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Collector, The
Gift Collector, The
Romance Contemporary Sale
Written By: Nora Roberts
Narrated By: Julia Whelan
From #1 New York Times bestselling author Nora Roberts comes a novel of a woman who needs nothing, a man who sees everything, and the web of deceit, greed, and danger that brings them together-and that could tear them apart….
As a professional house-sitter and freelance writer, nothing ties Lila Emerson down-not her work, not a home, and definitely not a relationship. She spends her life moving from one job to the next, sometimes crashing at a friend's Manhattan apartment. And though she can appreciate her clients' extra-ordinary homes, their expensive collections, and their adorable pets, Lila has never longed for possessions of her own. Everything she has, including her heart, is portable.
But when she witnesses a possible murder-suicide from her current apartment-sitting job, life as Lila knows it takes a dramatic turn.
Artist Ashton Archer knows his charming, clever, and impulsive brother couldn't have killed his girlfriend-or taken his own life. His hope of unraveling what happened lies with Lila, the only eyewitness. And even buried in grief, Ash longs to paint the woman whose deep, dark eyes seem to hold endless reserves of strength and a fiery passion.
Chalking up their intense attraction to the heat of the moment, Lila agrees to help Ash in trying to find out who murdered his brother and why. From the penthouses of Manhattan to grand Italian villas, their investigation draws them into a rarefied circle where priceless antiques are bought, sold, gambled away, and stolen, where what you possess is who you are, and where what you desire becomes a deadly obsession….
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Boy is stripped and beaten to death in front of his parents for stealing a packet of biscuits
A 12-year-old Indian boy was stripped, hanged upside-down and beaten to death in front of his parents after he admitted stealing a packet of biscuits at a hurriedly convened village court.
Chhotu Kumar was one of two youngsters accused of stealing from a shop in Thadi village in eastern Bihar's Purnia district.
They were brought before a panel of 'judges' who ordered handed down their punishment after they reportedly confessed to the crime.
Vrutal: A 12-year-old Indian boy was stripped, hanged upside-down and beaten to death in front of his parents after he admitted stealing a packet of biscuits in Thadi village in eastern Bihar's Purnia district
According to Gulf News, reports said their parents begged the court to forgive them when their children's condition had deteriorated.
But the court refused to stop unless they paid a fine of 10,000 Rupees (£100) immediately which the parents said they were unable to do for two days because they were so poor.
As a result, the beating continued and Chhotu succumbed to his injuries.
The other boy, 13-year-old Pintu Kumar, survived but sustained severe injuries.
Police have launched an investigation against eight villagers and are planning a series of raids to arrest the suspects.
Local district superintendent of police Ajit Kumar Satyarthi said: 'The incident is quite serious as the villagers have taken law into their hands. We are not going to spare any of them.'
He said the children had also taken some chewing gum and petty cash.
SOURCE-DAILYM
Posted by GISTS at 22:39
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The Bangladesh Trial Observer
Independent, objective coverage of trial proceedings at the International Crimes Tribunal in Bangladesh
Tribunal I: Cases at a Glance
contempt proceedings
Trial of Mir Qasem Ali
Trial of Gholam Azam
Trial of Salauddin Qader Chowdhury
Trial of Azharul Islam
Trial of Motiur Rahman Nizami
Trial of Delwar Hossain Sayedee
Sayedee Case Timeline
Trial of Abdus Sobhan
Tribunal II: Cases at a Glance
Trial of A.M Alim
Trial of Abul Kalam Azad “Bachu”
Trial of Md. Kamaruzzaman
Trial of Abdul Qader Molla
Qader Molla Case Timeline
Trial of Ali Ahsan Mohammed Mujahid
Trial of Syed Mohammad Qaisar
Daily Summaries
East-West Center
Asian International Justice Initiative
War Crimes Studies Center
Gholam Azam Profile
Gholam Azam Case Timeline
Tag Archives: Verdict
Special Report: Chief Prosecutor vs. Gholam Azam Verdict and Legal Findings
This special report provides a detailed overview of the factual and legal findings of the International Crimes Tribunal (ICT) Judgment in Chief Prosecutor vs. Professor Gholam Azam. Gholam Azam was found guilty on all five charges and sentenced to 90 years imprisonment. The Tribunal made a point of noting that he deserved the death penalty, but because of his age and illness, they saw fit to sentence him to life imprisonment instead. Arguments in the case were completed on 17 April 2013 and the verdict was issued on 15 July 2013. It was the second verdict to be issued by Tribunal 1, and the fifth verdict issued by the ICT. Our previous special report on the Gholam Azam case reported in detail on the documentary and testimonial evidence used to support each count within each distinct charge against the Defendant, as well as the general arguments made by both parties. This report focuses on the legal outcomes of the case.
The full report is available here:Special Issue No. 5 – Gholam Azam Case Verdict
This entry was posted in Daily Summaries, Trial of Gholam Azam, Tribunal 1 and tagged Bangladesh, Bangladesh War Crimes Tribunal, complicity, conspiracy, crimes against humanity, death sentence, genocide, Gholam Azam, ICT, ICT 1, incitement, Legal Conclusions, mitigating factors, murder, planning, Sentence, torture, Tribunal 1, Verdict on October 7, 2013 by AIJI Trial Monitor.
17 July 2013: Mujahid Found Guilty of 4 Charges – Sentenced to Death
Today Tribunal 2 issued its fourth verdict in the case of Chief Prosecutor vs. Ali Ahsan Mohammed Mujahid. It is the sixth verdict issued by the International Crimes Tribunal. The Tribunal found Mujahid guilty of four of seven charges: specifically Charges 3, 5, 6 (which the Tribunal combined with Charge 1, because both stem from the same events), and 7. He was acquitted of Charges 2 and 4.
The Charges and the Verdict:
Charge 1: Abetting Abduction as a Crime Against Humanity, or in the alternative, abetting murder as a Crime Against Humanity. This charge was combined with Charge 6 as the Tribunal felt that both pertained to the same incident, the massacre of the Bangladeshi intellectual community in December of 1971.
Charge 2: Persecution as a Crime Against Humanity, or in the alternative, for abetting Genocide by participating in an attack on the Hindu villages of Baidyadangi, Majhidangi and Baladangi. Charged under Section 3(2)(c)(g) of the Act and Sections 4(1) and 4(2). Acquitted.
Charge 3: Confinement as a Crime Against Humanity for his role in the confinement and torture of Ranji Nath, alias Babu Nath. Found guilty and sentenced to imprisonment for five years.
Charge 4: Abetting the crime of Confinement and causing Inhumane Acts as Crimes against Humanity under Section 3(2)(a)(g) for his alleged involvement in the abduction and torture of Abu Yusuf. Acquitted.
Charge 5: Abetting murder as a Crime Against Humanity for ordering the killing of detainees at the army camp at old MP Hostel, Nakhalpara, Dhaka. Found guilty and sentenced to imprisonment for life.
Charge 6: Abetting murder as a Crime Against Humanity, or in the alternative, abetting Genocide against the intellectual group. Charged under Section 3(2)(c)(g) read with Sections 4(1) and 4(2). Found guilty and sentenced to death in conjunction with Charge 7.
Charge 7: Participating in and Facilitating the commission of Murder as a Crime Against Humanity, or in the alternative, for persecution as a Crime Against Humanity, for his roll in an attack on the Hindu community on 13 May 1971. Found guilty and sentenced to death in conjunction with Charge 6.
The Tribunal noted that it considered Mujahid’s “superior position of authority on the Al-Badar force together with the intrinsic gravity and degree and pattern of criminal acts” as aggravating factors that further justified the death sentence.
The full judgment can be found here: Mujahid Judgment
Additionally, we will be publishing our full summary of the case and the Tribunal’s conclusions in the near future. Please check back frequently for updates.
This entry was posted in Daily Summaries, Trial of Ali Ahsan Mohammed Mujahid, Tribunal 2 and tagged aggravating factor, Bangladesh, Bangladesh War Crimes Tribunal, command responsibility, crimes against humanity, Death Penalty, death sentence, Final Judgment, genocide, ICT, ICT 2, International Crimes Tribunal, international criminal courts, Judgment, Mujahid, Sentence, sentencing, superior liability, Tribunal 2, Verdict, war crimes on July 17, 2013 by AIJI Trial Monitor.
15 July 2013: Gholam Azam Found Guilty – Sentenced to 90 years
Today Tribunal 1 issued its second verdict in the case of Chief Prosecutor vs. Professor Gholam Azam. It is the second verdict issued by Tribunal 1 and the fifth verdict issued by the International Crimes Tribunal. The Tribunal found Gholam Azam guilty of all five charges against him.
Charge 1: Six Counts of Conspiracy to Commit Crimes under Section 3(2) of the ICT Act. Found guilty and sentenced to 10 years imprisonment.
Charge 2: Three Counts of Planning to Commit Crimes under Section 3(2) of the ICT Act. Found guilty and sentenced to 10 years imprisonment.
Charge 3: Twenty-eight counts of Incitement to Commit Crimes under Section 3(2) of the ICT Act. Found guilty and sentenced to 30 years imprisonment.
Charge 4: Twenty-tree counts of Complicity in Crimes under Section 3(2) of the ICT Act. Found guilty and sentenced to 20 years imprisonment.
Charge 5: Murder and Torture as Crimes against Humanity under Section 3(2)(a) of the ICT Act. The Charge alleged that Gholam Azam directed Peyara Miah, a member of the Peace Committee, to kill Siru Mia and his son because they were freedom fighters. Found guilty and sentenced to 30 years imprisonment.
The Tribunal noted that it took Gholam Azam’s age (he is 91 years old) and ill health into account when determining his sentencing. They stated that he would serve the terms of imprisonment consecutively, guaranteeing that he will die in jail.
Charges 1-4 alleged that Gholam Azam was liable either under Section 4(1), which provides for a form of constructive liability (where, when a crime is committed by several persons, each will be liable as if he was the sole perpetrator), and Section 4(2), which provides for liability under the Doctrine of Command Responsibility. Charge 5 alleged direct individual responsibility for murder and torture, and does not mention any of the forms of liability enumerated under Section 4 of the Act.
From comments made during the Tribunal’s announcement of its verdict, it appears that for Charges 1-4 Gholam Azam was found guilty on the basis of Command Responsibility. The Prosecution had argued that Gholam Azam, as the Amir of Jamaat-e-Islami, controlled the organizational framework of Islami Chatra Sangha and played the pivotal role in forming the Shanti (Peace) Committee, Razakars, Al-Badr, and Al-Shams. Therefore they claimed that he was liable for all of the crimes committed by the members of those groups. They further alleged that Gholam Azam exercised Command Responsibility over the members of the Shanti (Peace) Committee, Razakars, Al-Badr, and Al-Shams, and that, even though he was a civilian, Gholam Azam had influence over the Pakistani Army. The Defense disagreed that Section 4(2) could be applied to Gholam Azam because he was a civilian and they claimed that the Doctrine of Command Responsibility is applicable only to leaders of military and auxiliary forces.
For a detailed discussion of the Gholam Azam case and the evidence presented by both parties please refer to our Special Report: Special Issue No. 3 – Gholam Azam Case Summary
Additionally, we will be posting the judgment here on our website once we receive the official copy from the court. We will also publish summary of the Tribunal’s legal conclusions once we have reviewed the Judgment in full.
This entry was posted in Daily Summaries, Trial of Gholam Azam, Tribunal 1 and tagged Bangladesh, Bangladesh War Crimes Tribunal, command responsibility, crimes against humanity, Final Judgment, Final Verdict, genocide, Gholam Azam, ICT, ICT 1, International Crimes Tribunal, international criminal courts, Life Imprisonment, Sentence, sentencing, superior responsibility, Tribunal 1, Verdict, war crimes on July 15, 2013 by AIJI Trial Monitor.
14 July 2013: ICT-1 Daily Summary – Gholam Azam Verdict Tomorrow, Abdus Sobhan Investigation Report, Mobarak Hossain PW 6
Today the Tribunal heard matters in the following cases:
Investigation of Abdus Sobhan
Chief Prosecutor vs. Mobarak Hossain
Chief Prosecutor vs. Gholam Azam
In the investigation of Abdus Sobhan the Prosecution submitted a progress report and requested additional time. The Tribunal granted the request and adjourned the proceedings of the case until 19 August 2013.
In the Mobarak Hossain case, the Tribunal heard the examination-in-chief of Abdul Malek, Prosecution Witness 6, who testified in support of charge 5. Thereafter, Defense Counsel sought time saying that Defense were not informed about the witness earlier. The Tribunal granted the request and the adjourned proceedings in the case until 16 July 2013.
Today, 14 July 2013, the Gholam Azam case was included in the cause list as item 4. The Tribunal passed an order stating that the judgment of this case has been prepared and will be issued tomorrow, 15 July 2013. Senior Defense Counsel Abdur Razzak informed the Tribunal that Gholam Azam is ill and requested permission for him to remain at the hospital tomorrow where he has received treatment throughout his detention. The Tribunal refused the request, stating that it is the right of the Accused to hear the judgment against him.
This entry was posted in Daily Summaries, Trial of Abdus Sobhan, Trial of Gholam Azam, Trial of Mubarak Hossain, Tribunal 1 and tagged Abdus Sobhan, Bangladesh, Bangladesh War Crimes Tribunal, crimes against humanity, Final Judgment, Final Verdict, Gholam Azam, ICT, ICT 1, International Crimes Tribunal, international criminal courts, Investigation Report, Mobarak Hossain, Mubarak Hossain, prosecution witness, Tribunal 1, Verdict, war crimes, witness testimony on July 14, 2013 by AIJI Trial Monitor.
Special Report Issue 2: Detailed Summary of Kamaruzzaman Case and Verdict
We are pleased to release our second Special Issue Report on the Verdict in the Kamaruzzaman case. For a full pdf of the report please read here: Special Issue No. 2 – Kamaruzzaman Verdict
This special report provides a detailed summary of the International Crimes Tribunal’s fourth verdict, the Judgment in Chief Prosecutor vs. Md. Kamaruzzaman. The verdict was issued on 9 May 2013 and was the third verdict to be issued by Tribunal 2. We have attempted to distill the major conclusions expressed by the Tribunal into a digestible format. We have reported on the documentary and witness evidence used to support each distinct charge, general arguments made by both parties, and the conclusions reached by the Tribunal. For the sake of length we have focused this report on the factual and charge specific findings within the Judgment. We will be publishing a supplementary report regarding the legal conclusions made in the Judgment that have particular bearing on the ongoing proceedings. This report does not critically analyze the legal merits of the Judgment. It is presented simply in order to facilitate broader access to and understanding of the ICT’s proceedings and conclusions.
Kamaruzzaman was found guilty on 5 of 7 Charges, specifically Charges 1, 2, 3, 4, and 7. He was acquitted of Charges 5 and 6. All of the Charges alleged direct commission of Crimes Against Humanity or, in the alternative, complicity in Crimes Against Humanity. The Prosecution additionally argued that Kamaruzzaman could be found liable under the doctrine of Command Responsibility under Section 4(2). However, he was convicted solely of complicity in Crimes Against Humanity under Section 4(1) of the Act. On the basis of Charges 3 and 4 he was sentenced to death. The Tribunal noted that charges 1 and 7 merited a life sentence, while Kamaruzzaman was sentenced to ten years imprisonment under charge 2. All lesser sentences were merged into the death sentence.
Please read the entire report here: Special Issue No. 2 – Kamaruzzaman Verdict
This entry was posted in Daily Summaries, Issue Based Posts, Trial of Md. Kamaruzzaman, Tribunal 2, Weekly Digests and tagged Bangladesh, Bangladesh War Crimes Tribunal, Charge Framing Order, command responsibility, complicity, crimes against humanity, documentary evidence, Guilty, Hearsay, ICT, ICT 2, International Crimes Tribunal, international criminal courts, Judgment, Kamaruzzaman, Tribunal 2, Verdict, war crimes, witness testimony on June 11, 2013 by AIJI Trial Monitor.
9 May 2013: Kamaruzzaman Guilty Verdict
Tribunal 2 of the International Crimes Tribunal of Bangladesh has found Kamaruzzaman guilty on 5 of 7 charges. He was found guilty on charges 1,2,3,4 and 7, acquitted of charges 5 and 6. He has been sentenced to death based on charges 3 and 4. The Tribunal noted that charges 1 and 7 carried a life sentence, while he was sentenced to ten years imprisonment under charge 2. All the charges were for direct involvement and complicity in Crimes Against Humanity.
The full Judgment may be viewed here: Kamaruzzaman Full Judgment
Profile of Mohammad Kamaruzzaman
The Prosecution alleged that Kamaruzzaman, who in 1971 was 19 years of age, established the paramilitary force of Al-Badr in the district of Mymensingh. The force is thought to have committed genocide, killings, rape, looting, arson and enforced deportation throughout the region in collaboration with the Pakistani Army. Kamaruzzaman was the President of Islami Chhatra Shibir, the student branch of Jamaat-e-Islami, during the war. He was appointed as Joint Secretary of the Dhaka City Jamaat-e-Islami in 1981 and served as Publicity Secretary for the party between 1983 and 1991. He became Assistant Secretary General in 1992.
Procedural History
Investigation into Kamaruzzaman’s involvement in the commission of Crimes against Humanity and Genocide during the liberation war began with a formal probe on 21 July 2011. He was arrested in conjunction with the case on 2 August 2011. The Prosecution submitted their proposed Formal Charge on 15 May, and the case was subsequently transferred from ICT-1 to ICT-2. Tribunal 2 took cognizance of the charges on 31 January 2012 and issued the Charge Framing Order indicting Kamaruzzaman on 4 June 2012. The trial began on 2 July 2012. The Prosecution called 18 witnesses in support of their case. The Defense was limited by the Tribunal to 5 witnesses. Witness testimony was completed on 24 March 2013. Closing Arguments were complete on 16 April 2013. The verdict comes just over three weeks after the termination of proceedings.
The Charges: The Charges in red indicate a guilty verdict. See here for the Original Charge Framing Order.
Murder, Torture and Other Inhuman Acts as Crimes Against Humanity and Complicity in Such Crimes: for leading a group of Al-Badr in abducting civilian Badiuzzaman who was tortured and then killed. Charged under Section 3(2)(a)(h) of the ICT Act. Sentenced to life imprisonment
Inhuman Acts as Crimes Against Humanity and Complicity in Such Crimes: Sentenced to 10 years imprisonment for attacking, forcibly shaving and whipping Syed Abdul Hannan, the Principal of Sherpur College. Charged under Section 3(2)(a)(h) of the ICT Act.
Murder as a Crime Against Humanity and Complicity in Such a Crime: Sentenced to death for advising and facilitating members of Al-Badr and Razakars in the massacre and rape of unarmed civilians in Shohagpur. Charged under Section 3(2)(a)(h) of the ICT Act. Some media sources have stated that Kamaruzzaman was convicted of Genocide under Charge 3. This is incorrect, the Charge Framing Order alleges murder as a Crime Against Humanity and the Charge was not amended to Genocide.
Murder as a Crime against Humanity and Complicity in Such a Crime: Sentenced to death for the shooting of Golam Mostafa and Abul Kasem at Serih Bridge, causing the death of Golam Mostafa. Charged under Section 3(2)(a)(h) of the ICT Act.
Murder as a Crime against Humanity and Complicity in Such a Crime: Acquitted for the abduction and torture of Md. Liakat Ali and Mujibur Rahman Janu, and their ultimate murder behind the Ahammad Nagar UP office. Charged under Section 3(2)(a)(h) of the ICT Act.
Murder as a Crime against Humanity and Complicity in Such a Crime: Acquitted for the abduction of Tunu and Jahangir and subsequent torture and death of Tunu. Charged under Section 3(2)(a)(h) of the ICT Act.
Murder as a Crime against Humanity and Complicity in Such a Crime: Sentenced to life imprisonment for accompanying members of Al-Badr on a raid of the house of Tepa Mia in Golpajan Road the ultimate killing of six other unarmed civilians with a bayonet. Charged under Section 3(2)(a)(h) of the ICT Act.
Legal Conclusions:
The Judgment followed closely the legal conclusions made in Tribunal 2’s Judgments against Kalam Azad Bachu and Qader Molla, as well as Tribunal 1’s decision against Delwar Hossain Sayedee. However, this case also addressed in detail the role of Jamaat-e-Islami in the commission of atrocities during the liberation war. There is some thought that this verdict could be used as the basis for banning the current Jamaat-e-Islami as a political party. A writ is currently pending before the High court requesting that the party be banned.
Additionally, we will be publishing an in depth report on the factual and legal conclusions contained in the verdict. Please check this website for updates.
This entry was posted in Daily Summaries, Trial of Md. Kamaruzzaman, Tribunal 2 and tagged Bangladesh, Bangladesh War Crimes Tribunal, complicity, crimes against humanity, Guilty, ICT, ICT 2, International crimes courts, International Crimes Tribunal, Kamaruzzaman, Tribunal, Tribunal 2, Verdict, war crimes on May 9, 2013 by AIJI Trial Monitor.
Weekly Digest Issue 6: February 24-28
We apologize that we are slightly behind in our weekly digests of the proceedings. Due to limited staff and unforeseen obstacles, including hartals, we have had some delays in our coverage. Our daily summaries are up to date and we hope to have our weekly digests up to date shortly as well. Thank you for your patience.
Please find below our Weekly Digest Issue 6, covering the week of February 24-28. This week was dominated by the announcement of the verdict in Chief Prosecutor vs. Delwar Hossain Sayedee on 28 February 2013, in which Sayedee was found guilty of 8 charges and sentenced to death. For a detailed report on the Judgment against Sayedee please see our Special Issue Report, available here.
In addition to issuing the Sayedee Judgment, Tribunal 1 also continued to hear the Prosecution’s Closing Arguments in the Gholam Azam case, and the Prosecution submitted Formal Charges against Mubarak Hossain. Tribunal 2 heard proceedings in the Kamaruzzaman, Abdul Alim and Mujahid cases, as well as contempt proceedings.
The Weekly Digest is accessible here: Weekly Digest, Issue 6 – Feb 24-28
This entry was posted in Contempt Proceedings, Trial of A.M Alim, Trial of Ali Ahsan Mohammed Mujahid, Trial of Delwar Hossain Sayedee, Trial of Gholam Azam, Trial of Md. Kamaruzzaman, Trial of Mubarak Hossain, Tribunal 1, Tribunal 2, Weekly Digests and tagged Alim, contempt, death sentence, Final Judgment, Gholam Azam, Kamaruzzaman, Legal Conclusions, Mubarak Hossain, Mujahid, Sayedee, Tribunal 1, Tribunal 2, Verdict on March 25, 2013 by AIJI Trial Monitor.
East West Center
ICT's Legal Conclusions
Issue Based Posts
ICT Act of 1973
Trial of Organizations
Investigation of AKM Yusuf
Investigation of Zahid Hossain Khokon
Trial of ATM Azharul Islam
Trial of Mubarak Hossain
Trial of Zahid Hossain Khokon
Trial of Abul Kalam Azad "Bachu"
Trial of AKM Yusuf
Trial of Ashrafuzzaman Khan
Trial of Chowdhury Mueen Uddin
31 December 2013: ICT-1 Daily Summary – Hartal Coverage of Abdus Sobhan, Charge Framing; Chairman of ICT-1 takes Retirement
30 December 2013: ICT-1 Daily Summary – Tribunal in Recess
26 December 2013: ICT-1 Daily Summary – ATM Azharul Islam, Hearing on Petition for Review of the Charge Framing Order
24 December 2013: ICT-1 Daily Summary – Mobarak Hossain, DW-2; Contempt Proceedings against Channel 24 and others, and Khandaker Mahbub Hossain; Zahid Hossain Khokon, PW-19 and PW-20
23 December 2013: ICT-1 Daily Summary – Zahid Hossain Khokon, PW-17 and PW-18
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Not Here
I have removed this profile from this site.
John Lawson & Jamie Sunyak
What the hell did I just watch? Concept film for this is available in it's entirety upon request
J.W. Lawson
Three friends bungle a bank robbery that was meant to fund their first movie. 21 JUMP STREET meets THE DISASTER ARTIST meets GAME OVER with a touch of SUPER BAD
John Lawson
A group of people come together to battle demons. But the demons may not be real. LOST meets THE FOLLOWING meets THE PATH with a touch of CABIN IN THE WOODS.
DON'T FORGET ME
THE SANDLOT meets THAT THING YOU DO with a touch of A BRONX TALE. An interracial doo-whop group forms in the late 50s in the Bronx, New York. A surviving member recounts how they were almost famous but laments he hopes the music won't "forget about" the group. Story by Steve Glaser of Scott Stevens & The Cavaliers.
THE DARLING MATTER
Paranormal Activity without the demon. A family bumps heads with the police and ends up on the wrong side of the law. There's honestly not a script out there that will terrify you this much.
A man who has been blind since birth gets a bionic eye and becomes part of a huge tech corporation when the visual implant is successful and gives him super human intuition and sight. Psych meets The Office.
THE CAVE GIRLS OF 1999
Two girls go missing in the South in the year 1999. Divine Secrets of the Ya Ya Sisterhood meets Winter's Bone with a hint of Stand By Me.
P.F.A.H. POLICE FORCE ACTION HERO
A simple, slow man must save his hometown from itself. Napoleon Dynamite meets Forrest Gump. Ultra low budget fun.
SCELEROPHOBIA
Lethal Weapon meets XXX cops who investigate cops story. A deaf soldier is reassigned after tragedy to investigate the crimes of US government operatives. Could also be an original television pilot. (Character who primarily uses ASL)
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What to Expect® the First Year
Heidi Eisenberg Murkoff, Arlene Eisenberg, Sandee Eisenberg Hathaway, Sharon Mazel
Workman Publishing, Jun 1, 2009 - Family & Relationships - 806 pages
Some things about babies, happily, will never change. They still arrive warm, cuddly, soft, and smelling impossibly sweet. But how moms and dads care for their brand-new bundles of baby joy has changed—and now, so has the new-baby bible.
Announcing the completely revised third edition of What to Expect the First Year. With over 10.5 million copies in print, First Year is the world's best-selling, best-loved guide to the instructions that babies don't come with, but should. And now, it's better than ever. Every parent's must-have/go-to is completely updated.
Keeping the trademark month-by-month format that allows parents to take the potentially overwhelming first year one step at a time, First Year is easier-to-read, faster-to-flip-through, and new-family-friendlier than ever—packed with even more practical tips, realistic advice, and relatable, accessible information than before. Illustrations are new, too.
Among the changes: Baby care fundamentals—crib and sleep safety, feeding, vitamin supplements—are revised to reflect the most recent guidelines. Breastfeeding gets more coverage, too, from getting started to keeping it going. Hot-button topics and trends are tackled: attachment parenting, sleep training, early potty learning (elimination communication), baby-led weaning, and green parenting (from cloth diapers to non-toxic furniture). An all-new chapter on buying for baby helps parents navigate through today's dizzying gamut of baby products, nursery items, and gear. Also new: tips on preparing homemade baby food, the latest recommendations on starting solids, research on the impact of screen time (TVs, tablets, apps, computers), and “For Parents” boxes that focus on mom's and dad's needs. Throughout, topics are organized more intuitively than ever, for the best user experience possible.
User Review - seattlemaddy - Overstock.com
I recommend for all new Mothers ....and Grandmothers ( for those of us that have forgotten what our little ones did in that first year) Read full review
User Review - cdavis1013 - Overstock.com
Read this book every month and was amazed how accurate the timeline for growth was. A good way to check on milestones. Read full review
Part 2 OF SPECIAL CONCERN
Part 3 FOR THE FAMILY
Part 4 READY REFERENCE
Heidi Eisenberg Murkoff,Arlene Eisenberg,Sandee Eisenberg Hathaway
Sharon Mazel,Arlene Eisenberg
able acetaminophen allergy antibiotics aren’t baby seems baby’s doctor bath become begin birth bottle breast milk breastfeeding breathing call the doctor can’t car seat cause child’s cloth co-sleeping cold colic comfortable crib crying diaper diaper rash diarrhea diet doesn’t early eyes feeding feel fever fingers formula give hand he’s hospital ibuprofen infant infection isn’t juice Keep in mind least less look ment months mother mouth newborn night nipple normal nursing once pain parents pediatrician play postpartum postpartum depression preemies pregnancy probably problem pump rash risk safe safety she’s sibling sitter skin sleep spend spouse stroller sucking sure symptoms teeth there’s they’re tion tips toddler toys treatment tummy usually uterus vaccine warm weaning weeks what’s who’s won’t worry you’re you’ve
Heidi Murkoff is the author of the What to Expect® series of pregnancy and parenting books with over 38 million copies in print. She is also the creator of WhatToExpect.com and the WhatToExpect app, which reach over 18 million expecting and new parents, and the What to Expect Foundation, a nonprofit organization dedicated to helping at-risk moms around the world expect healthier pregnancies, safer deliveries, and healthy, happy babies.
Arlene Eisenberg, 1934-2001 Arlene Eisenberg was born June 8, 1934 in the Williamsburg section of Brooklyn, daughter to the Head of the Sanitation Department. She is best known for her instructional books on pregnancy and the early years of childhood, "What to Expect When You're Expecting", as well as the"What to Expect Foundation", an organization which prints lower literacy manuals for disadvantaged women. At the tender age of 18 she dropped out of Queens College, opting for babies and marriage to Howard Eisenberg, a press agent for Eddie Fisher, instead of a higher education. The two wrote articles together for many magazines until their children were grown. At this point, Eisenberg began to collaborate on question and answer type pregnancy books with her adult daughters. Together, the three women wrote "What to Expect When You're Expecting", the follow ups "What to Expect the First Year", "What to Expect the Toddler Years" and "What to Eat when You're Expecting", which were hungrily sought out by pregnant women. It was a series that answered all serious and silly questions and made an expectant mother all the more comfortable. Through these books, Eisenberg became a mother to the multitudes, explaining to all women that they didn't have to be perfect mothers. Arlene Eisenberg died at the age of 66 of breast cancer.
Sandee Hathaway holds a Bachelor of Science in Nursing degree from Boston University. An experienced RN with a specialty in obstetrics and neonatal care, Sandee lives in Waban, Massachussets, with her husband and three children.
Title What to Expect® the First Year
Authors Heidi Eisenberg Murkoff, Arlene Eisenberg, Sandee Eisenberg Hathaway, Sharon Mazel
Contributor Sharon Mazel
Edition reprint, revised
Publisher Workman Publishing, 2009
Family & Relationships / Life Stages / Infants & Toddlers
Family & Relationships / Parenting / General
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Reading Amadís in Istanbul
Constantinopla (ca. 1500)
Posted on October 29, 2011 by davidwacks
It was 1541 in Constantinople when Sephardic physician Jacob Algaba published his Hebrew translation of the first book of Spanish runaway bestseller Amadís de Gaula (1508). His translation of the endless adventures of the knight errant became the first novel written in the Hebrew language, and a literary example of Sephardic culture as the site of a symbolic struggle between the Spanish and Ottoman Empires.
In a way Algaba’s translation is exemplary of the complex relationship Sephardim had with the culture of the land from which they had been expelled in 1492. Part of the way in which the Sephardim expressed their ‘Spanishness’ was in mimicking the intellectual and cultural habits of Imperial Spain. They reenacted Spanish cultural imperialism by their imposition of Sephardic culture on the Jewish communities of the Ottoman Empire and by their adaptation of the Humanist rhetoric of Spanish historians and novelists. Just as the Spanish Amadís was imagined as a Christian hero of Spanish imperial designs, Algaba’s Sephardic Amadís was a sort of avatar of Sephardic supremacy within the Jewish world, and a response to the Sephardim’s alienation from Spain.
On the stage of the Mediterranean at the turn of the sixteenth century, the Sephardim are a sort of by-product of empire. Jettisoned from Spain, the Sephardim were free to rebrand ‘Spanishness’ to suit their own interests. They were hardly, after all, ambassadors of Spanish interests. But they were profoundly shaped by the cultural legacy of the land they had called home for over one thousand years by 1492. Though rejected by their home metropolis, they were still able to convert their Spanish identity into social currency in the host metropolis.
A Knight against the Turk
The chivalric novel Amadís de Gaula (1508) by Garci Rodríguez de Montalvo was a smash hit and set the standard for popular fiction of the sixteenth century. Readers could not get enough of the (seemingly endless) exploits of the knight errant who protected the weak, battled dark knights, sorcerers, and dragons, all in the name of his beautiful damsel Oriana. Montalvo’s book, and its many, lucrative sequels, itself became a kind of popular literary monster that only Don Quijote could defeat, effectively parodying Amadís and his successors to death in 1605.
But Amadís was more than a fictional hero. Spanish readers imagined him (and in particular his son, Esplandían) as a kind of avatar of Spanish imperial desire, a knight in service to Spain first against the Muslim Kingdom of Granada, and then against the Turk (the Ottoman Empire). In casting these fictional knights errant as imperial heroes, Montalvo was simply participating in the Humanism of his times. Humanist writers working at the court of the Catholic Monarchs Ferdinand and Isabella actively promoted a program of imperial imagery that painted Spain as a new Rome, mixing language and imagery from the Latin writings of Imperial Rome with specifically Iberian and Catholic elements. The result was a narrative in which the Spanish crown was a renewal of the Holy Roman Empire, itself a renewal of Classical Rome (Tate, Ensayos 292). In the introduction to the first Amadís, Montalvo wonders aloud how the writers of Classical Rome would have been inspired to new heights had they witnessed the glorious campaigns of King Ferdinand in Granada:
¡what flowers, what roses might they have planted on its occasion, as concerns the bravery of the knights in the battles, skirmishes, and dangerous duels and all the other cases of confrontations and travails that were performed in the course of that war, as well as of the compelling speeches made by the great King to his nobles gathered in the royal campaign tents, the obedient replies made by them, and above all, the great praises, the lofty admirations that he deserves for having taken on and accomplished such a Catholic task!
(Rodríguez Montalvo, Amadís 219-220, translation mine).
Once the threat of Muslim Granada had been conquered by Ferdinand and Isabel in 1492, it was a logical next step to look toward Istanbul. The Ottoman Turks had, after all, conquered Constantinople in the not-so-distant past, and the loss of Christian Constantinople was, during the reign of the Catholic Monarchs, still a fresh wound. Diego Enríquez del Castillo (ca. 1500), wrote that “the pain of the loss of Constantinople, that the Turk had conquered, was very recent in the hearts of all.” (Crónica 156). Ever since the Ottoman sack of Otranto, Italy in 1481, Spanish (and particularly Aragonese) writers were preoccupied by the possibility of a Turkish invasion of the Peninsula (Giráldez, Sergas 24). While an Ottoman invasion of Spain was probably not in the offing, such fears were similar to US fears of a Soviet invasion 1960s following the Cuban Revolution and famously parodied in the 1966 film The Russians are Coming, The Russians are Coming. The cult of Amadís and his successors and their iconic (if anachronistic) status as Christian heroes of imaginary conquests in the Mediterranean East were an understandable, if irrational, reaction.
Don Quijote’s Dream Team: Knights Errant vs the Turk
Mehmet enters Constantinople (1454)
by Fausto Zonaro (1854-1929)
Amadís finally met his match in Don Quijote, who parodied the knight errant protagonists of the Spanish chivalric novel beyond any hope of redemption. Interestingly, Cervantes also zeroed in on the tendency of fans of chivalric fiction to conflate the exploits of their heroes with current events. In this scene, Alonso Quijano (aka Don Quijote) suggests a simple solution for King Philip II’s ‘Ottoman Problem’: round up all the Spanish knights errant and send them to fight the Turk:
there might be one among them who could, by himself, destroy all the power of the Turk…. [if] the famous Don Belianís were alive today, or any one of the countless descendants of Amadís of Gaul! If any of them were here today and confronted the Turk, it would not be to his advantage!’ (trans. Grossman 461)
The effect is similar to a movie in which the sci-fi crazed protagonist suggests sending Luke Skywalker to battle Al-Qaeda. The English translator of Sergas de Esplandían (Montalvo’s sequel to Amadís) made a similar observation, calling Luke Skywalker “a kind of Esplandían redividus” (Little, “Introduction” 21).
What does a Sephardic Amadís look like? And what might a Hebrew Amadís champion, if not the Spanish conquest of Ottoman Istanbul where Jacob Algaba translated the exploits of the Ur-Knight Errant into Hebrew a generation after Montalvo described Amadís’ deeds as worthy to be celebrated by the pens of Imperial chroniclers? In order to answer this, we need to take a look at the ways in which Sephardic intellectuals retooled and adapted the intellectual habits of the Spain they had left behind.
‘Doing Spanish’: Sephardic Humanism and Cultural Imperialism
Upon their arrival in Ottoman lands, the Sephardim proceeded to dominate the Romaniote (Greek-speaking) and other Jewish communities. They were bearers of a prestigious European cultural legacy, and many of them were highly skilled in areas valued by the Ottoman Sultans: finance, administration, diplomacy, and the like. In addition the Sephardim had access to tremendous social capital in the form of international, even global trade and diplomatic networks. Contemporary sources bear out this characterization of the Sephardim as the socially and culturally dominant group within Ottoman Jewry, imposing their liturgy, rabbinic jurisprudence, cuisine, language, and social customs on the wider community. Writing in 1509, Rabbi Moses Aroquis of Salonika bears witness to this phenomenon:
It is well known that the Sephardim and their scholars in this empire, together with the other communities that have joined them, make up the majority, may the lord be praised. To them alone the land was given, and they are its glory and its splendor and its magnificence, enlightening the land and its inhabitants. Who deserves to order them about? All these places too should be considered as ours, and it is fitting that the small number of early inhabitants of the empire observe all our religious customs… (cited in Hacker, “Sephardim” 111)
This Sephardic cultural imperialism is one way in which the Sephardim expressed their ‘Spanishness,’ in carrying out a version of the Spanish cultural imperialism that characterized the late fifteenth century. Just as Spain colonized the Canary Islands, the New World, and bits of North Africa, the Sephardim did likewise in their new territories, the Jewish communities of the Ottoman Empire.
This imperialism, like the Spanish, also had its attendant historiography, its intellectual culture: a Sephardic Humanism. The historian Solomon ibn Verga, writing in Hebrew in the mid-sixteenth century, borrowed liberally from Spanish sources and like his Christian historian counterparts, legitimized the current political order by linking it to the regimes of Classical Antiquity. In his history of expulsions and persecutions he writes like a Humanist, substituting both authors of Hebrew antiquity (Bible, Rabbis) for Latin and Greek authors favored by Christian humanists, but he also draws on Classical and medieval Iberian authors, lending his prose of more sophisticated, cosmopolitan tone. (Gutwirth, “Expulsion” 149-150). He cites Josephus frequently, creating a Jewish humanist precedent in the Roman author who plays Virgil to his Dante.
Amadís in the Sephardic context
What is the role of a Hebrew Amadís in this context? As with the case of Ibn Verga’s history book (Shevet Yehudah), the project of the Sephardic intellectual is twofold: on the one hand, they sought to legitimize their work by drawing on the prestige of Spanish Humanism; on the other, they reshaped this humanism into one that reflected the values of the community in a diasporic, transimperial context.
But never on Shabbat
Algaba’s translation does not appear ex nihilo. Ottoman Sephardim were avid readers of Spanish editions of Amadís and other chivalric novels. In the early sixteenth century, Jerusalemite Rabbi Menahem di Lunzano chastised his community (in verse) for reading Amadís and Palmerín [de Olivia, 1511] on Shabbat (the Sabbath), when they should have been reading religious books (Di Lunzano, Shete Yadot f. 135v). There was also a robust tradition of ballads sung in Sephardic communities about heroes named Don Amadí (or sometimes Amalví or other variants). Many of these songs had nothing to do whatsoever with the stories found in Montalvo’s book; Amadís had simply come to mean ‘hero’ in the popular Sephardic imagination. (Armistead and Silverman, “Amadís” 29-30)
Jacob Algaba's Hebrew translation of Amadís de Gaula
Montalvo’s original Amadís had to pass muster with the Catholic censors and with the chivalric imaginary of the Spain of the Catholic Monarchs. Algaba, while giving voice to the Sephardic love for their vernacular culture, is free of these limits. He based his translation not from Montalvo’s 1508 edition, but from an earlier manuscript version whose Amadís was earthier, wilier, less courtly and less likely to make it into print in Spain in 1508. Algaba’s Amadís plays dirty when nessary, and the characters in Algaba’s version tell it like it is. In one example, Algaba includes an episode omitted by Montalvo where Amadís tricks his opponent into looking away in order to hit him: He asks the knight ‘to whom does that beautiful maiden behind you belong?’ When the knight looks away, Amadís sticks him in the groin with his lance, spilling his guts (Piccus, “Corrections” 187-88). In another example, Montalvo omits a reference to a character farting that is included by Algaba (Piccus, “Corrections” 201). These are scenes that do not pass muster with the chivalric imaginary of the Spain of the Catholic Monarchs.
The Hebrew Amadís, therefore, is at once celebratory of and resistant to Montalvo’s Amadís. The culture of Montalvo’s Amadís, with its exaggerated religious rhetoric and rarefied standards of courtliness, has rejected Algaba (who was born in Spain), and Algaba is happy to return the favor, refashioning Amadís as a Sephardic hero, one who springs from Iberian tradition but who is free of the restraints of official Spanish culture as propagated by the courts and controlled by the censors of the Catholic Monarchs.
Armistead, S. G. “Amadís de Gaula en la literatura oral de los sefardíes.” La pluma es lengua del alma: Ensayos en honor del E. Michael Gerli. Ed. José Manuel Hidalgo. Newark, DE: Juan de la Cuesta Hispanic Monographs, 2011. 27-32.
Cervantes Saavedra, Miguel. Don Quixote. Trans. Edith Grossman. New York: Ecco, 2003.
Enríquez del Castillo, Diego. Crónica de Enrique IV de Diego Enríquez del Castillo. Ed. Aureliano Sánchez Martín. Valladolid: Secretariado de Publicaciones Universidad de Valldolid, 1994.
Giráldez, Susan. Las sergas de Esplandián y la España de los Reyes Católicos. New York: Peter Lang, 2003.
Gutwirth, Eleazar. “The Expulsion from Spain and Jewish Historiography.” Jewish History: Essays in Honour of Chimen Abramsky. London: Peter Halban, 1988. 141-161.
Hacker, Joseph. “The Sephardim in the Ottoman Empire in the Sixteenth Century.” The Sephardi Legacy. Vol. 2. 2 vols. Jerusalem: Magnes Press, 1992. 108-133.
Little, William. “Introduction.” The Labors of the Very Brave Knight Esplandían. Trans. William Little. Binghamton, N.Y.: Medieval & Renaissance Texts & Studies, 1992. 1-61.
Lunzano, Menahem di. Shete yadot. Jerusalem: [s.n], 1969.
Piccus, Jules. “Corrections, Suppressions, and Changes in Montalvo’s Amadís, Book I.” Textures and Meaning: Thirty Years of Judaic Studies at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. Ed. Leonard Ehrlich et al. Amherst: Department of Judaic and Near Eastern Studies, University of Massachusetts Amherst, 2004. 179-211.
Rodríguez de Montalvo, Garci. Amadís de Gaula. Madrid: Cátedra, 1987.
—. Sergas de Esplandían. Ed. Carlos Sainz de la Maza. Madrid: Castalia, 2003.
Tate, Robert Brian. Ensayos sobre la historiografía peninsular del siglo XV. Madrid: Gredos, 1970.
This post was adapted from “Reading Amadís in Constantinople: the Sephardic as imperial abject,” a paper I gave at the 2011 UC Mediterranean Research Project Fall Workshop: “Mediterranean Empires” on 29 October 2011 at UCLA. [Workshop program] Thanks to the Seminar organizers for their hospitality and support.
Etiquetes de comentaris: Amadís de Gaula, David Wacks, djudeo-espanyol, judaisme, judeo-castellà, ladí, Sefarad
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Developing a Novel, Off-the-Shelf Vocal Cord Augmentation System
For decades, the medical and scientific community has looked for ways to repair damaged vocal cords through injectable agents. Current best practices involve the use of carboxymethylcellulose, hyaluronic acid or calcium hydroxylapatite (CaHA). However, these injectable agents do not provide permanent effects and typically carry the additional burden of requiring two people to perform the medialization procedure, thus adding to their cost.
A new injectable agent and injection device currently being investigated may eliminate these and other obstacles, according to a study published in The Laryngoscope. A novel vocal fold injectable that incorporated silk proteins was the brainchild a decade ago of Thomas L. Carroll, MD, of the Brigham and Women’s Hospital Division of Otolaryngology. A silk protein particle suspended in hyaluronic acid (Silk-HA) was subsequently developed by Medford, Massachusetts-based Sofregen Medical Inc. Carroll and Sofregen began a collaboration in 2016 to scientifically evaluate the novel material and co-authored the study.
In this small canine study, Silk-HA was found to provide medialization of the right vocal fold for a minimum duration of six months. It also remained at the injection site with no signs of migration. CaHA-based injectable agents unexpectedly migrated to tissues outside of the voice box and to tissues outside the neck, including lymph nodes. Such migration is likely to explain why surgeons occasionally encounter inflammation and other side effects with CaHA, as well as the need to perform unintended touch-up procedures.
“The Silk-HA particles are less likely to migrate because they are about 10 times the size of CaHA particles,” Dr. Carroll explained. “At the same time, it can be delivered through a small gauge needle, making it easy to inject.”
Dr. Carroll also noted that unlike stiff, solid CaHA particles, Silk-HA is more comparable to human tissue in terms of how it affects the deep vocal fold’s pliability. Silk-HA particles are also porous. This feature promotes collagen in-growth, which leads to the potential for permanent fibrosis, as demonstrated in a previous porcine study conducted by Dr. Carroll and colleagues at Sofregen, and published in the Journal of Voice.
“Even if the silk implant does not remain forever, there is potential for a lasting, long-term effect with Silk-HA,” Dr. Carroll said.
In addition to creating the new agent, Dr. Carroll co-developed a custom catheter-guided endoscopic delivery device in conjunction with Sofregen biomechanical engineers. The catheter, designed specifically for laryngoscopic delivery, can be inserted through an internal or external sheath channel of a flexible laryngoscope for more precise material placement by a single operator in the clinic or at the bedside under local anesthesia.
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The Life and Times of Bruce Gerencser
One Man's Journey From Eternity to Here
Dear Evangelical
Local Response
Why I Hate Jesus
Serial Adulterer David Hyles Receives a Warm Longview Baptist Temple Welcome
Bruce Gerencser October 28, 2013 0 Comments
Bob Gray Sr, Clergy Sexual Infidelity, David Hyles, Evangelicalism, First Baptist Church Hammond, Jack Hyles, Longview Baptist Temple, Sexual Predator
Jack Hyles, David Hyles, Jim Krall, World’s Greatest Men
Jack Hyles, the late pastor of First Baptist Church in Hammond, Indiana, had a son named David. David Hyles was the youth pastor at First Baptist. He later pastored, if I remember right, Miller Road Baptist Church in Garland, Texas. Miller Road was previously pastored by his father. David Hyles, like his father before him, and like his brother-in-law Jack Schaap, (see Chicago Magazine articles on Schaap) had a problem with keeping it in his pants. He was accused of having sex with girls/women at First Baptist Church, Miller Road Baptist Church and several of churches he attended after he could no longer find a church to pastor.
A post on Café Mom succinctly details the serial adultery and criminal behavior of David Hyles:
Jack’s son, Dave Hyles is famous for his perversions that his daddy attempted to help cover up.
Dave Hyles used to scream until his face went purple when I was teenager. Dave used to travel around the country and hold youth rallies where he would scream: “BE PURE! BE PURE!!!” I was a teen then but I always knew there was something ungodly in his rage.
Not too long after that, they found a suitcase in a dumpster in a church parking lot containing pictures of Dave Hyles and a woman (not his wife), both very much in the nude and in compromising positions. Of course Dave wasn’t removed from the ministry, just moved to a different church in a galaxy far far away. (Texas)
Then David Hyles was kicked out of that church for running around with lots of women. 19 to be exact!!
David Hyles ran off to Indiana with Brenda Stevens. (One of the women who was in those photographs with Dave Hyles found in that suitcase above.) Brenda Stevens had a young son, named Brent.
In late 1985, 15-month-old Brent was found dead in his crib. David Hyles, who had been alone with the child, claimed he found him not breathing, and called police. In reality Dave called his father Jack Hyles first. Jack Hyles was on the scene long before the police were called.
A coroner’s inquest into Brent’s death Dave Hyles exercised his Fifth Amendment rights. Brenda Stevens— the baby’s mother didn’t even attend the coroner’s inquest into the death of her own 15 month old son.
At this inquest, it was revealed the investigation was thwarted because the little boy had been embalmed and buried the very next day— Jack officiated, The boy was buried before a proper autopsy could be performed.
The little 15 month old had nine different broken bones in different stages of healing. The case remains open to this day.
Was Dave Hyles banned from the ministry even after all the above? Oh no. In the 1990′s Dave moved by daddy where Dave taught Sunday school at a Pinellas Park Baptist Church in Florida. He was kicked out of that church because of adultery.
Dave Hyles was then thrown out of the next church he attended (Berean Baptist Church in Orange Park, Florida), for “sexual misconduct” with three different women. One of those 3 women was the church secretary Joyce Phaneuf, who was arrested for prostitution in 2003. Joyce Phaneuf, her mug shot and arrest report — which notes the tattoo on her right-upper thigh, reading “David’s Girl.”
After all this, Dave Hyles finally married Brenda Stevens and the two had their own son who they named Jack David. In March 1999, Brenda Stevens said little 5 year old Jack David must have fallen out of her car, she didn’t know it, and she ran over her own son with her own car–killing him.
Of particular interest is David Hyles’ involvement with Joyce Phaneuf, the secretary at Berean Baptist Church. The following graphic, detailing Phaneuf’s tattoo, pretty well says it all.
You can read the complete police report at The Smoking Gun.
If you have not read my post, Serial Adulterer David Hyles Has Been Restored, I encourage you to so. It will provide a bit of context for what I am going to write next. Reading The Legacy of Jack Hyles might provide further context.
Dr. Bob Gray Sr. is pastor emeritus of Longview Baptist Temple, an Independent Fundamentalist Baptist (IFB) megachurch in Longview Texas. The Gray franchise is now pastored by Bob Gray, Jr. Bob Gray, Sr. prepared for the ministry at Hyles-Anderson College and is a stanch defender of all things Hyles. It should come as no surprise then that when David Hyles recently showed up at the Longview Baptist Temple, he was warmly received. A known serial adulterer, with a suspected criminal past, was given a warm welcome by Pastor Gray. (Junior I believe, since Senior was preaching in Grand Rapids, Michigan, on October 27th.) A person with a close connection to the Longview Baptist Temple emailed me about Hyles’ appearance at the church. This person, a committed Christian, knowing Hyles’ backstory, was rightly upset over Hyles being given a warm welcome.
Here is what I know about Bob Gray, Sr. Rather than being offended that a known serial adulterer, a PREDATORY abuser, and a suspected criminal, showed up at his church, he will be more offended that somebody dared to talk out of school. How dare someone report to an atheist what is going on the House that Bob Built!
This is a reminder to me that there are still decent, good people who attend IFB churches. I don’t understand why they still attend these kind of churches, but they do (and the reasons may be things like fear, family, social connection). These good people rightly understand the indecency of giving a man like David Hyles one moment of respect. They rightly understand that the only place for David Hyles is back under the rock he crawled out from under.
Until David Hyles makes a full and public confession of his “sins” — which he will NEVER do because of possible criminal liability — he should not be allowed to step foot in a church. David Hyles left behind a trail of broken lives, women whose lives were ruined by a man of God why preyed on them. How can men like Bob Gray not understand this?
Dr. Bob Gray, Sr. obsesses over blogs such as this one. As a controlling egomaniac, he is outraged that he can’t control the story line. He will take to his blog to express his unrighteous outrage, but his actions will be for nothing. Thousands more people will read this blog post than will ever read Gray’s blog, Solve Church Problems. Those of us who make it our business to expose what goes on in IFB churches can’t be silenced. Prayers that God kills us go unanswered and people, good Christian people, continue to share what is really going on in places like the Longview Baptist Temple.
We are on to you, Dr. Bob.
Perhaps Gray, Sr. was paving the way for what took place at Longview on Sunday with the following post on his blog:
…No one is perfect; we are all dirty scoundrels. We have all offended and mistreated other people. If all of us seek vengeance towards those who have mistreated us, we will all be in trouble. If you continue to hold bitterness in your heart towards someone, you will never find happiness. You will die young because of hatred and bitterness. Instead, you should realize God has forgiven you of far greater sins than the sins people have committed against you. If He can forgive you, then surely you can forgive other people.
Once you have enjoyed the sunset of forgiveness, you will never again enjoy the sunset of vengeance. Once you have tasted the sweetness of forgiveness, once you have bathed in the sunlight of restitution, once you have eaten from the table of heavenly manna, love, and kindness, you will never be satisfied with hatred.
It is not my job to seek vengeance – that is God’s responsibility. I do not know how to play the organ; the organist knows how to do it, and that is her responsibility. I do not know how to play the piano or sing; we have pianists and musicians to do that. If I were to walk into church one day and try to play the piano or organ, I would fail at it. I do not have the training. By the same token, it is not my responsibility to seek vengeance. That is God’s responsibility.
There is a difference between my vengeance and His vengeance. My vengeance is destructive; I want to destroy a person. God’s vengeance seeks to catch a person’s attention so He can salvage him. I am incapable of properly seeking vengeance just as I am incapable of playing the piano properly.
My job is to forgive. It is not Christ-like to be forgiven, because Christ never sinned. On the other hand, it is Christ-like to forgive. If someone treats me wrong and I forgive him, I am being Christ-like…
Gray seems to not understand that forgiveness requires confession and repentance. In David Hyles’ case, public sin requires public confession and repentance. Until this is done, there is no reason for anyone to forgive David Hyles. I am content to leave the forgiving to God; however, in THIS life, his victims deserve seeing David Hyles shamefully confessing his “sins.” Perhaps, in some small way, this would allow them to come to terms with what happened to them and they can find peace. There are wounds that time often does not heal. Sexual wounds fall into that category. If Dr. Bob Gray Sr. really wants to do good, he will demand David Hyles come clean about his past. He will also demand that he make restitution wherever possible.
Of course, Dr. Bob won’t do this. The ONLY thing he is concerned about is…who told?
I trust the person who sent me this news. I treat these reports like TMZ. I reserve the right to amend the story if further details are made known. If you know anything about David Hyles being at the Longview Baptist Temple, please let me know.
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Bruce Gerencser
Bruce Gerencser, 62, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 41 years. He and his wife have six grown children and twelve grandchildren. Bruce pastored Evangelical churches for twenty-five years in Ohio, Texas, and Michigan. Bruce left the ministry in 2005, and in 2008 he left Christianity. Bruce is now a humanist and an atheist.
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Staff Health| Communication
Fattening Up Your Fellow Church Staff Member for the Kill
Dec 22, 2018 4:28:43 AM
It all started innocently enough.
A young bride starts planning her wedding. She asks her two sisters to be her bridesmaids.
Everyone is excited.
But deep down, there is jealousy and resentment in the heart of the bride. Listen to how she describes her two sisters:
My eldest sister Maggie has always been the disciplined and serious one. She’s a high school music teacher and everyone loves her. She’s always had this air of smug about her, like she’s got the world figured out. She was deadset jealous that I was getting married before her, I could tell.
My younger sister Charlie is fun and flirty. All guys fall in love with her but she complains that they don’t take her seriously. She’s an artist and children’s book illustrator who works from home. She says she never wants to get married.
And then, how she describer herself:
Both of my sisters are gorgeous. I mean, stunning. I always felt like Jan Brady in the middle – I wasn’t as hot and popular as my older sister and I wasn’t as cute and fun as my younger sister. I was just Penny in the middle. But I found a man who loved me for me and I couldn’t be happier.
So, "Penny" (who details her sneaky plan), decides that she will do all she can to be the center of attention on her wedding day.
She first picks her bridesmaid's dresses: neon yellow. She told her sisters she was going for a 'party look' but deep down she said she was thrilled that the dresses made her sisters look 'washed out and slightly ill'.
But that's not all. She started making her sisters a special breakfast 'smoothie' every morning. She told them that she wanted them to be healthy and fit for the wedding so she was using a special weight loss powder in the smoothies. (In fact, she was using a weight-GAIN powder she had found at a local fitness store.) All the while, she was making hers with coconut water and fruit.
The plot worked. Both sisters needed to have their dresses altered before the wedding. And the bride looked great.
That's a nasty story.
But this 'fattening up your sister' story happens a lot in the church.
It's called covering your butt.
Sometimes we call it 'throwing someone under the bus'.
It's really a way to put the blame on someone else... to make someone (other than yourself) look bad, while you come out looking like a pretty, slim bride.
Perhaps you've been thrown under the bus. (Most ministry people I've talked to have been run over a time or two.)
But maybe... this week... you're the driver of the bus. Outwardly nice and following all the rules. But behind the scenes, ever so manipulatively and slyly, working a situation that makes you look good when someone else fails.
Deep down, we know when we're doing this to someone else.
It's time to soul search.
Do you need to re-align your relationship with another staff member? Here are some questions to ask yourself today:
Do I secretly wish for this person to fail?
Am I willing to help this person so that they DON'T fail?
Am I setting myself up to be the savior when they DO fail?
We've got to stop 'fattening up our sisters' on our church staff teams.
And it starts with you.
And it starts with me.
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Lonely Pastors... Everywhere
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Modern EDC Slipjoints
December 18, 2018 / Tim / 0 Comments
If you don’t have a tactical folder that can hold the weight of a car, do you really have a functional knife?
Yes! The truth is for countless years people have successfully used nonlocking folders for all kinds of jobs. In fact, in more recent years, companies have started making slipjoint knives you can carry as an EDC folder.
While these knives aren’t something you’d want to baton with (get a fixed blade for that unless you’re Advanced Knife Bro), nonlocking folders are a great option for an EDC. You don’t have to settle for an old Case knife either (not that there’s anything wrong with that). You can now get a modern-looking slipjoint that uses higher end materials.
Here are some of the best modern EDC slipjoints currently available.
Byrd Tern
Unfortunately, Spyderco recently did away with many of its best slipjoint models — such as the Pingo and the PITS. OK, so the PITS isn’t really a slipjoint, but it’s still a nonlocking folder. However, the sub brand of Spyderco called Byrd Knives has an inexpensive slipjoint called the Tern that features a modern look.
The knife is essentially a cheaper version of the UK Penknife.
SOG Terminus
A few years back, SOG took on the slipjoint with a couple of new models. One of its best was the Terminus (not to be confused with the newer Terminus XR with a lock). Although the tactical slipjoint seems like an oxymoron, the knife works surprisingly well as an EDC. It has a 3-inch BD1 blade with G10 handle scales.
Spartan Nymph
In 2014, Spartan Knives won the Most Innovative American Design of the Year award at Blade Show for an interesting new design — an integral slipjoint. It has a frame that works as a spring and pulls the blade open or closed. On top of that, it uses quality materials like S35VN steel and titanium handles.
It’s pretty pricey at $220, but you get a cool design and good materials.
Lansky World Legal
Knife laws around the world are why we have so many slipjoint models. Take the World Legal from Lansky, for example. Designed by Mikkel Willumsen, the World Legal can be carried nearly anywhere in the world, thanks to its 2.75-inch nonlocking blade. It doesn’t look like your traditional slipjoint either.
Benchmade Proper
The Proper is an example of a newer slipjoint that borrows off the designs of the past while upgrading materials. This modern take on the classics has an S30V blade with a nail nick and either G10 or Micarta scales. What really separates this is the ability to take it apart without much effort — something few traditionals allow.
Victorinox Electrician
OK, I had to sneak this on the list. Although the Victorinox Swiss Army Knife is an ancient design, it remains a good option for a more modern EDC. How? The use of Alox scales gives it a modern look that most people don’t picture when you say Swiss Army Knife. The Electrician is an amazing version of the SAK tool.
Spyderco Roadie
What in the world is this knife? This modern slipjoint was actually born out of the abandoned policy that would have allowed some folders on airplanes. But this little folder captured the hearts of many knife enthusiasts so Spyderco kept it around. It has a 2.09-inch blade and FRN scales while coming in at a mere ounce.
Similar to most Spyderco models, there aren’t many knives that look like this.
Chris Reeve Impinda
A lot of renowned companies and knifemakers have dipped their toes in the slipjoint waters recently, including Chris Reeve Knives. CRK won the American Made Knife of the Year award at the 2018 Blade Show with the Impinda slipjoint. Designed in collaboration with William H. Harsey, the Impinda is a sleek and sexy knife that embodies the CRK ethos.
It has a 3.1-inch S35VN blade and titanium scales. It’s smooth as butter but goes for — brace yourself — $450.
Boker Chad Los Banos XS
Chad Los Banos makes a bunch of slipjoint knives for Boker, but one of the best modern models is the Boker Plus XS. It has a 3.1-inch 440C blade with a G-10 handle, one-handed opening thumb stud, and pocket clip.
Quiet Carry The West
Quiet Carry is a lesser-known brand from Costa Mesa — a stones throw away from where I’m typing this. The small brand has been making a name for itself with interesting and diverse designs, including The West.
The West is a good-looking modern slipjoint folder with a minimalist design. It has a 2.5-inch D2 steel blade, titanium handle, and pocket clip.
Kizer Zipslip
Kizer — probably best known for making titanium frame lock folders — also ventured into the slipjoint arena with the Zipslip. The Zipslip is designed by Michael Vagnino and Tom Ferry and uses the Everflush backbar that apparently makes it easier to open and close with one hand.
This knife is just a well-designed knife with good materials such as an S35VN blade and titanium handles. The Zipslip is not too pricey at around $115, and it’s a very different knife that few others have done.
Cold Steel Lucky One
The Lucky is an interesting knife because it’s not what you picture from Cold Steel. It’s a more muted and modern gentleman’s folder. The One has a single S35VN blade while the Two has a plan and serrated blade. This is a slipjoint with carbon fiber handle scales.
Hinderer Slippy
Rick Hinderer is best known for his tactical knives and design, including those for Kershaw. But, Hinderer did something out of character and made a slipjoint called the Slippy. It looks similar to the XM-18 but doesn’t have a lock.
It has a 3-inch 20CV blade and G-10 scales of your choosing. The Slippy has gotten good reviews from people who wanted a Hinderer without the legal issues sometimes presented by the lock. You get a Hinderer price tag at $275 though.
Lionsteel Roundhead
The Lionsteel Roundhead made the rounds among knife nuts as a solid new traditional with good materials. There are a few problems with the grinds and occasional missteps in the quality, but the Roundhead is a great update on the traditional folder. These were the product of a limited run, so I’m not sure how widely available these are.
Boker Plus Worldwide
The Worldwide is another folder from Chad Los Banos and Boker Plus. Unlike the XS, this one is more in line with the World Legal. It doesn’t have a one-handed opening mechanism, but it has a nail nick on the 2.7-inch blade. It also has G-10 handle scales and a pocket clip.
Condor Bushcraft Basic Knife – Badass Knife of the Week
SOG Pent Arc – Badass Knife of the Week
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Paul McCartney and Nancy Shevell to wed this weekend?
