97): 98-104.
Key words: arterial hypertension, blood pressure variability, amlodipine, perindopril.
State Research Centre for Preventive Medicine, Moscow, Russia.
RENAISSANCE OF ARTERIAL HYPERTENSION MONOTHERAPY – THE POSITION OF THIAZIDE DIURETICS
Adasheva T. V., Zadionchenko V. S., Grineva Z. O., Shchikota A. M.
The importance of the optimal choice of antihypertensive treatment strategy is currently widely recognised. The evidence obtained over the last five years justifies the revision of the traditional approach towards the tactics of mono- and combination antihypertensive therapy. It is essential to ensure that the patient-centred tactics of mono- and combination therapy choice is based on the detailed analysis of the clinical status.
Russ J Cardiol 2012, 5 (97): 105-111.
Key words: arterial hypertension, therapy.
Moscow State Medico-Stomatological University, Department of Therapy and Family Medicine, Moscow, Russia.
Address by the Editor-in-Chief
IF CHANNEL INHIBITOR IVABRADINE AND CHRONIC HEART FAILURE MANAGEMENT: FROM DISCUSSION TO ACTION
Lopatin Yu. M.
The paper is focused on the results of a randomised clinical trial SHIFT, which started the discussion about the choice of optimal heart rate-lowering therapy in patients with chronic heart failure (CHF). The author summarizes the benefits of adding an If channel inhibitor ivabradine to the standard CHF therapy and presents the place of this medication in the modern clinical guidelines on CHF management.
Key words: chronic heart failure, beta-blockers, If channel inhibitor ivabradine.
Volgograd State Medical University, Volgograd Region Cardiology Centre, Volgograd, Russia.
ASSESSMENT OF SYSTOLIC FUNCTION AND DYSSYNCHRONY PARAMETERS IN PATIENTS WITH MYOCARDIAL INFARCTION
Results. The difference for end-diastolic volume (EDV; 2D vs. 3D EchoCG and 2D EchoCG vs. CT) was statistically significant (respective p?values 0,014 and <0,005). Ejection fraction (EF) and local contractility index (LCI) were significantly different for
2D vs. 3D EchoCG (p=0,0002 and <0,005, respectively). EF values were similar for 3D EchoCG and CT (p=0,3). SDI values in AMI patients were significantly higher than in the comparison group participants (6,8±2,7% vs. 2,9±1,6%; p<0,001). In patients with anterior AMI, the SDI differences were observed for one vs. twovessel (p<0,05) and one vs. three-vessel pathology (p<0,005), but not for two vs. three-vessel pathology. Patients with inferior AMI did not demonstrate any marked differences in SDI values. Among patients with SDI >5,1, the incidence of clinical complications (pulmonary edema, ventricular fibrillation, high-grade atrioventricular block) was higher by 55% (p<0,05; r=0,35). SDI was also associated with high-grade ventricular arrhythmias (p<0,005; r=0,48).
1City Clinical Hospital No. 3, Kamensk-Uralsky; 2Sverdlovsk Region Clinical Hospital No. 1, Yekaterinburg; 3Ural State Medical Academy, Yekaterinburg, Russia.
FACTORS ASSOCIATED WITH D?DIMER ELEVATION IN PATIENTS WITH VENOUS THROMBOEMBOLIC EVENTS
Vorobyeva N. M. 1, Panchenko E. P. 1, Dobrovolskyi A. B. 1, Titaeva E. V. 1, Ermolina O. V. 1, Balakhonova T. V. 1, Khasanova Z. B. 1, Postnov A.Yu. 1, Kirienko A. I. 2
Aim. To study the factors associated with elevated D?dimer levels in patients with acute venous thromboembolic events (VTEE).
Material and methods. The study included 111 patients (76 men and 35 women aged 18–76 years) with a first or repeat episode of deep vein thrombosis (DVT) and/or pulmonary embolism (PE) in the last 2 months. The majority of the patients (n=80) received unfractionated heparin (UFH) for at least 5 days, followed by warfarin (international normalized ratio (INR) control at least once a month; target INR 2,0–3,0). Some patients (n=31) received therapeutic doses of enoxaparin (1 mg/kg subcutaneously, every 12 hours) for at least 30 days, followed by warfarin treatment. D?dimer levels (norm <0,5 mkg/ml) were measured by the latex agglutination method, with the use of “STA LIATEST ® D?DI” reagents (Diagnostica Stago).
Results. D?dimer levels varied from 0,02 to 9,96 mkg/ml (median 1,05 mkg/ml, interquartile range 0,49–1,99 mkg/ml) and exceeded the upper norm limit in 74% of the patients. There was a positive association between D?dimer levels and thrombus “size” (r=0,304; p<0,001), and a negative association between D?dimer levels and thrombus “age” (r=-0,418; p<0,001). Predictors of D?dimer elevation were identified among 150 demographic, anthropometric, anamnestic, clinical, laboratory, genetic, or ultrasound parameters and VTEE risk factors. The results of the multivariate stepwise regression analysis demonstrated that female gender, chronic heart failure (CHF), VTEE symptom duration <28 days, and thrombus “size” >6 points
were independent predictors of D?dimer elevation in the acute period of DVT/PE.
Conclusion. D?dimer levels, measured 32 (23–44) days after the development of DVT/PE symptoms, were elevated in 74% of the patients. D?dimer elevation in the acute period of VTEE was associated with female gender, CHF, “age” and “size” of the thrombus.
Key words: venous thromboembolic events, D-dimer, predictor.
Russian Cardiology Clinical and Scientific Complex, Moscow; 2N. I. Pirogov Russian National Medical University, Moscow, Russia.
TRAIT ANXIETY AS A RISK FACOR OF COGNITIVE DYSFUNCTION IN PATIENTS AFTER MYOCARDIAL REVASCULARIZATION
Trubnikova O. A., Tarasova I. V., Syrova I. D., Mamontova A. S., Maleva O. V., Barbarash O. L.
Aim. To study the effects of trait anxiety (TA) on the post-CABG (coronary artery bypass graft surgery) dynamics of cognitive function in patients with coronary heart disease (CHD).
Material and methods. In total, 52 patients, aged 45–70 years, were divided into two groups: with moderate (n=24) and high (n=28) levels of TA.
Results. The patients with high TA demonstrated worse cognitive function parameters 6 months after CABG, compared to the patients with moderate TA levels.
Conclusion. High TA levels are one of the factors which negatively affect cognitive function parameters in CHD patients. These patients could be regarded at increased risk of post-CABG cerebrovascular complications.
Key words: anxiety, cognitive function, electroencephalogram, coronary artery bypass graft surgery.
PSYCHO-EMOTIONAL STATUS, QUALITY OF LIFE, AND AUTONOMIC BALANCE IN PATIENTS WITH METABOLIC SYNDROME AND DYSPEPSIA SYNDROME
Romanova M. M., Babkin A. P.
Aim. To study psycho-emotional and autonomic status, circadian blood pressure (BP) profile, and quality of life (QoL) in patients with metabolic syndrome (MS) and dyspepsia syndrome.
Material and methods. We followed up 110 patients (66 women and 52 men), aged 20–60 years (mean age 47,5±2,1 years). The levels of anxiety and depression were assessed with Hamilton Anxiety Rating Scale (HARS) and Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HDRS), respectively. Personality traits were assessed with the Freiburg Personality Inventory (FPI), eating behaviour with the Dutch Questionnaire of Eating Behaviour (DQEB), and QoL with the SF-36 questionnaire (version 1). Circadian rhythms of autonomic balance, BP, and electrocardiography (ECG) parameters were assessed via the 24-hour monitoring of heart rate variability (HRV). The assessment of BP and ECG was performed with the use of “Cardio-Tens-01” device (Meditech, Hungary) and the subsequent data analysis with the “Medibase” software. Statistical analysis was performed using the Windows software Microsoft Excel 5.0 and Statistica 6.0.
Results. Affective disorders, personality disorders, and QoL disturbances were more pronounced in the patients from Group 4, who had MS and dyspepsia syndrome. The results of the 24-hour BP monitoring demonstrated that mean daytime and nighttime levels of diastolic and systolic BP for Group 2 (dyspepsia syndrome plus arterial hypertension, AH) were higher than for Group 4 (dyspepsia syndrome, obesity, and AH). Mean levels of BP variability parameters were higher for Group 4 than for Group 2. However, these differences between the groups were not statistically significant. The patients with obesity, AH, and dyspepsia syndrome (Group 4) demonstrated minimal circadian HRV dynamics, which might be due to a reduced adaptive potential in these individuals.
Conclusion. The majority of the participants had substantial psycho-emotional disturbances, autonomic dysbalance (sympathetic hyperactivation), and desynchronosis, which were closely related to other parameters and more manifested in patients with the combination of MS and dyspepsia syndrome. This should be taken into account when planning and performing preventive and
therapeutic interventions.
Key words: dyspepsia syndrome, metabolic syndrome, heart rate variability.
N. N. Burdenko Voronezh State Medical Academy, Voronezh, Russia.
PREVALENCE OF INSULIN RESISTANCE AND ITS ASSOCIATION WITH METABOLIC SYNDROME COMPONENTS IN ADOLESCENTS: POPULATION STUDY RESULTS
Zavyalova L. G., Denisova D. V., Ragino Yu. I., Poteryaeva O. N., Ivanova M. V.
Aim. To study the blood levels of insulin and glucose, to assess the prevalence of insulin resistance (IR), and to investigate the association between IR and the components of metabolic syndrome (MS) in a population sample of adolescents aged 14–17 years.
Material and methods. A representative sample of Novosibirsk City adolescents, aged 14–17 years, was examined (n=667). The examination included the standard questionnaire survey, blood pressure (BP) measurement, anthropometry, and the assessment of serum levels of lipids, insulin, and glucose. Hyperinsulinemia (HI) was diagnosed if basal insulin levels were ?15 ?IU/ml, while fasting hyperglycaemia (FHG) was registered if fasting glucose levels were ?5,6 mmol/l. IR was diagnosed if HOMA index was >3,7.
Results. In Novosibirsk adolescents, the prevalence of IR reached 11,8% (13,4% in boys and 10,5% in girls). FHG was registered in 2% of boys and 0,8% of girls; the prevalence of HI was 22,5% and 21%, respectively. The presence of IR was associated with higher values of waist circumference, BP, blood triglycerides, body mass index, and lower levels of high-density lipoprotein cholesterol. The 90% percentile of HOMA distribution in this adolescent population sample was 4,1 (4,7 in boys and 3,7 in girls).
Conclusion. The study results justify the need for a regular monitoring of carbohydrate metabolism markers in adolescents.
Key words: adolescents, metabolic syndrome, insulin resistance.
INDAPAMIDE EFFECTS ON FREE OXYGEN RADICALS PRODUCED BY BLOOD PHAGOCYTES IN PATIENTS WITH HEART FAILURE
Astashkin E. I., Glezer M. G., Petrov E. A., Sokolov I. N.
Aim. To study the effects of a thiazide-like diuretic indapamide (Ind) on the levels of free oxygen radicals generated by blood phagocytes and isolated neutrophils in patients with heart failure (HF).
Material and methods. Using whole blood samples and isolated neutrophils of 16 HF patients (NYHA Functional Class II–III), the generation of free oxygen radicals was examined with a chemiluminometre “Biotox-7”, in the presence of luminophores –
lucigenin (30 mkM) and luminol (50 mkM). The standard stimulators of blood phagocytes and neutrophils were bacterial tripeptide (FMLP, 3 mkM) and phorbol ester (PMA, 1 mkM). The generation of superoxide anions (O2 -) and hydroxyl radicals was continuously assessed by the number of impulses per second and presented as integral chemiluminescence (summary value for 10 minutes). Inhibiting effects of varied Ind concentrations were assessed by the decrease (%) in the peak stimulated luminescence. Antioxidant activity of Ind was studied in the cell-free medium generating hydroxyl radicals. Statistical analysis of the data was performed with the use of SigmaPlot software.
Results. At baseline, the blood of HF patients contained pre-activated (primed) phagocytes, as shown by the “spontaneous” production of superoxide anions due to neutrophil adhesion on cuvette walls. PMA markedly increased the production of oxygen
radicals. In the neutrophil suspension, Ind dose-dependently (0,5–2 mkM) reduced the peak PMA response levels of superoxide anions up to the baseline levels. Moreover, Ind demonstrated a similar effect in whole blood samples of HF patients. FMLP increased the production of oxygen radicals and potentiated the subsequent response of phagocytes to PMA. Ind (2 mkM), when added after FMLP and PMA, reduced the post-stimulation levels of superoxide anions up to baseline values. The initial exposure of blood samples to Ind decreased spontaneous generation of oxygen radicals and the magnitude of subsequent response to FMLP and PMA. Antioxidant effects of Ind were also observed in the cell-free medium, which suggests a direct interaction between Ind and oxygen radicals.
Conclusion. Low Ind concentrations provided a marked antioxidant effect, which could be clinically significant in the management of HF patients.
Key words: heart failure, blood phagocytes, neutrophils, indapamide, antioxidant effect.
I. M. Sechenov First Moscow State Medical University, Moscow, Russia.
COMPARISON BETWEEN ZOFENOPRIL AND RAMIPRIL IN COMBINATION WITH ACETYLSALICYLIC ACID IN PATIENTS WITH LEFT VENTRICULAR SYSTOLIC DYSFUNCTION AFTER ACUTE MYOCARDIAL INFARCTION: RESULTS OF A RANDOMIZED, DOUBLE-BLIND, PARALLEL-GROUP, MULTICENTER, EUROPEAN STUDY (SMILE-4)
Borghi C. et al. on behalf of the SMILE-4 Working Party
PHARMACOECONOMIC ANALYSIS OF OLMESARTAN THERAPY IN THE INDIVIDUAL–LEVEL MANAGEMENT OF ARTERIAL HYPERTENSION
Gorokhova S. G., Ryazhenov V. V.
The pharmacoeconomic analysis compared the strategies of arterial hypertension (AH) management using different angiotensin II receptor blockers (ARB). The first stage of the analysis included the cost-effectiveness modelling in patients with moderate AH receiving olmesartan, losartan, or valsartan. As the second stage, a similar analysis was performed for patients with moderate AH and diabetes mellitus (DM) or renal failure. Clinical and economic benefits were demonstrated for olmesartan, compared to losartan or valsartan. The cost-effectiveness ratio was minimal for olmesartan therapy in patients with both moderate AH and a combination of moderate AH and DM or renal failure. Therefore, olmesartan should be considered as a first-choice medication while selecting the optimal clinical and pharmacoeconomic strategy of AH management with ARB.
Key words: pharmacoeconomic analysis, arterial hypertension, cost-effectiveness, olmesartan, losartan, valsartan.
ANTIISCHEMIC EFFECTIVENESS OF IVABRADINE AND ITS IMPACT ON MICROCIRCULATION IN PATIENTS WITH CORONARY HEART DISEASE ASSOCIATED WITH CHRONIC OBSTRUCTIVE PULMONARY DISEASE
Garganeeva A. A., Bagreeva S. M.
Aim. To assess the antiischemic effectiveness of an If-channel inhibitor ivabradine and its impact on systemic and myocardial microcirculation, left ventricular diastolic dysfunction, and psychosocial parameters in patients with coronary heart disease (CHD) associated with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).
Material and methods. The study included 82 patients with CHD and Functional Class II–III stable angina. In 47,6% of the participants, CHD was associated with Stage 1–3 COPD.
Results. It was demonstrated that the If-channel inhibitor ivabradine is the medication of choice for patients with a combination of CHD and COPD. Ivabradine therapy was both effective and safe, and did not negatively affect the clinical course of COPD.
Key words: coronary heart disease, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, If-channel inhibitor ivabradine, microcirculation.
Research Institute of Cardiology, Siberian Branch, Russian Academy of Medical Sciences, Tomsk, Russia.
ADRENORECEPTOR SENSITIVITY AND MAGNESIUM THERAPY IN PATIENTS WITH CARDIAC ARRHYTHMIAS AND CONNECTIVE TISSUE DYSPLASIA
Nechaeva G. I., Moskvina Yu. V., Bubnova S. S.
Aim. To assess the adrenergic receptor activity and the effects of Magnerot therapy in patients with cardiac arrhythmias and connective tissue dysplasia (CTD).
Material and methods. The study included 18–35-year-old patients with cardiac arrhythmias and CTD. In all participants, sympathoadrenal system activity was evaluated via beta-adrenoreceptor sensitivity. In particular, erythrocyte osmotic resistance was measured in the presence of beta-adrenoblockers (diagnostic kit “AGAT Med”, Moscow).
Results. Patients with ectopic cardiac arrhythmias and CTD demonstrated increased erythrocyte hemolysis levels in the presence of beta-adrenoblockers, which suggested adrenoreceptor desensitisation in this clinical group. A four-month Magnerot treatment was associated with a significant reduction in desensitisation of erythrocyte beta-adrenoreceptors (p<0,0001).
Conclusion. Magnerot therapy improved the adrenoreceptor sensitivity to adrenoblockers.
Key words: connective tissue dysplasia, Magnerot, cardiac arrhythmias, adrenoreceptor desensitisation, adrenoreceptor resensitisation.
Omsk State Medical Academy, Omsk, Russia.
ANTIAGGREGANT THERAPY AND REDUCTION OF HIGH RESIDUAL PLATELET REACTIVITY
Mazur N. A., Lomonosova A. A., Zolozova E. A., Sayutina E. A., Chigineva V. V.
Aim. To assess the levels of residual platelet reactivity (RPR) and its potential correction by antiaggregant therapy in patients with angina.
Material and methods. The study included 40 patients with coronary heart disease (CHD), aged under 70 years, with adequate blood pressure control and no contraindications for antiaggregant therapy. All participants underwent general clinical examination, general blood assay, blood biochemistry, and platelet aggregation assessment (blind method). ADP (5 mkmol/l) was used as an aggregation inductor. The patients were randomised into two groups, to compare the antiaggregant activity of aspirin (thrombo ASS 100 mg) vs. plagril (clopidogrel 75 mg), and plavix (75 mg) vs. plagril (75 mg). Platelet aggregation was assessed at baseline and at least three weeks later. After three weeks of the initial therapy, the patients were switched to another therapy arm (cross-over). Finally, all patients were receiving two antiaggregants (thrombo ASS and plagril).
Results. During the therapy with enteric coated aspirin (100 mg), RPR above the target level (>46%) was observed in 72,5%. After switching to clopidogrel therapy, target RPR levels were achieved in almost 50% (n=16). Among remaining resistant patients (n=13; 32,5%), 8 achieved target RPR while receiving a combination of aspirin and plagril. Therefore, only 5 patients (12,5%) were resistant to both medications. Clopidogrel monotherapy did not reduce RPR to target levels in 14 patients (35%). In this group, aspirin was effective only in one patient.
Conclusion. High RPR levels were more prevalent during the treatment with enteric coated aspirin (72,5%), compared to clopidogrel therapy (plagril or plavix; 35%; p<0,001). Only 12,5% of the participants were resistant to both medications (aspirin
and clopidogrel). Overcoming this resistance could be possible with the use of new thienopyridine antiaggregants (prasugrel) or glycoprotein IIb/IIIa inhibitors.
Key words: coronary heart disease, reactivity, resistance, platelets, aspirin, clopidogrel.
CLINICAL CASE
SUCCESSFUL TREATMENT OF CARDIORENAL SYNDROME: A CLINICAL CASE OF HEART TRANSPLANTATION IN A PATIENT WITH DILATED CARDIOMYOPATHY AND ACUTE RENAL PATHOLOGY
Kovaleva Yu. V. 1, Kolpakov E. V. 1, Tarasov A. V. 2
Key words: chronic heart failure, dilated cardiomyopathy, chronic kidney disease, acute renal failure, cardiac resynchronisation therapy, heart transplantation.
1Russian Medical Academy of Post-diploma Education, Moscow; 2Russian Railways, Central Clinical Hospital № 1, Moscow, Russia.
ACETYLSALICYLIC ACID AND PREVENTION OF FATAL OUTCOMES IN CARDIOVASCULAR DISEASE: SELECTING MEDICATION FORM AND DOSE
Averkov O. V.
This analytic paper presents the evidence on the potential of acetylsalicylic acid (ASA) for the mortality reduction in patients with cardiovascular disease. The focus is on the “minimal” effective dose of ASA, in terms of its effects on survival. The discussion of the ASA form and dose selection also mentions the impact of ASA tolerability on its effectiveness. The need for the balance between antiischemic effectiveness and safety (haemorrhage safety, in particular) justifies the use of varied ASA doses. The benefits of so-called enteric coated ASA forms are also summarised.
Key words: Acetylsalicylic acid, antiaggregants, risk-benefit ratio, cardiovascular mortality, all-cause mortality.
O. M. Filatov City Clinical Hospital No. 15, Russian University of People’s Friendship, Moscow, Russia.
EVIDENCE-BASED CHOICE OF ACE INHIBITORS
Gendlin G. E., Miller O. A., Melekhov A. V.
Angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors are currently one of the most frequently used groups of cardiovascular medications. In addition to wellknown indications, such as arterial hypertension (AH), chronic heart failure (CHF), and Type 2 diabetes mellitus (DM-2), some ACE inhibitors could be used in other clinical situations. The medications with additional vascular activity (for example, perindopril A) have certain benefits, compared to other ACE inhibitors.
Key words: new indications for ACE inhibitors, endothelial dysfunction, vasoprotection, perindopril A, primary prevention of coronary heart disease, secondary prevention of stroke.
Russian Medical University, Moscow, Russia.
HEART MORPHOLOGY, STRUCTURE, AND FUNCTION IN OBESITY
Chumakova G. A. 1,2, Veselovskaya N. G. 2,3, Kozarenko A. A. 1,2, Vorobyeva Yu. V. 3
The prevalence of overweight and obesity is currently increasing worldwide. Obesity is a risk factor of cardiovascular disease and Type 2 diabetes mellitus. In obese individuals, metabolic, dyshormonal, and hemodynamic changes directly affect myocardial structure and function. Mitochondrial dysfunction and oxidative stress, insulin resistance and hyperglycaemia, dysadipokinemia, and direct lipotoxic effects of lipids and free fatty acids on myocardium are important pathogenetic mechanisms of cardiac remodelling and cardiac functional changes in obesity.Better understanding of these mechanisms could lead to the development of pharmacological methods of metabolic normalisation and inhibition of cardiac lipotoxic effects, in order to prevent chronic heart failure and other cardiovascular events in obese patients.
Key words: obesity, lipotoxic myocardial injury, cardiac remodelling.
1Altay Medical University, Barnaul; 2Research Institute of Complex Cardiovascular Problems, Siberian Branch, Russian Academy of Medical Sciences, Kemerovo; 3Altay Region Cardiology Dispanser, Barnaul, Russia.
ASSOCIATION OF DEPRESSION AND ERECTILE DYSFUNCTION IN CARDIAC PATIENTS
Pomeshkina S. A.
There are complex multifactorial associations between depression, coronary heart disease (CHD), and erectile dysfunction (ED). Depression is considered as an independent risk factor of CHD, as well as a strong predictor of higher risk of mortality and complications in CHD patients. The reported prevalence of ED among CHD patients ranges from 44% to 75%. In most cases of structural ED, a psychological component is also present. The manifestations of the cause-effect relationship between ED and depression could vary: ED might be a symptom of depression, while depression could also be caused by ED, and the improvement in erectile function can reduce the severity of depressive symptoms. CHD, depression, and ED have common risk factors, such as age, arterial hypertension, diabetes mellitus, dyslipidemia, obesity, low physical activity, and smoking. Moreover, these diseases often coexist. Therefore, cardiovascular disease, ED, and depression belong to the same pathophysiological pathway and affect the clinical course of each other.
Key words: coronary heart disease, depression, erectile dysfunction.
ISCHEMIC PRECONDITIONING AND ITS CARDIOPROTECTIVE EFFECT IN POST-INTERVENTION CARDIAC REHABILITATION PROGRAMMES FOR PATIENTS WITH CORONARY HEART DISEASE
Karpova E. S., Kotelnikova E. V., Lyamina N. P.
In patients with coronary heart disease (CHD), ischemic preconditioning facilitates the mechanisms of cardioprotection and metabolic adaptation to non-fatal ischemia, which is particularly important for the individuals with reduced coronary flow reserve. Development of new cardiac rehabilitation programmes, based on the phenomenon of ischemic preconditioning, is a promising non-pharmacological method of CHD management.
Key words: ischemic preconditioning, cardioprotection, secondary prevention.
Saratov Research Institute of Cardiology, Saratov, Russia.
First International Forum of Young Cardiologists «Cardiology: Present Meets Future»
Jan L. Gabinskiy
Russ J Cardiol 2012, 4 (96): 112
CLINICAL EFFECTIVENESS OF EARLY ACUTE MYOCARDIAL INFARCTION DIAGNOSTICS, BASED ON THE ASSESSMENT OF CARDIAC FATTY ACID BINDING PROTEIN LEVELS
Martynov A. I., Voevoda M. I., Arutyunov G. P., Kokorin V. A., Spasskyi A. A.
Russian Scientific Medical Society of Internal Medicine, Russia.
Aim. To investigate the diagnostic potential of cardiac fatty acid binding protein (cFABP) vs. cardiac troponins at the early stages of acute coronary syndrome (ACS), by comparing specificity and sensitivity of the qualitative assessment of their blood levels.
Material and methods. The independent Russian multi-centre study ISPOLIN (Clinical effectiveness of early acute myocardial infarction diagnostics, based on the assessment of cFABP levels) included 1049 patients, who were hospitalised with possible ACS diagnosis, within 1—12 hours from the clinical onset. At admission, all participants underwent a qualitative assessment of cFABP and troponin I (TrI) blood levels. For each test, sensitivity, specificity, accuracy, positive predictive value (PPV) and negative predictive value (NPV) were examined for the whole sample, as well as by gender, age, body mass index (BMI), test time, and electrocardiographic (ECG) changes.
Results. The sensitivity of cFABP test was higher than that for TrI (73,8 % vs. 46,7 %, respectively). Specificity reached 92 % and 97,2 %, respectively. Respective accuracy values were 79,3 % and 62,2 %. PPV was 0,95 for cFABP and 0,97 for TrI, while NPV was 0,61 and 0,45, respectively. The maximal sensitivity of cFABP test was observed within 3—6 hours from the onset of acute myocardial infarction, and exceeded the sensitivity of TrI test by 18—32 % at all examined time points. Regardless of the ECG change type, sensitivity of cFABP test was higher than that of
TrI test by 19—73 %. For both tests, sensitivity and specificity did not correlate with age, gender, or BMI.
Conclusion. Within the first 12 hours from the clinical onset of possible ACS, a Russian express test, which qualitatively assesses cFABP levels, demonstrated higher sensitivity, accuracy, and NPV, compared to the TrI test. The cFABP test can, therefore, be recommended for a wider use in clinical practice.
Key words: acute coronary syndrome, myocardial infarction, differential diagnostics, cardiac fatty acid binding protein, troponin I.
N?TERMINAL BRAIN NATRIURETIC PROPEPTIDE AS A MARKER OF MULTIFOCAL ATHEROSCLEROSIS IN PATIENTS WITH ST SEGMENT ELEVATION MYOCARDIAL INFARCTION
Barbarash O. L. 1,2, Usoltseva E. N. 1, Shafranskaya K. S. 1, Zykov M. V. 1,2, Gruzdeva O. V. 1, Polikutina O. M. 1, Kashtalap V. V. 1
1Research Institute of Complex Cardiovascular Problems, Siberian Branch, Russian Academy of Medical Sciences, Kemerovo, Russia; Kemerovo State Medical Academy 2, Kemerovo, Russia.
Aim. To investigate the association between serum levels of N?terminal brain natriuretic propeptide (Nt-proBNP) and the severity of coronary and non-coronary atherosclerosis in patients with myocardial infarction and ST segment elevation (STEMI).
Material and methods. The study included 186 STEMI patients. All participants underwent coronary angiography and angioplasty with infarct-related artery stenting, as well as the screening assessment of non-coronary atherosclerosis of brachiocephalic arteries and large lower extremity arteries. The measurement of Nt-proBNP levels was performed 10—14 days after the STEMI onset.
Results. Nt-proBNP levels were not associated with the severity of coronary atherosclerosis. However, patients with more advanced non-coronary atherosclerosis and a higher number of affected non-coronary vessels demonstrated elevated Nt-proBNP concentrations. After adjustment for age, severity of heart failure and myocardial dysfunction, Nt-proBNP were still associated with atherosclerosis multifocality.
Conclusion. In STEMI patients, Nt-proBNP concentrations were associated with severity and multifocality of non-coronary atherosclerosis. This could be used in clinical practice for predicting the risk of repeat atherosclerotic cardiovascular events.
Russ J Cardiol 2012, 3 (95): 12—18
Key words: atherosclerosis, myocardial infarction, brain natriuretic propeptide.
COMPARATIVE PROGNOSTIC VALUE OF CREATINE PHOSPHOKINASE MB AND TROPONIN T IN THE DIAGNOSTICS OF PERIPROCEDURAL MYOCARDIAL DAMAGE
Akinina S. A.
Khanty-Mansy Autonomous Region — Yugra Clinical Hospital, Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia.
Aim. To investigate the link between the levels of creatine phosphokinase MB (CKMB) or troponin T (TrT) and the prognosis in patients with coronary heart disease (CHD), periprocedural myocardial necrosis, or Type 4a myocardial infarction (MI) associated with percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI).
Material and methods. The study included 124 CHD patients who underwent planned PCI. The levels of CK-MB and TrT were measured before PCI and 8 and 24 hours after the procedure.
Results. After PCI, CK-MB and TrT levels were elevated in 11 (8,9 %) and 24 (19,4 %) patients, respectively. CK-MB or TrT elevation was less than three-fold, compared to the upper reference limit (URL), in 9 (7,3 %) and 18 (14,5 %) participants, respectively. In other words, probable periprocedural myocardial necrosis was not confirmed twice as often, based on CK-MB (n=9; 7,3 %) vs. TrT criteria. CK-MB or TrT elevation over 3 x URL was registered in 2 (1,6 %) and 6
(4,8 %) participants, respectively. Therefore, probable Type 4a MI was not confirmed in 4 patients (3,3 %) — three times less often, compared to TrT criteria. Over the mean follow-up period of 4,3 years, survival was non-significantly worse in patients with periprocedural CK-MB elevation of <3 or ?3 x URL, compared to participants with similar TrT elevation (22,2 % vs. 5,6 % and 50,0 %
vs. 33,3 %, respectively). The combined end-point of cardiac death and MI was also registered more often in patients with CK-MB elevation (33,3 % vs. 16,7 % and 50,0 % vs. 33,3 %, respectively), due to the differences in cardiac death rates.
Conclusion. Therefore, periprocedural TrT elevation of <3 and ?3 x URL could be a less reliable predictor of long-term cardiac mortality than similar CK-MB elevation.
Key words: periprocedural myocardial infarction, creatine phosphokinase MB, troponin T.
ROLE OF ENDOTOXIN AND SYSTEMIC INFLAMMATION IN CHRONIC HEART FAILURE PATHOGENESIS
Egorova E. N. Mazur V. V., Kalinkin M. N., Mazur E. S.
Aim. To study large intestine microbiocenosis, systemic inflammation activity, and the reaction of matrix metalloproteinases and tissue inhibitors of metalloproteinases (MMP-TIMP) at different stages of chronic heart failure (CHF).
Material and methods. In 230 CHF patients, the following parameters were assessed: large intestine microbiocenosis, endotoxinemia, and plasma levels of tumor necrosis factor-?, C?reactive protein, sE- selectin, MMP?9, and TIMP?4.
Results. Progressing CHF was associated with more pronounced intestinal dysbiosis, increased endotoxinemia, activation of systemic inflammation, and MMPTIMP dysbalance.
Conclusion. The pathogenetic CHD pathway starts with circulatory disturbances, which lead to increased endotoxinemia and subsequent activation of systemic inflammation. Inflammatory mediators — pro-inflammatory cytokines, intercellular adhesion molecules, and acute phase proteins — cause MMP-TIMP dysbalance, which, in turn, leads to myocardial remodelling, cardiac geometry changes, and advanced circulatory disturbances, completing the vicious circle (circulus vitiosus) of CHF progression.
Key words: endotoxin, systemic inflammation, chronic heart failure, pathogenesis.
POSSIBLE CAUSES OF DISSOCIATION BETWEEN PULMONARY EMBOLISM VOLUME AND RIGHT VENTRICULAR DYSFUNCTION DEGREE
Lishmanov Yu. B., Pankova A. N., Zavadovskyi K. V.