By Laurie I on September 14, 2011 at 1:27 PM
Judy Eddy/WENN.com
Paul McCartney has put gossip bloggers and paparazzi on high alert amid reports he is set to wed fiancee Nancy Shevell at his English farmhouse this weekend.
The Beatles legend, 69, proposed to New York socialite Shevell, 51, in May after four years together, and they have been rumored to be planning to exchange vows later this year.
The latest reports suggest the couple will become man and wife in an intimate ceremony at McCartney’s Sussex, England retreat within days.
A source tells Us Weekly magazine, “It will be a small, intimate wedding. It’s going to be very elegant and classic.”
The couple is also said to be organizing a second party in the Big Apple following the farmhouse celebration.
The insider adds, “They are having a big party in New York to celebrate later on.”
A representative for McCartney has declined to comment on the wedding speculation.
The nuptials to Shevell will be McCartney’s third. His first wife, Linda, died in 1998 and his second marriage to Heather Mills ended in divorce in 2008.
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MPR News Notes on the news from the Twin Cities
Community College launches food shelf
Julie Siple August 29, 2012, 8:00 AM Aug 29, 2012
Starting next week, North Hennepin Community College in Brooklyn Park will offer its students something new: free food.
The idea for the Food Cupboard came from two students who conducted an informal survey as part of a class project, said Service Learning Director Troy Nellis, who will run the food shelf.
“They found that there was a great need at the campus,” said Nellis. “We as a campus always knew that there was an under-served population here. We have a lot of first-generation students and a lot of low-income students.”
Nearly 67 percent of the 12,000 students who attend North Hennepin are low-income, according to the college.
“Our population, at least from what we’ve understood, are often pursuing degrees but trying to juggle families and part-time jobs,” said Nellis.
Volunteer students, faculty and staff will help run the Food Cupboard, which will be open three days a week, offering primarily non-perishable items. It will be located in a discreet area of the campus, said Nellis.
“We have had a concern, a worry that maybe people will feel vulnerable, maybe concerned about having to seek out the food,” said Nellis. “Our intent was to be sure that we were in a spot that was not in an area where people can easily be seen… and (students) could kind of come in and out, and not have that exposure.”
Education Food
‹ Older Political expression at the fair: crop art & drink spitting?
Newer › Two men charged for allegedly stealing $24K at the Minnesota State Fair
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Julie Siple
jsiple@mpr.org
Julie Siple is a reporter covering hunger and related issues for MPR News. Previously, she produced MPR’s Midday and Morning Edition and was a founding producer of In The Loop.
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B Noir Detour
Sinatra Centennial Blogathon: Suddenly
Movie Classics and The Vintage Cameo came up with the excellent idea of honoring Frank Sinatra’s Centennial with a Blogathon. For many fans, past and present, Sinatra deserves the commemoration and appreciation. For a noir blog, though, there are major limits to tribute options. And for me, this is all complicated by my not much liking Sinatra’s singing, acting, or persona.
Before I get to the film on which this post will focus, I do want to share my affection for a short end-of-war propaganda film made to oppose antisemitism. Sinatra plays himself, teaching a bunch of kids a lesson about patriotism as he stops them from bullying a Jewish boy. He sings a song that shares its title with the film, “The House I Live In,” about how the United States is a family and we must live together in peace and harmony, across differences. The difference is religion and not race or other aspects of identity or culture, made obvious by the fact that the kids are all white and the only reference to race is a line by Sinatra about bombing those “Japs.”
The song, by contrast, does address race, including a line about appreciating one’s neighbors, “black and white.” But that line and its verse were removed from the film. The composer (music and lyrics) is Abel Meeropol (a.k.a. Lewis Allen), a Jewish American teacher and socialist activist. He’s also the writer of “Strange Fruit,” a song about lynching made famous by Billie Holliday. Meeropol’s sons (the children of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg that he adopted after their parents were given the death penalty for treason) state that when Meeropol went to see the film and found the verse missing, he leapt up from his seat shouting “Shit, shit! They ruined it! They ruined my song!” and was escorted from the theater.
“The House I Live In” received an Honorary Academy Award and a special Golden Globe in 1946. In 2007, it was selected for preservation in the US National Film Registry. Sinatra was proud of his participation, and he sang the song repeatedly over his career. (Patti LaBelle did an amazing rendition for Sinatra’s 80th birthday celebration.)
But enough with anecdotes. Let’s get to the noir.
The single noir film in which Frank Sinatra starred is 1954’s Suddenly. He plays a sociopathic assassin, leader of a small team hired to kill the President as a train carries him through a small town called Suddenly. The film is a tense ride, with Sinatra facing off against Sterling Hayden as the honorable sheriff, and terrorizing a family when he takes over their little house on the hill to set up his weapons. Nancy Gates plays a widowed mother, grown cynical since her husband was killed in WWII. James Gleason is her proud and wily father, and Kim Charney plays her spunky son “Pidge.” (It is amazing Sinatra doesn’t just shoot the mouthy boy about halfway through the film, though he does threaten.)
The film was directed by Lewis Allen–but not the one who wrote “The House I Live In.” After Suddenly, Allen directed A Bullet for Joey, Edward G. Robinson’s last noir, also featuring George Raft. But mostly, he is a director known for television work, from westerns including The Rifleman and Bonanza to Perry Mason and Mission: Impossible.
What makes the film memorable, especially for Sinatra fans, is the actor’s intensity. The character is a mess, and Sinatra brings him to life. He lies about his war experience, brags about his ruthlessness, and gives a crazy glare that even Richard Widmark would applaud.
So, though I cannot say I’m a “fan,” I do respect Sinatra’s performance in Suddenly, a post-war noir that lets Old Blue Eyes play the other side of the patriotic coin, and play it well.
My playground for reviews and considerations of mostly classic, noir cinema. You'll also find Blogathon posts and whatever else takes my fancy. I'm also @BNoirDetour on Twitter, and I host weekly livetweets of film noir that we all chat about and riff via tweets while watching the film via YouTube, archive.org, and other free sites. Join us!
10 thoughts on “Sinatra Centennial Blogathon: Suddenly”
Summer Reeves
Excellent pick, this is Sinatra’s other great acting gig! I vacillated between this and The Manchurian Candidate, but I am really glad I left the noir for you!
BNoirDetour
Many thanks for letting me write on Suddenly! And for your praise.
Sinatra really burns the screen up in Suddenly – your description of his intensity is spot on. Many thanks for supporting the blogathon and for picking one of his great performances.
Happy to contribute. Glad you enjoyed the post.
Ooh, this sounds really, REALLY great. And I see it’s on YouTube. Thanks for recommending – I have it bookmarked to watch later.
Definitely a good noir!
Patricia Nolan-Hall (@CaftanWoman)
“Suddenly” may be the noir I’ve seen more than any other because it used to pop up on local television with alarming regularity. The first time it was “wow”. The second time it was “hey, it’s that movie!” and after that it was “good ol’ Suddenly”.
It is in the public domain, I believe. A rare find for Sinatra fans.
Sinatra Centennial Blogathon Day 2 Round-up | Movie classics
Announcing the Sinatra Centennial Blogathon | Movie classics
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Riot has made its toxic 50/50 matchmaking into the biggest determinant of winning or losing a game.
BayoNX19 (NA)
Maybe there was once a time where a single player could carry through their lane alone. Those days are dead. Now, all it takes is a bad player to COST a team the game. Bad players have more of an impact than good players ever will. You give a team a yi that consistently goes 4/10 and loses games? Well if everyone else doesn't absolutely destroy their lane, they're going to lose. But riot doesn't care. It's a "team" game, and whichever team has the weakest link loses. Simple as that. Look at esports too. You don't hear about one player CARRYING the game, you hear about the one person on the losing team COSTING the game. It's a terrible system.
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For Richer or Poorer: The capture of growth and politics in emerging economies
Uploaded by Oxfam
The emerging economies Brazil, China, India, Indonesia, Mexico, Russia, South Africa and Turkey – in short, the BRICSAMIT – have come to be considered the economic powerhouses of recent decades. Not only have these countries managed to reduce poverty
saveSave For Richer or Poorer: The capture of growth and po... For Later
THE CAPTURE OF GROWTH AND
POLITICS IN EMERGING ECONOMIES
Alice Krozeris a Doctoral Researcher at the Centre of Development Studies at the
University of Cambridge, where her research and teaching focus on questions of income
distribution and multi-dimensional inequalities.She has beenconsultant for the UN
Economic Commission for Latin America,Political Advisor to the Austrian Embassy in
Mexico, researcher at the Interdisciplinary Centre for the Study of Public Policy in
Argentina, as well as development practitioner in several Latin American countries.
Many people have helped improve this report throughout the different stages of the
research and writing process. I would like to thank particularly Gianandrea Nelli,
Meryem Aslan, Mariano De Donatis, Adhemar Mineiro, Pooja Parvati,Daria Ukho-
va,Nick Galasso, Urvashi Sarkar, Darmawan Triwibowo, Sugeng Bahagijo, Kevin Mei,
Chen Wu, Sibulele Poswayo, Carolina Maldonado, Rocio Stevens and Brisa Ceccon for
their most valuable comments. Many thanks also to Daniel Hernandez for the
wonderful graphic design, and Jane Garton for her excellent text editing. A very
special thanks to Thomas Dunmore Rodriguez, without whom this report would not
exist, for his kind support, constructive feedback and great enthusiasm from begin-
ning to end of the project.
As a coalition of civil society networks from Brazil, China, India, Indonesia, Mexico,
Russia and South Africa, our aim is to ensure the voices of poor and marginalized
people in our countries are taken into account inglobal policy-making processes. We
encourage others leaders and governments from our nations, businesses, academ-
ics and fellow citizens to join us in taking a stand on the issue of inequality and the
negative impact it has on society.
Cover photo:
India, Mumbai, Maharashtra. A modern office building being constructed behind an old crumbling residential area (2011).
Fredrik Naumann/ Panos Pictures
This publication has been produced with the assistance of the European Union. The
contents of this publication are the sole responsibility of the authors and can in no way
be taken to reflect the views of the European Union.
This report has been developed with the assistance of Oxfam in order to share research
results and to contribute to debate on development and humanitarian policy and
practice. The content and views expressed in this report are the responsibility of the
author and do not necessarily represent the views of Oxfam.
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 4
1. THE NEED TO TACKLE INEQUALITY IN THE BRICSAMIT COUNTRIES 6
2. MAPPING ECONOMIC INEQUALITY IN THE BRICSAMIT COUNTRIES 12
3. THE VICIOUS CIRCLE OF ECONOMIC AND POLITICAL POWER 26
4. THE HIGH COSTS OF INEQUALITY 35
5. FIRST STEPS TO ADDRESS INEQUALITY IN THE BRICSAMIT COUNTRIES 43
Children play around a waste
water canal, Masephomolele
township, Cape Town. (2014)
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Zed Nelson/ Oxfam
The emerging economies Brazil, Russia, India, China,South Africa, Mexico, Indonesia
and Turkey henceforth the BRICSAMIT have come to beconsidered the economic
powerhouses of recent decades, fostering a narrative of the growth of the South.Not
only have these countries managed toreduce extreme poverty; most have embarked
on a steep economic growth path andplay an increasingly inuential role on
theglobal scene. But an emphasison growth masks another, worrying trend. Today,
all eight BRICSAMIT countriesoccupy the top ranks as some ofthe most unequal
countries inthe world. The price these countries andmillions of their citizens pay
for thisis high. Excessive inequality hampers development prospects: negatively
impacting growth potential, threatening poverty reduction,leading to mass migra-
tion ows and brain drain, and reducing opportunities for young people.
Inequality affectsall aspectsof a persons life andlife chances, from health and
education to living environment and prospects forold age. Extreme inequality
perpetuates high levels of violence and crime, fuels mistrust and undermines social
cohesion. It is now clear that the gains of economic growth in the BRICSAMIT have
been captured by the very richest. Fortunes have been made by large corporations
engaged primarily in theextractives, agribusiness, infrastructure, media and telecom-
munications sectors. The capture ofpower by economic elites, including companies,
drives inequality by ensuring the rules remain rigged infavour of the rich, whogrow
increasingly inuential.
This concentration of wealth and power in the hands of the few is clearly at the
expense of the many. It reinforces existing social structures, perpetuating inequality
and excluding millions of people from an equitable share in prosperity. Despite the
growth in thesenext-generation economic miracles, more than 2.3 billion people in
the BRICSAMIT are still living on less than U$5 a day. Civil society organizations have
long understood that inequality is abarrier to development. This is at last becoming
more widely recognized, as thelong-held theoryof the trickle down of wealth as
countries grow richer fails to become areality.Yet measures to tackle extreme
inequality are not high on the political agenda in most emerging economies; or are
effectively blocked by an alliance of the economic and political elites who have little
interest in changing the status quo.
This research paper which was commissioned by civil society networks across the
BRICSAMIT countries aims to increase the urgency to tackle the structural causes of
inequality by shedding light on the nature and scope of the issue in these countries,
and the economic, political and social consequences they are now facing as a result. It
looks at the conditions that enabled the rise of the super-rich and how political and
media capture by this elite is undermining democracy and thwarting most attempts
to reduce inequality. The paper concludes with recommendations of ways in which
growth and development could be usedto make our societies more equal.
Whilst we welcome the sustainable development goal related to reducing inequality,
we urge governments and leaders torecognize that reducing inequality is a deeply
political undertaking by which the vested interests of the existing elites will needto
be challenged. If developmental goals such as equal rights for all and an end to
poverty and gender discrimination are to be achieved, the debate must shift away
from growth at all costs to focus on achieving greater equality.
A regular day at a primary
health centre in Patna district,
Bihar, India (2015)
1. THE NEED TO TACKLE
Srikanth Kolari/ Oxfam India
INEQUALITY IN THE
BRICSAMIT COUNTRIES
The BRICSAMIT countries have come to be considered the economic powerhouses of
the past decades, fostering a narrative of the forthcoming rise of the South. Not only
have they managed to reduce poverty; most have embarked on a steep economic
growth path. Their sheer physical and population size, share in world GDP, growing
political influence, economic weight, desire to expand activity on the world markets,
etc. have made the BRICSAMIT countries grow increasingly influential and increas-
ingly unequal.
However, inequality has largely been neglected in the developmental discourse of the
emerging economies, because it has generally not been perceived as an impediment
to development. As such, the mainstream economic theory of the past decades
predicted that once a course of economic growth was set upon, countries would
automatically grow their way out of poverty. The more productive parts of society
were to receive higher incomes first, so that the process of economic catching-up
with developed countriesi would come at an initially increasing level of inequality.
i The term developed countries is used throughout the report to describe wealthy industrialized nations
which rank high on the HDI index. Usage of this term is to facilitate comparison with other groups of
countries, such as the BRICSAMIT countries, and should not be understood as a statement on the
desirability of specific countries developmental model.
However so the theory goes this wealth accumulated in the high end of the
income distribution would later trickle down through the social strata to the remain-
der of the population. Eventually, then, this would raise living standards for all, at
which point inequality would start falling again. All in all, therefore, growth would be
progressive over time, and temporarily high inequality seemed like a fair price to pay
for future prosperity.1
Rising GDP and per capita incomes in the exemplary BRICSAMIT countries were thus
expected to lead them to leave behind characteristically high disparities, thanks to
this trickle-down effect. The countries certainly did well on the growth account
(although recent years have seen growth slowing down, particularly in Mexico and
Brazil, and now also in China). However, they lagged behind in terms of tackling
inequality: when the now-developed countries had income levels comparable to
current emerging economies levels, they were less unequal.2 Today, the BRICSAMIT
countries have long surpassed the income thresholds where inequality started
decreasing in developed countries, yet they are still waiting for such a turn in their
own trends. Even trends in poverty reduction are less clear for some of them; for
instance, according to the most recent figures, poverty levels have been increasing
again in Mexico. In fact, today all of the BRICSAMIT countries are among the most
unequal in the world by at least one or more indicators:
South Africa is the country with the highest income-inequality levels by virtually
all indicators.3
India has the largest absolute number of poor people notwithstanding its
wealthy elite, which includes 22 members among the worlds 500 richest individ-
uals.4
China and Indonesia display some of the fastest-growing gaps between their
richest and poorest income earners.
In Brazil, the richest 5% of the population secure over 30% of total income, while
the poorest 10% only gain just above 1%.
Turkey occupies one of the lowest ranks in the Global Gender Gap Report 2013.5
In Mexico, indigenous peoples are almost four times as likely to live in extreme
poverty as non-indigenous,6 while the average income of rich individuals
amounts to 27 times that of the poor.
Russia is the country with the highest absolute wealth inequality in the world.
On top of these dimensions, spatial inequality is vast within all of the BRICSAMIT
countries, with developmental differences between richer (urban) and poorer (rural)
regions similar to those between Norway and Iraq.
The price the countries have to pay for these trends is devastating: excessive inequali-
ty severely hampers their development prospects. It not only negatively impacts their
growth potential but also threatens poverty reduction, leading to mass migration
flows and brain drain, limiting opportunities for youth and perpetuating high levels
of violence. Economic, social and political inequalities come to affect all aspects of life,
from health and education to legal protection, investment choices and social cohe-
sion. Under such circumstances, inequality in its multiple dimensions becomes
self-perpetuating and leads to a downward spiral of negative consequences from a
human development perspective.
Considering that these countries continue to be highly unequal despite their vast
growth and some important successes in extreme poverty reduction, calls into
question the discourse of inclusive growth and trickle-down of wealth promoted by
many economists. In fact, new data available today, which covers longer time spans
for most of the countries in the world, has challenged the general assumption of a
self-correcting distribution as countries grow richer.7 Growth in the BRICSAMIT
countries does not resemble a rising tide that lifts all boats. Yet despite this, the
pursuit of economic growth at all costs appears to continue unabated. Besides a lack
of interest on the part of a closely-intertwined economic and political elite who stand
to continue to gain from the status quo, this failure to act more decisively on inequali-
ty might also be based on the underestimation of both the actual levels of inequality,
and its consequences.
INEQUALITY IS A DECISIVE FACTOR IN DEVELOPMENT
This report therefore aims to shed some light on the actual scope of inequality in the
countries under consideration, as well as on the economic, social and political
consequences they are facing as a result. To this end, it examines the approach to
economic growth over recent decades, as well as the inequality dynamics characteriz-
ing the BRICSAMIT countries. The report considers how these dynamics are perpetu-
ated by two mutually constituting forces: on the one hand, the policies applied by
governments, which in themselves may be more or less progressive in intention and
outcome; and on the other, the particular institutional frameworks within which these
policies are embedded the set of rules and regulations shaped by a complex web of
interests within a country. One of the common features across these systems is the
rule-makers dependence on funds, at both the personal and institutional level, to
achieve objectives such as re-election and economic growth. This grants some elite
groups a privileged position to influence both the set-up of the institutional frame-
work and the specific policies enacted. The resulting inequality of power excludes
millions of people from an equitable share in prosperity, threatening the countries
development prospects.
As the political power of economic elites grows, the average citizens power to
actively shape significant policies decreases. The more visible causes and conse-
quences of the resulting inequalities manifest themselves in differentiated living
standards for citizens according to income, including in the realms of health, educa-
tion and life chances. They create two tiers of development in all aspects of life, where
the wealthy enjoy increasing levels of affluence that do not fall short of any high-in-
come group in the developed countries, while the lower income groups remain in
conditions of deprivation. All of this affects social cohesion and societal stability. A
mutually reinforcing circle of inequality is created where economic concentration
leads to political power, often reinforcing existing social structures, which increases
concentration of wealth and hence perpetuates inequality.
While economists have started to consider the question of how much (economic)
inequality a market can bear by exploring the links between inequality and growth,
the question of how much a society can bear has been somewhat neglected. Scruti-
nizing the current income and wealth polarization shows that this is far from a trivial
side-clause. Indeed, developmental goals such as equal rights for all, the fight
against poverty and gender discrimination, empowerment of disenfranchised groups
and individuals, and the right to a life free from violence are central to the debate on
inclusive growth and development.
COMMON FEATURES ACROSS A DIVERSE SET OF COUNTRIES
The BRICSAMIT comprise a diverse set of countries, and each of them merits a study in
its own right. Nonetheless, taken as a group, several common themes emerge in
terms of the impacts of their distributive policies on citizens well-being. One of the
central questions this report aims to address, against concerns about the quality of
life of the many in a high growth/high inequalities context, is thus: does this growth
imply (equal) increases in well-being for all citizens? Analyses of the developmental
status of the BRICSAMIT countries would be incomplete without looking at the
distribution of their gains, considering that, together, these eight countries host
almost half of the total world population (over 3.54 billion) and generate a quarter of
its GDP (US$18.8 trillion in 2013).
TABLE 1: BASIC COUNTRY INDICATORS 2014
Country Population GDP, US$ (bil- GDP/cap 2014 Government Public health
2013 (millions) lion) (US$) expenditure on expenditure (%
education of government
(% of GDP) expenditure
Russia 143.5 2,057.30 14,316.64 4.10 8.42
Brazil 200.4 2,244.13 11,067.48 6.35 6.93
Mexico 122.3 1,295.86 10,836.69 5.15 15.38
Turkey 74.9 813.32 10,518.29 2.86 10.74
China 1,357.4 10,355.35 7,572.36 1.91 12.63
South Africa 53.2 341.22 6,354.28 6.00 14.02
Indonesia 249.9 856.07 3,403.97 3.57 6.63
India 1,252.1 2,047.81 1,625.64 3.87 4.55
Source: Data from the World Bank (2015)8
The BRICSAMIT countries share an additional number of important features that
warrant a joint analysis. They all play an increasingly important role on the global
scene in an attempt to provide a counterweight to the developed countries domi-
nant power position. The fact that much of their growth in recent decades has been
appropriated by a narrow elite stems largely from the adoption of an inherently
unequalizing economic model. This includes the reliance on mega-infrastructure
projects, such as the Belo Monte and other large dam projects in Brazil, high-speed
railways in India and Mexico, or even the FIFA World Cups in Brazil (2014), South Africa
(2010) and Russia (2018), which drive country growth while generating benefits
mainly for a small number of individuals and corporations, often with serious negative
consequences for the environment and poor people. Alongside this is extractive
industry growth such as the extensive mining operations in South Africa and Indone-
sia; and agribusiness attached to huge landowners, for example the eucalyptus,
sugarcane and soy mass monocultures in Brazil, popularly known as green deserts.
Finally, it relies on the large-scale privatization of both natural resource companies
and services such as telecommunications, initiated during the economic and/or
political transitions of the 1980s and 1990s.
The hope that came with the idea of transition from any one political-economic
system to another, which all of the countries experienced then, has now given way to
popular disillusion in many cases. Instead of a supposedly benevolent elite that would
share gains voluntarily, a majority of citizens in emerging countries believe that their
economic system unduly favours the wealthy, who, rather than looking out for the
greater good, are mainly concerned with their personal privileges.9
High-inequality countries more generally share a number of characteristics, including
direct links between income divergence and high levels of violence, mass migrations,
public health hazards, and discrimination based on gender and ethnicity i.e. other
kinds of inequality can grow alongside any one income distribution. Understanding
the way these determinants relate to the political-economy and governance systems
across the countries in question might increase the urgency to tackle the inequality
problem, and hence form the basis for adequate recommendations to enable relevant
stakeholders to build a more equal society. Instead of assuming a fixed developmental
path automatically leading emerging countries towards developed countries success,
using their peer countries as a reference might be more suitable both to assess
where they are now and to consider where they might want to get to in the future.
The remainder of the report will be structured as follows: Section 2 briefly explores
the complex relationship between growth and inequality in the BRICSAMIT countries
and its impact on their state of development, before mapping the inequalities in
income and wealth in each country. Section 3 links the findings to mechanisms of
elite capture and identifies some key institutions that perpetuate elite privilege.
Section 4 outlines the impact of social inequalities e.g. in health and education, and
how they decrease opportunities on the personal or group level, based on the
coexistence and mutual dependency of the multiple inequalities observed. The report
concludes by sketching out a way forward in the countries considered, in Section 5.
Next Page: Leonard Kufeketa, 39,
in Parkhurst, an expensive
suburb of Johannesburg.Things
are changing in South Africa for
the worst. The public schools are
no good. Those in the
government, they are very rich,
the rest of us are poor. (2014)
Zed Nelson/ Oxfam
2. MAPPING ECONOMIC
Joko Widodo, newly elected president of Indonesia, recently proclaimed that a
dangerous level of inequality was threatening his country: Economic growth is very
important for my administration, for my people, but its more important to narrow the
gap, he said on 2 February 2015.10 Indias Narendra Modi, on the other hand, pro-
claimed in July 2014 that, Economic policy has often to strike a delicate balance
between the two goals of economic growth and human welfare which need not
necessarily be contradictory.11 Thus, although inequality has at least started to enter
the political narrative of leaders in their policy design and implementation processes,
addressing inequality still does not constitute the central focus of economic policies
in all of these countries.
Globally, there is increasing acknowledgement of the negative impact of inequality
on growth.12 Various factors may forge such a link: for instance, as the distance
between the rich and poor grows, the lack of trust in institutions (such as the banking
system, rule of law, or property rights enforcement) may lead to higher non-institu-
tional savings and thus lower investment rates. Suboptimal investments, including in
human capital by individuals who are unable to pay for expensive education and
training, would lower potential output. Decreasing shares of total income going to
low wage earners might increase industrial action such as strikes, again lowering
economic output. Perceived high levels of violence and crime may deter companies
from investing in productive capacity and enhance speculation. The social and
economic instability that comes with stark disparities can increase the frequency and
depth of crises leading to erratic growth and losses, and increasing the possibility of
political instability, which in turn further feeds social distrust.
GROWTH FOR WHOM?
It is important to distinguish between means and ends in the evaluation of economic
development. Growth has no inherent benefit if it fails to achieve increased well-being
for the majority of a countrys citizens. Inequality, on the other hand, has an intrinsic
negative value: it is exclusionary, preventing some groups of society from realizing
their full potential and rights in social, political and economic life. An inequality
debate solely focused around the objective of achieving growth will limit understand-
ing of the negative consequences that large disparities have on all aspects of society.
The BRICSAMIT countries have experienced prolonged periods of economic growth
combined with rising inequality during recent decades. Hence, increasing inequality
does not necessarily preclude growth rates at times exceeding double-digit levels in
China and India, and reaching around 9% in 2010 and 2011 in Turkey.13
The mere existence of growth gives no indication of who benefits from it. Instead of
an overall process of developmental improvements, two-speed progress can be
observed within the BRICSAMIT countries, where large parts of the population are
consistently losing out under the current economic and political set-up.
Several developments testify to this process of two-speed development and the
widening of inequality. Firstly, over the last decade, the share of total incomes derived
from capital has been on a steady rise in many of the countries, while the share of
total incomes from labour fell below its levels two decades ago, as shown in Figure 1
for Turkey and Mexico; similar trends are documented for China and India.14
FIGURE 1: FACTORAL INEQUALITY INCREASES IN THE BRICSAMIT COUNTRIES DUE TO SHRINKING
LABOUR AND GROWING CAPITAL SHARES, 1990-2011
80 Capital Share Turkey
Capital Share Mexico
Labor Share Turkey
Percentage of total GDP
Labor share Mexico
Source: Data from ILOSTAT (2015)15
This puts the BRICSAMIT countries into a difficult position: instead of functioning as
an engine for fair and equitable increase in well-being among the masses, their
macroeconomic progress increasingly benefits primarily those who receive capital
gains as opposed to income from labour. Except for a small elite, most people in-
cluding even relatively high-income groups earn by far the largest part of their
income from labour.16 This makes the distribution of capital incomes by definition
more unequal: in a context of economic growth it means that only a very few individ-
uals (i.e. those receiving their incomes from capital) have appropriated ever-larger
parts of total income, an unequalizing process that has accelerated over recent years.
POVERTY PERSISTS
Secondly, the persistence of poverty indicates the exclusion of an important part of
the population from the benefits of growth. There has been undeniable progress in
poverty reduction at the lowest income levels in most of the countries. As Figure 2
shows, while two decades ago all of the countries had about 50% or more of the
population living on less than $5 a day at purchasing power parity, today this is the
case only in half of these countries: India, Indonesia, China and South Africa.
However, vulnerability remains ubiquitous. In Mexico, 79.5% of the population live
either in poverty or vulnerability.17 World Bank data18 shows that in 2015 in India and
China alone, almost one billion people still live on less than US$2 a day. What is
more, the number of poor people living on less than US$5 a day, while falling
proportionally, has actually been on a significant rise in absolute terms in India and
Indonesia, where virtually the entire population except for a tiny economic elite
survive on incomes below this threshold. Altogether more than 2.3 billion people
(or over 65% of their combined populations) live on less than US$5 a day in the
BRICSAMIT countries, and close to 1.2 billion people in India alone.19
FIGURE 2: WHO WERE THE BOTTOM 40% TWENTY YEARS AGO? WHO ARE THEY NOW?
0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%
Percentage of total population
Extreme poor (less than $1.25 a day)
Poor (between $1.25-$2 a day)
Moderately poor (between $2-$5 a day)
Vulnerable, middle class and rich (more than $5 a day)
Source: Data from the World Bank (2015)20
Finally, the decoupling of average per capita incomes from what most people actually
earn in BRICSAMIT countries starkly illustrates who has been benefiting from growth. For
example, although the average disposable per capita income in Mexico is MXN$3,164 per
month, (approximately US$180 at the time of writing) half of the population earn less
than MXN$2,030.21 Thus, commonly quoted per capita income figures overestimate the
resources available to most people. This difference is even more pronounced when
considering wealth: for instance, in Indonesia, half of the population own less than
US$1,800 in assets, even though Credite Suisse estimates its average wealth at a level of
US$9,742.22 In South Africa, even fewer people reach the average wealth level of
US$22,073, with half of the populations actual wealth lying below US$4,007. In fact, in
South Africa and Indonesia, the median incomes lie below the minimum wage level,
which in turn represents only 60% and 65% of average wages, respectively.23
THE GROWING INCOME GAP
In those cases where the income gap was wide to begin with, the absolute gap between
peoples incomes continues to increase even when the incomes of the poorest grow
faster than those of the rich. Figure 3 shows that in Brazil, for instance, growth for the
poorest 40% was more than double that of the richest 5% between 2002 and 2011.
Nevertheless, the absolute difference between the average incomes of the poorest and
richest more than doubled, from BRL28,070 (US$8,000)24 in 2002 to BRL59,937
(US$17,200) in 2011. In China, where the poorest managed to multiply their incomes by
more than five during the same period, the gap between their incomes and those of the
richest 5% more than tripled, from CNY11,772 (US$1,840) to CNY40,354 (US$6,306). At
current growth rates for the poor and rich, it would still take more than 35 years for the
gap to start closing in China, and in Brazil it would not start shrinking until the year 2080.
In Indonesia, India and South Africa, the gap even increased in relative terms. Data from
Milanovic shows that in the latter, for instance, despite growth both at the bottom and at
the top, the poor saw their share diminish by around 3% while the top 5% increased
theirs by almost 7% between 2002 and 2011. If unaltered, in 20 years such dynamics
would leave the poorest 40% with a mere 2.2% share of total income, while that of the
richest 5% would have increased to 55.8%.
FIGURE 3: INCOME GROWTH AT THE BOTTOM AND TOP OF THE
DISTRIBUTION, 2002-2011
Poorest 40%
Richest 5%
Source: Data from Milanovic (2014)25 and (2015)26
Given this polarization and the trend of leaving entire population groups behind on
the road to prosperity, the tendency to treat inequality simply as a factor that might
slow down or harm the countrys growth prospects seriously downplays its negative
impacts. The degree of equality in the distribution of developmental gains has to
become the central objective for policy making if the well-being of citizens is a
concern.
Despite progress made on extreme poverty reduction, most of the worlds poor today
live in the BRICSAMIT countries. This contrasts sharply with the fact that these are by
no means poor countries. They not only host a growing number of the worlds richest
individuals as listed by Forbes (22 of the Top 100 in July 2015),27 but they are also
endowed with exceptional natural resources particularly energy resources such as
oil and gas large domestic markets and thriving international trade, making them
occupy the top ranks in the list of the worlds richest countries in terms of GDP. This
could in principle ensure considerable well-being for their entire populations. Instead,
encountering poverty amidst great wealth is becoming the norm in these countries.
ECONOMIC INEQUALITY TRENDS IN THE BRICSAMIT
Figure 4 compares the countries Gini coefficients (currently one of the most frequent-
ly used measures of inequality, despite its limitations)28 over the last three decades.
Although individual country trends differ notably, inequality on average rose across
the BRICSAMIT countries. With the exception of Turkey and Brazil, all of the countries
end up with comparatively higher Gini levels today than 30 years ago.
FIGURE 4: INEQUALITY IN THE BRICSAMIT COUNTRIES ACCORDING TO THE GINI COEFFICIENT, 1984-2012
As a result of this general tendency, the spectrum of Gini coefficients, which in the late
1980s ranged from 23.8 to 61.4, shrank to a space of 34 (India) to 65 (South Africa) by
the mid-2010s. This shows a convergence of inequality on a high level, meaning that
the countries are on average getting more unequal and more similar in their inequality
levels, including those countries which historically were less unequal. The Palma ratio30
corroborates this observation. With an increase at the top that outpaced the increase at
the bottom, the formerly less unequal countries are more unequal now, while the
formerly more unequal ones became even more unequal over the time considered.
In view of the still pervasive levels of poverty in the countries, how were the additional
resources from decades of fast GDP growth allocated across society particularly, how
did the most vulnerable parts of society fare?
While the 50% of the population which lies between the richest 10% and the poorest
40% holds on average about 50% of total income,31 the share of the richest 5% of the
population corresponds to more than double that of the poorest 40% in some of the
countries. On average, the shares these groups hold remained fairly constant through-
out the last decade, except for the slightly increasing share of the richest 5% (Figure 5).
FIGURE 5: INCOME SHARES BY POPULATION GROUP, 2002-2011
80% Second Richest 5%
Middle 50%
Share of total income
However, important distributional differences mark the individual countries. The only
countries with unambiguously equalizing shares throughout the period considered,
i.e. those where the poorests share is growing consistently while the richest 5%s share
is decreasing, are Brazil (albeit from a very low position) and, to a lesser degree, Turkey.
In all of the countries except India, the richest 5% alone earn a larger share than the
poorest 40% of the population. Yet even given this overall trend there are clear
differences between countries in terms of just how much of the share of income is
taken by the top: while the richest 10% account for about a third of total income in
Russia, China, Indonesia, Turkey and India, in South Africa they earn more than half,
followed closely by Brazil and Mexico.34
FIGURE 6: INCOME SHARES OF THE RICHEST AND POOREST, 1984-2011
50 Richest 10%
Income share (%)
CHINA RUSSIA
INDIA SOUTH AFRICA
INDONESIA TURKEY
An increasing share of the top is almost always accompanied and matched by a loss in
share for the most vulnerable part of the population, i.e. the trajectories of the rich
and poor groups in Figure 6 mirror each other (especially those starting from more
equal distributions). Given the context of economic growth in the countries, this
indicates that rich groups have been able to take advantage of growth benefits at the
cost of the poorer groups. Scrutinizing the share of the top income earners can shed
some light on the dynamics behind this pattern.
A CLOSER LOOK AT THE TOP ONE PERCENT
The top is in fact the most unequal income group of the entire distribution. It is also
the most difficult to get accurate data on. Somewhat reliable estimates as to the share
of total income that goes to the richest 1% of income earners only exist for India and
Indonesia up to 1999 and 2004, respectively, and for South Africa until 2011.37 Figures
for South Africa show that the share of those at the very top has been increasing
significantly, granting the richest 1% almost 17% of total income, up from around 8%
in the early 1980s (although levels have not reached their peak of close to 24% in
1946). Similar trends hold in India and Indonesia.38 Recent numbers for Mexico
suggest that it is currently one of the most unequal countries according to this
measure, allotting 21% of total income to just the richest 1%.39
FIGURE 7: INCOME SHARE OF THE RICHEST 1% IN SOUTH AFRICA, 1986-2010
Percentage of total income
Source: Data from World Top Incomes Database (2015)40
If the top is dissected into ever-smaller fractions, and each of these fractions is divided
into an upper and a lower half, the poorer half of the respective groups always has a
significantly smaller share compared to the richer one. This is concerning, as it means
that a focus on the richest 10% or even 5% as the top share falls short of capturing the
truly extraordinary differences hidden in the highest end, and further scrutiny as to
what is happening at the peak of the distribution will be necessary. This phenomenon
of fractal division means that, for instance, the South African top 0.1% just over
50,000 people held 4.8% of total income in 2010; the richer 25,000 of this small
group, however, appropriated close to 70% of this amount.
Where the increase of the top share is so large, proportionally other income groups
lose out. As Figure 5 has shown that the middle income groups share remains fairly
stable at around 50%, the loss must therefore occur at the bottom of the distribution.
This groups voice tends to be represented less in policy circles, due to several factors.
For instance, its lack of economic power means it has little exposure to networks and
connections that are close to and have influence on decision makers. These groups
also lack the resources to invest in professional lobbyists who could advocate their
interests. At the same time, the very diverse interests of the low income groups
further complicate advocacy dedicated to their concerns.
THE FAILURE OF TAX SYSTEMS TO REDRESS THE BALANCE
Government policies should and could increase the income share of the poor; one of
the most effective ways of doing so could be through reducing the income of the top
earners via progressive taxation. However, this is not currently an issue very high up
the public policy agenda in the BRICSAMIT countries. For one, the total amount of tax
collected is comparatively small: even the relatively high amount of 27.5% of GDP that
South Africa collects falls far short of the OECD average of 34%.41 All BRICSAMIT top
income-tax rates remain below the OECD average of 41.58%, with Russian top levels
of 13% at the low end.42
More generally, the BRICSAMIT countries rely on regressive indirect taxation over
potentially progressive direct taxes: in 2009, Brazil collected 12.9% of GDP through
expenditure tax, such as VAT, but only 8.2% in direct taxes.43 The structure of direct
taxation is not very progressive either; for instance, Indonesias relatively flat in-
come-tax system only has four thresholds, the lower threshold being zero (i.e. there is
no tax-exempt amount for the poor), while the highest rate of 30% applies to annual
incomes starting from just US$37,000.44 In 2012, the OECD countries managed to
decrease their inequality levels through their fiscal systems by 25% on average,45
whereas data for Brazil (2009) suggests that the combined effect of direct transfers,
indirect subsidies, and direct and indirect taxes amounted to a reduction in inequality
of just 4.2%.46 Moreover, the overwhelmingly regressive item of tax expenditure, i.e.
the foregone government revenue due to tax reductions, exemptions or credits
claimed by specific groups, is estimated at 5% of GDP for Turkey in 2003, and may be
well above 10% of GDP in China in 2002.47 Brazil has achieved a decrease in income
inequality, as shown in Figure 5, albeit not significantly below its 1990 level (see Box 1).
Irrespective of their degree of progressivity, the low transfer levels of such pro-
grammes do not allow recipients to save much of their incomes for moments of
unforeseen hardship, such as illness. In South Africa, over 86% of adults took out a
loan in 2013/14, making it the worlds number one country for people needing
loans.50 Recipients do not seem to have enough money to meet even the most basic
needs: 36% of loan-takers borrowed to pay for education and/or healthcare. Only
when individuals are endowed with savings or wealth of their own, may government
transfers lose importance, because (temporarily) insufficient income can be compen-
sated using personal means. So to assess peoples actual opportunities to enjoy equal
living standards, particularly in the context of a limited welfare state, it is important
not only to look at current incomes, but also at the distribution of wealth.
BOX 1: BRAZILS EFFORTS TO COMBAT INEQUALITY
Three sets of policies seem to have aided Brazils efforts at bottom-up equalizing, i.e.
increasing the incomes of the most vulnerable groups: there has been an outspoken
political focus on inequality reduction; substantial increases in minimum salaries; and
a set of inclusive social transfer programmes and universal pension schemes. These
include its flagship conditional cash transfer programme (Bolsa Famlia), the non-con-
tributory pension programme for the elderly poor (Beneccio de Prestao Continua-
da), and a milk transfer programme. This strategy of equalization from below is
promising, since it is a path of least resistance and thus politically easy to embark on.
However, the equalizing potential of these policies could be multiplied if they were
combined with others, particularly progressive tax policies. Additionally, Brazil has not
been able to achieve more redistribution through direct transfers because its highly
progressive programmes are small: combined, the above three programmes make up
less than 1% of GDP.48 The majority of Brazils larger transfer programmes are, on the
other hand, regressive in absolute terms.49
THE FAST-RISING WEALTH GAP
Wealth, defined as the value of financial assets plus real assets (principally housing)
owned by households, less their debts,51 has grown rapidly in the BRICSAMIT coun-
tries since 2000. It has tripled in Brazil, India, South Africa and Turkey, more than
tripled in China, increased four-fold in Indonesia and by a startling eight times in
Russia.52 Moreover, China now has more residents with wealth above US$50m than
any other country except the USA. The official numbers are likely to vastly underesti-
mate the extent of private wealth: for every known one of Chinas one million plus
millionaires, by some accounts another two exist under the radar.53 In South Africa,
the number of millionaires with more than US$10m has grown 120% over one
decade, compared with a world average growth of 71%.54
However, again, the massive increases in wealth have not necessarily led to decreases
in inequality: China and India are more unequal than in decades. Only Brazil, Indone-
sia and South Africa have wealth distributions roughly similar to that for the world as
a whole. The remainder of countries are yet more unequal: 88% of Indonesias and
95% of Indias adult population own less than US$10,000, compared to an internation-
al average of 70%, while Indonesia is home to 98,000 dollar-millionaires, and in India
650 people own more than US$100m.55
Simultaneously, in all of the countries both the number of millionaires and their respec-
tive wealth has risen over the past two decades, and Credite Suisse (2014) estimates that
their number will continue to rise significantly over the next five years; in some countries
almost doubling. Such high-end growth is a worrisome tendency compared to the
constant or diminishing income share of the poorer groups documented above.
Moreover, wealth trends do not necessarily follow the same trends as income. In India,
where income inequality is rising continuously but from a relatively modest level and
not nearly as dramatically as in other countries, the concentration of wealth is much
more preoccupying. The share of wealth held by the richest 10% in China is the most
modest of the BRICSAMIT countries. Yet Chinas Gini coefficient seems to have grown
from 55 in 2002 to an estimated 76 (a level comparable to that of the USA) in 201056 a
very rapid change for such a short period of time. Hence, wealth distribution is not only
even more unequal than income;57 it is also becoming more unequal at a faster rate.
Alarmingly, even in those countries where income inequality seems to have fallen over
recent decades namely Brazil and Turkey wealth inequality is actually on a fast rise.
Whereas a majority of the countries (Mexico, South Africa, Russia, Indonesia and Brazil,
in order of decreasing change) experienced a timid decline in the share of wealth held
by the richest 10% between 2000-2007, their share increased rapidly again following
the global economic slowdown in the wake of the 2008 global financial crisis, reaching
very high levels in all of the BRICSAMIT countries, particularly in Russia, China, Turkey
and Indonesia. In Mexico and China the richest 10% now hold more than 60% of total
wealth; in Brazil, India, Indonesia, South Africa and Turkey this proportion rises to
above 70%. In the most extreme case of wealth inequality in the world, Russia, the
richest 10% hold 85% of total household wealth.58 Indeed, as Figure 8 shows, the share
of the richest 10% now by far exceeds its 2000 levels in all but two countries, Mexico
and South Africa (though in the latter it is only 0.5% below its 2000 level).
FIGURE 8: TRENDS IN THE WEALTH SHARE OF THE RICHEST 10%, 2000-2014
Source: Data from Credite Suisse (2014)59
THE TOP WEALTH IN PERSPECTIVE
As with income, if we scrutinize the very apex of wealth holders, distances to the rest
of the population become astronomical.60 The respective countries richest citizen
owns between an estimated US$77.1bn in Mexico and US$4.4bn in Turkey (Table 2).
Comparing the immense size of these private fortunes to their home countrys GDP
shows that in Mexico, this one man owns wealth equivalent to almost 6% of the
production value of the entire country with its 122 million people. His wealth is
equivalent to the GDP of Cuba or Oman, and just above that of Belarus, Sri Lanka and
Azerbaijan. In South Africa, the richest man holds the equivalent of more than 2% of
the countrys GDP, and in Brazil, Indonesia and India above 1% of GDP.
Considering only the change in wealth these individuals experienced over the last year,
we find that in India, the richest mans income corresponds to almost 1.5 million times the
average income; in China this ratio is over 1.4 million. In Indonesia, Brazil and Mexico the
richest man earned almost half a million times the average income.
TABLE 2: WEALTH OF THE COUNTRYS RICHEST PERSON IN PERSPECTIVE (2015)
Country Richest Person Core Business Personal Wealth as % Richest Per- Ratio of
Wealth (US$ GDP sons Income Richest
billion) 2014 (US$ Persons In-
billion) come 2014
to Countrys
Mexico Carlos Slim Helu telecommunication 77.1 5.95 5.1 470,623
Brazil Jorge Paulo Lemann beer 25 1.11 5.3 478,881
China Wang Jianlin real estate 24.2 0.23 10.8 1,426,240
India Mukesh Ambani petrochemicals, 21 1.03 2.4 1,476,341
Russia Vladimir Potanin metals 15.4 0.75 2.8 195,577
Indonesia R. Budi Hartono tobacco, banking 9.3 1.09 1.7 499,416
South Johann Rupert luxury goods 7.4 2.17 0.1 15,737
Source: Data from Forbes (2015)61, IMF (2014)62
Given such numbers it is difficult to justify differences on any account of marginal pro-
ductivity, let alone basic fairness or egalitarian justice; it is unlikely that Indias, Chinas
or any countries richest person could be almost 1.5 million times as productive as
their compatriots. Additionally, considering that large parts of the wealth accumulat-
ed by the very richest stem from capital gains, peoples skills, knowledge and experi-
ence becomes less relevant in the generation of wealth. Even in South Africa, where
the difference between average income and that of the richest man is smallest, it
would take the average worker 15,737 years to earn what the countrys richest man
made in just one year.
With just his increase in wealth over the last year, Mexicos richest man could have
paid close to three minimum salaries63 to his 1.25 million fellow Mexicans living on
less than US$1.25 a day in 2012. And the combined wealth of the seven men listed in
Table 2, amounting to almost US$180bn, equals the annual income of all those 425
million people who live on less than US$1.25 a day across the BRICSAMIT. This vast
disparity points to a systemic issue whereby certain population groups are excluded
from opportunities and influence while others are enabled to shape the system.
The wealth shock effect following the 2008 financial crisis was the result of a combina-
tion of factors in its aftermath rather than a direct result of it: unstable markets and high
degrees of turmoil and insecurity among investors offered unexpected opportunities for
enrichment. Such crises tend to consolidate industry i.e. some firms go out of business,
while struggling companies are taken over by competitors and strategic businesses have
to be supported by public funds to stay afloat. This tends to benefit the owners of
surviving firms, while many workers might be dismissed on efficiency grounds.
The resulting inequality is exacerbated by individuals at the top end consuming less
of their assets compared to average income earners, who need to spend most of their
current incomes to make ends meet meaning continuous accumulation of further
wealth for the former. A government running fiscal deficits that threaten its opera-
tions at times of private-sector slowdown might also sell off public assets and/or cut
social spending. Those with sufficient financial cushioning tend to be less affected by
this and have better capacities to get on their feet again, even where they might have
lost assets temporarily.64 Figure 9 displays this effect very clearly, showing the sudden
rise in the share of total wealth going to the richest 1% after 2008.
FIGURE 9: WEALTH SHARE OF THE RICHEST 1%, 2000-2014
share of total wealth
THE RESHUFFLING OF WEALTH IN TIMES OF TRANSITION
(OR HOW THE RICH MADE THEIR FORTUNES)
Other systemic shocks in the past have had similar effects of reshuffling wealth in the
BRICSAMIT countries. Most significantly, the structural change beginning in the 1980s
or early 1990s, which all of the countries underwent, pushed inequality up significant-
ly through the creation of new possibilities for enrichment both in those countries
where inequality levels had been low by international standards and in those where
they already were high. This was the case during the collapse of the Soviet system and
the ensuing shock-therapy transition process which led to the rise of the oligarchs in
Russia, but also the move towards a more market-oriented economy in China since
the reforms in 1978.66 As a legacy of their communist era, China, like Russia, inherited
low levels of inequality. One of the reasons for this was the virtual absence of inherit-
ed fortunes, and a relatively equal division of both rural land and privatized housing.
However, the banking reforms of the 1990s to accommodate the new socialist market
economy, as well as a controlled market opening and increasing participation in
global trade, yielded special opportunities for investment that many entrepreneurs
were able to take advantage of, making them rich in the process. Figure 6 above has
shown the effect of such shocks on the income distribution, with the share of the
richest 10% spiking up in Russia in the late-1980s, and growing at an increased pace
in China in the late-1980s and again in the late-1990s. Between 1988 and 2002, (rural)
Chinas wealth Gini increased from 31 to 40.67
Clearly, the changing institutional environment opens up the opportunity to make
fortunes. Although the objective then as now was to bring growth to the countries, a
small elite has been able to benefit more than average from these adjustments
through purchasing formerly state-owned enterprise, which allows for monopoly rent
extraction. Examples of this include the sale of the Russian oil giant Yukos to Mikhail
Khodorkovsky in 1995, as well as the sale of the Mexican phone company Telmex to
Carlos Slim in 1990.
In Mexico, as in Brazil, a wealth shift happened with Washington Consensus recom-
mendations for unilateral market opening and comprehensive privatization; this
started in the debt crisis of the 1980s, which consolidated existing oligarchs and
created new ones. The new governments of post-authoritarian regimes in Indonesia
and Turkey have pursued similar agendas of economic liberalization since the 1980s,
and in South Africa, transition after Apartheid in the 1990s led to the creation of a
new political elite alongside the traditional one. According to Acemoglu and Robin-
son,68 such reshuffling occurs because the economically powerful are able to strongly
influence the shape of new institutions during the insecurity, weak law enforcement,
and accountability or power vacuum that tend to accompany systemic changes.
Despite the large absolute differences in wealth between the richest individuals of
the respective countries, as in other parts of the world the wealth in the BRICSAMIT
countries is accumulated in the hands of a fairly homogenous group. There are
virtually no women or members of ethnic minorities among the 100 wealthiest
people of these countries. For instance, of Chinas super-rich, 90% are male;69 Indias
top 100 rich list counts four women; and Indonesia only features one woman in the
top 50. The average age of the top 50 in India is 66.6 years, and Indonesia only has
three members under 50. Chinas super-rich are comparatively young, with an average
age of 40. Excluding inherited wealth, in Russia, nine of the top ten richest people
have made their fortunes in extractive industries (oil, minerals etc.); while nine of the
top 19 wealthiest in China got rich thanks to telecom and internet companies, also a
favoured sector among the super-rich in Brazil, Mexico and Russia. Other popular
areas of investment for the rich include construction, real estate and banking. All of
these depend heavily on government permissions and regulations.
Family members help a pregnant
woman of Mohanpur Village get
off from an auto rickshaw in front
3. THE VICIOUS CIRCLE
of the Maner Primary Health
Center in Patna district, Bihar,
India. The Center is understaffed
OF ECONOMIC AND
and lacks sanitation and proper
equipment. Family members are
often asked to help with
deliveries. (2015)
The above suggests that the accumulation of wealth in this context works largely
through small groups of individuals and families thriving through their proximity to
political elites, and running the biggest raw-material and infrastructure companies of
the country undoubtedly helps to provide certain political influence. These individu-
als either happened to be in the right place and time at the moment of large-scale
privatization (Russia, China); were long-standing friends of the leaders of old and new
political regimes (India, Brazil); or they just became those leaders themselves (Mexico,
South Africa). Since contracts over former public assets are made available exclusively
through government permissions, these are susceptible to corruption by powerful
actors, especially where combined with low public sector accountability or weak rule
of law. This is a political problem, because it grants those people with the necessary
economic means more influence than average citizens.
An example of such influence is the case of the Semibankirschina, or rule of seven
bankers in transition-period Russia in the 1990s. A group of seven oligarchs con-
trolling the countrys major banks joined forces to back their preferred presidential
candidate, Boris Yeltsin, to ensure a favourable environment to improve their own
positions. The infamous loans-for-shares programme in 1995-6, in which a handful of
well-connected businessmen bought stakes in major Russian companies at very low
prices through rigged auctions,70 was proposed by group member Vladimir Potanin,
who is currently Russias richest man (see Box 2).
BOX 2: THE SEMIBANKIRSCHINA
In a 1996 interview to the Financial Times, newly appointed deputy secretary of the
Russian Security Council, billionaire Boris Berezovsky, credited seven prominent
Russian bankers, including himself, with bankrolling and masterminding Boris Yeltsins
presidential re-election campaign. Between them, Berezovsky claimed, they con-
trolled more than 50% of Russias GDP: We hired [first deputy prime minister Anatoly]
Chubais and invested huge sums of money to ensure [president Boris] Yeltsins
election. Now we have the right to occupy government posts and enjoy the fruits of
our victory. Another member of the group, head of Rosprom, Mikhail Khodorkovsky,
said in an interview with Nezavisimaya Gazeta in 1997 that Politics is the most
lucrative field of business in Russia. [...] We draw lots in order to pick out a person from
our milieu for work in power. Indeed, several of the bankers ascended to important
political posts after the election was won, including Vladimir Potanin, head of Unex-
imbank and the groups richest member, who become deputy prime minister.
However, in mid-1997, battles for influence over gains to be made from new privatiza-
tion rounds (of telecom and oil) broke out among the bankers, and by November
1997 Berezovsky was removed from office and the group dissolved.
(The term Semibankischina was originally coined by a journalist as a contemporary
adaptation of Semiboyarschina, the seven Boyars or nobles who betrayed the Tsar and
defied Moscow for the invasion of Poland in 1610.)
Sources: Azarova 2011, Phillips 2000, Piontkovsky 199771
The economic flip-side to the same political problem is that opportunities open up for
rent-seeking, i.e. the extraction of wealth without creating new wealth, and for the
monopolization of access to vital resources. The owners of these assets can sell a
more expensive product or service back to the very state that sold off the business in
the first place. As such, after privatization, the price for water in Jakarta increased from
about US$0.13 to US$0.54 per cubic meter 2.7 times the rate charged by the public
water utility in Surabaya, the second largest city in Indonesia.72 Such mutual
back-scratching makes both the investor and the politician richer in the process.73
Moreover, this preferential treatment is incredibly difficult to curb in a context where
the public sector collects low revenues via the tax system, as seen in Section 2. In
India, tax revenues represent only around 15% of total economic output compared
to nearly 40% across the European Union.74 Fewer than 3% of people in India file
income-tax returns at all, and conservative estimates of taxes foregone as a result of
the underground economy lie anywhere between 17-42% of GDP.75 To compensate a
diminutive fiscal sector, BRICSAMIT countries rely on exploitation of natural resources
and privatization of formerly public infrastructure to get liquidity and top up their
operating budgets. The energy sector is a startling example of this rent-extraction
phenomenon. The BRICSAMIT countries not only rely almost exclusively on fossil fuels
for energy supply within the country76 but, importantly, construct their economic
models around these as their main export components and source of government
income: for example, revenues from national oil company Pemex account for around
30% of the Mexican government budget.77,78
But especially where natural assets are privatized (as has happened with much of the
energy resources in Russia, and water in Jakarta79), exposure to related threats is highly
unequal. As such, in Brazil and Mexico, indigenous peoples are disproportionately
affected when forests are eroded for mining or farming, destroying their homes and
livelihoods. Massive dam projects in China and palm oil plantations in Indonesia also
see poor farmers and villagers pay the costs while private corporations reap the profit.
MECHANISMS OF POLITICAL CAPTURE
The very top is occupied by a select few who come from well-to-do-families, tend to
go to the same schools, share common social and political networks as well as
business interests, often in (extractive resource) trading or banking, telecommunica-
tions and media.
As in any small in-group that shares common (business) interests and interacts on the
same global (economic) stage, elite members know each other and rely on their connec-
tions for personal profits. They study together at expensive private universities80 or Swiss
boarding schools,81 live as neighbours in Sandhurst, South Africa,82 or meet regularly at
annual economic events across the world such as the World Economic Forum in Davos.83
This would not have to be problematic if it werent for the fact that the entanglement of
rich individuals in such networks has a collective capacity to influence policies, and
thereby permanently change the institutional landscape and rules of the game for
everybody to the continuous advantage of an already privileged group.
As a consequence of this entanglement, one recurring theme across the BRICSAMIT
countries is a high permeability between the political and economic elites. Depending
on the local particularities, different styles of oligarchic behaviour can be observed,
both in terms of taking advantage of current opportunities and of shaping the institu-
tional landscape to ensure that these opportunities will keep arising in the future.
In Brazil, for instance, of its 65 richest billionaires, 25 are blood relatives, and eight
families have multiple members in the top rankings;84 some have been there for
decades or even centuries (see Box 3). The elaborate power structures necessary for
such stability in the concentration of wealth include virtual control over media and
strategic economic assets such as banks and natural resources.
BOX 3: TRADITIONAL BRAZILIAN WEALTH
Brazil has 225,000 millionaires and 296,000 adults in the top 1% of global wealth
holders. In 2014, the 150 richest Brazilians saw their combined wealth increase 18.5%
compared to the year before, corresponding to about 13.3% of Brazils 2013 GDP.
Together, just the 15 richest families in the country are worth an estimated US$122bn
or about 5% of the countrys GDP. The wealth of an average citizen, on the other
hand, amounts to the 841,880th part of its richest citizens 2014 wealth. Brazilian
wealth inequality is very high, with an estimated Gini level of 82. Many billionaires are
concentrated in traditional rich clans who still control Brazils largest conglomerates in
media, banking and construction. These dynasties that resist going public and remain
family businesses include, for instance, the Marinho clan, the richest family in the
country and owner of Brazils largest media corporation, Globo Organizations, which
controls about half of Brazils broadcast television market. The Villelas and the Setub-
als together share control of Itau Unibanco Holding, the largest private bank in the
Southern hemisphere. The history of wealth and power of these families dates back
over four centuries to the 1500s.
Sources: Credite Suisse (2014) and Antunes (2013, 2014)85
Due to the specific regulatory environment surrounding them, these industries
require particular closeness to the political elite. Incidentally, they have also played
the largest role in the spectacular rise of Chinas super-rich: 16 of the top 20 richest
Chinese made their wealth either in real estate, internet and telecommunications, or
in the energy sector. As of 2013, 50% of Chinese millionaires were business owners,
20% professional investors, and 15% each were real-estate investors and high-level
senior executives.86 Clearly, market opening brings with it great business opportuni-
ties but only for those sufficiently aligned with political power: 90% of Chinas 1,000
richest individuals are officials or members of the Chinese Communist Party.87
In India, the interconnectedness of politics and money works through intimate
friendship. Although previous governments have also supported corporate interests
and uphold close relations with the Ambani family, the countrys richest business
clan,88 immediately after Narendra Modis election in 2014, stock markets soared upon
the expectation of a corporate-friendly prime minister, gaining over 40% in just one
year. However, overall GDP growth was much slower to adapt to this euphoria, and
food inflation remained at close to double-digit values. Certainly, this is hardly the
concern of the wealthy,89 95% of whom saw their fortunes grow last year.90 Their good
fortune also raises expectations for Indonesia, where extraction strategies recently
seemed to experience limits as some of the major resource magnates saw their
wealth diminish in line with decreasing palm oil profitability. The millionaires, includ-
ing the Hartono brothers (the richest family in the country) remain cheerful though,
since the collective wealth of the richest 50 Indonesians continued to increase in
2014.91 Several new entrants to this years millionaires list in the country testify to the
prosperous conditions.
THE REVOLVING DOOR BETWEEN BUSINESS AND POLITICS
Meanwhile, in South Africa yet another strategy can be observed. Multi-millionaire
investor-entrepreneur Cyril Ramaphosa, now Deputy President of the ANC, hopes to
circumvent the politician-intermediary altogether by running for the countrys
presidency himself in 2017. The many contradictory hats he has worn in the past
(union leader and buster, black economic empowerment success story, and part-own-
er of both McDonalds and Coca-Colas South African outfits)92 testify to his adaptabili-
ty and connectedness. Self-evidently, he also runs on a pro-business platform. Similar
trends are also discernible in Mexico, where business people have moved into politics
already, such as the oil company owner and current energy minister Pedro Joaqun
Coldwell (see Box 4).
Russia adds a new twist to this revolving door operation between business and
politics. Having created the basis of their fortunes during the transition in the 1990s,
when large-scale privatization meant auctioning off state mines and oil fields,
oligarchs started to control much of the economy through their dominance of natural
resources.93 Recently, the same group of individuals started to sell their assets back to
state enterprises run by associates of, or billionaires closely aligned with, the govern-
ment. An example of this trend is the TNK-BP deal: the oil producer, which is half-
owned by a Russian consortium and BP, sold itself to state oil giant Rosneft, the
worlds top-listed oil company by output, for US$55bn,94 in 2013. The latter is run by
Igor Sechin, a close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin; Sechin became head of
the company in 2012, after serving a term as the countrys deputy prime minister.95 At
the same time, many of the Russian super-rich now strive back towards the political
realm. At the last election, Mikahil Prokhorov (who made his US$13bn fortune in
natural resources, and more recently technology) ran for presidency,96 while Putins
right-hand man, Gennady Timchenko, is a highly influential energy and construction
magnate in Russia.
After an extraordinary period of personal enrichment and a widespread consolidation
of political and economic power in the process, together with Turkey and Indonesia,
Russia is one of the few countries with fewer billionaires this year compared to last.
Rather than the richest losing ground, however, this development relates to the local
currency devaluations, and potentially to more efficient and quiet ways adopted by the
super-rich to get their money out of the (official) system. As such, US$151.5bn was
taken out of Russia in 2014 which is 2.5 times the amount of capital that exited the
country the year before.97 Overall, illicit financial flows from the developing world by far
exceeded legal inflows of money, and these illicit flows have increased particularly from
the BRICSAMIT countries with high rates of resources extraction. In the case of Brazil, for
instance, assets put into secrecy jurisdictions were estimated at US$520bn in 2013.98
Therefore, notwithstanding the financial input of remittances sent by nationals
working abroad (which in turn by far exceeded foreign direct investment), in 2012 all
of the BRICSAMIT countries experienced a net outflow of private financial capital, of
between 1% of GDP in Russia to 5-6% in Mexico and Turkey.99 This phenomenon of
financial drain at the top alludes to a highly costly and unsustainable model of
development in the longer term. It follows that extreme inequality not only has a
corrosive effect on social life it is also a very poor economic strategy.
THE INSTITUTIONS THAT PERPETUATE PRIVILEGE
This brief overview has already identified a number of key models applied by the
respective elites: generating private profits off public goods by taking advantage of
personal connections that might lead to conflicts of interest for the office holders;
entering and exiting through the revolving door in and out of decision-making
positions in business and politics; and sponsoring public infrastructure projects. The
list of strategies can be extended to include channelling of illicit financial flows and
offshoring; buying access to election outcomes; and also corruption and bribery. Not
all of the diverse strategies employed are illegal. But all of them, whether legally
permitted or not, lead to a situation where the economic and political elite become
increasingly intertwined in their mutual dependence on, and support for, each other.
As explored in Section 2, opportunities for personal enrichment arise in societies
undergoing systemic change, yet it appears that a small economic elite in the
BRICSAMIT countries managed to get richer even during less turbulent times. The
recipe for this astonishing achievement seems to include the two important opportu-
nities that come with economic affluence: the power to influence policy towards
some preferred outcome at a given time; and the power to rig the rules, which
establishes the persistence of privilege in the future.
FINANCING POLITICS
Economic sponsorship can grant certain influence over both policy outcomes and the
regulatory framework. Two channels further help to build an environment that
favours the privileged. For one, the command over most of the key strategic sectors
for growth by a narrow group of influential individuals provides them with control
over large parts of the economy. This imposes the threat of their boycotting policies
and stalling the economy in instances where such policies are not perceived to be
beneficial. Acemoglu and Robinson100 describe how extractive elites block certain
technologies or increased spending on education, if and when such policies do not
promise them private gains.
Secondly, in the BRICSAMIT countries, an economic system organized entirely around
the aim of increasing growth (rather than focused on citizen well-being as its prime
goal) meets a political system that requires vast resources for aspiring politicians to be
elected into office. This makes the government susceptible to elite pressures. Few
candidates can cover the immense costs of running an independent campaign, and
those who can are themselves part of that tiny elite.101 Consequently, donors of funds
can exert significant influence over regulatory agencies or politicians, who become
increasingly accountable to their sponsors rather than their constituents.
One of the factors allowing such aberration is the countries systems of election
finance. Table 3 shows the limits for campaign financing in the BRICSAMIT countries.
In many cases, these are largely absent. Even where they do exist, the threshold is
often high, e.g. in Brazil, corporations are allowed donations for campaign finance
equivalent to 2% of their gross revenues (individual donors, 10% of their income);
however, this only refers to election campaigns outside election times there is no
limit to party contribution.102 In Russia, corporate donors should limit their contribu-
tions to $14m in purchasing power parity; in India $1.4m. In practice, nearly 90% of
the Indian Congress income and 75% of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Partys income
stem from donations below the disclosure limit of Rs20,000 (around US$300) and are
therefore not accounted for.103 In Turkey there is no requirement to even list a dona-
tion, while in South Africa a donors identity does not have to be revealed (in India it
only has to be revealed sometimes), making it very difficult for concerned citizens to
oversee which interests may be considered in the making of certain laws.
TABLE 3: REGULATIONS FOR POLITICAL FINANCE IN THE BRICSAMIT COUNTRIES
Is there a ban on Is there a ban on Are there limits on the amount... Do campaign finances Must re- Is there
donations from corpo- donations from have to be reported... ports from a ban on
rations to... corporations with political anonymous
government contracts parties and/ donations
or partial government or candi- to political
ownership to... dates reveal parties?
the identity
candidates? political candidates? political a political a donor a donor can by by political
of donors?
parties? parties? party can can con- contribute candidates? parties in
spend? tribute to a to a political relation to
candidate? party in re- election
lation to an campaigns?
Brazil No No Yes Yes No Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
India No No Yes Yes No No No Yes No Sometimes Yes
Indonesia No No No No No No Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Mexico Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No No Yes Yes Yes
Russia No Yes Yes Yes No Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
South No No No No No No No No No No No
Turkey No No No Yes Yes No Yes No No Yes Yes
Source: Data from the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (2015)104
The way that elections are financed thus gives an indication of the potential for
political capture by influential interest groups. Of the roughly US$2bn spent by
parties and candidates in the 2010 Brazilian presidential election, nearly 98% of
winner Dilma Rouseffs campaign donations and 95.5% of her main opponents came
from corporations.105,106 Large corporate donations to influence policy outcomes are
also documented in Turkey and South Africa.107 In India, upwards of US$2bn was
allegedly spent to influence the Uttar Pradesh state elections in 2012 alone. Moreover,
accounts of clientelism, with electoral campaign funds being used to win votes
among poor and disadvantaged communities, are not uncommon: in the 2009
election for the Indian state of Tamil Nadu, 33% of voters claim to have received
money from candidates supporters for their vote; in 2011, voters were lured to the
polls with blenders, grinders and other household appliances;108 and the 2012
elections in Mexico were overshadowed by allegations of supporters distributing
household articles, food and other products.109
What do the corporate sponsors gain from this practice? In fact, financing parties and
candidates often several adversaries at the same time is a highly lucrative business
for private corporations. One recent study carried out in Brazil found that an electoral
victory brings on average an additional US$73,921-184,676 in government contracts
for each corporate donor, corresponding to 14-39 times their average contribution.110
While there is no way of telling whether these companies would have received similar
contracts in the absence of their donations, it can be assumed that their sponsorship
would not have hindered such preferential treatment (see also Box 4).
MEDIA CAPTURE AND ABILITY TO INFLUENCE PUBLIC OPINION
It is therefore unsurprising that most members of the economic and political elites are
scarcely interested in changing this mutually beneficial environment, and so in their best
abilities try to influence the regulatory framework and policy making.111 On the econom-
ic elites side, this can be by voting massively for the candidate that best suits their
interests by supporting their expensive campaigns, as described above; by recommend-
ing that others vote for specific parties/candidates, as exercised by millionaire football
coach Miguel Herrera at the 2015 Mexican elections to favour the PVEM;112 or by lobby-
ing and providing expertise to governments in the discussion of new regulations.
Politicians may simply accept, or actively seek such favours. The outcome of these
practices is vast political inequality often in line with increasing democratic deficits,
where economic elites tilt the playing field towards their specific in-groups.
Elite occupation of mass communication channels fosters a vicious cycle of politi-
cal-cum-economic power, where rules and laws can be manipulated according to the
specific interest of influential sponsors. The monopolization of the media leads to the
ability to influence public opinions and to make or break political careers. This is
epitomized in the cases of Globo, which provides preferential airtime to conservative
candidates in Brazil,113 or Televisa, which controls 70% of the Mexican television
market and played an important role in the rise to presidency of Enrique Pea
Nieto.114 In India, Mukesh Ambani holds majority shares of the countrys largest news
broadcaster, Network18 Group.115 The investment in media thus seems to be a distinct
elite strategy: beyond the pure economic benefits, it offers decisive powers in the
making of public opinion and politics.
CORRUPTION AND CONFLICT OF INTEREST
Although not all members of the political and economic elites are corrupt, the above
shows that the temptation and potential for corruption is higher where the opportu-
nity for raking in is so accessible. While some countries have put into place protection
mechanisms against conflict of interest, it seems that these are not always very
effective, and the public is not given any control mechanisms to check whether the
law is actually adhered to (see Box 4).116
Unsurprisingly, trust in national government remains fairly low in the BRICSAMIT
countries. For instance, 91% of Mexicans consider political parties the most corrupt
institution in the country.117 This goes hand in hand with the publics consistently low
trust in financial institutions, banks and corporations; except in South Africa, this is
even lower than trust in governments and public servants (which is the second
lowest).118 Clearly, political capture and conflict of interest have to be understood as
two sides of the same coin and as a natural phenomenon in fast-growing, lightly
regulated economies. Through corruption, clientelism, populism and/or repression,
these lead to citizen disenfranchisement and alienation from the political process,
ultimately undermining emancipatory and democratic tendencies.
BOX 4: CONFLICT OF INTEREST AND THE REVOLVING DOOR IN MEXICO
The current president, Enrique Pea Nieto has the lowest approval rating of any
president in the past two decades.119 His government is facing numerous large-scale
corruption scandals over the finance of mansions worth millions, involving the most
important members of the executive (the president and his wife, and his ministers of
the interior, Miguel ngel Osorio Chong, and finance, Luis Videgaray). The deals
sponsor is the private conglomerate Grupo Higa, whose owner Juan Armando
Hinojosa Cant happens to be Pea Nietos favourite entrepreneur,120 and has,
incidentally, received billions in government contracts in recent years.121
Despite an explicit restriction by the Mexican legislation to avoid conflict of interest,
which states that individuals must cut all links to profit-making enterprises they or
their relatives (up to fourth consanguinity degree) hold upon taking up public
office,122 violation of this law seems common practice across the political spectrum.
Energy minister Pedro Joaqun Coldwell (PRI), for instance, does not perceive a
conflict of interest in being part of the administrative council of the state-owned
petrol company Pemex, while at the same time personally holding majority shares in
five oil enterprises.123 Other public figures implicated in the most recent cases of
conflict of interest include the likes of finance minister Luis Videgaray; deputies
Purificacin Carpinteyro (PRD) and Javier Lozano (formerly PRI; then PAN); and senator
Ninfa Salinas (PVEM), daughter of the fourth-richest person in Mexico, Ricardo Salinas
Pliego, who in turn owns the conglomerate Grupo Salinas, media giant TV Azteca, and
some of the countrys largest banks, football clubs and department stores.124
Although the law also provides for factual division of power and until recently
prohibited re-election, there has been a remarkable overlap between delegates to the
senate and Parliament. Some congressmen have accumulated 14-30 years living off
the Unions Congress in the past eight decades. Of the 10,027 legislators that went
through the federal chambers in Mexico, 1,448 were members of more than one
legislature.125 Fortunately for them, with the re-election approval on 7 June 2015, this
behaviour has been legalized.
In sum, where wealthy individuals can meet the need for campaign finance, and in
macroeconomic terms the country requires growth while a limited number of
individuals have the capacity to influence the national economys fate, political
capture is likely to be the result, and leads to the self-perpetuation of inequality. Politi-
cians who wish to be re-elected often on the strength of a thriving economy al-
most invariably become dependent on a few sponsors with the financial capacity to
influence their destiny. Even where not directly corrupted and/or personally involved,
the desire for transparency and accountability might diminish where ties between
these two spheres grow too close. The resultant political capture by wealthy elites is
both a form of corruption and a form of discrimination, making it inherently unequal-
izing through its direct effects, and indirectly, by rigging the system ever-more to
the interests of said elite.
A societys key social, economic and political institutions, such as its political constitu-
tion, level and progressivity of the tax system, prevailing welfare regime, bargaining
power of labour unions and other labour market regulations (e.g. minimum wage),
the structure of educational and electoral systems, accountability to civil society, and
many others,126 constitute the backbone of its inequality potential; they provide the
possible range within which inequality levels will fluctuate. They affect the distribu-
tion of resources across society leading to huge gulfs between rich and poor in terms
of educational outcomes, wages and health i.e. symptoms of inequalities. These
consequences in turn feed back into the institutional context and prevailing power
relations, slowly changing them over time. If key institutions are wittingly or
unwittingly designed deficiently from the outset, or are eventually captured by
elites, inequality will prevail.
4. THE HIGH COSTS OF
If in this way economic power begets political power, which again increases economic
power, what impact does that have on average individuals well-being? What is the
impact of elite capture on the majority of people, who do not have direct links to
executive power and are thus largely excluded from the decision-making processes
that shape societal structures? Inequalities affect people in every area of their lives.
Social structures of income and wealth concentration drive these inequalities, but
demarcation lines of privilege may additionally run along dimensions such as gender,
ethnicity or geography.
The problem is that all of the vital inequalities are far from randomly distributed;
instead, they are very closely related to the presence (or absence) of economic
resources at the individuals disposal. The uneven distribution of economic resources
comes to shape every aspect of a society. In capitalist societies127 to have money is to
have freedom, while insufficient income and wealth leads to the denial of freedoms
and exclusion from the main activities of a society.128 In the BRICSAMIT context, state
provision of essential services is often limited, so the availability or otherwise of
economic resources is a key determinant of well-being in most other dimensions, i.e.
an individual can also improve their own and their childrens intrinsic situation by
investing in the private, expensive version of key goods, including education, health-
care and social protection, thereby securing higher income levels in the future. This
effectively results in two tiers of development within the same society.
INEQUALITIES AFFECT EVERY ASPECT OF LIFE
Inequalities affect other important aspects of quality of life besides our incomes, includ-
ing our physical and mental well-being, the environmental and social conditions we live
in, as well as our prospects of leading a fulfilled life in terms of choosing the education
and jobs we want to develop our own capabilities. Disaggregating the Human Develop-
ment Index (HDI)129 according to income groups, we are faced with stark differences in
developmental levels. Standards enjoyed by the highest quintile the richest 20% of the
population exceed average levels of even the most economically advanced nations,
whereas the lowest quintiles levels compare to those of the least developed countries.
Whether one belongs to the highly developed group or one of the lower ones depends
both on ones economic resources and geographical location within a given BRICSAMIT
country, due to persistently large regional differences in economic performance. For
instance, the ratio of GDP per capita in the richest versus poorest regions of Russia can be
compared to the developmental difference between Norway and Iraq. In Mexico, the
richest region earns 16 times more than the poorest earns. As such, the rural-urban divide
is still a reliable indicator of incomes. But living costs also vary greatly within countries
and are not always in proportion to differences in incomes. For instance, consumer prices
in Jakarta are more than 65% higher than those in the East Javan city of Surabaya, and
receiving an average income will mean something very different for a farmer in rural
Indonesia than it will for a (capital) city dweller.130 Large-scale migration towards mega-
lopolis from the rural hinterlands and a lack of absorption capacity by the recipient cities
has meant the creation of shantytowns in all of the countries, sometimes with popula-
tions of several millions of people.131 But what do these development differences mean
when translated into in less abstract terms?
UNEQUAL HEALTH AND LIFE EXPECTANCY
Most dramatically, perhaps, average levels disguise vast differences in life expectancy,
both across our set of emerging countries and compared to the top-ranking devel-
oped nations. Collectively, the BRICSAMIT fare much worse than the developed
countries: average life expectancy ranges from 56.9 years in South Africa to 77.3 years
in Mexico, compared to 83.6 years in top-scoring Japan. Such differences might arise
from genes and disease, but are also driven by social threats such as high murder
rates; exposure to environmental threats; the level of public sector investment in
health services; and individual capacity to purchase high-quality services where they
are not provided for by the state. All of these are highly unequally distributed in the
BRICSAMIT countries.
TABLE 4: DIFFERENCES IN LIFE EXPECTANCY ACCORDING TO INCOME LEVEL FOR SELECTED COUNTRIES
(AS MEASURED BY THE HDI LIFE EXPECTANCY COMPONENT)
Country Average Quintile 1 Quintile 2 Quintile 3 Quintile 4 Quintile 5 Ratio Q5:Q1
India 0.652 0.57 0.597 0.657 0.727 0.83 1.458
Indonesia 0.752 0.665 0.724 0.741 0.801 0.883 1.328
Brazil 0.783 0.644 0.782 0.911 0.94 0.991 1.538
South Africa 0.418 0.347 0.426 0.461 0.432 0.521 1.499
Source: Data from Grimm et al. (2009)132
If, then, the richer 20% of the population were to live 70.8 years, as is life expectancy
in Indonesia, for instance, a poor person would only live to 53, according to its quintile
ratio of 1.5 (Table 4). She would enjoy 17.5 years less of life. In South Africa, this
difference in life expectancy between the poorest and richest quintile amounted to
19 years; in India, 21; and in Brazil, almost 26 years.133
Whether or not one belongs to the fortunate group that can expect to live an extra 26
years depends largely on ones income, because, firstly, exposure to violence and
related threats to physical well-being is confined to specific areas usually the most
deprived neighbourhoods.134 Secondly, these differences are exacerbated by a
two-tier healthcare system of expensive private and scarcely sufficiently equipped
public services, where parts of the population are left largely unprotected. In Mexico,
for example, in certain states, health centres associated with the Seguro Popular, a
government-subsidized health insurance scheme for the poor, are unable to provide
over 80% of the medication they prescribe.135 At the same time, private clinics, which
charge the equivalent of a months minimum-wage salary for mere hospitalization136
are modern, comfortable and equipped with state-of-the art technology. In China,
10% of millionaires have their own personal physician to overcome shortages in the
provision of healthcare.137 Consequently, with the exception of Indonesia, satisfaction
with health systems in the BRICSAMIT countries is very low compared to the 80%
satisfaction rate in top HDI countries; complete satisfaction with the Mexican Seguro
Popular does not even reach 10%.138
PATCHY SOCIAL SECURITY COVERAGE
Similar things can be said about social security systems. Widespread informality in the
labour market means that working conditions are often precarious, and insurances for
unemployment, disability or old age in most of the countries, where they do exist,
only cover fractions of society. This way, inequalities generated during working life are
amplified during times of unemployment and cemented in old age. For the Indian
context, with an estimated 85% of labour informality in 2012, Kanbur shows that
informality leads to poverty, which again leads to informality.139 This informality-pov-
erty trap is both gendered and geographically biased, in that poverty incidence is
consistently higher among unorganized than among organized workers, particularly
among women and in rural contexts. According to Kanbur, this example informs the
general case, pointing to the relevance of sectoral workers organization, minimum
wage regulations and social protection coverage as policies contributing towards
greater equality. Working in the formal sector is no guarantee of a formal job; many
companies employ workers on an informal basis or employ them formally for only
part of the time they actually work. In Indonesia, informality within the formal sector
reaches 80% and in the agricultural sector 96%.140
The issue of old-age pension coverage divides the BRICSAMIT countries. According to
UNDP, this is enjoyed by a mere 8% of the population in Indonesia, 24% in India and
25% in Mexico.141 However, these numbers contrast starkly with the extent of cover-
age in the remainder of countries, reaching high levels of 86-92% in Brazil, Turkey and
South Africa, and 100% in Russia. In China, coverage is still 74% of eligible elderly;
however, the social pension level is set at US$9 per month, or 1% of GDP per capita
hardly a sufficient amount.142 Prospects for the elderly are hence quite diverse,
depending on the country.
The experience with social pension schemes where level and coverage are more
adequate, as in South Africa or Brazil (and parts of Mexico), shows that minimum
conditionality and universal coverage in old age has progressive effects on the income
distribution. This points towards a clear way forward, particularly considering the
demographic change that the BRICSAMIT countries are starting to experience, with an
increasing proportion of the population aged over 60.
UNEQUAL EDUCATION LIMITS SOCIAL MOBILITY
For now, those in precarious working conditions tend to face precarious old-age prospects,
while those who benefit from the usually higher wage in formal jobs have the further
advantage of receiving healthcare and future pension coverage. The two-tier services
provision system leaves large parts of the population unprotected. Such vulnerability in the
face of existential risks, besides inequality of outcomes, leads to very unequal opportunities.
For instance, a single mother might not send her oldest child to school to ensure she can
provide for her other children. Or a young person might choose not to pursue a university
degree because she needs an income to support herself and/or relatives, cannot afford fees
and does not want to take out a loan if future job opportunities are limited. Thus, lack of
money in the present impairs peoples decision-making on investments, for instance relating
to higher education, hence limiting opportunities for social mobility in the future.
These differences in opportunities can be clearly observed in the educational sphere.143 As
with health, when disaggregating educational attainment by income quintiles (Table 5), vast
differences appear between the top and bottom income groups. In Brazil, where the ratio is
highest, this translates into a poor student finishing secondary school while her richer peer
goes to university. Although official data reports near 100% primary school enrolment, in
Delhi about half of the 50,000 urban street children were illiterate in 2011 and only 20% had
received some formal education.144 Many of these children never complete primary educa-
tion; enrolment rates fall from 90.78% at early-primary level to 62.24% at upper-primary
level.145 Moreover, among poorer population groups drop-out rates are higher, and enrol-
ment and attendance levels are lower. Only half of the poorest 10% of the population are
literate, compared to 88.4% of the richest 10%.
TABLE 5: DIFFERENCES IN EDUCATIONAL ATTAINMENT ACCORDING TO INCOME LEVEL FOR SELECTED COUNTRIES
(AS MEASURED BY THE HDI EDUCATION COMPONENT)
India 0.64 0.548 0.629 0.69 0.705 0.7 1.276
Indonesia 0.832 0.746 0.807 0.84 0.874 0.921 1.234
Brazil 0.888 0.682 0.854 0.935 0.986 1 1.467
South Africa 0.843 0.836 0.84 0.846 0.846 0.846 1.012
Differences in quality of education, particularly between rural and urban areas, perpetuate the
trenches between the social strata. Turkey is one of three OECD countries that spend more on
the education of its rich children than on the poor.147 Such a divided education system means
that in Mexico, just to cover the MXN$88,000 (approximately US$5,400) of annual fees to send
their child to private kindergarten,148 a worker receiving the minimum wage would first need
to work for four full years. At the other extreme, of the CNY1.77 million (approximately
US$280,000, or 3% of their average wealth) that Chinese millionaires spend on average each
year, 20% goes on their childrens schooling, and more than 85% of these super-rich plan to
send their children abroad for education.149
THE GENDER GAP
All of the BRICSAMIT countries display important gender inequalities (Table 6). As
such, women still receive incrementally less schooling than men, the higher the
educational level considered. For income levels a large gap persists, even in Brazil
where the female population appears to complete more years of school than their
male peers. Although this gap is also consistently present in the top HDI countries,150
it is extraordinarily large in the BRICSAMIT countries, notably in India and Turkey,
where the percentage of womens income to mens reaches 29% and 31% respectively
(followed by Mexico with 46%). This massive gender pay gap cannot be explained
away by womens lower schooling levels, and exists in both the formal and informal
sectors.151 Women are also continually disadvantaged in the labour market: for
example, Turkey and India see less than 30% of female participation.
TABLE 6: GENDER INEQUALITY IN THE BRICSAMIT COUNTRIES
country 2012 ratio female income Female labor parliament % of high
secondary edu- (% of male) force participa- seats held by level man-
cation (female/ 2012 tion % 2012 women (%) agement
male) (2013) positions
occupied by
Russian Federation 97 65.7 57.0 12.1 <5
Turkey 79 31.1 29.4 14.2 10 20
Mexico 95 45.7 45 36 5 10
Brazil 103 60.9 59.5 9.6 5 10
China 87 68.7 63.8 23.4 5 10
Indonesia 91 48.8 51.3 18.6 5 10
South Africa 97 56.1 44.2 41.1 10 20
India 76 29.1 28.8 10.9 <5
Source: Data from UNDP (2014)152
The percentage of seats in Parliament occupied by women is particularly low in the
BRICSAMIT.153 Likewise, less than 5% of high-level management positions are occu-
pied by women in Russia and India, while only one woman enters the list of 50
wealthiest Indonesians. Thus, although there have been advances towards greater
gender equality especially in terms of health and to a lesser degree education vast
disparities continue to exist between women and their male peers in the realms of
income, labour-market participation and positions of political and economic power.
CRIME AND UNEQUAL OPPORTUNITIES FOR YOUTH
The BRICSAMIT countries, particularly Russia and South Africa, have some of the
highest incarceration rates in the world.154 The group most affected by this policing
strategy is that of young economically disadvantaged males from ethnic minorities,
which populate the overcrowded prisons. In India, marginalized groups such as Dalits,
Adivasis and Muslims are significantly overrepresented in the prison populations.155
This form of repression is combined with high impunity levels: in Mexico in 2013, 98%
of murder cases remained unresolved.156 Such deficient and skewed political-judicial
systems create inequalities before the law, which increase exposure to violence and
crime for particular, vulnerable groups.157
With the exception of Indonesia, all of the BRICSAMIT countries display high homicide
rates by international standards. Brazil and Mexico (together with Colombia and
Venezuela, representing about 5% of the global population), account for one-quarter
of worldwide homicides.158 But these deaths are not equally distributed across their
populations. In Brazil, murder is now the leading cause of death for young men.159 A
strong economic bias means that the vast majority of violence takes place on just a
few street corners in a given city, at certain times of the day, and among specific
people. The discriminatory remnants of ethnic division and colonialism mean that, in
the case of Brazil, those segments of the population most affected are young black
males.160 Driven by rapid unregulated urbanization, a youth bulge in growing cities
and weak policing, justice systems and penal institutions, income and social inequali-
ty give rise to above-average rates of violent crime and the resultant victim pat-
terns.161
Children are particularly vulnerable. According to UNICEF, in 1994 there were 11
million street children in India, a number that is likely to have increased significantly
since then.162 Additionally, in 2001, the government registered about 12 million
working children between 5-14 years old, although unofficial estimates put the
number as high as 60 million.163 Those children belonging to the Dalit, Adivasis or
Muslim minorities are particularly vulnerable to the impacts of poverty on social
exclusion (see Box 5).
BOX 5: SOCIAL EXCLUSION IN INDIA
Alongside income inequality, unequal and exclusionary treatment of specific groups
is widespread in India (as in many other countries), where state institutions, policies
and laws both in their design and functioning tend to mirror, produce and
reproduce discrimination and exploitation based on gender, caste, class, religion and
disability. For access to such diverse public goods as education, urban housing,
decent work in labour markets and legal justice in relation to anti-terror legislation, it
is the same groups that are most severely and consistently excluded namely
women, Muslims and persons with disabilities, and people from scheduled groups
such as Dalits and Adivasis. An individual, household or group combining several of
the characteristics that are discriminated against is likely to experience deeper
exclusion.
Housing conditions provide an example of this exclusionary treatment: 78% to 88% of
female-headed households that belong to one of the marginalized groups do not
have a latrine, compared to 53% of all households nationally. Access to housing
finance has clear exclusions along religious, caste and class lines, and it is common to
find a preference for male tenants in low-income settlements in India. These and
other exclusionary practices leave women highly vulnerable to exploitation, abuse
and violence, and largely coincide with general discriminatory attitudes and practices
towards women, as well as their lower social status.
The exclusionary nature of law and justice in India clearly manifests itself in the
overrepresentation of marginalized groups in its prison population, particularly of
under-trial prisoners who are yet to be convicted for their alleged crime. While
making up 38.6 % of the total population, Dalits, Adivasis and Muslims together
account for 53.5% of the convicted prison population and 56.7% of the under-trial
prison population.
Traditional patterns of social discrimination along the lines of caste, gender, religion
and tribes go hand in hand with income inequality. Poverty rates are 14% higher
among Dalits compared to non-scheduled groups. Moreover, the 2.7% average
annual poverty reduction falls to 2.1% for the Dalits while for Muslims in urban areas
it is only 1.8%, suggesting that these inequalities are growing wider particularly
when regional disparities are taken into account.
Even in comparison with other vulnerable groups, data on the situation of Muslims is
stark. In 2009-10, only 30.4% of Muslim workers in urban areas received regular
salaries compared to 39.7% of the total population, and their working conditions
were generally much worse than those of other regular workers, including Dalits and
Adivasis. The only group that displays even lower paid employment levels are persons
with disabilities, of whom only 26.3% were engaged in gainful economic activities.
This number decreases to 10.4% for disabled women, and falls as low as 5.6% for
mentally disabled persons.
Based on such data, the India Exclusion Report 2013-14 concludes that the consistent
exclusion of these communities from just and equitable access to diverse public
goods suggests that both in their design and functioning state institutions, policies
and laws tend to mirror, produce and reproduce discrimination and exploitation
based on gender, caste, class, religion and disability.
Sources: Mander 2014 and Dubochet 2013164
The accumulation of these social inequalities in vulnerable groups implies a likely
intergenerational transmission of underprivileged positions, where the wealthy both
earn higher incomes and enjoy greater health and education levels. Poor parents, on
the other hand, cannot afford to send their children to expensive private schools,
increasing their likelihood of working in informal sector jobs with less health protection,
and continuously low incomes to pass on to their children, and so forth. Neglecting
future prospects of large parts of youth in this way seems like the chronicle of a disaster
foretold in a context where close to 30% of the population is under 15 years old.165,166
This impediment to social mobility means that cycles of inequality perpetuation are
created, where the drivers of disadvantage simultaneously become its consequences.
INEQUALITY UNDERMINES DEVELOPMENT
In sum, the persistent and reproducing inequalities in the BRICSAMIT countries are
based on income and wealth differences and run along gender, ethnic, geographical,
historical-institutional and generational divides. The list of their drivers and conse-
quences is long: differences in exposure to environmental hazards; threats of violence
and repression; unequal access to resources including healthcare, social protection
and education. The two-tier health and education systems whereby the rich can
afford expensive private schools and hospitals while the poor have to rely on un-
der-equipped public versions further increase vulnerability for those who are already
underprivileged. The high crime rates and elevated levels of impunity, particularly in
Russia, Brazil, and Mexico, signify additional risks to health and limit the opportunities
for future catching up. Compensation by public transfer programmes, where it exists, is
insufficient to overcome the deep chasm, both regionally and along the lines of
gender and ethnic divides. The vast informal sectors signify a lack of job and hence
income security, which inhibits especially poor people from making longer-term plans
and appropriate investments; it also creates barriers to employment and career
progression for women. In other words: inequality permeates all areas of life.
The combination of high informality and inadequate state provision in health,
education and social protection mean that, within the BRICSAMIT countries, inequali-
ties play a more significant role for societal well-being than they do for more devel-
oped countries. This is clearly shown when we compare the gap between HDI and its
inequality-adjusted version.167 The BRICSAMIT countries score in terms of human
development decreases on average by 21%, compared to 8.4% in the top-scoring
countries (Figure 10), meaning that inequality in the former has a stronger negative
effect on the indicators three dimensions health, education and income.
FIGURE 10: INEQUALITY-ADJUSTED HUMAN DEVELOPMENT INDEX FOR THE BRICSAMIT COUNTRIES AND
THE DEVELOPED COUNTRIES
Overall HDI 2013
Inequality-adjusted
0.8 HDI 2013
5. FIRST STEPS TO
ADDRESS INEQUALITY
IN THE BRICSAMIT
The shifts in income and wealth distribution of the BRICSAMIT countries in the past
three decades point to the importance of local conditions for inequality outcomes.
Besides the highly unequally distributed accumulation and flow of financial resources
across population groups, social inequalities for instance in health and education
are also vast. Such inequalities are both cause and consequence of a set of power
inequalities embedded in the respective historical-institutional environments of the
These multiple and overlapping inequalities hinder the utilization of the full potential
of a society. Economic development in terms of economic growth remains below its
potential level in a context of inadequate investment and elite blockage of innovative
policies. Extremely limited access to affordable and quality education decreases
economic prospects on the personal and societal level, and limits the potential of
social emancipation. Two-tier health systems that keep large parts of the population
at health levels below the countrys potential are likely to become a drag on public
finances, as well as limiting individual capabilities. Income differences imply both
differences in social status and in the ability to shape ones future, for instance
because pension systems are precarious for those who cannot afford private pension
schemes during working age. Thus, the development of personal capabilities is
severely hampered for large parts of the population that are less free to pursue their
own life aspirations.
Lack of social cohesion and societal malfunctions in highly unequal societies also
include the erosion of trust. This further strains quality of life: if people start feeling
uncomfortable around their peers, in their neighbourhood, with their fellow humans,
because they fear or despise, envy or pity them, or because insecure and often violent
environments around them lead them to assume the worst of strangers how will
they live comfortably and happily, even if they happen to be so lucky as to be at the
high end of the income distribution?
One of the reasons why it is so difficult to significantly ameliorate inequalities is that
high income and wealth inequality obstruct egalitarian policy making where the elite
is predominantly engaged in extractive sectors. These industries offer a large poten-
tial for rent-seeking. Since they are central to the countries development strategies,
they also grant important political leverage.
Yet it is possible to break the vicious cycle of inequality that is perpetuated by
repressive and exclusionary processes, and instead create a virtuous cycle of egalitari-
an and inclusive policy making as a precondition for tackling the root causes of
inequality. Below are five areas for governments to include in their concerted strategy
to fight inequalities and achieve more prosperous, equal societies both mitigating
the consequences of current inequality, and preventing new inequalities from arising.
CONCLUSIONS AND WAYS FORWARD
1 Re-frame the economic development model, and ensure that public interest,
protection of human rights and reduction of inequality forms the core of the
developmental agenda. This applies both within the BRICSAMIT countries but also in
terms of the investment and cooperation model these countries are increasingly
engaged in overseas, particularly in low-income countries.
In light of the spectacular disparities outlined in this report, policy answers to date
have been rather timid. The bias towards growth, and the perception of inequality as
a necessary by-product of the development process that would in time decrease
naturally, have contributed to the limited response to inequality. All along, the
assumption has been that for a country to overcome its development challenges, the
willingness to accept an initial increase in inequality was necessary, following the
logic that it first needs to get worse before it can get better.
The belief in a supposed efficiency-equality trade-off, where increases in growth are
assumed to be necessarily associated with decreases in equality, is only slowly
abating. The way development is currently pursued in the BRICSAMIT countries, via
economic models based largely on resource extraction and rent-seeking is inherently
unequalizing, and more emphasis needs to be placed on who gains from growth.
Moving away from growth as the primary objective, at all costs, and prioritizing
instead the public good and well-being of society constitutes an important step in
reducing inequality. The old economic model must be replaced with a new one,
where equality forms the core of the developmental agenda. Some leaders, for
instance in Indonesia and Brazil, have started to embrace the objective of decreasing
inequality. The space for civil society and academia to participate in framing such
discourse is opening.
2 Reform the regulatory environment, particularly around transparency in govern-
ment. There is a need for measures that restrict conflict of interest; to decouple
business from campaign financing; cooling periods to close revolving doors between
big business and government; and binding disclosure of personal gains and contribu-
tors as well as the proper enforcement of these regulations.
A narrow elite is able to influence election outcomes in many of the BRICSAMIT
countries through a variety of strategies, including campaign finance, rent-seeking,
high mobility and constant shifting between positions of political and economic influ-
ence, i.e. revolving door strategies, etc. Therefore, to change distributional patterns
requires consideration of both the legal framework and the rule of law in a just
manner. Unless these institutions are changed, policies targeting inequality will
continue to address the consequences of inequality rather than its root causes, and
will thus remain palliative. These root causes can only be altered by changing the
framework. As Porter (2015) summarizes: subsidies, tax treatment, legal protection
and other mechanisms conspire to aid the wealthy while often serving to damp
economic gains.169 It is widely recognized that these regulations ultimately stem from
historical and socio-cultural conventions. But that they can indeed be altered has
been shown, e.g. with the recent change in electoral regulations to accommodate
independent candidates in Mexico170 and a possible ban on corporate election
finance on the horizon in Brazil. This certainly proves that the perceived iron grip of
an extractive elite can be eased.
What is needed are programmes restricting conflict of interest; delinking business
from campaign financing (for instance through provision of public funds for cam-
paigns, as practised in South Africa); cooling periods to close revolving doors in both
directions, i.e. from and to decision-making positions in business and politics; and
binding disclosure of personal gains and contributors as well as the proper enforce-
ment of these regulations.
One example of an interesting measure towards accountability is the 2014 creation of
the National Transparency Institute (IFAI) in Mexico, which has the power to demand
disclosure of information on the publics behalf. Although it remains to be seen how
effective this will be in terms of increasing transparency and empowering citizens, it is
an important step towards establishing accountability mechanisms.
3 Achieve a fair pre-distribution of incomes through formalizing informal jobs,
raising minimum wages, creating employment and increasing the bargaining
power of workers.
Achieving an increasingly equitable and inclusive society will only be possible if and
when pre-distributive policies, i.e. those measures that correct the so-called market
distribution, including, most importantly, labour policies, and redistributive policies,
such as progressive taxation and transfers, are applied in parallel. The recent decades
weakening of unions, the proliferation of trade agreements that prioritize the inter-
ests of corporations over workers rights, the tightening of intellectual property rights
and the rise of finance, as well as a consolidation of strategic industry reducing
competition across the economy, constitute some examples of negative pre-distribu-
tion policies that fail to protect the majority of citizens, who lack the economic
affluence necessary to benefit from such regulation. These policies have weakened
the bargaining power of workers, while entrenching a legal framework with rules that
lock in inequality.171 Hence the reversal of these policies, which have been widespread
and popular over recent decades, could yield some significant advances. Raising the
minimum wage, improving labour protection through measures such as formalizing
jobs, and government-investment policies for the creation of jobs are all examples of
how pre-distribution policies could lead to a positive result on income distribution.
Such an approach has been successfully implemented in Brazil, which has accelerated
its two-decade-old revaluation strategy of minimum wages over the past five years. In
a countercyclical manner, the strategy to boost domestic consumption saw regular
adjustments of the minimum wage level to inflation plus GDP growth.172 This im-
proved inequality levels from below by increasing gains for those at the bottom of
the income distribution. However, this contrasts sharply with the case of Mexico,
where minimum wage levels lie below the poverty line, with a real-terms value that is
70% below their 1980 level.173
4 Achieve redistribution and strengthen tax systems by filling loopholes for tax
evasion and aggressive tax planning; increasing top income-tax levels; and revising
tax incentives for large corporations. Recognize the problem of rapidly increasing
wealth inequality, and thus apply a high-threshold wealth tax in the form of inheritance
tax or a tax on capital gains. Such a tax would have considerable redistributive impacts,
as well as fill the public accounts, which in turn provide resources for more effective
social policies and provision of public services.
Application of redistributive policies, together with a regulatory environment that
prevents political and economic capture by small interest groups, a stronger bargain-
ing position of workers, and following an overall developmental objective of equality,
could be very effective in curbing inequalities. Currently, the tax systems in the
BRICSAMIT countries play a smaller role in easing market-driven inequalities than they
could. Besides the tax structure and the discussion on its degree of progressivity, their
fiscal policies deliver only modest redistribution.
Fiscal policies are infested with evasion and administrative bottlenecks due to high
levels of unregistered self-employment and informal sectors that limit the capacity of
tax authorities to verify taxpayers declared income. In India, where tax evasion has
allegedly become a national sport, an estimated INR800 billion (US$12bn) is lost
every year because of corporate tax incentives,174 and up to an estimated US$2 trillion
of illicit money more than Indias GDP is stored abroad.175 Thus, the BRICSAMIT
countries tax systems could improve the income distribution, for instance through
filling loopholes for tax evasion and elusion; increasing top income-tax levels and
making the tax structure more progressive; and revising tax incentives for foreign
investors and corporations.
Additionally, in view of the particular problem of rapidly increasing wealth inequality,
the application of a high-threshold wealth tax, in the form of inheritance tax or a tax
on capital gains (currently voluntary in India), could have considerable redistributive
impacts. All of these would have the beneficial side-effect that not only do they
improve the distribution from above, but also fill the public accounts. This provides
resources for more progressive social policies and, importantly, protects the state
from capture by narrow interest groups through decreasing its resource dependence.
Conveniently, it would also improve registers of wealth held, thereby potentially
helping to curb illegal outflows of capital.
Currently, coverage and generosity of social protection systems in the BRICSAMIT
countries are low compared to OECD countries: social spending is highest in Brazil
and Russia, where it represents about three-quarters of the OECD average, while
China and India have three to four times lower levels than OECD average.176 The
combination of weak transfer systems and tax regimes that are not very progressive -
where the income distribution after fiscal policies have been applied barely changes
compared to the market outcome - is an area of significant opportunity for redistribu-
tion in the BRICSAMIT countries.
5 Ameliorate the symptoms via inclusive social policy. In order to enhance well-be-
ing across society and to reduce inequality, ensure there are more concerted
efforts to provide public healthcare, education and social protection, allowing access
for everybody, particularly those who have been excluded in the past.
Finally, the consequences of inequalities can be dealt with more effectively if a func-
tioning tax system is in place, since it provides resources to be distributed. Active
redistribution via a progressive tax system allows for a more generous transfer system
towards the provision of public goods for everybody. Universal access to unconditional
transfers should be the aim to mitigate remaining market inequalities. Public health-
care, social protection and education must ensure access for everybody, to enable
citizens full participation in public life and a level playing field, i.e. equality of opportu-
nity. Basic income proposals, as are discussed in many developed countries, and most
recently enshrined in law in Finland, can ensure a safety net for all citizens also in the
BRICSAMIT countries. Such a scheme would also finally end extreme poverty.
In sum, the countries must ensure a more concerted strategy than that which is
currently employed, taking advantage of future growth to benefit the well-being of
larger parts of their populations, alongside more active equality-enhancing policies.
The BRICSAMIT countries have used several of the policies outlined to varying
degrees. Yet a sustainable pro-equality strategy would require a comprehensive set of
policies combining measures from all five of these dimensions. Considering their
different approaches and partial coverage of selective policy areas, the BRICSAMIT
countries can benefit a great deal from incorporating their peers policies into their
own set of strategies.
Moreover, civil society as an important stakeholder in the debate on curbing extreme
inequality can be a strong ally for progressing towards more inclusive and sustain-
able societies. Civil society brings the vital first-hand perspectives of people who
experience poverty and marginalization, as well as analysis of policy responses, and
knowledge of what works and what does not work in terms of reducing inequality.
Porter emphasizes that the power of money in politics should never be underestimat-
ed.177 But institutions can be changed and do change. Therefore, if something is really
to be done about inequality, this is where it must be approached. So far, the
BRICSAMIT countries, although aiming to challenge the old global order, are follow-
ing a similar economic logic. Although they have enshrined equal rights for all in their
constitutions, the concentration of power and wealth in the hands of the few seems
rather stable for the time being. But it can and should be challenged by the
countries citizens. This could be the historical moment where they break with the
current economic complacency, and together start on a new, more equal path,
towards empowerment of the many.
1 This natural trajectory of inequality dynamics, first formulated by economist Simon Kuznets in the 1950s, seemed to fit the
empirical patterns observed in the developed countries distributions then.
2 The World Bank puts Brazilian per capita income at purchasing power parity at I$16,155 and its Gini at 52.7 (World Bank 2015;
World Development Indicators. [online] Available at: http://data.worldbank.org/data-catalog/world-development-indicators [Last
accessed 9 June 2015]). Germany had a per capita income of I$16,273 (PPP) in 1977 (Public Purpose (2000): http://www.
publicpurpose.com/lm-ppp60+.htm Last accessed: 09.06.2015.) when its Gini was 24.7 (Atkinson, A.B. and S. Morelli (2014). The
Chartbook of Economic Inequality. http://www.chartbookofeconomicinequality.com/inequality-by-country/germany/ Last
accessed: 07.08.2015.).
3 World Bank (2015). World Development Indicators. http://data.worldbank.org/data-catalog/world-development-indicators. Last
accessed: 09.08.2015.
4 Forbes (2015). The Worlds Billionaires Available at http://www.forbes.com/billionaires/ last accessed 20.11.2015
5 120th of 136 countries according to the annual report by the World Economic Forum (2013): The Global Gender Gap Report 2013
http://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_GenderGap_Report_2013.pdf .
6 Esquivel, G. (2015). Desigualdad Extrema en Mxico. Concentracin del Poder Econmico y Poltico, http://cambialasreglas.org/
images/desigualdadextrema_informe.pdf. Last accessed: 07.08.2015.
7 For research covering many decades using data from e.g. the World Bank, OECD, WIDER, World Top Income Database, and/or
regional databases like SEDLAC, Eurostat, etc. See, for instance, Piketty (2014) Capital in the 21st Century, Atkinson (2015), Palma,
J.G. (2011). Homogeneous Middles vs. Heterogeneous Tails, and the End of the Inverted-U: the Share of the Rich is what its all
about. Development and Change, 42(1).
8 World Bank (2015), op. cit.
9 Pew Research Center (2013). Inequality and Economic Mobility, chapter 5 in Economies of Emerging Markets Better Rated During
Difficult Times, http://www.pewglobal.org/2013/05/23/chapter-3-inequality-and-economic-mobility/. Last accessed: 09.06.2015.
10 Chatterjee, N., Y. Ho and C. Brummit (2015). Dangerous Inequality Spurs Widodos Indonesia Shakeup, 2 February 2015, http://
www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-02-02/-dangerous-inequality-spurs-widodo-drive-for-indonesia-shakeup. Last
11 Ghatak, M. (2014). India needs more than Narendra Modis trickle-down model, 14 July http://www.theguardian.com/
commentisfree/2014/jul/14/narendra-modi-india-trickle-down-model-gujarat. Last accessed: 09.06.2015.
12 IMF asserts negative effects of inequality on growth (IMF (2015a). Causes and Consequences of Income Inequality: A Global
Perspective, https://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/sdn/2015/sdn1513.pdf. Last accessed: 09.06.2015.); OECD estimates that
inequality cost its member countries 4.7% of cumulative growth between 1990 and 2010 (OECD (2015b). In It Together. Why Less
Inequality Benefits All. http://www.oecd.org/els/soc/OECD2015-In-It-Together-Chapter1-Overview-Inequality.pdf. Last accessed:
09.06.2015.), reaching 10% for Mexico (Esquivel, G. (2015). Op. cit.).
13 World Bank (2015). Op cit.
14 Bourguignon, F. (2015). The Globalization of Inequality. Princeton University Press: Princeton (US).
15 ILO (2015). Global Wage Report Collection. Available at www.ilo.org/ilostat. Last accessed 15.08.2015
16 OECD (2014). Focus on Top Incomes and Taxation in OECD Countries: Was the Crisis a Game Changer?, http://www.oecd.org/els/
soc/OECD2014-FocusOnTopIncomes.pdf . Last accessed: 01.08.2014.
17 CONEVAL (2015). CONEVAL informa de los resultados de la medicin de pobreza 2014, http://www.eluniversal.com.mx/articulo/
nacion/sociedad/2015/07/24/crece-pobreza-en-mexico-hay-dos-millones-mas-coneval
18 World Bank (2015). Op. cit.
19 There is discussion about whether basing poverty-reduction achievements on measurements of those living on less than US$1.25
per day is adequate, considering the status of high and medium development countries compared. Indeed in most of the
BRICSAMIT countries, the cost of living, particularly in cities, is comparable to high-income countries in Europe or North America,
whereas poverty in the EU, for instance, is measured as 60% of national median income rather than the absolute threshold of
extreme poverty.
20 World Bank (2015). Op cit.
21 Krozer, A. And J.C. Moreno-Brid (2014). Inequality in Mexico. World Economics Association 4(5): 4-6. This number is obtained from
household surveys and therefore differs from the per capita income as stated in Table 1, which is calculated on the basis of
national accounts. In 2014, the average Mexican household has 3.8 members, and a trimonthly household income of
MXN$39,742, according to INEGI.
22 Credite Suisse (2014). Global Wealth Report 2014, https://publications.credit-suisse.com/tasks/render/
file/?fileID=60931FDE-A2D2-F568-B041B58C5EA591A4. Last accessed: August 2015.
23 ILO (2013). World of Work Report 2013. Repairing the Economic and Social Fabric, Geneva.
24 The conversion into dollar terms in this paragraph are approximations based on current exchange rates as of August 2015.
25 Milanovic, B. (2014). World Income Distribution Dataset 2008. Available at: http://econ.worldbank.org/WBSITE/EXTERNAL/EXTDEC/
EXTRESEARCH/EXTPROGRAMS/EXTPOVRES/0,,contentMDK:23022308~menuPK:8322745~pagePK:64168182~piPK:64168060~the
SitePK:477894,00.html Last accessed on 20.10.2015.
26 Milanovic, B. (2015). World Income Distribution 2011 (forthcoming).
27 Forbes (2015). Op. cit.
28 Although probably the most frequently used inequality measure today, the Gini should be complemented by other indicators to
get a more nuanced picture of inequality, because it emphasizes changes in the middle of the distribution over those at the ends.
The Palma and Palma v.2, which divide the income share of the richest 10% and 5% of the population, respectively, over that of
the poorest 40% to explicitly focus on changes in the top and bottom of the distribution, provides complementing insights,
besides being more straightforward in its interpretation (for an elaboration on these points, see e.g. Palma 2011, Cobham and
Sumner 2013, and Krozer 2015).
30 See reference 28 above for an explanation of the Palma.
31 A general empirical pattern of the income distribution that Palma (2011) has dubbed the 50-50 rule: the phenomenon of the 50%
middle-income earners in deciles 5-9 securing 50% of total income.
32 Milanovic, B. (2014). Op. cit.
34 These numbers are based on household survey data, which significantly understate actual concentration at the top.
37 These numbers are based on tax data, which, although arguably still underreported, are more accurate in estimating top incomes
compared to the data obtainable from household surveys used so far. However, they do not provide information on the lower
income groups, so cannot at this point substitute household surveys where there is interest in developments at the bottom of the
distribution. Besides, such data are not widely available for the emerging countries.
38 Although the richest 1% only owned 8-9% of total incomes according to latest available records in these two countries, these
shares are likely to have increased significantly since 1999 and 2004, respectively.
39 Esquivel, G. (2015). Op. cit.
40 World Top Incomes Database (2015). Alvaredo, F., A. B. Atkinson, T. Piketty and E. Saez, Available at: http://topincomes.g-mond.
parisschoolofeconomics.eu/ last accessed on 20.11.2015.
41 Kumar, C. (2014). Africa Rising? Inequalities and the essential role of fair taxation, http://www.christianaid.org.uk/images/
Africa-tax-and-inequality-report-Feb2014.pdf
42 KPMG (2015). Tax Tools and Resources. http://www.kpmg.com/global/en/services/tax/tax-tools-and-resources/pages/individual-
income-tax-rates-table.aspx
43 Higgins, S., N. Lustig, W. Ruble and T. Smeeding (2014). Comparing the Incidence of Taxes and Social Spending in Brazil and the
United States, http://www.cgdev.org/sites/default/files/comparing-incidence-taxes-social-spending-brazil-us.pdf
44 Indonesia Investments (2015). Tax system of Indonesia, http://www.indonesia-investments.com/finance/tax-system/item277
45 OECD (2012). Reducing income inequality while boosting economic growth: Can it be done?, chapter 5 in Going For Growth.
http://www.oecd.org/eco/growth/49421421.pdf
46 Higgins et. al. (2014). Op. cit.
47 Swift, Z.L. (2006). Managing the Effects of Tax Expenditures on National Budgets, World Bank Working Paper Series 3927. https://
openknowledge.worldbank.org/bitstream/handle/10986/8449/wps3927.pdf?sequence=1
48 Even for the poorest 10% of the population, they only increase market income by 28%, 10%, and a paltry 0.2%, respectively
(Higgins et al. 2014).
49 Higgins et al. (2014). Op. cit.
50 Banning-Lover, R. (2015). The bank, the boss, your parents: global borrowing trends mapped, 28 May 2015. http://www.
theguardian.com/global-development-professionals-network/2015/may/28/the-bank-the-boss-your-parents-global-borrowing-
trends-mapped?CMP=
51 Credite Suisse (2014). Op. cit.
52 Average wealth levels between 2000 and 2014 went from US$2,920 to US$19,590 in Russia; US$5,670 to US$21,330 in China;
US$8,400 to US$25,800 in South Africa; US$7,900 to US$23,400 in Brazil. In 2014 they were at US$4,650 in India and US$9,742 in
Indonesia. Recently, average wealth in US$-terms has fallen everywhere due to adverse exchange rate movements (Credite Suisse
(2014) op. cit.), including China, as of August 2015.
53 Financial Post (2012). Meet the average Chinese millionaire: 39, plays golf, and owns an iPad, 1 August 2012. http://business.
financialpost.com/business-insider/meet-the-average-chinese-millionaire-39-plays-golf-and-owns-an-ipad
54 News24 (2014). The world of SAs super-rich, 10 August 2014. http://www.news24.com/SouthAfrica/News/The-world-of-SAs-
super-rich-20140810
56 Bourguignon, F. (2015). The Globalization of Inequality. Princeton University Press: Princeton (US).
57 Because many poor people have virtually no wealth at all, the distribution of wealth is always much more unequal than that of
income.
59 Credite Suisse (2014b). Global Wealth Databook 2014. https://publications.credit-suisse.com/tasks/render/
file/?fileID=5521F296-D460-2B88-081889DB12817E02. Last accessed:10 November 2015
60 Just as in the case of incomes, the distance between the wealth of the rich and the richer increases the closer one gets to the very
top. For instance, the second-to-richest individual in each country often owns less than half of what the top-ranked possesses.
62 IMF (2014). World Economic Outlook Database, October 2014. Available athttps://www.imf.org (last accessed August 2015).
63 Based on 2015 levels and a six-day working week.
64 Although with the crisis Carlos Slim lost almost half of his wealth (from US$67bn in 2008 to US$35bn in 2009), by 2012 he had
resurrected to own US$73.8bn, according to Forbes.
65 Credite Suisse (2014b). Op. cit.
66 Contrary to the Russian case of sudden combustion of the economic system and sell-out of state assets, which triggered runaway
inequality, the whole process is rather more controlled in China, leading to a slower yet steady pace of inequality increments.
67 UNDP (2005). The State of Equity in China: Income and Wealth Distribution, Chapter 2 in China Human Development Report
2005, Palgrave Macmillan, New York, Chinese version, China Translation & Publishing Corporation, October 2005.
68 Acemoglu, D. and J.A. Robinson (2012). Why Nations Fail: The Origins of Power, Prosperity and Poverty, Crown Publishing: New
69 GMK-Hurun (2013). The Chinese Millionaire Wealth Report 2013, GroupM Knowledge-Hurun, http://up.hurun.net/
Humaz/201312/20131218145315550.pdf
70 Treisman, D. (2010). Loans For Shares Revisited, National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper 15819, March 2010:
Cambridge MA.
71 Azarova, K. (2011). Of Russian origin: Semibankirschina, Russiapedia, http://russiapedia.rt.com/of-russian-origin/
semibankirschina/; Phillips, A. (2000). The political economy of Russia: transition or condition?, Chapter 6 in Russia After the Cold
War (eds. Bowker, M. And C. Ross) Routledge 2014: New York; Piontkovsky, A. (1997). Modern-Day Rasputin, The Moscow Times,
12 November 1997, http://www.themoscowtimes.com/news/article/modern-day-rasputin/297710.html. Last
accessed:10.08.2015.
72 LOC (2015). Indonesia: Jakarta Court Bans Water Privatization, Library of Congress 30 March 2015, http://www.loc.gov/lawweb/
servlet/lloc_news?disp3_l205404362_text
73 Consider, for instance, the lasting friendship between the Mexican multi-millionaires Slim and Salinas de Gortari, the countrys
president during the privatization deals, as well as similar cases in Indian politics (Crabtree (2012). Indias billionaires club,
Financial Times, 16 November 2012, http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/2/be255dd2-2eb6-11e2-9b98-00144feabdc0.
html#axzz2n6dz3E3o.
74 Patnaik, P. (2014). India opens new front in tax evasion battle, swissinfo.ch 23 June 2014, http://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/india-
opens-new-front-in-tax-evasion-battle/38843502
75 The National (2013). Tax evasion rampant among Indias wealthy, The National, 3 April 2013, http://www.thenational.ae/news/
world/south-asia/tax-evasion-rampant-among-indias-wealthy
76 Around 90% in Russia, Turkey, Mexico, China and South Africa; around 70% in India and Indonesia (UNDP 2014).
77 El Economista (2015). Pemex pag remolque de plataforma desde Arabia que nunca ocurri, 23 January 2015, http://
eleconomista.com.mx/industrias/2015/01/23/pemex-pago-remolque-plataforma-arabia-que-nunca-ocurrio
78 This threatens not only current distribution, but that of generations to come. For instance, depletion rates in Mexico, Russia or
Indonesia amount to 7% of GNI (UNDP 2014).
79 However, the Central Jakarta District Court ruled in March 2015 that privatization of water provision in the city had to be reversed.
A consortium of city residents, trade unions and water justice activists sued the city over the initial decision to privatize water
resources and the poor service record of the private companies, where water leakage levels after privatization were reported to
be as high as 44% (LOC 2015).
80 A degree in marketing from one of the top Mexican private universities costs between MNX586-668,000 (US$34-38,000) (El
Semanario (2014). Costo de la educacin en Mxico y el Mundo qu conviene ms?, 20 June 2014, http://elsemanario.
com/59022/costo-de-la-educacion-en-mexico-y-el-mundo-que-conviene-mas/. Last accessed 20.08.2015.
81 Winters, P. and J. Mao (2014). Where Chinas elite are taught a global view, Agence France Press Weekend, 22 December 2014,
http://www.afr.com/news/world/asia/where-chinas-elite-are-taught-a-global-view-20141221-12bvn8
82 Sandhurst is the richest neighbourhood in Johannesburg, South Africa, home to 130 multi-millionaires (net wealth of over US$10
million) (Ujuh (2015). Multi millionaires like Sandhurst, Hyde Park, Zimbali 11 March 2015, http://www.ujuh.co.za/multi-
millionaires-like-sandhurst-hyde-park-zimbali-umhlanga-bishopscourt-etc/).
83 Frank, R. (2015). For the New Superrich, Life Is Much More Than a Beach, The New York Times, 20 June 2015, http://www.nytimes.
com/2015/06/21/business/for-the-new-superrich-life-is-much-more-than-a-beach.html?_r=0
84 Antunes, A. (2014). The 15 Richest Families In Brazil, Forbes, 13 May 2014, http://www.forbes.com/sites/
andersonantunes/2014/05/13/the-15-richest-families-in-brazil/
85 Credite Suisse (2014). Op. cit.; Antunes, A. (2014). The 15 Richest Families In Brazil, Forbes, 13 May 2014, http://www.forbes.com/
sites/andersonantunes/2014/05/13/the-15-richest-families-in-brazil/; Antunes, A. (2013). The Richest People In Brazil 2013: The
Full List, 9 September 2013, http://www.forbes.com/sites/andersonantunes/2013/09/09/the-richest-people-in-brazil-2013-the-
full-list/
87 Lee, J. (2011). Chinas Rich Lists Riddled With Communist Party Members, Forbes, 14 September 2011, http://www.forbes.
com/2011/09/14/china-rich-lists-opinions-contributors-john-lee.html
88 In 2010, then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh went to Mr. Ambanis private housewarming of his 27-story mansion in Mumbai
(Daily Mail (2010). Billionaire Indian tycoon throws a lavish house-warming for 80 guests at the 630 million Taj Mahal of the 21st
century, 29 November 2010, http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1333849/Mukesh-Ambani-s-housewarming-party-80-
guests-630m-21st-century-Taj-Mahal.html).
89 Karmali, N. (2014). For The First Time, Indias 100 Of 2014 Are All Billionaires, Forbes, 24 September 2014, http://www.forbes.com/
sites/naazneenkarmali/2014/09/24/indias-100-richest-of-2014-are-all-billionaires-for-the-first-time/.
90 Particularly three fellow Gujaratis are rubbing their hands in glee: port magnate Gautam Adani added U$4.5bn to his wealth since
his personal friend Modi became prime minister, pharma magnate Dilip Shanghvi saw his wealth grow by US$4.1 billion, and
Mukesh Ambani is the countrys richest man for the eighth year in a row (Karmali 2014).
91 Forbes (2014). Hartono Brothers Top Forbes Indonesia Rich List, 4 December 2014, http://www.forbes.com/sites/
forbespr/2014/12/04/hartono-brothers-top-forbes-indonesia-rich-list/
92 Melby, C. (2013). South Africa Tops Africas 50 Richest, Johann Rupert Is Countrys Richest Man, Forbes 13 November 2013, http://
www.forbes.com/sites/calebmelby/2013/11/13/south-africa-tops-africas-50-richest-johann-rupert-is-countrys-richest-man/.
93 Fedorinova, Y., M. Kolesnikova and A. Sazonov (2013). Russias Oligarchs Ditch Oil and Gold to Pile Up Cash Bloomberg, 28
February 2013, http://www.bloomberg.com/bw/articles/2013-02-28/russias-oligarchs-ditch-oil-and-gold-to-pile-up-cash.
94 CNBC (2015). Russias Rosneft chief earns up to $4.7M in basic salary, 5 May 2015, http://www.cnbc.com/2015/05/05/russias-
rosneft-chief-igor-sechin-earns-up-to-47m-in-basic-salary.html.
95 Ibid.
96 RT (2013). Russias Richest: Forbes publishes billionaire list, RT Question More 18 April 2013, http://rt.com/business/russias-
richest-billionaire-forbes-list-059/.
97 Rapoza, K. (2015).Russia Warns Of Capital Flight, Market Considers Capital Controls, Forbes, 2 March 2015, http://www.forbes.
com/sites/kenrapoza/2015/03/02/russia-warns-of-capital-flight-market-considers-capital-controls/
98 Lundstl, O. 2014). Domestic Consequences of Illicit Financial Flows, Proceedings for GFI-MINDS conference in Rio De Janeiro, 9
99 UNDP (2014). 2014 Human Development Statistical Table, http://hdr.undp.org/en/data, accessed 10.10.2015
100 Acemoglu, D. and J.A. Robinson (2012). Op. cit.
101 The 2014 elections in India cost US$4.9bn, making them the second most expensive in world history (The Economist (2014).
Black money power, 4 May 2014, http://www.economist.com/blogs/banyan/2014/05/campaign-finance-india).
102 International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (IDEA) (2015). http://www.idea.int/vt/countryview.cfm?id=30.
103 Sinha, A. (2015). The dirty secret of Indian politics that neither the AAP nor the BJP are debating, Quartz India 5 February 2015,
http://qz.com/338821/the-dirty-secret-of-indian-politics-that-neither-the-aap-nor-the-bjp-are-debating/.
104 IDEA (2015). Op. cit.
105 Thompson, N. (2012). International campaign finance: How do countries compare?, CNN 5 March 2012, http://edition.cnn.
com/2012/01/24/world/global-campaign-finance/.
106 As a consequence of the recent accusations of corruption involving Petrobras and high-ranking politicians, Brazil is currently
discussing a ban on corporate election finance.
107 Boas, T.C., F.D. Hidalgo and N.P. Richardson (2014). The Spoils of Victory: Campaign Donations and Government Contracts in
Brazil, The Journal of Politics, Vol. 76, No. 2, April 2014, pp. 415.
108 Thompson, N. (2012). Op. cit.
109 Adler, D. (2015). The Revolutionary Election That Wasnt, Jacobin Magazine, 22 June 2015, https://www.jacobinmag.
com/2015/06/mexico-election-pri-nieto-ayotzinapa/
110 Boas, T.C. et al. (2014). Op. cit.
111 Guriev, S. and A. Rachinsky (2005). The Role of Oligarchs in Russian Capitalism, Journal of Economic Perspectives, Volume 19,
Number 1, Winter 2005, pages 131150.
112 Mexicos football coach investigated over election tweets, The Guardian (2015), 9 June 2015, http://www.theguardian.com/
world/2015/jun/09/mexico-football-coach-miguel-herrera-green-party-twitter.
113 Watts, J. (2014). Dilma Rousseff pledges unity after narrow Brazil election victory, The Guardian, 27 October 2015, http://www.
theguardian.com/world/2014/oct/26/brazil-re-elects-dilma-rousseff-president.
114 Estevez, D. (2014). Real Life Mexican Soap Opera: Broadcaster Televisa Gave Two Homes To The First Lady, Forbes 14 November
2014, http://www.forbes.com/sites/doliaestevez/2014/11/14/real-life-mexican-soap-opera-broadcaster-televisa-gave-two-
homes-to-the-first-lady/.
115 Shukla, A. (2014). Its official: Mukesh Ambanis Reliance Industries now controls news broadcaster Network18 Group, The
Financial Express, 30 May 2014, http://archive.financialexpress.com/news/its-official-mukesh-ambanis-reliance-industries-now-
controls-news-broadcaster-network18-group/1255468.
116 Ackerman, J.M. (2014). Conflictos de inters, Proceso, 3 July 2014, http://www.proceso.com.mx/?p=376318
117 Adler, D. (2015). Op. cit.
118 Pew Research Center (2014). Crime and Corruption Top Problems in Emerging and Developing Countries, 5 November 2014,
http://www.pewglobal.org/2014/11/06/crime-and-corruption-top-problems-in-emerging-and-developing-countries/
country-issues-report-10/.