Aim. To study possible causes of the dissociation between pulmonary embolism volume and right ventricular (RV) dysfunction degree.
Material and methods. The main group included 37 patients with pulmonary embolism (PE); the comparison group consisted of 15 patients with coronary heart disease (CHD) and NYHA functional class (FC) I—II heart failure (HF). All participants underwent ventilation-perfusion lung scintigraphy, gated blood pool single photon emission computed tomography (GBPS), and the measurement of plasma levels of stable NO metabolites, endotelin?1, and 6?keto-prostaglandin (Pg) F1?.
Results. In PE patients, RV contractility parameters were significantly lower than those in the comparison group. Among patients with moderate PE volume (3—7 bronchopulmonary segments), no correlation was observed between the number of hypoperfused segments and RV dysfunction degree. In PE patients, compared to the comparison group, plasma levels of endotelin?1, stable NO metabolites, and stable prostacyclin metabolite 6?keto-Pg F1? were significantly higher.
Conclusion. In PE patients, the most important GBPS parameters of RV dysfunction included reduced ejection fraction, stroke volume, peak ejection rate, and mean filling rate. The dissociation between PE volume and RV dysfunction degree could be caused by disturbed humoral regulation of pulmonary vascular tone.
Key words: pulmonary embolism, gated blood pool SPECT, right ventricle.
EARLY ECHOCARDIOGRAPHIC MARKERS OF STRUCTURAL AND FUNCTIONAL RIGHT VENTRICULAR REMODELLING IN PATIENTS WITH CHRONIC OBSTRUCTIVE PULMONARY DISEASE
Bart B.Ya., Dergunova E. N., Vartanyan E. A., Kulbachinskaya O. M.
1N. I. Pirogov Russian Research Medical University, Moscow, Russia; 2Diagnostic and Clinical Centre No. 1, South-Western Autonomous Okrug, Moscow, Russia.
Aim. To study right ventricular (RV) structure and function, as well as cardiac and pulmonary hemodynamic parameters, in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) of moderate severity.
Material and methods. The study included 37 COPD patients and 20 healthy controls. All participants underwent echocardiography (EchoCG) and the assessment of lung function (LF).
Results. COPD patients demonstrated an early increase in anterior RV wall thickness and RV chamber volume, already at the stage of moderate elevation in pulmonary artery systolic pressure. Pre-capillary hemodynamic variant of pulmonary hypertension was characterised by a significant increase in pulmonary vascular resistance (р<0,001) and normokinetic hemodynamic type in patients with a longer COPD duration.
Conclusion. Disturbed relaxation of RV longitudinal fibres is the initial pathological change, followed by global RV dysfunction and disturbed transverse RV contractility. These markers, which precede RV ejection fraction reduction, could be regarded as early criteria of latent systolic dysfunction in patients with a longer duration of moderately severe COPD.
Key words: chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, echocardiography, right ventricular function.
MICROCIRCULATION IN ARTERIAL HYPERTENSION: EFFECTS OF BLOOD PRESSURE CONTROL WITH ANTIHYPERTENSIVE THERAPY
Kirichenko A. A., Averyanova I. M.
Therapy department, Russian Medical Academy of Post-Degree Education, Moscow, Russia.
Aim. To study the microcirculation (MC) status during arterial hypertension (AH) treatment and after the achievement of target blood pressure (BP) levels.
Material and methods. The study included 75 patients with essential AH, but without previous regular antihypertensive therapy. In all participants, antihypertensive treatment was started, which resulted in the achievement of target BP levels. Treatment effectiveness was assessed via the office BP measurement, 24?hour BP monitoring, and self-control diary data. MC dynamics was assessed with conjunctival biomicroscopy (CBMS).
Results. In all participants, CBMS demonstrated MS disturbances.
Conclusion. BP control with antihypertensive therapy significantly improves MC parameters.
Key words: arterial hypertension, conjunctival biomicroscopy, microcirculation.
DIAGNOSTIC VALUE OF SPECTRAL ANALYSIS OF HEART RATE VARIABILITY IN CARDIAC AUTONOMIC NEUROPATHY AND TYPE 2 DIABETES MELLITUS
Lunina E.Yu., Petrukhin I. S.
Aim. To assess the value of spectral parameters of heart rate variability (HRV) in the diagnostics of cardiac autonomic neuropathy (CAN) among patients with Type 2 diabetes mellitus (DM?2), according to the presence or absence of metabolic syndrome (MS).
Material and methods. The spectral analysis of 5?minute HRV records was performed in 157 DM?2 patients. MS was diagnosed according to WHO criteria, while the diagnosis of CAN was based on two or more abnormal Ewing tests (deep breathing test, Valsalva test, and orthostatic test with blood pressure and heart rate assessment). Area under the receiver operating curve (AUROC) values were calculated to assess TP (total power) and HF (high frequency) components of HRV.
Results. The prevalence of CAN was 57,6 % and 87,1 % in patients with or without MS, respectively. Among MS-free patients, AUROC values for TP and HF parameters (0,84 and 0,90) were significantly higher than respective values in participants with MS (0,78 and 0,89). AUROC analysis identified the cut-off points for CAN diagnosis, taking into account the presence or absence of MS. Operational characteristics of TP and HF parameters were slightly lower in MS patients.
Conclusion. The assessment of spectral HRV parameters is a highly informative test for CAN diagnostics. Cut-off points and operational characteristics of HRV parameters differ in patients with or without MS.
Key words: heart rate variability, diabetes mellitus, cardiac autonomic neuropathy, diagnostics.
INTIMA-MEDIA THICKNESS AND ADHESION MOLECULES SICAM-1 AND SVCAM-1 IN PATIENTS WITH TYPE 2 DIABETES MELLITUS: CLINICAL AND DIAGNOSTIC VALUE
Kasatkina S. G., Panova T. N.
Astrakhan State Medical Academy, Astrakhan, Russia.
Aim. To study the associations between the intima-media thickness (IMT) of common carotid artery and the expression of soluble adhesion molecules sICAM?1 and sVCAM?1 in patients with Type 2 diabetes mellitus (DM?2).
Material and methods. The study included 97 DM?2 patients (50 men and 47 women), aged 45—70 years (mean age 52,25±5,62 years). All participants underwent in-hospital standard clinical examination, risk factor assessment, electrocardiography, and duplex ultrasound of extracranial vessels ("Vivid 3" TM device, USA; linear transducer 7,5 MHz), as well as the measurement of blood levels of soluble adhesion molecules sICAM?1 and sVCAM?1.
Results. There was a statistically significant correlation between common carotid artery IMT and the levels of sICAM?1 and sVCAM?1 (р<0,05).
Conclusion. The results obtained suggest that the levels of adhesion molecules sICAM?1 and sVCAM?1 could be a marker of atherosclerotic progression in DM?2 patients.
Key words: diabetes mellitus, intima-media thickness, adhesion molecules.
CARDIO-RESPIRATORY SYSTEM IN LATE REHABILITATION PERIOD AFTER CORONARY ARTERY BYPASS GRAFT SURGERY
Sabirova E. Yu., Chicherina E. N.
Kirov State Medical Academy, Internal Disease Department, Kirov, Russia.
Aim. To identify specific features of cardio-respiratory status in the late rehabilitation period after coronary artery bypass graft surgery (CABG).
Material and methods. The study included 25 men (mean age 55,7±6,1 years), who underwent CABG more than 3 years ago. Functional class (FC) of angina and heart failure (HF) was assessed. Cardiovascular status was assessed using echocardiography (EchoCG) and Holter electrocardiography (ECG) monitoring. Lung function (LF) measurement was used for the assessment of respiratory status.
Results. Before CABG, most patients had FC 3 angina and Stage II HF; in the late rehabilitation period, low FC angina and Stage I HF (in >50 % of the participants) were registered. Five-year incidence of recurrent angina was under 50 %. Prior to CABG, FC 2 HF was the most prevalent, while the late rehabilitation period was characterised by the highest prevalence of FC 1 HF. According to EchoCG results, left ventricular ( LV ) myocardial contractility improved after CABG. In the late rehabilitation period, the number of supraventricular extrasystoles decreased, and the Lown grade of ventricular extrasystoles reduced. An increase in QT interval by 4,4±3,2 % was observed in 8 patients. At Holter ECG, myocardial ischemia was registered in 2 patients. Mean LF parameters appeared normal; abnormal LF results were observed only in 4 participants (16 %; 2 with obstructive respiratory dysfunction and 2 with restrictive respiratory dysfunction). Out of 25 examined post-CABG patients, only a small number followed the recommendations on non-pharmaceutical therapy, while administered pharmaceutical treatment was received by all participants (monotherapy by 8 % (n=2) and combination therapy by 92 %).
Conclusion. In the late rehabilitation period after CABG, angina and HF FC decreased (in 88 % and 64 % of the patients, respectively), no ischemic episodes were registered at Holter ECG (92 %), LV myocardial contractility improved, and respiratory function was preserved. All participants followed the recommendations on complex pharmaceutical therapy. However, 68 % did not follow the nonpharmaceutical treatment recommendations.
Key words: coronary heart disease, coronary artery bypass graft surgery, cardiorespiratory system.
OXIDATIVE-ANTIOXIDANT CHANGES OF LOW-DENSITY LIPOPROTEINS AND THEIR ASSOCIATION WITH ATHEROSCLEROTIC RISK FACTORS IN MALE NOVOSIBIRSK POPULATION
Ragino Yu. I., Krivchun A. S., Ivanova M. V., Shcherbakova L. V., Malyutina S. K., Nikitin Yu. P., Voevoda M. I.
Aim. To investigate the parameters of oxidative-antioxidant changes of low-density lipoproteins (LDL) in a male population, and to study their association with selected risk factors of atherosclerosis and coronary heart disease (CHD).
Material and methods. This population study included 1024 Novosibirsk men, aged 47—73 years. Questionnaire survey, standard cardiological examination, anthropometry, blood pressure (BP) measurement, and electrocardiography (ECG) were performed. Assessed biochemical parameters included total cholesterol (TCH), triglycerides (TG), high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL—CH), high-sensitivity C?reactive protein (hsCRP), glucose, baseline lipid peroxidation (LPO) and fat-soluble antioxidants (alpha-tocopherol, retinol, beta-carotene, xanthines) in LDL, LDL resistance to oxidation in vitro, and autoantibodies to oxidized LDL (oxLDL).
Results. For the male Novosibirsk population, the region-specific 10 % and 90 % cutoff points for the percentile distribution of baseline LPO in LDL, LDL resistance to oxidation at initiation and propagation stages of oxidative LDL modifications, lipophilic LDL antioxidants, and autoantibodies to oxLDL are presented. Correlations were observed between baseline LPO in LDL and hsCRP levels; between LDL resistance to oxidation and blood lipid profile, body mass index (BMI), and CHD; between the levels of autoantibodies to oxLDL and hsCRP or BMI; between LDL antioxidants (particularly alpha-tocopherol) and blood lipid profile, hsCRP, BMI, and CHD. In men, increased levels of LPO in LDL, reduced levels of LDL antioxidants, and decreased LDL resistance to oxidation were independently associated with elevated blood levels of TCH, TG, and hsCRP, low HDL—CH levels, increased BMI, and present CHD.
Conclusion. In the examined male population, regional reference values for the parameters of oxidative-antioxidant LDL changes were identified. They were independently associated not only with present CHD, but also with pathogenetically significant, potentially atherogenic coronary risk factors.
Key words: population study, risk factors, atherosclerosis, low-density lipoproteins, resistance to oxidation, antioxidants.
ARTERIAL HYPERTENSION PREDICTORS AND OCCUPATION
Artamonova G. V., Maximov S. A., Ogarkov M.Yu., Makarov S. A., Skripchenko A. E., Indukaeva E. V., Shapovalova E. B., Yankin M.Yu., Mulerova T. A., Kozyreva N. N.
Aim. To analyse the association between occupation and the prevalence of arterial hypertension (AH) or AH risk factors in a working-age population.
Material and methods. The study included 3664 working residents of Kemerovo Region, representing 18 occupational groups. AH risk factors included gender, age, body mass index (BMI), education, marital status, smoking, and hazardous alcohol consumption. Decision tree models were used as a method of classification and prognosis.
Results. In decision tree models, assessed predictors correctly confirmed the diagnosis of AH or its absence in 75,2 % participants. The most important predictors were BMI, age, and occupation (100, 83, and 63 units, respectively). Occupation also influenced the prognostic value of other predictors.
Conclusion. Occupation should be regarded not only as an important predictor of AH, but also as an effect modifier for other predictors, such as age, BMI, or marital status. This should be taken into account when performing the complex assessment of AH risk across working population groups.
Key words: arterial hypertension, occupation, risk factors, prognostic methods.
MORPHOMETRIC ASPECTS OF NEUROLEPTIC CARDIOMYOPATHY MORPHOGENESIS
Volkov V. P.
M. P. Litvinov Regional clinical psychiatric hospital № 1, Tver, Russia
Aim. Neuroleptic cardiomyopathy (NCMP) is the most serious cardiotoxic adverse effect of neuroleptics. NCPM morphogenesis at tissue and cell levels has not been investigated previously. This study examined the progression of myocardial changes throughout the stages of NCMP development.
Material and methods. Using morphometric methods, myocardial changes were examined in 4 groups of diseased psychiatric patients: 1) death from non-cardiac causes, no neuroleptic treatment in anamnesis (n=10); 2) no cardiac pathology, antipsychotic therapy in anamnesis (n=12); 3) latent NCMP (n=24); 4) fatal NCMP (n=34). All groups were comparable by age and sex. The quantitative data were analysed using Statistica 6.0.
Results. Cardiotoxicity of neuroleptics is manifested in a variable degree of morphological and functional myocardial changes, which reflect compensatoryadaptive, dystrophic-degenerative, and sclerotic processes at the tissue level, developing during NCMP morphogenesis. Disturbances of microcirculation and collagen synthesis in the myocardial extracellular matrix result in the
decreased volume, degeneration, and atrophy of cardiomyocytes. This facilitates myocardial dysfunction progression and clinical manifestation of fatal heart failure.
Conclusions. Psychopharmacological therapy is always associated with the risk of NCMP development, as a manifestation of cardiotoxicity of neuroleptics. Myocardial structural changes, identified with morphometric methods, predict the progression of myocardial dysfunction linked to cardiotoxic adverse effects of these medications.
Key words: neuroleptics, cardiotoxicity, neuroleptic cardiomyopathy, morphogenesis, morphometrics.
ANTIHYPERTENSIVE EFFICACY AND SAFETY OF OLMESARTAN AND RAMIPRILIN ELDERLY PATIENTS WITH MILD
TO MODERATE SYSTOLIC AND DIASTOLICESSENTIAL HYPERTENSION
Mallion J?M.1, Omboni S.2, Barton J.3, van Mieghem W.4, Narkiewicz K.5, Panzer P?K. 6, Puig J. G.7, Stefanadis Ch.8, Zwieker R.9 on behalf of the study group
1Cardiology and Arterial Hypertension, CHU de Grenoble, Grenoble, France; 2Italian Institute of Telemedicine, Varese, Italy; 3Cardiac Research Department, Portiuncula Hospital, Ballinasloe Co Galway, Ireland; 4Dienst Cardiologie, Ziekenhuis Oost Limburg Campus St. Jan, Genk, Belgium; 5Department of Hypertension and Diabetology Hypertension Unit, Medical University of Gdansk,
Gdansk, Poland; 6Kippenheim, Germany; 7Internal Medicine and Hypertension Unit, Hospital Universitario de La Paz, Madrid, Spain; 8Department of Cardiology, Ippokratio Hospital, Athens, Greece; 9Leopold Auenbrugger University Medical School, Graz, Austria.
Objective. To compare the efficacy and safety of olmesartan medoxomil (O) and ramipril (R) in elderly patients with essential arterial hypertension.
Methods. After a 2?week placebo washout, 351 elderly hypertensive patients aged 65—89 years (office sitting diastolic blood pressure, DBP, 90—109 mmHg and office sitting systolic blood pressure, SBP, 140—179 mmHg) were randomized doubleblind to 12?week treatment with O 10 mg or R 2.5 mg once daily. After the first 2 and 6 weeks, doses could be doubled in non-normalized (blood pressure ?140/90 mmHg for non-diabetic and ? 130/80 mmHg for diabetic) subjects, up to 40 mg for O and 10 mg for R. Office blood pressures were assessed at randomization, after 2, 6 and 12 weeks of treatment; 24?h ambulatory blood pressure (ABP) was recorded at randomization and after 12 weeks.
Results. At week 12, in the intention-to-treat population (170 patients O and 175 R) the rate of normalized subjects was significantly larger in the O group (38.8 % vs 26.3 % R; p = 0.013). Baseline-adjusted mean sitting office blood pressure reduction at final visit was not significantly greater under O [SBP: 16.6 (95 % confidence interval 14.0/19.2) mmHg vs 13.0 (10.4/15.6) mmHg R, p = 0.206; DBP: 11.8 (10.3/13.3) mmHg vs 10.5 (9.0/12.0) mmHg, p = 0.351]. In the subgroup of patients with valid ABP recordings (38 O and 47 R), the reduction in 24?h average blood pressure was significantly (p = 0.01) larger with O [SBP: 8.9 (9.8/8.1) and DBP: 5.7 (6.3/5.1) mmHg] than with R [6.7 (7.9/5.6) and 4.4 (5.1/3.7) mmHg]. The superiority of O was particularly evident in the last 4 h from the dosing interval. The proportion of patients with drug-related adverse events was comparable in the two groups (4.0 % O vs 4.5 % R), as well as the number of patients discontinuing study drug because of a side-effect (8 O vs 7 R).
Conclusions. In elderly patients with essential arterial hypertension, O provides an effective, prolonged and well tolerated blood pressure control, with significantly better blood pressure normalization than R and represents a useful option among first-line drug treatments of hypertension in this age group.
Adopted translation from BloodPressure, 2011; 20 (TherSuppl 1): 3—11
Key words: ambulatory blood pressure monitoring, essential hypertension, elderly, olmesartan, ramipril, office blood pressure.
VASCULAR INJURY CORRECTION IN ARTERIAL HYPERTENSION: FOCUS ON PERINDOPRIL
Belenkov Yu. N.1, Privalova E. V.1, Danilogorskaya Yu. A.2, Zheleznykh E. A.2, Shchendrygina A. A. 1
1Hospital Therapy Department No. 1, Therapy Faculty, I. M. Sechenov First Moscow State Medical University, Moscow, Russia; 2Department of Chronomedicine and New Technologies in Internal Medicine, Research Centre, I. M. Sechenov First Moscow State Medical University, Moscow, Russia.
Risk factors are the cornerstone of the cardiovascular continuum concept. Arterial hypertension is one of major risk factors, which accounts for a substantial proportion of cardiovascular morbidity and mortality due to cardiovascular complications (CVC). The latter develop due to, among other
reasons, the damage of the vascular component of cardiovascular system (CVS). Presently, the aims of antihypertensive treatment include not only control of blood pressure levels, but also CVC prevention. Antihypertensive medications of choice include the agents which also possess vasoprotective qualities.
Key words: ACE inhibitors, perindopril, arterial hypertension, remodelling, microcirculation.
DIAGNOSTIC SPECIFICS OF PULMONARY VENO-OCCLUSIVE DISEASE
Zhuk E. A. 1, Kirichenko N. V. 2, Myasoedova S. E. 1, Pobedinskaya T. A. 1, Vasilyeva V. P.2
1Ivanovo State Medical Academy; 2City Clinical Hospital № 4, Ivanovo, Russia.
The authors present the two-year follow-up of a female patient with severe pulmonary hypertension and a rare pathology — pulmonary veno-occlusive disease. Due to the treatment with low-dose prednisolone, in combination with warfarin, coraxan, and oxygen, the clinical status of the patient remains stable.
Key words: pulmonary veno-occlusive disease, pulmonary hypertension.
HELICOBACTER PYLORI AND CARDIOVASCULAR DISEASE: THE ROAD TO THE HEART IS THROUGH THE STOMACH?
Martusevich A. K. 2, Simonova Zh. G. 1, Tarlovskaya E. I. 1
1Kirov State Medical Academy, Kirov, Russia; 2Nizhny Novgorod Research Institute of Traumatology and Orthopedics, Nizhny Novgorod, Russia.
The paper analyses the Russian and international evidence on the potential role of Helicobacter pylori infection in the development and progression of cardiovascular disease. The authors discuss the existing statistical evidence of this association, its pathogenetic mechanisms, and the effectiveness of preventive eradication treatment. Based on the literature data and the original research findings, the authors propose a new complex concept of the pathogenesis of Helicobacter pyloriassociated cardiovascular disease.
Key words: Helicobacter pylori, coronary heart disease, myocardial infarction, atherosclerosis, pathogenesis.
Russ J Cardiol 2012, 3 (95): 91—101
BIVALIRUDIN AND PERCUTANEOUS CORONARY INTERVENTIONS IN PATIENTS WITH ACUTE CORONARY SYNDROME: THEORY AND PRACTICE
City Clinical Hospital № 15, named after O. M. Filatov, Russian University of People’s Friendship, Moscow, Russia.
This analytical paper presents the key information on the mechanism of action of a direct thrombin inhibitor — bivalirudin. The difference between bivalirudin and unfractionated or low molecular weight heparins, as well as fondaparinux, in terms of the mechanism of action, pharmacokinetics, and pharmacodynamics, is discussed. The results of clinical trials of bivalirudin and the position of this medication in the current clinical guidelines on acute coronary syndrome treatment are summarized. A detailed description of bivalirudin dosage is presented, together with the recommendations on its effective and safe use in clinical practice.
Russ J Cardiol 2012, 3 (95): 102—112
Key words: acute coronary syndrome, anticoagulants, bivalirudin, percutaneous coronary interventions.
Russian Journal of Cardiology 2(94)-2012
CONFLICT OF INTEREST POLICIES AND DISCLOSURE REQUIREMENTS AMONG EUROPEAN SOCIETY OF CARDIOLOGY NATIONAL CARDIOVASCULAR JOURNALS
Alfonso F., Timmis A., Pinto F. J., Ambrosio G., Ector H., Kulakowski P., Vardas P., on behalf of the Editors'Network European Society of Cardiology Task Force
Disclosure of potential conflicts of interest (COI) is used by biomedical journals to guarantee credibility and transparency of the scientific process. COI disclosure, however, is not systematically nor consistently dealt with by journals. Recent joint editorial efforts paved the way towards the implementation of uniform vehicles for COI disclosure. This paper provides a comprehensive editorial perspective on classical COI-related issues. New insights into current COI policies and practices among European Society of Cardiology national cardiovascular journals, as derived from a cross-sectional survey using a standardised questionnaire, are discussed.
Key Words: Conflict of interest. Disclosure. Editorial ethics. Journals.
CLINICAL AND ULTRASOUND PREDICTORS OF HEART FAILURE DEVELOPMENT IN PATIENTS WITH SUBACUTE MYOCARDIAL INFARCTION
Serdyukov D.Yu.1, Gordienko A.V.1, Nikiforov V.S.1, Gulyaev N.I.1, Rezvantsev M.V.1, Starienko E.A. 2
S.M. Kirov Military Medical Academy1, St. Petersburg; City Clinical Hospital No. 202, St. Petersburg, Russia.
Aim. To identify major clinical and ultrasound predictors of heart failure development in patients with subacute myocardial infarction (MI).
Material and methods. In total, 135 patients with acute and subacute MI were examined. The assessment of pre-existing cardiovascular risk factors and MI clinical course was combined with ultrasound examination of the heart and hepatic vessels.
Results. Chronic heart failure was associated with selected parameters of systolic and diastolic cardiac function, as well as central and hepatic hemodynamics.
Conclusion. In patients with subacute MI, the predictors of congestive heart failure included acute left ventricular failure, pulmonary hypertension, and hepatic venous congestion.
Russ J Cardiol 2012, 2(94): 16—20
Key words: Myocardial infarction, acute heart failure, hepatic blood flow, chronic heart failure.
OBSTRUCTIVE SLEEP APNOEA SYNDROME AND CLINICAL STATUS OF PATIENTS WITH ACUTE MYOCARDIAL INFARCTION AND PREEXISTING STABLE ANGINA
Ivanov A. P.1,2, Klyukvin D. V. 3, Rostorotskaya V. V. 1,2, Elgardt I. A.2
Tver Medical Academy1, Tver; Tver Clinical Cardiology Dispanser2, Tver; City Hospital No. 3, Zelenograd3, Russia.
Aim. To investigate the effects of obstructive sleep apnoea (OSA) on clinical and functional status of patients with acute myocardial infarction (AMI); to assess the association between pre-existing stable angina and AMI clinical course in the first 3 months.
Material and methods. The study included 68 AMI patients; in 38 participants, OSA was diagnosed based on the electrocardiography and breathing monitoring results. All patients underwent echocardiography and veloergometry.
Results. In OSA patients, AMI risk was higher among young individuals with preexisting diabetes mellitus and arterial hypertension. OSA severity was maximal during the acute phase of AMI. Clinical course of AMI in OSA patients was characterised by disturbed cardiac hemodynamics and progressing myocardial ischemia; during the follow-up period, significant improvement was observed only for the latter. Preexisting stable angina partly counterbalanced negative effects of OSA, being linked to a 1,9-fold reduction in the number of ischemic episodes, and a 2,2-fold decrease in total ischemia duration over 24 hours.
Conclusion. The results obtained should be taken into consideration while treating AMI and preventing its complications.
Key words: Obstructive sleep apnoea, myocardial infarction, pre-existing angina.
CARDIO-ANKLE VASCULAR INDEX IN PATIENTS WITH CORONARY HEART DISEASE: ASSOCIATION WITH THE SEVERITY OF CORONARY AND PERIPHERAL ARTERY ATHEROSCLEROSIS
Sumin A. N., Karpovich A. V., Barbarash O. L.
Aim: To investigate the impact of peripheral artery atherosclerosis on the association between cardio-ankle vascular index (CAVI) and coronary atherosclerosis severity in patients with coronary heart disease (CHD).
Material and methods. The study included 182 patients (161 men and 21 women; mean age 58,5±7,5 years), examined before the planned intervention on coronary arteries (CA). Based on the values of ankle-brachial index (ABI), all patients were divided into 5 groups: Group I (n=30) with ABI <0,9; Group II (n=28) with ABI 0,9—0,99; Group III (n=64) with ABI 1,0—1,09; Group IV (n=51) with ABI 1,1—1,3; and Group V (n=9) with ABI >1,3. CAVI was assessed by volume sphygmography method (VaSera VS-1000, Fukuda Denshi, Japan). Coronary angiography was performed with the use of Coroscop and Innova-3100 equipment.
Results. In 31,3 % of CHD patients, CAVI values exceeded 9,0, which reflected increased arterial stiffness. ABI values below 0,9, as a marker of peripheral artery atherosclerosis, were observed in 16,5 %. In Groups I and II, compared to Groups III, IV, and V, mean CAVI values were non-significantly (p=0,1) lower: 7,7±1,95 and 7,9±1,35 vs. 8,3±1,6, 8,2±1,85, and 8,2±2,1, respectively. The percentage of patients with CAVI >9,0 was higher in Group I than in the other groups (10 % vs. 29,4—4,4 %; p=0,08). Coronary angiography results were similar in subjects with CAVI values <9,0 vs. >9,0. ABI values were not clearly related to the presence of hemodynamically significant stenosis of two CA, three CA, or left CA trunk.
Conclusion. The prevalence of hemodynamically significant CA stenosis was not associated with the vascular indices of interest. The presence of peripheral artery atherosclerosis influenced the link between vascular stiffness (i.e. CAVI) and the severity of CA atherosclerosis. Therefore, the assessment of clinical and prognostic value of CAVI should take into consideration the severity of peripheral atherosclerosis.
Key words: Cardio-ankle vascular index, coronary atherosclerosis.
BLOOD LEVELS OF FATTY ALDEHYDES IN CORONARY HEART DISEASE AND ATHEROSCLEROSIS
Osipenko A. N., Akulich N. V.
A. A. Kuleshov Mogilev State University. Mogilev, Belarus.
Aim. To investigate the levels of fatty aldehydes and oxidised fatty acid radicals in erythrocytes and plasma lipids among patients with atherosclerosis and coronary heart disease (CHD).
Material and methods. The study included patients with diagnosed CHD and coronary artery atherosclerosis, as well as healthy volunteers (controls). The levels of fatty aldehydes and oxidised fatty acid radicals were assessed using the capillary gas-liquid chromatography method.
Results. CHD patients demonstrated elevated erythrocyte levels of fatty aldehydes and oxidised fatty radicals, as well as an increased relative content of fatty aldehydes in plasma lipids.
Conclusion. Blood acidosis could play an important role in the elevation of fatty aldehyde levels in erythrocytes among patients with atherosclerosis and myocardial ischemia.
Key words: Fatty aldehydes, fatty acids, plasmalogen phospholipids, atherosclerosis, coronary heart disease.
MODULATED KINESIOTHERAPY IN PATIENTS WITH COMPLICATED CORONARY HEART DISEASE
Olesin A. I.1, Belova A. V.1, Smolin Z. Yu.2
I.I. Mechnikov North-West State Medical University, Faculty Therapy and Hospital Therapy Department, Therapy Faculty1; St. Elisabeth's City Hospital2, St. Petersburg, Russia.
Aim. To study the effects of modulated kinesiotherapy (MK) on the clinical course of atrial fibrillation (AF) and chronic heart failure (CHF) in patients with coronary heart disease (CHD).
Material and methods. The study included 175 patients, aged 46—65 years, with CHD and/or essential arterial hypertension, persistent AF, and Functional Class (FC) I-II CHF. All participants underwent general clinical examination, 6-minute walk test, and assessment of quality of life (QoL), hemodynamic parameters, atrial late potentials, and P wave dispersion. After selection of anti-recurrent AF therapy, all patients were followed up for one year. After that, MK was administered to 119 individuals (68,0 %), while the rest of the subjects continued anti-recurrent AF treatment.
Results. The combination of MK and anti-recurrent AF therapy was associated with improved QoL and left ventricular diastolic function, reduced CHF FC and AF recurrence rates, and decreased left atrium volume and prevalence of atrial late potentials or pathological P wave dispersion values, compared to baseline characteristics.
Conclusion. In patients with CHD, CHF, and persistent AF, the combination of MK and anti-recurrent AF therapy was linked to reduced rates of AF recurrence, as well as to improved CHF FC.
Key words: Coronary heart disease, atrial fibrillation, chronic heart failure, modulated kinesiotherapy.
BIOMARKERS ROLE IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF SINUS NODE DYSFUNCTION
Vasilets L. M., Tuev A. V., Khlynova O. V., Vustina V. V., Ratanova E. A.
Academician E. A. Wagner Perm State Medical Academy, Hospital Therapy Department No. 1, Perm, Russia.
Aim. In patients with different types of sinus node dysfunction (SND), to study inflammation marker levels and assess their value as predictors of SND development.
Material and methods. The study included 83 individuals: 63 patients with SND (the main group) and 20 controls. The main group was divided into three subgroups: Subgroup 1, with vegetative SND (VSND); Subgroup 2, with Type I and II sick sinus syndrome (SSS); and Subgroup 3, with tachy-brady syndrome, or Type III SSS. In all participants, the measurement of serum levels of inflammation markers, cardiac electrophysiological testing, and long-term electrocardiography monitoring were performed. The inflammation markers of interest included tumour necrosis factor alpha (THF-?), interleukin (IL) 6, IL-4, C-reactive protein (CRP), and fibrinogen.
Results. Compared to controls, SND patients were characterised by increased levels of TNF-? and IL-6. TNF-? concentration was linked to SND type, with the highest levels observed in patients with tachy-brady syndrome. Elevated levels of inflammation markers independently predicted SND development. In particular, VSND risk was 2,5 times higher in patients with IL-6 concentration >3 pg/ml. SSS risk doubled when the levels of IL-6 increased from 2,5 pg/ml to 4 pg/ml. TNF-? levels >16 pg/ml were associated with a 1,5-fold increase in the risk of Type I-II SSS transformation into tachy-brady syndrome.
Conclusion. Increased expression of inflammation cytokines in SND patients could be directly linked to pathogenetic mechanisms of this arrhythmic syndrome.
Key words: Sinus node dysfunction, C-reactive protein, fibrinogen, tumour necrosis factor alpha, interleukin-4, interleukin-6.
ELECTROCARDIOGRAPHY PATTERNS OF TILT-INDUCED CARDIOINHIBITORY SYNCOPE IN CHILDREN AND ADOLESCENTS
Pogodina A. V., Dolgikh V. V., Valyavskaya O. V.