119 Tucker, D. (2015). Mexico elections: The surreal list of candidates reads more like the line-up of a TV panel show and the
countrys long-suffering voters are not amused, The Independent, 8 August 2015, http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/
americas/mexico-elections-the-surreal-list-of-candidates-reads-more-like-the-lineup-of-a-tv-panel-show--and-the-countrys-
longsuffering-voters-are-not-amused-10204249.html.
120 Huellas de Mxico (2014). Quien es Hinojosa Cant, el duque de los privilegios, 10 November 2014, http://huellas.mx/
nacional/2014/11/10/quien-es-hinojosa-cantu-el-duque-de-los-privilegios/.
121 These include a US$3.4bn contract over the construction of Latin Americas largest aqueduct (Luhnow D. and S. Prez (2014).
Mexico Digs Into Ties Between Leader, Builder, The Wall Street Journal, 3 December 2014, http://www.wsj.com/articles/
mexico-digs-into-ties-between-leader-builder-1417657132) and the renovation of the presidential hangar through direct
assignment worth MXN945.5 million (US$58.5m) in 2014 (CNNExpansin (2014). 7 datos sobre Grupo Higa, la empresa de
Hinojosa Cant 12 December 2014, http://www.cnnexpansion.com/negocios/2014/12/12/7-datos-sobre-grupo-higa-la-
empresa-de-hinojosa-cantu).
122 Ley Federal de Responsabilidades Administrativas de los Servidores Pblicos: Second Title, Chapter 1, Article 8, Paragraph 11.
123 Pemex (2014). Form 20-F: Annual Report to the United States Securities and Exchange Commission, filed by Petrleos Mexicanos,
http://www.ri.pemex.com/files/content/Pemex_2013_Form%2020-F.pdf.
124 Forbes (2015). The Worlds Billionaires.
125 Of those, 72.5% were PRI; 14.3% PAN; and 10.6% of the left parties, former and current (Rodrguez, E.D. (2015). Reyes del
Chapulinazo, El Universal, 29 April 2015, http://www.eluniversal.com.mx/nacion-mexico/2015/reyes-del-chapulinazo-1096105.
html).
126 Gonzlez, J.D. (forthcoming). The Political Economy of Inequality in Chile: The Role of Institutions and Power, Oxford Handbook
of BRICS and Emerging Markets, preliminary draft.
127 Although China retains some elements of central planning, effectively all the BRICSAMIT are (now) market economies.
128 McQuaig, L. and N. Brooks (2013). The Trouble With Billionaires: How the Super-Rich Hijacked the World (and How We Can Take it
Back), Oneworld Publications: London.
129 The annual UNDP Human Development Index (HDI) bundles the aspects of health, education and economic resources into one
measure in an attempt to better describe human development, ranking countries according to their aggregated position. The
BRICSAMIT countries occupy positions of high- and mid-level development. Of the group, Russia is the most developed at the
57th spot out of 187 countries, followed by Turkey (69), Mexico (71), Brazil (79), China (91), Indonesia (108), South Africa (118) and
finally India (135). For disaggregation by income, comparable data is unfortunately only available for India, Indonesia, Brazil and
South Africa. Unless otherwise specified, numbers in this section are taken from UNDP (2014).
130 Numbeo (2015). Cost of Living Comparison Between Surabaya and Jakarta, http://www.numbeo.com/cost-of-living/compare_
cities.jsp?country1=Indonesia&country2=Indonesia&city1=Surabaya&city2=Jakarta
131 The BRICSAMIT countries host some of the worlds largest slums, including the Neza-Chalco-Itza area, with ca. 4 million
inhabitants in Mexico and the 1-million-strong Dharavi and other precarious neighbourhoods in India (Jacobson, M. (2007).
Dharavi: Mumbais Shadow City, http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2007/05/dharavi-mumbai-slum/jacobson-text).
132 Grimm, M., K. Harttgen, S. Klasen, M. Misselhorn, T. Munzi and T. Smeeding (2009). Inequality in Human Development: An
Empirical Assessment of 32 Countries, Luxembourg Income Study Working Paper Series nr. 519 http://www.lisdatacenter.org/
wps/liswps/519.pdf
133 These numbers are based on the countries life expectancy as of 2014.
134 For instance, some states have higher homicide rates than others, such as Guerrero in Mexico or Sao Paulo in Brazil, or face more
pollution due to industrial concentration or mining sector presence as in Northern Cape in South Africa.
135 The Seguro Popular has 57 million affiliates, most of whom do not have formal employment and means for private health
insurance (Cruz Martnez, A. (2015). Esperas de hasta tres horas para una consulta del Seguro Popular, La Jornada, 6 August
2015, http://www.jornada.unam.mx/2015/06/08/sociedad/044n1soc).
136 Secretara de Salud (2004). Mdulo de Estimacin de Costos Hospitalarios. Direccin General de Planeacin y Desarrollo en
Salud, http://www.salud.gob.mx/unidades/cdi/documentos/DOCSAL7417.pdf.
137 GMK-Hurun (2013). The Chinese Millionaire Wealth Report 2013, GroupM Knowledge-Hurun, http://up.hurun.net/
Humaz/201312/20131218145315550.pdf.
138 On average, only half the population are satisfied with the quality of healthcare in the BRICSAMIT (Cruz Martnez 2015), though
reaching approval rates as low as 27% in Russia and 25% in Brazil (compared to 80-94% satisfaction in the HDI top ten countries).
139 Kanbur, R. (2014). Informality: Causes, Consequences and Policy Responses, Reserve Bank of India, Department of Economic and
Policy Research June 2014. https://www.rbi.org.in/Scripts/PublicationsView.aspx?id=15764
140 Global Fairness Initiative (2012). Informality in Emerging Markets: A Cross-Country Examination, http://www.globalfairness.org/
downloads/2012%20Informality%20FINAL.pdf.
141 UNDP (2014). 2014 Human Development Statistical Table, http://hdr.undp.org/en/data, accessed 10.10.2015
142 Social Pension Database (2015). Downloadable from Pension Watch at: http://www.pension-watch.net/about-social-pensions/
about-social-pensions/social-pensions-database/.
143 The BRICSAMIT countries average schooling of 8 years lags considerably behind the developed countries 12 years, although
Russia with 11.7 and South Africa with 9.9 years are not far off this level. Considering tertiary enrolment, however, all of the
BRICSAMIT countries fall significantly behind the top HDI countries; their average rate of just under 40% compared to almost
75% for the top HDI countries.
144 Mander, H. (2014). India Exclusion Report 2013-14, Books for Change, Bangalore, India. http://www.indianet.nl/pdf/
IndiaExclusionReport2013-2014.pdf.
145Ibid.
146 Grimm et. al. (2009). Op. cit.
147 The Economist (2015). An hereditary meritocracy, 24 January 2015, http://www.economist.com/news/briefing/21640316-
children-rich-and-powerful-are-increasingly-well-suited-earning-wealth-and-power.
148 Ciudadanosenred (2011). Mejores escuelas DF, Zona Norte, http://ciudadanosenred.com.mx/zona-norte/.
149 Preferably to schools in the US, UK and Canada (GMK-Hurun 2013).
150 In Norway, e.g. women earn on average 80.5% of their male peers.
151 Mander, H. (2014). Op. cit.
153 With the exception of South Africa; however, the difference between male and female average incomes is also particularly high
154 In 2013, these amount to 475 and 294 per 100,000 people, respectively, compared to e.g. 30 in India (UNDP 2014).
156 Ferdman, R.A. (2013). 98% of murders in Mexico last year went unsolved, Quartz, 18 July 2013, http://qz.com/105952/98-of-
murders-in-mexico-last-year-went-unsolved/.
157 This can be at the hands of public authorities, exemplified by the large prison population in South Africa, or the repression of
public displays of discontent and press freedom in China, Turkey and Russia; executed by organized crime, as in Mexico and
Brazil; or based on rivalry between disadvantaged groups along ethnic or religious lines as in India and Indonesia.
158 Eisner, M (2015). Homicide Dispatch 1: How to Reduce Homicide Rate by 50% in the Next 30 Years, Igarap Institute August 2015.
159 For most of the 20th century, the Brazilian homicide rate was more in line with countries in North America and Western Europe.
Since the 1980s, it has climbed dramatically, mainly as a result of drug issues. Similarly, in Mexico, homicide rates skyrocketed in
the early years of this century due to the declaration of a war on drugs and the ensuing very bloody open rivalry among cartels
(Byrne 2015).
160 Instituto Igarap (2105). Homicide Monitor, http://igarape.org.br/en/homicide-globe/
161 Byrne, C. (2015). The Worlds Most Murderous Places, And Other Lessons From A Killer Map, 8 May 2015, http://www.
fastcompany.com/3046065/a-map-of-the-worlds-most-homicidal-places.
164 Ibid; Dubochet, L. (2013). India: Moving Towards Equal Opportunities For All?, Oxfam India August 2013.
165 World Bank (2015). World Development Indicators. http://data.worldbank.org/data-catalog/world-development-indicators. Last
166 Only for Russia and China are these numbers lower, at 16% and 18%, respectively.
167 In technical terms, the inequality-adjusted HDI (IHDI) accounts for inequalities in HDI dimensions by discounting each
dimensions average value according to its level of inequality, based on the Atkinson family of inequality measures. Without
inequality, a countrys HDI would be equivalent to its IHDI; the further inequality rises, the more the IHDI falls below the HDI.
UNDP thus describes the IHDI as the actual level of human development (taking into account inequality), while the HDI should
be viewed as an index of the potential human development that could be achieved if there were no inequality (UNDP (2013):
Human Development Report 2013. Technical Notes, http://hdr.undp.org/sites/default/files/hdr_2013_en_technotes.pdf .
169 Porter, E. (2015). What the Debate on Inequality Is Missing, The New York Times, 5 May 2015, http://www.nytimes.
com/2015/05/06/business/thinking-outside-the-debate-on-income-inequality.html?ref=topics.
170 In the state of Nuevo Leon an independent candidate became governor for the first time in 2015 (Ibarra, P. (2015). El Bronco
hace historia al ganar la eleccin de gobernador en Nuevo Len, CNN Mxico, 8 June 2015. http://mexico.cnn.com/
adnpolitico/2015/06/08/el-bronco-hace-historia-al-ganar-la-eleccion-de-gobernador-en-nuevo-leon).
171 Porter, E. (2015). Op. cit.
172 International Labor Organization (ILO) (2013b). Global Wage Report 2012/2013, http://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/@
dgreports/@dcomm/@publ/documents/publication/wcms_194843.pdf.
173 Krozer, A., J.C. Moreno-Brid and J.C. Rubio Badan (2015). Inequality and Minimum Wage Policy: Not Even Talking, Much Less
Walking in Mexico. Investigacin Econmica vol. 74, Issue 293, pp.3-26, July-September 2015
174 Dhara, T. and C. Thomas (2011). In India, Tax Evasion Is a National Sport, Bloomberg 28 June 2011. http://www.bloomberg.com/
bw/magazine/in-india-tax-evasion-is-a-national-sport-07282011.html.
175 Biswas, S. (2014). Black money: Making a mountain out of a molehill?, 28 September 2014, http://www.bbc.com/news/
world-asia-india-29797937.
176 OECD (2011). Special Focus: Inequality in the Emerging Economies, in Divided We Stand: Why Inequality Keeps Rising.
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HJTA initiative could focus affordable housing debate
09 May, 2015 by Chris Reed
The Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association on May 1 filed paperwork with the state Attorney General’s Office as a first step toward qualifying an affordable-housing measure — the California Homeowners and Renters Tax Relief Act of 2016 — for next year’s ballot. HJTA President Jon Coupal has details on his organization’s website:
Only about one-third of Californians can afford to realize the American dream of owning their own home. The homeowners’ property tax exemption of $7,000 (worth a $70 deduction on your property taxes) has not been increased since 1972 when the median priced home sold for $28,660. Currently, an average home is selling for nearly 10 times that amount, and yet the homeowners’ exemption remains unchanged.
Increasing the homeowners’ property tax exemption from $7,000 to $32,000 will save every homeowner in California an additional $250 per year. This will help to mitigate the heavy financial burden placed on homeowners from property tax increases to repay local bonds, and provide some relief from excessive utility fee and charge increases.
By increasing the renters tax credit, this act will provide tax relief to renters, who also face severe housing affordability problems.
Details on the renters’ credit can be found on page 5 of this PDF.
Spotlights on existing CA programs
At a time when affordable housing and poverty are emerging as big issues in California, the Howard Jarvis measure is likely to have little trouble gathering signatures. The cost of housing pinches everyone.
But the measure is also likely to put the spotlight on existing affordable housing programs in the state. A 2003 report by the Public Policy Institute of California on those programs was not flattering, depicting them as helping relatively few people and as being inefficient and ineffective. I have cited this report on CalWatchdog.com and in U-T San Diego editorials. Here’s a previous summary:
The study cited profound flaws in the state’s primary affordable-housing law. It forces cities to plan for needs that are much more appropriately addressed on a regional level. It emphasizes process — laborious long-term planning — over results — more housing units.
The PPIC analysis identified high-cost states with similarities to California that had significantly more success with affordable housing. In New Jersey, the “builder’s remedy approach” gives developers concessions in return for helping a community meet its affordable-housing obligations. Giving developers a profit motive has yielded “far more housing units” than previous policies. California’s version of this approach is much more constrained.
In Massachusetts, the state radically simplified the approval process for residential projects in which at least one-quarter of the units had “long-term affordability restrictions.” To limit NIMBYism, developers can appeal permits rejected at the local level to a state board.
Assembly speaker wants to ramp up approach PPIC knocked
But instead of heeding the PPIC, Assembly Speaker Toni Atkins, D-San Diego, seeks to double-down on the approach the think tank criticized. She’s calling for hundreds of millions of dollars in new state subsidies to create a few thousand new units across California.
New York Mayor Bill de Blasio, by contrast, argues that housing prices will only come down in a significant way if there is much more housing stock. He’s seeking to add 240,000 units in his city.
The Howard Jarvis proposal is less ambitious than de Blasio’s, but it would also offer broad benefits. As the PPIC report laid out, the current California approach of providing affordable housing to a few lucky families is more comparable to a lottery than to a program offering help to a broad category of residents.
The PPIC report can be read here.
No Comments Yet! You can start the discussion, add a comment to this post.
affordable housingChris ReedHJTAHoward JarvisJon Coupaltax creditsToni AtkinsBill de Blasiohousing lotteryPPIC reportprocess over results
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Because Gov. Jerry Brown just signed SB270, in July 2016 plastic bags will be banned in stores in California. Paper
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Cane and Rinse Forum home General stuff Off-Topic Discourse
Whatcha Been Watching?
This is the place where you can confab about all the other stuff besides videogames.
Re: Whatcha Been Watching?
Post by clippa » May 14th, 2019, 3:01 pm
I don't think it's a spoiler to say that it's entirely what you'd expect. No great suprises.
It's got the "not a nonce" from "The Hunt" in it and it's pretty much his face and the music and your empathy (if you've got any, you absolute monster) keeping the thing alive.
They play it safe, which is a shame, but it's good.
In honour of Joshihatsumitsu's homophobia (I've reported you to the moral arbiters on twitter, by the way. They say they'll have you desperately virtue signalling on instagram with a colon packed full of digits before the weeks out) we're using a new scoring system
This film will get 3 out of 5 bags of deliiiiicious prejudice.
Edit: Haha, I should have read your review first!
BrightNite
Post by BrightNite » May 14th, 2019, 5:15 pm
I never really payed attention to Game of Thrones until recently, but after a few friends and online raving about it I did watch a recent episode of STUFF HAPPENING! It looked good, I had no idea what was going on or who any one was and why they were doing what they were doing, so I might go back and watch it. I loved Picnic at Hanging Rock with Natalie Dormer, so thats another reason.
I still love watching old Columbo episodes, I even got the box set even though it's repeated millions on time on tv
Joshihatsumitsu
Joined: September 12th, 2016, 1:55 am
Contact Joshihatsumitsu
Post by Joshihatsumitsu » May 14th, 2019, 8:58 pm
clippa wrote: ↑
I go by the Eurogamer/Ars Technica review system of eliminating a numerical value to a game or movie or whatever.
But adding a review system where there's a scale that obscures any point of reference - even better.
I give your review 18 out of 4093 rubber donkeys (26.9 is considered the best, so you've done well)!
I'm no Barry Norman, I think that's safe to say. It's hard to know how much detail to go into as I like to go into films blind as much as I can, though I'm probably not saying enough currently.
Sometimes I'll check out the rottentomatoes score first, just to see if it's worth my time, I mean it's not foolproof, but it gives you the general consensus. Having said that, I might not have watched Martyrs if I'd seen that score before I saw it and it's one of my favourite horror films.
I love Martyrs... and by love I mean it's not an easy watch, and I'd struggle to recommend it to anyone who doesn't like horror movies, but yeah... it doesn't pull any punches.
I just found my post from the forum where someone recommended it to me.
I'd like to thank you for the recommendation but I think that PM'ing a few people on this board to find out where you live and then driving up there to punch you full in the face would be a more apt response.
-- SPOILERS AHEAD --
A brilliant and powerful film but it was horrible, horrible, horrible. I wouldn't be surprised if seeing that has done me some real, lasting mental damage.
The hour or so of fitful sleep I managed to get last night was plagued by visions of the poor cockroach girl and skinless McGee.
After everything I kind of got the feeling that the standard, if expertly done, horror fare of the first half was only there to lull me into a false sense of security and to butter me up for the real punishing horror that was coming.
On 13:11 29/Mar/10, jamieM wrote:
> The worst scene, for me, was the short clip of the guy just relentlessly punching the girl in the face
That whole section of the film was horrific but if you mean the shot where all you can see is the guys back and he's on his knees, I found that strangely comical, it was the only moment of respite for me as it brought back fond memories of Eddie having a go at Richie but then the camera position changed and I was right back to suicidally depressed
I remember at the end of "inside" going "Jesus christ ..... that was BRILLIANT"
At the end of this, I went "Jesus christ .... Jesus fucking Christ".
So yeah, same from me, a recommendation with an absolute bag load of caveats.
Have you seen Inside too? What's wrong with the french?
Post by Joshihatsumitsu » May 15th, 2019, 6:41 am
Ha, yeah. I have Martyrs on Bluray and Inside on DVD so... the upside is no-one ever borrows anything from my personal collection, so they're in pristine shape!
There is a point in Inside where it goes from upsettingly ultra-violent to absurdly cartoon violent, at which point it becomes a little easier to watch, because it's bonkers. Maybe it's because I grew up with Looney Tunes, but there is a point where the violence becomes absurd, and the only sane response is laughter.
Martyrs doesn't ever let you off the hook, and it's brutal, and horrific, and doesn't want the audience to be okay with it. Inside is a test to see how far things can go, and they get pretty crazy!
There is an American remake of Martyrs, and from the few reviews out there it's a quite toothless. If it popped up on Netflix, I'd lazily be curious and watch it, but if ever there was a pointless remake
Side note: speaking of French, I thought about taking the David Cage counter-argument-route before, and say "how can I be homophobic? I know Ellen Page!!!". But then I remembered that I don't know Ellen Page at all, so I am at an arguementive disadvantage.
Post by clippa » May 15th, 2019, 7:37 am
Joshihatsumitsu wrote: ↑
There is a point in Inside where it goes from upsettingly ultra-violent to absurdly cartoon violent, at which point it becomes a little easier to watch, because it's bonkers.
It never went there for me, I don't think. I could have done with some of that. I was literally gripping the arm of my chair throughout. It was truly horrifying, you can't give a horror film any higher praise than that.
Since you've seen everything, have you seen Tony?
Not really a horror, and not much of a serial killer film either, the killings seem like a brief footnote, an underdeveloped subplot. Really lovely, gentle film when you step away from it. It's more a blackly comic study on alienation. It's really good. You can almost smell the grime coming off it as well.
What about Sleep Tight
That's not really a horror either but it scratches the same itch, best to go in blind.
I haven't seen either. Obviously seen Jaume Balagueró's Rec films, but not Sleep Tight. Shall add it to the list.
I think my love of horror films is why I had such good time with Detective Pikachu: even us gorehounds just need something cute, adorable, and somewhat disposable enough to stay sane!
New Black Mirror trailer. Coming June 5th
Only 3 episodes this time round. Since it went to netflix, I've really only liked half of each series and could have done without the other 3 episodes.
Didn't rate baldysnatch myself, hopefully that was the bad half and these next three will be good.
San Junipero, Shut Up and Dance and Nosedive were fab, the rest meh.
Black Museum, Metalhead and USS Calister were the good ones last time round, I thought.
Limmy mentioned in his autobiography that he was asked to play the older developer in banjosnap but turned it down as it clashed with a date on his book tour. Fans first 4 eva.
Maybe that could have saved it.
hazeredmist
Location: The DMZ
Contact hazeredmist
Post by hazeredmist » May 16th, 2019, 11:16 am
Limmy! I've got "Surprisingly Down to Earth, and Very Funny" ready to listen to in my Audible library. Fucking class Limmy. The sketch shows are brilliant. Excited to check it out.
Location: Worcestershire, UK
Post by James » May 18th, 2019, 8:47 am
We finally got around to Legion's second season, just in time for Season 3 to arrive next month. This show is certainly my favourite superhero TV show, and pretty high up there in my estimation of TV shows in general.
Fiction which plays with unreliable and/or shifting perception is something I tend to respond to. A funny aside is that Legion brings to mind the 17th episode of Buffy's 6th season, called 'Normal Again'. It's one of my favourites of that show's run, particularly because it calls into question pretty much everything else that happens in it.
I've been thinking a lot this week about how the standard 22-episode season of US network television really doesn't work for me anymore. Few, I'd say, manage to tell a coherent story, with a satisfying arc, especially those that rely on villain-of-the-week episodes to pad the season out. Having dropped off Agents of SHIELD(which is about to come back for its 6 season), I can't imagine sticking with a show like that anymore. Sadly that might mean there's a few late 90s/early 00s shows I really enjoyed that I wouldn't make time for now.
Anyway! I'm really taken with Legion (now 4 episodes into Season 2), and even more thrilled to hear that Season 3 might be the last. A chance to tell its story and finish in a blaze of glory!
Flabyo
Post by Flabyo » May 20th, 2019, 5:23 am
I think some of that comes from being raised on British Brevity
I enjoy British Brevity in my TV, but am unable to employ British brevity in my forum posts!
Post by clippa » May 22nd, 2019, 11:44 am
hazeredmist wrote: ↑
Yeah, he's fab. I went with the audio version too, he writes like he's chatting to you, so it makes sense. Some books are much better in audio form. Who on earth is tom baker instantly springs to mind, I won't link to it in case it's against the rules but if you search youtube it's right there. If you don't care about doctor who and much less about tom baker then you're the perfect audience. Easily the best autobiography ever written.
Those Alan Partridge books as well, much better hearing Coogan delivering the lines.
Trailers for the individual episodes of black mirror series 5 are up
Post by clippa » May 23rd, 2019, 9:07 pm
Yaaas, man! Another series of Big Night Out coming.
BBC Four again, which is criminal, the way they've treat them over the years, dangling the carrots of sketch shows and sitcoms in return for them churning out more shooting stars. House of fools cut down in it's prime.
Don't hide them away, get them on BBC 2 at least.
Same with Limmy's show, one of the best comedy shows in years, that should have gone nation wide, at least by the second series when they knew what they had on their hands.
Just 4 episodes again, sadly, according to one news site.
Location: Chelmsford, UK
Post by Suits » May 24th, 2019, 5:55 am
I’m not really one for TV at all and very rarely actually watch anything.
But, a mate put me into the new series that’s started on Sky Atlantic - Chernobyl.
Watched the first episode last night, it’s haunting, so chilling. Excellent stuff.
If you have a morbid interested in that human disaster, then it’s a fascinating perspective of the immediate events following the explosion.
Post by clippa » June 1st, 2019, 8:50 pm
Ugh, really boring, I thought. Half an hour too long. and all of the humour (such as it was) defused the film of any tension.
I've said it before but you have to be very skilled to marry comedy with horror and make them elevate each other.
I can't believe this reviewed so well.
I thought "get out" was overrated but I went in blind expecting some run of the mill also ran and came out with some nice social commentary that elevated it slightly.
This was just confused and dull.
Jordan Peele can get out. I also wasted my time watching the first two episodes of the new twilight zone, I'm blaming that on him as well.
duskvstweak
Joined: August 23rd, 2017, 4:40 pm
Contact duskvstweak
Post by duskvstweak » June 4th, 2019, 4:54 pm
Saw Godzilla and Aladdin last weekend.
I flat out hated Aladdin, but different strokes. My wife enjoyed it and so did a few of my friends.
I liked Godzilla without loving it. All those wonderful trailers had me expecting a life transforming monster movie and, though there's plenty of fun to be had, it never became the "end all, be all" of Godzilla films, I think. I stand by that Peter Jackson's King Kong might be as good as any Kong film is every going to be and while King of the Monsters has it's moments, it's still a bit off at times.
Cangry
Post by Cangry » June 5th, 2019, 6:34 am
Yesterday watched John Wick, loved the 3rd movie to be honest. Has anyone see it?
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Mazars unveils new Galway office and will double office headcount with newly established business unit
Economy | Mon 22 Oct | Author – Business & Finance
Pictured are Minister for Business, Enterprise and Innovation Heather Humphreys TD, Mark Kennedy, Managing Partner, Mazars, Austin Sammon, Audit, Advisory & Outsourcing Partner, Mazars Galway and Shane Nolan, IDA. Photo Iain White / Fennell Photography
Mazars’ new Galway office opens and company announces 30 new jobs over three years
Audit, tax and advisory firm Mazars opened its new Galway office and announced that it will create up to 30 new jobs over a three-year period, doubling the headcount of the office from 30 to 60. Mazars first established in Galway in 2004 and its new office, spanning 6,000 sq. feet, is located at Mayoralty House in Galway city. The office move has come as a response to continued growth within the business and recruitment has begun to fill the new positions in the outsourced accounting business.
Welcoming the announcement Minister for Business, Enterprise and Innovation Heather Humphreys TD said,
Ireland is now a world leader in professional services and many of the top companies in this sector are based here. This announcement is a further example of the success of the Government’s commitment under the Regional Action Plans for Jobs to ensure we have the right conditions in place to facilitate the creation of quality jobs in regional locations.
Mark Kennedy, Managing Partner, Mazars commented;
Mazars Ireland is one of the fastest growing professional services firms and the further expansion of our Galway operation is testament to our work and the services we provide as a business. Earlier this year we announced the continued growth of our Limerick business and I am delighted to see the Galway office enjoying similar success.
Commenting on the announcement Martin Shanahan, CEO, IDA Ireland said; “Mazars’ decision to expand its footprint in Galway to service its global clients is very welcome. The company is a great addition to the thriving business ecosystem in the West.”
Start Summit for business leaders of tomorrow launched
Rent the Runway to create 150 jobs in first international office in Galway
Avantcard announce 40 jobs for Carrick-on-Shannon and Dublin offices
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Latest: What is a quantum computer?
quantum computer harnesses some of the almost-mystical phenomena of quantum mechanics to deliver huge leaps forward in processing power. Quantum machines promise to outstrip even the most capable of today’s—and tomorrow’s—supercomputers.
They won’t wipe out conventional computers, though. Using a classical machine will still be the easiest and most economical solution for tackling most problems. But quantum computers promise to power exciting advances in various fields, from materials science to pharmaceuticals research. Companies are already experimenting with them to develop things like lighter and more powerful batteries for electric cars, and to help create novel drugs.
The secret to a quantum computer’s power lies in its ability to generate and manipulate quantum bits, or qubits.
What is a qubit?
Today’s computers use bits—a stream of electrical or optical pulses representing 1s or 0s. Everything from your tweets and e-mails to your iTunes songs and YouTube videos are essentially long strings of these binary digits.
Quantum computers, on the other hand, use qubits, which are typically subatomic particles such as electrons or photons. Generating and managing qubits is a scientific and engineering challenge. Some companies, such as IBM, Google, and Rigetti Computing, use superconducting circuits cooled to temperatures colder than deep space. Others, like IonQ, trap individual atoms in electromagnetic fields on a silicon chip in ultra-high-vacuum chambers. In both cases, the goal is to isolate the qubits in a controlled quantum state.
Qubits have some quirky quantum properties that mean a connected group of them can provide way more processing power than the same number of binary bits. One of those properties is known as superposition and another is called entanglement.
What is superposition?
Qubits can represent numerous possible combinations of 1 and 0 at the same time. This ability to simultaneously be in multiple states is called superposition. To put qubits into superposition, researchers manipulate them using precision lasers or microwave beams.
Thanks to this counterintuitive phenomenon, a quantum computer with several qubits in superposition can crunch through a vast number of potential outcomes simultaneously. The final result of a calculation emerges only once the qubits are measured, which immediately causes their quantum state to “collapse” to either 1 or 0.
What is entanglement?
Researchers can generate pairs of qubits that are “entangled,” which means the two members of a pair exist in a single quantum state. Changing the state of one of the qubits will instantaneously change the state of the other one in a predictable way. This happens even if they are separated by very long distances.
Nobody really knows quite how or why entanglement works. It even baffled Einstein, who famously described it as “spooky action at a distance.” But it’s key to the power of quantum computers. In a conventional computer, doubling the number of bits doubles its processing power. But thanks to entanglement, adding extra qubits to a quantum machine produces an exponential increase in its number-crunching ability.
Quantum computers harness entangled qubits in a kind of quantum daisy chain to work their magic. The machines’ ability to speed up calculations using specially designed quantum algorithms is why there’s so much buzz about their potential.
That’s the good news. The bad news is that quantum machines are way more error-prone than classical computers because of decoherence.
What is decoherence?
The interaction of qubits with their environment in ways that cause their quantum behavior to decay and ultimately disappear is called decoherence. Their quantum state is extremely fragile. The slightest vibration or change in temperature—disturbances known as “noise” in quantum-speak—can cause them to tumble out of superposition before their job has been properly done. That’s why researchers do their best to protect qubits from the outside world in those supercooled fridges and vacuum chambers.
But despite their efforts, noise still causes lots of errors to creep into calculations. Smart quantum algorithms can compensate for some of these, and adding more qubits also helps. However, it will likely take thousands of standard qubits to create a single, highly reliable one, known as a “logical” qubit. This will sap a lot of a quantum computer’s computational capacity.
And there’s the rub: so far, researchers haven’t been able to generate more than 128 standard qubits (see our qubit counter here). So we’re still many years away from getting quantum computers that will be broadly useful.
That hasn’t dented pioneers’ hopes of being the first to demonstrate “quantum supremacy.”
What is quantum supremacy?
It’s the point at which a quantum computer can complete a mathematical calculation that is demonstrably beyond the reach of even the most powerful supercomputer.
It’s still unclear exactly how many qubits will be needed to achieve this because researchers keep finding new algorithms to boost the performance of classical machines, and supercomputing hardware keeps getting better. But researchers and companies are working hard to claim the title, running tests against some of the world’s most powerful supercomputers.
There’s plenty of debate in the research world about just how significant achieving this milestone will be. Rather than wait for supremacy to be declared, companies are already starting to experiment with quantum computers made by companies like IBM, Rigetti, and D-Wave, a Canadian firm. Chinese firms like Alibaba are also offering access to quantum machines. Some businesses are buying quantum computers, while others are using ones made available through cloud computing services.
Where is a quantum computer likely to be most useful first?
One of the most promising applications of quantum computers is for simulating the behavior of matter down to the molecular level. Auto manufacturers like Volkswagen and Daimler are using quantum computers to simulate the chemical composition of electrical-vehicle batteries to help find new ways to improve their performance. And pharmaceutical companies are leveraging them to analyze and compare compounds that could lead to the creation of new drugs.
The machines are also great for optimization problems because they can crunch through vast numbers of potential solutions extremely fast. Airbus, for instance, is using them to help calculate the most fuel-efficient ascent and descent paths for aircraft. And Volkswagen has unveiled a service that calculates the optimal routes for buses and taxis in cities in order to minimize congestion. Some researchers also think the machines could be used to accelerate artificial intelligence.
It could take quite a few years for quantum computers to achieve their full potential. Universities and businesses working on them are facing a shortage of skilled researchers in the field—and a lack of suppliers of some key components. But if these exotic new computing machines live up to their promise, they could transform entire industries and turbocharge global innovation.
Source : technologyreview
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Tag Archives: Constance Zimmer
Running on empty.
(2015) Romantic Comedy (Magnolia) Guy Pearce, Cobie Smulders, Kevin Corrigan, Giovanni Ribisi, Brooklyn Decker, Anthony Michael Hall, Constance Zimmer, Tishuan Scott, Zoe Graham, David Benton, Greg Dorchak, Donn Adelman, Graham Carter, Laura Frances, Lindsay Anne Kent, Stephen Latham, Katie Folger, Elizabeth Berridge. Directed by Andrew Bujalski
When it comes to fitness, only results matter. Either you go from overweight and flabby to fit and muscled or you don’t. Either you start a wellness regimen that works for you or you don’t. If the latter, than no matter what your diet is, no matter how much effort you put in, you are still out-of-shape.
Trevor (Pearce) owns a gym, or as gym owners tend to characterize them these days, a fitness center. He has high hopes to expand his Austin-based property into a franchise, and is on the verge of doing just that. His Power 4 Life fitness center has incorporated a goals-based training philosophy into its way of doing business and employs some fairly expert personal fitness trainers. Chief among them is Kat (Smulders), a high-strung trainer with anger issues. She’s an effective motivator and a patient teacher for the most part but get her outside the training regimen and she’s a mess.
Into the mix comes Danny (Corrigan), a lonely divorcee who is new to Austin. Just days after his divorce became final, he inherited millions and now has nobody to share his new-found wealth with. He vaguely wants to become more fit, fit enough as he tells Trevor, to take a punch. Trevor is a little bit nonplussed but everyone has their reasons for getting fit. As long as the check clears, it’s all good. After some soul searching, he assigns Kat (with whom he’s had a previous relationship that didn’t work out) to be Danny’s personal trainer and sends her to Danny’s palatial but empty mansion.
Danny has enough money to buy him everything but happiness and while he has made the acquaintance of a kind of semi-shady lawyer sort (Ribisi), he really has no friends. So of course he becomes a bit besotted by Kat who reacts – or some would say overreacts – accordingly. This leads to an adjustment in the relationship between Trevor and Kat, a new friendship between Danny and Trevor which eventually dissolves – because of Kat. Relationships are a hell of a lot more complicated than getting in shape.
Bujalski has plenty of indie street cred for his quirky black and white comedy Computer Chess. This is his second feature and has a much bigger budget and recognizable stars, not the least of which is the always reliable Pearce who as usual has the kind of screen presence that plenty of bigger stars don’t come close to possessing. Utilizing his native Aussie accent here, Pearce gives Trevor a kind of Zen-like external calm but inside he’s the proverbial chicken with his head cut off as he tries to cut a deal with the Russian fitness master Grigoriy (Hall) to invest in his gyms.
Smulders, who’s stint on How I Met Your Mother made her a TV star and her work in the Marvel Cinematic Universe as Agent Maria Hill has given her a steady paycheck after that series ended gets to exercise her indie legs, albeit in quite the challenging role. She doesn’t quite pull it off though, being written to be so thoroughly unlikable that even Leona Helmsley seems like Mother Teresa in comparison. Even though she mellows a little by the end of the movie, she has just been so damn annoying all the way through that you don’t much care.
Corrigan, a long time indie stalwart, shines here. He is kind of an Oliver Platt for this generation and that’s a pretty high compliment. Even though Danny is quite the schlub and turns out to be rather petulant and a bit of an asshole at the end of the day, you still end up liking him a little bit.
In fact none of the characters are truly likable, although you end up rooting for Trevor kind of by default. Also, don’t be fooled by the “comedy” portion of the romantic comedy; the wit here is dry as the Mojave in August and those into a broader kind of humor and a more formula kind of romantic comedy may take issue with what they find here. Still, those who appreciate that kind of humor are going to really dig this movie which has a lot going for it, although at the end of the day ends up being a fairly entertaining film but ultimately one that you aren’t going to remember much about once the end credits roll.
REASONS TO GO: Has a bit of fun with gym culture. Pearce always does yeoman work.
REASONS TO STAY: Mostly disposable. Cat is so unlikable that she becomes annoying.
FAMILY VALUES: A fair amount of harsh language, some sexuality and brief drug use.
TRIVIAL PURSUIT: Smulders was five months pregnant during filming and great pains were taken to disguise her pregnancy. Director Bujalski’s wife also gave birth with two days left remaining in the shooting schedule, forcing a brief delay.
COMPARISON SHOPPING: Breaking Away
NEXT: San Andreas
Posted in New Releases | Tagged aggressive personality, Andrew Bujalski, anger management issues, Anthony Michael Hall, Austin, Brooklyn Decker, cinema, Cobie Smulders, Constance Zimmer, empty mansion, Films, fitness, Florida Film Festival, Florida Film Festival 2015, franchise, Giovanni Ribisi, Guy Pearce, gym, inheritance, Kevin Corrigan, Magnolia Pictures, marijuana, movies, partner, personal trainer, pot smoking, Results, reviews, romantic comedy, romantic triangle, Zoe Graham | Leave a reply
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How Saudi Arabia Could Make a Bold Strategic Move on Iran
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Perry Cammack is a nonresident fellow in the Middle East Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, where he focuses on long-term regional trends and their implications for American foreign policy.
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Marc Lynch is a nonresident senior fellow in Carnegie’s Middle East Program where his work focuses on the politics of the Arab world.
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Andrew Miller is a nonresident scholar in Carnegie’s Middle East Program.
Marwan Muasher
Vice President for Studies
Muasher is vice president for studies at Carnegie, where he oversees research in Washington and Beirut on the Middle East.
Richard Sokolsky
Russia and Eurasia Program
Richard Sokolsky is a nonresident senior fellow in Carnegie’s Russia and Eurasia Program. His work focuses on U.S. policy toward Russia in the wake of the Ukraine crisis.
Tristan Volpe
Nuclear Policy Program
Tristan Volpe is a nonresident fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and assistant professor of defense analysis at the Naval Postgraduate School.
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Guest post by RJ Sana Sheikh out of Mumbai:
unan/nikos kyriazopoulos split cassette entitled mimus/skua
[organized music from thessaloniki t17 / a question of re_entry q12]
Nicolas Malevitsis, who ran the Absurd label in Athens from the late nineties until just two years back (now heading the vinyl label 'Corpses beneath the bed' -- a reference to Bolano's 2666) petitioned two Greek musicians, Unan (Chris Chondropoulos) and Nikos Kyriazopoulos, to interpret birdsong by various electronic means. The Unan side -- called mimus -- is an expansive and variegated collage apparently culled from field recordings + multitracked skipping vinyl. The experience is lofi, something birdlike flits in, a microphone rolls around on the floor banging into things. Unexpectedly, all of this fades into silence; then: human murmurs, a baby's voice, ethnographic percussion, wet melodies. The tape finalizes with the same avian tune found on Royallen's Motivational Tape (Vanishing Hour Revival, 2009) -- perhaps they were both digging through the bottom of the same second-hand record bin. All in all, an agile + unpredictable tour; a fun listen. Kyriazopoulous' side skua is eighteen minutes of warm analog circuits firing off, some of them emulating birdsong, others sounding more like bubbling swamp water and insects, most of them unmistakably the charges and pulses of harsh mixer concrete. At around five minutes, a sonorous moan or howl seeps in and overtakes the circuits -- just for an instant, and it's beautiful -- but then we are back in the swamp for another ten minutes of mimetic chips and chirps. The musician finds himself an accessory to nature, but the music does not transfigure it. We still have much to learn from the birds.
Posted by Nick Williams at March 31, 2012
Tags: nikos kyriazopoulos, unan
CRUUDEUCES "St. James" c21
ALEX HOMAN "That Is No Way To Talk To A Lady"
WEIRDING MODULE "Peace Offering" c57
(905 Tapes)
Cruudeuces is the music project of Nathaniel Brennan of North Adams, Massachusetts; a cool town to visit if you ever find yourself in the Northwestern part of the Bay State. First off, you've got one of the coolest geological sites in all of New England: The Natural Bridge State Park (cool). Secondly, this old mill town is home to a very cool contemporary art museum: the spacious and enticing group of buildings known as MASS MOCA (whuzit?). Lastly, there is Mr. Brennan himself, noisily submerging his clarinet through a number of aquatic effects and using a net of coarse mesh to reel in the day's catch of sound. This guy puts out a lot of stuff, and this is as good as any I've heard. The state park is just a minute from the dude's house, so blast some noise music as you drive by.
Alex Homan - Swishy delay loops with a bit of vocals and a lot of guitar. Some of it gets very jiggy, but the endless echo bores me. Only occasionally does a clear sound cut through on the A-side. If you get drunk enough, you can make this kind of music without an effects pedal in sight. Looks like Mr. Homan got the memo and attempted something on the the B-side that sounds more like the Beatles' acid damaged outtakes for "Across the Universe" followed by decent Popul Vuh imitation. Make what thou wilt of this. c38
Michael Troutman, bassist of motor-city-styled rockers Awesome Color, makes something much more interesting with his Weirding Module solo project. The first track "Cat Suicide"is a really heavy instrumental take on an Alan Vega-less "Ghost Rider." The tape doesn't let you down from there. Each of the following nine pieces is filled with interesting and dynamic electronic music of various styles. Great recording with deep bass and an uncluttered arrangement. This guy has done a lot of good stuff already (check), but you'd be hard pressed to find a better representation of his skills than this new release. Recommended.
905 Tapes - Over 150 releases thus far and not stopping. All of the tapes in this new batch have great art design: the front image being a removable rectangle that covers the J-card on which the credits are written. Very much so: http://905tapes.com/
Tags: 905 Tapes, alex homan, cruudeuces, weirding module
The Midwest Best - s/t and The Decay/Wayfarer - "split" (Hosehead Records)
Time for a double shot of retro from Toronto based Hosehead Records. Patrick (HR co-founder) sent along some stickers and a delightfully personal (handwritten!) note with these two tapes. I wanted to love these releases because I could sense his enthusiasm...unfortunately I didn't...
First up is a self-titled EP by The Midwest Beat. If PAISLEY UNDERGROUND makes you uneasy and/or angry stop reading now because The Midwest Beat's jangle pop (is that a bit o' twang in there too?) is nothing if not 60s flavored 80s nostalgia recast yet again here in the 10s. The EP is comprised of previously unreleased mono mixes of the group's self released debut CD (also put out as two 7"s by Dusty Medical). As a musician/label guy (Teflon Beast Records) what I really appreciate about this is the MONO (no, I didn't get a disease from listening to these songs). The difference between a stereo and a mono mix usually doesn't interest the casual listen, but since I'm not a casual listener I notice these things. The Beatles deceived me in my youth by making craptastic stereo mixes the only possible way to hear their albums on CD when I was buying them up in the 90s. Hearing the mono mix of Revolver a few years ago gave me an ear-gasm! The music is front and center - none of this shit where the tambourine is in the left speaker while all the vocals are in the right. No, mono presents the songs as they are and for a straight up rock band that is all they should need. Oh holy F, I've gotten off track here. Back to The Midwest Beat...their songs are ok...good singing and Rickenbacker ringing - the cover art is perfect for their sound, blah blah blah.
Side one of this The Decay/Wayfarer punk split doesn't work and its the better of the two sides. I liked Social Distortion when I was fifteen too...The Decay are rough and tumble punkers and the singer is quite the Mike Ness or if I feel like being worldly, Joe Strummer. I hate the shorthand of lazy criticism where the writer just compares the new band to an older band, but this is simply the best way to express what I'm hearing as I let the tape play. The Decay are great at being what they are and nothing else. This isn't about adding anything new to the musical conversation. The band try to answer the question, how does one express anger or dissatisfaction as age creeps past the early 20s into the 30s? The Decay are not going to grow old gracefully that's for sure.
Wayfarer, oh no...Sorry...Opening track "Collide" put me off immediately. Bottom line: fans of a certain reheated emo/punk rock will love this split. For me, I'll stick with the classics.
Hosehead Links: Here and Here.
Posted by Jeff Daily at March 29, 2012
Tags: Hosehead Records, The Decay, The Midwest Beat, Wayfarer
GUEST POST by Adam Zaby
-Washington, D.C.
The Daily Brothers "The Dream is Dead" c40 (Teflon Beast Records)
There's definitely a Grateful Dead influence working throughout this tape, and while it's not the only thing going on with the Daily Brothers, it's clearly highlighted in the label's submission letter and then there's the sweet looking skull on the cover so it would be a mistake not to mention it here, too. Since I'm confident that the world of music would have been better off without the Grateful Dead, I'm probably the wrong person to be reviewing this tape. And I know that what I've just said probably insulted about a billion hippies, so I switched over to Spotify for a few bars of GD's Greatest Shits just to confirm my position. Position confirmed.
So take what I'm about to say with a grain of salt: this tape is something of a five steps forward, three steps back for what's otherwise a very promising upstart tape label. The earlier Himbert & Herbert release I liked a lot, but I'm not as down with this facet of the multi-genre label's output. The Daily Brothers are clearly hardworking. They probably came up playing bars/restaurants/clubs in their hometown, which I take to be somewhere in the hyphen between D-FW, Texas before they moved to Austin. But there's an earnestness in the vocals that borders on being hard to watch for me, and I'm sure my bias here relates back to my aversion to the Dead.
My favorite track on the album would have to be the instrumental organ number "Behold, New Behemoth!," which comes near the end of side A, and is nowhere near as Metal with a capital M as I was hoping. Instead it's got kind of a sleepy R&B vibe (that I dig a lot) like it should have backed a montage sequence in a mid-70s film score. The mixing and recording for this album came through a little rough on both sides, with the drums and organ dissolving into the CrO2 without the same charming graininess of four-track bedroom recording, but it works on tracks like this one that seem already subdued by the haze of a bygone era.
Now flip the tape, and you'll find that side B does pick up with a much better, stompier classic blues rock (the first song seems to be about shoes so "stompier" fits). And if that's your thing, you might want to skip past side A altogether, and get straight to the more groove-aligned material.
Teflon Beast, keep on truckin'...
Buy it here. Listen here.
Eclipser "Transmissions from the Silver Pyramid" c60 (self-released)
Oh, Canada, you sweet bastard, ambient seems to have become a native form for y'all. You looked north, saw absolutely nothing the fuck up there, and found a way to incorporate that constant chill at your back into your music. Eclipser's a trio out of Victoria, BC, a town my TX ass thought was a whole province until now: Jeremy, Arlen, and a guy named Speedy, which I take to mean that he's a race car driver by trade on the Canuck NASCAR circuit. And together they've found that great northern chill and run it through with some carefully distributed drone.
There's a nice roundness to Transmissions, a cohesiveness, and I get the sense that the group's sound could expand or contract to fill any container, which to me is a sign of a solid electronic act. You won't find much if anything abrasive in the mix here, mostly wholly conceived notes hanging in the air. This is the sound of radiant floating orbs, occasional spaceship encounters, and some lonely, rich hermit idly flipping keys on the organ in his mountain castle. In other words, it bears a striking resemblance to the images and not the sounds for what could have been an awesome Wu-Tang video. The best parts of the tape are cinematic, suggesting motion, interaction between characters. This is especially true during the atmospheric build on side B and then again later, much deeper into the same side where there's some nice human speech played backward.
The difficulty with this genre, in my opinion, is that it can be damned impossible to distinguish one band's sound from so many others except among the more loyal and elite listeners. Personally, I own a few ambient tapes, and I consider them all to be nice albums, but it doesn't always matter to me which one gets thrown in the deck, which probably takes me right out of the running for that "elite" ranking I just mentioned. But then ambient artists seem inclined to be self-effacing (self-eclipsing?), preferring to hide behind their sounds, rarely performing live outside of their hometowns, and somehow never having their photos taken. So maybe this is okay, just fine. I do know I'm glad to have their tape, and I'm sure I'll enjoy Eclipser's kosmische, their hypnotic and pulsating forms, for many more flips to come. Here's to hoping these guys can find the base of loyal and knowledgable electronic fans that they deserve.
More on the band here. No clue where to pick up a copy, though.
--both reviews by Adam Zaby--
Tags: Eclipser, Teflon Beast, The Daily Brothers
COSMIC RELIEF "Dekalb EP" (Green Tape)
+plus+ ???MYSYTERY TAPE???
Cosmic Relief Dekalb EP
Nice country-tinged singer/songwriter stuff from... Dekalb, IL. For the most part just guitar and voice with some accompaniment here and there, possibly live in whole or in part. Simple songs with above average lyrics, mostly dealing in loneliness or heartache, but not generic and helped by this girl's voice, strong and pretty, not sultry or cute-. This caught me on an unseasonably warm and cloudy day and sat about right. Hope she finds someone soon, she seems like a nice gal.
This tape of unknown Provenance is either a 2-way split titled blossoming from within the head by gitche-anahne-bezheu and exotic kush pack by aghori or a 4-way split with gitche-anahne-bezheu, blossoming from within the head, aghori, and exotic kush pack. In either case, it's a cassette full of noise, one side more placid noise, the other more harsh noise. Not much else really happens.
Guest reviews by Jesse Baker of Columbus, Ohio...telling it like it is.
Tags: aghori, Cosmic Relief, gitche-anahne-bezheu, green tape records
Dolores Boys - S/T - Psychic Mule (ed. of 50)
Popping this one in, I honestly think my tape deck is dying. I have other hints suggesting this ailment, but the chipmunky croon of the Dolores Boys' singer can't be on purpose. Can it? Still, the rest of the music is unaffected by mechanical malaise. The grit and filth, scrowling keys and clanging guitars don't seem off-pitch. They do seem so wonderfully wrong, however. Recorded with too much reverb in a warehouse on some humid night, here is a deft collection of lo-fi goth surf. Half the songs are instrumentals, tense sketches of angular punk, dropped and abandoned as the moment of inspiration passes, soundtrack-like incidental pieces, really.
The way the Dolores Boys straddle the nu-Goth and neo-Surf vibes is well done. I'm a fan of the racket, the deep cavernous space they've sculpted their sound from, the tense metallic racket of the guitars. Doomy bass lines and frantic tom-toms evoke some spikey-haired horror in black lipstick and mesh. But the atmosphere of the music isn't some foggy graveyard on a cold autumn night, its hot, claustrophic and urban. Unending daylight, blinding hot sun.
And the song titles kill it for me, "Lead Singer in a Cover Band," "Jesus Gave Up On White Blues Singers" these boys understand the running joke that is rock and roll.
This might be the first full on summer burner of the year.
Peep that shizz: http://www.psychic-mule.com/
Posted by M. Barrett at March 27, 2012
Tags: dolores boys, neo-surf, nu-goth, psychic mule
Guest Post from Josh Johnston (Kentucky USA)
Various Artists “Marecages Restauration” (Crudites Tapes)
With a cover depicting a gator’s head on a child’s body, you can’t help but be a bit worried that the sounds won’t quite live up to the sights, but this French compilation is packed with enough sonic goodness to do a picture of the pope in a rhinestone suit justice. It’s a bit lengthy (twenty tracks clocking in at an hour), but the affair never grows dull thanks to the sheer variety of sounds scattered throughout. Windswept soundscapes and manipulated samples of speakers discussing schizophrenia saddle up beside uneasy folk and good ol’ guitar-driven rock. Electronics run the gamut from dying machine to fast-motion dream. The vocals are playful just as often as they are downright creepy, and the songs are sung in English almost as frequently as they are in French. There’s even a cover of “Strychnine” thrown into the mix, because why not throw a cover of “Strychnine” into the mix. Definitely worth trekking on over to Bandcamp to try/buy (http://sdzrecords.bandcamp.com/album/v-a-mar-cages-restauration).
LOUGOW “King Conversion” (Friends and Relatives Records)
These two fifteen minute slabs of tape manipulation and percussion feel like nightmares I would have had after falling asleep with the television turned up much too loud as a child. The first involves wandering through a burning office complex. A drummer can be heard fooling around in a distant room as if chunks of the ceiling aren’t falling, but the smoke prevents me from ever actually finding him. When the situation finally grows hectic enough for me to call off the search, I open the first door I come to and find myself staring out at a crowded factory. The workers go about their business, stoically ignoring the machines falling apart only a few inches away. Is this just me? The second involves fighting off paranoid hallucinations in an abandoned hospital as the one-man cult who dragged me there conjures some violent spirits in the other room. The occasional peaceful mirage presents itself, but I hold on to the last one a few seconds too long, awaking to find half of my body already in the mouth of some new creature. When it finally swallows me whole, I slide down the chute, dropping back into the same hospital. Clearly, you need this.
BUY IT HERE: www.friendsandrelativesrecords.blogspot.com
listen (http://lougow.bandcamp.com/album/king-conversion)
Anthony Ford “Kissing the Poverty Goodnight” (Otherness)
When poverty hits the sack, it rests its head beneath a dream catcher that it snatched from a booth at the county fair last July, and when Anthony Ford gives it a final peck on the forehead, there’s plenty of overdriven guitar work involved. Side A sounds like Ford hit record then proceeded to surf through a box full of experiments and sketches, eventually taking the cassette out and taping it to a flagpole during a storm. This is a good thing. Side B finds Ford breaking out more conventional (though, no less interesting) songs, with hypnotic, trem-picked guitars riding atop excited, rolling toms. I thought of a surfer having some sort of epiphany after narrowly escaping being eaten by a shark, and, for reasons unknown to me, deciding to become a snake-charmer, but that could just be me. There’s plenty to sift through here, and anyone up to the task will surely find the experience to be an enjoyable one. Shoot Anthony an email (othernessinc at gmail dot com) and procure a copy or two. It’s worth it.
Tags: Anthony Ford, Crudites Tapes, friends and relatives records, Lougow, Otherness
Guest Reviews by S. Howe of Montreal: Broken Shoulder, American Dust & Brizbomb
BROKEN SHOULDER "the tape of disquiet" (tape your mouth) C40
Old school organ note a la walking the cow accompanied by unspecific aluminum pie plate drumming develops into clone robot keys only to fade out with what seems insecure suddenness. We re-establish ourselves on the saccharinity of a sonic youth-like bass line, a more developed synthesizer idea creeping into the schizoid picture. As a personal rule, if the synthesizing instrument occurs without a decent filter (be it distance, archaic speakers or exterior registration) I am not likely to masturbate wildly to the album a second time. Interesting sounds like roundish feline feedback and slight percussive tinkering transport the side to a wavering close and I am verily compelled to flip the tape. I wish I was not told that this album was recorded before the glow of some ancillary hemisphere, however, as I am nearly able to sense, now, the direct plug work and sound forgery. The cover is simple and suitable on a crisp, well-executed j-card, and the tape itself, which is regardfully unscathed, is an unbelievable solid fuchsia color. On reading the revealing curriculum vitae that introduced this music, I was able to recognize, decidedly, the tragedy of the situation. Our UK sound purveyor has had an accident, the result some bunk bed mishap, apparently, but I cannot decipher a modicum of physical or mental anguish on either side of the album. There is a generally relaxed type of decently cushioned chair-tremor here, nothing more at all relating to sadness or some form of distress (not that that is a necessity, but it helps). Brutal B side-listening this morning as I eat a breakfast sandwich. The sausage is delightfully greasy atop a disc of egg that is slightly dry. A stiff yet fresh English muffin completes a very average taste experience. The tape unwinds into a cleanly yet disturbing contribution to the one-note synthesizer revolution of never, in other words. Sinew snap of radiantly recorded bass-fathoms embroider the sound of gimped artistry. The highlight here, in my pointless opinion, is the awkward guitar needlepoint culturing the record's conclusive track. I could wrench perhaps 2-3 more ejaculatory episodes to this one but without the enthusiasm of my initial hoist. This audio cassette is about a broken shoulder. 30 copies.
acquire here (http://sittingnow.co.uk/2012/03/12/broken-shoulder-the-tape-of-disquiet-tape-your-mouth/)
AMERICAN DUST "protector" (self-release?) C10
That was just a dream. Undamaged electro-acoustic menage from the Midwest on a sturdy white tape with crisp gold lettering; an intelligent-looking, extra paneled j-card of interesting eerie artwork. The title track is unmemorably astounding, a tremelo-adorned song of good tempo and placid fuzz vox. The second number on this super single elapses like a disciplined tall firs treatment, unfortunately, drained of sincerity (somehow) in disavowing strum lag and misstep -- a lack of deprivation, simply. I sensed a murmur of occult evil emanating from our lead vocalist, as well, the kind of psychic transmission one would detect in the company of a Hollywood magician. Good female vocal harmonies herein, Johnnie and Bambi could share a larynx, so to speak, perhaps even a microphone. The second side of this audio cassette unveils two tawdry dimensional innovations atop dusky tracks similar in cadence to the initial side. There is an encapsulation of the small town house band throughout this extended play, only singular here in the band's glaring ambitiousness. I could not help but picture, sides A through B, this band preparing their reverb quotient before four hunched elderly rummies in some wood-draped watering hole at approximately 6:30pm, maybe three teenagers in the darkest corner of the establishment dumping fair amounts of phencyclidine into half-empty beer mugs...curlicued runners and flaps of ripped moss like carpeting. The final track is a shade of dark blue with despondent violin of a kind of bruised f-hole tweak and loafing gristly apex not really
expected from your average house band. The sound quality of this cassette is excellent through headphones, but I believe it is more so a non-headphone album for your favorite uncle. To my understanding 2 musicians in the history of musicianship are permitted to use the 'water effect' vocally without loss of rectitude. Neil Young is one of them. 100 copies.
purchase here (http://americandust.bandcamp.com/)
BRIZBOMB (fabrica) (C45)
A live alien mythography registered at Westside Welding and Machine NY in November 2011. The languid, droning transpiration of a colossal cosmic vessel as you hear fuzzed helium screams of extra-terrestrial ghost-formations communicating paranormally, perhaps plotting a massacre. Scenic second track suggests a populous disembarkment of said vessel and the dubious meeting of infrangible alien minds. A wide synthesizer-sounding loop battle ensues round 3, diaphanous skin is peeled free as by violent telekinesis in sizzling amorphic ebbs and the weaker unearthly race is processed into glowing cubes of pallid blue and pink. The bountiful satellite now conquered, all resources are rapidly usurped by unimaginable flesh-machinery. Side B: the powering of our colossal ship for departure, pallid pink and blue cubes are transported to its mechanical helm and ingested by a turbine of tumultuously flashing white light that strobes to a crackling visceral throb. Radio frequencies peer in and out of this voluminous miscreation. The moon is abandoned, stripped barren only milliseconds before. Considering the magnitude of the vessel it is rather quiet on desertion...something stirs secretly within its vastly ramifying fuel chambers. It was a ruse, the supposedly weaker alien race suddenly reconstitute as one into a radiating collagenous mass and surreptitiously overwhelm the ship, ingesting its spectral enemies via a kind of osmotic processing. You can rent this feature film here (http://brizbomb.com/) for five dollhairs; maybe build a paramount film synopsis of your own on listening to the puzzling magnitude of this odd cassette. It is most certainly deserving in this regard. Immaculately recorded on an exquisite clear to metallic blue-foiled tape with austere white lettering. An admirable heavy j-card of enduring varicolored ink finalizes this
space transaction. Brizbomb is one human and one 1.8 meter tall, 147 kilo (5'10", 325+ pound) rack. 100 copies. BUY HERE: fabricarecords.com
Tags: American Dust, Brizbomb, Broken Shoulder, Fabrica Records, Tape your mouth
LOCKBOX "Hypersecret" c48
(Animal Image Search)
Guest Post by Karsten Høegh of Denmark
Lockbox (17 year old Jesse Briata from Denver, Colorado) presents an eclectic mix of styles ranging from sample based loungy collages over wonky beats to outright psychedelic noisy effect-experiments. Also there's some percussion bits thrown in that sounds like it was made by bashing away on whatever was lying around at the time, some rather random guitar playing and bits of abysmal singing (thankfully not a lot though). The whole thing (all 17 tracks!) has been mashed up pretty severely by being transferred from a computer unto a microcassette recorder - as a sort of mastering technique from hell I suppose. You're probably familiar with the sound of microcassette answering machines or dictaphones. These devices were primarily made to capture speech and so they tend to cut both low and high end frequencies, compress whatever goes in using brickwall limiting, have ridiculous built in microphones that distort everything - while they lack the ability to maintain constant tape speeds creating wow and flutter effects in abundance. In other words: they sound great! On the other hand though, it is possible to have too much of a good thing. A couple of tracks in it becomes obvious that the listener is missing out on a lot of the sound of the original tracks, pre-microcassette. And while this of course can create an aura of mystery and the feeling that we're getting a sneak peek into private notes warped by time - over a full album length tape it becomes a bit too monotonous for this reviewer. I can see how the ability of the technique to create uniformity in a bunch of tracks that actually sound very different can be tempting, but some of the material included just doesn't seem to work very well with the sound and so it becomes more a question of concept than of actual content. I think that some diversity in the sound palette to contrast the limitations of the microcassette could really have lifted this release from being plain interesting (trendy weird?) towards something more worhtwhile. To be fair some of the tracks do manage to shine through the trashed out noise beautifully, and some of the experiments - like interrupting the recorder during transfer - are quite funny as well. Also I can appreciate the overall light hearted attitude (I'm a grumpy old man myself). So if you're into experimenting with stuff like this yourself, or just get a kick out of listening to other people's answering machines, there's a good chance you'll find this an interesting listen as well.
Tags: Animal Image Search, Lockbox
CARTOON "69er On A Magic Carpet"
(Epic Sweep Records)
Thank you for sending me the most fucked-up prog-rock funky-time weirdo-party tape I've received all year! Thank you Cartoon! You are one fucked up people/person. Worth it for the cover of "Birdland" by Weather Report alone (though that's not all). This is a seriously well done tape that is completely chopped and screwed. I mean this is also seriously "bad music", but it's got the awful charm of your favorite Boredoms side project or the absolutely immortal Ground Zero Plays Standards (must have). Don't hesitate. Amazing artwork, especially on the inside of the J-fold.
Buy & Listen
Tags: Cartoon, Epic Sweep Records
GUARDIAN ALIEN "Drums>Space>Jam" (Animal Image Search)
I do love Jerry Garcia and co., so I always smile fondly when I get my regular dose of Grateful Dead pastiche artwork in the mail from some band or another. Well it's 2012 and this year's tribute comes in the from of a live tape from Brooklyn's Guardian Alien. At least they go out on a limb and name their tape Drums>Space>Jam after the regularly occurring mid second set journey that was either your pee break or the peak of your acid trip depending on what kind of deadhead you happened to be. While this group, made up of Turner Williams on Japanese lap guitar, Greg Fox on Drums and Alex Drewchin on vocals (plus guests Brad Hass and Camilla PC), doesn't come anywhere near the MIDIfied cornball atonality of late 80s and early 90s Grateful Dead, they are most certainly a jamband, and an rather uneven one at that.
I believe the lap guitar in question is similar or same to the instrument Mick Flower plays on those lovely Corsano-Flower records. It seems to be rather easy to create an inoffensive major key arpeggio on the instrument, but it's strictly defined tonality can become somewhat limiting. In the hands of a master like Mr. Flower, the results are trance inducing, but here it veers too often into go-nowhere noodling. The drumming is perhaps the most exciting part of the tape, and there are some moments in this amphetamine space rock where the endlessly repeating patterns played by Mssrs. Fox & Williams begin to interlock in a just exactly perfect way, but all too often it's just a bunch of music school bullshit.