Research Centre of Family Health and Human Reproduction Siberian Branch, Russian Academy of Medical Sciences, Irkutsk, Russia
Aim. To study electrocardiographic patterns of tilt-induced cardioinhibitory (CI) reactions in children and adolescents.
Material and methods. The study included 16 children and adolescents (10 boys), aged 8—18 years, with recurrent syncope in anamnesis and CI syncope mechanisms confirmed by the tilt table test (TTT) results. Medication-free TTT was performed according to the Westminster protocol, with continuous electrocardiography; all records were processed manually. The following electrocardiogram (ECG) records (3 minutes each) were analysed: before the table tilt; in the head-up position; before the syncope; during the syncope; and during the recovery phase.
Results. In children and adolescents with CI syncope, the baseline ECG demonstrated increased parasympathetic influence on heart rate (HR) regulation. Early orthostasis was characterised by increased HR (+35,8±11,5 %). During the increase in orthostatic stress and before the syncope development, HR additionally and significantly increased (p=0,001 vs. early orthostasis). Syncope development
was associated with HR reduction and subsequent cardioinhibition, either acute, or after a short period of disturbed sinoatrial and/or atrioventricular conductivity. The recovery phase was characterised by a significant HR reduction, compared to the baseline (p=0,0006), and frequent vagal-associated arrhythmias.
Conclusion. ECG patterns of CI syncope in children and adolescents demonstrate increased sympathetic influences on HR regulation, followed by acute parasympathetic activation. The degree of vagal activation defines ECG patterns during syncope development and recovery phase.
Key words: Syncope, tilt-test, electrocardiogram.
METABOLIC SYNDROME PREVALENCE IN RUSSIAN CITIES
Rotar O. P. 1, Libis R. A. 2, Isaeva E. N. 2, Erina A. M. 1,4, Shavshin D. A. 3, Moguchaya E. V. 1, Kolesova E. P. 1, Boyarinova M. A. 1, Moroshkina N. V. 1, Yakovleva O. I. 1, Solntsev V. N. 1, Konradi A. O. 1, Shlyakhto E. V. 1
V. A. Almazov Federal Centre of Heart, Blood, and Endocrinology 1, St. Petersburg; Orenburg State Medical Academy 2, Orenburg; Kaliningrad Region Clinical Hospital 3, Kaliningrad; City Clinical Hospital of Emergency Care 4, Kursk, Russia.
Aim. Metabolic syndrome (MS) is a combination of the key cardiovascular risk factors, namely obesity, carbohydrate metabolism disturbances, arterial hypertension (AH), and dyslipidemia. MS prevalence varies, depending on the MS definition used. The aim of this study was to assess the prevalence of MS and its components in large Russian cities (St. Petersburg, Kursk, Orenburg, and Kaliningrad), using international MS criteria.
Material and methods. In total, 1046 individuals were screened in 4 cities: 309 in St. Petersburg, 170 in Kursk, 279 in Orenburg, and 288 in Kaliningrad. All participants underwent a questionnaire survey on demographics, risk factors, lifestyle, family history, comorbidities and treatment. Blood pressure measurement (3 measurements on the right arm) and nthropometry were also performed. Lipid profile and fasting glucose levels were measured with the use of Hitachi-902 analyser (Roche Diagnostics). MS was diagnosed based on the criteria by ATP III (2001—2005), IDF (2005), and JIS (2009).
Results. High prevalence of MS was observed regardless of the criteria used; the highest prevalence was registered for the JIS-2009 criteria. For all MS criteria, no significant difference in MS prevalence was registered across the cities, or between men and women in each city. The majority of the patients (over 80 %, regardless of the criteria used) had at least one MS component, with the highest prevalence observed in Kursk (94 % for IDF-2005 and JIS-2009 criteria).
Conclusion. In each region, the prevalence of MS was high, which might be related to high levels of cardiovascular morbidity and mortality in Russia. The IDF-2005 criteria agreed with the JIS-2009 ones to a greater extent than with the ATP III definition. However, prospective studies are needed to establish the national normal values of waist circumference, for reliable diagnostics of abdominal obesity in the Russian population.
Key words: Metabolic syndrome, arterial hypertension, obesity, dyslipidemia, cardiovascular disease, waist circumference.
ENDOCRINE ASPECTS OF AMIODARONE THERAPY IN CLINICAL PRACTICE (FOLLOW-UP AND TREATMENT ALGORITHM FOR PATIENTS WITH THYROID DYSFUNCTION).
Sviridenko N.Yu. 1, Platonova N. M. 1, Molashenko N. V. 1, Golitsyn S. P. 2, Bakalov S. A. 2, Serdyuk S. E. 3
Endocrinology Research Centre, Moscow, Russia1, A.L. Myasnikov Research Institute of Clinical Cardiology, Russian Cardiology Scientific and Clinical Complex, Moscow, Russia2, State Research Centre for Preventive Medicine3, Moscow, Russia.
This review discusses the effects of amiodarone on thyroid function and summarises the results of international studies and the evidence obtained by the researchers from the A.L. Myasnikov Research Institute of Clinical Cardiology and Endocrinology Research Centre. The guidelines on thyroid dysfunction diagnostics and therapy, as well as the follow-up of amiodarone-treated patients, are presented.
Russian Journal of Cardiology 2012, 2(94): 63—71
Key words: Amiodarone, thyroid gland, thyrotoxicosis, hypothyreosis.
MAGNESIUM MEDICATION USE IN CARDIOLOGY PRACTICE
Mamedov M. N.
State Research Centre for Preventive Medicine. Moscow, Russia.
This review focuses on the mechanisms of action and clinical effectiveness of Magnerot, or magnesium orotate, which is widely used in cardiac patients. Organic salt of magnesium orotate increases magnesium assimilability, improves vasodilatation and myorelaxation, and demonstrates antiarrhythmic and anti-ischemic effects. In cardiology practice, the scope of Magnerot use is relatively wide, from angina to heart failure treatment.
Key words: Magnerot, coronary heart disease, heart failure.
WHEN "BRUGADA HEART" STOPS BEATING
Andjelic Sladjana
Emergency Medical Service Belgrade, Serbia.
The typical Brugada patient is young, otherwise healthy male with normal general medical and cardiovascular physical findings. A present a case of successful resuscitation following "Brugada heart" arrest, where diagnosis of type 2 Brugada syndrome was made after cardiopulmonary resuscitation
(CPR).
Key words: "Brugada heart"; cardiac arrest; cardiopulmonary resuscitation
CARDIAC RESYNCHRONISATION THERAPY: SELECTED PATHOPHYSIOLOGICAL ASPECTS OF DYSSYNCHRONY AND HEMODYNAMIC DISTURBANCES
Kiyutina M. V. 1,3, Gordeev I. G. 1, Samoylenko I. V. 2, Samoylenko V. I. 2
N. I. Pirogov Russian Medical University, Therapy Faculty, Hospital Therapy Department No. 11, Moscow; City Clinical Hospital No. 4, Cardiosurgery Department2, Moscow; O. M. Filatov City Clinical Hospital No. 153, Moscow, Russia.
Management of chronic heart failure (CHF) remains one of the most important problems in modern cardiology. Despite the recent pharmacotherapy successes, substantial numbers of CHF patients remain resistant to pharmaceutical treatment. Over the last decade, a new CHF management method, based on cardiostimulation technologies, has become widely used. The implantation of three-chamber cardiac pacemakers provides an opportunity to perform cardiac resynchronisation therapy. This method targets dyssynchrony of myocardial excitation, as a pathogenetic component of CHF. This review describes the main components of dyssynchrony pathogenesis and pathophysiological mechanisms of its correction via biventricular stimulation.
Key words: Chronic heart failure, cardiac resynchronisation therapy, dyssynchrony.
METABOLIC EFFECTS OF STATINS AND CLINICAL MANIFESTATIONS OF ATHEROSCLEROSIS
Yakovenko E. I.1, Mamedov M. N.2
Polyclinic No. 961, North-West Administrative District, Moscow; State Research Centre for Preventive Medicine2, Moscow, Russia.
Thus review presents the modern concept of atherosclerosis and its main pathophysiological mechanisms, such as lipid peroxidation and inflammation. The authors describe the underlying mechanisms of the statins' influence on clinical manifestations of atherosclerosis, which are related to lipid-lowering, pleiotropic, and metabolic effects of statins. Complex metabolic influences of statins are also discussed, including their effects on insulin resistance, glycemia, lipid profile (triglycerides and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol), uric acid, and markers of inflammation and lipid peroxidation. Finally, the impact of statin therapy on major cardiovascular risk factors, such as arterial hypertension and
obesity, is debated.
Key words: Atherosclerosis, statins, metabolic effects.
PATHOGENETIC FACTORS OF CORONARY HEART DISEASE AND HELICOBACTER PYLORI INFECTION
Pavlov O. N.
Yaroslavl Station Clinical Hospital, Russian Railways, Yaroslavl, Russia.
This literature review describes pathogenetic stages of chronic inflammation, as a factor associated with the development of atherosclerosis complications and coronary heart disease (CHD) progression. The author presents the evidence confirming atherogenic effects of Helicobacter pylori infection on the
clinical course of CHD.
Key words: Coronary heart disease, atherosclerosis, inflammation, infection.
PREVENTION OF CARDIOVASCULAR COMPLICATIONS IN DIABETES MELLITUS: THE ROLE OF ASPIRIN
Strizhakov L. A.
I.M. Sechenov First Moscow State Medical University, Moscow, Russia.
The review presents modern national and international evidence on aspirin therapy in patients with diabetes mellitus. The results of multi-centre studies which investigated aspirin effects on cardiovascular complication risk among diabetic patients are analysed. The modern guidelines on aspirin therapy in diabetes mellitus are discussed.
Key words: diabetes mellitus, aspirin, cardiovascular complications.
SOCIETY OF CARDIOLOGY OF THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION: SCIENTIFIC SESSION CONSENSUS PHARMACEUTICALS OF BIOLOGICAL ORIGIN AND THEIR ANALOGUES
Russ J Cardiol 2012, 2(94): 100—101
Russian National Cardiology Congress October 3—5th 2012, Moscow
Russ J Cardiol 2012, 2(94): 1002—104
GENETIC ASPECTS OF MYOCARDIAL INFARCTION: PROBLEMS AND PERSPECTIVES
Shesternya P.A., Shulman V.A., Nikulina S.Yu.
The role of hereditary factors in the development of coronary heart disease and myocardial infarction is known, but the underlying pathogenetic mechanisms remain understudied. Multiple studies of candidate genes (those coding protein synthesis, participating in atherosclerosis pathogenesis, or regulating hemostasis and inflammation) have not been particularly successful. The main problem of these studies has been a very low level of reproducibility of the results obtained. By contrast, whole-genome association studies have provided new perspectives in this research area. This review discusses the modern relevant evidence and new directions for future research.
Russ J Cardiol 2012, 1 (93): 4-9
Key words: Myocardial infarction, genetics, predictors, polymorphisms.
Prof. V. F. Voyno-Yasenetskyi Krasnoyarsk State Medical University, Krasnoyarsk, Russia.
COMPARISON OF IN-HOSPITAL LETHALITY PROGNOSTIC SCALES IN MYOCARDIAL INFARCTION PATIENTS
Zykov M.V.1, Barbarash O.L.2, Zykova D.S.1, Karetnikova V.N.2, Tavlueva E.V.1, Kashtalap V.V.1
Aim. To assess the prognostic value of selected in-hospital lethality prognostic scales in patients with ST segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) and to create a new, original risk scale.
Material and methods. The analysis included the data of 800 consecutive patients admitted to the Kemerovo Cardiology Dispanser with STEMI diagnosis in 2008–2009. The level of in-hospital lethality was 10,5% (84 deaths).
Results. The risk stratification at admission with TIMI (after pre-hospital thrombolysis) or GRACE scales, or after angiography with CADILLAC scale, provided an important prognostic information and relatively accurately identified the patients at high risk. However, these scales, created for different clinical groups, demonstrated heterogeneous prognostic value, required information on the levels of coronary artery damage, and were not always applicable to the everyday clinical practice settings.
Conclusion. Therefore, a new, original prognostic scale (KemScore) has been created, which is based on clinical parameters and glycaemia levels. Independently of the selected therapeutic strategy, this scale provides a reliable assessment of in-hospital lethality risk, and could be used as early as within the first hour after admission.
Key words: In-hospital prognosis in myocardial infarction.
Research Institute of Complex Cardiovascular Problems, Siberian Branch, Russian Academy of Medical Sciences1, Kemerovo; Kemerovo State Medical Academy2, Kemerovo, Russia.
ENDOVASCULAR INTERVENTION EFFECTS ON POST-INFARCTION CLINICAL COURSE IN PATIENTS UNDER 60 YEARS
Zaytsev D.G.2, Volov N.A.1, Lebedeva A.Yu.2, Filatov A.A.2, Klykov L.L.2, Lusov V.A.1
Aim. One of the major issues in modern cardiology is the treatment and prevention of complications in younger patients (under 60 years) after myocardial infarction with ST segment elevation (STEMI). According to the available evidence, in female patients, endovascular interventions are less common, and coronary artery bypass graft surgery is more common than in male patients.
Material and methods. The study included 102 male and female patients aged under 60 years and diagnosed with STEMI. In all participants, coronary angiography was performed within first 6 hours, followed by infarct-related artery revascularisation via balloon angioplasty and stenting. At Days 10–15, as well as 6 and 12 months later, clinical examination (presence of angina, heart failure, or arrhythmias), Holter ECG monitoring, and treadmill test were performed.
Results. The results of the one-year follow-up suggested that in female patients, heart failure developed earlier, ejection fraction was significantly lower, and Functional Class II angina was more prevalent than in their male peers. Moreover, female patients more often demonstrated clinically significant cardiac arrhythmias, reduced exercise capacity, and decreased heart rate variability.
Conclusion. Post-infarction clinical course in women under 60 years was characterized by earlier development of heart failure, which justifies adequate control of its clinical manifestations and more aggressive therapy. The prevalence of effort angina or supraventricular extrasystolia was higher in women, which requires the antianginal therapy correction, via increasing the doses of β-adrenoblockers or calcium channel blockers. In men, ventricular arrhythmias were more prevalent, which might require antiarrhythmic drug therapy.
Key words: Myocardial infarction, coronary heart disease, coronary angiography, chronic heart failure.
N. I. Pirogov Russian National Medical Research University 1, Moscow; O. M. Filatov Moscow City Clinical Hospital No. 15 2, Moscow, Russia.
COMPARATIVE ASSESSMENT OF LARGE ARTERY ELASTICITY IN PATIENTS WITH STABLE ANGINA RECEIVING METABOLIC THERAPY
Ilukhin O.V.1, Tarasov D.L.2, Prom A.K.2, Kalganova E.L.3, Termisultanova T.Kh.1,2, Ilukhina M.V.4
Aim. To assess the effects of metabolic therapy, administered together with standard antianginal treatment, on large artery elasticity and endothelium dependent vasodilatation in patients with stable angina and subsequent heart failure.
Material and methods. The study included 74 patients with coronary heart disease (CHD), stable angina of II–III Functional Class (FC), and FC II–III chronic heart failure (CHF). In the main group, standard antianginal treatment was combined with metabolic therapy (trimetazidine, trimethylhydrazinium propionate, and isosorbide dinitrate) for 4 months; the control group received standard treatment only.
Results. The four-month metabolic therapy failed to substantially improve the pulse wave velocity (PWV) in elastic arteries. In muscular arteries, PWV significantly decreased during the treatment with isosorbide dinitrate, which negatively affected endothelium-dependent vasodilatation of radial arteries. However, trimetazidine treatment was associated with a significant improvement in endothelial function, as well as with a significant reduction in anginal FC and a substantial improvement in exercise capacity.
Trimethylhydrazinium propionate therapy was linked to non-significant positive dynamics of these parameters.
Conclusion. In stable angina patients, the combination of trimetazidine and standard antianginal therapy was associated with a significant improvement in endothelium dependent vasodilatation of muscular arteries. Considering its positive impact on endothelial function and the absence of direct effects on arterial tonus in stable angina, trimetazidine therapy was more effective than isosorbide dinitrate treatment.
Key words: Pulse wave velocity, endothelium-dependent arterial reactivity, trimetazidine, endothelial function.
Volgograd State Medical University 1, Volgograd; Volgograd Region Clinical Cardiology Centre2, Volgograd; Clinical Polyclinic No.123, Volgograd; Volgograd Region Clinical Hospital No.14, Volgograd, Russia.
HEART-TYPE FATTY ACID BINDING PROTEIN IN ACUTE CORONARY SYNDROME
Kashtanova E.V.1, Voevoda M.I.1, Kuimov A.D.2, Polonskaya Ya.V.1, Lozhkina N.G.2, Ragino Yu.I.1
Aim. To compare the serum levels of heart-type fatty acid binding protein (H-FABP), measured with immune-enzyme assay and immunochromatography express test system, in patients with acute coronary syndrome (ACS), such as myocardial infarction (MI) and unstable angina (UA).
Material and methods. The study included 250 ACS patients: 166 with MI and 84 with UA. At Days 1 and 10 of ACS, serum levels of troponin I (immune-enzyme assay), creatine kinase-MB (CK-MB; photometry), and H-FABP (quantitative measurement with immune-enzyme assay, H-FABP-IEA-BEST test system, Vector-Best, Russia; qualitative measurement with immunochromatography express test system, BioTest, Russia) were assessed in all participants.
Results. At Day 1, serum H-FABP levels were substantially higher in men vs. women with MI, and in men with MI vs. men with UA. This parameter significantly correlated with MI diagnosis, including Q-wave MI, with other ACS biomarkers (troponin I and CK-MB), and with selected inflammatory biomarkers.
Conclusion. H-FABP is a significant, sensitive biomarker of myocardial damage and ACS development. Immunochromatography express test system produced qualitatively "positive" results even in serum H-FABP concentrations lower than 15 ng/ml.
Key words: Heart-type fatty acid binding protein (H‑FABP), acute coronary syndrome, myocardial infarction, immune-enzyme assay, immunochromatography express test system H-FABP.
Institute of Internal Medicine, Siberian Branch, Russian Academy of Medical Sciences1, Novosibirsk; Novosibirsk State Medical University2, Novosibirsk, Russia.
SPECIFICS OF PRE-ADMISSION EMERGENCY CARE IN PATIENTS WITH ATRIAL FIBRILLATION
Yepifanov V.G.1, Dolgikh V.T.2
Aim. To perform a retrospective comparison of pre-admission emergency care tactics and outcomes in patients with uncomplicated atrial fibrillation (AF) episodes.
Material and methods. In total, 1200 cases of pre-admission emergency care in AF patients were analyzed, using the ambulance call forms, polyclinics medical cards, and hospital case histories. The emergency care outcomes were compared for the patients who were not hospitalized and those were admitted to the hospital within 1, 12, or 24 hours.
Results. The pre-admission emergency care in patients with uncomplicated AF was not effective within the first hour of the follow-up. In over 90% of the cases, AF episode was resolved within 24 hours, regardless of the emergency care tactics or the antiarrhythmic drug used. Inadequate ventricular rate reduction at the preadmission stage was associated with a longer AF episode duration and an increased chance of hospitalisation.
Conclusion. The tactics of pre-admission emergency care in uncomplicated AF episodes lasting under 24 hours should primarily address the reduction of ventricular rate. The strategy of obligatory hospitalisation of all ambulanceattended uncomplicated AF episodes which lasted less than 24 hours is not justified.
Key words: Atrial fibrillation, emergency care, pre-admission stage.
Emergency Care Unit1, Omsk; Omsk State Medical Academy2, Pathophysiology and Clinical Pathophysiology Department, Omsk, Russia.
CLINICAL ROLE OF CARDIAC EXAMINATION IN COPD PATIENTS
Akramova E. G.
Aim. To assess cardiac structure and function, using echocardiography and Holter ECG monitoring, in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), or a combination of COPD and arterial hypertension (AH) or coronary heart disease (CHD).
Material and methods. In total, 72 COPD patients (21 with COPD only, 28 with COPD and AH, and 23 with COPD and CHD) underwent echocardiography (HD 11 XE, Philips, США) and Holter ECG monitoring (Schiller, Switzerland).
Results. In COPD patients without cardiac comorbidity, Stage I COPD was characterized by mild relative dilatation of right ventriculum (RV) and right atrium (RA), left ventricular (LV) diastolic dysfunction, and reduced Sm of mitral and tricuspid annulus fibrosus. Stage II COPD was additionally characterised by RV diastolic dysfunction, while in Stage III–IV COPD, RV hypertrophy was observed. Clinical manifestations of chronic heart failure (CHF) were registered in one-third of the patients with isolated COPD or COPD and AH, compared to 87% of the participants with COPD and CHD.
Conclusion. RV hypertrophy was observed at Stage I COPD in patients with COPD and CHD, at Stage II in individuals with COPD and AH, and at Stage III in participants with isolated COPD. LV abnormalities, such as concentric remodelling or diastolic dysfunction, were registered in some patients at Stage I of isolated COPD. The most severe cardiac pathology, such as LV and RV hypertrophy, reduced global contractility, frequent episodes of ventricular tachycardia, and myocardial ischemic episodes, was observed in patients with COPD and CHD.
Key words: Echocardiography, Holter monitoring, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, arterial hypertension, coronary heart disease.
Kazan City Central Clinical Hospital No. 18, Kazan, Russia.
NEBIVOLOL ROLE IN THE CORRECTION OF INTRACARDIAC HEMODYNAMICS IN PATIENTS WITH CHRONIC HEART FAILURE
Dzhanaeva R.L., Astakhova Z.T., Makoeva V.Yu.
Aim. To assess the effectiveness and safety of a super-selective vasodilating β-adrenoblocker (β-AB) nebivolol in patients with NYHA Functional Class (FC) I–III chronic heart failure (CHF), as a complication of coronary heart disease (CHD).
Material and methods. In total, 42 patients with post-infarction cardiosclerosis and FC I–III CHF (30 men and 12 women), aged 52–73 years, were examined. Nebivolol was administered once daily, in the morning, as a part of complex CHD treatment, for 12 weeks. The clinical effectiveness of the therapy and its effects on intracardiac hemodynamics (echocardiography) were assessed.
Results. After 12 weeks of the treatment, clinical manifestations of CHF decompensation (oedema, dyspnoea, palpitation, and fatigue) were reduced, the mean CHF FC significantly decreased from 3,12±0,08 to 1,88±0,05 (p<0,05), and exercise capacity increased. A significant reduction in systolic and diastolic blood pressure levels was observed among hypertensive patients. In all participants, mean heart rate was significantly reduced, from 76,80±10,41 to 62,0±5,54 bpm (p≤0,05). Nebivolol also improved the parameters of pathological cardiac remodeling and intracardiac hemodynamics. Mean end-diastolic and end-systolic volume decreased by 19,5% and 15,7%, respectively, while mean left ventricular (LV) myocardial mass decreased by 22,4%. Improved systolic function manifested in significantly increased LV ejection fraction (by 23,8%) and fractional shortening (by 38,3%). Nebivolol also improved LV diastolic function, as demonstrated by increased Ve and F/A ratio (from 1,12±0,34 to 1,29±0,45; p<0,05).
Conclusion. Nebivolol therapy improved clinical status and extra- and intracardiac hemodynamics in patients with CHF.
Key words: Nebivolol, chronic heart failure, intracardiac hemodynamics, diastolic function.
North Ossetia State Medical Academy, Vladikavkaz, Russia.
ANTIHYPERTENSIVE EFFICACY AND SAFETY OF OLMESARTAN MEDOXOMIL AND RAMIPRIL IN ELDERLY PATIENTS WITH MILD TO MODERATE ESSENTIAL HYPERTENSION: THE ESPORT STUDY
Malacco E.1, Omboni S.2, Volpe M.3, Auteri A.4 and Zanchetti A.5, on behalf of the ESPORT Study Group
Objective. To compare the efficacy and safety of the angiotensin II antagonist olmesartan medoxomil (O) and the ACE inhibitor ramipril (R) in elderly patients with essential arterial hypertension.
Methods. After a 2-week placebo wash-out 1102 treated or untreated elderly hypertensive patients aged 65–89 years (office sitting diastolic blood pressure, DBP, 90–109mmHg and/or office sitting systolic blood pressure, SBP, 140–179mmHg) were randomized double-blind to 12-week treatment with O 10mg or R 2.5mg oncedaily.
After the first 2 and 6 weeks doses could be doubled in non-normalized [blood pressure (BP) <140/90mmHg for nondiabetic and<130/80mmHg for diabetic) individuals, up to 40mg for O and 10mg for R. Office BPs were assessed at randomization, after 2, 6 and 12 weeks of treatment, whereas 24-h ambulatory BP was recorded at randomization and after 12 weeks.
Results. In the intention-to-treat population (542 patients O and 539 R) after 12 weeks of treatment baseline-adjusted office SBP and DBP reductions were greater (P<0.01) with O [17.8 (95% confidence interval: 16.8/18.9) and 9.2 (8.6/9.8) mmHg] than with R [15.7 (14.7/16.8) and 7.7 (7.1/8.3) mmHg]. BP normalization rate was also greater under O (52.6 vs. 46.0% R, P<0.05). In the subgroup of patients with valid ambulatory BP recording (318 O and 312 R) the reduction in 24-h average BP was larger (P<0.05) with O [SBP: 11.0 (12.2/9.9) and DBP: 6.5 (7.2/5.8) mmHg] than with R [9.0 (10.2/7.9) and 5.4 (6.1/4.7) mmHg]. The larger blood pressure reduction obtained with O was particularly evident in the last 6 h from the dosing interval; a better homogeneity of the 24-h BP control with O was confirmed by higher smoothness indices. The proportion of patients with drug-related adverse events was comparable in the two groups (3.6 O vs. 3.6% R), as well as the number of patients discontinuing study drug because of a side effect (14 O vs. 19 R).
Conclusion. In elderly patients with essential arterial hypertension O provides an effective, prolonged and well tolerated BP control, representing a useful option among first-line drug treatments of hypertension in this age group.
Keywords: ambulatory blood pressure monitoring, elderly, essential hypertension, office blood pressure, olmesartan, ramipril.
Department of Internal Medicine. Ospedale L. Sacco, University of Milan1, Milan; Italian Institute of Telemedicine2, Varese; Division of Cardiology, II Faculty of Medicine, University of Rome «La Sapienza» and IRCCS Neuromed3, Pozzilli, Isernia; Internal Medicine III, University of Siena4, Siena; Centro di Fisiologia Clinica e Ipertensione University of Milan and Istituto Auxologico Italiano5, Milan, Italy
Adopted translation in Russian from Journal of Hypertension 2010, 28:2342—2350.
COMPARATIVE EFFECTIVENESS OF PERINDOPRIL AND LOSARTAN IN PATIENTS WITH ARTERIAL HYPERTENSION AND OBESITY
Nedogoda S.V., Ledyaeva A.A., Chumachek E.V., Tsoma V.V., Mazina G.G., Salasyuk A.S., Barykina I.N.
Aim. To assess the antihypertensive effectiveness of perindopril А and losartan and their influence on the main cardiovascular risk factors among patients with arterial hypertension and obesity.
Material and methods. This single-blind, randomised, comparative parallel study included patients either untreated with antihypertensive medications or in the end of the two-week wash-out period. All patients were randomised (random envelope method) into 2 groups: Group I (n=30) received perindopril А (Prestarium A, Servier; 10 mg/d), while Group II (n=30) was administered losartan (Cozaar, Merck Sharp & Dohme; 100 mg/d) for 24 weeks. The examination included 24-hour blood pressure monitoring (SpaceLabs 90207, USA), the measurement of pulse wave velocity (PWV), augmentation index, and central aortal pressure (Sphygmocor), and standard echocardiography (EchoCG) (ALOKA prosound L7 premier).
Results. In the perindopril А group, 24-hour levels of systolic and diastolic blood pressure (SBP, DBP) decreased by 15,2% and 18,1%, respectively; in the losartan group, this reduction was 7,8% (p<0,05) and 14,9%, respectively. Perindopril А more effectively, compared to losartan, reduced left ventricular myocardial thickness and myocardial mass index – by 5,3% and 14,3%, respectively, vs. 1,2% and 5,5% (p<0,05). Perindopril А also reduced the carotid-femoral PVW (CF PWV) by 28,9% and the carotid-radial PVW (CR PWV) by 25,8%, compared to 4,1% and 15,7% (p<0,05) in the losartan group. Augmentation index and central aortal pressure decreased by 17,4% and 7,5%, respectively, in the perindopril А group. In the losartan group, the respective figures were 3,5% and 1,3% (p<0,05). An important finding for the patients with arterial hypertension and obesity was a reduction in blood leptin levels – by 29,7% vs. 6,9% in participants treated with perindopril А vs. losartan (p<0,05).
Conclusion. Perindopril А is more suitable for the arterial hypertension treatment in obese patients, since it not only more effectively, compared to losartan, reduced BP, but also demonstrated more beneficial effects on the cardiovascular risk factors in this clinical group (including normalisation of lipid and carbohydrate metabolism or improvement of anthropometric parameters).
Key words: Hyperuricemia, gout, arterial hypertension, pulse wave velocity, losartan.
Volgograd State Medical University, Post-Diploma Medical Education Faculty, Therapy and Endocrinology Department, Volgograd, Russia.
IVABRADINE THERAPY IN PATIENTS WITH CORONARY HEART DISEASE AND CHRONIC OBSTRUCTIVE PULMONARY DISEASE
Zheleznyakova N. A., Sokolov I. M., Gafanovich E.Ya.
The combination of coronary heart disease (CHD) and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is widely prevalent in clinical practice. The problem of adequate therapy choice is important, since the majority of the medications administered in isolated CHD or COPD are contraindicated for the combination of these two disorders. In CHD patients with angina, heart rate (HR) control is one of the major methods to achieve the anti-anginal effect. In case of contraindications for beta-adrenoblockers or nondihydropyridine calcium channel blockers, the medication of choice is ivabradine.
Key words: Heart rate, ivabradine, tachycardia, COPD, CHD.
V.I. Razumovskyi Saratov State Medical University, Saratov, Russia.
PREGNANCY COURSE AND OUTCOME IN A WOMAN WITH STAGE III ESSENTIAL ARTERIAL HYPERTENSION
Chicherina E.N., Padyganova A.V.
A clinical case of pregnancy in a woman with Stage III essential arterial hypertension is presented. The authors discuss the importance of hyperhomocysteinemia problem in pregnancy, and demonstrate the need to combine standard diagnostic methods with the assessment of hereditary thrombophilia markers in this clinical group. The therapeutic strategy is justified, and respective clinical recommendations are given.
Key words: pregnancy, essential arterial hypertension, hereditary thrombophilia markers, hyperhomocysteinemia.
Kirov State Medical Academy, Kirov, Russia
MINOR HEART ANOMALIES
Zemtsovskyi E.V.1,2, Malev E.G.1, Lobanov M.Yu.2, Parfenova N.N.1,2, Reeva S.V.1,2, Khasanova S.I.1,2, Belyaeva E.L.2
The paper attempts to revise the working classification of minor heart anomalies (MHA). It is proposed to exclude some syndromes and abnormalities which clearly have an independent clinical significance. The need for exclusion of prevalent normal variants, as well as anatomical and physiological characteristics of child's heart, is justified. The inverse dynamics of selected MHA in older vs. younger age groups is demonstrated. The authors suggest that the current working classification should be modified.
Key words: Minor heart anomalies, classification, connective tissue dysplasia, anatomical and physiological characteristics of child's heart.
V. A. Almazov Federal Centre of Heart, Blood, and Endocrinology1, St. Petersburg; St. Petersburg State Paediatrics Academy2, St. Petersburg, Russia.
All-Russian Research Conference "Non-communicable diseases and population health in Russia" May 17-18th 2012, Moscow
Moscow International Forum of Cardiologists June 14-15th 2012, Moscow
Russian National Cardiology Congress October 3-5th 2012, Moscow
Manuscript publication rules in the Russian Journal of Cardiology
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Facebook is rumored to be developing VR versions of Assassin's Creed and Splinter Cell
Zuckerberg was 'personally involved' in acquiring the rights
By Cohen Coberly on July 10, 2019, 14:16 8 comments
Fans of Ubisoft's long-running stealth-oriented Splinter Cell franchise have found themselves disappointed by the lack of information or announcements regarding any future entries in the series. The last Splinter Cell game to release was Blacklist, which came out way back in 2013. Since then, fans haven't had much to chew on; short of replaying older titles.
However, that could change in the future, according to a new report from The Information. The outlet says Facebook has signed two deals for "exclusive" VR versions of both Assassin's Creed and Splinter Cell -- apparently, CEO Mark Zuckerberg himself has been "personally involved" in the negotiations. Unfortunately, we have no idea how these games will play, and Facebook itself probably doesn't know yet either.
People familiar with the matter told The Information that Facebook is hoping this deal will "attract more people" to its VR headsets -- that's probably a safe bet, given the massive popularity of both of these franchises.
While the VR industry at large still isn't quite as popular as PC or console gaming, VR versions of existing games or series (such as Skyrim and Fallout 4's VR ports) have proven fairly successful as system sellers.
Presumably, the VR versions of Assassin's Creed and Splinter Cell, should they ever launch, will arrive on the Oculus Quest and Rift S VR headsets. It's unclear if the games will come to other popular headsets in the future.
Windows Mixed Reality headsets are disappearing from Microsoft's store
Facebook reportedly agrees to $5 billion FTC settlement
SteamVR streaming is not allowed on Oculus Quest
8 comments 84 interactions
Nintendo Switch Lite drops September 20 for $200
Your Favorite Games and Why
Here, take my spare game keys! (and consider sharing your own...)
Counter Strike player gets thousands of cheaters banned by releasing fake hacks
Help me remember a classic game title
EA Origin account hijacked
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Mad Men, "The Inheritance": When I grow up to be a man (or woman)
Spoilers for "Mad Men" season 2, episode 10, coming up just as soon as I reclaim my jardiniere...
"You're supposed to take care of your husband and your beautiful children now. They're yours. You'll see: the minute you leave, you'll remember him exactly the way he used to be. It's all good outside that door." -Viola
In a commentary track on the "Mad Men" season one DVD, January Jones makes a joke about how she's spending more time with Vincent Kartheiser watching this episode than she usually does in a given week on the set. If Betty Draper and Pete Campbell were to ever really cross paths, they'd find out they have a lot of familiar things to talk about, and those points in common are brought to the forefront in "The Inheritance."
Betty and Pete are the overgrown kids of the "Mad Men" ensemble. Betty has been diagnosed by a shrink as having the emotions of a child, and we've seen Pete respond to much of his life with the petulance of a child (remember him sticking out his bottom lip a few weeks back after finding out Don and Duck were getting together outside of work without him?). Both have been shaped -- scarred, really -- by psychologically cruel and dismissive parents, and have had to deal with ambivalent feelings after those parents died.
In "The Inheritance," both are faced with the metaphorical, if not literal, death of their surviving parents. Betty's father has a stroke and, despite the protestations of everyone else in the Hofstadt family, is clearly sliding further and further into a state of dementia. Pete's mother is healthy physically, but not so much financially. (And to a blue blood like Mrs. Campbell, money is everything.)
The episode's title doesn't refer to any literal inheritances. There's nothing left of the Dyckman Trust, or of most of the Dyckman/Campbell properties for Pete to get even if his mother didn't disapprove of him, and Betty's stepmother seems determined to get rid of any reminder of Betty's late mother, not even telling Betty what she's giving away and when. But the two of them have clearly inherited unfortunate traits from the parents they disdain. Betty is quick to judge her son and even quicker to give her daughter a body complex just like the one her mother gave her, while Pete can be just as cold and cutting as his mother or father. (His "I don't like you like this" line to a happy Peggy last season was at least as devastating as anything we've heard his father or mother say to him.)
But as each of them witness their remaining parent's fade from relevance, they're forced to grow up in one way or another.
The visit to see her father Gene is a horror show, with everyone trying their best to pretend nothing's the matter, even after Gene repeatedly mistakes Betty for her mother and even cops a feel and invites her to go upstairs and get frisky. After getting a talking-to by Viola -- the housekeeper who appears to have raised Betty just as much as Carla is raising Sally and Bobby -- Betty starts to gain in strength. Where before she might have allowed herself to take Don back after he was there for her in this moment of crisis, now she's clear-eyed enough to recognize that nothing has changed.
The real moment of maturity, though, comes after a long and surreal interlude in which Glen Bishop (played, as usual, by Matthew Weiner's son Marten) runs away from home and comes to see Betty for the first time in the nearly two years that have passed since "The Wheel." Because Glen is the only person Betty has ever really connected with (they're roughly the same age emotionally), she invites him into her house, gives him one of her husband's undershirts, feeds him a meal and lets him talk her into eating when Don couldn't, and even sits dutifully on the couch with him to watch cartoons, like a macabre parody of a real courtship. Betty doesn't recognize how inappropriate this all is until Glen takes her hand and solemnly explains that he came here to "rescue" her. That statement, coupled with the timely return of Betty's children (Sally not that much younger than Glen) shocks Betty back into adulthood. She calls Helen Bishop to take back Glen and understands and isn't hurt when Glen insists he now hates her (for ruining his own romantic fantasies).
And when Helen returns after seeing to Glen, Betty's able to have a real, adult conversation with her, first about the state of Helen's own relationship with Glen (in a non-judgmental way that allows Helen to admit she's been a lousy mother), then about the state of Betty's own marriage. Betty's able to open up because Helen's the only divorcee she knows, but also because after the events of the episode -- after the awful role reversal with her father, then the realization of how she was behaving with Glen -- Betty appears to have stopped being such a child. Since Weiner spent a long time on "The Sopranos" writing about how human beings are incapable of changing, I don't know if this is a genuine shift for the character or simply a brief moment of clarity, but it was bracing to see Betty be human and honest.
Betty at least had what seems like a loving father once upon a time, where both of Pete's parents disapproved of him throughout his life. Pete's role reversal is far more pleasurable to him than Betty's was for her, as he gets to tells his mother that she's broke, but even that can't salve his moment of drunken self-awareness when he recognizes that his parents raised him and Bud to be cretins. (Seriously, laughing about killing your mom while citing Hitchcock's "Rope"?) We find out that his resistance to the idea of adoption comes entirely from his mother, and when confronted once again with the fact that nothing he ever does will be good enough to please her, he starts to realize that maybe going outside the Campbell/Dyckman bloodline might be an improvement for everyone. ("Like Bud and I turned out so great. Who's to say (adoption) wouldn't be better? So it's not yours. That could be good.")
Pete being Pete, he inevitably returns to his usual entitled, resentful behavior when he accuses Peggy -- who, unbeknownst to him, bore Pete's biological child and then apparently gave it away -- of having a life where everything comes easily.
"The Inheritance," written by Weiner in tandem with Marti Noxon and Lisa Albert, is one of the more oddly-structured "Mad Men" episodes to date. We spend very little time at the Sterling Cooper office; that's happened before, but here the longest interlude is in the middle of the episode (Harry's drunken baby shower) rather than the beginning or end, and after spending all that time on Betty's father, the episode appears to take a sharp right turn with Glen's arrival. Other than a brief glimpse of Paul and Sheila on a bus to Mississippi and the final scene with Don and a blindfolded Pete preparing for takeoff, the last 10 minutes of the episode is entirely about Betty and Glen.
I can't think of another episode where Don was absent for such a long stretch, or where he was so secondary to the proceedings. (At worst, Don's at least the central figure of the B storyline, and usually dominates each hour.) Still, he had his arc. He goes back to playing dutiful husband, but it's an act that even Betty's father can see through his dementia; Gene doesn't have a more clear-headed moment in the episode than when he tears into Don for not appreciating Betty. ("Nobody has what you have! You act like it's nothing! My daughter's a princess, you know that!") After their surprising late-night roll on the floor, Don assumes that all is forgiven from Betty, not understanding that she simply needed distraction and comfort from a horrific situation. So after she kicks him out of the house again -- and after Don gets a glimpse at Harry's baby shower, yet another reminder of the kind of regular family life he's been barred from -- he decides it's hobo time, even temporarily, and bigfoots his way into Paul's spot on the California trip.
Will he only be gone for a week, or is this his attempt to get away for good from a life where he no longer seems to fit? And will Betty's newfound strength make her more or less happy with his absence?
Some other thoughts on "The Inheritance":
• It took me a minute to place the face because of the '60s hairstyle, but Viola's voice should have been unmistakable to me as that of Aloma Wright, best known as gossipy nurse Laverne on "Scrubs."
• I'm not sure this episode helps answer the question of what Peggy's new status at Sterling Cooper is. At the end of last week's show, Duck looked to Peggy to approve one of Paul's ideas, but here, it's Paul who's supposed to go to the "rocket fair," and when Don refers to the idea of sending Peggy, it's in a dismissive, "You guys are so incompetent that I might actually resort to sending the girl" way. Admittedly, a woman probably wouldn't fit in well at a testosterone-fest like this convention sounds like, but I'm still not clear on where our gal stands in the pecking order.
• Many people remarked on how "Six Month Leave" gave increased prominence to the black characters in this predominantly white world. Hollis the elevator operator remarked on Marilyn Monroe's death, Carla offered Betty some advice on dealing with her depression, and Roger even mentioned a rival ad agency hiring a "colored kid" to work for them. That trend continues this week, not only with Viola talking some sense into Betty, but with Paul getting into trouble with girlfriend Sheila when he tries to bail on a voter registration trip to Mississippi so he can go to the rocket convention. In typical "Mad Men" (and "Sopranos") fashion, Paul makes up with her by pretending that he chose Mississippi over California, when in fact Don took his spot. Assuming season three sticks with the pattern and takes place in 1964, I wonder how much more prominent civil rights and integration will become on the show.
• The other interesting thing about the Paul/Sheila storyline is trying to figure out exactly how much he actually likes her and how much is -- as Joan suggested -- Paul trying to prove how hip and progressive he is. I don't doubt that he enjoys her company, but you can also see him constantly trying to show off in front of other black characters, whether it's him insisting that Hollis call him "Paul" instead of "Mr. Kinsey" or his lecture on the bus about how advertising is color-blind.
• We're reminded again that Pete, like Don, is an imitation human; he has to be told by Bud that adoption is something that people do. Another Don/Pete parallel: we learn that Pete's nickname for his wife (usually to be deployed when he's being patronizing) is "Tweety," just as Don calls Betty "Birdie" when he's trying to sound affectionate. (And Betty has by now figured this out; hence her telling him he doesn't need to pretend like that anymore.)
• I loved the sound design on the sequence of Don and Betty getting undressed after a long and excruciating day at her father's house. The clothes are more formal and complicated than what we're used to now, and we could hear every strain of Don's belt, click of the cufflinks, etc. It was the soundtrack of all that day's strain aching for relief.
• Though Harry's marriage survived his one-night tryst with Pete's secretary Hildy, they still have the awkward situation of having to see each other in the office every day. On a day like the one with the shower, with everyone drunk and with Harry's happy family being shoved in her face, you can't blame Hildy for giving Harry a particularly sloppy hug, can you?
• We know Joan's potential is being squandered after seeing her in the television department a few weeks back, but her brief screentime here was a nice reminder of what a good secretary she is. She anticipates Don's needs, immediately understands and executes his requests and doesn't ask unnecessary questions. Meanwhile, you could cut the tension between Don, Joan and Roger with a knife. She could barely stand to look at him, and Don was only slightly more cordial. And without realizing it, Don gave Joan an outlet for her frustration by telling her to tell Paul about the California trip. She couldn't get back at Roger for hooking up with the hated Jane, but she could at least hurt her other disliked office ex by humiliating Paul in front of the others by giving the bad news in person rather than drafting a memo. You do not mess with Joan Holloway.
• It's been a big week for "Generation Kill" alumni showing up elsewhere on TV. Iceman's the head vampire on "True Blood," Espera was Busy Philipps baby daddy on "Terminator," Capt. Patterson had a raygun on "Fringe," and here we have Chaffin (aka Eric Ladin) as Betty's brother William. I look forward to Salvatore inevitably hanging out with Fruity Rudy.
• Speaking of William, I can't let go of the image of him entering the study through the window, in full suit and tie, having just returned from hiding out in the treehouse -- yet I'm not sure I liked it. It felt very much like the detail you might read in a short story by Fitzgerald or Cheever or one of the other many literary "Mad Men" influences, but it also called attention to itself in a way that the show usually doesn't. Or maybe it's just the formal wardrobe thing again; so many scenes in "Mad Men" feel so strange because people are so over-dressed for them. This exact scenario 36 years later would have played out with William in a t-shirt and cargo pants. (Oh, and he probably would have gone into the basement to play video games instead of hiding in a treehouse.)
This episode didn't grab me as much as I'm used to, and I think you've hit on it with the structure comments. I liked Betty and Pete both in this episode a lot more than I normally do, since we actually got to see them go through experiences that help explain their personalities. But I couldn't help really missing Roger, Joan, and even a stronger Don.
The scenes with Betty's father were horrifying, because they seemed so real.
Do you think there is a parallel between William in the treehouse and Glen in the backyard playhouse?
The Alden said...
Liked the episode, but I miss more when I watch it on TV and get distracted by commericals than when I watch it on the computer...
Also, was it just me, or were there two 'Judy's? I though William's wife (?) and Paul's brother's wife were both referred to as Judy, which made me quite confused. Anyone able to clear that up for me?
I couldn't help but be creeped out for the entirety of the scene with Betty and Glen. I know she snapped out of it, but I have to wonder how lonely she is if her substitute "husband" is a pre-pubescent boy. I was surprised that she revealed the separation to Helen, but I don't think it will mean that much right now. I think she will only change when Don leaves her permanently because then she will have to.
The formal attire of the characters if meant to be historically accurate, would probably only apply to people in a certain class. We haven't seen very many working class people in this series and they wouldn't be wearing suits except for weddings, funeral and church.
Anthony Foglia said...
[Betty and Pete] have clearly inherited unfortunate traits from the parents they disdain.
Pete obviously hates his parents, but if anything Betty doesn't hate them enough. She still wants to be there for her father. She doesn't want her mother's existence erased by her step-mother. When she starts hating them, and realizing how warped the made her, then she'll start making progress.
who knew that betty's dad was john mccain?
Jennifer J. said...
After the brilliance of last week's episode which I only got to watch last night this episode really did have me on uneven footing.
I was so utterly horrified at Betty's Dad feeling her up (thinking she's his first wife) that I couldn't even get to feeling sad for him if I tried and I *really* tried.
I loved the tension in the scene between Don, Joan and Roger. I think Roger's a schmuck. I'm a huge Joan fan.
I wasn't horrified at Betty with Glen, more stupified. I was truly glad that she and Helen were able to honestly talk with one another. Betty really needed that.
Thrilled to see Viola and hear that familiar voice once again. :)
Many people often mention the cutting put down that Pete had for Peggy last season. Does anyone have any thoughts why he keeps gravitating towards her?
My take on Peggy in the hierarchy is that in their office she's now quite high (say in Freddie's old spot), but I'm sure she's not paid the same. It seemed to me she was higher because of Don's disgust that the other men who are her peers did not even bother to read everything she worked on for that meeting/L.A. trip. I imagine they couldn't send her on the trip because of "just the way things were done" back then. They want to be progressive just not too progressive. Honestly, it will only lose them money.
I wonder at Paul. I think his Joan and writing rejections have a wall around him. I really look forward to seeing if they show any footage of him at this voter reg. drive. *Very* much wanting to see the civil rights movement and all of that coming into play.
A very rich time in history coming very soon. I imagine MW will make it all worth our while.
Thank you for another great MM post, Alan. :)
datkid72 said...
John McCain!!! I was thinking the SAME exact thing.
Another great ep, wow I really thought that they were going to go there with Betty and Glen. That along with Betty's dad groping her had me turning my eyes from the screen. Weiner and Co. sure do know how to do the creepy.
I have to third the John McCain resemblance of Betty's father.
As for his accidental groping of Betty, at first I wasn't sure who he had confused her with and thought maybe there was inappropriateness when she was younger. Thankfully they didn't go there, but add that in with Tweety's comment to Pete that "they aren't related but love each other", (?) and there was a weird incest vibe in this week's episode.
HollyMartins said...
I've never been totally convinced that Betty really DOES have the emotions of a child... I mean, yes, we heard that from her shrink -- but he was a condescending schmuck who ignored ethical standards to report to Don on her private sessions. Should we really take his word on that?
I'm on record as not feeling as much sympathy for Betty as I know I should, but on reflection I think that's more because she's just so depressed, understandably so, that she's a hard character for me to spend much time with. (This is the problem with realistically portraying depression in movies or TV shows: it's no fun to watch). But for all Betty's issues, I'm not sure I see her as especially childlike.
Kensington said...
"who knew that betty's dad was john mccain?"
Yup, the strong, smart older guy who sees right through the young flashy phoney who fools so many others.
I saw it, too!
The episode was excruciating, in the best possible way, and I could hardly keep from squirming through the scenes with Betty and Glen.
I sense that Don is getting closer and closer to just jettisoning the whole marriage and heading for the hills. Especially given his confession to Roger last week that his primary feeling over the separation is "relief." Perhaps that, too, will be a big part of the cultural shifts that are likely to continue in future seasons. Who really believes that they'll still be married by 1970?
Of course, that will depend on whether Don goes hippie or more reactionary as the decade wears on. Honestly, I can see either possibility.
Don and Pete are totally going to mug Lauren Bacall aren't they.
The actor who plays Betty's father is destined to play the lead in "Maverick: The John McCain Story". I'm glad I'm not the only one who thought there was a resemblance.
Nicole: I had the same thought about Betty having possibly been abused as a child. I don't think there have been any signs pointing in that direction. If true, it would shed a new light on Betty's strange relationship with Glen.
@ kensington: Please do us all a favor and keep the present-day politics out of this. It's completely inappropriate. Everybody else was talking about a visual resemblance.
I really do not think there was any sexual abuse during Betty's childhood. Viola probably would have known about it if it were the case, but the advice she gave Betty near the end of the episode ("leave now and it'll be just as you remember it") seemed to imply that there was no abuse. Suggesting that she think back to her childhood would be truly awful advice to give to a child molestation victim, in any case.
"Please do us all a favor and keep the present-day politics out of this. It's completely inappropriate. Everybody else was talking about a visual resemblance."
If that's so, then certainly I apologize. I did not observe the resemblance that so many others seem to have and thought that people were taking a dig at the old man with the stroke.
That, too, would have been completely inappropriate, and I'm heartened to learn that I was wrong.
I'd love to keep contemporary politics out of it, but there was so much McCain stuff in the depiction of Betty's dad -- his hair and general look, the blonde second wife, and much more -- that it made me cringe. It felt like a wink to the 2008 viewer, and (to me) one that was offputtingly broad.
Yep, Nicole, the lying everyone did around that table after Betty's dad's assault on her made me flash pronto on whether Betty was too pretty for her mother to stand, and too attractive for her dad to resist.
Don's lack of anger, especially, made me fume. Wouldn't a decent husband at least say, "Excuse me, but we're leaving, sorry we couldn't stay longer"? His empathic uselessness extends past his lack of ability to grieve; it goes all the way to *any* compassion Betty might need, just because he lives that hobo code where he should be ready to bug out at a moment's notice.
No wonder Betty gets weak enough to jump him, then not wake him up in time for breakfast, then kicks him back out of the house when they return home. Yes, Betty was on the uber-weird and uber-bitchy wavelength this week but goddamn can you blame her?
And Betty's not so grown up that she can't confide (and blame) her, um, mammy for not saving her family from itself. Look at Viola's speech again. That's not comfort; that's a condemnation. Betty left the family she had, and is looking in the past when she should be looking forward to her own family. Combine with the Wise Negro advice of Carla (dig yourself out of that pity hole, and see everything's right where you left it), Betty's being told not only to grow up, but to recognize the cost of her privileges -- she has *time* to brood over her life, instead of having to work for her family and spend time comforting people who see you as less than human. Paul's bus ride is the reminder; even white people, especially well-intentioned ones, get killed just as dead as coloreds when they cross the Jim Crow line.
*That* is the message of the episode for me (what little I saw, due to a failing signal). In the halls of very privileged people, their inheritance grows smaller and smaller, as the less-privileged people surrounding them tell them, hurry up, please, it's time. Peggy would be telling that news, too, if she were allowed to get on the plane with the big boys, instead of crafting their words for them....
And as for Glen? Him I didn't see, but it sounds all kinda David Lynch icky weird glossy, so I'll wait for the repeats gladly.
And are we sure now that it's Jane Roger left Mona for? I know Joan's pissed, but it could have been Roger using her as the excuse, and her refusing to play.
Nice use of "Telstar" in last scene/closing credits.
I'm pretty sure Don won't mug Bacall, but he will definitely hook up with a star or two.
Pete on the other hand will probably get lost on a tour of a Hollywood set.
"Betty and Pete are the overgrown kids of the "Mad Men" ensemble. Betty has been diagnosed by a shrink as having the emotions of a child, and we've seen Pete respond to much of his life with the petulance of a child (remember him sticking out his bottom lip a few weeks back after finding out Don and Duck were getting together outside of work without him?)."
It's amazing how many have readily accepted that shrink's diagnosis that Betty is childish. And yet . . . the man she is married to is just as immature in his own. They're all immature. And that includes Joan Holloway, who has a nasty habit of being vindictive toward those she feel has wronged her. I still have not forgotten her reaction to her discovery that Paul was dating Sheila.
Fernando said...
Being a huge Wire fan and from Maryland, I get a little hometown joy that Betty is from Bawlmer aka Bodymore, lol. I was trying think of who her family would "know" from The Wire world, only person I could come up with would be maybe running into a young Valchick.
Was I the only one that thought the incident between Betty and her father might have been more than him mistaking her from his wife? I got the feeling that maybe he had touch Betty as a child, maybe stunting her growth (i.e. emotions of a child), but I could be reading it wrong.
Glen is the creepiest kid in the world.
I just found this blog last week and I love it. I am so interested in reading everyones take on each MM episode.
The Betty/Glen interaction this week creeped me out (in a good way). I was completely preparing myself for some kind of inappropriate action between them (not that the hand holding wasn't inappropriate as it was). Thankfully the kids came home just in time.
Myles said...
To be honest, I felt like they tried to do too much with Betty here: it felt like them lining up the pieces for future episodes, and in the process having to rush Betty through the entire ordeal with her father and then, as if to seal the deal, throw Glen back into the equation to demonstrate through a practical example who she's changed (or not changed) her ways. It felt very inorganic, something that usually isn't a problem for the show.
That being said, I think it's an episode that will play better when viewed as part of the entire season: for example, the parallels between Glen and Betty on the couch and Arthur and Betty at the country club, with the kids being the disruptive force in both examples. Little things like that felt like this episode is going to play better with future viewings.
One small note: I loved the little beat where Don walks into Sterling Cooper calling the receptionist Allison, and then she corrects him with "I'm Dawn." If I remember the scene correctly, it's a neat little thing that Don can't even remember the girl at the front desk's name when it's his own.
Just like Fernando, I got some hometown pride out the episode when Tweety mentioned going to her folks' place in Rehoboth. That's Rehoboth Beach, Delaware. Yay.
Time's running out to find out who the recipient of Don's book of poetry was. Only a couple of episodes left.
Please tell me the whole McCain thing was unintentional.
The pacing of this episode was a bit odd, and, as far as I can recall, lacked any moments of humor. If I was trying to convert someone to watching Mad Men, this would not be the episode to show them.
Still, lots of interesting things. I'm of the opinion that Betty's Dad groping her was all about confusing her with his wife, and not reading any evidence of childhood sexual abuse into it.
Dad's not completely out of it yet. In that puzzle scene, he accurately assesses Don as being too much of a mystery ("Who knows what he does and why he does it?...You can't trust a person like that.")
And he's not the only one showing confusion. Don calls one of the office girls by the wrong name. Cooper mistakes the baby shower for a birthday party. Glen thinks he's in a relationship with Betty.
Paul likes to show off his hipness in front of the other black characters, but then again he likes to show off in front of all the white characters, too. The receptionist that brings Shiela back to him in the office gives them a look when they kiss. At first I thought it was disapproval at the interracial couple, but now I wonder if it's more a disdain for what might be interpreted as Paul flaunting the situation.
On a lighter note:
Cooper's "I just wanted to say happy birthday" pop-in-and-out, followed by absolutely zero reaction from anyone, had me laughing pretty hard.
Is it possible the whole sex on the floor scene was Don's dream? His look when he woke up and the pan of his clothes still on the bed ... I've watched it twice more and tried to view in that context and I think it's possible.
Thanks, Alan -- I've been hooked on you since the Sopranos and so happy that you love this show (and The Office)!
OMG! Thank you, guys.
I immediately thought McCain!
I had just read that Rollingstones article and watched the Keating video.
good...now i don't feel so crazy.
I look forward to Salvatore inevitably hanging out with Fruity Rudy.
Hiiii-larious. LOL, as they say.
Gotta say, you guys are slaying me tonight. Despite this episode being not particularly funny and heavy on the creepy!
That scene with Glen on the couch -- uggguh. Totally creeped me out too. I think it proved that Betty has the emotions of a 10 year old at best. And yes, I flashed on possible incest with her dad too. That might be one explanation for her rage, her depression, her need to have a perfect persona to show the world.
absolutely. And not an especially subtle one. Didn't the brother also make a remark about Don and Betty being able to afford to build a house for dad in her back yard?
Yet instead of creepy Dad in the backyard, she's got creepy Glen. And to both, she's a "princess."
Betty could keep the entire East Coast psychotherapy industry in business, all on her own. Her and Pete, though I think Pete is sadly more far gone.
How'd the brother turn out not so psychopath-ish? I wonder.
Thanks for telling me who played Viola. She was brilliant by the way. And thanks for the food for thought regarding the black characters. Yeah, it does seem that both Viola and Carla are telling Betty: "Face reality. A lot of people don't have the luxury of brooding about their problems. Get over it and grow up."
As Peggy said, "It's not easy for anyone." Sometimes she seems like the only adult on the show.
I find it offensive that people are comparing Betty's father to John McCain. I don't think it would be appropriate to compare Obama to Hollis the elevator operator, either. Please leave the offensive remarks out.
Oh, when I said, "How'd the brother turn out not so psychopath-ish?" I was referring to Pete's brother. Whom I'm pretty sure hasn't contemplating strangling mom and stuffing her in a trunk.
But I guess the statement could apply to Betty's brother too, who clearly didn't get half as much attention as Betty (and is probably semi-normal as a result).
When Glen was sitting on the sofa with Betty, wearing Don's T-shirt, I thought he was deliberately styled to look like a child-like Don. Betty sat there happy and smiling and coquettish with a "Don" who was, finally, her emotional equal.
Creepy in a brilliant way.
Anon@2:28: people were sharing their reaction to a physical resemblance.
that is all. And there clearly is one.
Arthur1 said...
Interesting, though not gripping episode, that seems more necessary to flesh out or add a few more layers to certain characters I guess are going to be more active ahead.
I just wanted to add to the McCain- reference discussion, if it's like other HBO series I don't think the episode was shot (and certainly not written) near enough in time to be so relevant to what's going on in the heat of the campaign now. Probably was cast before the convention even. And in repeat viewing years later on DVD won't matter, so I doubt director / author would make that effort. Maybe someone in casting got some dig in with a McCain-styled figure, but really, a white haired old man is sort of generic more than specific, and offers alot of possibilities for projection.
That said, after this episode with all the naive lack of boundaries in force, Betty does seem destined to rediscover the psychiatrist.
Just two thoughts :
1. I'm surprised by all the accusations of physical abuse because of the mix-up with Betty's dad. Don't get me wrong, it was horrifically uncomfortable, but I tend to think no one here has ever known someone with Alzheimers or other forms of dementia. I can't count the number of times my grandfather called me Joseph (his son) because we looked vaguely alike, and it only got worse as he got older. I know it's a far cry from a daughter being groped as if she were the wife, but it's mental instability and totally common, I don't think they were trying to hint at abuse at all. Nor do I think Don should have been outraged and whisked Betty away from a confused old man.
Granted, the future may prove me wrong, as physical abuse would certainly explain a lot of Betty's stunted emotional development.
As for those who discount the psychologist's assessment of Betty... wasn't everyone saying she was emotionally childlike LONG before the psychiatrist said the same? The guy was an unethical jackass but he still hit the nail on the head with Betty. THe writers have spent significant time showing her lack of emotional maturity.
Several points about the McCain thing, and then I want us to be done talking about it, because, as others have said, bringing contemporary politics into this discussion rarely does anyone any good, especially since:
1)The actor does look a bit like John McCain, and I'm sure that the physical resemblance was all that people were remarking on.
2)As we were reminded in the previouslies, we saw Betty's dad in a season one episode, which aired long before (and was filmed even longer before) much of anything had happened in this presidential race. (He didn't even announce his candidacy until April '07, so when casting was done, he was at most one of many, many candidates on either side.)
I think January Jones is just about perfection playing the role of Betty. She adds depth and layering to an already complex character. A likely reason why it is unclear if the unethical psychiatrist’s assessment is accurate is because Jones can so convincingly play the emotions of a child (which manifests in little touches like the way she drank the soda with the straw) but at the same time is able to transform seamlessly into the role of her husband’s harshest critic or a bitter stepdaughter/stunned daughter/concerned sister/loved mother/manipulative friend/creepy-lady-down-the-street, inter alia, without losing any sense of believability.
Being a huge Wire fan and from Maryland, I get a little hometown joy that Betty is from Bawlmer aka Bodymore, lol.
Actually, I believe they live in the Main Line suburbs outside of Philadelphia. There were a couple of Philly references last year when Betty was talking about her dad, and the Philly-to-NY drive time would allow Don and Betty to spend time at dad's house that morning, make it back up to Ossining and still give Don time to get back into the city before the end of a Sterling Cooper work day.
he was a condescending schmuck who ignored ethical standards to report to Don on her private sessions. Should we really take his word on that?
If it was just the shrink's word, then no. But we've had ample evidence of Betty taking a childlike view on lots of things, not least of which is her relationship with Glen.
Melissa169a said...
I'm missing the reference to Salvatore/Rudy. What does it mean?
The scene with Don, Roger and Joan in Don's office was deliciously awful and uncomfortable. I can't wait til next week.
Agreed this was a different kind of episode for the show. And for the most part, I was OK with the non-SC focus but I have to say, I am finding Paul's romantic/Freedom Rider sub-plot very ho-hum and forced.
And also inauthentic -- this is 1963, and while having an interracial affair wouldn't necessarily derail your career if it was completely outside the office, bringing your GF into the office and kissing her sure would. There's just no way that would have happened in that time period without repurcussions. And boring -we get it, Paul's a pretentious doofus. Enough.
Re: Betty being a princess that any man would be lucky to get...uhm, sure, on the outside. She's absoutely gorgeous. But -- and I'm not saying Don's any prize either -- she's also 100% batshit crazy and needs a team of therapists working around the clock. In Vienna.
I agree with the location of Betty's hometown, Alan -- I live on the Main Line and we flipped out when we heard them reference Elkins Park Hospital and several other area spots.
I think the father's actions are more consistent with brain damage from the stroke than abuse. One of my friends worked as an aide at a nursing home. Some of the patients who were more gone mentally used to do things like expose themselves, but it was more just that they'd lost the self-censor mechanism. Before the breakfast scene, when they first get there, he calls her by her mom's name & asks her to see if anyone wants coffee. While it's awful & horrible for Betty to go through, it is the brain damage talking, not her dad, or at least that's how I see it. And she's trying to reconcile this behavior to the father she knew & loved.
Count me in the I loved Cooper's confused well wishes camp. That kind of cracked me up. And I love that they gave the kid Lucky Strikes as a present.
I thought the Don/Betty episode in her old room was a dream too, but from watching the Inside Mad Men clip on AMC, I don't think so.
One thing this episoded highlighted for me was the way she treats Bobby. It contrasts really strangely with the way she treats Glenn.
PS re: the point upthread about the receptionist/secretary giving Paul & Sheila a look, might have been racism, or as has been pointed out, may have been that it's partially about image for Paul. What tends to make me think it's at least partially about image for Paul was the scene with the elevator operator. If they were on a first name basis, why the need for the "call me Paul" in front of his girlfriend.
Don mentions that he and Betty could stay at the "William Penn," which could be the William Penn Inn just outside Philly. And Betty's family seems to display that peculiarly Philadelphian pathology of viewing Philly as some sort of world capital of art, commerce, and politics.
Ken Cosgrove's casual kiss-on-the-cheek greeting of Sheila was a nice little moment.
I thought the Betty-Don tryst was a dream. Seemed like she was wearing different clothes in it than when she went to bed.
"I find it offensive that people are comparing Betty's father to John McCain. I don't think it would be appropriate to compare Obama to Hollis the elevator operator, either. Please leave the offensive remarks out."
Ha, it looked AND sounded just like him. Get a grip, will you!