It's the vocals what really sends this tape out into the timbers of Fennario (a cold wolf infested place, not fit for human habitation). Oh boy, someone hoarsely screaming some generic hippie shit over and over again until it degenerates into mindless "Eastern" chanting and moaning. Hey, I'm all for unpolished and discordant (you should see my record collection), and the singer surely offsets any of the chops the instrumentalists display, but this all just rubs me in absolutely the wrong way. It's definitely equal parts punk rock Hawkwind and Krishna loving nincompoopery , and it's 100% annoying. If I didn't know better, I would think the singer was some tie-dyed burnout having the worst drug experience of her life being recorded for posterity by some some unsettled true-blues in the taper's section of Soldier Field in '95 (in other words: bad vibes/dark times). Your mic pole isn't long enough Bob Wagner.
Tags: Animal Image Search, Guardian Alien, I'm an asshole
OLD HAG "Interludes" c45 (Homhomhom)
Another cool tape from a Mainer. Max Citron and his wife are recent transplants to midcoast Maine from the Pacific Northwest. They bake bread and sell it to local food stores and Max makes music on the side. This collection of 12 analog synth studies was acquired on his Old Hag tour, though I'm not sure if it's specifically a recording of that project. While I do find it harder and harder to say anything at all about everyone's bedroom synth jams, I know what I like when I like it, and I like this. The A-side is relatively easy going to start, but ominousness slowly creeps in. By the first cut on the B-side a deeply fucked up guitar enters into the mix and I'm in creepball heaven! From there, the guitar goes back in it's case again, but the whole tape continues to have a gently twisted feel. Comes in a hand etched plastic case with a bunch of hair and roots as for a J-card. Looks like you can only download it now, so give it a shot. I guess the only thing I would say to Max is, "more axe damage please."
Check out Max's awesome webpage here. This link here is for the audio of the tape in question.
And lookie here at this:
Solar Panel Optical Feedback from homhomhom on Vimeo.
Tags: Homhomhom, Old Hag
PINE SMOKE LODGE "From The Yellow" c90 + c38 (Existential Cloth)
It took me awhile (as in months) to even press play on this recording because I knew I was in for quite a journey and I needed to pack some supplies. There are over two hours of music on From The Yellow a late 2011 double album by Pine Smoke Lodge. While I would usually discourage artists from sharing quite this much of their "special talents" in one helping, the loooong player is actually an ideal format for this duo from Portland, Maine (my new home town -- holla atcha void).
This is echo-laden mystic drone at it's best. A hallucinatory wash of tambura, keyboards, bells and frame drum that can be forgiven it's mild pilfering of other culture's music due to the intense amount of dedication and patience that must have been required to produce such sounds. Pine Smoke Lodge is a male/female duo that came along at the tail end of the Portland folk-psych thing and they're still doing it like it's 2006. I've seen them unspool their thing live and it's quiet a treat if you're the kind who can sit still for 45 minutes. It's not new age, it's stone age. So show some support and get the tape, or write 'em a post card.
Looks like it's still available, but the total run was only 50 copies so act fast. Get it here. Sample or here or here. Check out their dense discography here
Tags: Existential Cloth, Pine Smoke Lodge
Guest Review IV - -
VELVET ELVIS + ENDLESS CAVERNS
This guest review is by Daniel Letson of Berkeley, CA. Let the fur fly.
velvet elvis - no rules in the wasteland (cae-sur-a)
http://www.cae-sur-a.com/ve-no-rules/
When I first read the name "Velvet Elvis" I couldn't help but imagine some B-list Geffen cut-out or a 6th-wave freakbeat act. Instead, I ended up with a 30-odd minute tape full of plodding, canonical stoner rock, and Hawkwind-ish hard-fantasy vocal stylings. One side-legnth epic with requisite Moorcock/Frazetta imagery dominates, while the B-side is a few more mid-length chooglers.
In their own minds, Velvet Elvis is churning out hi-grade Sleep-axis riff rock, but on tape, Bongzilla is probably a little closer to the mark. Despite acceptable chops, and a certain recidivist chutzpa, nothing sticks. Guitars chug and cymbals clang, but I'd be hard pressed to call it psychedelic, and even harder pressed to call it important. The rich tape distortion keeps the whole affair on this side of lifeless, while the slogging "soundscape" at the end is a perverse highpoint, as keening feedback and (pro)found sounds display a modicum of stylistic liquidity. In the band's defense, this kind of outing might have been given a pass 5 years ago, when bespectacled beardos sipped craft beers and Slayer onesies were flying off the shelves. Today, it's innovate or die, and this kind of heavy middling isn't flipping any lids.
endless caverns - sensei deprevation I-III (existential cloth)
http://getoffthecoast.blogspot.com/2010/11/sensei-deprivation-ii.html
http://www.discogs.com/Endless-Caverns-Sensei-Deprivation/release/2644701
I'd never heard Endless Caverns before this tape, but one furtive glance at the unlabeled cover art lets you know this one is coming directly from a "burned mind" headspace. On side one, smokey licks tangle over 3rd world amp buzz and oppressive vibrato throbbing. The saturated fidelity puts a dreamtime haze over the proceedings, as looped n layered guitar lines are bathed in phaser+'wah. On the flip, things go from austere to jazzy, and back again, as melodies cascade and decay, with occasional found sound punctuation. All in all, a pleasant if somewhat monosyllabic exercise in eastern-tinged aural visioneering.
Tags: Cae-Sur-A, Endless Caverns, Existential Cloth, Velvet Elvis
FAINS - "s/t" c30 (Scissor Tail Editions)
Short and sweet and full o' sketches, the artist known as Fains (Scotty Griffith), serves up twelve platters of mini's on this self-titled tape. The music here isn't difficult to describe because there isn't a ton that stands out. Electronic key squiggles, spare beats, a splash of noise here and there, some backwards whooshes, and what sounds to me like midi-guitar noodling towards the end of side B - that's all there is to this half hour of glitch jive. In my more cynical moments I wouldn't recommend this album, but I happen to push play when I was exhausted and need a come down cool out. The flow from piece to piece is excellent and I liked the (my perceived) lack of trying with this recording (not to imply shitty sound or apathy). Fains' music doesn't convey heavy themes, he's just making electronic sounds and enjoying his gizmo's. Having perused Fains' label, Scissor Tail, I would like to point out that this young label's cassettes are worth exploring, especially for fans of all kinds of experimental diddlin' and slick art design.
Tags: Fains, Scissor Tail
BLOOD LAKE "I Sincerely Want To Move To The Mountains" (Tolmie Terrapin Press)
Blood Lake is the project of Kyle Frasure of Miami, Fl. We've got a nice set of mellow unaffected (and only lightly effected) electronic pop songs. Some of the tracks bury the vocals under some murk that makes it hard to understand the lyrics, but there are quite a few that have really touching &/or confessional themes. This is my favorite track here. You can listen to the whole album or buy the tape by following that same link. More info on the label here. Also features Moon Climb the Wall (Mark Johnson of Hunnie Bunnies on a few tracks).
An error has been corrected from the original post. My apologies to both Mr. Frasure and Mr. Johnson. - ed.
Tags: Blood Lake, Tolmie Terrapin Press
BEEF "Deities" c20 (self released)
Who are Beef? A band who gave me their tape after I shared a living room floor with them while we were both playing an out of town show. Other than that, I'm not really sure. They are a five piece from New York who manages to stir up quite a shitstorm on their first cassette, entitled Deities. At the onset, we seem to be at the intersection of No Wave and more technically proficient art rock, which appears to be a more and more common format for young groups in Brooklyn. Thankfully these guys veer a closer to a big messy NO than anything you might have learned in algebra class. The most exciting part for me is the tortured female shrieking from Beef's Korean born vocalist Greem. They are the most present at the start of "Spheres of Bloodlust" on the A side. That track's instrumental sections manage to capture rhythmic guitar density and circular drumming without sounding anything like Sonic Youth. Yeah! The B side is more like a Monoshock styled full on psychedelic blast. All in all, the best tape I received with inkjet printed J-cards in a dog's age.
Tags: Beef
Guest Review III: Dave Smolen and hair_loss
Here's the second review. Hope it works and let me know if you need/want more help with reviews in the future.
-Tucker
METASPLICE "MS I/II" (Injections ltd.)
Alrighty so what we have here is a new collaboration between Dave Smolen and hair_loss. The cassette starts out with some slower moving drones and deep beats as other worldly noises come out through the tape hiss. Then it starts getting faster and noisier as more waves of noise come in. There is a lot going on on this tape; I've listened to it 3 times now in order to get a good feel of it and every time I put it on I notice something new happening in every track. Lots of really cool beats swirling around each other all of the time while new sounds come through and create a really nice grooves and shit that you can sort of nod along to before you become enraptured by the mass amount of sound that are vibrating into your ear drums. Sometimes it sounds like I am listening to a really fast-paced sci-fi movie full of aliens that are in a dance club somewhere on another planet. Some of the sounds these guys are making have a mysterious feel to them like the waters of the deep or outer space or the twilite zone type thing. It's like if David Lynch's twin peaks was more like SKINS this could be the soundtrack.
The packaging on this baby also holds some mystery, a blue tape and blue j-card with nothing but a 35mm splice of film glued to the inside flap. Very simple packaging for an anything but simple collection of tunes.
FYI, I've got self penned reviews coming out every day for a week or so, but I hope to put up some more guest reviews as they come in- nick
Tags: Dave Smolen, Hair_Loss, Injections Ltd.
JEFF REHNLUND "Gangham Attic" c30 (oms-b)
This is an excellent collection of brittle sounding field recordings of South Korean traditional music captured by experimental musician Jeff Rehnlund, who is a current resident of the United Kingdom. It's a companion piece to Jeff's Gangham Basement LP released in 2009 on the amazing Hot Releases imprint (they've also done an LP of Jeff's original music called Smoke From The Mirror). The recordings are edited with an ear for the other worldly sounds of reeds voices and drums. This is sure to appeal to fans of the Master Musicians of Joujouka or the more gritty Sublime Frequencies releases. If you've never heard the music of this region before, you're in for a treat. Despite it's often piercing pitches and clangorous percussion, it can be quick to put you into a trance. Pro-dubbed with color J-cards in an edition of 100 tapes.
pick it up here. Highly recommended.
Tags: Jeff Rehnlund, oms-b
Guest Review part 2: Will Griscom from Berkeley, CA reviews The Cat's Orchestra and others...
I got some tapes in the mail yesterday, and included with one of them was the following note. (I'll leave it up to you to decide) - ed.
Nxxx
in mxxxx
i am going to see if there is snow
on the mountain here before work
i regrettably wn't be seeing you
at these fxxxx shows... my work
schedule has me by the turtleneck
if youknowhat I mean.
cxxx bxxxx forever. yes
let me know howweverything
is with you and what.
Zxxxxx Mxxxxxxxxx
Also, here are my reviews of the two tapes:
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Geist & the Sacred Ensemble -- "In Search of Fabled Lands"
Label: Translinguistic Other
This is some dark weird folk rock that ventures way out into territory I don't hear much these days -- there's a lot of drone and dissonance and throat-singing and shouting and weird drums, and a whole lot of tambourine. Cool sounds. The production is pretty clean overall, with none of the obligatory FX pedal abuse that would put this over the line into modern "psych" territory, but that doesn't keep them from getting noisy when they want to. Some parts definitely made me feel like I was listening to Devendra Banhart doing acoustic covers of Flipper. The lyrics seem to mostly be about death and dying, but my favorite songs are the instrumental jams, which really open up the sonic space they've created to explore some more melodic material. Overall, not bad!
Giant Claw / The Cat's Orchestra
(Split)
Label: Cae-Sur-A
Two sides of hardcore arpeggio abuse from kids who like to hang out at the deeeeeeeep end of the pool. Heavy Claw takes the a-side with some live recorded ambient-synth-noise that starts out a little shaky in terms of wonky tape compression artifacts but rapidly gets things sorted out and proceeds to move smoothly through a number stunningly beautiful of segments, each consisting of multiple layers of looping synth that gradually fade into the next section. Lots of different elements that are constantly moving around, with stacked arpeggios that would be reminiscent of certain classical minimalist composers if it weren't for the consistently smokey analog synth vibe. The one-sheet mentions Terry Riley as a reference point, which is not totally off the mark, but you have to imagine it as filtered through Tangerine Dream and early 1990s Sega Genesis soundtracks. This kind of ambient synth music can really easily fall into the trap of "chill" cliches and boring sounds, but Giant Claw manages to avoid most of that and delivers a really rewarding, involving listen.
Side B comes from Russian loner dude The Cat's Orchestra, who I last heard from several years ago playing acoustic ethno-folk on homemade instruments. Apparently he's jumped on the analog synth bandwagon as well, although I can't say I really understand what's going on here -- there's a single-chord synth arpeggio that repeats throughout the entire side, and a one-bar drum machine loop, and some whooshing sounds… and that's about it. Sometimes another riff will come in that sounds like it's in a different key, or the main riff will drop out for a couple of bars and it sounds like something new is going to happen, but then it just fades back in again. Definitely a confusing listen -- maybe that's a good thing? The Cat's Orchestra uses the all the same basic elements as Heavy Claw (analog synth, looping, arpeggios) but the end result is distinctly different, way more minimal, agitated and disconcerting.
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that's all! let me know if you need anything else.
Tags: Cae-Sur-A, Geist and the Sacred Ensemble, Giant Claw, The Cat's Orchestra, Translinguistic Other Recordings
WAYLON THORNTON & THE HEAVY HANDS
"Melted Rings: A Stack of Tracks 2007-2011
Dirty Pillows) GUEST REVIEW
As promised, here is the first of many guest reviews that I'll be posting on the blog. This one is by Tucker White of Salt Lake City Utah - ed.
Well howdy doodie, tootie fruity. This is some fun stuff. Nice lofi garage pop from the hubby 'n wifey duo out of the good ol' FLA. They bust out some real groovin'/catchy
jams in a bluesy punk kind of way. Waylon breaks out some really great vocal melodies that almost sound like the cramps or something at times. I mean you've definitely heard this type of music/sound more than a couple of times before but they pull it off in such a fun way that it doesn't really matter if it's not a "new sound" or whatever people are calling that sort of thing. Listening to it now in my bedroom, all alone, late at night, with a 40oz of Old Milwaukee that's nearly empty, really makes me want to go out skateboarding around town, in the sun, while bumping this tape full god-damn blast on my glitchy-ass walkman. The qualilty of these recordings (which are compiled from 9 different releases) work perfectly with the sound these guys have going for them. It's all dirty and muddy but it's more like a mudslide pie or something that tastes all nice and sweet and delicious. These tunes are bound to put you in a good mood. They makes me want to skateboard all the way down to the pie shop and get a huge piece of mudslide pie. but I can't on account of the hour. That and I don't even know if there's a pie shop around here. But that's what this tape makes me want to do. So if skateboarding and eating mudslide pie sounds like a grand old time to you then you should pick up this tape pop it in your (hopefully unglitchy) walkman or ghetto-blaster and skateboard your ass down to the pie shop. And you should probably pick up a 40oz of your favorite booze on the way; while you're at it.
Cheers to you, Waylon and Meggy this last swig's for you.
Tags: Dirty Pillows, Waylon Thornton
Monterey Babe Aquarium "self-titled," Smegma/Colour Bük "split," Sagan Genesis/Waxy Tomb "split" (Weird Forest Records)
Hello....wait, you know what?...I'm not going to write a big fancy introduction just because I'm new here...We'll learn plenty about each other by discussing music...I've got three new tapes from Weird Forest Records stacked on my stereo begging for review, so let's get on with the show...
Monterey Babe Aquarium
Rejoice zonkheads! Another addition to the bliss of sleep soundtracks has arrived...I promised myself I wouldn't ever write the phrase "hypnagogic pop," but when in Rome...Monterey Babe Aquarium's self-titled cassette is an ode to fish...not literally perhaps, but all the track titles are names of kinds of fish. My favorite piece could also be a long forgotten member of Captain Beefheart's band, "Vermiculate Spinefoot." Synth riffs dance in tidal rhythms, repetitive lines of melody inoffensively wrap troubles in bubbles and gills. This is some serious music ya'll...not really suited for parties where you and yr gaggle drink budget vino while exploring the limits of gratuitous nudity...MBA are a talented trio of nautical musicians and, according to Weird Forest, two of the Aquarium guys also play technical metal so there's that to balance all this colorful meditative keyboard music. These tracks show real eclecticism and skill so take a SWIM! Edition of 100
Smegma/Colour Bük
Skronk - wheeze - hhhhhzzzzz. Get ready for a split where the humid air of degenerate noise punches you in the face, lovingly of course. Smegma's A-side is a live performance from 2010. Voices echo round and round while at least one member of the group castrates a saxophone or enjoys a lil S&M role play in a hall of mirrors. Exciting music for sure and scary with a joker's grin. Colour Bük's B-side is even better. I got a case of the jackhammer blues and I like it. This is the sound of picking scum from underneath long ass fingernails while playing a poorly wired off brand gee-tar. I'm kinda annoyed by the "clever" moniker - c'mon umlauts and the UK spelling? Alright. Fine. Not a big deal 'cause the sounds are just what the scuz doctor ordered. Edition of 100
Sagan Genesis/Waxy Tomb
Conversely, Sagan Genesis is just a dumb enough joke name to make me smile. Bravo! This is my favorite of the three tapes and also the one with the fewest copies available so don't sleep on it, just getcha 'un. SG's side is KDVS experimentation (KDVS is the UC Davis free form radio station that has been fostering the scene out west for awhile now...see also MBA) and bleak synth music. It isn't hopeless music though, just music for an overcast soul. Which is perfect since I'm writing this during a thunderstorm grey Texas weekend. The composition is titled "Mollusk in Water" (again with H2O creatures! - don't worry this isn't a Ween tribute) and I can't say I know what it means, I just know I "get it." Waxy Tomb is Julia Litmer-Cleper and you home listeners wouldn't know it, but she incorporates performance art into her live show which adds a freaky layer to this miasma of sound. For all of us indoor tape jammers what really comes through on WT's side is the force of her music. Titled, '"Take One, Try All" (hormone pills),' the weight of industrial music's past gets filtered and spit out anew. All three of these cassettes will remain in rotation for some time to come at my house. Edition of 60
Buy here.
Tags: Colour Buk, Monterey Babe Aquarium, Sagan Genesis, Smegma, Waxy Tomb, Weird Forest
GUEST REVIEW TIME
I've got a lot of responses to this, so I am no longer taking guest review requests. I'll probably do something like this again when I'm once again too bogged down with submissions. Now I'm going to get down and dirty with the cassettes I've already decided to review. Expect reviews from me covering the house band's at Boston's Gay Gardens, new 905 tapes, GX Jupiter Larsen, Million Brazilians, Pine Smoke Lodge, Guardian Alien, this crazy looking tape called Cartoon, Images, Old Hag, Beef, Black Cum and some Korean field recordings. You can also expect guest reviews from 10+ folks around the world. All coming up soonish...
Hello faithful Cassette Gods readers and submitters. Sorry I've been really slow this last month, busy with business and all. I'd like to see if anyone out there would be interested in doing some guest reviews on the site. Here's how it would work:
1. you email me at cavebears@gmail.com
2. you let me know how many tapes you'd like to receive
3. i mail you a piping hot parcel of audio magic. if you live outside of the united states I may need you to cover shipping costs
4. you pledge on your walkman's grave that you will email me reviews (positive, negative, funny, whatever) within one week. please include artist name, tape title, name of the label and cassette length (if possible)
5. i post your illegible ramblings on the site
Easy right?
Hopefully, by doing this, we can work towards getting a couple more folks on as permanent reviewers and I'll stop feeling so bad about not listening to these tapes that I know I should be checking out...
Tags: I'm an asshole
TRAILBLAZER "Trailblazer" c20? [Eggy]
I don't know anything about this Trailblazer other than the project also had a tape on Night People awhile ago. The name is kind of ironic; Trailblazer really doesn't blaze any trails. The material here hails directly from Joy Division, Suicide and more recent home-recorded acts like Blank Dogs. That said, this stuff is still good.
A basic drum machine track pushes each tune along while the Blazer rips out fuzzy, reverb-saturated organ and guitar melodies. There's a good dose of Suicide-esque delay-feedback too.
All of the info given is "Side A: Killer Jams Side B: Killerer Jams" which sort of makes sense as all tracks feel like variations on a theme rather than clearly defined compositions of their own. Certain tracks do stand out such as the second "killer jam" which features a hint of totally dig-able 80s dance bombast.
Each track has a really simple but solid structure that's thoroughly smeared by a bevy of sloshed effects, with each track generally featuring a key riff or melody that pops up halfway through. Like I said it's nothing you haven't heard before, yet it's a lot of fun to listen to. For fans of home-made post-punk and/or harmonious music in a noisy shell.
Another solid and listenable entry in the Eggy catalog.
Posted by Auxiliary Out at March 04, 2012
Tags: Eggy Records, Trailblazer
SON OF SALAMI "Deli Days" c26 (Night People)
Joey Pizza Slice AKA Son of Salami is one of the most prolific singer songwriters making music today. What put's Joey's music into a realm of greatness is an integral combination of process and product.
The songwriting is clearly great: funny, awkward, beautiful, often touching; with subject matter that is either too silly or too heavy for most songwriters (sandwiches, dead girlfriends). The washed out cassette production sound that is becoming pretty standard fare these days sounds as good as it possibly can, but it is the way he goes about making his music that truly separates him from the heard. All Son of Salami recordings are first-take tracks made up of a series of "blind" overdubs. "Joey records on a portable tape recorder from which the erase head has been removed, allowing for overdubbing at the cost of not being able to hear the music being recorded over," says Shawn Reed on the Night People website. Ever read Bill Evans' liner notes for Kind of Blue?
There is a Japanese visual art in which the artist is forced to be spontaneous. He must paint on a thin stretched parchment with a special brush and black water paint in such a way that an unnatural or interrupted stroke will destroy the line or break through the parchment. Erasures or changes are impossible. These artists must practice a particular discipline, that of allowing the idea to express itself in communication with their hands in such a direct way that deliberation cannot interfere.
During every one of his live performances, he demonstrates the process and creates a unique pop masterpiece right in front of the audience in a matter of moments. If that's not cool enough, he proceeds to toss the newly formed cassette nonchalantly into the audience, for it to disappear into the void, never to be heard from again. Some intrepid future archivists are going to have their work cut out for them when they attempt to piece together the disparate stains of this guys' unheard discography.
Pick up his new collection of songs on Night People here and you damn well better get his Feeding Tube LP right over here.
Son of Salami website
Tags: Night People, Son of Salami
CRUUDEUCES "St. James" c21ALEX HOMAN "That Is No W...
The Midwest Best - s/t and The Decay/Wayfarer - "s...
GUEST POST by Adam Zaby-Washington, D.C.
COSMIC RELIEF "Dekalb EP" (Green Tape)+plus+ ???MY...
Guest Reviews by S. Howe of Montreal: Broken Shoul...
LOCKBOX "Hypersecret" c48 (Animal Image Search)Gue...
CARTOON "69er On A Magic Carpet"(Epic Sweep Record...
GUARDIAN ALIEN "Drums>Space>Jam" (Animal Image Sea...
PINE SMOKE LODGE "From The Yellow" c90 + c38 (Exis...
Guest Review IV - -VELVET ELVIS + ENDLESS CAVERNS
BLOOD LAKE "I Sincerely Want To Move To The Mounta...
Guest Review part 2: Will Griscom from Berkeley, C...
WAYLON THORNTON & THE HEAVY HANDS"Melted Rings: A ...
Monterey Babe Aquarium "self-titled," Smegma/Colou...
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Report: LeBron James Called Rob Pelinka to Vouch for and Recruit Former Cavs Teammate
Home / Media / J.R. Smith Discusses the Good and Bad of Playing With LeBron James
J.R. Smith Discusses the Good and Bad of Playing With LeBron James
By Brad Sullivan
A whole host of different players have been teammates of Cleveland Cavaliers forward LeBron James during his 15 seasons in the NBA. Over the past eight years, that’s meant a trip to the NBA Finals for most of them, whether they played for either Cleveland or the Miami Heat. However, the connection also brings added pressure, something that J.R. Smith spoke about on Saturday while also adding a little humor to the topic.
JR Smith on what it’s like to play with LeBron James … pic.twitter.com/9IFYwlFehL
— Dave McMenamin (@mcten) June 2, 2018
When the 32-year-old Smith was dealt from the New York Knicks to the Cavaliers in January 2015, his past reputation made the Cavs’ front office wary of acquiring him. James indicated at the time that he would keep Smith in line, a promise that’s largely been kept and helped in bringing the franchise its first-ever title the following year.
The pressure that Smith spoke of is squarely on his shoulders as the Cavaliers and Golden State Warriors prepare for Game 2 on Sunday night. That’s connected to his mistake of dribbling away from the basket in the closing seconds of the 124-114 overtime loss, which cost the Cavaliers the opportunity to win the game. As time expired, James was visibly upset at Smith for his blunder, but refused to discuss his feelings on the play during a postgame press conference. Instead, the veteran simply walked out.
One way for Smith to at least temporarily stop the conversation about his miscue is to deliver a strong performance in Game 2 that results in a Cleveland win. Two years ago, Smith delivered a pair of clutch efforts in the Finals: the first coming in a 20-point performance in Game 3 and the latter, scoring 14 points in the titanic Game 7 clincher. The Cavs and their fans would no doubt appreciate a little deja vu.
cleveland cavaliersfeaturedGolden State WarriorsJ.R. Smithlebron jamesMiami HeatNew York Knicksnews ticker
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About Brad Sullivan
Brad Sullivan is a lead writer for Cavaliers Nation. He has spent much of life in the Cleveland, Ohio area, and has remained a Cavalier fan from their 1970 beginnings through the return of LeBron James. While that fandom was sorely tested during the Reign of Error known simply by one word, Stepien, that overall historical perspective will be part of his writing for Cavaliers Nation in the months ahead.
The Los Angeles Lakers’s decision to sign former Cleveland Cavaliers guard Quinn Cook as a free agent earlier this...
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/DC
Swamp Thing Star Teases Potential Surprise Character Appearances
By Adam Barnhardt - May 14, 2019 11:22 pm EDT
When Swamp Thing hits DC Universe later this month, it's going to explore yet another corner of the expansive comics universe rarely seen in live-action. While it's technically separate (for now) from the universe the streaming platform is building with Titans and Doom Patrol, one Swamp Thing star didn't rule out surprise appearance from fan-favorite comics characters.
ComicBook.com spoke with Swamp Thing star Derek Mears, the man behind the titular character, and while he wouldn't reveal much, he did say fans should be on the lookout once the show drops.
"I'm always that guy, like, I feel I've made a Christmas surprise, and I don't want people to know it until it's Christmastime so that they get that full impact of shock and awe," Mears teases. "But maybe there are some familiar characters from the canon that pop up from time to time.
"Or they make their traces known in the series. Which, as a nerd, we go script to script, and then I would see little hints or little puzzle pieces and say 'Oh, I know who you're talking about. I know what this is. Oh, wait, are we covering that later?'" the actor continues. "Just like, I'm such a squirrel for all of this. So yeah, I think fans are going to be really excited from time to time, going, like, 'Oh, I know what you're referencing. Wink, got it. I know who that it is.'"
In the same interview, Mears told us that the show takes full advantage of its "hard R" rating, saying they pushed the boundaries to make it as scary as possible. Earlier this Spring, production was momentarily halted while the creative team behind the show scrambled to reduce the initial season's order from 13 episodes to 10.
Swamp Thing debuts May 31st on DC Universe.
Are you looking forward to Swamp Thing? Which character cameos do you think we'll end up seeing on the show? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below!
In this latest episode, we go all in on the IT CHAPTER TWO trailer and do a deep dive into all the movies coming out this summer! After Avengers: Endgame is there any movie worth seeing? Find out the answer and make sure to subscribe now to never miss an episode!
Talisman: Batman Super-Villains Edition Designer Talks Gameplay Changes and Using the New 52
John Carpenter Joins DC Universe to Co-Write Joker: Year of the Villain
LEGO's Batman 80th Anniversary Mr. Freeze Batcycle Battle Set is Only $20
The Flash Star Grant Gustin Speaks out After Racist Online Attacks Against Co-Star Candice Patton
iZombie: First Look at Series Finale Revealed
Arrow: Final Season Premiere Title Revealed
iZombie Recap With Spoilers: "Night and the Zombie City" Goes Noir
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MetroSquash engages underserved Chicago youth through squash, as well as academic support, mentoring, enrichment and community service to develop students to their full potential. Through a Strategic Alignment project to support the organization following its expansion into new facilities, Compass assisted by standardizing programming and setting clear expectations for staff and stakeholders. According to Executive Director, David Kay,“We loved our Compass experience. The team was a diverse group of professionals who were committed to working with our staff and board to produce a meaningful and compelling project. This is not a project we could have taken on independently and the business perspective that Compass brought to the project was invaluable.”
Healthy Schools Campaign advocates for policies and practices that allow all students, teachers and staff to learn and work in a healthy school environment. A Compass team undertook a Funding Strategy project to strengthen its small-donor communications and acquisition strategy. According to CEO, Rochelle Davis, “The experience with the whole team was fantastic. We feel very lucky to have been paired with these thoughtful and smart professionals!”
BUILD engages at-risk youth so they can realize their educational and career potential, while preventing them from joining gangs and working with gang-involved youth to develop alternatives to this destructive lifestyle. A Compass team worked to maximize the performance of BUILD’s Board of Directors and ensure the diversity of expertise necessary to best support its work through a Board Development project. In the words of Executive Director, Adam Alonso, “Compass led a board development project with such professionalism and understanding of our needs. What was produced was a plan that will transform the way our board operates moving forward – thank you Compass!”
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1 Connexions Directory of Groups & Websites
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Moulitsas, Markos
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Changing Charity 50 years of OXFAM: New Internationalist February 1992
This issue uses the example of Oxfam to look at the role of development agencies in the Third World. Subjects discussed include the political agendas of charities, the importance of small-scale local ...
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Free Speech For Me - But Not For Thee: How the American Left and Right Relentlessly Censor Each Other
Hentoff, Nat
Hentoff is a passionate believer in free speech who recognizes that if speech is truly to be free, we must protect the expression even of ideas we abhors. He catalogues with equal disapproval the effo...
God and His Demons
Parenti, Michael
Parenti examines the dark side of religion, the many evils committed in the name of godly virtue throughout history. This is not a blanket condemnation of all believers. The focus is on the threat pos...
IMF World Bank More World Less Bank: New Internationalist March 2004
A look into the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, and what they have done.
Taking on the Religious Right: A review of God and His Demons
Elich, Gregory
Michael Parenti confronts the dangers of religious fundamentalism.
Twin Terrors : New Internationalist November 2001
An in-depth look at the events of the 9/11 disaster.
Wade Michael Page and the rise of violent far-right extremism
Goodwin, Matthew
The man who opened fire in a Sikh temple in Wisconsin was not just a crazed loner, but a vocal neo-Nazi – in fact, his white supremacist ideology reflected a growing form of extremism that expresses i...
What's the Matter with Kansas?: How Conservatives Won the Heart of America
Frank, Thomas
Explores the rise of conservative populism in the United States through the lens of Frank's native state of Kansas. According to his analysis, the political discourse of recent decades has dramaticall...
You Are What You Think: Markos Moulitsas' "American Taliban"
Larson, Charles R.
America's main international enemy "Islamic radicalism" favors theocracy, curtails civil liberties, embraces torture, represses women, reviles homosexuality, subverts science and education, and revere...
Youth Subdued: 8 Ways Young Americans Have Been Dominated
Levine, Bruce E.
Traditionally, young people have energized democratic movements. But now young Americans—even more so than older Americans—appear to have acquiesced to the idea that the corporatocracy can completely ...
Women Against Fundamentalism
Women Against Fundamentalism (WAF) was formed in 1989 to challenge the rise of fundamentalism in all religions. Its members include women from a wide range of backgrounds and from across the world. B...
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A Solar Panel That Washes Itself
by Green Prophet December 7, 2009 5 comments
It’s cleaning up space junk, and is giving us lab-on-chip biofilters for detecting contamination. Now nanotechnology has produced a coating for windows or solar panels that repels grime and dirt. Expanded battery storage capacities for the next electric car could be within reach too.
New Tel Aviv University research, just published in Nature Nanotechnology, details a breakthrough in assembling peptides at the nano-scale level that could make these futuristic visions come true in just a few years.
Operating in the range of 100 nanometers (roughly one-billionth of a meter) and even smaller, graduate student Lihi Adler-Abramovich and a team working under Prof. Ehud Gazit in TAU’s Department of Molecular Microbiology and Biotechnology have found a novel way to control the atoms and molecules of peptides so that they “grow” to resemble small forests of grass.
These “peptide forests” repel dust and water — a perfect self-cleaning coating for windows or solar panels which, when dirty, become far less efficient.
“This is beautiful and protean research,” says Adler-Abramovich, a Ph.D. candidate. “It began as an attempt to find a new cure for Alzheimer’s disease. To our surprise, it also had implications for electric cars, solar energy and construction.”
As cheap as the sweetener in your soda
A world leader in nanotechnology research, Prof. Gazit has been developing arrays of self-assembling peptides made from proteins for the past six years. His lab, in collaboration with a group led by Prof. Gil Rosenman of TAU’s Faculty of Engineering, has been working on new applications for this basic science for the last two years.
Using a variety of peptides, which are as simple and inexpensive to produce as the artificial sweetener aspartame, the researchers create their “self-assembled nano-tubules” in a vacuum under high temperatures. These nano-tubules can withstand extreme heat and are resistant to water.
“We are not manufacturing the actual material but developing a basic-science technology that could lead to self-cleaning windows and more efficient energy storage devices in just a few years,” says Adler-Abramovich. “As scientists, we focus on pure research. Thanks to Prof. Gazit’s work on beta amyloid proteins, we were able to develop a technique that enables short peptides to ’self-assemble,’ forming an entirely new kind of coating which is also a super-capacitor.”
As a capacitor with unusually high energy density, the nano-tech material could give existing electric batteries a boost — necessary to start an electric car, go up a hill, or pass other cars and trucks on the highway. One of the limitations of the electric car is thrust, and the team thinks their research could lead to a solution to this difficult problem.
“Our technology may lead to a storage material with a high density,” says Adler-Abramovich. “This is important when you need to generate a lot of energy in a short period of time. It could also be incorporated into today’s lithium batteries,” she adds.
Windex a thing of the past?
Coated with the new material, the sealed outer windows of skyscrapers may never need to be washed again — the TAU lab’s material can repel rainwater, as well as the dust and dirt it carries. The efficiency of solar energy panels could be improved as well, as a rain shower would pull away any dust that might have accumulated on the panels. It means saving money on maintenance and cleaning, which is especially a problem in dusty deserts, where most solar farms are installed today.
The lab has already been approached to develop its coating technology commercially. And Prof. Gazit has a contract with drug mega-developer Merck to continue his work on short peptides for the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease — as he had originally foreseen.
Article appearing courtesy of Green Prophet, via AFTAU
battery storagecapacitorcoatingelectric carenergy storagenanonanotechnologysciencesolar energysolar paneltechnology
Green Prophet
Seambiotic and China Guodian Utility to Build $10 Million Commercial Microalgae Farm
Copenhagen or Bust: What Space Junk Teaches Us About Climate Change
newhomegreen December 9, 2009 - 10:52 am
Pleased about “A Solar Panel That Washes Itself | CleanTechies Blog – CleanTechies.com” ( http://bit.ly/4zI7PU )
Jasper December 15, 2009 - 6:54 am
Sussex-based SolarUK’s LaZer2 solar panels clean themselves: the vacuum tubes’ very smooth High Borosilicate glass does the job. Here is a link to a photo of the panels in place on a roof:
http://www.solaruk.com/lazer2_solar_thermal_collectors.asp
Tyler December 22, 2009 - 10:41 pm
Sounds like a great solution to maximize solar insolation. For those with ole’ fashioned panels, here’s some advice on how grime can affect maximal insolation:
http://www.solarpanelnexus.com/installsolarpanel/
(kinda near the bottom)
There’s some good info on wikipedia’s tracker page as well!
Randy January 13, 2010 - 4:08 pm
You are absolutely right on the dusty desert impacts. I live on the outskirts of Phoenix and dust is a daily challenge, although so far the lights I use outside have consistently performed well.
carmen December 11, 2010 - 10:52 pm
solar panel is great way to produce huge energy since i start to learn about i got interested to know about it more,
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City of Charlotte > Citywide Newsroom > News releases > Ron Kimble named Interim City Manager
Ron Kimble named Interim City Manager
Nicole Ramsey
nramsey@charlottenc.gov
Contact:
Corporate Communications & Marketing
corporatecommunicationsmarketing@charlottenc.gov
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (June 6, 2016) – Charlotte City Council has named Deputy City Manager Ron Kimble as Interim City Manager effective July 1, 2016.
“I am honored to serve in the interim role,” said Kimble. “I am strongly committed to this City that I love and call home. I want the transition to the next City Manager to be as smooth as possible.”
Current City Manager Ron Carlee notified the City Council in February that he would not seek an extension of his employment agreement, which expired on March 31. Carlee agreed, however, to remain through June in order to complete the City’s Fiscal Year 2017 Budget. On May 25, the City Council approved the outline of the budget, which will be formally adopted on June 13.
“We appreciate Mr. Carlee providing continuity through the budget process and his many accomplishments over the past three years,” said Charlotte Mayor Jennifer Roberts. “The appointment of Mr. Kimble as Interim City Manager will provide a seamless transition as the City Council completes the recruitment for City Manager,” she added.
“Ron Kimble and I have worked closely as a team and he will be able to maintain continuity in City leadership without missing a beat,” said Carlee. “He has my full support and I will be available to help him however he may need.”
Kimble has served as deputy city manager since 2007 and previously served as city manager in Greenville, NC.
To schedule interviews with City Manager Ron Carlee and Deputy City Manager Ron Kimble, please contact Traci Ethridge at 980-253-2580.
Ron Kimble Bio
Letter from Ron Carlee
City Manager Recruitment Process
The city has retained the services of Ralph Andersen & Associates to assist with the recruitment and selection of the next city manager. Applications will be accepted through July 8, with recommendations on candidates for City Council to interview expected mid-July.
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NEUTRAL ACCENT
Charmaine can relate to crowds with her neutral accent
PLEASANT & RELATABLE PERSONALITY
Can relate to audience. This comes across strongly in her personality both on and off the mic.
VERSATILITY IN HOSTING EXPERIENCE
Charmaine can host on Radio, TV and Live Events
BACKGROUND IN ADVERTISING, MEDIA & HOSPITALITY
Having worked in the media and corporate world, she understands event requirements and delivers them as a host.
About Celebrity Emcee Charmaine Yee and her work in Singapore
Since her early work as a young DJ and emcee, Charmaine has always wowed her audience and clients in Singapore with her superb hosting abilities, bubbly personality and energy.
As a seasoned celebrity emcee, Charmaine continues to learn, grow and improve. Her experience in hosting, voiceovers and emceeing have shaped her into a professional celebrity emcee who is ready to host any event. From corporate conferences, sports events, and product launches in Singapore, she is the most versatile and professional host and emcee.
She’s interviewed the cast of Crazy Rich Asians! Click here to see her in action with the cast at the red-carpet event in Singapore.
Charmaine is adaptable, dynamic and fearless. She seeks to continue her journey as a professional emcee by improving and growing.
Why choose Charmaine?
Here are 4 attributes that make Charmaine Singapore’s favorite Celebrity Emcee:
Professionalism: She has over 16 years of experience in hosting and emceeing. She is competent and charming but also entertaining and witty! She knows how to keep her audience engaged and attentive. She is also very down-to-earth – which makes her relatable, almost like a friend, to the audience.
Bilingualism: She is bilingual in both English and Chinese.
Adaptability and Versatility: You name it, she’s done it. No task is too big, and no challenge is too difficult for this host! She’s hosted on radio, TV and at Live Events in Singapore like a seasoned and professional host.
Followers: Charmaine understands the relevance of Social Media platforms in marketing and advertising as a celebrity emcee. She has over 10 thousand followers on Instagram.
How to contact ?
If you’re keen to hire Charmaine as a host, head over to her contact page to fill in the online inquiry form. We’ll be in touch.
Follow me in the network space!
COPYRIGHT © 2016-2017 CHARMAINE YEE PTE. LTD. DESIGNED BY KRYST WEB
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JOIN THE CONVERSATION COMES TO ELLESMERE PORT
Posted on Tuesday 25th October
The Commissioner’s team will be in Ellesmere Port on Friday 28 October listening to your thoughts on the draft Police and Crime Plan for Cheshire.
Ensuring the police have a real connection with our communities; supporting victims of crime and vulnerable people; working to prevent crime and anti-social behaviour before it takes place; and ensuring that Cheshire has a police service fit for the future are the four priorities Cheshire’s Police & Crime Commissioner David Keane has proposed in his draft Police & Crime Plan.
The draft plan was published on Monday 19 September for public comment and is available both in full and in summary form on the Commissioner’s website. The Plan is based on feedback from thousands of residents across Cheshire.
Mr Keane said: “During the summer I undertook an extensive conversation with residents, communities and partner agencies across the county about what they felt were the priorities for our police service. I have listened to what was said and developed a Plan which will deliver for the whole of Cheshire, irrespective of your background or personal circumstances.
“It sets out a vision in which Cheshire will have a Constabulary focused on prevention, supporting the most vulnerable and putting victims first; a police service fit for the future and which is connected with, based within and accessible to local communities – real neighbourhood policing.”
Between 19 September and 31 October, the Commissioner and his team will be visiting communities throughout Cheshire holding public roadshows and consulting on his plans. His team will be at Ellesmere Port indoor market, CH65 0HW on Friday 28 October between 10am and 2pm.
An online survey is avaialble for those who can’t attend the public roadshow.
At the end of these six weeks, feedback on the draft plan will be reviewed and a final Plan published before Christmas.
Mr Keane added: “I’m committed to understanding what the public think of my proposals. Have I captured their priorities for Cheshire? I would urge everyone to come and join the conversation and help to finalise the priorities I’m setting for policing in our county.”
You can view a summary and full version of the draft Police & Crime Plan on this website and can also complete an online survey to give your views.
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7 Jul , 2019
Breaking down Mass Public Shooting data from 1998 though June 2019: Info on weapons used; gun-free zones; racial, age, and gender demographics
The Excel file with detailed information on mass public shootings is available here. With all the discussion about having another assault weapon ban, only 13% of mass public shootings are done with any type of rifle. Among the other findings, about 9 in 10 of the attacks are in gun-free zones, more than half the shooters are over age 30 and over 80 percent are at least 21 years of age.…
CPRC original research, Demographics of Mass Public Shooters, mass public shootings
DRAMATIC REVELATION: The day of the Virginia Beach shooting one of the victims considered taking a gun to work over concerns about a colleague, but didn’t because of gun-free zone
We have previously pointed out how the shooting at the Virginia Beach municipal building was a gun-free zone. From The Virginian-Pilot (June 10, 2019) has this dramatic revelation:
Kate Nixon considered taking a gun to work on May 31, the day a co-worker killed her and 11 others in the country’s deadliest mass shooting this year, an attorney for her family said on a radio show Monday.
gun free zones, mass public shootings
3 Jun , 2019
At Townhall.com: What Gun Control Advocates Fail to Grasp After Mass Shootings
Dr. John Lott has a new piece at Townhall.com on the Virginia Beach shooting. The employee handbook info regarding employees being banned from having guns is available here.
Another horrifying attack and immediately gun control politicians and organizations are calling for more gun control laws. Former Vice President Joe Biden; Sens.
mass public shootings, op-ed
UPDATED: Another mass public shooting, another place where the victims were banned from carrying guns, the attack at Virginia Beach
[Originally posted on Saturday, June 1] Another horrifying attack and immediately gun control politicians and organizations are calling for more gun control laws. Former VP Joe Biden, Sen. Kamala Harris, Sen. Elizabeth Warren, Mayor Pete Buttigieg, former congressman Beto O’Rourke, Cory Booker and many others put out calls for more gun control within a few hours of the tragedy.…
3 May , 2019
UPDATED: Compiling Cases where concealed handgun permit holders have stopped mass public shootings and other mass attacks
This is a revised, updated version of a post originally written on April 21, 2015.
Columnist Eugene Volokh wrote in the Washington Post on April 20, 2015: “Have civilians with permitted concealed handguns stopped such mass shootings before?” We provided Volokh with a list of such cases, which he used.
Below, we have collected news stories on more cases of permit holders stopping mass public shootings with their handguns (we separately collect cases where concealed handguns are used to stop other crimes). …
Concealed Handguns Stopped Mass Public Shooting, mass public shootings
Denver Post interviewing the CPRC about the 20th Anniversary of Columbine massacre
Dr. John Lott was one of the people interviewed by the Denver Post about the 20th Anniversary of Columbine massacre. Here is the discussion that they had with him.
John Lott, president of the Crime Prevention Research Center and author of “More Guns, Less Crime,” said mass killers often choose a soft target or “gun-free zone” — such as schools — to carry out their attacks.
mass public shootings, Media Discussion on CPRC
9 Apr , 2019
New Research in the journal Econ Journal Watch: “Is the United States an Outlier in Public Mass Shootings? A Comment on Adam Lankford”
Dr. John Lott and our research director Professor Carl Moody have piece on what we believe has been one of the bigger academic frauds. The paper can be downloaded here.
In 2016 Adam Lankford published a widely propagated article purporting to show that during a 47-year period the United States represented 31 percent of worldwide public mass shooters, and claiming that the outsized U.S.
CPRC original research, International Comparisons, International Mass Public Shootings, mass public shootings
Civilian apparently cut short attack at Second Christchurch Mosque, only 7 died at that Mosque versus 41 at other one
UPDATE: The original news reports suggested that a Muslim at the Mosque had run home (presumably very nearby) to get his gun to stop the attack. Well, new reports suggest something quite different happened. There are basic inconsistencies between the two reports.
The original reports suggest that the Muslim was able to fire the gun at the attacker, but the other articles suggest that he took the gun from the shooter and didn’t know how to fire it.…
Concealed Handguns Stopped Mass Public Shooting, International Mass Public Shootings, mass public shootings, New Zealand
Mass Public Shootings around the World: In two days there were large mass public shootings in Brazil and New Zealand
The attack at a public school in Suzano, Brazil on March 13th, 2019, resulted in eight deaths and 23 people wounded. Two former students committed the massacre, and they reportedly modeled their attack after the Columbine attack, the 20th anniversary of which will fall next month. The weapons used were a .38 caliber revolver, crossbow, bow and arrow, and hatchet.…
Brazil, International Comparisons, International comparisons number of licenses, mass public shootings, New Zealand
18 Feb , 2019
On DC’s WMAL to discuss the Aurora mass public shooting at Henry Pratt Co.
Dr. John Lott was on WMAL’s Mornings on the Mall to discuss the mass public shooting at Henry Pratt Company in Aurora, IL.
https://crimeresearch.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/WMAL_Interview_-_JOHN_LOTT_-_02_18_19.mp3
mass public shootings, media appearance, radio
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Home About CrossFit VSC FAQ's Personal Services Contact Us Timetable
Crossfit Movements & Technique Tips The importance of Sleep in CrossFit.
WODIFY Pause Membership VSC Holiday Survival Guide Nutrition
HomeAbout CrossFit VSCFAQ'sPersonal Services
CrossFit VSC
Contact UsTimetable Fitness News Crossfit Movements & Technique Tips The importance of Sleep in CrossFit. Members WODIFY Pause Membership VSC Holiday Survival Guide Nutrition
See what our members have to say about CrossFit VSC.
The reason why we started CrossFit was because we had been meaning to try it and liked the idea of supporting a new local business!
Since we started at CrossFit VSC we have enjoyed the variety of the workouts, the results, but most of all the coaching and CrossFit VSC community… we’ve met so many lovely people we love hanging out with. This is why we keep coming back!
We have found the programming at CrossFit VSC very different to other training programs, We don’t get boared with CrossFit because the workouts are so varied. The skill set needed is also really broad so there are lots of different areas to work on and improve in. It’s always a challenge but you can also see results.
I didn’t really ever imagine I could do Olympic weightlifting, and get so much stronger that I was! I thought I was fit before I tried CrossFit but the training has taken my fitness, strength and skills to a whole new level.
We love feeling you get after you have completed a WOD with your fellow CrossFitters. The endorphin rush post-workout is awesome! Followed by a stretch and chat with the rest of the team, it’s a great way to train.
The coaches and community have given us the confidence and encouragement to challenge each other by competing, which is not something we’ve done much of in the past.
The coaches are fantastic! Friendly, professional, supportive, fun - and they really know their stuff! There is a lot of science behind the programs we do each day in order to achieve our greatest gains in a safe and efficient way.
The box has heaps of space and air-flow - and the equipment is great, nothing spared!
Training within a community is fantastic - I push myself harder than I ever would training by myself and you learn a lot from other athletes and boost each other’s confidence. It’s also heaps of fun!
Don’t hesitate to come and try CrossFit at CrossFit VSC - whatever your level of fitness or experience. The coaches are excellent, really friendly and professional, and everyone is so welcoming of new members. We feel safe, supported and challenged by the program offered by VSC and continue to love training there, more than a year after starting, because of the fantastic health and fitness gains we’ve made, but even more so because of the VSC community which makes turning up there so much fun!
— Kiri James, 34 Cameron Martyn, 39.
Like all mums and dads... Time is precious and limited. So when it comes time to exercise I want to get in and get out knowing that I’ve worked on every single part of my body. This is where I have found CrossFit to do all that in one class and more. CrossFit has made me fitter, stronger and reaching fitness goals that I never thought possible but most of all it’s given me a better understanding of my body and what I need to do to get the most from it.
I owe all of this to the Coaches at CrossFit VSC. Their wealth of knowledge, patience and passion for CrossFit and the Fitness Industry is a credit to them all. Classes are structured so that everyone feels like they are being looked after. Their encouragement, enthusiasm and guidance make you feel like you belong. It is a credit to the Box.
Yes, there are days when I struggle with getting motivated but when I’m there, I feel the VSC community joins together to make the day of training worth it. I’ve always walked out of a class feeling better than I walked in and to me...That’s what’s important!
— Lisa Piantadosi, 47
Crossfit has helped me become a better version of myself, I have always been into gym, running, cycling, swimming, surf boat rowing but I have managed to always find excuses to get out of doing these activities, where as crossfit I am yet to find the excuse of I don’t want to go.
To anyone thinking of joining crossift, just do it!! I thought about it for to long and wasted too much time considering doing it, get out of your comfort zone and walk into a box and enjoy it.
— Linley Bertacchini, 23
I love CrossFit for it’s constant variety that pushes you both physically and mentally. I love that no matter how proficient you become at certain movements there is always those movements that are your nemesis, but the feeling when you first get it....GOLD!!! I love that CrossFit changes your opinion of what is possible. I love CrossFit VSC for the people, the feeling of community; no matter what time of day you walk into the box you are greeted with smiling faces. VSC is place you can walk into and leave everything else at door, no matter what kind of day you have had or what is going on your life.
There are a lot of misconceptions about CrossFit, ‘the sport is injury prone’ which was part of the reason I was so hesitant to start in the first place. And there are injuries, as with any sport but we have a good coaching staff that assist with managing injuries. ‘You’ll get too big’ I have lost weight since starting and feel better about my body than I have in years. So I say, let the haters hate, they don’t know what they are missing.
My advice to someone thinking of starting CrossFit, DO IT! Don’t listen to the haters, go to a box and try it, you won’t look back. If you want the benefits of exercise without feeling like it is a chore join a box and reap the benefits.
CrossFit has changed me in so many ways. I feel fitter and stronger than ever. I think about food and lifestyle choices differently. I feel more confident and all of what I am taking away from CrossFit I am passing down to my 2 kids who will now ask me ‘Mummy can I have this or does it have too much sugar?
— Kelly Golmayer,
I used to do Les Mills programs a lot which was great at the time. At the same time, I was doing various bootcamps just to see if I could take my fitness to another notch. But it took a lot of effort to balance the two forms of programs throughout the week, not to mention costly as well. CrossFit feels like a combination all of it into a single hour - great balance between cardio, strength and mobility. It’s got a level of intensity and craziness that I like. I feel a little more stronger after each WOD, be it physically or mentally.
A friend encouraged me to try CrossFit and brought me to VSC one fine chilly morning.
I heard all sorts of misconceptions about CrossFit before starting, and the only reasons why I put trying it off (despite suggestions and encouragements from friends) was because it looked like a fad. Everyone was getting into it and raving about it, and I was concerned that the program would be a “show-horse” - all glamor, no substance.
I love CrossFit VSC for the people. Everyone is really friendly and always saying hello how are you, which is great! I tend to like to blend with walls, and therefore it allows me to hone on my social skills (added benefits!). Coaches are great and are really into technique and form, rather then DO IT OR YOU DIE. It’s just an awesome Box to be with and everyone is generally all smiles.
I’ve just crossed my first year “anniversary” since I moved to Melbourne, and CrossFit has helped me, more then changed me. The first year was really tough because of so much uncertainty in regards to general life and stability, but the rough part was from sheer loneliness from a social stand. Going to CrossFit VSC as consistently as I could, became the comfort blanket when self esteem hit an all time low. Having a focus on what I wanted to achieve with each WOD, helped to keep my focus on life goals as well.
— Melissa Quah, 30
I have been training at CrossFit VSC for the past 12 months. In that time I have consistently hit new PB’s. This is due to our strength and conditioning programming which I believe is well thought out and well executed. Adam and Sam do a great job with this. They are very aware of everyone’s individual abilities and are always able to offer scaling options for new people or modified options if you have an injury and nothing is ever a problem.
I love walking into CrossFit VSC as the atmosphere is awesome, everyone is happy to be there, you know everyone by their first name which means there is plenty of encouragement to go harder, lift more or get another rep. There is always a lot of high fives at the end of the workout.
I would recommend CrossFit VSC to anyone who wants to get fit and have some fun doing it. You won’t be sorry you made the CrossFit VSC choice.
— Scott Pascoe, 50.
I started CrossFit because of my father who had been training in CrossFit for multiple years and introduced me to it.
I enjoy training at Crossfit VSC because of the friendly community that has been established over the time it’s been operating. Crossfit VSC provides an environment where there is no pressure on any individual. The members of the box are not in anyway expected to be the best or always perform at the highest level due to the nature of the box being about making new friends and having the most fun possible, which is what appeals to me the most. Crossfit VSC also provides high level training for members if that’s what they want but it does not at all affect the gyms awesome community. At the box the utmost respect and courtesy is always shown from every single box member and staff member which allows any new members to feel relaxed and at home straight away. The box is a family which cares about every member and that’s what makes me return to VSC.
The box has allowed me to make many new friends and has taught me that I can push myself so much harder than I ever thought. Without attending VSC I would not have learnt how capable I really am, mentally and physically. CrossFit VSC helps people find their true potential.
Crossfit allows an individual to experience all possible aspects of fitness in a fun and exciting way. There is always something new to do which means your knowledge is constantly growing.
The feeling I get after completing a WOD with all my fellow Crossfitters is a sense of achievement and pride that I was apart of a Crossfit workout. Every single workout I do helps my confidence grow and build.
Crossfit VSC has taught me to listen to my body and also helped me learn simple and affective techniques to help deal with soreness which is important. VSC has and continues to help me improve my fitness in all areas including aerobically and helps me build my strength.
The coaches at the box couldn’t be better. The coaches are polite, highly competent/professional , well spoken, respectful and determined to make everyones experience at the box the best it could possibly be.
Also the equipment is of a high standard. The box is clean and spacious, and also safe.
I love training in the Crossfit VSC community because of the encouragement that is always shown. It is always different, there is never anything the same. It is always fun and exciting.
— Kyal Wickham, 17
I joined Crossfit VSC in March 2014 after returning to Melbourne from living interstate. Over the past four years I have been a member or visited many Crossfit boxes both in Melbourne and in other states and I can honestly say I have not enjoyed training as much as I have since joining the team at VSC.
From the very first session I knew this was the box for me, the facilities are excellent, there is plenty of equipment and the coaches are friendly, knowledgeable and passionate. Also, just as importantly, the community was so welcoming, the whole feel of the place is more like working out with a group of mates than going to a gym. I now find myself going for the catch up just as much as going for the workout!
The other major appeal of Crossfit VSC is the commitment to class sizes. The ratio of six members to each coach means you can be sure the coaches are on hand watching to ensure you are using correct technique and to give you advice so you get the best out of your lifts. Along with the number of classes each day, this is something I found unique to VSC, many of the other boxes I went to were over crowded, making it difficult to find equipment and get the best out of the session, in the end it turned me off going.
I would recommend VSC to anyone who is tired of their current workout regime and is looking for something challenging and fun while meeting great people and having a lot of laughs!
— Jess Gilmore, 29
I looked into CrossFit because regular gym life was becoming mundane and I needed a new challenge. My sister also does CrossFit back in ‘Merica so it was also a great way to feel connected to her even though we live worlds away.
I love CrossFit because every workout challenges my body and mind. There’s always some point in the workout where you think “why the hell am I here?” But when you finish you feel like a super human. It’s an awesome feeling!
I love CrossFit VSC for the community! Everyone is so warm and welcoming.
Before I started the biggest misconception I heard was that CrossFit is dangerous. The only danger I’ve encountered so far is how addictive it is.
My advice for anyone wanting to start CrossFit is to not be intimidated or nervous about giving it a crack. Just show up, have some fun and give it all you’ve got. You’ll be so amazed at what your body is capable of.
CrossFit has changed me in the way that I used to work out to be a certain weight, or look a certain way. Since starting CrossFit I am more concerned with my overall health and the way my body performs. I’m definitely more concerned with the weight on the bar than the weight on the scale now.
— Megan Johnson 34
I had stumbled across a CrossFit clip on YouTube and told my brother about it. My brother and I were sick of the culture at our gym (a lot of show boating and inflated egos) and wanted to look into different fitness avenues. He started training with Rob Forte at Frankston as I was on the hunt for a gym closer to home. I was doing a job at the end of Arden St and seen people of all ages and all fitness levels running in and out of the Box. I looked up the website and was straight away attracted to the core values of the box, especially what VSC stood for. I rang my best mate (Jarod Bishop) and he quickly agreed to give it a shot with me.
I love that CrossFit has a unique way of exposing strengths and weaknesses. It can test the fittest athlete and rewarding a weaker athlete in a single WOD, both physically and mentally. CrossFit is not only about physical strength but also mental toughness. Physical Gainz is always a selling point, although for me, a sport that builds grit is most rewarding.
Before I started my mates would constantly wind me up about the CrossFit stereotype that we all see on the memes. It’s natural for humans to have a negative approach to things they don’t understand. Everyone I have invited down to the Box has always commented on how tight nit we all look and the amazing culture the box exudes.
If you were to give advice to someone thinking of starting CrossFit what would it be? In Shia LaBouf fashion “Doooo It!! Just Dooooooo IT!!! Don’t let your dreams be just dreams. Yesterday you said tomorrow. Just Do It!” My honest advice would be to check out a few boxes and pick the one you feel most comfortable in. Not all boxes are as lucky as we are to have dedicated coaching staff and programming catered for everyone.
Has CrossFit changed you in anyway? Bro, check out my bicep Gainz. Seriously, it’s not CrossFit that has changed me, it is the culture, the people and the friendships within VSC that has changed me. I come to train because I love everything VSC has to offer. Yes, that means you!
— Lenny Davitt, 33
As a mum getting back into exercise, a conventional gym did not suit my needs.
I wanted somewhere that would provide me with ongoing guidance as I learned new techniques and challenges. They even advised me on my diet.
I wanted to vary my workouts each time I came in.
I needed to be able to adapt my exercise as my body and strength changed.
I also needed somewhere I could go safely bring the kids along while I worked out.
Once I started CrossFit, I wanted to keep going back.
Adam and the team at CrossFit VSC have provided this and so much more
I have met a great bunch of people to workout with, who no matter what level of fitness, are all extremely encouraging and have become good friends.
So if you are a mum like me, I highly recommend CrossFit VSC, this place will change you if you let it.
— Emma Grillo (Mother of two)
I joined CrossFit VSC a year ago and haven’t looked back. I look forward each day to going in and working out with a great team of people that turn up. I feel like I’ve missed out when I don’t go!
I say team because that’s what it feels like.
Everyone works together to achieve their own personal goals with the friendly help from the coaches. I love the fact that I can join in with people of all different fitness levels and we can all get a good workout.
Not only do we work out together we play together as well, BBQ’s, Dinners and the odd drink lead to a lot of fun and stories.
I could babble on for ages about the great environment and coaching Adam, Tania and Sam provide for us but the simple facts are I’ve lost weight, become stronger, feel healthier and gained some great friends. I am proud to be a VSC team member.
— Mim Carville, 41.
I joined Crossfit VSC in September 2014 after I had been given the all clear from my Doctor to return to training after having a baby. Most first time Mums find it quite daunting to return, but from the minute I contacted VSC I knew I had found the right place. From the first time I stepped into the box I felt so welcomed by the coaches and members. I did not feel intimidated to be surrounded by so many fit looking people but infact I felt very encouraged to be there by everyone. The coaches were fantastic in helping to modify my training to best suit my needs at the start while I was still recovering. They also helped me to set weekly goals so I could see regular progress that kept up my motivation. The care and effort that went into helping me get back on track will always stand out in my mind as well as how welcome my daughter was at the box when I did not have a babysitter available. There aren’t many places I have trained in the past that would welcome a baby into the gym so that I could still get my training in.
The Coaches are an extremely passionate, dedicated and knowledgable team who keep our safety and wellbeing as a priority at all times. These coaches have a unique ability to deliver a one hour program that suits all fitness levels while still challenging the more advanced athletes.
VSC also has an amazing community attitude which stands out from any other place I have trained in the past. This is a credit to the coaches as they have been the core foundation in creating this community. Not only do we have these awesome coaches but the box is extremely spacious with large amounts of equipment and more arriving on a regular basis to make our box rival others in Victoria.
VSC is a daily highlight for me and I look forward to returning each day to see just what they have in store for us. The coaches can be very proud of the community they have created and the awesome crossfit box they operate. I am very proud to be a member at Crossfit VSC.
— Samantha Szostak, 34
After a few years of the conventional style training in the gym I started to get bored, and once I started to get bored the training quickly started to go downhill. I saw a few videos of Crossfit online and seen these big guys walking on their hands and lifting some ridiculous weights, which got me hooked right away.
The Strength work we do is most definitely a reason I love CrossFit, although in saying that I do love how every workout is always different. I even love CrossFit for making me kind of enjoy running which is something completely new. But mainly I love Crossfit for the way it changed my attitude to tackle things head on not just in the box but out in everyday living as well.
I Love CrossFit VSC mainly for the community and the people. The coaches are unreal and Adam and Tania do a fantastic job of making everyone feel welcome through excellent coaching and there vibes around the box, before / during / and after a workout. Honestly couldn’t think of a better place to train.
Biggest misconception I heard that everyone who does CrossFit never lasts because it is just to physical and it’s only a matter of time until you get a serious injury. Also you must be a Paleo to do CrossFit.
My advice for someone thinking of starting CrossFit, just jump in and do it. It doesn’t matter where your fitness level are at the moment, it will sky rocket no matter what. You will learn plenty of new movements, new things about yourself and your limitations you put on yourself. You will be doing it in a safe and fun environment where everyone is there to see you push yourself to better yourself.