I didn't find the Glen and Betty scene creepy at all. I found it sad because in that brief moment, Betty was 10 years-old, just like Glen. I love their scenes together, and they speak volumes about Betty's child-like personality.
And whoever brought up the theory that Betty was sexually abused by her father missed the point of his dementia, altogether. He mistook her for his deceased wife (Betty's mother).
Interesting theory that Don dreamed Betty getting on top of him and making love to him.
I loved this episode.
What did I say about no more political comments? Behave, people.
Love this show! This week, we are taken out of the office and more into the character's lives.
Alan is right in commenting that Don wasn't the focus this week, but he did very well in playing the backup character. Not only in the weird Philly trip, but also in the background of the CA trip. That is, until he came forefront when he decided to go to CA. In that split second decision, he showed everyone who is BOSS. He wants to go to CA, get the tickets and passes from Paul, pronto!
Viola's short appearance in the episode was so worthwhile. She knows Betty and how to talk to her. She is the one who raised this woman and knows all about her. Betty hasn't cried much (at all?) in this series. It took this trusted woman to give her the chance to totally grieve the life she lives.
I didn't think Don should have whisked Betty out of the house when her father touched her, I think everyone in that room knew why that happened. Credit to Betty, for realizing it immediately and after composing herself, coming back to ask "so, Daddy, what do you want to do today?" She knows her father doesn't really know who she is at times, but still needs him to be her Daddy. Sad.
This episode was off kilter, but that's what keeps us coming back for more!
I agree with the "overdressed" thing. That struck me in a major way at the breakfast table scene. I mean, who has stumbled down to breakfast lately at the family manse in a suit and tie? Lol!
Love the column/blog. Peggy couldn't go on the LA trip for the reasons cited (male-dominated aerospace convention) and because, as I learned from an older woman in business, a single woman was not allowed to check into a (nice) hotel without a husband or some type of chaperone in those days. My acqaintance said they would give her a really hard time when she tried to check into hotels when she traveled with the men(accountants, in her case) and kept asking, "But where's your husband?"
Here's a comment that goes a few episodes back, but did anybody notice how nasty Peggy's mother is as well? She was borderline rude to the priest in saying, in response to his informal prayer, "That was nice, are you going to say grace now?"
The Glen stuff is just way creepy. I'm not surprised, though as Marti Noxon was a co-writer on the episode. She usually includes sexual situations to make you squirm in her writing.
Given that Weiner's name was also on the script, I'm going to assume he either wrote or heavily re-wrote all the Glen scenes, since it's his little boy playing Glen.
Actually, I believe they live in the Main Line suburbs outside of Philadelphia.
Betty made a reference to growing up in Upper Merion a few weeks ago, which is, I believe, on the Main Line. At any rate, it's a very toney section of suburban Philadelphia.
RE: Betty's behavior. Betty does act sometimes like a child, but I don't see it as constant behavior. In the same episode ("the Hobo Code"?) in which the psychiatrist tells Don that Betty has the emotions of a child, Betty stands up to Don like a grown woman when he blames her for Roger making a pass at her. She behaved like a grown woman last week when she refused to let Don come back home, and again in this episode, when it would have been so easy to forgive Don, after he left work and made sure she got to her father's house safely. He could have easily told her to take the train. Don might have done that because he knows that's what "people do" in this type of situation. But Betty could have fooled herself into thinking it meant everything was OK again. She was smart enough, and adult enough, to know that letting him come back home would be a mistake. She's also adult enough to admit that her marriage might not be over.
Considering that her father still refers to her as a princess, it's no wonder she acts like a child sometimes. I don't think she's had the tools to become an adult just because she's chronologically all grown up now. Until recently, she's been coddled and protected all her life. Her collapsing marriage, and her father's illness, are what will force her into becoming an adult. But that doesn't happen overnight. It's still baby steps, so to speak.
Betty's father clearly referred to her as Ruthie when she and Don got to the house, so I think it's safe to say that he continued to confuse Betty with is dead wife throughout the visit. I assume Ruthie is her mother's name. Otherwise, everyone would have looked at each other like "Who's Ruthie?".
I see other posters beat me to some of my points. I did read all the comments, but it took me forever to write that long-ass post.
Can anybody explain all that talk about Pasadena, TB and Salvatore's joke about the space rocket in Don's office? Sal said something like, "Don't kid yourself, its our dream, too." What did that mean?
And I'm almost done... agree with the poster who said Paul is pretentious and a show-off in front of Sheila with Hollis. She immediately called Paul out about really going down south and if you watch his expression, Hollis thoroughly enjoyed that. Excellent acting!
Love the blog, Alan, keep it up!!
Bob in SA said...
Don's decision to go to California did not show he was the boss near as much as it showed that the hobo code was kicking in. The idylic California promo item Don looked at before making his decision was hobo at its best--this is a bad place, time to move along.
Think we are playing too much therapist when we start looking at Betty's father as abuser instead of dementia and possible Alzheimer's.
Having said that, just because Betty's shrink is unethical doesn't make his diagnosis any less correct. We've seen way too much of Betty's emotional immaturity to think she desn't have the emotions of a 10-year old. and if that scene on the couch didn't prove that, I don't know what will. Betty's only chance of growing up is if she is "forced" to grow up, such as Don abandoning her and leaving her to deal with the reality of no money.
However, Glen and Pete are the creepiest. people. ever.
Sal said something like, "Don't kid yourself, its our dream, too." What did that mean?
That Paul wasn't the only guy in the room who fantasized about going into space. Remember: this was the early '60s, when astronauts were treated like gods and when science fiction was the closest it's ever been to being treated as respectable literature.
Justin said...
I took it to mean that they had all envisioned sending Paul into space. I think Sal was just telling a joke.
No women wouldn't go to the conventions, they were completely set up as male gatherings with all that implies. Remember Pete didn't want his wife to go either. It's playtime for the boys and not even golf for the girl (no mixed foursomes at the country clubs). Very hard for women to make contacts in business, not just a glass ceiling but cement. In addition, Paul wanted to go because it makes HIM one of the guys, he's being excluded also.
Yes you did dress for the day. With the exception of very young children, you got dressed before breakfast. Wandering around the house in your pjs was a real clue to Betty's collapse. Although my family was lower middle class at the time, you were expected to take life seriously, not casually. even in dress.
Also, regarding the query of last week, did women really cry when MM died? Yes, even women who did not admire her, teared up and felt a connection to a woman who was not treated well and died young.
One of the hallmarks of dementia is loss of inhibition. Betty doesn't act like someone who was abused by her father, and it was pretty clear that he mistook her for his wife--AGAIN--when he groped her. I think that they gave us the earlier slip where he thought Betty was her mother to set up the much more horrifying slip later--the confusion combined with the loss of inhibition. I have always gotten the feeling that most of Betty's issues are due to emotional abuse by her mother more than anything else.
Hopefully, the prohibition on the discussion of politics will be lifted when the narrative reaches the 1964 election, which it inevitably will. AuH20!
Just as Battlestar Galactica turned "airlock" into a verb, it looks as though we're reaching critical mass with "hobo." As in, in the world of "Mad Men," "hobo" is now a verb. As in, "Don's going to hobo to L.A."
Agreed that Betty's father's behavior is plausibly explained by his dementia/strokes. In any event, losing his praise and attention -- being treated as a princess and not as her mother -- has got to be devastating for Betty. It's the one thing that she could count on -- look how she glowed when he first walked into the living room. Losing that "princess" status -- and realizing that Glen's fantasy of "rescuing" her is just that -- may indeed be the only things that shock Betty into adulthood. Maybe.
It's sad to see someone with so few emotional resources plunged into these very deep waters. I get the sense that Pete is too far gone to be saved. Yet Betty could be -- but it's going to be very hard. She's got a lot of growing up to do.
Forgot to note one of my favorite lines. Something along these lines from Paul: "It's a convention. I can't talk about it." Like he'd be getting top-secret intelligence or something.
I really loved this episode. (Didn't see the McCain resemblance; I think it would have ruined it by taking me out of the moment if I had.)
I agree with Anonymous at 10.07 AM that the contrast between Betty's relationship with Glen and her relationship with her own son Bobby is quite striking. Made even more so by how clearly she was able to convey to Helen Bishop that she (Helen) wasn't being a good mother to Glen. I thought her response of "I know" to Glen's "I hate you" was quite moving: she gets that her betrayal of him feels to him like Don's betrayal of her feels to her (if you can parse all those pronouns).
I also loved the use of "Telstar" at the closing, and the way that the sun rose on Don's face in those closing seconds as the plane brought him closer to the Golden West, and to his own escape from the darkness at home. Very appropriate that, at the time, Pete was hidden behind a sleep mask. He really is oblivious.
Peggy's patience with Pete is also quite amazing. She doesn't let him get away with anything ("It's not easy for anyone") but she doesn't strike out at him when he's so clueless and hurtful.
Kinsey's pomposity on the bus to Mississippi was pretty amusing, as Sheila looked up at him admiringly, and the other people on the bus just ignored him. He reminded me of the Doonesbury character, the Reverend Scot Sloan, who initially always introduced himself as "the fighting your priest who can talk to the young." Kinsey really believes his own hype.
I caught the McCain physical resemblance as well.
Poor Betty -- groped at by her dad and hit on by a kid -- I can't decide which creeped me out more.
I loved the final shot with Telstar playing and Don staring out the window. For a man supposedly at the top of his game, he looked incredibly lost.
Great post, Alan.
"As Peggy said, "It's not easy for anyone." Sometimes she seems like the only adult on the show."
Considering Peggy's inability to face the reality that she is the mother of a child that is almost two years old, I wouldn't exactly call her an adult.
Of course, this could be a reflection that all adult human beings are not as mature as we like to believe.
For all we know, Peggy has privately faced and dealt with the situation involving her child. Just because we haven't seen her publicly deal with it, that's not to say that she hasn't processed it, or begun to process it, internally.
That's not to say she still has a ways to go on that front. Whether or not the child was hers, the look on her face when she held her sister's youngest "son" (if that's who he is) in church early in the season is indicative that she is not really comfortable around kids, or even the subject of kids.
As someone who watched her father's strokes and Alzheimer's progress for ten years, I assure you that Gene's groping of Betty was nothing more sinister than the natural progression of his dementia.
There was a nanosecond there when Paul became aware that Sheila had caught sight of Joan standing dangerously nearby. I laughed to see him whisk Sheila into the elevator to avoid another disastrous encounter, only to find himself uncomfortably playing the role of talking filling in a visual Oreo cookie. What an inopportune time to point out the disparity between his job and hers (she can always get another retail job, he thinks, but he, as A Writer, needs to keep his.)
I also wasn't as horrified as some were by Betty's dad's actions. I put it down to him thinking that the blond woman in the room was his wife and he was having some of the problems that went along with senility, strokes, and possibly dementia. I was saddened, not horrified.
Betty's "date" with Glen (as she's not senile or demented, and knows that that's a 10 year old kid), was horrifying and creepy. I also didn't want to take the psychiatrist's word at first - but if I needed a label for Betty's weird behavior "still a child" might work. Maybe depression, too. But there's something else there that isn't just depression. Also, Helen & Betty's conversation was just odd to me. Beginning with the semi-accusatory, "This has to stop." First, Helen didn't know what happened or what had to stop, and then really, it had stopped for two years straight. Third, Helen could stop it all on her own. And finally, after that - why did she come inside for cigarettes & coffee? (The lighting of each other's smokes was also weird. Isn't that something people usually do for themselves?) The whole scene was a big fat HUH? for me.
"And also inauthentic -- this is 1963, and while having an interracial affair wouldn't necessarily derail your career if it was completely outside the office, bringing your GF into the office and kissing her sure would. There's just no way that would have happened in that time period without repurcussions."
Damn skippy. It could lead to job loss *now*, depending on where you work, solely if you're a man kissing his girlfriend on the job. Paul was doing it for show, again, and being blithely clueless about how it could affect his girlfriend's life -- black people have networks that shame, as well, and an interracial love affair when the black woman has no job security could lead to disaster.
That's why for Sheila going down South is a good move -- if she survives it, she gains more contacts and political influence. For Paul, it just might break the shell of pretension that let him think Joan was a sophisticated or compassionate woman. What if, after this, he gets real and starts not caring about Joan at all? That that wider world has a claim on him? Joan would lose all her captive admirers, wouldn't she?
What I found so interesting in Betty's interaction with Glen is that while she eventually did the right thing - in calling Helen - she did it with a child's perspective. When Glen said "I hate you!" Betty first said "I know," then said "I'm sorry" - which struck me as something most adults wouldn't say, at least with such sincerity. But to Betty, she knew that in Glen's eyes, she ratted him out to his mother - something that as his equal, was something to apologize for.
Also, when Betty was talking to Helen in her kitchen and she said Glen was lonely, Helen asked if Glen said anything, and Betty said no - although Glen said quite a bit about his mom and her boyfriends. While Betty could have just been being polite (not repeating the "boyfriends" comment and embarrassing her) it seemed to me that she wanted to protect Glen's confidence.
And to add to the theme, Betty played the whole maturity/childish thing to the hilt in her father's house, with the bit about the vase (jardineire?) that her brother took, throwing a fit about it and then acting as if it didn't matter when she got what she wanted.
And on another note, completely agreed about how great it is to see how really good Joan is at her job. She moves about quietly, never making a big deal, but helping her boss get exactly what he needs (like encouraging Don to take a nap). No wonder she keeps ending up back on Don's desk - no one else is up to it.
I just want to say that I love Alan's blogs. There are several people in my office (ironically I work in an ad agency) that read them and share them religiously!
I thought that this episode was another great one! Yes, Betty may have the emotions of a child but eventually all children grow up and her family situations are her Catalysts for change. I liked that she was able to sit down with Helen, Glen's mom and be honest about her marriage. Especially when she spoke about Don keeping her grounded. I think that Betty is reconsidering that relationship...but then so is Don.
I'm surprised that no one commented on the last scene when Don's face became showered in sunlight through the plane's window. It was like he saw the light - whether briefly or permanently, whether it was the light of the hobo code or the light of his real feelings for his family...only time in California will tell. All while Pete's eyes were in the dark behind his eye mask. Not only in life but even in business Don knows what's going on and Pete is in the dark. Roger even spoke about "holding his hand" through 30 or so phone calls. It will be interesting to see what happens in California.
I'd also like to say that I love Joan! She is very good at her job and is stepping in again to be Don's secretary. She is really the perfect secretary for Don as they do share something in common. They have both been betrayed by Roger's Indiscretion with Jane. Don was betrayed by the two of them talking about Don behind his back (which we all know he hates) and Joan because she has been hurt by Roger on more than one occasion. One when he usurped Joan's role as office manager by not backing her when she fired Jane and in this episode there was also the reminder of the gift at the baby shower that was from Jane but was really from Roger and Jane.
This show is really compelling on so many levels. I can't wait for next week.
Surpised nobody's mentioned this, but does anyone else have a very bad feeling that Don's casual decision to enact the "hobo code" and displace Paul on his trip to California is going to have devastating consequences for Paul. The juxtaposition of Paul on the bus and Don on the plane gave me a chill.
WestCoastFan said...
"I'm surprised that no one commented on the last scene when Don's face became showered in sunlight through the plane's window. It was like he saw the light - whether briefly or permanently, whether it was the light of the hobo code or the light of his real feelings for his family...only time in California will tell."
Anaymous - I thought the light rising on Don's face meant a new day dawning. A new day, a new life.
Sorry, Anonymous, misspelled your name.
Also...love this blog. I am amazed at how quickly you get it out. It is great for my instant gratification needs!
Alan Sepinwall mentioned, "Main Line Suburbs."
I'm not familiar with this term, "Main Line." Forgive but I live in the Midwest, what does this mean?
Also why is it that all of these characters are so emotionally damaged, yet Don seems to be the most functional? I know its television and in no way is reality but why is this so compelling?
Jay Welch said...
Another small inheritance in the episode is that Peggy asked Pete to get an autograph for Peggy's nephew--that is, without knowing it, Pete will be getting an autograph to pass along to his own son.
Jay, unless we're interpreting the flashback of Peggy's sister being very pregnant at the time of Pete Jr's birth, than we have to assume that sis' baby is not Peggy and Pete's, and that the whereabouts of Pete Jr. are still a mystery.
" Also, when Betty was talking to Helen in her kitchen and she said Glen was lonely, Helen asked if Glen said anything, and Betty said no - although Glen said quite a bit about his mom and her boyfriends. While Betty could have just been being polite (not repeating the "boyfriends" comment and embarrassing her) it seemed to me that she wanted to protect Glen's confidence."
That's what I thought too, and to me it showed she wasn't being quite as grown-up as some have said she was being. A true Mom-to-Mom talk would have included Betty mentioning that Glen felt ignored by his Mom having boyfriends and not liking his stepmother. Instead she kept it all quiet, like she and Glen were still confidants.
And that vase! I'm sure I wasn't the only one to think--what an ugly piece of pottery. And that's what Betty wants to put in her home?
Paul Worthington said...
The crucial moment for me was Pete drunkenly realizing that perhaps his in-bred selfish genes shouldn't be reproduced -- and thinking this out loud to the woman who has in fact born him a son. If this had been overtly hammered home in the script it would have felt like a scene from a bad soap opera but instead it lingered with subtle irony.
'The Inheritance' is bad genes and bad parenting leaving lasting impact on Pete, Betty -- and their children.
-- Paul
I agree with two of the previous comments - The last scene was the most telling, the sunlight rising up in Don's face as the plane taxied indicates either a new beginning or the light finally coming on and, of course, Pete's obliviousness with his mask. I also found it interesting that at the baby shower Pete was given the first piece of cake from - Peggy.
Actually, they were dressed very appropriately for the times and their implied status in society.
It is clear they lived on the Main Line (to the person who asked the Main Line is a collection of affluent neighborhoods outside Philadelphia that was named after the Main Line of the PA Railroad) to give you an idea we are talking of families like Campbell's Soup, some of the current towns are some of the wealthiest in the country. It is known for it multi-million dollar stone homes.
Of growing up in that environment, you would be expected to be dressed and properly for all meals including breakfast.
My grandfather owned a steel company just outside of Philadelphia and did a lot of custom iron work on the Main Line houses and would be invited to the parties in the 50's and 60's, they were always black tie and evening gowns. And my grandmother would have an entire wardrobe for weekend gatherings. She said you would change 3-4 times a day depending on the circumstance. You would have your breakfast outfit and would wear that usually through lunch, then you would change into an afternoon tea outfit and then dinner was always formal, even if it was only for 4-6 people.
I am mostly touched by the Glen/Betty plotline because it just seems too real to me- it's SO unfair what Betty has allowed and encouraged in Glen. He should NOT carry that burden or hope when she cannot follow through. Bad enough what they are doing to their own kids.
In the Betty and Glen scenes, I noticed, for the first time in several episodes, Betty was not drinking alcohol. Is this because she feels comfortable with Glenn or her sadness is lifted when she is around him? I think this is significant because so much focus has been on her drinking this season. For example, her brother said she was drunk when they had the discussion about her mother's missing things.
That 'ugly' pottery is very valuable now. My grandmother had one of those jardineres - Betty can have mine if i can find it.
There's some fantastic Mad Men art here.
I have to admit I didn't notice LaVerne at all, until I saw her name in the closing credits, andthen I had to go back and watch the whole scene again.
I did notice Marti in the opening credits.
There was one other thing that struck me, last night at 1am but by today... I'd have to watch it again to figure out what it was.
Paul and his girlfriend remind me of a Scott Bakula movie, from Showtime, where he was always trying to convince himself that he wasn't prejudiced, cause he had a Puerto Rican girlfriend (although in his case, he never let them be seen together in public).
It's like if you say "I'm not prejudiced: I have black friends." Until you stop noticing they're "black" friends, you're not quite there. It's like you're superior cause you can be friends with someone who's black.
Of course in Paul's case, he's... well he *is* trying to be superior. Most people are just trying to not be inferior. (which sounds sort of contrary or oxymoronish, but it's the best I can do).
My father was a bigot. I can see where that's wrong (and I fought with him, cause I believed it was wrong), but having grown up in that, to some extent, it still (oh pardon the unintended pun) colors things.
I don't want to be like my father, but sometimes people who are different from me are *still* different. I hope someday to even be able to stop noticing.
This also reminds me of a little person I saw on a show a few weeks ago who went to a meeting of other "little" mothers. She said she never wanted to be around little people before. It was one of those "i'm not like 'them'" things. Maybe it's the corollary.
random note:
i love scrubs!!
so i didn't even have to see the face before i screamed: "Laverne!!!!
i hope to see her again on MM (or other shows).
after betty's scenes with her father and Glen, i felt so uncomfortable that i couldn't even watch the MM encore. and i struggling to resolve why the writers would put us in that emotional situation.
One other thing I noticed in the closing credits, by the way--Helen Bishop refers to her husband Dan ("when Dan left"), and Dan Bishop is the name of the show's production designer.
And because I am petty and self-aggrandizing, I will point out that I made the comment about the sun on Don's face and Pete's face in his mask a good two hours before the commenter who said no one had commented on it!
Yes, thanks, I DO feel better.
Anonymous said "The last scene was the most telling, the sunlight rising up in Don's face as the plane taxied indicates either a new beginning or the light finally coming on and, of course, Pete's obliviousness with his mask."
I feel I should point out the plane had just taken off, not taxiing. Smoking on airplanes... another way the 60s were a different time.
thank you bonitobroth. that wwas the other thing! Telstar.
Recently (okay, in April or so) it was a reply on Jeopardy (the satellite, not the song) and i thought of the song. I remember it as the theme song to movies on TV whhen i was a kid. NBC Monday night at the movies, perhaps? (anyone remember?)
what's The Main Line?
(i'm from Boston)
Hopefully, the prohibition on the discussion of politics will be lifted when the narrative reaches the 1964 election, which it inevitably will.
Yup, that blasted Goldwater! If he wins, we're in for a war!
(the only thing I want out of this - or any other - presidential election is for it to be over. it's all just people spending lots of money to get elected so they can spend lots of money, and any altruism anyone may have started out with is crushed by the system they have to fo thru to get elected.)
That said, John McCain sure looks a lot like Betty's dad! (and likewise, has 30 Rock returned yet?)
(did we "get to" talk about politics in Kennedy vs Nixon? otwas it a moot point because of Watergate?)
I've been thinking of climbing into a hole for the next month actually. But then I'd miss SNL lampooning them all, and I do love parody)
Also, when I was a lower to mid middle class child, my mother did not dress like Donna Reed to clean the house. (but I do really love the poofed-out skirts Betty and Peggy wear)
Mad Man said...
I'm at the stage with Mad Men when if the episode doesn't grab me I think it's my fault for not keeping up. But this was as rich as any. And Betty as the original MILF!
For those asking, The Main Line is affluent suburbs of Philadelphia that stretch along what was once the Main Line of the Pennsylvania Railroad.
The communities are known for there multi-million dollar stone houses and also host several prominent universities such as Villanova, Bryn Mar, St. Joseph's.
Some of the communities are listed in the top twenty wealthiest towns of America. With quite a few in the top ten.
The movie Philadelphia Story with Katherine Hepburn is a depiction of Main Line society.
I thought William coming in the window, and that whole scene in the library, was a reference to Hithcock's "Rebecca". George Sanders comes in through the window, painting of dead woman who is "haunting" everyone", concern about what happened to the dead woman's ceramic knicknack, etc.
I enjoyed the Ray Bradbury reference in discussion of the "rocket fair" at the beginning of the episode, not least because I'm currently reading the seasonally appropriate Bradbury collection "The October Country." But it indicated that Bradbury was something of a major celebrity at the time, which is interesting.
The Betty-Glen scene was one of those "Mad Men" parts that make you go "hey, this really isn't like any other TV show, is it?" That's a feeling that I first had when Betty shot the pigeons last season, and also when we got the hobo flashbacks. But this took it to a new level: a long, protracted piece of surreal creepiness with no connection to the episode's main stories. Absolutely unsettling. I'm still struggling with what it meant, though. The line that really gets me is Glen's proclamation of being there to "rescue" Betty. Does that mean he's able to sense her feminine-mystique life of quiet desperation? If so, he'd be just about the only character on the show to grasp it, including Betty herself.
Have we seen the last of Glen? I wouldn't be surprised if something seriously inappropriate goes down between him and Betty at some point in the future. If Glen is the key to Betty's self-awareness (as his weirdness this week ultimately made her act in an adult fashion), then things are probably going to get weirder with him before Betty can permanently change.
Anonymous said ...
Oh wow, what an insightful comment. I can hardly wait to watch this scene again with this in mind.
Line of the episode for me was from Roger when he walked into Don's office and said "How was the family emergency?"
It felt so full of false concern and growing distrust on the part of Roger towards Don. It made me wonder how Betty would have reacted to the car crash earlier in the season if it took place now that they are separated. Would she be there for Don like he was for her in this episode, or would she act like Roger?
If this were a Victorian melodrama, Pete would end up adopting his own child....
This was nice odd little episode. Like a Philip Barry drawing room comedy only with cringe-worthy inappropriate sexuality coursing through it.
I echo everyone's compliments on this blog and the comments. It's so great to have a TV show that provokes so much thought and discussion.
I wonder if anyone else is worried about the show steadily losing some of its style and interest as the 60s progress. Part of the lure of the era is the strict gender role-playing, the hats on men, the dresses on women, the formality -- all of the things that are pretty much lost by the end of the 1960s. When I was watching Swingtown this summer it was clear that this wasn't nearly as "interesting" an era as the early 60s, but if Mad Men continues onward it's going to have to lose all that very special atmosphere.
@Brian--re Ray Bradbury as a '60s celebrity: check out this commercial for prunes starring one and the same:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A5NxG_rr5aU
Wow is right. Paired with the other verbal reference to "Rope"!!
"There was a nanosecond there when Paul became aware that Sheila had caught sight of Joan standing dangerously nearby. I laughed to see him whisk Sheila into the elevator to avoid another disastrous encounter, only to find himself uncomfortably playing the role of talking filling in a visual Oreo cookie."
Why did Joan even bother to point out Paul's pretentiousness after discovering that he was dating Sheila? Why was she catty to Sheila in the first place?
Fans keep pointing out how Joan exposed Paul's phoniness. Yet, they also keep ignoring what led Joan to act the way she did back in "Flight 1".
I think only Tom mentioned this.... when are we going to have the crossing point of Pete finding out that his biological child is out there? Do we think that Don knows that Pete is the father of the Peggy's baby? Will Don get drunk in CA and let it slip? Then Pete come home to claim?
Brian - I took Glen's rescue comment to have been developed from the comic books he was reading. In 1962, Glen could have been picking up the early issues of the Fantastic Four, and seeing altruistic superheroes who bickered. Instead, he had the first or second appearance of the Metal Men (before they developed more bickering personalities, and if it was the first one, in which they seemed to have been destroyed by the end) and an issue of Superman. Glen wanted to be the knight in shining armor - he thought Don had left her, and she needed a man to save her.
While actually I liked Swingtown more than Alan did, it's not fair to compare the eras just by watching these two shows. Mad Men is so much better written - if this creative team had tackled 1976 suburbia, I bet they could have come up with something decidedly less moralistic and soapy, and considerably more complex. I lived through the Bicentennial - those were interesting times.
When they were at Betty's father's house, the dialogue took this weird turn and sounded like something out of Arthur Miller. The line, and I'm paraphrasing, "He's got no people. How can you trust someone with no people behind him?" made me think of All My Sons.
After Glen's line about rescuing her, I half expected Betty to say, "Aren't you a little short for a stormtrooper?"
Don't know if anyone's still readying, but, Alan, I love your analysis in general, but I think you've too easily accepted the shrink's diagnosis that Betty is "emotionally a child." That diagnosis is one of the thousand of misogynistic, sexist and condescending ways in which almost all the men on the show treat almost all the women. Whereas you take the shrink's comment as an accurate diagnosis, I take it as the kind of obtuse comment made by a bored sexist in the days just before The Feminine Mystique is published.
Try reevaluating your read on Betty assuming the diagnosis is WRONG, and she comes off much better and more sympathetic -- essentially a trapped, bored but educated, articulate and (usually) caring person who is bullied by her husband and has had anything interesting (modeling, etc.) taken away from her by Don's and society's definition of her role.
Of course! Pete is thinking of adopting a "stranger" while unbeknownst to him his own son was presumably adopted by a "stranger."
Tonight's episode had Betty showing more emotion on her face than I remember seeing in 2 seasons.
The lack of facial expression and her deadpan tone of voice just drive me crazy, but from the visit home (where her dad says something like "she always has her brow knotted") to the kitchen table conversation with the divorced mom, she actually used her facial muscles!
And on a different aspect...
>>Of course, this could be a reflection that all adult human beings are not as mature as we like to believe.<<
I think this is a very good thought, since in the early 60s, adults were still assumed to be "grown-up". They dressed grown-up, talked grown-up and acted grown-up. Even if they were a mess inside, as a kid at least, you seldom saw them in any way other than in control.
Now a few years later, of course, they were wearing jeans and using slang, smoking dope and generally acting just like teenagers did.
Come to think of it, in the early 60s, kids dressed like grown-ups and by the late 60s, grown-ups dressed like kids!
Rottin' in Denmark said...
Maybe this thread is nearing its expiration date, but I have to ask something of the people that were alive during this period, or close to it.
I'm sure the clothes are painstakingly chosen for this show, but is it realistic that they are so tight on the women? Peggy and Joan are positively bursting out of their work-dresses, and even Carla and Viola are straining their daywear. Is this something the show is doing to amp up the 'It's fabulous!' factor among viewers, or did women really dress in skintight, albeit nonrevealing, clothes at the office?
If this is realistic, I have trouble with the frequent lament that 'women these days dress too revealingly' that you often hear from Boomers and WWII Generationers. There might have been less cleavage back then, but it's not like they were leaving significantly more to the imagination.
While Don and Betty were undressing to get into bed (and Don on the floor), I was thinking of one of your previous episode reviews where each character has to remove the "armor" of clothing they have to show the world. It took an excruciatingly long time for them to get into their bed clothing and I really thought Betty had forgiven Don ever so slightly when she snuggled up to him in the middle of the night. Only to be rebuffed the next morning. The show continues to surprise me.
A true Mom-to-Mom talk would have included Betty mentioning that Glen felt ignored by his Mom having boyfriends and not liking his stepmother. Instead she kept it all quiet, like she and Glen were still confidants.
I saw it more as Betty realizing Glen has been hurt enough without her revealing his thoughts about his mom (not to mention the punishment he might have received for talking about his mom's many boyfriends with the neighbors). Plus, she was able to get Helen to see her point (that Helen is being a bad mother) without Glen's exact words, so there was no need to reveal any confidences.
tck1219 said...
As despicable as I find Pete, I loved his foot-in-mouth moment in front of Paul and Sheila. He was completely oblivious to Sheila's reaction about Paul's trip and just kept blathering on. I also loved Ken's comment, "C'mon Pete, let's see what else we can put in your mouth." (or something like that, I don't remember it exactly.)
deering said...
"The pacing of this episode was a bit odd, and, as far as I can recall, lacked any moments of humor."
Oh, Don's "Geesh, what a geek" reaction to Kinsey's enthusiasm about JPS and possibly meeting Bradbury was funny. And maybe it's just me, but I find Don's attempts to come back home grimly amusing in a "No, your butt has been kicked to the curb, period." way. He's played every emotional heartstring in the book and Betty is not only not giving in, she's not believing a thing he says. The "great Persuader" can't even persuade his own wife, and that's pretty frickin' sad. :)
2) "The crucial moment for me was Pete drunkenly realizing that perhaps his in-bred selfish genes shouldn't be reproduced..."
The only time I've ever really liked Pete is when he wondered why having kids was such an all-fired big deal, especially since married folks were having them because they felt they had to, not because they really wanted to. He was dead-on, and that's about the only time he's ever been ahead of the societal curve on this show.
3) "Why did Joan even bother to point out Paul's pretentiousness after discovering that he was dating Sheila? Why was she catty to Sheila in the first place?"
Because Joan is racist, and there are few things more insulting to racist white women than to find that a man they are/were after prefers black women. To them, it's a major slap in the face that a "good" man could prefer someone so..."low-down/street/animal/promiscuous" instead of their "pure, unsullied" beauty. Paul's preferring Sheila hits Joan where she lives--in the idea she's utterly irresistible--and Joan is at her nastiest when anyone threatens that.
"Paul's preferring Sheila hits Joan where she lives--in the idea she's utterly irresistible--and Joan is at her nastiest when anyone threatens that."