Crossfit has changed me in a huge way, there is obviously the physical changes I have gone through and it’s been great watching my numbers go up on the barbell. Although the best changes I’ve seen are my energy levels in day to day life go through the roof, it’s not only CrossFit that has changed me but the community feel at VSC, the people and the friends are the ones that really get me there every day.
Like to say a big thanks to Adam and Tania for all the countless hours they put in, and how big of impact they have on so many people, Keep doing what you’re doing.
— Rhys Mathieson, 21
3/313-327 Arden Street, Kensington,
0422 380 505 info@crossfitvsc.com
Sat 8am - 10am
FACTORY 3, 313-327 ARDEN ST, KENSINGTON, MELBOURNE VIC, 3031
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If You Could See What I See
The Tenets of Novus Spiritus
Browne, Sylvia
The renowned psychic presents the twenty-one Gnostic tenets of her church, the Society of Novus Spiritus, relating its principles to her own experiences as a guide for others in the search for spiritual awareness.
This enlightening work by renowned psychic Sylvia Browne contains the Gnostic tenets of her church, the Society of Novus Spiritus, and is a map of our charts regardless of what spiritual path we follow.
It has taken many years of research to put together what at first seems simple tenets to follow, but in going deeper, this book carries within it the very heart of humankind’s search for our own spirituality. Sylvia has also included many details from her own personal journey, which she feels is comparable to the quest that each of us follows to find our own God-center. As we travel this road, we can realize that long-forgotten, yet simple and truthful goal of viewing our life on Earth as our path to God.
Publisher: Carlsbad, Calif. : Hay House, c2006
› Table of contents
Read more reviews of If You Could See What I See at iDreamBooks.com
Society of Novus Spiritus (Campbell, Calif.)
Spiritual Life — Miscellanea
Gnosticism — Miscellanea
Find it at CSM
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Spreadsheet CSV File (4)
data school attainment (4) data collections (4) education (4) educational (4) schools (4) ward (4) Wards (4) key stage 1 (2) development (1) early (1) early years (1) early years foundation stage profile (1) gld (1) good (1) good level of development (1) key stage 2 (1) level (1) reception (1) year 1 (1) Show 16 more...
Try typing: data, school, wards, attainment, data collections, education, educational...
Spreadsheet data school
Key Stage 2 (KS2) data for year 6 primary school pupils who met or exceeded the Expected Standard (EXS+) by School Ward for the period 2016 onwards. The data is by school location, rather than by pupil residence. In determining, which ward the data relates to, a Schools list by wards is available. The data source is the National Consortium of Examination Results (NCER) but the figures come from the Department of Education (DfE). A summa...
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educationeducationalschoolschoolsWardsward
Year 1 (Y1) primary school pupils phonics data who met the Expected Standard for Phonics by School Ward for the period 2013 onwards.The data is by school location, rather than by pupil residence. In determining, which ward the data relates to, a Schools list by wards is available. The data source is the National Consortium of Examination Results (NCER). A summary of Calderdale school performance can be found on the Council website: Sch...
wardeducationschoolschoolsWardseducational
Key Stage 1 (KS1) data for primary school pupils in Year 2 who met or exceeded the Expected Standard (EXS+) by School Ward for the 2016 onwards. The data is by school location, rather than by pupil residence. In determining, which ward the data relates to, a Schools list by wards is available. The data source is the National Consortium of Examination Results (NCER). A summary of Calderdale school performance can be found on the Council ...
Early Years Foundation Stage Profile (EYFSP)
Early Years Foundation Stage Profile (EYFSP) data for reception aged primary school pupils who met Good Level of Development (GLD) Standard by School Ward for the 2013 onwards. The data is by school location, rather than by pupil residence. In determining, which ward the data relates to, a Schools list by wards is available. The data source is the National Consortium of Examination Results (NCER). A summary of Calderdale school performa...
goodeducationschoolschoolsWardsearly years
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The paintings that make this exhibition are windows through which an alternative look at Venice is offered. These exclusively front-facing works present an exaggerated two-dimensional aspect and feature no glimpse of sky, nor do they describe grand façades. Many are paintings upon paintings — their previous brushwork, marks and details evident under the surface — echoing the actual textures of the city’s layered hide. The majority of the pieces aim to reflect what is most fittingly labelled ‘everyday’ Venice.
Historian Fernand Braudel describes a city’s history as ‘often present in a detail’. These oil paintings (many of which are painted upon aged papers, pasted onto board) examine a complex city through a lens that focusses on the smallest elements and components. For it is by way of the minutiae — the fragments of Venice’s skin — that the city’s story might be told and the layers of life revealed (as illustrations of doorplates, shop-signs, and buzzers demonstrate). Bricked-up doors, signs upon signs, nameplates over nameplates, an erosion spreading from the water up, and salt-assaulted bricks: “Venetian houses as we see them today are the product of countless transformations, reflecting the cultural, social and historical mutations of The Serenissima” [Giulia Foscari: Elements of Venice]. What period in the history of Venice are we witnessing now, as Venetians rapidly leave their home city?
Many of these works look down, becoming isolated examinations of the zone in which canal meets building (home). Venice is a reptile struggling to shed: while its upper skin has no chance of renewal, thanks to increasingly inelegant pastings designed principally to direct tourists, its lower parts rely on restless rising water to help loosen an uncomfortable outer crust.
Venice has been (and is being) ill-treated on all fronts. Italy (and Venice, specifically) is regarded the world over as a place of tremendous cultural importance. We have witnessed just how quickly and catastrophically Italian towns — and the myriad architectural pearls they are made of — can ‘disappear’, as in the case of the 2016 earthquake destruction in the centre of the country. Venice is today being destroyed not only by its age and the weight of all it has lived through, upon its plunged wooden-pile foundations, but also by the inundation of visitors, water taxis and giant cruise liners that visit each and every day. On top of that, Venice is also a direct and vulnerable victim of rising sea levels: it is fact that global sea rise is impacting the Adriatic. In February 2017 (mere days after the completion of this exhibition) UNESCO will decide whether or not to place Venice on its list of endangered heritage sites. Then, there’s no turning back.
I am aware that as a visitor, I have little right to comment or speak on behalf of the city’s inhabitants. But as an environmentally conscious artist, I consider it my responsibility to mention the various stages of research that go into each body of work. In a recent Pulitzer Centre podcast, many Venetians who remain claim to feel that their city no longer belongs to them. One describes Venice as a “dying city amongst the waves of the Adriatic”. Venetians are concerned that they will soon end up being seen as an embarrassment in the eyes of the world, if government does not right its wrongs and atone for ignoring (often in the most despicable of ways) these issues, if residents do not stop leaving their homes, if the city succumbs absolutely to its celebrity status.
Street names and directional signs (often vandalised so as to mislead tourists) are sprayed gracelessly to buildings in oversized stencilled font; harsh stabilising chemicals are injected into mortar; anchors are stapled through stone to grab hold of subsiding walls; agitated water eats away at the city’s ground floors. Venice’s skin therefore — the surface that we see — is in a constant state of transformation, and almost all of today’s modifications are negative and irreversible. Contemporary artists can either ignore the reality of the Venice of today and nostalgically recreate a past that no longer exists, or meet it. And though the paintings assembled here inadvertently celebrate a certain brand of crumbling aesthetic charm (the style to which I am most drawn), at their core lies a more serious message. The paintings that form ‘Pełàda’ are observations: they celebrate the joy of the everyday through the most mundane of functional and often overlooked elements. At the same time, many of the pieces — in particular, those that illustrate the waterline — aim to establish themselves within the consciousness of the viewer, jolting the brain and asking for reconsideration as something more than a decorative outer coat of pastel-shaded skin.
Tagged: Art, Exhibition, Edinburgh, Venice, The Scottish Gallery, Scotland, Show, Oils, Environmental Art, New Art, 2017, Walls, Doors, Signs, Textures
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February 8, 2014 By Scott Brinker 27 Comments
Overcrowded.
That was probably the most common remark to my latest marketing technology landscape. Well, aside from more colorful exclamations that decorum prevents me from repeating.
And the truth is that this graphic, even with nearly 1,000 companies represented, was far from complete.
There are hundreds of great companies that weren’t included: AppNexus, AdColony, Addroid, Adestra, Aginity, Ambassador, Amobee, Amplifinity, Avoka, and AWeber are just the ones beginning with the letter “A” that people noted in the comments so far! Mea culpa. I even missed entire categories that begin with “A” such as Affiliate Marketing and Agency Operations.
The marketing technology space is gargantuan. (So rarely have an opportunity to use that word.) There are so many vendors that it’s impossible to wrap your head around all of them. And new ones continue to launch at a prodigious rate.
Hence people feel, quite viscerally, that the space is overcrowded.
The logical conclusion — other things being equal — is that consolidation is inevitable. A few companies will grow to dominate the landscape. The rest will be acquired or killed. Across the history of business software, that narrative of consolidation has played out again and again. So it’s natural to linearly extrapolate the pattern and predict that the same will happen with marketing technology too.
But what if other things weren’t equal?
This is a bit of a long post to make the case for why they’re not, but here’s the outline:
Marketing technology is the first major business market of the cloud computing era.
Large marketing technology vendors must still wrestle with diseconomies of scale.
There will still be some large marketing technology vendors — especially platforms and middleware that simplify integration — but they will also accelerate diversity.
Marketing buyers may actually benefit more from a larger vendor space.
Agencies/marketing service providers will blur the line between software and services.
Context: the 50-year trajectory of exponential hardware and software growth.
While my conclusion — that marketing technology may have a large and diverse field of vendors for the foreseeable future — may contradict conventional wisdom, I think you’ll find that the individual steps along that journey aren’t particularly controversial. At the end, when you connect the dots, what do you conclude?
The first native business market of the cloud computing era
Let’s start with the supply-side. How can so many of these marketing technology ventures afford to build these products, launch them, find customers, and stay in business — even if they’re relatively small? I believe the answer is simple yet profound: marketing technology is the first major business market to be born in the age of cloud computing.
Consider the perfect storm of these five forces:
1. Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) and Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS). Thanks to Amazon Web Services (AWS) and competing offerings from IBM, Microsoft, Rackspace, etc., any entrepreneur in their garage now has state-of-the-art computing infrastructure at their fingertips. It’s cheap — and getting cheaper. It requires no capital commitments. You pay for only what you use, which means you only pay when you have actual customers. You can instantly scale up to support explosions in customer demand. You can replicate across regions around the globe. You can provide redundancy and continuity options that rival almost any private data center.
What would previously have taken millions of dollars, armies of operations experts, and months or years of intensive labor can now be orchestrated by someone on a laptop in a coffee shop before they finish their latte.
2. Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) is easier to buy and sell. There’s no quagmire of physical installations or long lead times to get started. New updates and bug fixes can be instantly deployed. Vendors have direct, real-time visibility into customer usage, which significantly facilitates technical support. Developers gain much deeper insight into how customers are really using their products, which helps them improve them. Scaling up or down is often as easy as turning a dial — without complicated capital budgeting issues — making free trials and low-risk pilot projects feasible.
That’s not to say that SaaS doesn’t have its own challenges. But compared to the overhead of on-premise installations, it’s relatively easier to adopt and operate for a wide range of marketing applications. These simplifications generally make life better for customers — but they also reduce the overhead for vendors, especially if they’re able to provide good self-service options. This disproportionately benefits smaller vendors.
3. Open source software, the API economy, and SaaS for developers. What IaaS did for the economics of hardware infrastructure, this trio had done for software infrastructure. World-class databases (PosgreSQL, MongoDB, MySQL, Cassandra), distributed computing platforms (Hadoop), back-end web application frameworks (Rails, Django), front-end web frameworks (jQuery, Bootstrap, Backbone.js), and more are all available for free. Any developer can use these technologies to inexpensively stand on the shoulders of giants.
On top of that, consider all the APIs that are available free or cheap to developers: Twitter. Facebook. LinkedIn. Google Maps. Google Prediction. MailChimp. Stripe. Recurly. 80legs. Mixpanel. Hundreds more. Affordable SaaS products for running your business such as ZenDesk, GitHub, Google Docs, Trello, Xero, Zenefits, Atlassian, etc. Even small vendors can have amazing capabilities for very little cost.
4. Globally accessible and fluid talent pool. Freelance markets such as oDesk and Elance. Crowdsourcing services such as TopCoder, Innocentive, 99designs, and crowdSPRING. Free communities of knowledge from Stack Overflow to Quora — to anything you can find with a Google search. Regardless of where a new marketing technology vendor is located, they can tap into first-rate skills and knowledge from around the world, pretty much on-demand.
Even when hiring full-time employees, small companies can compete better than ever. SaaS tools, video conferencing, screen sharing, and ubiquitous connectivity enables people to effectively work remotely. Distributed and virtual companies are increasingly feasible. And since big company job security isn’t what it used to be, more people are now willing to work for small companies, where they can make a larger impact and have greater freedom.
5. Globally accessible customer pool in a merit-based, inbound world. As marketers, we already know this. You don’t need huge ad budgets or large sales teams. You need a great product, promoted with great content marketing and engaging digital touchpoints. You need a voice in social media that resonates and connects. Yes, you should advertise and, yes, you should have people doing sales. But you can target those efforts towards the right prospects with incredible precision now — reaching the right people at a fraction of the scale previously required. You’re virtually unconstrained by geography. You almost certainly have no distributors or dealers acting as gatekeepers. Imagination, talent, passion, daring, perseverance — these are the most valuable assets in modern marketing, and they’re not a function of size.
Each of these forces is revolutionary unto itself. But together, they’re extraordinary. Let’s not take this for granted. Step back and appreciate just how dramatically “the cloud” has changed the dynamics of the software industry. This is a very, very different world than the software markets of the last century.
The biggest difference: the scale required to be a “successful” software company has shrunk by two or three orders of magnitude. You don’t have to become a billion dollar company to win. For many kinds of products, you can be a $10 million company that is profitable and sustainable, with loyal, happy customers and a passionate team that loves their work.
Companies like 37signals — now known simply as Basecamp — are the prototype for this new kind of software venture. While their revenue is surely much greater than $10 million, they’re just 43 people at the time of this writing. Instead of a hindrance, that’s part of their secret sauce. Except, it’s not so secret: they’ve shared it in their immensely popular books: Getting Real (free!), Rework, and Remote.
Large vendors must still wrestle with diseconomies of scale
Now, let’s consider the other end of the vendor spectrum.
Large companies have both economies and diseconomies of scale. As long as the former outweigh the latter, size is an advantage. But the cloud has diminished some economies of scale in software ventures, while the diseconomies remain — and, arguably, have been accentuated by the accelerating pace of change and the explosion of direct feedback loops among customers in a cloud-connected world.
What diseconomies? Slower reaction to change. More management layers, as overhead and a drag on responsiveness. More complications in coordination. Front-line employees with less power to affect individual customer outcomes. New business ideas must cross a higher NPV threshold. More entrenched interests with the innovator’s dilemma. Legal departments that dampen or slow initiatives. These are clichés, but they’re clichés for a reason.
There are also two specific diseconomies that challenge large marketing technology vendors — particularly those pursuing “integrated consolidation” strategies:
Engineering Complexity: As a code base gets larger and more intertwined, it becomes more difficult to update and extend, especially with backwards-compatibility constraints. It’s hard to manage all the interaction effects, keep up with the rapid changes in the broader digital marketing ecosystem, and still deliver something usable by regular people. Hello, entropy.
Marketing Complexity: While the “we do everything” pitch should simplify marketing, it only does so to a point. When people are evaluating specific capabilities, questioning how you stack up to alternatives and substitutes, and — most importantly — learning how to use those capabilities to produce brilliant marketing, a massive footprint can be unwieldy. It can be harder for people to find what they want on your website. Your content marketing and social media marketing “voice” can get diluted. Your sales and support people can have a difficult time representing the many facets of your portfolio.
This doesn’t mean that big marketing technology companies are infeasible. But I do believe they’re harder to manage successfully than other large software businesses were in the past. It’s a different environment. Those who pull it off deserve tremendous admiration.
Of course, there are still advantages of size.
One is staying power. Although, with high churn among the Fortune 500 and the fact that individual products in their portfolios can still fall behind or be discontinued, size is not a long-term guarantee. Product sustainability depends on other variables too.
A more questionable advantage is unification. The proposition that if you buy everything from one vendor, and it’s all interconnected out of the box (more or less), is a benefit. But it can also lead to vendor lock-in. The more tightly coupled everything is, the harder it can be to substitute or extend individual components. Switching costs can become daunting. This may be a Faustian bargain worth making, but we should acknowledge that there are non-trivial trade-offs involved.
However, the best advantage is being able to leverage size for true network effects.
Platforms and middleware: the sweet spot for large vendors
I believe there are four classes of products on the marketing technology landscape that will benefit most from size and will undergo significant consolidation in the years ahead:
Marketing backbone platforms
Marketing middleware
Internet (the digital environment)
The one that’s different from the others is infrastructure, which still benefits from physical economies of scale. Prices continue to be driven down here: the biggest provider becomes the lowest-cost provider, a reinforcing feedback loop. See Amazon Web Services.
The dynamics of the broader Internet — services like Google, Facebook, LinkedIn, etc. — are really beyond the scope of this article. But it’s worth noting that some of the most successful companies there have harnessed network effects. Why are you on LinkedIn? Well, because everyone else is on LinkedIn too.
Network effects are also the key to creating giant platform and middleware companies in the marketing space. But they must be genuine platforms in the sense that they’re open environments that promote third-party developers to build on their foundations.
This offers them two huge advantages:
First, it’s a judo move on the challenge of accelerating change. Platform providers don’t have to keep up with every new feature, tactic, and technology out in the broader marketing world — which is evolving at a blinding pace. They can let their ecosystems of third-party developers address the far majority of these innovations, competing with each other in a true evolutionary fashion. They are inherently adaptive systems.
Second, the dynamics of being a “dominant exchange” are a reinforcing feedback loop. The more third-party applications you support, the more attractive you are to customers, which in turn attracts more third-party developers, and so on. Once that engine is in motion, it’s immensely powerful — and becomes highly defensible against new platform contenders. Think of the lock Windows had on the desktop for two decades. Or the lock iOS and Android have in the mobile space today.
Platforms almost have to become big companies, because once critical mass is established in third-party ecosystems, there can only be so many platforms that harness this dynamic. Unless there is an open industry standard for integration — which we don’t have here, yet — third-parties can only afford to maintain so many platform-specific integrations. It may not be a pure winner-take-all market, but there will be a limited number of winners.
The companies who are best poised to be these dominant platforms generally have one of two pillars as their foundation (and most are working to have both):
Customer data — a central repository of unified customer profiles
Content data — a central repository of “content” (broadly defined)
What makes them platforms, however, is that they allow other marketing applications to tap into their data repositories — both contributing to and reading from them — through open APIs. They enable a whole range of customer-facing marketing experiences and back-office marketing analytics to easily plug into their backbone.
But here’s the punchline: platform consolidation will actually accelerate marketing software diversification. There will be more net new companies (albeit fewer platforms).
Today, the marketing technology industry is primarily held back by the technical challenges of integrating different components and dealing with disparate data silos — most painfully, fragmented customer data silos. But once there are a manageable number of platforms, providing data centralization, with well-defined interfaces for third-party applications, the biggest barriers to deploying new marketing applications will be torn down.
A small number of platforms — each competing to provide a better, richer environment for third-party applications — will catalyze an explosion of new marketing software on top of them. The AppExchange (2,160 apps) for Salesforce.com and the Plugin Directory (29,282 plugins) for WordPress are forerunners of this future.
Marketing buyers can benefit from a large vendor landscape
We’ve discussed the supply-side rationale for a large marketing technology landscape, but what about the demand-side?
Let’s start with what really matters to marketers. Simply put: they want to reach the largest number of customers, deliver amazing experiences to them, differentiate their brand, and do that as cost-effectively as possible. Marketing technology has become important to them — but only because it’s a means to that end.
The biggest downside marketers claim of a large vendor landscape is “confusion.” How do you sort out all of these different technologies and pick the right ones for your company? But what if there isn’t just one perfectly right set, but rather many, many different products that would satisfice? As long as the marketer chooses a set that enables them to achieve their objectives, does it matter if many other technologies were never even considered?
I’ll dare to claim that it doesn’t.
At least it doesn’t matter functionally. Psychological pressure rises with the paradox of choice — but we face that in many contexts beyond marketing technology these days.
Sure, there are concerns in picking vendors that go beyond their functional capabilities today. Will a vendor continue to exist and evolve over the years ahead? If they don’t, or if a marketer’s needs diverge with the vendor’s capabilities, what will the switching costs be? However, while that uncertainty may be reduced in a smaller landscape, it can never be eliminated — even in a highly consolidated oligopoly (“too big to fail” organizations aren’t). There are better ways to mitigate those risks, which we’ll discuss momentarily.
But the upside for marketers of this large vendor landscape is tremendous. Competition among all these companies drives new innovation, better pricing, and more specialized solutions that are better tailored to a marketer’s needs. Making choices may be hard, but having choices is a powerful advantage.
After “confusion,” the next two biggest concerns that marketers express about dealing with many different marketing technology vendors are:
Integration challenges — how do we make this work with everything else we have?
Vendor risk — what happens if this vendor goes away or we diverge in the future?
Both of these concerns can be significantly reduced if you choose open platforms for key systems that are actively growing their third-party ecosystems.
Integration challenges are dramatically reduced if platform vendors and third-party applications have already established out-of-the-box interfaces for connecting to each other. As for vendor risk, if you evaluate your backbone platforms on their core capabilities and the strength of their third-party programs, you reduce risk in three ways:
First, you don’t have to make sure that your platforms do everything in the ever-evolving marketing landscape and will keep pace with all the changes in the broader marketing world — through their third-party ecosystem, you’ll always have lots of options.
Second, due to the positive reinforcement of a “dominant exchange,” a platform provider with a healthy third-party ecosystem is probably more likely to be sustainable for the long run.
Third, the third-party applications that you adopt may still have some volatility, but your risk there is now limited. Your important data is stored in your underlying platform(s). If a third-party vendor doesn’t work out, you can swap them out with something else. (This also makes it easier to bet on new, experimental vendors as part of an innovation program.)
In finance, such a strategy would be called maximizing optionality. In engineering, it would be called a loosely-coupled architecture. It’s an approach to designing your organization’s marketing technology stack that is highly robust to change — and lets you achieve best of breed capabilities that are tailored to your business.
While open platform ecosystems in marketing are still relatively young today, they’re gaining momentum. (The advantage of a reinforcing feedback loop.) Growing marketing middleware products, such as customer data platforms, tag management, and rapidly expanding “cloud connector” solutions are further accelerating the viability of these kinds of architectures.
The impact of this: for a marketing technology buyer, an open platform “structure” makes a large and diverse vendor landscape a benefit more than a drawback.
Agencies and MSPs will blur the line between software and services
While the future of agencies and marketing service providers is definitely beyond the scope of this article, there is one aspect of their evolution that is highly relevant to this discussion: agencies and marketing service providers will increasingly build software for their clients.
This already happens today. Agencies build sophisticated web sites that include custom software extensions programmed in Javascript, PHP, Ruby on Rails. They build mobile apps and Facebook apps. They have developers and “creative technologists” on staff. Many have written their own software applications for specialized campaign management, workflow coordination, marketing analytics, social games and contests, and more that are used across multiple clients.
For a growing number of service providers, software capabilities are now an integral part of their value proposition.
Given that the world becomes more digital by the day, that marketing is increasingly about delivering impactful customer experiences across digital touchpoints, and that everything digital is powered by software, software is only going to become more central to these businesses.
Agencies that aren’t fluent with software are going to be a dying breed.
At the same time, many “pure” marketing software vendors are increasingly expanding their service offerings — helping their customers leverage their technologies to execute amazing marketing. This blurs the line between software companies and service providers.
There are three important points to take from this:
First, the number of companies who offer software to marketers will grow dramatically. Many of them will do so under the banner of being a service provider, but when you look at what’s actually happening at the technical level, they’re providing software.
Second, while integration challenges are hurdles to this today, the consolidation of open platforms and middleware will make this easier. Agencies and marketing service providers will become, by far, the largest cluster of third-party developers in these ecosystems.
Three, the blending of software into creative will demonstrate why marketing software will never consolidate down to a handful of big companies. The most exciting kinds of marketing software ahead will be invented to deliver unique and spectacular customer experiences. That will always be an evergreen opportunity.
Note that today, you don’t hear marketers rant “there are too many agencies in the world!” — at least nowhere near to the degree that the large marketing technology landscape disturbs them. The blending of these two worlds will, I believe, help marketers become more comfortable, relatively quickly, with the explosion of software choices.
We must simply recognize that our image of “a software company” from 10 years ago is a relatively narrow definition that doesn’t reflect the future.
The 50-year growth trajectory of hardware and software
To conclude, let’s step back and look at the broader context. As the number of hardware devices operating in the world has grown exponentially over the past 50 years, the number of software applications available has grown at a similar pace too:
In the days of mainframes and minicomputers, there were only a handful of software vendors (usually the same ones selling the hardware). With the PC revolution, there was an explosion of stand-alone software companies — including, with Microsoft, the first great example of a “dominant exchange” with a core platform that gave birth to a massive third-party developer ecosystem.
The Web brought another exponential jump in the amount of “software” applications out — if we acknowledge that every web service out there is actually software. Mobile devices triggered another wave of software expansion: both the Apple and Google app stores now offer millions of apps. And it’s easy to see that the Internet of Things will inspire yet another surge of software growth too.
This is what Marc Andreessen meant when he said that software is eating the world.
Software is going to continue to power more and more things in our lives. And not only will marketing use software as tools in its own work — marketing will increasingly be “baked in” to other software applications. We already see this with freemium web and mobile products today. The growth hacker movement was launched this way.
Like it or not, marketing is going to have to deal with a lot more software ahead. (This is why the career prospects for chief marketing technologist roles are very bright.)
Hey, I understand the resistance to this. It’s a huge change, and change is hard.
I also appreciate the motivation of IT departments to limit the number of hardware and software variables in their environment. But the track record of IT successfully resisting the natural expansion of technology — you don’t need a PC, you don’t need Web access, you don’t need cloud apps, you don’t need your own smartphone, you don’t need a tablet, etc. — is sobering. Every single one of those ramparts has been breached.
That’s why I believe that “other things aren’t equal” — and that the number of marketing technology vendors in the world will never again drop below 1,000 in my lifetime.
Yes, there will be structural changes to the landscape. There will be major consolidations at the platform and middleware layer. The definition of what is “software” will be blurred. And many individual companies will come and go. But the genie of marketing software is out of the bottle, and it’s not going back in.
Agree? Disagree? Share your comments and let’s discuss.
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Grant Grigorian (@GrantG9) says:
Love the post – thanks for the thoughtful followup to the info-graphic.
But why is this happening in Marketing specifically? The technology landscape is the same in other business functions (sales, support, etc).
I agree that software is eating the world, but why is starting with marketing? Is it because marketing people are more likely to be early adopters? If so, why?
strategyaudit says:
This is a fantastic post, it articulates what has been happening around us, that we were aware of, had used, but had not considerred in such an organised way.
Scott Brinker says:
Thank you. I wasn’t sure if 4,000 words was tremendous overkill or failed to do enough justice to these tremendous forces that are colliding — glad you found it helpful!
Thanks, Grant. “Why marketing?” is a great question, probably deserving of its own 4,000 word post.
But I think the short version is a combination of (a) the Internet thoroughly disrupted traditional marketing, opening up a lot of white space for new ventures; (b) the digital world created an explosion of channels and touchpoints for marketers, each with their own characteristics, opening many opportunities for different kinds of software; and (c) marketers are driven more by differentiation than standardization, motivating more interest in new innovations.
Of course, I also mostly pay attention to marketing, so this post was written through my biased lens on the world. I’d love to hear from people with more domain expertise than me in other functions and professions.
Dan Freeman (@TheeDanFreeman) says:
This article does an excellent job explaining the proliferation of marketing technologies from an IT perspective—particularly the benefits of SaaS platforms for both creators/entrepreneurs and buyers of software. But you ask a very important question; Why Marketing?– which Scott answers briefly…and I would like to expand on just a bit.
Advertising, and more generally Marketing, has been in the throes of transformation for decades, or what the Economist Joseph Schumpeter called ‘creative destruction’. To understand it, think of marketing way back…before Social Media, before Google, even before email and the Internet. Content was created by a few large ad agencies (think Don Draper) and pushed to consumers. Of course we still have ad agencies doing big TV campaigns but that’s far from the full story today. Google (and others, of course) have transformed marketing from what was largely a top down, indiscriminate, push of content from a few companies…to a much more efficient, bottom up, pull from 100s of millions of consumers via Internet search. That’s how Google has gone from Start-up in 1998 to a $400 billion (last I checked) company 16 years later. But it’s more than just Google and the search engine.
Today, that vast bulk of content is created, bottom-up, through websites, blogs, and social platforms. Today (again, last I checked) there were over 640 million websites, 40 million WordPress blogs (just 1 of many blogging platforms), 150 billion emails sent per day, 500 million daily Tweets, and 4.5 BILLION Facebook Likes—the ‘Like’ is the ultimate in abbreviated content.
Add to the proliferation of content, the exponential growth in digital interactions, and now marketing has become more data intensive than Wall Street—hence the acquisition of marketing tech firms by tech giants like IBM, Oracle, Microsoft and Adobe.
The transformation of marketing is represented both by meteoric rise in content and the ability of marketers to interact with that content. The primary challenge of marketing today—and the focus of many of today’s marketing technology firms—is managing the proliferation of content and interactions, and harnessing this data to put relevant content in the hands of customers and prospects so that products can sell themselves, or, in the case of B2B, at least do the bulk of the selling work before a hand-off to sales people is made.
Hope this give some additional insight into the ‘why marketing’ question.
Adriaan Bloem (@adriaanbloem) says:
To take one of the boxes out of your landscape, “Web Site / WCM / WEM”: that one alone had 2000+ products ten years ago. And for the past fifteen years, everyone’s been predicting “consolidation”. And even though many have been acquired or merged, we probably have 3000+ by now.
And that’s just one square.
And each square, when you look at the logos in it, probably would fit in or overlap with multiple other squares. Many of the products would fit in multiple squares. nPario is built on Hadoop. SilverPop is maybe best known for email marketing. Limelight would argue they do Digital Asset Management (though they don’t do WCM anymore, since they’ve sold Clickability last month). Jive used to OEM Docverse before it was acquired by Google. Those are just the first things that came to mind. I could go on for ages. Out of this overview, there’s at least two dozen or so I currently work with.
Each square is a universe of its own.
The “consolidation” part is the wishful thinking that creeps up while being overwhelmed by this huge landscape. The reality, of course, is that it will keep getting more complex and more diffuse as we go along. That’s what makes this exciting. There’s no definite status quo to analyse and neatly categorise in an encyclopaedia of marketing tools. It’ll be different tomorrow.
But let’s not forget the main reason your overview is impossible to get completed. It’s because you take a pretty broad view of what “marketing technology” is. The infographic shows suites, tools, infrastructural components, service providers, multinational software companies…
Maybe the consolidation needs to be more in narrowing down the map… because the market is only going to get more complex. Even if you do narrow the scope each month, the chart could remain the same size 😉
Then again, every time I think I should really narrow down my own interests to a subsection of what’s going on, I branch out again. Collections like these are useful to discover options and make new connections.
Consolidation is the wrong thing to wish for. The lines between services and software are blurring: software is just a ready-made set of rules for you to use. The further we master the technology, the easier it gets to create more of it. And the more diverse it gets.
And the more interesting it gets to keep track of what are the best options available, and in which combinations 🙂
Thanks, Adriaan — it sounds like we’re picturing the same thing.
The WCM/WEM category is a great example, for many of the reasons you listed above. However, I’d also point out that it demonstrates that this future is not incompatible with having big marketing technology companies. There are some very big companies with WCM/WEM offerings. There are also a boatload of smaller and mid-size companies there too.
I suspect the network effects of platforming — which haven’t really affected the WCM/WEM category yet, but I believe will over the next few years — may promote more consolidation. I think we’ll see a “fat tail” of the dominant platforms and maybe a “long tail” of many other specialists.
Of course, as described above, I also believe that such open platform consolidation will trigger even more third-party software development that will be better able to plug in to those backbone environments. Category lines there will be, I imagine, even harder to define than they are today.
Either way though, it’s going to be a fascinating future for marketing technology!
Joe Rizzo (@TheMAAlert) says:
Charles H. Duell, Commissioner of US patent office in 1899 said “everything that can be invented has been invented.”
Scott’s right: don’t be another Commissioner Duell. Even in B2B we haven’t even scratched the surface.
Awesome quote, Joe. Thank you!
You sir, are a genius! Marketing is going to get ridiculous. It’s the one field where people are always looking for ways to differentiate themselves, and different technological combinations seems to what people are after.
Thanks, Steve — glad to hear this resonates with you.
That being said, I do think it’s important for us to keep in mind that all these amazing technological combinations are still just a means to an end. As an industry, we’ll have to constantly work to maintain the balance between taking advantage of the technology but not letting it take advantage of us.
I agree, it’s almost like being a kid in a candy store sometimes…and there’s different flavours to try all the time.
Melinda Byerley (@MJB_SF) says:
Great, challenging thinking in this article. Our research shows well over 1000 vendors in the CRM, email, social media management, A/B Testing, and Web Analytics spaces ALONE. I spent over 10 years buying software from $250k ecommerce platforms to tiny free trial SaaS platforms. Each time I did, I knew I was on the losing side of a pretty bad asymmetrical information problem. Each time, I would be irritated that I knew more about the burrito joint I was going to try for lunch than I did about the software that I was staking my company or my job on.
That’s why I founded Vendorsi. We’re tackling this problem head on with the goal to level the playing field for buyers, especially those in small companies and startups who don’t have a $10,000 budget to spend on huge research firm. Time spent on a 30 day trial for a piece of software that doesn’t work isn’t free. And making sense of those massive sound alike features lists isn’t free either. It’s not uncommon for startup founders to spend 8-12 hours or more just researching a “30 day free trial.”
We steadfastly do not agree that “satisficing” is appropriate for most businesses when it comes to choosing software. But we do agree that Satisificing is about all anyone with a small budget can do right right now given the current state of affairs. We’re changing that, and we’d love to talk more with anyone who’s interested.
CEO and Co Founder
Vendorsi.com
Thanks, Melinda.
I’m glad to hear that this aligns with your perspective — indeed, your business is built around the opportunity to make such a large landscape more navigable for marketers. I wish you the best of success!
We may not agree on “satisficing.” I know the word doesn’t sound appealing — it sounds like you’re settling for something. But as a technical term, I do believe that it accurately describes the state of the world. Not just in marketing technology either. There is such an explosion of choice out there in every facet of our lives that a quest for the “perfect” anything seems inherently Quixotic.
That being said, I do believe that there’s a wide, wide range of possible outcomes along a satisficing curve — some will objectively be much better than others — so I think your value proposition at Vendorsi is in no way diminished by that the fact that, even if perfect optimization is unattainable, asymptotically approaching that is something to strive for!
Hi Scott, thanks for the reply. Yes–definitely agree that asymptotically approaching perfection is what we strive for. In the end there is no such thing as perfection. We can help buyers use technology to sift through the rapidly growing set of data out there, and focus their time on evaluating that short list and what the real trade offs are vs trying to figure out what each vendor really means with their marketing speak. I say that kindly as a former CMO myself. 🙂
As an aside, vendors will see less churn when buyers are more closely matched the first time. It’s sort of like getting married to someone you only went on one date with–when things get hard, you’re more likely to wonder what your other options might be.
Toby Murdock says:
Wow Scott. I think that this was just a fabulous post.
The critical piece is that the convention notions around economies of scale no longer apply. And I think you are so right.
I’d expand a bit more about your “Unification” point. The critical premise used to be that software all needed to work well with its related components and that couldn’t happen unless one vendor bought all of those up and stitched them together. In a cloud, API world, however, that no longer applies.
As much as this interests me as a member of the industry you analyze, I’m also fascinated by how this might apply more broadly. I think that many of the trends you mention around SaaS foretell dynamics that will go into most industries. Much of what we believe around the advantages of scale may soon no longer apply.
Thank you, Toby — I’m really happy to hear that this jives with your intuition too.
Great point the relationship between the growing API economy and “unification.” I think it’s interesting to note that some of the larger acquisitions in the marketing technology space over the past couple of years haven’t tried to tightly integrate different components. Keeping the products in their portfolios loosely-coupled and, to some degree, even operating as stand-alone brands, definitely seems like it has advantages.
I’d love to learn more about the changes these forces are triggering in industries beyond marketing. It does feel like these are seismic shifts in the future of business.
There’s another dimension here that exit paths for software businesses may evaporate (if there’s no longer a rationale for the big vendors to buy up new technologies).
But it’s a Monday and I don’t know if I’m up to thinking about that . . .
Maybe. I’ve got a few thoughts on that, which I should write up in a follow-on post. But four possibilities come to mind:
1. Software that merges into the platform layer will be immensely valuable to the big platform companies.
2. Big companies can still benefit by having strong portfolios of loosely-coupled marketing applications.
3. In particularly hot categories within marketing experiences and marketing operations, there will still be opportunity for relatively big leaders (even if they face an ongoing long tail of competition).
4. As long as there is real value being delivered across this new environment — I believe there will be tremendous value — I suspect that other mechanisms for liquidity may arise.
Matt Trifiro (@mtrifiro) says:
I don’t want consolidation. I want interoperability. I want choice. I want “one-click” install, so I can easily try and buy new marketing technologies.
I really like what Segment.io is doing to bring order to some of this via a middleware tool that makes it easy to add new services. I would like to see the AppStore equivalent for marketing tools. This may need to come from one of the major vendors, such as Salesforce, which has done just that for CRM via their AppExchange.
Yes! Yes! And yes!
The biggest technical pain at this point is interoperability. The good news is that there’s tremendous development resources going into addressing that pain. As a set of dominant platforms and middleware products emerge from the primordial soup, this pain will be significantly reduced and the power of choice will be a lot more enjoyable.
Segment.io is a great example of marketing middleware.
JP Hesnan says:
Scott Brinker This is by far the best delivered article on what is now a very fragmented industry and will be for many years to come. I have read too many white papers that each only hit the nail on the head in one area. You have corralled the dynamics of this industries past, present and future. Excellent, excellent job.
Thanks, JP — glad to hear that this was helpful for you!
Sam Melnick (@SamMelnick) says:
Thought provoking post as always!
Taking it from a different angle: Whether the number is 1,000, 10,000, or 100,000 marketing sw vendors isn’t it just as important to hone into those vendors that are working towards the critical mass where we can confidently say their business is sustainable for the foreseeable future? Would be interesting to see which of the marketing vendors have revenues of $10M, $50M, $100M, $500M, $1B (very few I imagine directly from their marketing tech businesses.) Certainly _one_ data point that would help understand where the momentum is within the industry.
Great piece – it really outlines the struggles marketers are going through- and will continue to go through. Has anyone viewed Gartner’s Digital Marketing Transit Map? This is a free version (there’s an interactive version for subscribers to the service), but it’s a very compelling map outlining the vendors in the space: http://www.gartner.com/technology/research/digital-marketing/transit-map.jsp
Jordie van Rijn (@jvanrijn) says:
Max Bennett does a good job of explaining that the application layer will most likely be where the innovations will be coming from. http://www.emailvendorselection.com/application-layer-email-marketing-innovation-ecommerce/
R.J. Lewis says:
Another missing latter A company, Ad-Juster – online advertising discrepancy management
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Watch and Listen: Andrew Gounardes Takes a Second Shot at Unseating GOP Senator
By Jarrett Murphy | March 21, 2018
More on BROOKLYN BUREAU
Subscribe to BROOKLYN BUREAU
Andrew Gounardes, Democrat for the State Senate
Andrew Gounardes has been chasing Republican State Sen. Martin Golden for a long time.
In 2002, while a student at Fort Hamilton High School, Gounardes worked on the campaign of Democrat Vincent Gentile, whom Golden defeated to assume the Senate seat he has held ever since. In the seven elections since them, Golden has been unopposed four times. On two other occasions, Golden bested Democrats by a 2:1 margin—even though Democrats hold a better than 2:1 registration advantage in the 22nd district, which includes the neighborhoods of Bay Ridge, Dyker Heights, Bensonhurst, Marine Park, Gerritsen Beach, Gravesend and parts of Sheepshead Bay, Borough Park and Midwood. The only time Democrats nabbed more than 40 percent of the vote against Golden was in 2012, when a 26-year-old Gounardes fell a substantial 10,000 votes shy of victory.
Now, Gounardes, whose day job is as general counsel and special adviser to Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams, is trying again. In a year when control of the Senate is up for grabs, the stakes of the race are high. But Gounardes’s path is complicated by the presence of Ross Barkan, a journalist and first-time candidate, in the race for the Democratic nomination.
Gounardes joined us on Tuesday on 112BK, the daily news and culture television show and podcast from BRIC. Watch or hear our interview below.
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OffsetMyFlight - A modest proposal for a mandatory air travel carbon tax in ticket prices
9 Jul 2006 2 minute read
Without question, one of the worst things for the environment is air travel.
Air travel is the world’s fastest growing source of greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide, which cause climate change. Globally the world’s 16,000 commercial jet aircraft generate more than 700 million tonnes of carbon dioxide (CO2), the world’s major greenhouse gas, per year. Indeed aviation generates nearly as much CO2 annually as that from all human activities in Africa. One person flying a return trip between London and New York generates between 1.5 and 2 tonnes of CO2.
The huge increase in aircraft pollution is largely due to the rapid growth in air traffic which has been expanding at nearly two and half times average economic growth rates since 1960. It is expected the number of people flying will virtually double over the next 15 years. This means increasing airport capacity, more flights, more pollution and increasingly crowded airspace. from Airport Watch
Despite my attempts to live a low footprint lifestyle, my travel jonezing and unavoidable need to travel for business across oceans and even just domestically with Canada being the second largest landmass in a timely manner (train would take 4 days and appears to be scheduled on the fortnight not daily) make it impossible to avoid here in Canada (though definitely not in Europe).
Personally, I’ve started donating to carbon offset programs whenever I fly though flying out here on the western edge of civilization has been a lot less frequent than in other years. Carbon offset is cheap, makes me feel a whole lot better about flying and, well… let’s face it, should be included in the price of tickets if we want to count the true economic and ecological costs of flying.
So, why not just do it ? Hell, we already pay a fortune for air travel anyway, so why not just add a nominal carbon tax on flights which would be donated directly to carbon offset programs ? Judging from the likes of calculators like Carbon Care the price is extremely modest (£16/$32 CDN for a return flight between Vancouver and London for example).
If not legislatively, perhaps even getting companies to give people the option to voluntarily pay for it ? For a range of websites, it would be just as easy as that stupid “do you want added insurance ?” question.
Sounds like a campaign to me… OffsetMyFlight.org anyone? (UnCO2Air maybe?)
green politics econ
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Steel Gardens of Anid-Sta Chapter 5. A Doctor Awakens
Chapter 5. A Doctor Awakens
A smaller of the bots raced up to the exploring humans as they continued their tour of New Town.
The name made Fae and Amsi laugh, the New Town, Old Town dynamic was often used.
“You’d think if they had a bot that felt it could fly, they would have more imagination for place names.”
“I noticed that. They numbered and did not name craters, there are no towns, really, until we asked.”
Thea flitted close, listening to the exchange.
“Bots do not have the drive to gather when it is dark. Machines do not care if the outside world is light or dark, it is all the same to us, there are no predators on bots.”
“That.” Amsi paused and looked at Fae. “Did you know of any predators?”
“Um. This is the first time I’ve been outside, I never thought to ask.”
“When humans went into the hibernation chambers, the selected zoological genome of every living creature was also preserved, both in DNA samples and in living samples, enough to repopulate the known species if the need arose.”
Fae blinked with the unasked question. *Repopulate*?
“The caution expressed by the human director of zoological preservation we discovered was unfounded.”
“So we have wildlife that wanders around?”
“Often, in town, in the forests, many were just released from the zoos to fend for themselves and they have done well in the time without humans.” Thea pointed to some tracks in the soil.
“This is a hoofed animal, but it is huge.”
“Equines and camelids have evolved to larger sizes because of the higher oxygen levels and the amount of foods available. Nano and microbots have allowed growth without injury, but have not inhibited evolution.” Beekan Luc rode up on a large moth-like ride, barely in control. “This moth design needs modification. No one has worked well for rides, although the can life ten-times their weight.”
“I thought it was a dragon for a moment.” Amsi laughed. “You have it stretched out front-to-back it doesn’t really look like a moth, if you are trying to copy nature.”
“A what? A dragon? What is that?” He shook his head, nearly falling off the oddly shaped moth. “May I introduce myself, I am Beekan Luc, inventor and designer. You can call me Luc. Now about dragons?”
“Mythical creature, you may be better designing a Pegasus kind of creature. They look like winged horses.” Fae suggested to the inventor bot.
“I don’t ever recall seeing DNA of either one. Mythical you say? I can redesign from descriptions, I’ll look in the historical database from human stories. Thank you.” Turning to Thea “Oh! I nearly forgot. Doctor Ofir wants you to return with the humans, the next one is awake.”
“Thank you, Luc.”
Unsteadily, the inventor flew off, yelling at the unstable moth, threatening to recycle it into a floor-tile.
In the recovery room, Doctor Igari Shimona, MD, spoke in deep conversation with the small bot that claimed to be a doctor.
Doctor Ofir Bhabel repeated that such a long time had passed, that Doctor Shimona was not the first awakened because the Core System felt there was a danger, thus selected humans, chosen for reanimation that were more appropriate.
“I still cannot believe that we have been in stasis for longer than the history of humankind prior to our preservation.” He pulled at his lower lip. “Has any communication from Earth ever been received?”
“Doctor Shimona?” Amsi’s voice was louder than he expected in the small recovery room.
“Yes?” The smile widened. It was the first two humans he had seen since he awoke.
“I am Amsi Itt-Tejo and this is engineer Fae MacLir. Welcome to what seems to be paradise.” He held out his hand.
“Thank you.” He took the hand. “Igari Shimona, director of Federal Medical University. Although I don’t imagine there are many classes at the moment.”
Fae shook his hand.
“You’re correct. But there will be. We have thousands of people to wake up and some to save.” Fae smiled.
Amsi nodded.
“There have been some system failures, we have people who have lost a large margin of their anti-icing fluids, the Core System…”
“Excuse me, Core System?”
“The main computer area. There is no single computer anymore, the computers operate independent from each other and have evolved AI beyond anything programmed by us humans.”
“I have found that out by arguing with Doctor Bhabel here.
“Ahem. Doctor Ofir.” A glittering eye showed the offense that the human doctor apologized for.
“The part that amazes me of this all is the lack of wear on everything, anything.” Doctor Shimona looked around. “Nothing is rubbed off, scratched or rusted.
“You will learn that nanobots are highly effective.” A red colored minibot, taller than most, rode in on what looked like a sparrow-hawk. “Doctor Ofir, I expected a report by the time humans awakened.”
“Officially, they are not. These are the evaluators that decide whether the rest will be so treated or they will return back to hibernation. Core System has determined the first two, the third, Doctor Shimona here, just awakened and is proving to be fully functional. There is no report to file yet.”
“Hm.” Red-bot sounded unconvinced. “Humans. Greetings. I am Ireama Bitemi, I am the oversight and safety control for your reanimation. Are there any questions you may have for my team?”
“Yes, I have one.” Amsi stepped forward.
“This is for your leader to ask. Not for subjects of the one who makes choices. He is director, according to the file.” Bitemi looked at a display in his hand. “You have no rank I can see for administration, you are an engineer.”
“That is rude.” Doctor Ofir gasped.
“I am not the leader you think I am. I am a director of a school, let him ask the question.”
Unaccustomed to being treated in such a manner, the bureaucrat capitulated to the small majority.
“A percentage of pods with helium at preservation temperatures, but over the years, they have lost the preservation liquid. No logs exist, anywhere, for reason why.”
“There has been a minor percentage that have lost fluids, but there has been no loss in systemic function. They are a minor loss.”
“Not so minor to those who lose their stasis vitrification stand a better-than-fair chance of never being reanimated.”
“Perhaps you can ask your doctor to explain it to you.” Administrator Bitemi climbed on his sparrowhawk. “I will check in later, I have important matters to attend to. Be well.”
Watching the bureaucrat leave, the three humans looked at each other for a moment.
“I have served in administrative categories all my life. The official term for someone like that?” Doctor Shimona shook his head. “Is an ass.”
Even Doctor Ofir laughed.
Tags cryogenics, Doctor, Dragon, Helium, ice, invent, moth, pegasus, Politics, programming, Ride
The survival of fireworks
We survived.
Rather: Hershey the dog did. Of all her stress did not come to pass, the neighbor had it correct that the distance to the beach (two, almost three miles away. maybe 4 km) alleviated a lot of agony and anxiety, Hershey the dog walked around and checked on people, but conversations kept going, TV was on, no one reacted, so checking in with humans, poking her nose into the face of Princess #2 and being petted by Princess #1. All was good in the world.
A long walk on the beach, ocean, thousands of people and dogs to sniff, see and taste (She licked one dog in the face, one baby had his (or her?) face cleaned.) Hershey was tired. So in all, distant fireworks did not draw undue anxiety out of her heart.
The only anxiety reaction we suffered all weekend was the Princess #2’s boyfriend. (More on him later). Hershey walked around, getting pets and a home-made version of doggy ice-cream. (Gelato, really I suppose.)
If you need a recipe on that, it is easy. a cup of peanut butter, 32 ounces of plain Greek yogurt (slightly less than 1-liter, or litre if you prefer.) tablespoon of local honey and a large banana. Blend for a minute (You may have to take a scraper to the inside of the blender to get the peanut butter to mix properly. I do. but I don’t have the best blender in the world by any stretch of the imagination and peanut butter (or peanut paste, if you prefer, I like mine chunky) then pour into small containers with a lid, freeze and then when you like, pop the top, hand the whole container to the dog and it will be a wonderful frozen treat for a few minutes.
Mind you, if you have any children wandering about and they discover this concoction? Dogs will be out of luck! This stuff is tasty! It is healthy, quick, and it is human quality food. Good for everyone and a great treat. No chemicals, no artificial this or that. Good stuff. I’ll consider that a rave, heh.
So now we have had a good weekend, but like all good — or bad– things. It comes to an end in about 2 hours. Back to the heat, misery and daily dust of life.
To idiots that shoot off large bottle rockets over the house (and terrify the chocolab who tries to be anywhere but there, top of my head is one spot that seems to be a favored place). I am tempted to go out with a blunt arrow and stand in the dark. Wait until the said idiots to the fuse to the bottle rocket and then I shoot the rocket and tip it over. No one will see the black arrow and life would get REAL exciting for a moment. or three. But as Princess #1 did say, there is no telling where it might go, including into someone’s open window of their house – or car. And a live firework bursting inside a car as it drives down the road is ALL bad. So I won’t.
Nice to dream of though.
Princess #2’s boyfriend.
Nice fellow, tries constantly to impress me, but it’s not working all the time. I do give him points for trying. I put him on BBQ duty the other night and he did a good job.
His only malfunction on this trip – He is a desert cat. From Oklahoma, his idea of a body of water is he can see all sides to it. The Pacific ocean is unnerving. He is desert, we are beach and ocean oriented family.
Waves bother him. We went to lunch on a wharf, the waves hitting the pilings underneath were bad. The cars driving over the wood of the wharf was bad, Seafood everywhere – well he likes shrimp, but is allergic to the food.
So he asked to go home. Princess #2 is not an overly warm-blooded person, but loves the beach, rolled her eyes some. But, he is her boyfriend and she took him on the 300 mile journey back. She thinks the Great Barrier Reef is cold water diving and did not swim much. She hung out on the boat. But..she was only ten years old at the time. (Princess #1? Pfft.. she would swim in the ocean if there was ice in close proximity, she goes in, never comes out.)
So now, we sit on the sofa, the clock ticking down to the end of this cool morning. Slightly overcast with the marine layer in (Another unnerving thing the boyfriend experienced. I likened it to the tides of the ocean, which was a mistake. another reason he headed back to the dry and heat)
The home journey awaits. Back to a noisy, dusty, miserable place where sirens sound hourly – or more often – and is generally just a stressful place to be living. I have two plants I need to replace, I forgot to bring them in out of the heat and they have been sitting without water for the last 96 hours. Rosemary is hardy, but not sure it can tolerate that. Basil? Well, dried basil is useful. As is rosemary.
And I promise, no black arrows into bottle rockets doing the final countdown.
Tags archery, arrow, beach, cool, crime, desert, dogs, fireworks, heat, honey, ice, ocean, peanut butter, sirens, Swim, water, waves, yogurt
2 Seconds… T-Minus 3,437,424,000 Seconds
T-Minus 3,437,424,000 Seconds
Harley-Davidson Motorcycles was born of little more than a handshake, and a gentleman’s honor between two best friends, than business partners. To this end, they achieved both respect and honors of those that worked for them over the intervening years of two world wars and into the future.
In the war with Pancho Villa, the military purchased some of the boys’ (Now grown to men.) Machines. A colonel who rode with his troops was greatly impressed by possible uses of the motor-powered bikes to get messages from one site to another in a promptly.
World War I — the Great War, came to the fore. The military with its long memory ordered thousands, eventually numbering more than fifteen-thousand of William and Arthur’s motorcycles with the new V-twin arranged engines.
Life improved as the employees respected the owners and the employees worked the best that they could to build products that they would want to own themselves.
World War II, the war that followed the War-To-End-All-Wars and the government called upon Harley-Davidson once again to produce the legend they had before.
William and Arthur were more than capable and happy to oblige. They increased the power of the V-twin time and again, the iron horse was no longer on rails, but rubber tires and now could be ridden.
Sadly, William did not live to see the end of the war. A conflict that both saddened him and made his company famous.
After a long hard year of making contracts and sure that they filled all their obligations. William went to play golf and relax after a stressful day in the weeks following the attack on Pearl Harbor. William Harley never came home, dying of a cardiac arrest that evening.
William Harley was 1,996,444,800 seconds old and the time was T- Minus 2,175,984,000 seconds.
The company’s reputation spread as the power of the engines grew and the nickname of “Hog” that had begun as a racing team now became common reference to the large motorcycles.
Returning soldiers found that the freedom of the road was ever more pleasant with the powerful and dependable motorcycle from the once best of friends that dreamed of machines were best of of friends as business partners. Harley-Davidson Motorcycles were the most desired of all the big machines by a generation that had lived with horrors of death, horror and destruction unmatched in history.
Mourning his friend for years after Bill had passed away from a heart attack, Arthur had stayed the course of his motorcycle company on the same track as he, William and the rest of the Davidson crew chose, together. Bill lived to honor his best friend, increasing the depth and breadth of the company that they had started so long ago.
Five days after Christmas 1950, Arthur and his wife, Clara, left the house in the car. Ice covering the roads had melted, in the shadows of trees it was still below freezing, the entire countryside was in the dead of winter. While Arthur was a careful driver, not so the driver of the pickup truck that slid around the corner on the icy pavement and hit them, driver side headlight to driver side headlight at less than twenty-five miles-per-hour. Arthur’s car careened off the road and came to rest against a tree. Hard interior surfaces with sharp objects did more damage to the human occupants than the impact of the accident and the untimely death of Arthur Davidson was felt throughout the motorcycle community.
Arthur was 2,201,904,000 seconds old.
In 2008, Harley-Davidson produced motorcycle number 1HD1DJV131Y 584344, the skills of the company were not wasted on the powerful machine. It was perfect only when the thirty-year old inspector, David Oliver “Papa DOK” Kraig deemed it so. On the computerized display, the power curves that the engine put out were not just within limits, but perfect.
After a brake-check and this newest of additions to the H-D family received the pronouncement “Perfect” by Chris “Eliminator” Thanatos. Six-foot four-inch frame that was always in a dark mood, he was without mercy as he place a red-tag of rejection on anything that was even marginally inside of the test limits. A strict personal need and a meticulous eye for flaws made for many employees on the assembly line to flinch. When it came to this OCD employee doing inspections – It was perfect or it never saw the light of day.
Passing with flying colors, one of the names that the employees labeled this new chrome and painted horse was “P.H.” or “Perfect Hog”.
Shipped with care out west. It sat on the sales lot until a young man who William would have been proud of sat astride it and smiled. Russell Fletcher’s dark eyes looked over the chrome that William and Arthur’s old company had given birth to.
Before the hour was up, Russell was on the road with his prized new possession.
A life of glory on the most glorious machine of the year, Russell laughed every night he rode.
And Russell rode a lot.
T-Minus 3,696,000 seconds
Tags Arthur Davidson, countdown, crash, harley-davidson, heart attack, hog, ice, Motorcycle, Ride, soldier, William Harley, winter
Dragon Master University Chapter 24. Autumn Winds
Chapter 24. Autumn Winds
Professor Ghoti walked through the classroom, her wings pulled up tightly against her body as she walked among the desks. Her prehensile tail Holding her clipboard in front of her as she passed out papers for taking notes on environment stresses.
‟Remember the lectures, each dragon and human lives on the land and in the water. Destruction of any of these alters the destiny of the future and those that live in it. Great dragons that abused their skills and powers and found themselves opposed by great humans who had altruistic goals, only then subsumed by those that followed that would destroy the lands in the name of wealth.” She looked around. ‟Greed, it is an illness that possesses dragon and human alike. Take notes well, my young souls, you must know the history of those that wished to have power and wealth over everyone to the destruction of themselves.”
‟Professor.” It was a young dragon from the north, sitting behind Jona, he barely came up to Jona’s shoulder, his sapphire-blue eyes sparked with high intelligence. ‟Isn’t greed a cause of conflict between all the people of the earth?”
Jona looked at him, his pupils where six pointed, re-enforcing the look of eyes made from star-sapphires.
‟A lust for power and wealth, yes. Two ambitious souls, whether they have scale or hair, will end in conflict. Coexistence is what we learn, contest and struggle is how we entertain ourselves, but that is a class for another time. Today, we are talking about humans that cut whole forests to build, dragons that will dig great holes to strip a mountain of its wealth in gold and silver. Even minds as bright as yours in this room, find attraction to things that glitter. It is the nature of human and dragon, and the point of conflict. Humans have a talent as hunters and creators of wealth. Dragons have abilities to smell gold and silver, able to create works of art so large that the human eye cannot see them for the scale they are on. Only from above where the eyes of the dragonkind are common, humankind must fly with cooperation of dragons to see what they have created.”
‟Professor, I don’t understand.” Kalam, a sand-dragon, slender and athletic. An outcast of a flying-dragon family, he preferred to swim than fly. ‟I missed your point. Why do dragons create such large works of art that it cannot be seen from the ground?”
‟Why do some artists paint? Why do others sculpt? Still others write with a touch of a brush to make words look like beautiful images but still tell a story?” Professor Ghoti smiled. ‟We are all different, a dragon may live longer than a human, but a human can create such things of beauty as to capture the heart of a dragon. This is where the conflict happens. To a human, an area that has gold just laying on the ground where no one has tread a foot for hundreds of years, the human will pick up the gold to create something, unknowingly violating a dragon-artist’s creation. To the dragon, a hundred years is but a night’s sleep, it is an insult to their ambitious work.”
The entire class nodded, understanding.
‟In the places of the world where dragon and human have come in conflict, whole ranges of mountains are denuded, weather changes, the land dies.” The Professor frowned. ‟A land, once of verdant trees and life. Now is a devastated and desiccated desert. Nothing grows, humans and dragons alike avoid the area. The only thing that lives there are scorpions and small insects.”
Rapt attention by those that sat in attendance, hung on her words. Love of the earth, care for one and another. tolerance to all living things, was given as lessons.
Some took Professor Ghoti’s words to heart, others, like rain on the leaves of the trees, just slid off to the ground.
Those would be the students who returned the next year until they passed the Professor’s exit interviews for her classes.
A fortnight gone past, the shortest day was upon the high-mountain college that overlooked the lake with the waters so clear, the ice was nearly as blue as the deep water.
In the common room, Professor Vale spoke to the gathered students.
‟Winter break is upon us. Those dragons who are of the desert regions will be departing in the afternoon after tomorrow. The great black dragon of Sempervirens House will be departing with a flight, those that cannot fly the distance or speed and those swimmers of tropical nature may ride in the coach.” Vale nodded. ‟Humans will be met by their parents or guardians. Jona, please see me after this.”
A collective ‟Oo!” raced through the nearly two-hundred hearts of the common room.
Jona’s heart fell. This would be the time that a student would be ‟uninvited” to return.
With great trepidation he stayed behind after the announcements, Vale was kind, but as a dragon, he followed rules to a fault. As a professor, he had the power to flex the rules somewhat.
Then, Vale spoke. The words were quite different from what he worried about.
‟Jona, I have written your parents and I have informed them of your schooling.” Professor Vale inspected the claws of his forepaw.”You have done well for a child-human of less than twenty-summers. Not perfect, but quite well, better than your mother had predicted.” Professor Vale nodded. ‟I give credit to Kolo for that. You remind me of myself when I was learning these lessons. Seems like it was just last year I started here as a human.”
‟Professor.” Jona interrupted. ‟Was there a school back then?”
‟I see you need to take the class for your timing on humor, still.” Vale gave Jona a sideways glance. ‟You, young master, will be studying some makeup classes you are weak on with a special tutor.”
Professor Vale gave Jona a wink.
‟You and four others get to study with the Green-Wizard.” Vale puffed out his chest. ‟My father.”
‟Your… HUMAN father?” Jona said. ‟I thought he was old?”
‟He is older than hair. But do not ever mention that or you will find out how difficult life can be.” Vale laughed softly. ‟Still, you will attend his training, but know this! He takes very few students, he teaches in serious words. In his opinion, you will come to him with a head full of sawdust, and if you survive his lessons, you will come back thinking like an upperclassman.”
Jona felt a pang of fear and curiosity.
How does an upperclassman think?
Tags desert, desolate, Dragon, human, ice, insect, lake, lecture, scorpion, Tahoe, tutor, volcano, winter
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Episode 1: The Legend of Korra
The very first episode of the Bastards of Kingsgrave! We chatted generally about The Legend of Korra and some of the theories and ideas floating around.
Featuring Avatar expert guest hosts Katie/Lady Griffin, Stephanie/gsdg and Michal/Inkasrain.
To download mp3s of the episodes, click the download tab at the top of the page.
To further discuss this episode and The Legend of Korra in generally, check out our Korra forum.
http://podcastoficeandfire.com/wp-content/uploads/bok/bokepisode1full.mp3
Episode 1 download link (right click and download).
Posted in Avatar TLA Comics, Episodes
Tagged Amin, GSDG, Inkasrain, Lady Griffin
Welcome to the Bastards of Kingsgrave!
The Bastards of Kingsgrave (BOK) is a bastard podcast, an offshoot of A Podcast of Ice and Fire, the longest-running podcast dedicated to the epic glory of George R.R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire (ASOIAF) saga. The Bastards of Kingsgrave was founded in May 2012, to allow the 4 podcast hosts (Amin, Mimi, Kyle and Ashley) as well as their listeners and forum members to podcast about a variety of other artistic and pop culture topics, including TV shows, movies, novels, comics, games, etc.
One feature of the Bastards of Kingsgrave is that the hosts and the majority of our guests are fans of ASOIAF, active on our forums and are aware of the terminology and jokes developed during the four year run (so far) of our ASOIAF podcast. So, most episodes may contain spoilers from the ASOIAF series, so it highly recommended that you read that series first or accept that there may be references to and spoilers about that series. For explanation of some of the terminology (spoilers for all ASOIAF books in these following links!), check here, here and here.
To discuss BOK episodes in detail, or to suggest future episodes topics or to guest host with us, check out the BOK subforum, one of the forums at the main APOIAF website.
To subscribe to us, use the RSS feed on this website, which will work in iTunes or any other RSS reader. Or search for us in the iTunes podcast store.
Below is the fabled history of the BOK (put together by Lex), which will only make sense if you have read the ASOIAF series:
The Bastards of Kingsgrave, an ambitious offshoot of House Manwoody, were first spawned during the reign of Mad King Aerys, when the Lord of Kingsgrave, old Dickard Manwoody, was returning home from a hunt. Somewhere in the Prince’s Pass, Lord Dickard stopped at a brothel, where he gave a whore a feathered hat. Nine months later, the first Bastard of Kingsgrave came into the world, red-faced and squalling. His name… was Dickon Sand.
Years later, Lord Dickard’s son and heir, Dagos Manwoody, became the Lord of Kingsgrave. Having heard of the existence of his bastard brother, and fearing him as a potential rival, Lord Dagos sent a promising young knight to the brothel in the Prince’s Pass, to dispatch the young bastard. The identity of the assassin is not known for a certainty, but it is said that he was “of the night”.
The assassin crept into the brothel under cover of darkness, and entered into the bastard’s bedchamber. However, a creaking door gave him away, warning his prey of the danger. The assassin failed to kill young Dickon, managing only to maim the boy’s face before he escaped.
Young Dickon fled with his mother, who took him all the way south to the Planky Town at the mouth of the Greenblood, where she felt they would be safe. Tutored by dockside whores and cutthroats, and raised on fiery Dornish peppers, blood oranges, and games of cyvasse, young Dickon grew tall and strong. When his mother finally revealed the secret of his noble blood, Dickon Sand grew proud. Some might say overproud. He cast off his bastard name, taking up the name of Sandwoody. He took as his sigil an inverted Manwoody skull, crowned with a hat of luxuriant feathers. And he swore an oath, a terrible oath, that someday he would return to the Red Mountains and take his half-brother’s castle for his own. Thus was born the first Bastard of Kingsgrave.
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Tag Archives: 1970’s
“Swingtown” on CBS
Summer time on CBS has traditionally been good for exactly two things…round-the-clock repeats of “CSI”, and three weekly episodes of “Big Brother”. And though “Big Brother 10” is still a few weeks off — we’re counting the days, Chenbot! — the “Tiffany network” has really shaken things up this summer by airing the shockingly- good original series, “Swingtown”.
Set in the candy-colored world of key-party-loving 70’s suburbia, the show seemed destined to fail from the outset. I mean, whoa…that title alone sounds a little more HBO or SHOWTIME than CBS. But for whatever reason, stodgy old CBS is airing this show and we could not be more thrilled about it!
I know it sounds like a one-note concept — “The Ice Storm” lite, if you will — but “Swingtown” is packed full of fresh, funny, and richly-imagined characters and enough complex subplots and drama to sustain the show through at least three or four seasons. And surprisingly, the best stuff on “Swingtown” has little or nothing to do with the swinging!
Sure, the sexy title got you in the door for the first episode — or at least it did us! — but three episodes in, “Swingtown” has revealed itself to be a pretty kick-ass TV show. Calling to mind some of the more nuanced, character-driven series of the past like “My So-Called Life” and “Freaks and Geeks”, “Swingtown” is, at its core, a beautifully crafted, often hilarious, show about people and relationships. I know, a good show airing in the summer? Shocking!
But maybe a slot on the CBS summer schedule is just what this show needed. With other networks churning out crap like “America’s Got Talent” and “Celebrity Circus”, ‘Swingtown” has the cool adult dramedy category pretty much all to themselves. So rock on, Swingers!
Centered around a trio of vastly different families — two of which have teenage children — the show spends just as much time developing the relationships between the kids as it does the adults, and the payoff is spectacular. I am not exaggerating when I say that there has not been a family drama this good since the late, great “Once & Again” left the airwaves.
Another thing “Swingtown” has going for it is humor. Like “Freaks and Geeks”, the show’s sly, deadpan humor is sometimes so painfully realistic that you’ll find yourself wincing through the laughter. There was a subplot recently about the boys selling their father’s Penthouse magazines to their friends that I swear could have been lifted directly from my childhood. Although, if memory serves, my Dad was more of a Playboy man…and, trust me, my brother and I would have never sold those gems to anyone!
Anyway, um…back to “Swingtown”. Despite what our friends at Because We Love It might say, if the super cool characters and crackling good dialog doesn’t win you over, then surely the costumes and set design will. I can’t tell you how many times Christine and I have paused just to stare at the groovy stuff in these folk’s kitchens and living rooms and shout out: “We had that!” Hilarious.
And just when you think the nostalgia factor couldn’t get any higher, there is the music! Swirling disco classics giving way to awesome 70’s rock and folk, hell, half the time you’re wondering how they even afforded these songs. In last week’s episode, they actually played the Rolling Stones “You Can’t Always Get What You Want” in it’s entirety. Do you know how much that song alone probably cost old Les Moonves? Wow!
But seeing as last week’s episode was the first to feature full-length opening credits, perhaps CBS has decided to throw some more money at the show since it’s pulling in halfway decent ratings. Whatever the reason for the support, we just hope they keep this amazing show on the air through the summer and hopefully beyond. Yep, it’s that good!
“Swingtown” airs Thursday nights at 10PM, so, toss your car keys in the bowl by the door and check out this rocking good show for yourselves.
Tagged as "Swingtown", 1970's, CBS, disco, entertainment, Grant Show, Jack Davenport, Lana Parrilla, Mike Kelly, Molly Parker, retro, shows, summer shows, swingers, TV
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Spinal Manipulation and Vascular Risk Safety: The Safety Evidence Continues to Grow
Published on 8 June 2019 under Advanced
Both health care providers and lay people may manipulate the spine. The health care provider group most likely to employ spinal manipulation is chiropractic. A recent (2017) in-depth analysis indicates that there are approximately 70,000 practicing chiropractors in the United States, the majority of whom use spinal manipulation in their clinical practice (1). There are eighteen government accredited chiropractic colleges located throughout the United States. Many of them have achieved university status, granting academic degrees in addition to chiropractic degrees (DC degree).
The lay press and occasionally peer-reviewed journals claim that cervical spine manipulation may cause injury to a cervical artery. This claim is exceptionally controversial because proof of such an occurrence is impossible and the alleged incidence is so incredibly rare that definitive conclusions are also impossible.
The most recent credible evidence (March 2019) estimates the claim of cervical artery injury to be as few as 1 per 8.1 million chiropractic office visits and 1 per 5.9 million cervical manipulations by practicing chiropractors (2). Assuming that a typical chiropractor has 20 patient visits per day, 100 patient visits per week, 5,000 patient visits per year, and a 40-year career, this would total approximately 200,000 patient visits. Such a chiropractor would have to be in clinical practice, at that volume, for 1,200 years before statistically seeing a single alleged vascular injury event.
Although cervical artery dissection primarily occurs spontaneously, physical trauma to the neck, especially traumas involving hyperextension and rotation, has been suspected to trigger them. This is especially noted with whiplash-type injury mechanisms (3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13).
Despite this incredibly low incidence of risk, students in chiropractic college are taught about such risks out of an abundance of caution; chiropractors are licensed health care professionals. The cervical arteries at risk are the internal carotid artery and the vertebral artery.
The artery that has the greatest risk for injury is the vertebral artery. This is because the vertebral artery ascends in the cervical vertebrae, in a hole called the foramen transversarium.
The atlas-axis (C1-C2) vertebral articulation of the cervical spine is mechanically unique. It is designed for the function of rotational motion. Theoretically, such rotation places the vertebral artery at increased risk of tractional stress, increasing the potential for injury. Students in chiropractic college are taught not to apply a rotational manipulative thrust of C1 on C2. Furthermore, biomechanical studies indicate that the vertebral artery will experience additional tractional stress if the upper cervical spine is in extension. Chiropractic college students are taught not to use the combination of C1—C2 rotation—extension—thrust manipulations (adjustments).
Cervical Artery Injury Terminology
Dissection:
A disruption or tearing of the inner layer of an artery.
Embolus (singular) or emboli (plural):
An arterial dissection may form a clot that is capable of breaking free and traveling distal from the source artery.
When a traveling embolus plugs and disrupts arterial blood flow, it is known as a stroke. Strokes result in a variety of neurological signs and symptoms.
The signs and symptoms that would warn of a possible vertebral artery dissection with ischemia are summarized as the 5 Ds And the 3 Ns (14):
Dizziness (vertigo, light-headedness)
Drop attacks
Diplopia (or other visual problems)
Dysarthria [Speech Disorder]
Dysphagia [Difficult or Painful Swallowing]
Ataxia of gait (Hemiparesis)
Nausea (possibly with vomiting)
Numbness (hemianesthesia)
A history that would warn of a possible acute vertebral artery dissection with ischemia involves a sudden onset of severe head and/or neck pain, which is like no other pain the patient has previously suffered. This is especially important if the patient can isolate the pain to the suboccipital region (14).
A number of non-manipulative mechanical events have been linked to vertebral artery dissections. These mechanical events usually involve rotation and/or extension, and include (14):
By Surgeon or Anesthetist During Surgery
Calisthenics, Athletics, Fitness Exercise
Overhead Work, Painting a Wall
Hanging Out the Wash
Neck Extension during Radiography
Neck Extension for a Bleeding Nose
Turning the Head while Driving a Vehicle
Tonic Clonic Convulsive Seizure
Amusement Park Ride
Protracted Dental Work
Sneezing/Nose Blowing/Coughing
Emergency Resuscitation
Star Gazing, Watching Aircraft
Break Dancing
Beauty Parlor Stroke, Sitting in a Barber’s Chair
Peer-reviewed journals that ascribe cervical artery dissections to chiropractic manipulation have been proven to be incorrect (15). When untrained laypersons or physicians performed a manipulation resulting in a reported adverse event, authors would claim that the manipulation was performed by a chiropractor, despite knowing that it was not the case. The list of discovered manipulators included:
A Blind Masseur
An Indian Barber
A Wife
A Kung-Fu Practitioner
Self-Manipulation
Several other peer-reviewed studies have confirmed a similar misrepresentation of chiropractic in the literature (16, 17).
The Major Controversy: Correlation/Association v. Causation
These questions are perpetually debated:
Did the manipulation cause an artery injury? If yes, it is causation.
Did the patient already have an artery injury that produced symptoms and the patient subsequently went to a provider that manipulates to treat the symptoms? In other words, the manipulation did not cause the injury because it pre-existed. If yes, it is correlation/association, and NOT causation.
Selective Review of Credible Publications
In 2002, Dr. Scott Haldeman from the Department of Neurology, University of California, Irvine, and colleagues, published a study in the journal Spine titled (18):
Unpredictability of Cerebrovascular Ischemia Associated
with Cervical Spine Manipulation Therapy:
A Review of Sixty-four Cases After Cervical Spine Manipulation
These authors conclude:
“This study was unable to identify factors from the clinical history and physical examination of the patient that would assist a physician attempting to isolate the patient at risk of cerebral ischemia after cervical manipulation.”
“Cerebrovascular accidents after manipulation appear to be unpredictable and should be considered an inherent, idiosyncratic, and rare complication of this treatment approach.”
In 2008, Dr. David Cassidy and colleagues published a comprehensive study pertaining to the risk of vertebral artery dissection as related to chiropractic cervical spine manipulation. The article was published in Spine, and titled (19):
Risk of Vertebrobasilar Stroke and Chiropractic Care:
Results of a Population-Based Case-Control and Case-Crossover Study
Key points from this article include:
“Vertebrobasilar artery stroke is a rare event in the population.”
“We found no evidence of excess risk of vertebral artery stroke associated with chiropractic care.”
“Neck pain and headache are common symptoms of vertebral artery dissection, which commonly precedes vertebral artery stroke.”
“The increased risks of vertebral artery stroke associated with chiropractic and primary care physicians visits is likely due to patients with headache and neck pain from vertebral artery dissection seeking care before their stroke.”
“Because patients with vertebrobasilar artery dissection commonly present with headache and neck pain, it is possible that patients seek chiropractic care for these symptoms and that the subsequent vertebral artery stroke occurs spontaneously, implying that the association between chiropractic care and vertebral artery stroke is not causal.”
“Our results suggest that the association between chiropractic care and vertebral artery stroke found in previous studies is likely explained by presenting symptoms attributable to vertebral artery dissection.”
In 2010, Dr. Donald Murphy published an article in the journal Chiropractic and Osteopathy, titled (20):
Current Understanding of the Relationship
Between Cervical Manipulation and Stroke:
What Does it Mean for the Chiropractic Profession?
In this article, Dr. Murphy states:
“The understanding of the relationship between cervical manipulative therapy (CMT) and vertebral artery dissection and stroke (VADS) has evolved considerably over the years.”
“In the beginning the relationship was seen as simple cause-effect, in which CMT was seen to cause VADS in certain susceptible individuals. This was perceived as extremely rare by chiropractic physicians, but as far more common by neurologists and others.”
“Recent evidence has clarified the relationship considerably, and suggests that the relationship is not causal, but that patients with VADS often have initial symptoms which cause them to seek care from a chiropractic physician and have a stroke some time after, independent of the chiropractic visit.”
In 2011, the Journal of Manipulative and Physiological Therapeutics published a population-based case series using administrative health care records of all Ontario, CAN, residents hospitalized with vertebral artery stroke between April 1, 1993, and March 31, 2002, titled (21):
A Population-based Case-series of Ontario Patients Who Develop a Vertebrobasilar Artery Stroke After Seeing a Chiropractor
These authors note:
“The current evidence suggests that association between chiropractic care and vertebrobasilar artery (VBA) stroke is not causal. Rather, recent epidemiological studies suggest that it is coincidental and reflects the natural history of the disorder.”
“Because neck pain and headaches are symptoms that commonly precede the onset of a VBA stroke, these patients might seek chiropractic care while their stroke is in evolution.”
Also in 2011, The Open Neurology Journal published an editorial by Drs. Dean Smith and Gregory Cramer, titled (22):
“Spinal Manipulation is Not an Emerging Risk Factor for Stroke Nor is it Major Head/Neck Trauma. Don’t Just Read the Abstract!”
Dean L. Smith is Clinical Faculty, Department of Kinesiology and Health, Miami University, Oxford, Ohio, and Gregory D. Cramer is Professor and Dean of Research, National University of Health Sciences, Lombard, Illinois. Their editorial includes:
We would like to address two points in this letter:
1) The current best-evidence indicates no causal relationship between spinal manipulation (‘chiropractic maneuver’ in the paper) and vertebrobasilar artery (VBA) stroke.
2) Spinal manipulation or ‘chiropractic maneuvers’ are not major head/neck trauma as suggested in the abstract of this article.
“Evidence is mounting that the association between spinal manipulation and stroke is coincidental rather than causal and reflects the natural history of the disorder.”
“The prevailing hypothesis is that patients with vertebral artery dissections often have initial symptoms that cause them to seek care from a chiropractic or medical physician and the stroke is independent of their visit.”
“The latest scientific evidence questions whether spinal manipulation is a risk factor at all for cervical artery dissection.”
“Chiropractic spinal manipulations may very well be a demerging risk factor for stroke since there may not be any risk.”
“Spinal manipulative treatments produce stretches of the vertebral artery that are much smaller than those that are produced during normal everyday movements, and thus they appear harmless.”
In 2012, Dr. Walter Herzog and colleagues published a study in the Journal of Electromyography and Kinesiology titled (23):
Vertebral Artery Strains During High-speed, Low Amplitude
Cervical Spinal Manipulation
This study presents the first ever data on the mechanics between C1/C2 during cervical SMT performed by chiropractic clinicians. The authors compared the results of human VA strains during high-speed, low-amplitude SMTs administered by qualified chiropractic clinicians and compared them to the strains encountered during full range of motion (ROM) tests. They used a total of 3,034 segment strains obtained during SMTs and 2,380 segment strains obtained during full ROM testing, making this is an extensive study. The authors conclude:
“VA strains obtained during SMT are significantly smaller than those obtained during diagnostic and range of motion testing, and are much smaller than failure strains.”
“We conclude from this work that cervical SMT performed by trained clinicians does not appear to place undue strain on VA, and thus does not seem to be a factor in vertebro-basilar injuries.”
“The maximal strain values for the ROM testing at each segmental level were always greater than the corresponding strain values for the SMTs, suggesting that neck SMTs impose less stretch than turning your head, or extending your neck while looking up at the sky.”
“Therefore, based on the mechanical tests performed here, one should be able to conclude that stretching of VA during neck SMTs does not cause any damage of the VAs.”
“The VA is never really strained during spinal manipulative treatments but that the VA is merely taking up slack as the neck and head are moved during SMT, but that there is no stress and thus no possibility for microstructural damage.”
“The results from this study demonstrate that average and maximal VA strains during high-speed low-amplitude cervical spinal manipulation are substantially less than the strains that can be achieved during ROM testing for all vertebral artery segments.”
“We conclude that cervical spinal manipulations, as tested here, are safe from a mechanical point of view for normal, healthy VA.”
An extensive review of the literature pertaining to the relationship between cervical spine manipulation and cervical artery dissection was published in the journal Stroke in 2014 (24). Stroke is the official journal of the American Heart Association. The title of the article is:
Cervical Arterial Dissections and Association
With Cervical Manipulative Therapy
Key points from this publication include:
Cervical artery “dissections can be either spontaneous or traumatic.”
“Current biomechanical evidence is insufficient to establish the claim that cervical manipulation causes cervical artery dissection.”
“The underlying pathogenesis responsible for spontaneous cervical artery dissections is unknown.”
The vertebral artery (VA) between C1-C2, where most of cervical spine rotation occurs, “is most susceptible to injury.”
“Current biomechanical evidence is insufficient to establish the claim that spinal manipulation causes cervical artery dissection, including data from a canine model showing no significant changes in VA lesions before and after cervical manipulation.”
“Because patients with VAD commonly present with neck pain, it is possible that they seek therapy for this symptom from providers, including cervical manipulation practitioners, and that the VAD occurs spontaneously, implying that the association between cervical manipulation and VAD/vertebrobasilar artery stroke is not causal.”
There is no gold standard diagnostic test for cervical artery dissection.
In 2015, Dr. Thomas Kosloff and colleagues published a study in the journal Chiropractic & Manual Therapies titled (25):
Chiropractic Care and the Risk of Vertebrobasilar Stroke:
Results of a Case–control Study in U.S. Commercial
and Medicare Advantage Populations
The main purpose of this study was to replicate the case–control epidemiological design study published by Cassidy, et al. in 2008 (19), and to investigate the association between chiropractic care and vertebral artery stroke. The authors assessed commercially insured and Medicare Advantage (MA) health plan members in the U.S. The data set included health plan members located in 49 of 50 states (excluded North Dakota) and encompassed national health plan data for 35,726,224 commercial and 3,188,825 MA members. Hence, this study looked at approximately 39 million people, making this the largest case–control study to investigate the association between chiropractic manipulation and vertebral artery stroke. These authors concluded:
“There was no association between chiropractic visits and VBA stroke found for the overall sample, or for samples stratified by age.”
“We found no significant association between exposure to chiropractic care and the risk of vertebral artery stroke. We conclude that manipulation is an unlikely cause of vertebral artery stroke.”
In 2016, authors from the Department of Neurosurgery, Penn State Hershey Medical Center, and the Department of Neurosurgery, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, published a study in the journal Cureus titled (26):
Systematic Review and Meta-analysis of Chiropractic Care and Cervical Artery Dissection: No Evidence for Causation
These authors evaluated the evidence related to this topic by performing a systematic review and meta-analysis of published data on chiropractic manipulation and cervical artery dissection (CAD). They state:
“We found no evidence for a causal link between chiropractic care and CAD. This is a significant finding because belief in a causal link is not uncommon, and such a belief may have significant adverse effects such as numerous episodes of litigation.”
“Excellent peer reviewed publications frequently contain statements asserting a causal relationship between cervical manipulation and CAD. We suggest that physicians should exercise caution in ascribing causation to associations in the absence of adequate and reliable data. Medical history offers many examples of relationships that were initially falsely assumed to be causal, and the relationship between CAD and chiropractic neck manipulation may need to be added to this list.”
“There is no convincing evidence to support a causal link, and unfounded belief in causation may have dire consequences.”
“The association between a chiropractor visit and dissection may be explained by” understanding that “patients with cervical artery dissection more frequently have headache and neck pain” and understanding that “patients with headache and neck pain more frequently visit chiropractors.”
“Because (on average) patients with headache and neck pain visit chiropractors more frequently, and patients with cervical artery dissection more frequently have headache and neck pain, it appears that those who visit chiropractors have more cervical artery dissections.”
As noted at the beginning of this article, additional evidence has been added to the topic of cervical artery injury and cervical spine manipulation. The article was published March 2019 in the journal Annals of Medicine, and titled (2):
A Risk–benefit Assessment Strategy to Exclude Cervical Artery Dissection in Spinal Manual Therapy: A Comprehensive Review
The authors note that conducting sufficiently powered clinical manual-therapy randomized controlled trials to evaluate causality of spinal manipulation and cervical artery dissection is “nearly impossible” because “to scientifically establish the prevalence of CAD as a direct trigger of cervical mobilization and/or manipulation intervention, a prospective study would need to include 1000 manual therapists treating the cervical spine 100 times per week for 52 weeks.”
Overall, key concepts from this study include:
“There is no strong evidence in the literature that manual therapy provokes cervical artery dissection.”
“It is highly unlikely that mobilization and manipulative techniques that tend to be specific with minimal force and amplitude affect the internal carotid arteries.”
“All people execute several different head and neck movements every day, including side-to-side neck rotations that consequently stretch the VA. Fortunately, this usually does not trigger cervical artery dissection.”
“The assumption that the cervical manual-therapy intervention triggers cervical artery dissection in rare cases has been dominated by single-case reports and retrospective case series or surveys from neurologists who naturally lack substantial methodological quality to establish definitive causality.”
“The reality is, there is no firm scientific basis for direct causality between cervical spinal manipulative therapy and cervical artery dissection.”
Chiropractic students and chiropractors are extensively trained in the anatomy and biomechanics of the upper cervical spine. They are also extensively trained in the science and art of spinal adjusting (specific directional manipulation). Vertebral artery injury ascribed to chiropractic manipulation in the peer-reviewed literature is often inappropriate as the actual manipulation was done by an untrained layperson or untrained healthcare provider.
All therapeutic interventions have risk. The risk of cervical artery dissection from cervical manipulation is extremely low, and may be nonexistent. The symptoms associated with spontaneous vertebral artery dissection may bring the patient into chiropractic offices.
Despite the uncertainty of the relationship between cervical manipulation and cervical artery injury, informing each patient of the potential risk is prudent. If any of the 5 Ds And the 3 Ns are present, either before or after spinal manipulation, an appropriate referral should be made.
Adams J, Peng W, Cramer H, Sundberg T, Moore C; The Prevalence, Patterns, and Predictors of Chiropractic Use Among US Adults; Results From the 2012 National Health Interview Survey; Spine; December 1, 2017; Vol. 42; No. 23; pp. 1810–1816.
Chaibi A, Russell MB; A Risk–benefit Assessment Strategy to Exclude Cervical Artery Dissection in Spinal Manual Therapy: A Comprehensive Review; Annals of Medicine; March, 2019; Vol. 19; pp. 1-10.
Jackson R; The Cervical Syndrome; Thomas; 1978.
Seletz E; Whiplash Injuries, Neurophysiological Basis for Pain and Methods Used for Rehabilitation; Journal of the American Medical Association; November 29, 1958; pp. 1750–1755.
Friedman D, Flanders A, Thomas C, Millar W; Vertebral artery injury after acute cervical spine trauma: rate of occurrence as detected by MR angiography and assessment of clinical consequences; AJR Am J Roentgenol; 1995 Feb;164(2):443-7.
Viktrup L, Knudsen GM, Hansen SH; Delayed onset of fatal basilar thrombotic embolus after whiplash injury; Stroke; 1995 Nov;26(11):2194-6.
Nibu K, Cholewicki J, Panjabi MM, Babat LB, Grauer JN, Kothe R, Dvorak J; Dynamic elongation of the vertebral artery during an in vitro whiplash simulation; Eur Spine J. 1997;6(4):286-9.
Chong CL, Ooi SB; Neck pain after minor neck trauma, Is it always neck sprain? Eur J Emerg Med 2000 Jun;7(2):147-9.
Chung YS, Han DH; Vertebrobasilar dissection: a possible role of whiplash injury in its pathogenesis; Neurol Res. 2002 Mar;24(2):129-38.
Beaudry M, Spence JD; Motor Vehicle Accidents: The Most Common Cause of Traumatic Vertebrobasilar Ischemia; Canadian Journal of Neurological Sciences; November 2003; Volume 30, No. 4; pp. 320-325.
Haneline M, Triano J; Cervical artery dissection. A comparison of highly dynamic mechanisms: manipulation versus motor vehicle collision; J Manipulative Physiol Ther. 2005 Jan;28(1):57-63.
Endo K, Ichimaru K, Komagata M, Yamamoto K; Cervical vertigo and dizziness after whiplash injury; Eur Spine J. 2006 Jun;15(6):886-90.
Hauser V, Zangger P, Winter Y, Oertel W, Kesselrin J; Late Sequelae of Whiplash Injury with Dissection of Cervical Arteries; European Neurology August 18, 2010, Vol. 64, No. 4, pp. 214–218.
Terrett AGJ; Current Concepts in Vertebrovascular Complications Following Spinal Manipulation; Second Edition; NCMIC Group, 2001.
Terrett AG; Misuse of the literature by medical authors in discussing spinal manipulative therapy injury; Journal of Manipulative and Physiological Therapeutics; 1995 May;18(4):203-10.
Weban A, Beck J, Raabe A, Dettmann E. Seifert V; Misuse of the terms chiropractic and chiropractor J Neurol Neurosurg Psychiatry. 2004 May; 75(5): 794.
Weban A; Inappropriate use of the title ‘chiropractor’ and term ‘chiropractic manipulation’ in the peer-reviewed biomedical literature. Chiropractic and Osteopathy; 2006 Aug 22;14:16.
Haldeman S, Kohlbeck FJ, McGregor M; Unpredictability of cerebrovascular ischemia associated with cervical spine manipulation therapy: a review of sixty-four cases after cervical spine manipulation; Spine; 2002 Jan 1;27(1):49-55.
Cassidy, J David DC, PhD; Boyle, Eleanor PhD; Côté, Pierre DC, PhD; He, Yaohua MD, PhD; Hogg-Johnson, Sheilah PhD; Silver, Frank L. MD; Bondy, Susan J. PhD; Risk of Vertebrobasilar Stroke and Chiropractic Care: Results of a Population-Based Case-Control and Case-Crossover Study; Spine; Volume 33(4S), February 15, 2008 pp. S176-S183.
Murphy DR; Current understanding of the relationship between cervical manipulation and stroke: what does it mean for the chiropractic profession?; Chiropractic and Osteopathy; 2010 Aug 3;18:22.
Choi S, Boyle E, Cote P, Cassidy JD. A population-based case-series of Ontario patients who develop a vertebrobasilar artery stroke after seeing a chiropractor. J Manipulative Physiol Ther 2011; 34(1): 15-22.
Smith DL, Cramer GC; LETTER TO THE EDITOR: Spinal Manipulation is Not an Emerging Risk Factor for Stroke Nor is it Major Head/Neck Trauma. Don’t Just Read the Abstract!; The Open Neurology Journal, 2011, 5, 46-47
Herzog W, Leonard TR, Symons B, Tang C, Wuest S; Vertebral artery strains during high-speed, low amplitude cervical spinal manipulation; Journal of Electromyography and Kinesiology; Oct;22(5):740-6.
Biller J, Sacco RL, Albuquerque FC, Demaerschalk BM, Fayad P, Long PH, Noorollah LD, Panagos PD, Schievink WI, Schwartz NE, Shuaib A, Thaler DE, Tirschwell DL; on behalf of the American Heart Association Stroke Council; Cervical Arterial Dissections and Association With Cervical Manipulative Therapy: A Statement for Healthcare Professionals From the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association; Stroke; October 2014; 45(10):3155-74.
Thomas M Kosloff, David Elton, Jiang Tao and Wade M Bannister; Chiropractic Care and the Risk of Vertebrobasilar Stroke: Results of a Case–control Study in U.S. Commercial and Medicare Advantage Populations; Chiropractic & Manual Therapies 2015; 23:19; pp. 1-10.
Church EW, Sieg EP, Zalatimo O, Hussain NS, Glantz M, Harbaugh RE; Systematic Review and Meta-analysis of Chiropractic Care and Cervical Artery Dissection: No Evidence for Causation; Cureus; February 16, 2016; Vol. 8; No. 2; e498.
“Authored by Dan Murphy, D.C.. Published by ChiroTrust® – This publication is not meant to offer treatment advice or protocols. Cited material is not necessarily the opinion of the author or publisher.”
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REBEL RADIO
deep thinka records. buffalo, new york based independent hip hop label.
no writes reserved since 1997. check our record... it hasn't skipped
About dtr45
Founded in 1997 Deep Thinka Records, is an independent arts and entertainment boutique label/agency based in Buffalo New York dedicated to expressive and innovative production and publicity, industry reform, and community awareness and consciousness. Affectionately known as DTR45 (in homage to our favorite form of musical media, the vinyl record – which many times rotates at 45 RPM), Our mission from day one has been to bring the artist and their sound to the forefront, placing emphasis on creativity, innovation and cutting edge, out-of-the box thinking, rather than the prevalent business-as-usual, cookie cutter mold mentality prevalent in today’s industry. At the same time, our staff strives to work with our talent roster to develop a well rounded background of the overall function and operation of Deep Thinka Records – and the arts and entertainment industry as a whole.
Now in our 21st year of operation, DTR continues to represent the values of the independently owned small business, as well as those of the cultural movement widely known as hip hop. By creatively producing innovative products/events, organizing and mobilizing our community, and working to develop our business partnerships; we have enjoyed a prosperous decade plus in business; in a not so prosperous economic environment. Through our community outreach programs, our student internships, charitable benefit events and free Rebel Radio compilation series, we’ve continually reinvented our revolutionary marketing strategies and organizational culture, ensuring continued progress for decades to come.
Tony Caferro
Tony Edugene
Kate Schwartz
Vilona Trachtenberg
Recruitment Director
Summer Amato
Chad Porras
Dominic Luongo
Ron Perks
NYC A&R / Promotion
John Lisec
Dan Kunkel
Steven Dolsky
Copyright (c) 1997-2018 DeepThinka Records, LLC. All rights reserved. 604 Hertel Avenue | Buffalo, NY 14207 | 716.873.2151 | [email protected]
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How does Alison Sweeney Manage to keep Herself on shape? Transformed after massive weight loss! Her diet plans
Alison Sweeney's enticing body measurements of 39-25-36 inches have raised the fans’ curiosity upon her workout and diet plans. Petite Sweeney stands with the height of 5 feet and 3 inches and 56 kg.
Seeing The Biggest Loser’s host Alison healthier and happier these days, her admirers are trying to steal her strategies to remain slim and energized. Allison, a mom of two said: “I crave activity, being busy makes me feel accomplished.”
When Alison Sweeney Started Career?
Her departure after 21 years tenure from show Days of Our Lives left many people heartbroken. She said she gave up her starring role to maintain everything on a perfect schedule and mainly to get back to shape.
Sweeney started at just 16 on Days and for 1st ten years, she struggled with her excessive weight often being called a fat woman by the casting agents. Now, the mom of two babies is sturdy than ever.
Despite always having a busy schedule, Alison said that finding the ways to exercise was part of her challenge. She didn’t even excused herself and made a deal with herself that she would work out every day making plans about how to exercise for tomorrow before going to bed.
What's Secret of her Hot & Sexy Body?
People are curious to know about the quick fat burning exercise that television star performed. She shares easy multitasking workouts. Determined on what she thinks to do, Alison goes to a gym. She usually prefers water to keep the unwanted calories away and to avoid fats, the gorgeous television persona mostly prefers salads and fruits.
Sweeney openly advised that all you need is, to be honest about where you’re and what you want to accomplish. Sweeney says, “Set realistic goals, even if it means taking baby steps and don’t let the lack of time be an excuse for not working out.” “Once you accomplish your first goal, your second is a bit easier”, she added.
Speaking of her tempting looks characterized by her super-sexy and curvaceous figure, major credits go to her self-determination and then to her workout routines and diets.
Alison Sweeney is one amongst the very few women in the media industry to maintain such enticing body measurements of 39-25-36 inches without any medical procedures. Thanks to her height and balanced weight obtained through her healthy diet plans and scheduled everyday workouts, Alison Sweeney has more admirers now than ever.
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Zero Waste Food Brands
Elizabeth Kerr May 7, 2019
Last Friday we interviewed Toast Ale for series 5 of the podcast. We discussed how much innovation is coming through in the food industry to reduce food waste. With organisations like Feedback lobbying governments to change policy, people are effecting change on every level. I wanted to give a mention to small businesses who are working in this space to change attitudes to surplus food and the food they’re creating from ingredients which would otherwise be wasted.
L to R : Nibs etc., Toast, Rubies in the Rubble, ChicP, Urban Cordial, Elysia, Dash
Nibs etc.
Despite starting out just a couple of years ago, Chloë - founder of Nibs etc., has already received a plethora of awards and recognition from organisations such as WeWork. Nibs etc. are taking surplus pulp and transforming it into a variety of products. The process of juicing leaves a super nutritious, fibrous pulp that is often thrown away and Nibs etc. are making delicious granola, crackers and bakes. Find them at Borough Market on Thursdays and Fridays and packaging-free at Re:Store Refill in Hackney Downs. Keep up to date with Chloë and Nibs etc. here
The UK throws away a whopping 44% of all the bread it produces! Toast Ale, led by Tristram Stuart (founder of Feedback, watch his inspiring TED talk here ), take the heal ends of the loaves used to make packaged sandwiches and use it to brew their beers. Not only are the beers award winning, the profits are donated to Feedback, an organisation campaigning to end food waste on a global scale. Toast are on a mission, so much so that they’ve opened up their recipe for anyone to try making at home. Their ultimate goal is to reduce food waste and every aspect of the business is geared towards it. Find Toast in independent stores, pubs, bars and supermarkets across the UK and read more about them here
Rubies in the Rubble
An early starter in tackling food waste within a business. Since 2011, founder Jenny has been taking surplus fruits and vegetables from New Covent Garden Market in London and turning them into pickles, chutneys and relishes. The range has grown to include a banana ketchup (it’s delicious!) and vegan aquafaba mayonnaises. Find Rubies in the Rubble in Waitrose, Ocado and Sainsburys plus many independent retailers all over the UK. I highly recommend listening to the Desert Island Dishes podcast episode with Jenny to hear her talk about how she started the business.
ChicP
Whilst working in the food industry, Hannah - founder of ChicP, could not ignore the enormous quantities of leftover food and ingredients that was thrown away after events. Hannah found that houmous and dips were a really versatile way of using up leftover fruits and vegetables and so, ChicP was born. ChicP produces a range of savoury and sweet houmous with interesting flavours such as beetroot, horseradish & sage and banana, chocolate & avocado. Find ChicP on Ocado, in WholeFoods and in multiple independent retailers across the UK.
Urban Cordial
Inspired by produce on her allotment, founder Natasha started selling home made cordials at farmers markets, handpressing fruit for over 20,000 bottles before outsourcing production. Urban Cordial uses fruit from British farms which have not met supermarket beauty standards to create a variety of low-sugar cordials with really interesting flavours such as apple, lemon & fennel and raspberry & rosemary. Since launching they’ve saved an impressive 40+ tonnes of surplus fruit from going to waste.
A super innovative concept, Elysia purchases surplus from local artisan producers to create breakfasts and canapés for events. Sometimes producers have surplus from when a recipe has not quite turned out right or there’s an ingredient missing from the batch, the food is still of course perfectly good to eat but is not consistent enough to be sold alongside other loaves/boxes/jars. Elysia take this and create beautiful spreads for parties, corporate lunches and events.
Creators of sparkling water infused with wonky fruit and veg from British farms. Founders Alex and Jack were aware of the immense scale of produce which was not reaching the supermarket due to imperfections, size or colour and so created Dash to help tackle this issue. The cans contain no sugar or sweeteners so they have a natural flavour of cucumber, lemon, raspberry or blackcurrant. Find it in supermarkets, independent stores, Selfridges, Whole Foods and so many more.
Let me know below if there are more I should add to this list!
In FOOD WASTE Tags food waste london, food waste brands, zero waste
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https://twitter.com/EUpalestinians
https://www.facebook.com/EUandPalestinians/?fref=ts
The Office of the European Union Representative
(West Bank and Gaza Strip, UNRWA)
No translations available!
EEAS homepage > Palestine (*) - Occupied Palestinian Territory, West Bank and Gaza Strip > Statement by the Spokesperson on further judicial decisions against members of the National Assembly of Venezuela
Statement by the Spokesperson on further judicial decisions against members of the National Assembly of Venezuela
Bruxelles, 15/05/2019 - 19:20, UNIQUE ID: 190515_12
Yesterday’s flawed judicial decisions against members of the National Assembly of Venezuela - Miguel Pizarro, Carlos Paparoni, Franco Casella and Winston Flores - are part of a pattern of blatant violations of due process and unfair legal proceedings. They also constitute clear measures of intimidation aimed at hampering the political work of the National Assembly. Such measures only contribute to further polarisation of the situation in the country. The European Union underlines the need to fully respect the country’s Constitution as well as lawmakers’ civil rights and their parliamentary immunity.
Maja KOCIJANCIC
Spokesperson for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy/European Neighbourhood Policy and Enlargement Negotiations
+32 (0)2 29 86570
Elena GONZALEZ VERDESOTO
Press Officer for Latin America and Caribbean / International Cooperation and Development (ad interim)
Xavier CIFRE QUATRESOLS
EEAS Press Officer
Joint Statement by Federica Mogherini, Chrystia Freeland and Cecilia Malmström on the decision of the United States to further activate Title III of the Helms Burton (Libertad) ActJoint Statement by High Representative/Vice President Federica Mogherini, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Canada Chrystia Freeland and EU Commissioner for Trade Cecilia Malmström on the decision of the United States to further activate Title III of the Helms Burton (Libertad) Act
Statement by the Spokesperson on the latest developments in Venezuela
Statement by the Spokesperson on the occasion of the International Albinism Awareness Day, 13 JuneStatement by the Spokesperson on the occasion of the International Albinism Awareness Day, 13 June
Statement by the Spokesperson on the occasion of the International Day for Mine Awareness and Assistance in Mine ActionStatement by the Spokesperson on the occasion of the International Day for Mine Awareness and Assistance in Mine Action
Main office: Al - Mashtal Hotel, First Floor, Salah Khalaf Street, P.O. Box 576, Gaza City
Temporary and unofficial address: 5 George Adam Smith, P.O.Box 22207, Jerusalem
(+972) 02-5415888,
Fax: (+972) 02-5415848
delegation-west-bank-gaza@eeas.europa.eu
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Languages: 日本語 press Category: Statements on behalf of the EU Regions: Japan Editorial Sections: EEAS Japan Unique ID: 190714_4 Press Location: Bruxelles
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Author: Press and information team of the Delegation to JORDAN - Publication date: 14/07/2019
LOCAL EU STATEMENT ON THE TERRORIST ATTACK IN KISMAYO (SOMALIA)
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/file/eu-support-fisheries-sector-yemen_enEU support for the fisheries sector in Yemen
Video of EU support for the fisheries sector in Yemen
EU support to the Yemeni fisheries sector
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Author: Press and information team of the Delegation to YEMEN - Publication date: 14/07/2019
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Agent de Bureau
La Délégation de l’Union européenne en Tunisie recherche: Agent de Bureau
Author: Press and information team of the Delegation to Tunisia - Publication date: 14/07/2019
The European Union calls on all States to uphold the integrity of the rules-based international system with effective multilateralism as a key principle. This is indispensable for maintaining international peace and security. We are concerned that the international disarmament and non-proliferation
Author: Press and information team of the Delegation to the UN in Geneva - Publication date: 14/07/2019
Joint Statements
Joint statement by HR/VP Mogherini and Iraqi Foreign Minister Alhakim on the EU-Iraq relations and regional cooperation
The European Union and Iraq strongly affirm their shared commitment to peace and stability in the wider Middle East and call for the de-escalation of the current tensions in the region, reminding that the risks and the consequences may affect Iraq, the region and beyond.
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Kazushiza Horiguchi
Native name
堀口一史座
(1975-02-28) February 28, 1975 (age 44)
Tokyo Metropolis
Achieved professional status
April 1, 1996(1996-04-01) (aged 21)
7 dan
Hatasu Itō [ja]
Meijin class
Ryūō class
JSA profile page
This article may be expanded with text translated from the corresponding article in Japanese. (October 2017) Click [show] for important translation instructions.
Kazushiza Horiguchi (堀口 一史座, Horiguchi Kazushiza, born February 28, 1975) is a Japanese professional shogi player ranked 7-dan.
2 Shogi professional
3 Promotion history
4 Titles and other championships
Horiguchi was born in Tokyo Metropolis on February 28, 1975.[1] He learned shogi around the age of ten after seeing a shogi set at his grandparents' house.[2] Horiguchi entered the Japan Shogi Association's apprentice school as a pupil of shogi professional Hatasu Itō [ja] at the rank of 6-kyū in 1988. He was promoted to the rank of 1-dan in 1991, and entered the 3-dan League in 1993.[2]
Horiguchi came close to obtaining full professional status and the rank of 4-dan in the 17th 3-dan League (April 1995 – September 1995), but lost his last round game to future fellow professional Kimura Kazuki to miss out on promotion. The following league season, however, Horiguchi finished with a record of 14 wins and 4 loses in the 18th 3-dan League (October 1995 – April 1996) to win the league and earn promotion to the rank of 4-dan.[2][3]
Shogi professional[edit]
Horiguchi finished runner up in the 48th NHK Cup TV Shogi Tournament (1998) and the 8th Ginga-sen [ja] (2000), losing in the finals both times to Yoshiharu Habu. He also finished runner up in the 30th Shinjin-Ō [ja] (1999), losing to Takeshi Fujii 2 games to none.[2][3][4]
Horiguchi's only shogi championship to date came in 2002 when he defeated Masataka Sugimoto 3 games to 1 to win the 20th Asahi Open [ja]; he was, however, unable to defend his championship the following year, losing to Kōichi Fukaura by the same score in the finals of the 21st Asahi Open.[2][3][5][6]
Promotion history[edit]
Horiguchi's promotion history is as follows:[7]
1988: 6-kyū
1991: 1-dan
1996, April 1: 4-dan
1999, October 14: 5-dan
2002, October 1: 6-dan
Titles and other championships[edit]
Horiguchi has yet to appear in a major title match, but he has won one non-major title championship.[8]
Awards and honors[edit]
Horiguchi won the Japan Shogi Association's Annual Shogi Award for "Best New Player" in 1991.[9]
^ "Kishi Dētabēsu: Horiguchi Kazushiza" 棋士データベース: 堀口一史座 [Professional Shogi Player Database: Kazushiza Horiguchi] (in Japanese). Japan Shogi Association. Retrieved February 18, 2019.
^ a b c d e Geneki Purō Kishi DētaBukku 2016 [Ge] Ta-Wa Gyō 現役プロ棋士データブック2016 [下] た-わ行 [2016 Active Shogi Professional Databook [Last volume] Letter "Ta" to letter "Wa"] (in Japanese). MyNabi Publishing/Japan Shogi Association. 2015. p. 42. ASIN B019SSNKVA. Retrieved February 18, 2019 – via Google Books.
^ a b c "Heisei Nijūrokunenban Shōgi Nenkan Nisenjūyonnen" 平成26年版 将棋年鑑 2014 [Shogi Yearbook: Heisei 26 (2014) edition] (in Japanese). MyNabi Publishing/Japan Shogi Association. 2014. p. 562. ISBN 978-4-8399-5175-7. Retrieved February 18, 2019 – via Google Books.
^ "Dai Sanjūki Shinjin-Ōsen: Tōnamentosen" 第30期新人王戦:トーナメント戦 [30th Shinjin-Ō: Main Tournament] (in Japanese). Japan Shogi Association. 1999. Retrieved February 18, 2019.
^ "Dai Nijūikkai Asahi Ōpun Shōgi Senshuken: Kesshō Tōnamento" 第20回朝日オープン将棋選手権: 決勝トーナメント [20th Asahi Open: Final's Tournament] (in Japanese). Japan Shogi Association. 2001. Retrieved February 18, 2019.
^ "Dai Nijūikkai Asahi Ōpun Shōgi Senshuken: Chōsensha Kettei Tōnamento/Goban Shōbu" 第21回朝日オープン将棋選手権: 挑戦者決定トーナメント/五番勝負 [21st Asahi Open: Challenger's Tournament/Title Match] (in Japanese). Japan Shogi Association. 2002. Retrieved February 18, 2019.
^ "Kishi Dētabēsu: Horiguchi Kazushiza Shōdan Rireki" 棋士データベース: 堀口一史座 昇段履歴 [Professional Shogi Player Database: Kazushiza Horiguchi Promotion History] (in Japanese). Japan Shogi Association. Retrieved February 18, 2019.
^ "Kishi Dētabēsu: Horiguchi Kazushiza Yūshō Rireki" 棋士データベース: 堀口一史座 優勝履歴 [Professional Shogi Player Database: Kazushiza Horiguchi Championship History] (in Japanese). Japan Shogi Association. Retrieved February 18, 2019.
^ "Kishi Dētabēsu: Horiguchi Kazushiza Shōgi Taishō" 棋士データベース: 堀口一史座 将棋大賞 [Professional Shogi Player Database: Kazushiza Horiguchi Annual Shogi Awards] (in Japanese). Japan Shogi Association. Retrieved February 18, 2019.
ShogiHub: Professional Player Info · Horiguchi, Kazushiza
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Talk:1820 United States House of Representatives election in Rhode Island
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Japan, U.S. vow to solve N. Korea crisis through diplomatic means
KYODO NEWS - Oct 17, 2017 - 14:52 | All, World
Japanese and U.S. vice foreign ministers agreed in their meeting Tuesday to seek a diplomatic solution to North Korea's nuclear and missile threats, despite increasing fears about a military conflict with Pyongyang.
Amid growing tensions over a possible fresh provocation by North Korea, Japanese Vice Foreign Minister Shinsuke Sugiyama and U.S. Deputy Secretary of State John Sullivan reiterated the importance of trilateral cooperation with South Korea to bolster pressure on Pyongyang.
Sugiyama and Sullivan met in Tokyo a day after South Korea and the United States began a five-day joint naval drill in waters south of the de facto sea border with North Korea, raising speculation that Pyongyang may test-fire another ballistic missile in retaliation.
"Cooperation between Japan and the United States, and that between Japan, the United States and South Korea, are more important than before to put diplomatic pressure (on North Korea) to the maximum level," Sugiyama told reporters after the meeting.
"While working with China and Russia, we will try to urge North Korea to change its current policy course," he added.
Sullivan separately told reporters that the principal focus at the U.S. State Department is on a "diplomatic solution," adding Washington will "continue the pressure campaign" in a bid to "denuclearize the Korean Peninsula."
As for a military option, Sullivan only said, "We must...be prepared for the worst, should diplomacy fail."
(Korea Media)
"We must be prepared to defend the United States and defend our allies, Japan and South Korea, among others, principally," Sullivan added.
Sugiyama and Sullivan also discussed arrangements for U.S. President Donald Trump's visit to Japan from Nov. 5, and exchanged views on a 2015 nuclear agreement by Iran and six major powers including the United States.
Trump pledged late last week not to continue certifying Tehran's compliance with the landmark deal, under which Iran agreed to curb its nuclear development activities in exchange for the lifting of sanctions. Japan has supported its implementation.
Sugiyama and Sullivan are scheduled to visit South Korea later in the day to hold trilateral talks with South Korean Vice Foreign Minister Lim Sung Nam on Wednesday.
The three senior officials will gather as the Korean Central News Agency, North Korea's official media, criticized in a commentary released Saturday the U.S.-South Korea joint military drill as a "reckless act of war maniacs," saying it "only drives the tense situation on the peninsula into the point of explosion."
In China, meanwhile, the twice-a-decade Communist Party congress will start on Wednesday.
North Korea carried out its sixth nuclear test in September, when Chinese President Xi Jinping was to host a summit of emerging economies in his country -- an important diplomatic chance to cast himself as an influential global leader ahead of the congress.
Trump to meet Abe, abductees' kin during Japan trip from Nov. 5
Japan labels N. Korea "significant geopolitical risk" to global economy
OPINION: Learning art of deal in Pacific diplomacy
Oct 17, 2017 | KYODO NEWS
Large Chinese presence in Cambodian city clashes with local culture
Princess Mako leaves for Peru, Bolivia
Hayabusa2 successfully collects 1st-ever subsurface samples: JAXA
Senior U.S. diplomat says Japan alliance will "change constantly"
N. Korea's Kim seeks security guarantees instead of sanctions relief
Buildings damaged as M5.7 quake hits Indonesia's Bali
Japan's Princess Mako meets with Bolivian president
M7.3 earthquake hits eastern Indonesia
N.Y. blackout affects over 70,000 households, Broadway shows canceled
50 killed, 30 missing in floods, landslides in Nepal
Visitors flock to Uluru as climbing ban looms
KYODO NEWS - 2 hours ago - 19:22 | All, World, Japan
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Olympics: Breakdancing among 4 sports likely added to Paris 2024 Games
KYODO NEWS - Jun 26, 2019 - 11:55 | Sports, News, All
The four sports proposed by Paris organizers -- breakdancing, skateboarding, sport climbing and surfing -- were provisionally approved for the 2024 Summer Games at the International Olympic Committee Session on Tuesday.
The four sports, featuring 12 individual events, are set to be contested in Paris in 2024 pending final confirmation of the competition program by the IOC Executive Board in 2020, with breakdancing set to make its Olympic debut, four years after the other three are contested for the first time in Tokyo.
[Icon Sport/Getty/Kyodo]
"I am delighted with the IOC Session's vote in favor of our proposal to include breaking, sport climbing, skateboarding and surfing on the Paris 2024 Olympics Games program," Paris 2024 President Tony Estanguet was quoted as saying on Olympic.org.
"Our aim from the outset has been to highlight what has been the strength of the Games for 32 Olympiads now -- the diversity of the sports and the excitement that comes with performance -- while also taking the opportunity afforded by the IOC to enhance the program and offer a new dimension."
The organizing committee said in a statement that Paris 2024 will choose a surfing venue with natural waves.
(File photo taken in September 2018 shows Kanoa Igarashi)
Baseball and softball, both on the program for next year's games, were not among the sports shortlisted for Paris in February, with karate joining them on the outer. No more sports can be proposed for inclusion for Paris 2024, but others can still be added for the 2028 Los Angeles Games.
The Paris program will include 32 sports, one fewer than Tokyo.
Jun 26, 2019 | KYODO NEWS
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Destinations | Inspiration | Intel | Book Your Trip
A Few Days In
The Irresistible Food and Football Charm of Oxford, Mississippi
by Daniel Schwartz
The scene at Cabin 82 at Graduate Oxford. All photos by Daniel Schwartz.
This week we're celebrating small cities in the United States, making our way through charming college towns in the American South. Our first stop was Charlottesville, Virginia, for orchards, wineries, and a dose of Colonial history. Now we're turning our sights to Oxford, Mississippi, where we found a sophisticated crowd that really loves its football.
OXFORD, Mississippi – I landed in Memphis, my first foray into the Mid-South, an area that encompasses parts of Tennessee, Arkansas, Missouri, Kentucky, and Mississippi, and followed my driver, an older gentleman in overalls, into an air-conditioned Lexus. We exchanged cordial conversation about the weather — high 70s and humid in November — for the 80-mile drive to Oxford, Mississippi, where I spent the weekend as a guest of the new Graduate Oxford hotel.
During conversational lows, I glimpsed small streams, crowds of cattle, and rusty, single-pump Chevron stations. As we approached Oxford, gaudy gated communities with names like Steeple Chase seemed to appear out of nowhere. On that stretch of Highway 6, I couldn't have felt farther from my home in Queens, New York. As an open-minded traveler, I was thrilled.
Oxford is home to the University of Mississippi, and the atmosphere is sophisticated, as befits an historic college town. The scene is dominated by boutiques and art galleries, Neilson's, the oldest department store in the South, and five eateries by James Beard Award-winning chef John Currence. The men wear jackets, white slacks, and tucked-in checkered shirts; the women are well-dressed Southern beauties.
I was told that in the late '50s, after consecutive Miss Americas were crowned from Mississippi, all the pageant hopefuls from the region migrated to the state, and from the looks of it, they had stayed and had really great-looking kids. I got the feeling that if you were from the area and had money to move (then and now), you're coming to Oxford.
The square, the social hub of town, is all porticos and small buildings in yellows, blues, and whites. A courthouse sits in the center, a replica of the original that was burned during the Civil War. The city's main shops and restaurants line the square and Lamar Boulevard, the main drag through town. Antebellum mansions in Italianate and Greek Revival styles — like Cedar Oaks and Shadowlawn, which were designed by William Turner, and Ammadelle, designed by Calvert Vaux (co-designer of Central Park) — interrupt the slightly smaller surrounding homes, which are decorated with charming real flame lanterns.
Oxford is famous for its literary legends — sports writer Wright Thompson, John Grisham, and, most notably, William Faulkner, the late Nobel Prize laureate, a complicated and reclusive sort, who is still a source of inspiration in bookstores, at his former home, and at his gravesite, which is covered with half-empty bottles of whiskey, his favorite spirit.
But Oxford may be better known (at least in the area) for the Ole Miss Rebels, a leading college football team in the Southeast Conference. The squad has ushered many alums into the NFL, including the Manning family: Archie and son Eli. They still have a house outside town.
The view of the courthouse from Graduate Oxford. Photo by Christian Horan Photography.
Businesses in the town square. Photo by Daniel Schwartz.
Town square colors. At night, old lamps tint the scene green. Photo by Daniel Schwartz.
LAY OF THE LAND
Oxford is in Lafayette County in the hill country of northern Mississippi, eighty miles south of Memphis, sixty miles east of the Mississippi Delta, and 350 miles (six hours by car) north of New Orleans. The city is located on the Mississippi Blues Trail, which traces the roots of American music throughout the state. Everything in Oxford is within walking distance. Dining and nightlife are concentrated in the square. The university and football stadium are a fifteen-minute walk from the courthouse.
The first thing I did in Oxford was attend Thacker Mountain Radio Hour, a weekly program showcasing Southern talent through readings, talks, and musical performances. The radio shows is recorded live at Off Square Books, the lifestyle arm of the historic three-store bookshop Square Books, and airs Saturday nights on Mississippi Public Broadcasting. Before I had the chance to unpack, much less take my introductory walk around town, I was three rows from the podium, under weak fans, surrounded by established members of the community, many of whom owned local businesses and all of whom knew each other. They could tell I was an outsider, but I felt welcome.
The lights dimmed, the house band started playing, the show began, and I started taking mental notes. The crowd clapped hard for home-grown award-winning sports writer Wright Thompson and laughed in self-reflection as British author Richard Grant, who moved from Manhattan to the Delta, noted the peculiarities of the local culture in his latest, Dispatches from Pluto. Guests smiled as the only child in the audience, a little African-American girl with a princess crown and a wand, walked up and stared at Aaron Lee Tasjan, the most unorthodox chap in the house. The musician, recently profiled in Rolling Stones, wore a trucker hat, loose jeans, and a flower pinned to his brown cardigan. The audience didn't care, and gave the howling solo performer a standing ovation.
The home of William Faulkner, Rowan Oak. Photo by Daniel Schwartz.
I'm a big fan of history tours in small towns. Manageable in scope, they help me understand a place and its roots, as old houses, forgettable statues, and ordinary storefronts are given context from the background into the narrative of local life. Visit Oxford offers a historic Double Decker Bus Tour led by local docent Jack Mayfield that starts at their office and leads to the square, campus, and surrounding neighborhoods.
I had a private tour with Jack scheduled through Visit Oxford. The kind-eyed gentleman, a fifth generation Oxonian with a white beard and aquiline nose, took me through Antebellum manors and Rowan Oak, the preserved home of William Faulkner, sharing personal stories about his encounters with the writer as he pointed out Faulkner's regular walking route through town. He recommended I check out University Museum for scientific instruments and southern folk art and The Blues Archive (one of the world's largest) for listening and learning.
Entering The Grove. Photo by Daniel Schwartz.
Ole Miss Rebels vs. Arkansas Razorbacks. Photo by Daniel Schwartz.
Between September and January when the Rebels are playing at home, football is the weekend activity. Fans from across the region flock to Oxford on Friday from the Saturday game, transforming the small town of 20,000 into a spirited demonstration of extreme fandom of nearly 100,000. On game day, everyone swarms to The Grove, a ten-acre woodsy patch in the middle of Ole Miss, for one of the nation's rowdiest, most elaborate pre-game tailgating parties.
For me, it was beautiful mayhem. I attended a morning tailgate for an afternoon game. Locals were drinking by 8 a.m., and by 11, the entire town was en route to Ole Miss and the Grove, where blue and red tents (team colors) filled with furniture, full-service bars, catered cooking, dessert towers, and live music stretched as far as I could see. Many had satellite dishes for those who wanted pre-game analysis or couldn't make it inside the stadium. It helps to know someone for access, since most of the territory is apportioned by gentleman's agreement to fraternities, sororities, and self-associating fan groups. There are some open patches and locals are incredibly hospitable, even to fans of the opposing team. But I'd ask before pitching a spot. Southern manners are Southern manners, and these folks are territorial.
I'm not a big football person, but I stuck around for the game and I'm glad I did. Inside the stadium, the energy is electric. From the megatron, celebrities incite the crowd to scream the school's signature war cry, "Hotty Toddy." (Check out college bros reciting the chant.) Watching men in bowties and ladies in heels and cocktail dresses react to plays is an object lesson that football is more than sport in local culture; it's a way of life. And even when the Rebels lose, the post-game atmosphere is upbeat. After all, the priceless motto around town is, "We may not win every game, but we've never lost a party."
Sweet potato and smoked trout hash. Photo courtesy of Big Bad Breakfast.
I ate every three hours in Oxford. This is a serious food town, where the options range from classic fried soul food to sophisticated, award-winning cuisine. My food coma lasted from day one until a week after I got home. And I loved it.
Cabin 82 at Graduate Oxford serves juicy fried chicken biscuits, hearty sausages from local general store Williams Brothers, and La Colombe coffee. Bottletree Bakery has great oatmeal raisin cookies and a cozy coffeeshop vibe. Big Bad Breakfast, a John Currence joint, upgrades the early meal with inventive specials and old-school staples like house-cured Tabasco and brown sugar bacon, Coca-Cola-brined fried chicken, and local Grit Girl grits. The wait is almost an hour at opening, but only a few minutes for solo diners at the bar.
Ajax Diner is a local favorite and fills up quickly. The soul food offerings are extensive, and the highlights are anything catfish, oyster, or shrimp paired with the veggie sides — cheese grits, fried okra, and cornbread dressing (think: stuffing). The Second Line, a Memphis eatery from chef Kelly English of Restaurant Iris, now has an Oxford outpost and makes excellent po'boys with bread flown in from New Orleans. I went rogue by not ordering a traditional shrimp po boy, and I loved the Verno (braised chicken thighs with Swiss).
On my next visit, I'm eating at Taylor Grocery, a 100-year-old restaurant fifteen minutes out of town famous for its catfish. I heard great things about Oxford Canteen, a hard-to-find spot down an alley off the square that serves fresh juices (which I desperately needed by day two) and good to-go bites like pepper, potato, and egg breakfast tacos. If I don't make it to the original Gus's Fried Chicken in Memphis (which I was told I should visit before any of their other eleven locations), I'll stop into their Oxford location. Everyone I talked to was crazy about this chain.
John Currence runs the show in Oxford. I ate at City Grocery, the oldest and most renowned of his restaurants, where candlelight, classy clientele, and white tablecloths foreshadow sophisticated twists on regional staples like shrimp and grits, smoked crawfish mousse, and duck confit. Not surprisingly, the local tomato salad, the only light dish I had on my trip, was a highlight.
Currence's Bouré is a casual, two-floor Creole eatery where I only had drinks. I wish I had had room for crawfish baskets and chicken cutlet sandwiches with spicy Cajun gravy.
I didn't make it at all to Snackbar, Currence's Mississippi-influenced brasserie with an awesome oyster program. Rob Long, Vice President of Southern Foodways Alliance and a Fathom contributor, had recommended it for chef Vishwesh Bhatt, whose influence is obvious in dishes like black pepper masala fried quail and hariyali duck. The last outpost of the empire is Lamar Lounge which has the only pit-smoked, whole hog barbecue in Mississippi and donates all profits to charity.
Which is not to say it's all Currence all the time. McEwen's has heavenly steaks and reliable fish dishes served with local vegetables. According to locals, there is such a thing as top-notch sushi in Oxford. And it can be found at Jinsei.
The beautiful bar at The Coop. Photo by Christian Horan Photography.
The upstairs bar at City Grocery has classic cocktails and a charming terrace overlooking the square. Burgundy Room, above Venice Pizza Co., and Bouré also have square views, but can get crowded. The Coop at Graduate Oxford, the only rooftop bar in town, serves Southern-style cocktails and late-night snacks like tamales, bologna (in local lingo, Tennesse long steak) sliders, and addicting queso dip. If you're not sipping above ground, you're drinking in the depths of college bars like The Library, which has tons of TVs, a smoke machine, and lines out the door on football weekend nights.
Graduate Oxford is the newest addition to Graduate Hotels' chain of college town boutiques. And you won't find anything like it in town. (Other lodging options include off-square Super 8s and small inns.) The 136-room hotel, located two blocks from the square, sits on land formerly occupied by Cedar Oaks, an antebellum mansion built by local architect William G. Turner in 1859 that was cut in half and transported up North Lamar Boulevard where it currently rests. Graduate recreates college living in an alternate universe, one where dormitories have a full-service lobby bar, a rooftop restaurant, insanely comfortable beds, and Malin & Goetz toiletries.
Rooms start at $140 during off-season and jump to $270 during football months. Options range from 325-square-foot singles to spacious suites that are named after hometown heroes (Charlie Conerly Jr., William Morris) and curated with their memorabilia. The hotel's interiors are preppy and collegiate — plaid carpets, trophy lamps, and, in the lobby, plush sofas with charging ports and classic literature. Design pays homage to Oxford culture. Artwork includes silhouettes of Archie and Olivia Manning (local heroes), a portrait of Miss America (local obsession), and a map of tents in The Grove (local pasttime). Cabin 82, the first-floor cafe, is modeled after the cabins at Neshoba County Fair, a historic state-wide gathering of families, live music, horse racing, and pageantry.