And the craaziest part of all that nasty is that Sheila's merely a decent person. I think Joan's go after *any* woman she doesn't consider to be in her class in terms of beauty (=redhaired Caucasian goddess). Even if a woman surpassed Joan in beauty, intelligence and va-voom, Joan woud still snipe -- she knows no other way to keep control than be critical. It's a Mean Girl thing.
"And the craaziest part of all that nasty is that Sheila's merely a decent person. I think Joan's go after *any* woman she doesn't consider to be in her class in terms of beauty (=redhaired Caucasian goddess). Even if a woman surpassed Joan in beauty, intelligence and va-voom, Joan woud still snipe -- she knows no other way to keep control than be critical. It's a Mean Girl thing."
It's more than a Mean Girl thing. It was racism on Joan's part.
Back in Season 1, she had suspected Peggy of pursuing Paul. Instead of being catty about it, she expressed surprise that Peggy was never interested in Paul after all. She never treated Peggy with the same cattiness that she did Sheila - except in the matter of Peggy ignoring her advice.
When it came to Sheila, it was all about racism and ego.
It's interesting how so many readily accept the shrink's assessment of Betty as being childlike. I remember when Don accused her of that in "Red in the Face". Yet, while Don was accusing Betty of being a child, he was actually acting like one. And the other characters proved that they can be just as childish.
>>If this is realistic, I have trouble with the frequent lament that 'women these days dress too revealingly' that you often hear from Boomers and WWII Generationers. There might have been less cleavage back then, but it's not like they were leaving significantly more to the imagination.<<
Keep in mind that those "skin-tight" clothes were underlayered with bras, girdles, panties, slips, etc. And the clothing was constructed of fairly substantial fabric, both in quantity and thickness.
Yes, they were tight, but nothing jiggled (vulgar!!) or was visible. You didn't see bra straps, or underwear, or the actual shape of actual body parts, so I'm not sure how revealing clothing was compared to today.
(And yes, they're exaggerating the tightness to some extent, but only a bit. And notice how Betty dresses almost the opposite -- flouncy skirts with YARDS of netting. Damn, that stuff was scratchy!!)
I don't think Don is going hobo... I think Betty will take off, leaving Don with the kids. The 60s/70s became an era where women like Betty felt they had to leave in order to "find themselves" (at least in movies -- "Alice Doesn't Live Here Any More", "Kramer vs Kramer", etc.).
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Exacerbation of Streptococcus Equi (Strangles) by Overly Nutritious Diets in Horses: A Model for Infectious Bacterial Diseases of Horses and Other Livestock
Thomas Walter Swerczek, Department of Veterinary Science, 108 Gluck Equine Research Center, University of Kentucky, Lexington, USA
Received: Feb. 1, 2019; Accepted: Mar. 8, 2019; Published: Mar. 29, 2019
Strangles is a highly pathogenic and contagious infection of horses and other equids caused by Streptococcus equi. Reports in the literature summarize the severe complications of strangles, but provide little information on the factors enhancing the pathogenicity and complications that result in high mortalities. However, there are reports suggesting exceptionally nutritious diets will exacerbate strangles infections and promote complications, including bacteremia and metastases to lymph nodes throughout the body and sequalae like purpura hemorrhagic and myositis. Dietary ingredients may enhance S. equi capsular polysaccharide (CPS) which protects bacteria from the immune system and phagocytosis. Low-virulent bacteria may become highly virulent pathogenic bacteria. Overly nutritious diets enhance the pathogenicity of S. equi and efficiency of bacterins, vaccines and antibiotics intended for controlling and treating strangles in horses. The effect of diet on the pathogenesis of S. equi in horses may be an ideal model for other bacterial diseases of horses as well as bacterial diseases like Pasturella multocida respiratory infections in cattle and other livestock.
Strangles, Streptococcus Equi, Complications, Sequalae, Overly Nutritious Diets
Thomas Walter Swerczek, Exacerbation of Streptococcus Equi (Strangles) by Overly Nutritious Diets in Horses: A Model for Infectious Bacterial Diseases of Horses and Other Livestock, Animal and Veterinary Sciences. Vol. 7, No. 1, 2019, pp. 18-23. doi: 10.11648/j.avs.20190701.13
Bryans, J. T., Doll, E. R, Shephard, B. P. (1964) The etiology of strangles. Cornell Vet. 54, 198-205.
Sweeney, C. R., Whitlock, R. H., Meirs, D. A., Whitehead, S. C, Barningham, S. O. (1998) Complications associated with Streptococcus equi in a horse farm. JAVMA. 191, 1446-1448.
Boyle, A. G. (2017) Strangles and its complications. Equine Vet. Educ. 29(3), 149-157. doi: 10.1111/eve.12568
Spoormakers, T. J., Ensink, J. M., Goehring, L. S., Koeman, J. P., Ter Braake, F., van der Vlugt-Meijer, R. H., van den Belt, A. J. (2003) Brain abscesses as a metastatic manifestation of strangles: symptomatology and the use of magnetic resonance imaging as a diagnostic aid. Equine Vet J. 35(2), 146-151.
Newton J. R., Wood J. L. N., Dunn K. A., DeBrauwere M. N., Chanter N. (1997) Naturally occurring persistent and symptomatic infection of the guttural pouches of horses with Streptococcus equi. Vet. Rec. 140, 84-90.
Knight A. P., Voss J. L., McChesney A. E., Bigbee H. G. (1975) Experimentally-induced Streptococcus equi infection in horses with resultant guttural pouch empyema. Vet Med Small Anim Clin. 70(10), 1194-1199.
Swerczek, TW. Pathogenesis, Treatment and Control of Streptococcus equi Infection (strangles) in Horses. Proceeding of the First Annual Eastern States Veterinary Conference, Orlando. Fl. January 18, 1984.
Ford, J., Lokai M. D. (1980) Complications of Streptococcus equi infections. Equine Pract. 2, 41-44.
Bin Xu, Xiaomeng Pei, Yiqi Su, Zhe Ma, Hongjie Fan. (2016) Capsule of Streptococcus equi subsp. zooepidemicus hampers the adherence and invasion of epithelial and endothelial cells and is attenuated during internalization. FEMS Microbiology Letters, 363 (16) https: doi.org/10.1093/femsle/fnw164.
Woolcock, J. B. (1974) The capsule of Streptococcus equi. J. of General Microbiology. 85, 372-375.
Petruzzi, B., Briggs, R. E., Tatum, F. M., Swords, W. E., De Castro, C., Molinaro, A., Inzana, T. J. (2017) “Capsular Polysaccharide Interferes with Biofilm Formation by Pasteurella multocida Serogroup A” J American Society of microbiology. Volume 8, no. 6. doi:org/10.1128/mBio.01843-17
Swerczek, T. W. The Interrelationship between Nutrition and Infectious Diseases of Livestock. East Central Nebraska Cattlemen Association Meeting. November 20, 1998. Boone County, Nebraska.
Duffee, L. R., Stefanovski, D., Boston, R. C., Boyle, A., G. (2015) Predictor variables for and complications associated with Streptococcus equi subsp equi infection in horses. JAVMA. 247:1161–1168. Doi:10.2460/javma.247.10.1161.
Timoney, J. F. (1993) Strangles. Vet. Clin. N. Am. Equine Pract. 9, 365-374.
Bazeley, P. L. (1942) Studies with Equine Streptococci, 3. Vaccination against strangles. Austral. Vet. J. 18, 141-155.
Woolcock J. B. (1975) Immunity to Stretococcus equi. Aust Vet J. 51, 554-559.
Waller A. S., Jolley K. A. (2007) Getting a grip on strangles: recent progress towards improved diagnostics and vaccines. Vet J. 173, 492-501.
Timoney, J. F. (2007) Strangles vaccines in trouble again. Equine Vet. J. 39, 196. doi.org/10.2746/042516407X196744
Fairley, J. K. (1991) Strangles in horse studs: incidence, risk factors and effect of vaccination. Aust Vet J. 68(8), 282-283.
Swerczek, T. W. (2013) Tyzzer’s Disease in Foals: Retrospective studies from 1969 to 2010. Canadian Veterinary Journal, 54, 876-880.
Swerczek, T. W. (1980) Toxicoinfectious Botulism in Foals and Adult Horses. JAVMA 176, 217-220.
Swerczek, T. W., Dorton, A. R. (2019) Effects of Nitrate and Pathogenic Nanoparticles on Reproductive Losses, Congenital Hypothyroidism and Musculoskeletal Abnormalities in Foals: New Hypotheses. Animal and Veterinary Sciences. 7 (1), 1-11 doi: 10.11648/ j.avs.20190701.11
Swerczek, T. W. (1978) Inhibition of the CEM organism by the normal flora of the reproductive tract. The Veterinary Record. 133 (6), 125.
Swerczek, T. W. (1979) Aggravation of Strangles, Equine Clostridial Typhlocolitis (Colitis X) and Bacterial Venereal Diseases in the Horse by Antibacterial Drugs. Proc AAEP, Miami Fl. pp 305-310.
Richmond, R. (2015) Practical management of strangles outbreaks in horses. Aust Vet J. 93(8), N20.
Mallicote, M. (2015) Update on Streptococcus equi sub sp equi infections. Vet Clin North Am Equine Pract. 31(1), 27-41.
Waller, A. S. (2013) Strangles: taking steps towards eradication. Vet Microbiol. 167, 50-60. doi: 10.1016/j.vetmic.2013.03.033.
Holland R. E., Harris, D. G., Monge, A. (2006) How to control strangles infections on the endemic farm. Proc 52nd Annu Meet AAEP. 78-80.
Sweeney, C. R., Timoney, J. F., Newton, R., Hines, M. (2005) Control, and Prevention of Strangles Infections in Horses: Guidelines for Treatment. J Vet Intern Med. 19, 123–134.
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Exchange students from Japan visit Sebastopol this week
by SWFAdmin | Mar 30, 2017 | SWF Blog, Visiting Takeo | 0 comments
By David Abbott, Special to Sonoma West Times and News | Mar 28, 2017 Updated Mar 28, 2017
Three decades of ties strengthened by middle-schoolers
For the past 32 years, Sebastopol has shared a very special relationship with its sister city Takeo City, Japan, so on March 25 Sebastopol World Friends welcomed a middle school contingent for an exchange visit until April 3.
A group of 16 middle school students, two chaperones and a group of four adult delegates have been treated to the best Sebastopol has to offer, beginning with a welcoming dinner at Enmanji Buddhist Temple that featured speeches of friendship as well as dances by students from both sides of the Pacific Ocean.
“We have selected 17 students in Sebastopol, who have been working hard to be great student ambassadors, since December 2016,” SWF board member and group chaperone Meg Mizutani said. “The group will visit Takeo in March 2018 for 10 to11 days.”
The group has been a visible presence in downtown Sebastopol, from lunch at a local pizza parlor to visits to the police and fire departments. Later in the week, there was a trip to Sonoma State University, Bodega Bay and even a day trip to San Francisco.
The trip also included a trip to the Charles Schultz Museum in Santa Rosa, shopping at the mall and a hike at Armstrong Redwoods State Natural Preserve.
Yamauchi, Japan and Sebastopol became Sister Cities in 1985. In 2008, the city of Yamauchi merged with several neighboring towns to form Takeo City. A sign in the Sebastopol square recognizes the special relationship as do others at entrances to the town.
Analy High School history and social studies teacher Tim Forslund and his children Ainsley and Will have been involved with the program for several years. Forslund, a 21-year veteran at the school, helps prepare students for travel to Japan and plays a big role in hosting Takeo students in Sebastopol.
“This is such a unique experience for everyone involved: the students; the communities and schools. Everyone gets to share in the exchange,” he said. “It’s like a family with more than 30 years of multigenerational roots. It’s a living relationship.”
Forslund added that the exchange could not be possible without the help of a legion of volunteers from those planning activities to the families that host the Japanese visitors.
But it really comes down to the SWF motto: “World peace, one friend at a time.”
“The students have been impressed with Sebastopol. They said people in Sebastopol were very friendly, kind and welcoming,” Mizutani said. “People you see on the street say ‘hi’ or smile even if they don’t know you.”
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Nate Szczerbinski: Another White Motorist Assaulted by Blacks in 83 Percent Black Detroit
Move over Steve Utash.
No, another white man beaten by blacks in 83 percent black Detroit... Meet Nate Szczerbinski, a white male whose story you'll hear never again.
Another white male motorist was assaulted by blacks in Detroit, in a story completely deserving the title 'media blackout'. [Detroit Police search for two suspects as driver recovers following beating after traffic accident, WXYZ.com, 6-9-14]:
A man is recovering in the hospital after, he says, he was beaten following a traffic accident.
It happened Saturday afternoon.
Nate Szczerbinski says he got into the accident while trying to turn around after going the wrong way down a one way street in Detroit.
Szczerbinski says he was beaten and kicked by three men who hurled racial slurs at him.
"I realized I was in trouble.. when they started calling me names and stuff," Szczerbinski told 7 Action News. "I couldn't run. I couldn't really protect myself. I would've been just asking for more trouble. So, I just prayed to God that something would happen."
Szczerbinski also says two teenage girls tried to help, but that he told them to stay back, because he feared the men would turn on them.
We're told a crowd gathered, but most did nothing to help Szczerbinski, the father of a five-month-old girl.
Szczerbinski suffered a number of injuries including a fractured eye socket. He was set to undergo surgery Monday afternoon, but doctors are delaying the surgery until facial swelling goes down.
Szczerbinski was allowed to leave the hospital Monday.
Detroit Police have a 20-year-old man in custody in connection with the case. He is facing assault charges. Officers are still searching for two other men.
If you have any information about this case, you are asked to call Detroit Police.
This wasn't news fit for CNN or FOX News.
With the one-year anniversary of George Zimmerman's acquittal approaching, let's look at how the Detroit News covered the black-on-white attack on Szczerbinski. [Motorist claims he was beaten after accident on Detroit's east side, Detroit News, 6-9-14]:
“I got out to check on what happened, and three guys (from the other vehicle) got mad and started kicking my (expletive),” Szczerbinski said. “They were hollering, ‘White (expletive)’ while they were hitting me.”
Szczerbinski said his attackers kicked, hit and spit on him, and that one of his attackers said he was angry because his fist was swollen from hitting him.
One of the alleged attackers, a 20-year-old black man, was arrested, and police are seeking the other two, Detroit Police Officer Keisha Beasley-Dorsey said.
“The victim said there were some ethnic slurs made,” Beasley-Dorsey said. “We’ll do our investigation, and it’ll be up to prosecutors whether to file ethnic intimidation charges.”
There's no cavalry coming, white man.
No politician to save the day.
Leave the deus ex machina to a Greek tragedy.
Steve Utash knows the future for white men in America.
Now Nate Szczrbinski does too...
Where's the basic humanity?
Lily White said...
"[O]ne of his attackers said he was angry because his fist was swollen from hitting him."
The Obama Justice Department will see to it that Mr. Szczerbinski is sued and jailed for injuring his attacker's fist.
S S said...
Humanity requires those animals to be human.
They just look human
I can't imagine living in the remote vicinity of Detroit without packing heat at all times. What, is this guy a Quaker or something? A Buddhist? These things are dangerous animals!
Ethnic intimidation vs hate crime?
Can blacks really not be charged with a hate crime so they have this lesser ethnic intimidation crime that blacks can be charged with?
I don't know the answer to this but I think it might be something very, very ugly
It is difficult for me to understand why any white person would travel in Detroit without a firearm on his/her person. I suppose there is a possibility of escalating what would have been merely a brutal life threatening beating into a fatal shootout, but it seems more likely that the orcs would scatter if a crazy ass cracker started slinging lead. Another mystery is why any white person would stop at the scene of an accident as long as the vehicle was capable of moving.
what is this polack doing without at least pepper spray in Detroit
how dumb can you get
The precious pampered plantation pets have been on a hate YT kick since January 2009.
"They just look human"
I disagree. Their skulls don't resemble ours. The facial expressions betray a simian lineage. I'm sure there are many other examples out there.
One of the questions the DWLs always ask: 'Why did they do it to him, he was just going to work, he was minding his own business, it was an accident, why why ?'
Here's the eternal answer to the question "why" and there is no other answer: Because they can.
Detoilet is not for YT and following all the rules will just get you killed. Who cares about a one way street in a third world shithole dump now known as the anus of the west. Donut molestor cops are too busy working overtime in the year before retirement so they can collect a fat pension for the next forty years and won't be too worried about a YT going the wrong way on a one way street.
I have lately been very seriously considering the idea that nogs are actually satan's minions.Look at their collective disruptive costs to any society stupid enough to try and help them.Their expense exceeds their worth by several orders of magnitude -in any honest measurement.They are vile,rude,stupid,egotistical,rotten people.Our whole country is now a second-rate ghetto cultcha while backward countries like China and Russia pull ahead of us with ease as they do not have the dead weight of endless nogs to prop up.What a rotten burden for Western Whites to be saddled with when none were even asked if they wanted to play this game to begin with.Shamefull beyond belief.
Time for true,undeniable progress away from 'da firs muddafuggin regressive church ob da holy african american,incorporated'
Richard Cranium
Blacks just keeping it real. They cannot defy their genetics, as much as they want everyone to believe they're misunderstood. In a hundred thousand years of evolution, they've gone from primate to inmate with no accomplishments along the way (unless you count twerking).
I watched an old Amren video last night, and they showed a skeleton of a neanderthal next to that of a homo sapiens. It was disturbing. They had been talking about brain sizes, and how whites have larger brains than blacks. The neanderthal was significantly larger than the homo sap, and had a larger brain, yet they are extinct. Why?
Neanderthals had been in Europe for 40,000 years before their home was invaded. Having been in the cold north that long, they were probably white. The invaders from the south - homo sapiens newly migrated out of Africa - were if not black, undoubtedly darker. I recently learned that melanin, which causes dark skin, is associated with increased aggression, not just in humans, but in all animals. The darker ones tend to be more violent.
So these big brained neanderthals had lost their color and their aggression, and were now being attacked by aggressive darkies from the south. They didn't know how to handle it. There was some cross mating with the invaders, but in the end they were crowded out, murdered, and replaced.
Do you see the parallel with our own situation? There is no guarantee that we can or will fight for our survival, or that we will live on in small groups or in our own state. History shows it is possible for us to lose it ALL. It may seem unimaginable, but it has happened before.
hillary clinton has an office in an all black area in harlem, new york, and hillary and bill clinton regularly go to a coffee shop in all black harlem, and blacks dont bother them (if it did it would be in the news).
jimmy carter let his daughter amy carter go to an all black school in washington d.c. and she has never said anything about being attacked, (if she was attacked it would be in the news.
these examples prove black neighborhoods are usually safe.
there is another trial in detroit coming up, i heard june 2nd is the trial start date.
anyway it is the theodore wafer/renisha mcbride case.
i thought it would be getting more national attention like the george zimmerman/trayvon martin case did.
would be interested in hearing how that turns out, probably the jury composition is more important than any facts of the case.
D. Sterling-Trump said...
It is difficult for me to understand why any white person would live or travel in Detroit PERIOD. Even a million dollar job isn't enough justification. Once you go black you never go back: 83% negro is an insurmountable majority, at least until the next ice age. For his own sake, it's time for YT to just concede the remaining 17% and GTFO.
Another example of white privilege. Szczerbinski assaulted three black men with his head, causing serious damage to their fists. And yet the black men are being charged with a crime!
Oh, the terrible legacy of slavery.
Whether they will fire ethnic intimidation charges? Not likely Keisha! The mahogany menace do as they wish. Just stay away from blacks period.
I think Anon at 7:31 PM left out a word:
"they just Don't look human" ...
I mean that should be as obvious as night and day.
They are not like us. TM
If his car was driveable, he shouldn't have stopped. Keep a copy of the info you're required to give if you have an accident and throw it out the window while you get out of harms way.
On topic: I was in a 50/50 part of my city this week and witnessed a chimpout up close. I have avoided those people since I suffered a couple years of school desegregation in the 1970s and 40 years has devolved them quite a bit.
Sheboon screaming into 0bama-phone "Don't talk to me about no f'in haircut!" (repeat over and over). Then "I'm doin' my bess but I ain't got no money - I give money to evrbody and nobody give none to me. I cain't pay mah bills, I know you bailed me out of jail and I'm tryin' to do what the Lord wants but I need hep and don't talk to me about no f'in haircut!" She kept that up for 10 solid minutes in a business parking lot, then left, like a tornado out of nowhere.
I took measures to quickly, quietly get a safe distance away but I saw white people walk out of the business to their cars within arms reach of the screaming boon. Stupid! They could have looped around the back of the building and got to their cars without crossing her path but the danger didn't seem to register. I believe that's what's happened to whites who have lived too long in "diverse" areas.
But, happily, I was reaffirmed in my beliefs about those "people" and my teenager saw first hand what I've preached so we have one more awake white. Not so happily, I have no idea what to do with that marginal population. They are mentally retarded and physically dangerous. She was grosslessly overweight so maybe we should make food stamps only good for junk food and airlift more of it into their areas. That might take them out of the gene pool a little quicker - just a thought.
I wonder if an argument could be made that the reason we find them revolting is they look just close enough to people that they trigger uncanny valley effects.
Aren't whites a global minority?
Shouldn't the UN declare the white race an endangered group and provide protection worldwide?
Make murdering or endangering a white person a crime punishable by death?
Why are whites still called a majority in ANY country when they are a global minority?
I know. Those jealous bastards want us dead so they can loot and pillage the West and take things down to their level.
"Another mystery is why any white person would stop at the scene of an accident as long as the vehicle was capable of moving."
Because he was taught to believe that "they are just like us" and MLK's Dream, and he lives far, far away from them in the safe white suburbs so he does not know that they want to kill his cracker ass.
This describes most white Americans I know.
Clueless, suicidal, egalitarian.
he was taught to believe that "they are just like us" and MLK's Dream, and he lives far, far away from them in the safe white suburbs
Clinton Township lies between Detoilet and Mt. Clemens (aka "Mt. Ghetto"). He should have known.
"I took measures to quickly, quietly get a safe distance away but I saw white people walk out of the business to their cars within arms reach of the screaming boon. Stupid! They could have looped around the back of the building and got to their cars without crossing her path but the danger didn't seem to register."
There is no shame in going out of your way to avoid them when they're a-comin'. It's a matter of self-preservation. They've become much more unpredictable and violent than I've ever known them to be.
Recently, I took my lady and daughter to a fast food establishment for an early lunch. The medium-sized upper midwest city in which we dined is turning quickly. A somewhat overweight and fairly unattractive white woman came in with a dreadlocked groid. Stomach-turning enough, but what troubled me was the white girl who was with them. She was maybe 9 years old. What will her future be, since Mother has decided to turn to the dark side? I feel like a true disservice is being done to these white girls who see their mothers become coal burners.
I know Whiskey gets a lot of grief - I'm not sure if this is something he's specifically mentioned before - but the white female culture seems to have "sex with a groid" on their collective bucket list. Some never "go back," and some simply check it off the list, but it seems to be a "milestone" for today's BRA woman.
Sickness of the soul.
Pardon the expression, but...nigga please.
In the mid 70s I sold insurance,in the burbs as well as in the city of Detoilet. I always carried a 25cal pistol for protection...
Most of my customers were nice people, but the fact of the matter, you just never knew when the shit would hit the fan...
One time while stopped at a traffic light 4 groids hit the back 8f my car. I knew that they were waiting for me to step out of the car, to rob and beat me. This type of attack has been going on for over 40years.
Diveristy has hit the burbs, and crime is on the rise in all areas of metro Detoilet. Lucky for me selling insurance in the city so long ago taught me a lesson..27years ago I left the area and moved 280 miles north. Best move I ever made, and I have past lessons to thank for departure...
"The victim said there were some ethnic slurs made," Detroit Police Officer Keisha Beasley-Dorsey said.
Notice how the black police officer worded the complaint--"ethnic slurs". So now having white skin is an "ethnicity"?
No, this nomenclature was used to avoid calling them the much more serious "racial slurs". Why? That would paint the black attackers as racist, something everyone knows only white people can be.
countryboy said...
Whites will continue to assaulted until they grow a pair and fight back with bullets instead of gums flapping.
Anon1 said "Another mystery is why any white person would stop at the scene of an accident as long as the vehicle was capable of moving."
Anon2 said ”Because he was taught to believe that "they are just like us" and MLK's Dream, and he lives far, far away from them in the safe white suburbs so he does not know that they want to kill his cracker ass.
I was told as a child that the only difference between black and white people was skin color. I was told those exact words, and never as a child did I hear a single racial slur or joke in my home. But black behavior speaks for itself, and any person bright enough to successfully get out of bed each morning should be able to recognize the danger. I can honestly say that my view of black society is in fact learned, but it was taught to me by blacks themselves.
Looking back, my parents probably knew this would happen. They taught me to use common sense and to avoid dangerous situations when possible which was all that was necessary.
sympatheticother said...
Why do you guys put up with this? When are you gonna take a stand. The Stormfront Neo-Nazi thing won't fly and is too easily marginalized. But there must be some way for you to organize and remedy the statistics of black on white violence, government waste, media denial and so on. You are the heirs to Anglo-European legacy, upon which the greatness of America's past and future depend. Stop bitchin' and organize
Anti-Whitist's just stepping up da'War. New reinforcements arriving en masse at borders, even being housed in "armories". Looks like the new divisions of Bongo's internal shock troops will be ready just in time for the height of the "hatin' season" July 4, state fairs, yadadadada...
/H hypie out H\
"One of the alleged attackers, a 20-year-old black man, was arrested, and police are seeking the other two, Detroit Police Officer Keisha Beasley-Dorsey said."
And just how hard will a police force full of "Keishas" work to find the other two suspects?
How many Detroit police officers have relatives who are criminals?
OT, but interesting. Apparently it is now un-PC for an attorney to attempt to select a good jury for his case. A prosecutor was fired in Austin, TX because he didn't want a card carrying member of NAACP on the jury. I'm guessing that the defendant must be black. He said that he wouldn't have wanted a white activist or white supremacist on the jury either, but that was taken as a claim by the prosecutor that members of NAACP are like white supremacists. My understanding of the jury selection process is that each party can excuse a certain number of jurors with peremptory challenges without having to give any reason for the choice. The prosecutor should have kept his mouth shut because in the world of AA and PC, fundamental principals of law don't apply. I seriously doubt if the attorney for a black defendant would have to explain why he might want to excuse card carrying members of pro-white groups.
http://www.foxnews.com/us/2014/06/12/texas-prosecutor-fired-for-comparing-naacp-to-white-supremacy/?intcmp=latestnews
Don M said...
"I was told as a child that the only difference between black and white people was skin color. I was told those exact words, and never as a child did I hear a single racial slur or joke in my home. But black behavior speaks for itself, and any person bright enough to successfully get out of bed each morning should be able to recognize the danger. I can honestly say that my view of black society is in fact learned, but it was taught to me by blacks themselves."
RACISM IS A HORRIBLE DISEASE! You catch it from Blacks...
Whether in America or Africa, the same situation erupts. Motorists in many African countries are well advised to not stop if an accident happens (or they hit a pedestrian) but to leave and proceed to the nearest police station. This is due to the fact that people have been attacked, beaten and even killed by mobs of Africanus Primitivus.
There should be no shock nor surprise that such behavior is taking place among the Africanus Primitivus in America. They're simply reverting to type.
It's going to get a lot worse too. The only surprise to me (so far) is they haven't started placing gas filled tires around peoples' necks and burning them to death. I guess there aren't that many old spare tires laying about in the hood or else it would be happening already. However there have been cases of people being attacked, doused in flammable liquid and set on fire.
Just because you have hyena's in a zoo that are sheltered, fed and pampered doesn't mean that when you release them back into the wild that they'll behave like anything other than hyena's. Ditto for the negro~ feed it (EBT), shelter it (section 8) and pamper it (AA/set asides/etc) and it's still an Africanus Primitivus. It will always revert to type and behave accordingly.
Detroit's Beautiful, Horrible Decline - Photo Essays - TIME
""I took measures to quickly, quietly get a safe distance away but I saw white people walk out of the business to their cars within arms reach of the screaming boon. Stupid! They could have looped around the back of the building and got to their cars without crossing her path but the danger didn't seem to register..."
LOLOLOL! Why didn't you step right up to that fat-assed jerk and tell her to shut her big trap because she is causing a disturbance? Grab her Obamaphone and crush it beneath your boot?
Your ancestors would have done JUST THAT. They would not hide, pussyfoot out the back entrance, jump in the car, lock all doors and speed away.
Shameful. It is NO WONDER that are being marginalized, beaten, robbed, raped, killed, and demographically replaced in your own land. You are a big bunch of cowards and you are not willing to fight for anything. You are scared to death of blacks. So in that case, you probably deserve what you are getting.
City resident said...
Regarding 6:29 am Anonymous posting of seeing a nine year old white girl with her mother and mother's black boyfriend. I'll bet anything the black will make moves on the child anytime soon when he gets the opportunity. This is what they do. The woman should not be bringing someone like this into the home; it's downright criminal.
Here in Illinois a murder trial just ended. D'Andre Howard was found guilty of stabbing to death three of his white girlfriend's family members, wounding a fourth. She brought this monster into her family home because he was her supposed 'boyfriend' and he ended up murdering them. She has to live with this now, her family wiped out all because she couldn't set her sights any higher.
His beating prompted civic and religious leaders to hold a rally calling for racial healing in the city.
The rally makes everything okay. But wait, why call for a racial healing rally when officer Keisha Beasly-Dorsey hasn't even been able to conclude that there was a racial component to the assault. After all, it is only a white person with a fractured eye socket and other injuries claiming to have been beaten by blacks and claiming that “there were some ethnic slurs made.” Typical of the negro, Keisha is unable to attribute the racist language to the criminals. She can only characterize the slurs as somehow being made.
If you fight back, you end up in a jail or prison with them. My friend committed suicide rather than go to prison. We are scared of large packs of blacks. We are scared of being portrayed as racist if we were to say something to the obnoxious, "looks at me" individual black.
The past few years of my life have been disheartening as I get vertigo from staring into the black hole of the new normal.
It may come to be that The Supreme Court will allow concealed carry in California. But in the mean time I keep an Emergency Knife and Seat Belt Cutter in my glove compartment.
You can get such a tool on Amazon for about fifteen dollars. The idea is that if you crash and end up in the water you will need to be able to break your windows and cut your seat belt.
These things are not just legal they are recommended. If the cops find you carrying it they will slap you on the back and compliment you for your preparedness.
The seat belt cutter is a special slot with a knife blade. These safety knives also have one or more blunt points that are designed to smash window glass. So I am protected if I end up under water in the Bay.
But I don't ever expect to end up in the Bay. My knife also has a big sharp blade for general use. If Mr. Szczerbinski had had a big sharp knife with him maybe his urban encounter might have had a more satisfactory result.
Of all the demographics in the USA the negro alone originates from non-nation state background. He/She began His encounter with the new world as a naked, illiterate savage. And that is what He regresses to without European intervention. When immersed in or reasonably contiguous with "white" culture they tend to be reasonably socialized..this however is logistically difficult and the majority cannot be protected from regressing to the mean.
Ultimately, "why" doesn't matter. The only thing "why" is good for, is so that White people can understand an event and take steps to control it.
But in this case, there is no rational understanding "why" these things act as they do. "Because they can" is all you need to know.
"Racial healing?" Now what can we do with that phrase before it scuttles down the Minitru Memoryhole?
Isn't this Detroit, a black majority/black run city? I thought by definition that blacks can not be "racist?" Does this mean that Mr Szczerbinski is the one guilty of (horrors) "racism?" Perhaps he was guilty of micro-aggressions -- after all he admitted that his alleged assailants had their fists injured in the course of the action.
Anyway, how is this racial healing to happen? By white people groveling before the terrible-legacy-of-slavery-segregation (tm)? By more government-corporate grants to the usual talking heads and chieftains of otherwise useless foundations? And after all the press conferences are over, can Mr Szczerbinski then drive the streets of Detroit in safety?
I would not be surprised if the "racial healing" winds up coming to folks hijacking gasoline tankers and blowing them up in the neighborhoods where the perps in these crimes live.
It would only be the closing of the circle. Blacks used arson to drive the whites out of Detroit in the first place.
Anonymous (either joking or letting their superb public edumacation shine like anthracite)
hillary clinton has an office in an all black area in harlem, new york, and hillary and bill clinton regularly go to a coffee shop in all black harlem, and blacks dont bother them (if it did it would be in the news). jimmy carter let his daughter amy carter go to an all black school in washington d.c. and she has never said anything about being attacked, (if she was attacked it would be in the news. these examples prove black neighborhoods are usually safe.
You forgot the minor detail that all of the examples you cited were (and are) surrounded by a coterie of armed guards who carry weapons capable of killing a hundred attackers in the space of about 30 seconds. No civilian can own such weapons, unless they happen to be a Class-3 Firearms Dealer who sells to the government, military, police, etc.
Pat Boyle said ”. . . But I don't ever expect to end up in the Bay. My knife also has a big sharp blade for general use. If Mr. Szczerbinski had had a big sharp knife with him maybe his urban encounter might have had a more satisfactory result.”
A knife can be as useful, and sometimes more useful, than a pistol at arms length distances. But a person really needs training to use it effectively. My recommendation to knife carriers is to attend an edged weapons class where you can encounter role players to simulate the real thing. You don't need to learn a bunch of kung-fu type moves. Just master a couple of easy to repeat techniques. From my investigation into this area it appears that a blade must be applied very vigorously, and the resulting mess will be more disturbing that a typical shooting.
City resident notes:
D'Andre Howard was found guilty of stabbing to death three of his white girlfriend's family members, wounding a fourth. She brought this monster into her family home because he was her supposed 'boyfriend' and he ended up murdering them. She has to live with this now, her family wiped out all because she couldn't set her sights any higher.
The odds are that she's fine with it, and will either go visit the orc for 'conjugal visists' in prison or find herself another. We've seen case after case where orcs butcher even white children and the canned "I forgive the long-suffering negro" is parroted, typically with a statement about how it's the "Christian" thing to do. As Cambria Will Not Yield has pointed out, one of the absolute central dogmas of Crystal Methodism - the actual religion of most whites - is that the negro is God in human form who must be worshipped and adored. They'll gladly sacrifice their own families and even their own white children upon the altar for their shiny black god. Whiskey can be annoying as hell, but he's right about this - and women, being more religious naturally, are the most ardent and strident worshippers of all.
I feel bad for what this guy went through, but quite honestly, why would a white man with a five year old daughter live or go anywhere near what is clearly a negropolis? I would expect no protection from their police, no care from their hospitals and no justice from their courts. Stay out from where you are not welcome, they will destroy themselves from within in due course.
The late David Yaegley, an Indian (casino, not call-center), wrote an article about this phenomenon over a dozen years ago. It is a spiritual sickness - a great malignancy. Whites have bought and swallowed so many shit-sandwiches it's difficult to keep track of them all. Feminism is one of the biggest ones ever sold. Three guesses about who (first two don't count) sold them and to whom most of the benefit flows (that's the part Whiskey doesn't like to mention). Still, nobody held a gun to YT's head and forced them to buy all those shit sandwiches - but they (especially the girls) keep on buying them over and over, expecting the next one will taste better.
"Tant Que Je Puis" said...
I'm sure Anonymous on June 11 at 10:47 pm was just pulling a joke when he described the Clintons & Amy Carter being safe in negro neighborhoods. Why sure I'm certain you would be safe in the 'hoods if you have a gaggle of secret service agents, armed to the hilt, to ensure your well being. What a prankster!
World_War_Me said...
Hypie said: "Anti-Whitist's just stepping up da'War. New reinforcements arriving en masse at borders, even being housed in "armories". Looks like the new divisions of Bongo's internal shock troops will be ready just in time for the height of the "hatin' season"
Yep, and that's why I'm taking my second gun class in six weeks. $100 for 8 hours of professional training and target practice. I'll expect to go through 300 rounds. Even though I live in a 80% white college town, it's changing fast as we've had home invasions and Knock-out games at the local Wal-Mart, Waffle House, and on campus within the last 18 months or so. Unfortunately I cannot provide links as there's no media coverage, merely Facebook mutterings.
Another thing: engaging in coitus with a black is most certainly NOT on my bucket list, but it is on one of my lists: my list of things that would make me shun a friend or disown a relative.
Anonymous at June 12, 2014 at 8:48 AM, I like the way you think.
Justice for Quattro the Cat!
when driving in a dangerous city, consider the demotraffics (demographics:)
Bogolyubski, thank you for that link to Dr. David Yaegley's column. I enjoyed reading it and got many useful quotes out of it. As usual, you bring much wisdom to this forum.
Anonymous said ”I feel bad for what this guy went through, but quite honestly, why would a white man with a five year old daughter live or go anywhere near what is clearly a negropolis? . . . “
My opinion is that some people mistakenly believe that they have a special gift or knack for dealing with blacks. They get to know a couple of them and come to believe that they have been adopted by the orcs. Like the old westerns where someone like Jimmy Stewart is revered by the Indians and the white man because of some unique quality. Timothy Treadwell thought that he had a magical bond with Grizzly Bears right up to the point when he was eaten by one. It seems to be a fairly common mistake.
RE;
Timothy Treadwell thought that he had a magical bond with Grizzly Bears right up to the point when he was eaten by one. It seems to be a fairly common mistake.
There is footage at Youtube of a nitwit who had a 'pet' hippo..
they would swim together.
The hippo drown him.
hes the tim treadwell of africa.
of course he was white.
The natives know better.
No need for such overt action. If you supply the tanker, they will do the rest themselves.
In Africa, they do this all the time. The tankers are driven by Babuntus, so they often roll them on the great African roads. This brings out the hordes of scavengers with their buckets to scoop up the spilt fuel. Inevitably, one drops a cigarette butt... Yes, they're that stupid.
Anon @ 5:43 The UN is about global communism and nothing else.
Any whites who think they are just like us and we are all equal never went to school, worked with, or lived by darkies. I don't waste time with the brainwashed who live in a bubble. They can enjoy the Cosby show and Oprah and think it is real for all I care.
The difference between dogs and negroes:
Dogs prefer to earn treats, rather than receive handouts.
The negro is the curse of western european hubris. the albatross of his yearning for godhood and travel to the stars
the question remains how may the curse be lifted?
Even dogs have better work ethics than Negroes.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2656101/Clever-boy-Dogs-prefer-EARN-treats-solving-problems-receiving-handouts.html
A beating gone bad
AnalogMan said ”The difference between dogs and negroes:
The article was interesting, and reading of the discovery of the “eureka moment” being a driving force for accomplishment in dogs along with your comparison to negroes provided me with a mini eureka moment. It seems quite possible that one of the trade-offs mother nature made when giving the negro a small tough skull with a low wattage brain was dispensing with the area of the brain where the eureka moment is processed. The lack of emotional reward for solving problems coupled with the stupidity of negroes could explain the absence of accomplishment. If we assume that an average dog has an IQ comparable to the IQ of an average negro, the emotional reward component could explain the higher level of of accomplishment in dogs.
What sort of "ethnic slurs" did the youths(sic) say?
Man, I hope it wasn't the "N" word. That's racist! Wait...what?
Left Coast White Guy said...
Thank you and Good bless you for being faithful to your nation/people/race
"The late David Yaegley, an Indian (casino, not call-center), wrote an article about this phenomenon over a dozen years ago. It is a spiritual sickness - a great malignancy. Whites have bought and swallowed so many shit-sandwiches it's difficult to keep track of them all. Feminism is one of the biggest ones ever sold. Three guesses about who (first two don't count) sold them and to whom most of the benefit flows (that's the part Whiskey doesn't like to mention). Still, nobody held a gun to YT's head and forced them to buy all those shit sandwiches - but they (especially the girls) keep on buying them over and over, expecting the next one will taste better."
Best post yet. Keep them coming "by golly".
Nate should have been armed or grabbed whatever was available. He had to known that the problem exists. I believe there is a tire iron in the trunk/backseat. I've come to believe that fighting back is a better alternative than the inevitable robbery/assault and murder. Just my opinion.
Many of you have asked how could this young white guy possibly be in the area where this kind of shit happens? It is literally walking distance to one of the wealthiest suburbs in the country, grosse pointe shores, grosse pointe farms ,city of grosse point. These cities have virtually tried to wall off some of the side streets that lead to the hood, the police presence is admirable once you cross over. It is like walking from mad max thunderdome to Mayberry in a matter of blocks. Some of the still decent taverns are on the edgy side from years gone by when humans habitated the dark side.
Detroit Jim
I notice that very often the victim's injuries include a broken or shattered eye socket. is there a universal strike that groids use? I know they often attack the victim from behind especially in a one on one situation. usually of course several more groids join in if they see it.
Just another fine example of genetics gone wrong.
June 12, 2014 at 5:01 PM""
negros are universally right handed. Their usual method of attack is the high overhand right (See: http://youtu.be/OlP9-8f5YpE ). The are vicious and fast but cowards, going after easy prey. The high over hand right tends to strike high on the orbit of the left eye on a White, breaking the delicate bone. Several cases documented here and on other sites show Whites punched till blinded by the negro, even a case of a man's eyebll coming out of its socket.
When the entire face is crushed or you get reports of brain damage, it is usually because of a pack getting you down and swarming you with kicks.
Best defense is awareness and a 10mm caliber can of Nig-Be-Gone available in Sporting Goods Stores everywhere.
"I notice that very often the victim's injuries include a broken or shattered eye socket. is there a universal strike that groids use?"
Eye sockets and broken jaws seem to be the main injuries when groids hit the face. Blows to the head a la "knockout" are fairly common as well. And then there's this video (H/T Daily Kenn):
Someone told me not to waste my punches at groid faces. They can take the hit better than we can (even though some think they "look human"), so he told me to go for the stomach. They double over as a rule, so you can either escape ("excape" for Conflated Flatulence) or proceed to administer justice:
http://www.theminorityreportblog.com/2014/03/24/watch-ny-thug-picks-fight-with-wrong-trucker-gets-beating-of-a-lifetime/
Mr. Szczerbinski would be deep into George Zimmerman territory if he had been armed, and killed or disabled his attackers.
We would have already heard about the wonderful deeds of these innocent black men who were all on the cusp of rewarding careers in the negro arts.
I know, I'd rather be judged by 12 than carried by 6, too.
Blacks are telling us exactly who they are, and what they want to do to us. Unfortunately, there are a lot of whites that don't want to listen.
Whole American cities have literally been laid to waste because of black people. Other cities have been nuked and firebombed into rubble, but they have rebuilt. The damage blacks do remains as long as they exist there.
White people will never have peace or progress with blacks in the midst.
He was beaten by the content of their character, not the color of their skin.
Blacks = America's Trust-Fund babies
Kick 'em in the shin, they'll go down immediately.
You can be black and clinically braindead, and still get a diploma:
http://news.yahoo.com/brain-dead-california-teen-school-diploma-family-060840820.html
Most of the reports of attacks by negroes do seem to support the claims that they are vicious but cowardly because it is usually multiple attackers on a single white. In fact, I can't recall reading of many incidents of blacks attacking multiple able bodied white men. Why do we hear of gang on gang incidents where several negroes exchange gunfire with other negroes? It seems inconsistent with their preferred pattern of minimizing the risk of injury to themselves by attacking individuals, women or children.
"You are a big bunch of cowards and you are not willing to fight for anything. You are scared to death of blacks. So in that case, you probably deserve what you are getting."
Uh-huh. Since the police, prosecutors, and legislators are part of Big BRA, "fighting for anything" carries substantial risk and little reward. Suppose you'd slapped the Obamaphone from the high-talking negress. Your satisfaction would be subsumed by your arrest, incarceration, kangaroo trial, and public ruin.
By all means, slap dem phones outta dey paws. Show us how it's done and then post the YouTube link. Thank you in advance for your bravery. The rest of us have significant others, children, and financial concerns that trump teachin' dem groids sum lessinz and becoming the next Zimmerman.
ballbuster said...
The fool should have armed himself before gallavanting around Detroit. Idiot!
Platinum EBT Cardholder
November 2008. We won!!!
November 2012. We did it!!!
Actual scrawling on a negroes desk calendar in a federal facility. The tribe (jungle not bank) is viewing this era as payback to YT for the terrible legacy of slavery. Never mind that more whites voted for Obama than blacks (percentages are an abstract concept that baffles them). YT has to pay and 95% of negroes voting for the guy means 95% of americans want YT to get whats coming to him, right? "This is are time."
The post about the neanderthals is very interesting. Working with "professional" negroes, I get to see the inner thug manifest itself daily both male and female. All you have to do is ask them why they chose to do the job the way they did it instead of competently, and step back, because not only will they raise their voice, they will start getting in your face to try and intimidate you. The smell (breath and body) alone is enough to keep people from doing this too often, but sometimes its worth the discomfort to see the chimp-out in business casual.
As a poster over at Steve Sailer's noted, Israel is filled with this sort of Crystal Methodism, this worship of non-Whites as magical beings, as well. Jewish women in particular are notorious for their love of Black guys, which believe me does not go over well with Jewish guys who in turn tend to out-marry with Asian women. An example being Jed Rubinfeld, Mr. Amy Chua. Mr. Rubinfeld's daughters, it must be noted, identify as Chinese not Jewish in various interviews.
The culprit is modernity itself, as the commenter at Sailer's noted. Israel is filled with people in Tel Aviv in safe little bubbles who want "engagement" with Palestinians and Arabs, and open borders sure to turn Israel into Africa on the Med in minutes.
What is wrong with Western society is the combination of female-run consumer society (about 85% of consumer spending is directed/controlled by women), the advertising that caters thusly to women's innate prejudices, the feminization that the a consumer society inflicts on Western men making them testosterone-deficient, the plastics and estrogen EVERYWHERE in the Water Supply that further feminizes men, and the lack of any need by women to consider and compete for BETA male provision given that they earn their own money and have the State as the ultimate daddy.
Roissy/CH had a couple of links recently to various White female teachers (one very hot and Blonde and tall and Mormon in Salt Lake City, the other fairly ugly) hooking up with "diverse" (read: Black) students. The uglier one apparantly pulled a train with her Black special ed students, was caught when she posted facebook photos of them all together (clothed thankfully) in her car. The other just "surrendered" to the advances of a particular student. Both women were married.
I submit: when a hot Blonde Mormon teacher gets it on with "diverse" student something is very very wrong with women.
To me it is that White women are DESPERATE for dominance, testosterone, and Alpha-ness and will take it in any form they can get it.
Your average Black thug who is willing to beat, kill, rob, and rape has more dominance than a Wall Street Master of the Universe, as the latter has to follow all the rules and the former decides on a whim who lives and dies. Don't think about money -- that's just stuff that dates back to 700 BC or so. Not any older than that. Think about power and dominance. Yes doing a Black guy in a time when there is no shame, limits, consequences, or much of anything else for female behavior is pretty much White girl bucket list material. But it is about dominance and female desire for it more than anything else.
I'll add that Red Pill views on the sexes and views on the races are connected. Once you start rejecting some pretty lies you reject them all.
Are Black people intrinsically "evil" like a Bwahahahaha comic book villain? No. They are however extremely predictable and hate White guys in particular. Black guys *will* make exception for pretty White women. Omar Thornton who murdered 8 White guys at his beer distributor job (he got fired for being caught on video stealing from his beer truck) had a White girlfriend.
White guys have to understand: Black people will vary from hostile indifference to murderous hatred, with about maybe 1/2 of one percent willing to do something to save them. That's it. Slim odds at best.
And White women won't care. At best, they'll be sorry afterwards for five seconds before cuing up a rap song on their Iphone. Mostly, they tend to discount even the murder of their own children (as a reflection of the inaquadecy of their father, genetically). This would be different if say, George Clooney, Brad Pitt, and Triple H fathered all their kids. Then they'd be on the rampage and out for blood if their kids were killed. But when a woman writes off her child's murder, its a reflection that she didn't value her husband much genetically/sexually (the same thing really).
Again this has nothing to do with an Italian-descended ethnic group; they are subject to this more than anyone. Ron Goldman's family is the exception not the rule. [You can tell his Dad was Alpha, his mother cared about the murder of her son.]
The only way out of this mess is for White guys to deliberately be as Alpha as possible. Not only does it reclaim racial pride and heritage, it generates tingles that matter most. Who cares if some post-Wall ex-carousel rider wants to "settle" for a man she feels no desire for because she's got baby rabies ten seconds to midnight? Isn't it far better to be a layabout dominant A-hole fathering lots of kids (not paid for) with various 20 something hotties? Indeed you could argue that only Alinsky-like crashing the system by White guys acting as Black as possible, by not contributing a dime to tax revenue and leaching off it thug-style will real change come when real hunger, chaos, and violence come to the safe suburbs and gated communities. When Bill Gates ... and others ... homes in Puget Sound is looted and burnt by mobs looking for food and valuables.
It appears my small-ish Australian tropical northern city (town really) just had its first case of what looks like knockout game, courtesy of a Torres Strait Islander. They aren't as foul as Maoris or Tongans but they're more aggro than Aboriginals (Murris).
james m said...
I once postulated that cellphone..err sailfoam video and CCTV would turn the tide media wise because that where the ratings be.
It would seem this local Fox station has noticed as well. And while Cincinnati is a small market media wise the report is blunt and mostly on point.
http://topconservativenews.com/2014/06/cincy-media-outlet-blows-the-whistle-on-coverup-of-racial-mob-attacks-against-white-people/
There is also a story right now in Atlanta about one of our melanin enhanced buddies running down a melanin bereft bicyclist. No national news and the lying libs don't want to publish the race of the orc. Maybe look into that.
Whiskey said...What is wrong with Western society is the combination of female-run consumer society...
There is some weird psycho-sexual thing going on here. The worship of a MLK or Mandela goes beyond the usual politics and has elements of messiah-complex. Something I have seen with cult movements is that the (male) leader has a (female) harem of high status females who willingly subordinate themselves to his alpha-ness. Let's not forget that MLK was big with the ladies of all races.
Look at the ways in which the bonds of civilization have been broken down in the Western world: sexual revolution; secularization; open borders; bread & circuses (consumerism + welfare state). In such eras, people go from being citizens with a stake in family-community-nation to atomized individuals worshiping the Big Man who can promise order, or at least entertainment. Females also see the Big Man as their protector -- especially with more men being marginalized or choosing metrosexualism.
Given all this, it may just be that one solution is for a white man to assume the mantle of leadership.
There is some weird psycho-sexual thing going on here. The worship of a MLK or Mandela goes beyond the usual politics and has elements of messiah-complex.
IT IS EASY TO WORSHIP A FALSE 'GOD'...do these fools know about Nelson and Willie, the necklaces, the mass murders? ANC was terrorist, on a continent that still is in a bloodbath, year after year.
Whiskey's proposed solution amounts to becoming white niggas. Whites are not negroes however and even if they take his advice, they'll not be allowed to get away with it for long under the present regime. The negroes who father 20 keedz by 15 different babymommas don't have to worry about the courts going after them. Whiskey conveniently forgets who owns and controls the courts and police. Unlike negroes, whites who have anything at all will have it taken away. But, it's probably all going to be taken away sooner or later if things continue on their present path to ruin, so how much does it matter?
Whiskey also (predictably) wildly overstates his case on Israel - who just deported almost 60,000 Africans (referred to there as "illegal infiltrators" - a term which would cost one a job and maybe even jail time in the "free" world). Many are on their way to Sweden and other EUSSR locales. Haven't herd of them coming to the Banana Empire's homeland yet but It would be no surprise if some end up in small white towns in the midwest - resettled by the Jewish Refugee Agency and their "Christian" associates. While it's true that Crystal Methodism is present in Israel, it's largely powerless there. Even the left-leaning parties (Labour, for example) are highly nationalistic and support the deportations. Israel stands as the world's only successful example of a National Socialist state, Germany's attempt from 1933-45 being a dismal failure.
All this in consideration, Whiskey has made some valid points and deserves credit for thinking outside the box. If large numbers of whites just walked away from it all and started behaving in the manner recommended, it could very well result in the systemic collapse which is the necessary element to bring about the end of BRA. His points about white females (except for a relative faithful few) cannot be refuted. We see far too many examples of the things he mentioned all the time. As I recall, Omar Thorton's white girlfriend is still singing his praises.
"""Again this has nothing to do with an Italian-descended ethnic group; they are subject to this more than anyone..."""
To Whiskey, I'm not sure what you're saying about the Italians. Please clarify.
Why live 20 miles near Detroit? Why even visit Detroit? Your life is more important than working in Detroit.
His points about white females (except for a relative faithful few) cannot be refuted.
Where is white male logic (and I don't mean Whiskey) on this issue? Despite nonstop MSM "blanda upp" propaganda, the vast majority of white women prefer white men.
http://blog.okcupid.com/index.php/your-race-affects-whether-people-write-you-back/?a=1
White women prefer white men to the exclusion of everyone else—and Asian and Hispanic women prefer them even more exclusively. These three types of women only respond well to white men. More significantly, these groups’ reply rates to non-whites is terrible. Asian women write back non-white males at 21.9%, Hispanic women at 22.9%, and white women at 23.0%. It’s here where things get interesting, for white women in particular. If you look at the match-by-race table before this one, the “should-look-like” one, you see that white women have an above-average compatibility with almost every group. Yet they only reply well to guys who look like them.
Don't allow a few celebrity gold diggers and marginal women who take what they can get to blind you to the truth.
P.K. as someone who has grown up in the shadow mordor,i can tell you for a fact that we suburbanites understand full well what blacks are but most are afraid to speak the truth,i grew up in mt.clemens went to high school there and hated every min of it i was attacked my first day of my freshmen year & i always fought back i was lucky to have five brothers growing up so i could fight pretty good,but no matter how many i beat more would come ,white guys left me alone but ,i guess blacks are just too stupid to know when to quit in the end i dropped out ,i told the prinicple that i was starting to hate & soon some stupid blacks would end up dead,later i went back to school got my diploma but ive never forgotten the lessons of growing up in mt.clemens.. royal oak dude.
I think people here have failed to appreciate the point of my earlier comment.
It was about the simple and common problem of self protection against violence on the roads. Most of the violence one will be subject to will be statistically from blacks. Some of it like in this case will be from groups of blacks.
White men have been pulled out of cars and stomped by gangs of blacks at least as far back as Reginald Denny. The first thing you need to realize is that you probably will not survive the experience. But there are a few things you can do to better your odds.
I'm only speaking of California. There are three weapons that you could carry for self defense: a gun, a club or a knife. In California you can carry a gun in your car but it must be unloaded and in a container. The glove box doesn't count. So you have to have a gun safe in your trunk.
To my mind that means a gun is not a solution. It's hard to imagine a situation arising in which you have enough time to get out, open the trunk, unlock the gun safe and load your pistol or revolver.
If you have that much time you should also take a moment to kiss your ass goodbye.
A baseball bat makes some sense beside your bed. But in a car - how could you swing it?
That's why I suggested a knife - especially a car safety knife. Don't imagine that you will be able to fend off a gang of young thugs. If you are really surrounded and attacked you will likely die. So be it. But in marginal cases it might be enough and it will at least let you die with some dignity.
It is, in California, against the law to actually be prepared to mount an effective defense. So you have to do the best you can.
It is, in California, against the law to actually be prepared to mount an effective defense.
Hoo, boy. Fewer things could be designed to cause more people to lose respect for the law.
I can see two general ways that this can go. One is that LE lets it be known that the otherwise law-abiding will be left alone even if they're armed, and the other is that LEOs effectively become accomplices of the orcs and become targets along with them.
Pat Boyle said ”I think people here have failed to appreciate the point of my earlier comment.
It was about the simple and common problem of self protection against violence on the roads. Most of the violence one will be subject to will be statistically from blacks. Some of it like in this case will be from groups of blacks. . . “
Hopefully you are not referring to my comment regarding training because I'm in complete agreement with your strategy. Possession and use any weapon is better than nothing, and a small blade is far better than nothing. My suggestion to anyone choosing to carry a knife that might be used in a defensive situation is to get some training. A weekend of training would probably triple the likelihood of a positive outcome in a defensive encounter.
I am presuming that when you say “it is, in California, against the law to actually be prepared to mount an effective defense” that you mean California laws don't permit one to carry a weapon usually considered to be effective for self defense. As outrageous as things are in California, I would indeed be surprised it it was illegal to train for a self defense situation. Perhaps your concern is that a prosecutor would attempt to convince a jury that training for self defense using a blade is proof that the blade was being carried as an illegal offensive weapon. If this is the case, you should train in another state under an alias. If the intent of the law in California is to prohibit self defense, it is time for some serious civil disobedience in that state.
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Facing Outrage for Appearing on Magazine Cover with All-White Actresses, Why Doesn't Jessica Chastain Retire to Help Increase Roles for Women of Color?
We live in a world where an innocent cover picture of a magazine becomes a cause for inclusion (meaning erasing white people and replacing them with people of color) and a chance for self-immolation by one of the white participants in said cover picture...[Jessica Chastain criticizes her all-white magazine cover, Entertainment Weekly, 12-24-17]:
Jessica Chastain has joined the chorus of outrage over a racially homogeneous magazine cover — of which she was a part.
Jessica Chastain, seen here in Intersteller, has criticized the all-white cover photo she appeared in after anti-white leftists on Twitter pointed out the monochromatic nature of the LA Times Magazine image. Why not just retire from acting and give up your white privilege, Jessica?
Last week, the LA Times Magazine released a cover featuring six awards season contenders in this year’s Best Actress race: Annette Bening, Jessica Chastain, Diane Kruger, Margot Robbie, Saoirse Ronan, and Kate Winslet. Under this image of five blondes and one redhead, the magazine had the shockingly tone-deaf title of the feature: “A Shift in Focus.” Twitter was not amused.
Some of the cover’s critics specifically called out Chastain for taking part in the all-white photo and feature, as she has long been a vocal proponent of a more inclusive Hollywood. Saturday night, the actress didn’t directly respond to those who had addressed her, but did tweet her own criticisms of the all-white cover.
“It’s a sad look that there’s no WOC in this pic of us promoting our female lead [sic] films,” the two-time Oscar nominee — so far the only actress featured on the cover to comment on the controversy — tweeted. “The industry needs to become more inclusive in its storytelling. What were your favorite WOC lead films this year? I LOVED @salmahayek in #BeatriceAtDinner.”
One of the clearest cut definitions for Black-Run America (BRA). Remember, black people don't run America, but they control America by dictating (demanding) how high white people must jump for them on the slightest racial whim. In an attempt to placate the rising chorus of black voices demanding expiation, white people - in this case Jessica Chastain - will acquiesce quickly and join the mob loudly calling for immediate change.
Wouldn't it be expedient of Jessica Chastain to just retire from acting completely, allowing more capable and competent thespians of color to compete for roles she easily acquires because of her white privilege?
Voluntarily turn in your SAG card, Jessica, and allow people of color a head start in securing roles you deny them and all the ancillary fringe benefits of being an award winning actress.
Such as appearing on magazine covers...
Do it, Jessica Chastain. Renounce your white privilege and retire from acting to truly show you are woke and stand in solidarity with enabling women of color everywhere!
This, of course, is the logical outcome of the successful #OscarsSoWhite campaign and the surrendering of the Academy to a highly-charged racial agenda of aggressively anti-white social justice warriors committed to one goal: true diversity.
And true diversity means no white people.
If your not winning awards....maybe its you.
In the near future White women like this wretched womyn will sit on juries in judgement of White males who tried to save our culture if we don't get our act together and defeat the muds and the mooselimes.
Womyn like this will find bloggers like Paul Kersey guilty of "hate speech and Heresy" against poor, oppressed (future) majorities like blacks, mestizos, gender-fluid trannies, freaks of all nature and lastly, the DEEP STATE.
But right now, white womyn are more concerned with partying without being in a committed relationship, careers that make them plenty of money so they can be good little consumers, their "fur babies", social justice etc. But those days will be ending soon. White women will be traded as sex slaves by their future muslim owners and not a one will utter a peep about being "oppressed". I just wonder if they'll still hate white men with a burning passion?
You know there is this very interesting thing that happens once you make it into the over 6 figure per year club, everyone suddenly has these amazing epiphanies about race, and can't wait to make their enlightenment known!
True story, one of my best friends growing up is executive level brass for a major, global petroleum corporation. His job? - VP of Human Resources and Public Relations, one subsect of his jobs is "diversity initiatives/training."
While I also am a high annual income earner, I am still far outside of his bracket. We all get together once a year for a "guy's weekend" and I usually take it to him really hard. I let him know the second that a non-white or female comes along with even a remotely similar resume, his ass is gone. There is no need for a white man in his position of a progressive modern corporation.
I constantly hound him about why he lives where he lives and sends his one child to the private school where he does. Why does he commute one and a half hours per day, each direction, 3 hours total in a car every single day of the week ... rather than live in Houston where his company is based? I constantly remind him of his own revealed preferences. I talk about the "diversity" of his neighborhood. I ask him how many blacks he tasks with crucial projects. I stay on his ass, non-stop.
What ends up happening with these kinds of goys is that they espouse all of the correct positions, but with the assumption that none of the consequences will be faced by themselves. There is always some other poorer white population that will actually absorb the costs of their egalitarianism.
There is no cheaper, more hollow thing, than the posturing of generosity/compassion when it costs you nothing. I will tell him if he is a true believer, he should forego his 500k+ salary, 401k stock options, performance bonuses, pension and benefits package - and hire the qualified, dispossessed, marginalized minority that he is exerting white privilege over - while moving to the very neighborhoods he thinks are being underserved. Failure to do so is hypocrisy and lack of true faith.
He is yet to take me up on the offer.
People like this never see themselves as the one who will be knocked from their social position. They are only too happy to sacrifice poorer whites. True luxury is being able to be naive and disingenuous about race, since its effects do not enter your own orbit.
There are six of us who take this trip every year. He threatened to not attend if I am invited again. Religion is a powerful thing....
There are enough "women of color" who are ugly as sin already. If they were worth their weight in feces they would be actors and actresses. But they are not. "Diversity" has to have a line drawn. And that line is way back. Far beyond human sight at this point.
Why should we GAF about the statements of Hollyweird creatures?
Ancient Greece considered actors to be roughly on the social level of whores. Given the existence of the "casting couch", we ought to deem that a literal equivalence. Jessica Chastain whored herself out for that role, possibly to Harvey Weinstein himself. That ought to completely negate her social status regarding everything beyond her performance.
I am completely out of fucks to give for these scum. If one of them got in my face I'd shoot them dead without hesitation.
This is the logical outcome of all carrot and no stick. They never dreamed of the moment when blacks would turn on them- there were tons of "evil" whites to go through before it ever got to their doorstep...
It's the same scenario where the meek beta liberal finds himself bullied by the man-hating dyke, even though there are plenty of right wing jocks available.
Blacks are not your friends just because you are polite to them, give them your place in line, or kiss their ass till the cows come home. Just because you scratch their back doesn't mean they will return the favor. The hate you. They hate me. To them, our skin color is our uniform. You can build one thousand bridges, make one minor mistake and that is what they will remember you for. You can't win. They have nothing to offer. Avoid the groid.
Liberals, even the most powerful Hollywood types, are learning that there are not enough other white people to demonize, not enough of other people's stuff to give, to ever ever come close to satisfying the negro. It's all one advanced version of feeding the wildlife at your nearest national park.
It is hilarious to watch liberals paint themselves into a corner on this one. Think Bernie Sanders in Seattle, a bunch of white liberals completely shut down and shamed by a few angry mulatto females. Just on repeat, with each liberal black ass-kissing celebrity walking up to the chopping block, one after another. I'm not even concerned with them learning any sort of lesson at this point; the continuous humiliation and subjugation to the black peanut gallery is all the reward I need.
During my younger days in New York I actually knew some of these "show biz" types. Both men and women, some whom actually got small parts in movies. One had won a Special Oscar when he was seven years old (Bobby Driscoll....The Window....1949). After that Driscoll was owned by Walt Disney (Song of the South...etc) until he turned 21. The dumb fuck went through $20,000.00 in Meth in six months.
These people are the most vile and vainest dullards you would ever want to know. They spend their life auditioning or putting on "presentations". A presentation is where a bunch of them will rent a space to do a "performance" (small one act plays) hoping some "talent scout" will discover them and then they can start to "fuck their way" into show biz. These "talent scouts" will then hook them up with a pimp (aka...press agent) who will "direct their career". Directing their career means telling them who they should have sex with in order for them to get a two bit part in some stupid TV show or crappy movie. It's not all that bad since most of the people they have to fuck are fat guys with little dicks. You may say there is some racism involved because most of these fat slobs like YOUNG FRESH white girls and white boys. If you had a penthouse pad on Fifth Avenue why would you want to screw some black chick.
My best friend worked for a big time Madison Avenue ad agency where they did TV commercials. He's told me dozens of stories about what these "actresses" would do just to be on screen for 12 seconds in some dog food or potato chip commercial.
This is my favorite quote from 25 years ago by James Woods........"The only thing that gets me angry is having some fat fucking pig in an Armani suit greasing around trying to shave the budget so he can put it up his nose or have two 17 year old girls service his stubby little dick".
Hollywood...The great American sludge pit. I think it is now time for Ms. Chastain to go to Africa and adopt a couple black babies like some of the other nerd brain stars have done. This will be the only way to cleanse her guilt ridden soul and increase her chances of being on the front cover of People Magazine.
I also knew a couple "models" and "rock stars" but that is another whole rant.
And this is one of the many reasons that segregation came into being...blacks endlessly agitate over increasingly imbecilic things (as we have seen so well illustrated on SBPDL). After a while, civilized people get fed up with their behavior, there's the backlash, and it's back-of-the-bus for blacks. Either that, or you end up with entire cities laid waste--no exaggeration as we have seen from Selma to Detroit.
It just may be that blacks are trying to pull the same number on Hollywood. Agitate to the point where the film industry becomes an affirmative action front, with consequent catastrophes. Well, maybe. But for Hollywood, the bottom line is king. No one has yet found a way to force audiences into seats, at least not in the numbers needed to recoup film budget$ these days. If blacks start costing the industry too many ticket sales, the backlash may emerge from the studio chiefs.
It ain't over until the after credit clip.
nokangaroos said...
Geez. And I thought Annette Bening was the leftist tick among the cast (a cute tick but nonetheless ;b)
A pattern emerges: First you pay lip service to the (((producer))), then to (((political correctness))), then and only then might you be allowed your say - unless by then you have forgotten what it was.
Sad reminder of Solshenitsyn´s "never be the first to stop clapping", Lenin´s "get inside the terror" and the Salem witch hunts: The safest way to avoid being attacked is to denounce others. I´d say we have us a winner!
The inconvenient truth about black actresses is that they are largely unmarketable due to their physical ugliness. Nobody wants to pay money to look at one. Talk is cheap.
Gwoobus: GREAT post.
Ex New Yorker: I wish I could unread that. That's depressing. I become less naïve by the day and it's not a comforting thing.
Until Jessica goes to her next audition and tries to talk them into hiring a "Woman of Color" (love these pretentious asinine phrases...I guess I'm transparent), she's a typical virtue signaling white willing to throw other whites aside as Gwoobus and others have pointed out.
I attended the recent "Thor" (shame on me, I know) and there was an annoying black woman playing a part out of Norse mythology.
One of my best friends dated a white girl from our middle-class neighborhood when we were all in high school. She was pretty, intelligent, and nice, and truth be told, I was a little jealous that he had her. She attended a prestigious college and today is a big shot corporate recruiter. She specializes in finding capable Indians to bring to the US to replace Americans. Just imagine doing that for a living. Sorry for the black pill. The people on this forum are terrific and help me keep my sanity.
This is off topic, but I wanted to share this story with.you.
Recently I was flying back home from on a business trip. I had a connecting flight in Atlanta which is a place that I really can’t stand.
Anyway, I’m waiting at the gate for my group to be called when I notice a group of groids dressed up in the front of the line. There had to be about 6 guys and 3 gals. The guys were dressed in suits and the gals in dresses. I was trying to figure out what the deal is with that because usually they are dressed in the standard hood gear.
So the time came for boarding to begin. As usual, they start by asking if there is anyone that needs assistance to board first. Every single one of those groids boarded the plane at that time. None of them were handicapped or in a wheel chair or anything like that. I was stunned that the airline employees at the gate would allow this, until I noticed that the gate workers were groids as well!
I was understandably irritated at this affair and wondered if a group of whites do this if they would be allowed to pull this stunt.
I think we all know the answer to that.
The groids think they own the joint as my dad used to say.
I have no idea who this woman is! Too bad she doesn't just jump into those flames in the background.
Like I said, white men have NO allies. Even the person you call your partner will turn on you in a milisecond when finances and their allegiances shift. Bra has lined up all minorities against white men. When the thought police go after guys like pk there will be no mercy. As I was typing this comment I saw on the ((news)) an interview with bo about all of the mis-information on the internet and how it's skewered (((reality))).
Deadeye Dick said...
Truth Corps said: "I just wonder if they'll still hate white men with a burning passion?"
Yes they will still hate white men. They'll blame white men for dropping the ball and letting the violent, low IQ muds and nogs rule over them. They will still blame YT men for every ill that comes down the pike, just as they do now. The only difference will be that YT won't be in a position to help them then.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/early-lead/wp/2017/12/27/american-airlines-apologizes-for-kicking-pro-basketball-players-off-flight-after-being-accused-of-stealing-blankets/?utm_term=.6ab4c274c046
Even when Africans themselves engage in rational pattern recognition, it's still OUR FAULT.
I don't know who any of those people are and I'm sure they don't effect my life in the slightest, but given that they work in (((Hollywood))) I can only assume they're our enemies or their lapdogs. Make your bed and lie in it I say.
White women have long been allies in oppression with black Africans so I'd say stuff like this is great. Let negroes and (((their enablers))) thoroughly alienate everybody who ever felt any sympathy for them. This sort of thing is every bit as good as blocking streets during rush hour protesting some shitbird that got shot trying to assault a cop.
Keep it up, blackie.
"No one has yet found a way to force audiences into seats, "
they do it all the time by forcing our school children to attend ridiculous fairy tales like hidden figures. But I will agree, it's probably not enough to make the film profitable.
Notice that all of these actresss that claim to be “feminists” and made careers of playing strong, virtuous female roles such as superheroes, special forces soldiers, CIA agents etc. in films said nothing when Weinstein and others were pawing them because they were “intimidated” into silence.
Negroids behave differently and have lower average intelligence due to the allele frequency differences in their genomes. Added all together, and spread across the full population, this makes the Negroids generally behave in ways that repel Humans. That action is a natural reaction to their behavior. Call it racism if you want, but it is actually a survival mechanism kicking in. Your natural inclination (instinctive, not learned) is to avoid the groid.
Completely unnatural to have the (((State))) forcing these things on us.
Resist.
Stand up, be counted and heard and...resist.
White woman attacked from behind in Minneapolis by Somali immigrant and stabbed 14 times in the back as she walked home from work.
http://kspt.com/news/woman-stabbed-14-times-speaks-about-ordeal/4714419/?cat=12196
Tons of good comments here...
Look at the global picture.
Disingenuous White Liberals (DWL) have since the 1950s thrown other Whites under the bus: Southern segregationists, White South Africans, "nazis," and so forth. All this so they could status signal. But now the black tide has reached their own shores, literally with the mass migration of Africans into Europe, figuratively as "Oscars too White" besiege Hollywood. And they can not deal with the crime, the trashed schools, the endless screeching.
The Whites who once might have beaten back the black tide -- the Bull Connors, the French paras, the Rhodesian troopies -- are long gone. The only thing that DWL can do as blacks push them out of their jobs, their neighborhoods and their magazine covers is continue the downward spiral of status signaling even as they are dispossessed.
Now, there is a certain karmic justice in all this as the black tide finally overwhelms the DWL who opened the city gates to them. The dilemma is to prevent the DWL nosedive from dragging down the rest of the White race.
They do little stuff like that just to annoy YT. It's similar to not tipping or playing loud music. They do it as a form of childish backlash.
But I can tell by comments in liberal publications that the liberal faith isn't what it used to be. In fact most liberal publications have turned off comments since they so easily undermine the basic tenets of liberalism (race doesn't exist, Whites are to blame for everything). A few of the right comments can undermine years and years of egalitarian education. What does that say about liberalism?
These "talent scouts" will then hook them up with a pimp (aka...press agent) who will "direct their career". Directing their career means telling them who they should have sex with in order for them to get a two bit part in some stupid TV show or crappy movie.
I know someone that did a stint in Hollywood.
The two part bit is what keeps them going. They get on TEEVEE for 5 minutes as a side character in some awful sitcom and they think they are one step closer to a big break. It becomes a sick addiction. Most of these people can't act nor will they ever be able to at a level required for a main character. Then there are all the parts where they are told they were #2 or #3. That keeps them going even if they are hundreds of thousands in the hole. It's a sick addiction and these addicts waste their lives trying to get famous.
I don't know what the answer is but parents need to stop telling their kids to follow their dreams. The dream of being an actor or actress will lead to misery in most cases. The dream itself is a lie created by Hollywood. It's fine to have goals or aspirations but fuzzy unrealistic dreams like becoming famous leads to prostitution and drug use.
A black congressional candidate in Virginia indicted for stealing $803,000 from a charity she created for "poor children." Of course, she dindu nuffin and the charges are only being made because she be black. Hopefully, she can share a jail cell with Corrine Brown of Florida and they can compare notes on how they're bein' oppressed.
www.westernjournal.com/virginia-congressional-candidate-indicted-for-stealing-from-poor-children/
I won tickets to the premiere of the original Thor.
I tossed them in the trash.
It seems strange to me that so many Whites go to these movies about fictional characters destroying society. We already have real forces that are destroying society. You can watch videos of Detroit on youtube for free.
If it is offensive to some for all the actresses shown on a magazine cover to be white, I have a simple solution. They are actresses aren't they - let them act. They could appear in blackface. They already cover their faces in all sorts of makeup. If they would simply choose a darker shade of pancake makeup they could appear to be as dark as they could possibly wish.
I know whereof I speak. I once performed the quartet from Fidelio (Beethoven) with a black tenor. Out of racial sensitivity I used the darkest pancake in my makeup kit. I kept troweling it on until we looked alike.
If we are to believe that race is only skin deep, then surely we could just adjust our skin shade as needed. Of course just a coating of Dark Tropical #2 won't do anything to make the performers appear less simian. Once I did play 'The Gorilla' in Saroyan's opera "Opera, opera". It took a full day to mold a complete prosthetic face mask with ape like features. But these girls only want to be black as the kind of transparent 'play acting' where no one would imagine that they had any negro lineage.
Real negro women are quite unattractive. These girls don't want to look like a real black woman (e.g. Hattie McDaniel). They might however be fine with being some very pale mulatto actress like Lonette McKee.
Max Factor makes any shade these ladies could possibly ask for to meet whatever the current political fashion.
Wide Awake said...
Black Power is merely what white people allow them to have or get away with either by guilt or apathy.
I have not been to a movie theater since 2003 the last movie I saw was the third Matrix movie which was horribly written and horribly produced.... really there should not have been no Matrix 2 and 3 because the first one was stand alone and said all that needed to be said....
I still keep my cable because I like watching all the old movies and all the old television series I look at things like The Brady Bunch or Hazel shows of that nature and see the beauty of an all white environment... I like watching the old black and white movies where you actually had people that could act and decent story lines... and don't even get me going on the science fiction of the time because again you see it's good old Whitey making first Contact or fighting the aliens... come to think of it on the original Outer Limits series I don't think there were any blacks... and again I will say I guess they're afraid to show it lately but it's been a while even on cable when I last saw it is 1951 when the Worlds Collide... I think minus the scene at the UN there are no minority showed in the movie... and I guess now people would be butthurt when they would see this movie but in actuality if this would have happened the only powers in post World War II that had any possibility of space flight would have been the white Western Civilization... I know in the sequel book they had China was able to get an ark ship off as well as one from Great Britain I won't give too much other away if you decide to read the book, but I didn't see no ship from Africa making it... and a final thought I just wonder how much egalitarian philosophy would pollute the formation of a crew of an ark ship... despite their love for the evolutionary paragram I guess they think you'll delrico Thomas the third would be fit to populate a new world compared to some MIT graduate engineering student... my personal philosophy would be the government would fuck this up but Private Industry probably would go with an all white crew to ensure the survivability of the human race... in fact that's who sponsored the ship in the Worlds Collide a billionaire industrialist who wanted a seat on that ship
So why DOES he commute an hour and a half she there are plenty of wealthy white neighborhoods in the middle of Houston?
River Oaks, Southside Place, Memorial, Rice University, Museum District to name a few.
If he can't afford those, maybe he's bullshiting you about how rich he is.
"There is no cheaper, more hollow thing, than the posturing of generosity/compassion when it costs you nothing."
This is a great, great sentence from Gwoobus. Everyone should hang it in their home and make the children recite it every morning.
I think 'awed' by the possible windfall fame and glory, their silence was bought and paid for!! It worked well til they got greedy!
I cut the cord for cable 3 years ago, and I haven't set foot in a movie theater since 2007.
I don't give a fuck what (((Hollywood))) thinks, says or does. Anytime the curtain is pulled back even a little, it`s proved to be a den of rapists, pedophiles and unbelievable hypocrites.
His claim is that it is because his wife is from the town they live in and they need to be close to the grandparents.
Pat Boyle Said:
This is a major factor as well. "Dating apps" have shown that black women are the least desirable of all females by men of all races. Physiognomy is basically real and the high T levels make them look manly. Throw in hair texture and everything else - they are a tough sale as a "sex symbol." Even the ones promoted like goddesses (Tyra Banks, Beyonce Knowles, Halle Berry, etc...) have a very high European admixture that softens their blackness, even still, I don't know of any white men who buy into the promotion.
Everything in Hollywood, and virtually all visual media in general, shows idealized people - especially in leading type roles. If you've seen the kinds of things performers put themselves through to stay in shape with diet and exercise, it is pretty mind boggling.
Black women are especially prone to obesity and it is rare to find one without an endomorph body type, meaning they would have to work even harder to maintain Hollywood's idealized body standards.
There just really is no sexual market for them, but no one knows how to just be flat honest about this.
The Umpire said...
Hey, Gwoobus Harmon (8:41 PM): Thanks for writing another great post (just like 12-18-17 at 12:02 AM).
"There is always some other poorer white population that will actually absorb the costs of their egalitarianism."
Thank you. Hmmmmm, I wonder how that executive rationalizes his hypocrisy. Hmmmmm, so he's sending his kid to a private school—I wonder if he's ever used the "better schools" cliché.
"...Why Doesn't Jessica Chastain Retire to Help Increase Roles for Women of Color?"
After noticing the hypocrisy of p.c. whites in movies, TV shows, the media, the press, the government, colleges, etc., how many times have we asked ourselves this same question? It's like watching Scott Pelley crusading for blacks, and you ask yourself, "Uh, so, if his heart bleeds so much for black people, then why doesn't he lead by example? Why doesn't Scott Pelley look into the camera one day and announce that—in the name of racial equality—he is going to resign from his powerful, prestigious, good-paying position in order to cede it to a black person? Why doesn't Scott Pelley—in order to advance social justice—swap his high-paying, high-status job for a high-risk, low-paying, low-status job instead (e.g., driving a taxi anywhere black people told him to drive, or delivering pizzas to the 'hood)?
Of course, the questions are purely rhetorical.
Hmmmmm, why don't all these white, p.c., indoctrinating college professors make the world more p.c. by ceding their jobs to black people? Hmmmmm, if these bleeding-heart-liberal, pseudo-egalitarian eggheads are truly sincere, then why don't they trade their white-collar jobs for blue-collar jobs?
But let's not feel bad about white women (e.g., 8:16 PM) because of "women" like Jessica Chastain. The thing is, "she" isn't who the sheeple think "she" is.
And this is one of the many reasons that segregation came into being... After a while, civilized people get fed up with their behavior, there's the backlash, and it's back-of-the-bus for blacks.
I can't think of a single instance where this has happened. Has there ever been a backlash? The only case I can think of, of blacks being elevated to this kind of position in society was ancient Egypt, and that just turned to, well, Egypt. Africa.
In the past, people just knew that negroes were inferior. Segregation was the default, not a reaction.
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Follow @bosesubhas
Freedom Struggle
Jayasree
Mission Netaji
A Note on Bengal, by SCB
Recollections and reflections
Reminiscences, Rafi Ahmad Kidwai
I first came in contact with Subhas Bose in 1923 at Delhi when the Congress was divided into two groups over the question of what was known as 'Council Entry.'...Subhas Babu, as the favourite lieutenant of Deshabandhu, was playing a prominent part in the controversy. more>>
The INA is Ready, Broadcast from Singapore
Today all Indians are ready to plunge into the battle for India's freedom and the New Year is sure to bring us ultimate victory, for I become more and more confident about it when I look back on our achievements in the past. In East Asia, Japan has consolidated her power. The two newly liberated Asiatic nations, Burma and the Philippines, have shown remarkable progress within quite a short time, and the present consolidation of the Greater East Asiatic nations is an outcome of the historic conference of the six Greater East Asiatic nations held at Tokyo.
The closing year knit the 3,000,000 Indian nationals of East Asia into one compact revolutionary body, eager to sacrifice their all in the struggle for India's freedom. At their back is the invincible Indian National Army equipped with modern and up-to-date weapons of war. This Army will kindle the fire of revolution in India which will reduce British Imperialism to ashes. The 'Provisional Government of Azad Hind, which is in possession of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands and which has been duly recognised by nine great powers of the world including Japan and Germany, has promised its whole-hearted support to our Army. It is high time for us to launch the offensive against the British and win India's freedom. My countrymen at home, who are labouring under the atrocities of the callous British, have seen them in their true colours and have fully understood their desire to keep India in permanent bondage, with the help of mercenary troops from America, China and Africa. They have also noted the evil intentions behind the speeches of Wavell. But our countrymen at home have full faith in our Army, which will soon cross the border and free India."
My memories of INA and It's Netaji
by Shah Nawaz Khan
The Indian Pilgrim
by Subhas Chandra Bose
'The Indian Struggle - I
The Indian Struggle - II
Subhaser Songe Baro Bocchor
by Hemant Kumar Sarkar
Free Indian Legion
India's number one news channel Times Now investigates the mystery of disappearance of Subhas Chandra Bose. Subhas Chandra Bose may have secretly lived in India for decades after his supposed death.
After more than 60 years, many issues regarding the Indian National Army remain hotly debated, with government attitude ranging from subtly hostile, indifferent, and occasional platitudes..
Chronological List Of INA Events
We believe that all of Netaji's works are national property, and information on him should be easily available at the lowest cost, if not for free. You are free to use any material from this site with proper acknowledgement. At the same time, we respect the copyright of authors of original works and would not intentionally violate their copyright or any part of the Indian Copyright Act. If you think you have noticed any infringement, please do let us know.
Disappearence
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The Audio Perv
Deftones’s Diamond Eyes Named iTunes Rock Album Of The Year
December 9, 2010 drainu182 MISC 1
Deftones’ “Diamond Eyes” has been named “Rock Album of the Year” by the iTunes Store. One of the most influential forces in modern rock, Deftones released “Diamond Eyes” on May 4th, 2010. Bowing at No. 6 on Billboard’s Top 200 Albums chart, the sixth full-length studio effort by the Grammy-winning group was produced and mixed by Nick Raskulinecz (Alice in Chains, Coheed & Cambria, Foo Fighters). The band recorded the album after their best friend and bassist Chi Cheng sustained a debilitating brain injury from a car accident in November of 2008. “After Chi’s accident, it would have been easy for us to make a sad record,” says singer and guitarist Chino Moreno. “But really, this is an optimistic record.”
Check out what the press has been saying about “Diamond Eyes”:
“Blissed-out and surreal… brutal beauty abounds.” – SPIN Magazine
“On their sixth and best effort, Deftones deftly flows from visceral alt-metal brutality to serene melodic beauty, displaying a raw intensity that’s purely cathartic.” – USA Today
“It’s easily Deftones’ most uplifting album to date… Deftones have created a ‘more optimistic’ record — and maybe the Album of the Year….” – Revolver Magazine
“‘Diamond Eyes’ belongs in the pantheon of amazing albums born from tragedy. Unlike their alleged ‘peers’ (do they really have any?), Deftones learned years ago that a whisper can be more terrifying than a scream and power isn’t always about BPMs and downstrokes per minute. And Godspeed, Mr. Cheng: Your brothers made great record in your honor.” – Alternative Press
Deftones are currently on tour in Europe. Head over to www.deftones.com for tour dates, info, merch and more.
RED Distributed Albums Garner 28 GRAMMY Nominations (Win An Awesome Prizepack w/Mumford & Sons, Ray LaMontagne & More!)
Robyn’s “Dancing On My Own” Announced As MTV’s #6 Song Of The Year
Os melhores do ano segundo a TIME » Tenho Mais Discos Que Amigos! | Sua fonte diária de discos, música e vinil!
Antiquiet
Rock it Out! Blog
TwentyFourBit
Green Day Announces 2013 Tour Dates
Ben Gibbard – “Something’s Rattling” (Cowpoke) 12/20 Conan
Dave Matthews Band – “Christmas Song” 12/17 Fallon
2 Chainz – “I’m Different” 12/17 Kimmel
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Will BRICS Carbon Traders Bail Out the Bankers’ Climate Strategy? Part II
This is part II of a two-part series.
Patrick Bond
An overriding danger has arisen that may cancel the deterrents to carbon trading: the international financial system has overextended itself yet again, perhaps most spectacularly with derivatives and other speculative instruments. It needs new outlets for funds. The rise of non-bank lenders doing “shadow banking,” for example, was by 2013 estimated to account for a quarter of assets in the world financial system, $71 trillion, a rise of three times from a decade earlier, with China’s shadow assets increasing by 42% in 2012 alone. The Economist last year acknowledged that “potentially explosive” emerging-market shadow banking “certainly has the credentials to be a global bogeyman. It is huge, fast-growing in certain forms and little understood.” As for the straight credit market, the main result of Quantitative Easing policies was renewed bubbling, with $57 trillion in debt added to the global aggregate from 2007-14, of which $25 trillion was state debt. By mid-2014 the total world debt of $200 trillion had reached 286 percent of global GDP, an increase from 269% in late 2007.
Global financial regulation appears impossible given the prevailing balance of forces, witnessed in failures at the 2002 Monterrey Financing for Development initiative and various G20 summits after 2008. As a result, the BRICS are especially important sites to track ebbs and flows of financial capital in relation to climate-related investments, what with so many expansive claims made about their counter-hegemonic character. In reality, in relation to both world financial markets and climate policy, the BRICS are not anti-imperialist but instead subimperialist.
The first-round routing of CDM funding went disproportionately to China, India, Brazil and South Africa from 2005 until 2012, but by then the price of CDM credits had sunk so low there was little point in any case. Moreover, according to Carbon Market Watch, “The environmental integrity of the other Kyoto offsetting mechanism Joint Implementation is even more questionable with over 90% of offsets issued by Russia and Ukraine with very limited transparency and no international oversight.”
As Naomi Klein pointed out in This Changes Everything, gaming the CDM became a profitable sport: “The most embarrassing controversy for defenders of this model involves coolant factories in India and China that emit the highly potent greenhouse gas HFC-23 as a by-product. By installing relatively inexpensive equipment to destroy the gas (with a plasma torch, for example) rather than venting it into the air, these factories— most of which produce gases used for air-conditioning and refrigeration—have generated tens of millions of dollars in emission credits every year.”
Similar problems of system integrity plague the carbon markets that have opened in China, according to a recent Carbon Tax Center report: “Authorities face high hurdles in program design, information provision and political acceptability if the eventual national program is to put an effective ‘price on carbon’ and actually constrain and reduce emissions.” China’s seven pilot projects launched in 2014 ostensibly cover 700 million tons of CO2 emissions (worth $135 million in deals last year), and when a national market emerges in 2020, there are estimates of a $3.5 trillion market. However, recall the frequent estimates of a $3 trillion global carbon market by 2020, and even one (from the lead Merrill Lynch trader) of $30 trillion (reported in the New York Times).
Within China, there is growing unease with carbon markets and at the Chinese Academy of Marxism, for example, Yu Bin’s essay on ‘Two forms of the New Imperialism,” argues that along with intellectual property, the commodification of emissions is vital to understanding the way capital has emerged under conditions of global crisis.
Regardless, an even greater speculative bubble in carbon finance can be anticipated in the next few years, as more BRICS establish carbon markets and offsets as strategies to deal with their prolific emissions. In South Africa, neither the 2011 National Climate Change Response White Paper nor a 2013 Treasury carbon tax proposal endorsed carbon trading, in part because of the oligopoly purchasing conditions anticipated as a result of two vast emitters far ahead of the others: the state electricity company Eskom and the former parastatal Sasol which squeezes coal and natural gas to make liquid petroleum at the world’s single largest emissions point source, at Secunda near Johannesburg. But by April 2014 carbon trading was back on the official policy agenda, thanks to the British High Commissioner whose consultants colluded with the Johannesburg Stock Exchange to issue celebratory statements about “market readiness.”
With all of South Africa’s carbon-intensive infrastructure under construction, the official Copenhagen voluntary promise by President Jacob Zuma—cutting GHG emissions to a “trajectory that peaks at 34% below a business as usual trajectory in 2020”—appear to be impossible to uphold, just four years after it was made. The state signaled its reluctance to impose limits on pollution in February 2015, when Environment Minister Edna Molewa gave Eskom, Sasol and other major polluters official permission to continue their current trajectories for another five years, ignoring Clean Air Act regulations on emissions of co-pollutants such as SO2 and NO2.
Other BRICS countries have similar power configurations, and in Russia’s case it led to a formal withdrawal from the Kyoto Protocol’s second commitment period (2012-2020) in spite of huge “hot air” benefits the country would have earned in carbon markets (for not emitting at 1990 levels) as a result of the industrial economy’s deindustrialization due to its exposure to world capitalism during the early 1990s. That economic crash cut Russian emissions far below 1990 Soviet Union levels during the first (2005-2012) commitment period. But given the 2008-13 crash of carbon markets—where the hot air benefits would have earlier been realised as €33/tonne “Joint Implementation” benefits (but by early 2013 fell to below €4/tonne)—Moscow’s calculation shifted away from the Kyoto Protocol, so as to promote its own oil and gas industries without limitation.
Binding emissions cuts were not in Russia’s interests, no matter that 2010-11 climate-related droughts and wildfires raised the price of wheat to extreme levels and did tens of billions of dollars of damage. The same kinds of self-interested albeit short-termist calculations are being made in the other BRICS, although their leaders regularly demanded (justifiably) larger northern industrial country cuts thanks to the historical legacy of carbon emissions.
The attraction of carbon trading in the new markets, no matter its failure in the old, is logical when seen within a triple context: a longer-term capitalist crisis which has raised financial sector power within an ever-more frenetic and geographically ambitious system; the financial markets’ sophistication in establishing new routes for capital across space, through time, and into non-market spheres; and the mainstream ideological orientation to solving every market-related problem with a market solution, which even advocates of a Post-Washington Consensus and Keynesian economic policies share. Interestingly, even Paul Krugman had second thoughts, for after reading formerly pro-trading environmental economist William Nordhaus’ Climate Casino, he remarked, “The message I took from this book was that direct action to regulate emissions from electricity generation would be a surprisingly good substitute for carbon pricing.”
That U-turn is the sort of hard-nosed realism that will be needed to disprove Klein’s thesis that capitalist crisis and climate crisis are conjoined. Instead, however, financial markets continue to over-extend geographically as investment portfolios diversify into distant, risky areas and sectors. Global and national financial governance prove inadequate, leading to bloated and then busted asset values ranging from subprime housing mortgages to illegitimate emissions credits. No better examples can be found of the irrationality of capitalism’s spatio-temporal-ecological fix to climate crisis than a remark by Tory climate minister Greg Barker in 2010: “We want the City of London, with its unique expertise in innovative financial products, to lead the world and become the global hub for green growth finance. We need to put the sub-prime disaster behind us.”
As BRICS are already demonstrating, though, new disasters await, for both overaccumulated capitalism in general and for what will be, for the next few years at least, under-accumulating carbon markets.
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April 14, 2015 | Posted in: Spotlight BRICS, Uncategorized | Comments Closed
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Collection of Cali Thoughts
Stray dogs in Cali respect and use the lights to cross or not cross the street. Tomas told me this and like magic I saw it happen before my eyes.
Matanga, one of Bogota’s top club teams, translates to "yoinks" from The Simpsons.
Flota Chancle, a Cali open club team translates roughly to: "a stoner slacker dude who doesn’t want to pay for anything."
These name from competitive club teams remind me of American teams like “Burning Couch” or “D’oh” or “Truckstop Glory Hole” or… well, about a thousand of ‘em. it also reminds me that ultimate is universal and its goofy culture isn’t inclusive to any one country.
A group on Flota Chancle are super fans of Deportivo Cali, the local futbol team. They’re like hooligans but not as violent. You can challenge other team fans to fights but you can also turn down a fight if you want to. As long as you don’t have a tattoo of the team — the tattoo means you’re down to fight and pretty much that means it’s on.
Every single Gold, Bronze and Silver medal at the 2013 World Games in Cali, Colombia reads “The Word Games 2013 Cali.”
Some teams in Colombia bend the rules to win and spirit can't stop them because there’s no enforcement policies in place. In other words, it’s the 1990s in the United States.
The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) made 1000+ green frisbees to give away to athletes who could pass a doping quiz at the catering tent. The discs, made in China by some unknown company, fly quite nicely! (see the rough One Take Crick Shot videos here and here)
Here are my notes from the Opening Ceremony. I walked with Team USA and filmed parts of it with my iPhone and a fisheye lens (see here on facebook)
-- Big crowds all around stadium
-- There’s a corridor for cars outside the entrance and all the teams walk on one side while thousands of Caliuenos line up on the other, separated by those metal police fence-like barriers. The lulls between roars of excitement from the crowd are soon roar-generating when:
-- Dance sport competitors jump into the corridor of asphalt and start dancing, flipping, spinning, whirling and girling.
-- The USA ultimate team jumps in and start throwing hammers and hooking blades
-- A ginormous former USA sumo wrestler climbs the fence and “sumo-charges” to the crowd who roar and giggle in approval. Then he takes his shirt off to expose a juggernaut of bouncy flesh and the crowd roars again.
-- Now we are inside the stadium and circling the track and the 50,000 people there seem to geniunely be loving it. Ryan Farrell jacks a backhand deep into the crowd from the point of view of the television cameras. Sweet action.
-- A politician, the VP of Colombia, has a speech after Jacques Rogge, the soon-to-be-retiring IOC Chairman-Dude. The VP starts off with this rumbly accent and is roundly booed and cheered at the same time leading to some immediate tensions in the air. But he’s a pro. Soon his speech, which mentions “Cali” about thirty times including calling Cali the “new sports capital of South America,” crescendoes into a powerful repetition of Cali this and Cali that and Cali Cali Cali and the crowd has no choice but to approve of the pandering. “Amigos amigas compañeros Cali!”
-- A speaker, a karate coach, reads the “coaches oath” which is a lot like ultimate’s Spirit of the Game.
-- He’s followed by a squash coach who delivers a similar speech about the impartiality of the judges and the code of the game.
-- Then an IWGA guy basically praises the spirit of SOTG
-- The ceremony routines are typical: dances, drums, singers, acrobatic routines, etc. But one thing to note: the Colombians are by no means Cirque de Soliel or even Argentinian. They are strictly mediocre when it comes to circus tricks.
-- There is a jump rope segment. Jumping rope is not a Word Games event, FWIW.
-- It's entirely possible Cali will reject the current governor because the world games show was not entertaining.
-- They bring out the circus high chair jump and conveniently the lights to out.
-- Did rugby even walk?!? I couldn’t tell. Maybe.
-- Sumo: 15 countries represented
-- Inline hockey: 8
-- The USA Wakeboarding and Waterskiing dudes and chicas never got the memo to wear something stylish from Ralph Lauren like the other USA teams. The ultimate team, for instance, all wore those Polo jackets we saw at the Olympics. They were originally made for the Paralympic team, according to the inside labels. I think all of the sports here wore hand-me-down duds.
-- The second ginormous American sumo wrestler is clearly the most popular guy at the World Games.
-- Billiard champ Jeanette Lee, aka “The Black Widow” is here. She’s talking to Cara and Tank right now I think.
-- Finally!! One salsa/puente song gets the crowd going. It’s salsa or nothing here in Cali. Forget the silly circus shit.
Robert “Nob” Rauch, the WFDF President who spends a fair amount of time in South America, told me that ten years ago in Cali the (drug-cartel-friendly, leftist-guerilla group) FARC “controlled everything outside centre city. You would be carjacked, period. Bloomberg News had a kidnapping index for Colombia and the reported number was 450 a month in country of 15 million. That’s just the number of reported kidnappings.”
Cricket, Neeley and I pay a visit to Cricket’s Sports Chiropractor friends working the korfball contests. Cricket tells them we are on the wushu team.
Ultimate’s Manifest Destiny is made clear time and time again in every country I visit for ultimate: this sport firmly believes that one day it will be known to every man and woman on the planet and will be well-respected. I will add that ultimate players worldwide have a missionary zealotry that will not be abated any time soon.
If you ask what a cholado is in Cali, a stranger and his daughter will guide you and your friends to a cholado stand and buy each of you a cholado.
Posted by tony leonardo at 4:22 PM
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