The lobby bar. Hotel photos by Christian Horan Photography.
Interiors at Cabin 82.
A king-sized room at Graduate.
Memphis International Airport (MEM) is an hour and twenty minutes drive to Oxford. Uber doesn't service the area. Blacklane is the luxury option, with roundtrips at $400. Shuttles2go is the alternative, with $100 one-way drives, but I can't vouch for the ride. A rental car may be the cheapest option, but unless you're visiting the delta or tracing the Blues Trail, you won't be using it much once you get to Oxford.
The town turns up during NCAA Division I football season from September to January. If you can't stand crowds, visit during the off-season. Note that Mississippi is hot and humid in spring and summer, generally sunny with sporadic intense thunderstorms.
FOR YOUR BEDSIDE TABLE
I started listening to Adam Klein, Mark Edgar Stuart, and Aaron Lee Tasjan after hearing them at Thacker Mountain Radio, which you can listen to online at 6 p.m. EST on Saturdays on Mississippi Public Broadcasting. The ESPN movie Ghosts of Ole Miss, adapted from an article by sports writer Wright Thompson, gives perspective on the impact of racial integration and football on the local community. Absolom, Absolom! is the most detailed of William Faulkner's novels set in the fictional county of Yoknapatawpha, inspired by Lafayette County and the former residents of Oxford. If patience and focus aren't your strong points, Faulkner's Selected Short Stories also give a good sense of the attitudes and history of Mississippi.
BUT WAIT, THERE'S MORE
Fathom's Guide to the American South
Travel All The Time
Subscribe to the Fathom Newsletter.
Filed under: A Few Days In, Food, Mississippi, Southern Charm, The US South, United States, University of Mississippi
Daniel Schwartz
Daniel is an editor at Fathom. Follow him on Instagram and Twitter. He travels for the food, perspective, and sense of belonging. Read more: Articles on Fathom
© 2019 Fathom Unlimited
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The Family Office Landscape - A Forever Moving Target at Anthony Ritossa's 9th Global Family Office Investment Summit Under the High Patronage of HSH Prince Albert II of Monaco
MONTE CARLO, Monaco, June 25, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- The 9th Global Family Office Summit hosted by Anthony Ritossa concluded in Monaco this week as a global forum for 400+ leading family offices and ultra-high net worth individuals representing $4 trillion+ in investor wealth. Held June 18-20 and themed "The Rise and Rise of Family Offices," the Summit surpassed previous events in terms of the quality of family participants and 600 total delegates.
Anthony Ritossa, Chairman of Ritossa Family Office; Faris Al Tahtamooni, Associate Director-Strategic Partnerships, The Office of Sheikh Sultan Bin Abdullah Al Qasimi, UAE; Markus Lehner, Principal, Markus Lehner Family Office, Monaco and Summit Chairman.
In keeping with the Ritossa tradition, the elite family offices, prominent business owners, Sheikhs, Royal Families, Private Investment Companies, International Business Executives, Sovereign Wealth Funds, and Industry Professionals from throughout Europe, the Middle East and around the globe convened at the Fairmont Monte-Carlo under the High Patronage of His Serene Highness Prince Albert II of Monaco.
A crowd-pleasing talk by Formula 1 World Champion and Monaco resident Nico Rosberg proved to be a highlight and he received a standing ovation for his comments on transitioning from World Formula 1 Champion in 2016 with Mercedes AMG Petronas, Monaco, to head of the Nico Rosberg Family Office dedicated to improving the world through activities such as his Greentech Festival in Berlin. His presentation was part of the session entitled "Iconic Monaco Family Offices At Work" moderated by SVG Hon. Consul Giuseppe Ambrosio, President of the Monaco Single & Multi Family Office Association.
Importantly, The Knights Society of Elviña, formed to exalt the British and Spanish chivalric values that favored the triumph in the Battle of Elviña during the Spanish War of Independence, named Sir Anthony Ritossa as a Knight. He is now one of only 55 members of the limited society that recognizes a select group of political class, nobility, royalty as well as great writers and entrepreneurs under the Royal Patronage of His Highness Mahmoud Salah Al Din Assaf.
SVG Hon. Consul Giuseppe Ambrosio, President of the Monaco Single & Multi Family Office Association and a fellow philanthropist, presented seven prestigious award to honour select recipients for their contributions to our global society and the family office community.
Family Office Lifetime Achievement in Philanthropy 2019 Award – Presented to His Serene Highness Prince Albert II of Monaco to recognize his Prince Albert II of Monaco Foundation which addresses our planet's alarming environmental situation by supporting initiatives of public and private organizations, in the fields of research and studies, technological innovation and socially aware practices. This prestigious award was presented to Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou in 2018 and is intended to honour stellar philanthropic accomplishments on a global level.
Family Office Shipping and Yachting 2019 Award – Presented to Manfredi Lefrevre d'Ovidio, Chairman, Heritage Group and Silversea Cruises, Monaco.
Family Office Private Debt 2019 Award – Presented to Evgene Denisenko, Managing Director, Apolis, Monaco.
Family Office Social Responsibility 2019 Award – Presented to Kerry E. Adler. As Founder, President and Chief Executive Officer of SkyPower, the leading global developer, owner and operator of large utility-scale solar projects with an active presence in over 36 countries and multibillion dollar electricity contracts, he is recognized as one of the early pioneers of solar energy and a leading authority on renewable energy around the world. (The 2018 award was presented to Guido Giannotta of Ferrero.) Presented to Ferrero and collected by Guido Giannotta.
Family Office Innovation in Private Equity with Impact 2019 Award – Presented to Mungo Parks, Chairman of Innovator Capital and Co-Founder of CleanEquity, Monaco.
Family Office Enlightened Governance 2019 Award – Presented to Mohamed Al Ali, CEO & Advisor, Sheikh Ahmed Al Maktoum International Investments Enterprise, UAE.
Family Office Asset Manager 2019 Award – presented to Michael S. Young, CEO of Mediatrix Capital, Inc., The Bahamas, as his second consecutive award.
"I am humbled by the tremendous success our Summits continue to enjoy. It is an honour to be able to further cooperation and collaboration between European families and their counterparts in the Middle East, the United States, Asia and Latin America by presenting an opportunity for leading family offices to meet in a private, invitation-only, confidential and closed-door environment," said Anthony Ritossa, Chairman of Ritossa Family Office, a family business dating back 600 years to the Venetian Empire in Europe.
"This is the third time that Monaco has hosted this important Summit and the 9th time this Summit has been held around the world. Every time, it is larger and larger and the quality of the attendees is better and better. This year we had at least five continents represented and all attendees are all to be commended for their tremendous accomplishments, including shared vision, values and passion for the environment and sustainability. The greatest asset of this event is the quality of family offices attending and Anthony, myself and our Summit Advisory Board are committed to protecting these assets for the future," said SVG Hon. Consul Giuseppe Ambrosio, President of the Monaco Single & Multi Family Office Association.
"The Summit is a good mix of families, of products and services. This sharing of current activities, and future trends is very important in such gatherings as a vehicle to move forward through the balance of 2019," said H.R.H. Prince Michel de Yougoslavie, Grandson of King Umberto of Italy & Prince Paul of Yugoslavia, Monaco.
"The 9th Global Family Office Summit event in Monaco was a great achievement for Anthony Ritossa, local & international partners, and everyone who participated. Attendees traveled from all over the world for high level discussions regarding strategic partnerships that are changing the world. Phenomenal days with Multi billions in deals signed during the event. East Meets West is a theme that will continue for future Summits and we look forward to hosting the group in Dubai in November," said Mohamed Al Ali, CEO & Advisor, Sheikh Ahmed Al Maktoum International Investments Enterprise, UAE.
"The Ritossa Family Office Summit greatly surpassed my expectations. Anthony and his team put together an agenda filled with timely and thought provoking topics combined with outstanding panelists. It was an incredible way to meet and network with so many interesting and successful people from around the world and at the same time to make new friends," H.S.H. Prince Hermann zu Leiningen, Grandson of King Boris III of Bulgaria and Grandduchess Maria of Russia and Managing Director, Family Office Investments of Royal Bank of Canada.
Among the events and topics that were top of mind included:
Great Wealth is Created and Destroyed by Human Beings – Families must communicate about important topics, including monetary wealth, in order to move forward. Throughout history, families will struggle and have challenges yet they must stay connected, find a safe space and understand their shared vision.
Technology is the Answer - Families are comfortable with and understand technology, its moving parts and its broad spectrum, and are now delving into new areas referred to as Deep Tech. This is the future and is used to combine different technologies to solve some of mankind's biggest challenges such as longevity and inequality, according to Nick Ayton, Founder and CEO of Chainstarter and a family office advisor.
Sustainability, Impact + ESG Themes in High Demand - Investors increasingly seek returns that align with doing good for the world and are eager to embrace such opportunities, especially when they incorporate artificial intelligence, machine learning and ESG metrics. Next generation investors, in particular, view this as essential to the future of our society.
Invest in Oneself + The Family– In addition to investing our money, it is essential to invest in oneself and in the family in order to make continued wise decisions. Family stewardship and philanthropy is integral to family governance and the preservation of human capital. Practicing gratitude improves family-business balance.
Elite Investor Insights – Among the investment themes favoured by Summit speakers are: IoT/artificial intelligence/machine FinTech and lending, technology, healthcare, ecommerce, education, aquaculture, entertainment, disruption, start-ups, venture, alternative assets, real estate, solar power, art, clean energy, and digital assets.
For details on future events and the invitation-only 10th Global Family Office Investment Summit in Dubai, Nov. 23-25, 2019, please contact info@DubaiSummit.org
Charlotte Luer
cluer@ljhfm.com
Nico Rosberg, Rosberg Family Office and World Formula 1 Champion in 2016 with Mercedes AMG Petronas, Monaco; SVG Hon. Consul Giuseppe Ambrosio, President of the Monaco Single & Multi Family Office Association.
Pre Summit Sunset Networking Reception Hosted by Chainstarter Ventures at the Rooftop Terrace at the Fairmont Monte Carlo Hotel.
Markus Lehner, Principal, Markus Lehner Family Office, Monaco and Summit Chairman; SVG Hon. Consul Giuseppe Ambrosio, President of the Monaco Single & Multi Family Office Association; Anthony Ritossa, Chairman of Ritossa Family Office; Hussein Sayed, CNBC Arabia Anchor and Dubai Summit Chairman.
Conference Session at the 9th Global Family Office Investment Summit, Fairmont Monte Carlo Hotel.
View original content to download multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/the-family-office-landscape---a-forever-moving-target-at-anthony-ritossas-9th-global-family-office-investment-summit-under-the-high-patronage-of-hsh-prince-albert-ii-of-monaco-300874052.html
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Mar 6, 2019 / Publications, Research
Testing the impact of dam passage on homing success in salmon
Snake River salmonids are federally protected, but face a succession of dams to navigate from the ocean to the spawning grounds. The final dam in the sequence is the Lower Granite Dam. Ascending salmonids (sockeye salmon, steelhead, and Chinook salmon) all enter the fish ladders on the side of the dam, but some pass straight through and exit above the dam, while others are shunted off to one side and either released after a longer pathway, or held in tanks and sampled before being released to continue up the fish ladders.
Feb 28, 2019 / Publications, Research
Arctic lakes play a smaller role in releasing ancient carbon than previously thought
The dry northern reaches of Earth contain nearly half of all of the carbon originating in living matter, mostly stored in the frozen soils of the permafrost. It has been long thought that warming in the Arctic will result in this carbon being released from the soil and activated again, through the many lakes that are prominent features of the Arctic.
Shifting newspaper headlines on what makes for a ginormous fish
Shifting baselines is the concept that each human generation thinks “normal” conditions are those when they were growing up, and therefore only takes into account declines during their lifetime, instead of over multiple generations. A new paper now examines newspaper headlines over time to see whether declining fish size is detectable in fish described as superlatively enormous (e.g. “giant”, “huge”, or “monster”), finding declines in reports of lengths.
Dec 11, 2018 / Publications, Research
An explanation for suddenly elevated numbers of small “sneaker” males in Kodiak Island sockeye salmon
Male Pacific salmon usually compete aggressively with each other to gain access to spawning females, and are most successful when they are old and large. But a few males come back from the ocean early and small, and with less noticeable male traits. These small males are called “jacks” and cannot win battles of aggression but instead compete by sneaking into the spawning arena and fertilizing eggs on the sly.
Dec 8, 2018 / Publications, Research
Crosses between transgenic fish and wild fish can inherit rapid transgenic growth
Genetic engineering is widely used in plants and animals to promote rapid growth and create resistance to common diseases. One genetic modification that has achieved prominence in fish is the insertion of growth hormone transgenes, which produce dramatically larger sizes and rapid growth rates. However, there is concern that escaped genetically modified fish might breed with their wild counterparts, passing on the genetic modification and changing the wild population.
Space travel requires more carbon than expected
Long-term life-support in space requires renewable sources of oxygen and food that can survive and thrive in a closed system without any external inputs. In a closed-system experiment, three species of green algae were added to a nutrient mixture together with a grazer species, the common water flea (Daphnia magna). Despite calculations of the appropriate level of carbon and nitrogen needed in the mixture, the pH in the closed system rapidly increased to become highly alkaline (pH 10-11), so much so that most forms of life would not be able to survive.
Common pathways in fisheries management
Managing fisheries usually follows one of three pathways: limiting catches, limiting fishing effort, or limiting where fishing can take place. In a new review, each of these pathways is explored to examine their biological, social and economic implications. Limiting catches includes guideline harvests, strict limits on the total catch, allocations to groups, division of the total catch among individual participants, and fully transferable individual rights to catch a portion of the total allowable catch.
Rise in water temperature will lead to earlier salmon hatch dates
Water temperatures affect the length of salmon incubation, including the periods between spawning and hatching, and between hatching and the emergence of free-swimming fry. In Bristol Bay, Alaska, lake temperatures are predicted to increase by 0.7-1.4°C from 2015 to 2099 at the time of the year when incubation occurs, due to the effect of human emissions of greenhouse gases. As a result, sockeye salmon in Alaska will start hatching 16 to 30 days earlier than at present, according to a new model that examined the effects of climate change on 25 populations of sockeye salmon in four Alaskan lakes.
Two new species of male mouth-brooding fish described
Two new species of jawfishes (family Opistognathidae) have been described for the first time this month. These small fish have fascinating life histories, digging burrows in sandy bottoms near reefs, and relying on males to brood eggs in their mouths. Each burrow houses one fish, and they strongly defend their burrows. The first new species, Thionyi’s jawfish (Opistognathus thionyi), is found in Vitória-Trindade Chain and Fernando de Noronha Archipelago off Brazil; while the second new species, the Brazilian dusky jawfish (Opistognathus vicinus), is found off mainland Brazil.
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The crystal maze series 4 christmas special
The Crystal Maze is returning for a Christmas celebrity special, all for Stand Up to Cancer. The Channel 4 gameshow, fronted by Richard Ayoade, will be welcoming Saturdays singer Mollie King (who is, of course, currently competing in BBC One's Strictly Come Dancing ) and Made in Chelsea 's Ollie Locke, as well as Murder in.
The Crystal Maze is returning for a Christmas celebrity special, all for Stand Up to Cancer. The Channel 4 gameshow, fronted by Richard Ayoade, will be welcoming Saturdays singer Mollie King (who.
The Crystal Maze (2017) - Season 02: A team of 6 contestants play a series of physical, mental, skill and mystery games across 4 themed zones gaining as many crystals as possible which determine how many seconds they get as they attempt to win a prize inside the Crystal Dome. The Crystal Maze is a British game show devised by Jacques Antoine and shown on Channel 4 in the United Kingdom. The show is set within" The Crystal Maze" - a labyrinth consisting of four different" zones" and its centrepiece called" The Crystal Dome".
Each show has a team of contestants travel. Sep 16, 2012 · A brave team of six take on the awesome challenge that is The Crystal Maze The Crystal Maze is a British game show devised by Jacques Antoine and shown on Channel 4 in the. The first four series, including three Christmas specials. Play, streaming, watch and download The Crystal Maze Series 5 Christmas Special video (49: 58), you can convert to mp4, 3gp, m4a for free. A brave team of six take on the awesome challenge that is T Broadcast on Channel 4 in the United Kingdom, The Crystal Maze was originally aired over six series and five Christmas specials between 15 February 1990 and 10 August 1995; the first four series and three specials were hosted by Richard O'Brien, with the remaining two series and specials hosted by Edward Tudor-Pole.
The Crystal Maze Series 5 is yet to be announced by Channel 4. no dates yet for The Crystal Maze. Celebrity Christmas Special: Ellie Simmonds, Nicola Adams. Watch The Crystal Maze episodes, get episode information, recaps and more. Season 5: Episode 3. Episode 4. 6/1/95. 10. The team: Paul Robinson, Richard Webster, Craig Phillips, Candice Porter, Suzanne Vinton. Christmas Special 5. These celebrities just broke a Crystal Maze record on today's Christmas special.
Crystal Maze Christmas special. Crystal Maze producers want a full series on Channel 4 after Stand Up to. Play, streaming, watch and download The Crystal Maze Series 4 Christmas Special video (50: 00), you can convert to mp4, 3gp, m4a for free.
A brave team of six take on the awesome challenge that is T The Crystal Maze Christmas special will air TONIGHT, Thursday, December 14 at 9pm on Channel 4. The Christmas special will, of course, be fronted by Richard Ayoade. Richard Ayoade is the tough new Maze Master Play, streaming, watch and download The Crystal Maze Series 4 Christmas Special video (50: 00), you can convert to mp4, 3gp, m4a for free.
A brave team of six take on the awesome challenge that is T Seen here Sure, there's some special games for children. They lost those. They won the adult games (including a catch the ball game that gave most teams trouble) and earned their prize outright. Broadcast on Channel 4 in the United Kingdom, The Crystal Maze was originally aired over six series and five Christmas specials between 15 February 1990 and 10 August 1995; the first four series and three specials were hosted by Richard O'Brien, with the remaining two series and specials hosted by Edward Tudor-Pole.
LATEST CHRISTMAS TV NEWS 2018 CONFIRMED2018 BBC2018 BBC 2017 BBC 2016 BBC 2015 BBC 2014. The Crystal Maze is to return to Channel 4 with a new series and a Christmas Special 25th January 2018. The Crystal Maze Christmas Special (Channel 4) 2nd July 2017 Maze Master Richard Ayoade guides teams of intrepid adventurers through the epic game show. A page for describing Awesome: Crystal Maze. The Series 4 Christmas Special.
Seen here Sure, there's some special games for children. They lost those. They. A brave team of six take on the awesome challenge that is The Crystal Maze The Crystal Maze (1990–2018). Episode List. Season: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10. OR. Year:. Season 4. Add Image. S4, Ep0. 27 Dec. 1992. Christmas Special. 0. Channel 4's Stand Up To Cancer special of The Crystal Maze was not only a hit with the viewers, but in the ratings as well.
Actor Stephen Merchant donned the. With Richard Ayoade, Jessica Hynes, Adam Buxton, Nicola Adams. Paralympian swimmer Ellie Simmonds, professional boxer Nicola Adams, television personality Ollie Locke, singer Mollie King and comedian Tom Davis take on the Crystal Maze in this Stand Up To Cancer charity holiday special. LATEST CHRISTMAS TV NEWS 2018. The Crystal Maze is to return to Channel 4 with a new series and a Christmas Special. The Crystal Maze Christmas Special (Channel 4) These celebrities just broke a Crystal Maze record on today's Christmas special.
Crystal Maze Christmas special. Crystal Maze producers want a full series on Channel 4 after Stand Up to. Series 4 Episode 4: Celebrity Special. the Hauxwell family take on the challenges and make their mark in the Crystal Maze history book. Celebrity Christmas 2017 Special.
David G. Croft, Director: The Crystal Maze. IMDb. - Christmas Special (1994. Explore popular and recently added TV series available to stream now with Prime. At the start of the Christmas Special for series 5 of The Crystal Maze, Richard O’Brien is seen leaving a note for Ed Tudor-Pole, then riding off on his motorcycle with his Mumsy after saying goodbye to the viewers. A brave team of six take on the awesome challenge that is The Crystal Maze Find out when The Crystal Maze: Celebrity Christmas Special is on TV.
Episode guide, trailer, review, preview, cast list and where to stream it on demand, on catch up and download. Crystal Maze confirmed a new celebrity specia TV show Crystal Maze is set to return to Channel 4 for a celebrity special for Stand Up To Cancer.
Celebrities taking part include Mollie King, Ollie Locke, Tom Davis, Nicola Adams and Ellie Simmonds. The Crystal Maze (2017) - Season 02: A team of 6 contestants play a series of physical, mental, skill and mystery games across 4 themed zones gaining as many crystals as possible which determine how many seconds they get as they attempt to win a prize inside the Crystal Dome.
The Crystal Maze returns to C4 Second series of celeb specials with new games now airing Fridays. is 4 more Celeb Specials, 1 Christmas Special and 15 shows with. Crystal Maze confirmed a new celebrity specia. TV show Crystal Maze is set to return to Channel 4 for a celebrity special for Stand Up To Cancer. Celebrities taking part include Mollie King, Ollie Locke, Tom Davis, Nicola Adams and Ellie Simmonds.
Aug 24, 2018. Series 5 Episode 6: The Science Nerds. The Science Nerds prove that putting the words 'science' and 'nerds' in the name of your team isn't. The Crystal Maze is a British game show devised by Jacques Antoine and shown on Channel 4 in the. The first four series, including three Christmas specials.
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The Progressive Artists' Group was
art by sai ketan 1981 views
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The Progressive Artists' Group was A far afternoon
Swati Piramal
, Vice Chairman, Piramal Enterprises Limited
The Progressive Artists' Group was formed by six founder members, F. N. Souza, S. H.
Raza, M. F. Husain, K. H. Ara, H. A. Gade, and S. K. Bakre. Others associated with the
group included Manishi Dey, Akbar Padamsee, Ram Kumar and Tyeb Mehta.
The Progressive Group wished to break with the revivalist nationalism established by the
Bengal school of art and to encourage an Indian avant-garde. The Group was formed just
months after the 14 August, 1947 and the "Partition of India“ because Francis Newton
Souza, S.H. Raza, M. F. Husain and co. wanted to imagine modern art for a free India. It
disbanded in 1956 but this group shaped Indian fine art for decades to come.
Modern Art for a Free India
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A Far Afternoon A Painted Saga by Krishen Khanna Not Just Modern Art, but Indian
A painter of a resurgent India
At the “young” age of 90, Krishen Khanna is one of the stalwarts of Modern Indian Art. A Far Afternoon 2015 is one of his attempts at creating a work on large scale. At 90 years of age he painted – a 22 foot long masterpiece
A Far Afternoon, has been painted over a period of nearly 9 months and is 22 feet long. The painting is constructed in five panels that flow into each other. The theme of the painting is of a wedding party in procession in a mid-summer wedding. The Indian Yellow spreads like a shimmering blanket.
The Bandwallahs perform in the Bridegroom’s procession.
The “cutting” chai wallah and the Thanda thanda ( cold) juice wallah.
The fruit sellers and the dhabha owner
A Far Afternoon Exhibited at Piramal Art Foundation, Mumbai Smriti- a book on art history by Ashvin Rajgopalan and Vaishnavi Ramanthan of the paintings in the Piramal Art Foundation collection.
Artists Raza and Anjolie Ela Menon view the painting- Far Afternoon at the Delhi Art Fair 2015
Krishen Khanna (1925 - ) is an Indian artist born in Faislabad, Pakistan. in pre partition India in 1925, Krishen Khanna moved to Shimla during the partition. He attended Imperial Service College in England. He is recipient of the Rockefeller Fellowship in 1962, the Padma Shri in 1990, and the Padma Bhushan in 2011. Krishen was inducted into the Progressive Artists` Group by M.F. Husain, who was to remain his lifelong friend. Krishen Khanna remembers that his painting had been displayed in the centre of the PAG exhibition. About the Artist
The Progressive Artists' Group was formed by six founder members, F. N. Souza, S. H. Raza, M. F. Husain, K. H. Ara, H. A. Gade, and S. K. Bakre. Others associated with the group included Manishi Dey, Akbar Padamsee, Ram Kumar and Tyeb Mehta. The Progressive Group wished to break with the revivalist nationalism established by the Bengal school of art and to encourage an Indian avant-garde. The Group was formed just months after the 14 August, 1947 and the "Partition of India“ because Francis Newton Souza, S.H. Raza, M. F. Husain and co. wanted to imagine modern art for a free India. It disbanded in 1956 but this group shaped Indian fine art for decades to come. Modern Art for a Free India
Science and the Arts- a melange of progressive ideas for a young country. Scientist Homi Bhabha bought the first Krishen Khanna’s painting for the TIFR collection
In Krishen Khann’s painting the “themes of ordinary life dominate- simple joy and pleasures of life, colours, vibrant, rich, exciting, liberating, dancing, smiling, singing, speaking colours. ” Vibrant, smiling, singing colours.
In the late 1940s, the Progressives were encouraged and received support from an assortment of European Jewish émigrés who had fled Europe with the rise of the Nazis to settle in Bombay. Walter Langhammer, an art teacher as well as Rudolf von Leyden, who was an art critic for The Times of India, were patrons. They helped not only financially, but also by opening up a world of European paintings to these young artists. Krishen Khanna with Rudy Von Leyden , a respected art critic The creation of the Progressive Artists Group is entwined with that of independent India. A culturally and religiously diverse cast of characters, the artists came together to form an informal group in the highly charged political climate of cosmopolitan 1940s Bombay, as the city was then called. Freedom to be modern. Krishen Khanna with Prime Minister Indira Gandhi
The founders of the Progressive Artists Group often cite "the partition" as an impetus for their style of modern art. Their intention was to "paint with absolute freedom for content and technique, almost anarchic, save that we are governed by one or two sound elemental and eternal laws, of aesthetic order, plastic co-ordination and colour composition.” they wrote. In 1950, Krishen Khanna joined the Group. Photo-Raza, Bal Chabbda, Tyeb, Krishen , Akbar
Krishen wrote “I’ve painted the people of this country. But I’m dumbfounded at the popularity of the bandwallahs,”-something he attributes to the grand Indian wedding fantasy which has kept at least this one British institution complete with red coats, brocade trimmings, hats, trumpets, “the whole jolly lot” — intact.
In this work here, Khanna presents a bandwallah whose tightly closed eyes may be both a symbol of his absorption in the music or the reflection of his mental fatigue. The bandwallah, is indispensable for every marriage celebration. Piramal Art Foundation collection. The Bandwallah
In his painting Musicians, Khanna’s preoccupation is to recreate the rhythm of music through the use of white as a connecting note throughout the work. One panel represents sarod maestro Amjad Khan . The other panel depicts the South Indian flautist T.R.Mahalingam. Piramal Art Foundation collection. North and South- connected with white
“I had no idea that this painting would grow to this size. I began with the groom on a white mare, accompanied with an even more inexperienced youngster seated behind him fearfully clutching the groom . The painting took off from this image and became pivotal in the expansion of this work. The choice of colours and the tone of each expanding form was determined by what had already been set down. It seemed to me that the expanding shapes and colours were attaining to a life of their own. The painting, as it developed, was growing out of its own inevitability plying my energy for recording the entire movement. It was as if I had abandoned myself to forces beyond me. I would find myself moving forward and then I would find that what I had left behind as done would start asking questions. My attention would shift to the earlier panels where modifications were made… This was becoming like a mural which by its nature boarders on infinity. The change is scale involved a wholly different approach to the way this work was painted.” -KRISHEN KHANNA A Far Afternoon
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Blueprint for Health Care Advocacy: How Community Health Workers Are Driving Health Equity and Value in New Mexico
Across the health care system, there is tremendous interest and momentum in reforming the way health care is delivered and paid for in order to improve health care quality and outcomes and at the same time, reduce costs. These reform efforts create an enormous opportunity to improve resources, infrastructure, and incentives for interventions to meaningfully reduce racial and ethnic health disparities. Yet, if these reforms are not designed and implemented carefully, they could actually end up making these disparities worse.
Threatening Immigrant Youth Undermines Our Nation’s Health
As health equity advocates we share a fundamental vision of a nation where every single human being has an equitable chance to enjoy the best health possible, no matter who they are—including where they were born. For us, it is not about being on the left or right of the political spectrum. Equal access to good health is an intrinsically human value.
How MACRA Can Reduce Health Disparities
Efforts to shift to a value-based health care system create an opportunity to improve the quality of care and health outcomes, save money for consumers and the health care system as a whole, and drive reductions in health disparities. But such positive outcomes from payment and delivery reform efforts are not guaranteed. There are some elements of this proposed rule that can help reduce health disparities, but a real commitment to health equity requires additional steps from CMS.
New Connecticut Law Advances Recognition of Community Health Workers
Connecticut just took an important step toward improving health outcomes for its most vulnerable residents. Earlier this summer, the governor signed a law that lays the foundation for the broader use and support of community health workers (CHWs).
Community health workers play a valuable role in helping people achieve better health. Because they are trusted community members, they are uniquely effective at connecting underserved communities to the health care system and helping people navigate social factors that pose barriers to good health. In doing so, CHWs help to improve health outcomes and narrow health disparities.
Any Version of Repeal Harms Alaska Natives
The House Republican bill to repeal the Affordable Care Act (ACA) and cut the Medicaid program would cause immediate and critical problems for American Indian and Alaska Native peoples. Repeal would take funding away from federally recognized tribes and tribal organizations that now provide comprehensive health services in Alaska.
Republicans Seek to Pay for Tax Cuts for the Rich on the Backs of the Poor
On the way to repealing the Affordable Care Act (ACA), Republicans have decided to tack on a major restructure of the entire Medicaid program, capping and cutting America's health insurance program for lower-income people.
The Republican Health Bill Affects People with Employer-Based Insurance
We know how the House Republican bill could affect people who get insurance through the Affordable Care Act (ACA) marketplace and Medicaid. But what has been overlooked is how the bill, known as the American Health Care Act (AHCA), could affect the coverage people get through their jobs. In other words: The Republican bill could make everybody’s coverage worse.
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The MacArthur Amendment to Republicans’ Health Care Bill Will Hurt Millions
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Reported Upton-Long Amendment Does Virtually Nothing to Address Coverage for People With Pre-Existing Conditions
Families USA analysis finds the Upton-Long proposal to increase funds for high-risk pools would cover only a fraction of America's health care consumers who have pre-existing conditions: As many as 15 million people with pre-existing conditions would be left behind.
House Republicans are weighing a new amendment to the American Health Care Act (AHCA) in their latest attempt to secure the needed votes to bring the bill to the House floor.
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IE Global MBA+ is 1st worldwide!
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The 2012 QS Distance Online MBA Rankings is the first and only report that ranks accredited online, distance and hybrid MBA programs offered by the world’s top business schools. Designed by QS Intelligence Unit, world educational leaders, the report is based on the most rigorous quantitative ranking system to date, empowering you with a reliable…
IE BUSINESS SCHOOL MAKES HOME FOR ITS START-UP INCUBATOR
By Kim GoddardNews
IE Business School just announce that from September 2012 IE Business School´s entrepreneurs will have a physical co-working space from where to launch their global startups. IE Business School via it Centre for International Entrepreneurial Management has kept its finger on the pulse of the startup scene in Spain producing multiple high growth potential spin…
AIESEC celebrates 60 years in Germany!
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Spain wins the European Championship!!!
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They’ve done it again, for the third time in a row, they manage to lift the cup of victory, twice European and once World Champions! Spain wins the Eurocup 2012 with a historic result, 4-0 against Italy…it was the team-spirit, the incredibly asserted passes, the enthusiasm and concentration that kept them going and fulfilled a dream…
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The Academic Director of Master in Finance programs, Prof. Ignacio de la Torre, met with the finance professionals in Istanbul during a Master Class. Prof. de la Torre shared his research and analysis regarding the financial mistakes in history. The economic crisis started in USA in 2008, is now affecting the Euro Zone; and European…
CIS Alumni Gathering in Odessa
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This Friday in Istanbul!
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IE MASTER CLASS: Financial History: what can we learn from our mistakes? Whilst you are thinking, participating and coming up with ideas related to current issues, you will also be experiencing what a real class is like on an IE program and understand the difference between traditional teaching methodologies and the methods used by the…
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A Romanian, the Best IMBA Student 2011 Redactia › Mar, 2012-01-03 14:35 Daniel Bobu is the only Romanian graduate of IE Business School for 2010 – 2011. Even more, from a total of 450 students, Daniel obtained the “Best Student”, distinction, which recognizes his merits as the best student of the year, for his behavior…
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Coevolution of Geopolitical Calculus and Sacred Values
By Peter TurchinMarch 20, 2014 10 Comments
In a previous blog, I have already commented on the poor quality of coverage of the Crimean crisis in the Western press. Most news articles about the Russian annexation of the Crimean peninsula show no understanding of the real motives of Putin or Russia. This is scary. Folks, Russia has the second largest nuclear arsenal in the world, capable of blowing up both the US and the whole world several times over. Wouldn’t it be a good idea to understand why they are defying the West? Instead we get numerous amateur psychoanalysts speculating about Putin trying to compensate for his massive inferiority complex.
The only insightful articles I have seen are from true social science professionals, either people who have a deep understanding of the Russian culture and politics (see links in my previous blog) or from the International Relations (IR) scholars belonging to the so-called Realist School.
Arguably the two best (authoritative and influential) IR scholars in the US are John Mearsheimer and Stephen Walt. Each wrote recently about the Ukrainian crisis, and I hope our political leaders have taken note of what they say. See Mearsheimer’s Getting Ukraine Wrong and Walt’s No Contest: Obama gambled that U.S. power would trump Russia’s interests in Ukraine. He was wrong.
In my opinion, the neo-realism is the best empirically supported IR theory. Neverhteless, it can profit from an injection of some evolutionary thinking.
In particular, states don’t necessarily behave as rational agents, who always choose the course of action that will yield the highest material advantage. In fact, ever since the ancient Romans, states have been much preoccupied with ‘honor’ and ‘sacred values’ (see my blog on the sacred values).
To illustrate how such ‘irrational’ (or, as I prefer, ‘extra-rational’) behaviors can evolve, consider a herder who lives in a stateless, anarchic society. His wealth – the flocks – is of considerable value, and can be easily appropriated. Since there are no cops and courts, the herder must rely on his own efforts to protect himself against theft.
In such a situation, one evolutionary strategy is to maintain a reputation for extreme toughness: “you will regret it if you mess with me.” Potential thieves are deterred if they know that the owner will go all out to punish them should they dare steal any of his livestock.
Punishment is not a rational strategy, however, because it requires you to risk your life or spend treasure (by hiring a bounty hunter, for example) for no gain. Yet, its an evolutionarily advantageous strategy. In the long run, herdsmen who do not cultivate a tough reputation – “men without honor” – lose their herds and go extinct.
The ‘honor’ part is very important, because your commitment to punish a thief must be credible. You cannot be dissuaded because it’s dangerous. You cannot be bought off, because by doing so you lose credibility – you lose honor – and you lose the capacity to deter potential thieves.
The problem, of course, is that thieves are also under evolutionary pressure to cultivate tough reputations – to deter punishment from herders from whom they steal livestock. So we end up in a coevolutionary arms race, in which everybody becomes increasingly tough – to the point of craziness. The end result is a spiral of violence, in which all parties exterminate each other.
Theorists have investigated such evolutionary dynamics with a classic ‘hawk-dove’ model, and found that neither the meek ‘dove’ strategy, nor the tough ‘hawk’ strategy is evolutionary superior.
But there is a modification of the hawk strategy that wins over both hawks and doves. It’s known as the “bourgeois” strategy. Its essence is that you declare something (your flocks, or a piece of land on which you grow crops) as your property which you are willing to defend, no matter what it takes. Again, it’s not a rational strategy, because you must be willing to escalate conflict and expend more than your property is worth. Yet, in evolutionary terms, it’s a winning strategy. Modeling shows that bourgeois always replace hawks.
What are the implications for the IR theory? The primary resource in the international competition between the states is territory. Territory is where people live, providing the state with taxes and army recruits. Territory can also have strategic value by allowing the state to project power or control a choke point (such as a strait), thus denying another state such an opportunity. Territory is of existential importance to the states, because a territorial state cannot exist without territory (by definition).
States often behave in an opportunistic manner, grabbing extra territory when they can, or giving it up when they realize that the cost of holding it is too great. This kind of behavior is well described by the realist theory. However, some land is special in that it is not subject to a rational geopolitical calculation. It is “sacred” or “holy” and must be held at all costs.
Designating certain land as sacred is the IR equivalent of the bourgeois strategy in the hawk-dove game. States that treat their core territories as sacred and are willing to escalate conflict to defend them, persist in the international arena, while states that treat their core territory in a rational manner are gradually eliminated. As a result, we have what might be called as coevolution of geopolitics and sacred value. Geopolitical assets become sacred values.
Note added 25.III.2014: I was approached by an editor of an electronic magazine with the proposal to recast this blog as an article for them, so I will not be posting the second installment now. If things work out as I expect, both parts wil be published as a merged article.
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Martin Hewson says:
I’m an IR realist (of a certain sort) so I found this post very interesting and quite congenial.
Unfortunately, realism is not very influential in the IR field (one survey found about 15% of IR scholars identified as realists). Nor does it have much influence beyond, judging by the upsurge of anti-Russian rhetoric from pundits and politicians.
It is true that realism doesn’t have a very good explanation of why peoples are emotionally attached to their territories. The ESS idea is very elegant as the ultimate origin. No doubt there are also more proximate mechanisms. Loss aversion would be a key motive for bourgeois strategists. Nationalism seems to determine how “core” territory is defined.
I think we also need an explanation of the emotional reaction (or over-reaction) of the West to this episode. Is it partly motivated by altruistic punishment? In any case, realism has had very little success in calming such moralism. Mearsheimer and Walt were leading voices against the invasion of Iraq in 2003 to no avail. Possibly that is why realists have a reputation for gloomy pessimism!
Ummon says:
Out of curiosity, have you ever seen this paper? http://levine.sscnet.ucla.edu/archive/refs4375.pdf
vdinets says:
I think it’s a bit of oversimplification. Nowadays, territory by itself can be far less important than competitive economic model and business reputation; no wonder almost all former colonial powers have gotten rid of their empires. I can’t think of any war over territory that a developed country has participated in since the Falklands War. Russia, of course, exists in a time capsule and has a Cold War mentality, so it still conducts its foreign policy in accordance with Big Game mythology.
Another oversimplification is that you lump the country and its leaders; assuming that Putin is unselfish and concerned only with Russia’s interests is, of course, plain wrong. The invasion of Crimea was mostly a propaganda show; the Crimea is a poor region with very limited economic value, and the naval base in Sevastopol was not under any threat. It’s not a part of “core territory” at all – in fact, it’s always been perceived as mildly exotic.
What Putin is trying to do is broaden his support base by appealing to Russian racists (“nationalists” in Russian political terminology), since their popularity has been rising rapidly in recent years. He doesn’t care about economy, foreign policy, or Russian speakers in the Crimea.
Igor Demić says:
IR theory would probably profit from the study of use of “sacred values” by regime propagandists in actual situations – like Kosovo in Serbia during the first decade of 2000s (and some hundred years before, when supposedly, Serbian mining tycoons had “vested interests” in then predominantly Albanian Kosovo’s metal ores deposits), Greece & Izmir after WWI, Alsace (?) in different historical periods. There’s one cynical saying in Serbia that sums up that aspect of “sacred values” for me: “Kosovo is Serbia, everything else is Mišković”. Mišković being Serbian Rinat Akhmetov.
It would be interesting to see who profits the most by use of “sacred values” in political arena. After all, as professor Turchin implies, sacred values bring adaptive advantage to somebody, otherwise they probably wouldn’t exist.
So far, Putin is the only one to profit – except the hypothetical conspirators who have allegedly used the opportunity to buy Russian stock at low cost, but that’s just one of many conspiracy theories out there.
I like realism, however it is has no sense of time – rise and fall – and as Peter rightly says, does not address irrationality. however, what I also don’t like about realism is the rigid state-eye-view. territories are not always won and lost through war between states. OTHER THINGS are happening that are completely omitted from a realist narrative of history. such as, although the usual “lingo” is international politics is a game played by “states” it’s actually played by elites of the states. state vs state is elite of state A vs elite of state B. also, this means the “bourgeois” strategy of “escalate to defend” can be played by these elites in the territorial realm, OR the non-territorial realm – of ideas, especially by the elites of weak states who simply lack the power to carry through the “bourgeois” strategy in the territorial realm. here is how it is done in the non-territorial realm. the scared value becomes non-territoriality: rather than land the utopian idea of global unity is defended. i.e. the belief there is no territory that belongs to exclusively to states. there are no borders, sovereignty is extinct. we can go where we please. all follow the one ideal law and live in peace together. this is the sacred principle. there is only one Europe. one world maybe. the sacred value of global unity is pretty irrational from the eye-view of a “state” as its power over territory is given to a larger foreign body, potentially thousands of miles away. from the perspective of the state’s elite, it’s also seemingly irrational as they appear to give away all their power and privileges. however, in the real world elites network with other elites. “escalate to defend” strategy in non-territoriality realm means elites of each state when accused of not doing enough for the people they rule show they are REALLY serious about their ideas of non-territoriality by giving away more, and even more power, to make their state much weaker. they can do this because of the support they get from each other through the body they give power to. finally there is no effective power left in each state, the state becomes a subject province to the encompassing entity, a mere museum of its former political institutions. the formerly weak elites merge into a new much larger territorial entity, through which they hope to realise further political ambitions.
Not related to this post, really, but any chance we could hear your take on the new Piketty opus everyone’s fussing about (Capital in the Twenty-First Century)?
Henry, so far I read about it, but did not have time to read the book itself. Yes, it’s definitely on the plate, but I am not sure when I will get around to it.
Sounds good nevertheless!
Justin Daniel Pereira says:
A good read. I particularly like how Peter tries to formulate an explanation that bridges across disciplines. While the evolution theory for the culture of honour may not be the complete picture, it definitely lends support to one part of the overall story. The issue of Crimea in my opinion is also one of an ideological warfare situated on proxy grounds between the two big nations. If we were to take state centrality as fundamental to existence, having buffer states is contributing measure to survival.
I’m curious then to how far Russia would be willing to be controlled by sanctions. If the culture of honour is strong, a retaliation is inevitable. Of course, the argument then would be underscored by a Hobbesian school of thought and perhaps Tilly’s argument about how war makes statehood.
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Gaming Ten Years On: S.T.A.L.K.E.R: Shadow of Chernobyl
Discussion in 'Article Discussion' started by bit-tech reviews, 22 Mar 2017.
bit-tech reviews Administrator Administrator
One of the strangest shooters ever made, how does Stalker hold up a decade on?
http://www.bit-tech.net/gaming/2017/03/22/ten-years-on-stalker/1
bit-tech reviews, 22 Mar 2017
azrael- I'm special...
Although I have both physical and digital copies of each game I've yet to actually get to play any of them ...at least properly.
When I first saw SoC "in the flesh" it was on a woefully underpowered PC, or rather, at the time most PCs didn't have the necessary grunt to play the game. Later I had access to an adequate PC, but I found the difficulty prohibitively steep. So steep in fact, that I never returned to the game(s). I remember hardly making it out of the camp before being taken out by a sniper. The other directions weren't much better, so I eventually gave up and moved on.
The series has always intrigued me, though. Which is probably why I kept buying and rebuying the games.
azrael-, 22 Mar 2017
SMIFFYDUDE Supermodders on my D
I have the games too, I've only tried SoC but never got very far into it before giving up. It really isn't interested in drawing the player in, it's too difficult too soon. Does this game even have a story or is it just a succession of 'go kill those guys' tasks? I never played long enough to find out, got sick of reloading and having to do the same thing again and again.
SMIFFYDUDE, 22 Mar 2017
Wakka Yo, eat this, ya?
I ADORE SoC, always have. It's a game that properly forces you into the scavenger/opportunist character role - Sure, that creepy looking underground laboratory probably has some sweet swag in it, but do you have the kit, and balls, to risk going in?
I love how brutal the game feels when you first jump in, you try playing it like the other 90% of shooters and it'll smack you around seven ways to Sunday. But play cautious, move properly, pick your shots and know how and when to use the environment (and it's inhabitants) and you can overcome some crazy odds.
I re-played through it about 2 years ago and loved every minute of it. Yeah the writing and UI is still clunky as all hell, but the mechanics hold up, the atmosphere still sends shivers down your spine, the enemies are still challenging and my balls still shrink a little whenever I go underground...
For those that get turned off because of the insane difficulty spike near the beginning - push through! Honestly, once you get your first proper rifle and armour (there's a secret set in one of the roofs where you start - look it up!) the game goes from being a meat grinder to a properly tactical FPS.
Last edited: 22 Mar 2017
Wakka, 22 Mar 2017
David RIP Tel
I too love SoC, but I found Clear Sky a chore and far less enjoyable.
I still haven't gotten around to Call of Pripyat.
David, 22 Mar 2017
Big-_-t0ny Member
Stunning game series, can be daunting at first but once you stick with it you'll be hooked. All three games have a serious selection of mods, from both Russian/East Europe and western modders. It usually goes for a few pounds each on steam, pick it up!
Big-_-t0ny, 22 Mar 2017
Guest-16 Guest
David said: ↑
CoP was the best one. Clear Sky had a failed factions idea that they never updated and made for a poor game. CoP introduction was brutal. It drops you off with a GLFU and you have to get on with it with an unforgiving learning curve. Once you get past that it's satisfying though. Really pissed the brand and code for 2 got caught in development hell. We'll never see another.
Guest-16, 22 Mar 2017
Vault-Tec Green Plastic Watering Can
As hard as the combat was in the first game I did get many hours of fun out of it. I remember every one complaining about the combat. It was tough.. Sometimes I would find myself behind a broken down car for what seemed like forever. Not only that if you hacked in a cheat to make your aim better it also made the enemies a much better shot too lmao. Parts of it wowed me though.
Never played Clear Sky. It was £40 and I read it was a broken mess so I stayed away from it.
Did play COP for a few hours. Found it tough going at first (those storms catch you out at the worst of times !) but then found it a little boring and old fashioned. It certainly ran a lot better than the first one though.
Overall not bad. Both of the ones I played needed a few bottles of Mr Sheen though, as parts of the first game were obviously very broken. I recall reading that it was down to the publisher pushing too hard. Storms should have been in the first game, working vehicles (god what a difference that would have made !) and so on.
Vault-Tec, 22 Mar 2017
GravitySmacked Mostly Harmless
I loved Shadow of Chernobyl at the time even with it's bugs and flaws. I remember restarting it at least twice due to the patches breaking the save games.
I never did get on with it's sequels though, they never held my interest like the original did.
GravitySmacked, 22 Mar 2017
LordPyrinc Legomaniac
I played SoC a bit two years ago, picked all three up on a Steam sale. It does seem tough at first, but became fun after some trial and error. I haven't really spent any significant time with the other two titles. More recently, I've been playing Fallout4 which reminded me a bit of SoC. At some point I plan on revisiting all three of the S.T.A.L.K.E.R series. Just never seems to be enough time.
LordPyrinc, 22 Mar 2017
Metaporic Member
Thanks for reminding me to play SoC again! I went back to play a few hours earlier, really enjoyed that time, think I will sink a few more hours into the game. Until it gets to creepy anyway. I would recommend playing with the Complete Mod http://www.moddb.com/mods/stalker-complete-2009 it makes a big difference, to start with the game looks a lot better and it fixes quite a few bugs etc...
Regarding difficulty, just play it slow and careful for the first few hours and once you pick up a few bits of gear you will be a lot better off, though there is a good amount of enjoyment from the constant feeling of vulnerability. In the end I agrroed the army base near the village you start in and picked the soldiers off one by one. In the end I was able to get some decent equipment that way. Also yes there is some hidden armour in that same starter village if you want a boost.
Metaporic, 22 Mar 2017
fix-the-spade Well-Known Member
SMIFFYDUDE said:
Shadow of Chernobyl has a fantastic story, all you have to do complete the first mission in your PDA, find Strelok and KILL HIM.
It's one of those games that gets better and better the more you delve into it. The opening fight against the bandits is one of the most difficult sections of the game since you have no armour and only a pistol, it's certainly not a user friendly opening, but so very worth wading through.
I played SoC for hundreds of hours, Clear Sky wasn't nearly as good, but had an interesting story, Call of Pripyat is excellent too. Bugs and all I loved Shadow of Chernobyl, that first, panicking encounter with a Blood Sucker under the Agroprom Building is one of those golden gaming moments that can't ever be repeated.
fix-the-spade, 22 Mar 2017
Xlog Active Member
Ah yes, STALKER, the experience that started with a video game and grew to week long LARP events...
My personal pet-peeve was the dead-on AI grenade throws, you couldn't even reload without being blow to other dimension.
Xlog, 23 Mar 2017
gosh Member
loved all of this series, certainly unforgiving but bits like when you first encounter as bloodsucker or the psychic mutant in the tunnels, a psydog or work out what new anomolies do and how to get past them (so much time spent throwing bolts...). having to scavenge everything to survive and when you finally get a decent set of -radiation/+health artifacts or a choice gun from a hidden stash are brilliant, or picking through the corpses left after an NPC fight. almost nothing can beat blowouts though, i think it's the 2nd game when weather becomes random instead of scripted but pegging it for shelter as the sky melts and you hear cries of animals and humans alike also running for shelter is amazing.
lot of bugs and dodgy/unexplained features but few games have the same mix of atmosphere, mystery and bleakness.
NPC grenades were the worst though, especially if you wandered into any military camps/patrols in the first half of the game.
gosh, 23 Mar 2017
Xir Well-Known Member
I ...got stuck somewhere in, um, the middle I guess and never finished it.
Metaporic said: ↑
I will sink a few more hours into the game. Until it gets to creepy anyway.
Yah the creeping-around-in-the-dark levels freaked me out...
fix-the-spade said: ↑
Shadow of Chernobyl has a fantastic story
hmmm, must have missed that, go in, explore a base and it's surroundings, move on, find another base and its surroundings, repeat.
Xir, 23 Mar 2017
Taua Member
bought this and some others cheap on Steam but the rapid headbob literally made me so nauseous I couldn't play it! Don't think I even made it to getting killed by a sniper haha!
Taua, 23 Mar 2017
Krikkit All glory to the hypnotoad! Super Moderator
Bindibadgi said: ↑
I like all 3, but CoP was definitely the most rounded.
The atmosphere later in SoC is absolutely brilliant, totally blasts away the boring and awkward start in the Cordon.
Krikkit, 23 Mar 2017
It's definitely a grower - it's a game that puts you in your place and treats you like a rookie at the start, but rewards you for learning the ways of the land and the life of a Stalker.
It's a natural progression too, one that comes from knowledge and skill. Sure better armour and artifacts do give stat boosts, but this isn't Skyrim, you can't power-level till the point that you steamroll entire outposts like a walking tank.
Krikkit said: ↑
I'm now looking up CoP mods and daaamn there's a lot. I need to play this and the mods after Wildlands
Almightyrastus Rule #9
The thing that impressed me about these games was that you are not some magical chosen one with the whole world revolving around you. For example, take something like Skyrim or Oblivion, or the Fallouts, or most MMOs, you are placed as a character who is there to save the world or do the big thing that nobody else can, like they're all waiting around just for you to turn up, a Truman show supporting cast.
Whereas with these, you turn up and you're just another stalker here to try his luck in the zone. People don't care if you live or die, they'll carry on without you. Get out there, find stuff and if you survive, the shopkeeper will take a look at what you have.
The distant firefights and interactions between beasts and bandits or other factions, they'll happen whether you're there or not and it gives a lot more life to the world.
Almightyrastus, 23 Mar 2017
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Bard's Tale trilogy signature elements
Joined: March 6th, 2012, 6:25 am
Re: Bard's Tale trilogy signature elements
Post by Gizmo » June 20th, 2017, 8:10 pm
ZiN wrote: ↑
So what others form BT2 would you like to see?
Last edited by Gizmo on November 26th, 2017, 6:19 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Bard's Tale:tBD Code Wheel Utility
My fan art: Scorpitron 2.0
ssfsx17
Post by ssfsx17 » July 7th, 2017, 2:08 pm
Signature elements for me, as compared to other Wizardry-family games:
- The Bard class is awesome. Breathing fire horns for crowd control, or just making everyone attack twice, and other such great abilities.
- Heavy emphasis on guest NPCs. Sadly, BT3 didn't have a dedicated slot for Hawkslayer, so I generally went without him.
- Utterly evil and wicked dungeons. The only game series that tries to match BT for how evil its dungeons are is probably Etrian Odyssey.
- Massive battles. Not just the signature 396 berserkers, but also fights against groups of 20+ enemies. BT3 went quite overboard with how many groups of enemies per encounter though.
- The spellcaster class system. It helped to make you feel that there was constantly something to look forward to at the ultra-high levels, and to feel that those characters were irreplaceable.
Post by Alation » September 6th, 2017, 3:43 am
One of the most iconic parts of BT3 for me was the Hawkslayer story, and how it was revealed out of order in the different dimensions.
Post by Drool » September 9th, 2017, 2:50 pm
Alation wrote: ↑
September 6th, 2017, 3:43 am
That was probably my second favorite. The story of Lucencia really got me.
Orpheus the Bard
Joined: July 2nd, 2015, 3:48 am
Post by Orpheus the Bard » October 28th, 2017, 8:46 pm
Hello, haven't been here in a good while due to the ultra slow development of this game. Figured I might need to check back in today, because of premonition I got concerning last BT game. With all the older versions BT before it.
Falkentyne
Joined: July 23rd, 2016, 6:19 pm
Post by Falkentyne » November 26th, 2017, 12:29 am
Bard's Tale 3 really had a nice story to it, and it felt indeed like Tarjan had just thrown the realms and the Outer realms into total Chaos. The feels for what your party had to try to fix, and the revenge they desired, I haven't really seen in any other game even today. Even the "banes" look from the "Heroes" in Ultima 7 Serpent Isle didn't come close to this.
But definitely Sinster street in Bard's Tale 1, and the night encounters. Being a random autistic kid in highschool who was fascinated by RPG's and scared of evil demonic beings definitely had an effect. BT1 just felt like a nice classic D&D Adventure; very few religious overtures like the entirety of Bard's Tale II (besides the riddle in Mangar's tower and the Harkyn's Tower riddle), and not as "Campy" as BT2.
And "You are on a blue highway."
SuperDave17
Joined: October 3rd, 2016, 11:03 pm
Post by SuperDave17 » November 28th, 2017, 11:21 pm
Falkentyne wrote: ↑
When I was a teenager, after I had learned of the torture and murder of Alliria, one of my key goals in life was to finally find Tarjan and waste him just for that. For Cyanis too. It was what kept me going when I was struggling through Kinestia, Tenebrosia, Tarmitia, and finally Malefia. And when it was all said and done, there was a part of me that thought that Tarjan got off too easy, and wishing Alliria, Valarian and Lanatir could be brought back to physical life.
It was like, what if Sauron got to do a lot more damage before finally going down, and at some point cornered Galadriel and had his way with her? That's how hard the story hit me back then. It's a rare story that's really willing to entertain that "what if ..." that many fantasy writers and game writers wouldn't dream of touching, but BT3 took it by the horns. And the end result is a really haunting and poignant story.
Post by ZiN » November 30th, 2017, 6:12 am
BT1 just felt like a nice classic D&D Adventure...
And compared to that BT3 felt like PlaneScape:
Note, that this was years before the wonderful PlaneScape™ setting got released.
SuperDave17 wrote: ↑
When I was a teenager, after I had learned of the torture and murder of Alliria, one of my key goals in life was to finally find Tarjan and waste him just for that. For Cyanis too.
Cyanis have survived and perhaps recovered over time and might be still around in BT4. As someone who saw everything with his own eyes, he would make a very interesting character.
And when it was all said and done, there was a part of me that thought that Tarjan got off too easy...
Indeed. And by the look of things, Tarjan is already active again, 150 years after BT3, while the 7 new gods who defeated him, got banned.
Man, I really hope the writers of BT4 did their homework.
Bard Songs ║ BT4 Beta Playthrough
Post by Orpheus the Bard » January 19th, 2018, 11:42 pm
That tendency to find your way by feeling your way instead of looking around, because initially, you can only see what is right in front of you. Something, I have ben meaning to put up on the board her.
Post by Orpheus the Bard » January 20th, 2018, 12:17 am
I still have my copy of Bard's Tale Two The Destiny Knight after digging them both out of storage last night. The two large Floppys, all the documentation, along with the attractively molded plastic caseing was put together in. Both floppys are clearly labeled as BT Two, both Boot, Character & Dungeons Disks on both sides. A & B. So, My previous complaint isn't as obvious as I thought. Where I though the wrong version of Boot or Dunegon disk was pakaged togther. Still a label doesn't prove an thing and that problem I had was really happening. There was no way my party of adventures were about to use the starter dungoen or leave town.
I also still have the attractive cardboard folder made for Thief of Fate with the same colourful illustrations inside and the map as well. (Which does really hint at the rollowver effect. I always use to find the shrine by passing the tavern and encampment only from the side where you can access them when they are right next to each other. Going past the encampment first and then tavern until I am at the tree and then turning right will put the healing shrine a few steps in front of me. This is why I think my method for finding things in this game is flawed since I reckon I might have passed closer to the shrine while locating the other two places after heading straight from the outer wall of the Skara Brae ruins left of the entrance side.[/spoiler] ) The Code Wheel, ( So, is this a problem for the latest version? You know, there is no code wheel attached to this version, so? ) I'm not sure what it does now. I get a head aches just looking at the damn thing. I also still have both disks and no problme with this version of the game what so ever. I might even suspect that the graphic were better on the earlier version.
rasiel
Joined: January 26th, 2018, 10:33 pm
Post by rasiel » January 26th, 2018, 10:40 pm
Hallmark moments for me:
- Praying that the grey dragon hanging outside Harky's would tear into a member rather than breathe on everyone
- Just doing nothing outside in the daytime to regen spell points because I was too broke for Roscoe's
- Re-rolling for what seemed like ages hoping for good stats when creating a new character
- Crossing fingers my MIBL would do enough damage to the Berserkers
I remember it would put me in a hugely bad mood if at the end of a successful grind I took a wrong turn in the dungeons, got lost and wasted all my spell points before I found my way out (forcing me to reboot and lose the progress).... all part of the fun!
Only game that I've clocked in more hours than BT1 (never got into 2 and 3) has been Civ. That's saying a lot!
Post by SuperDave17 » January 28th, 2018, 12:20 am
Picking up on that theme ...
The last battle against Mangar. Hoping that Thor got one of the Demon Lords first, and then crossing your fingers that the other Demon Lord then attacked Thor or did something anything besides petrify one of the party members I wanted to transfer to BT2. And also hoping I could off the three Vampire Lords without any level draining, and that Mangar didn't kill a party member with DEST.
Granted, that's a lot to hope for. And yes, my characters were backed up. But hey, I'd reload more or less until I could import everybody with the quest xp bonus for transfer to BT2. That made the battle itself quite a worry fest, and exciting at the same time, in a way that few game-ending battles have ever been since then.
Post by Orpheus the Bard » January 28th, 2018, 3:45 am
Orpheus the Bard wrote: ↑
I was hoping players would identify with this. Bard's Tale was one of the few games, like MazeMaster it's predeccesor & games like Eye of the Beholder (For Dungeons & Dragons.) where players learn to find their way around in different way because you just can't see anything unless you facing it. Like a horse wearing blinders. Even though, their is very slight sensation of buildings going past while wandering the streets of Skara Brae (or similar town.) or a well lit dungeon or path in the deep woods.
YOU still find your self employing the talents of blind-person to find yourself around.
Another thing perculiar to this game and some thing I wish to see the last of is the save game system. It doesn't save you game at all, you game stays the same until you teleport somewhere else & even then. Since I haven't played far into the game I ages. You just can't do that in this game. The game it self never progress's further unless the party has levelled sufficiently or it only appears to. So, only can save you party in the game and only when they have returned to the encampment or adventurers guild building. Saying that it doesn't out that at for me.
Reason why I stopped playing, but since I have ben using the Inter-Players with my faithful Hobbit Bard. The In terplayers being Iron Pants, Green Arrow, Shadow, Gwendoylen, Rune-Flinger and my bard the name I use on this forum. Sometimes, I find they are only at second or third level when reloading them, but my Bard, is something like eighth or nineth level at the same time. I know I used to do this on purpose when playing earlier version of the game a long long time ago, using the first four or five of them as fodder (Who I would eventually just let die & bring in new ones.) for the monsters & barbarians, rogue spell casters while the Bard was safe out of harms way most of the time as he levelled high enough to carry the whole party victory.
Yet, finding all my work wasted now, puts me right off. How do I avoid this or I think this method for saving you game is no longer in use even now. It wasn't like that in the last (unofficial....) Bard's Tale game.
Post by Drool » January 28th, 2018, 2:41 pm
I was hoping players would identify with this. Bard's Tale was one of the few games, like MazeMaster it's predeccesor & games like Eye of the Beholder (For Dungeons & Dragons.) where players learn to find their way around in different way because you just can't see anything unless you facing it.
Well... even then, it wasn't exactly unheard of. After all, Bard's Tale was designed specifically to go after Wizardry. Might & Magic also had the same view. And, of course, every first person shooter from Wolfenstein 3D on down.
thebruce
Contact thebruce
Post by thebruce » January 29th, 2018, 6:16 am
Yeah good catch, missed that. That's another aspect of the originals that encouraged hand mapping the dungeons as part of the experience. If you make a mistake you have to know where you are and not get lost. You're much more likely to 'recognize' where you are the farther ahead you can see. With only 1 or 2 squares, you could theoretically be in many more places, known or unknown. I think that aspect of the dungeon crawl will be lost in BTIV.
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@thebruce0
Post by Gizmo » January 29th, 2018, 8:31 am
thebruce wrote: ↑
Yeah good catch, missed that. That's another aspect of the originals that encouraged hand mapping the dungeons as part of the experience.
This is from the Grimrock devs: (Both games have the option to permanently disable the automap at the outset.)
[Full Size]: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/s/23e ... _paper.jpg
It'd be nice to see one of these for BT4; but also to actually NEED it; or in the very least, to have a similar game mode as Grimrock 1&2 did.
Zombra
Post by Zombra » January 29th, 2018, 10:28 am
Gizmo wrote: ↑
It'd be nice to see [pen & paper hand mapping] for BT4; but also to actually NEED it.
Gonna have to "no thank you" on this. Laboriously copying down information the game already gave me isn't why I enjoy CRPGs, and wasn't ever why I enjoyed CRPGs. YMMV.
Post by Gizmo » January 29th, 2018, 11:25 am
Zombra wrote: ↑
It'd be nice to see [official, themed, complimentary graph paper] for BT4; but also to actually NEED it.
Dungeon crawlers aren't cRPGs. They are about crawling a dungeon. Exploring those maps is the paramount activity. The characters are practically incidental. They facilitate the death mechanic. A few DCs (later) began using them for exposition, or (better) for stat checked awareness of the immediate area. In some games it was trap & secret door detection, in at least one other, it was even for item detection (shelf contents might depend on if they noticed it or not).
In any case, the party is a combat machine—with variable attack & defense options... but they usually don't otherwise matter much to the gameplay. It's about puzzling out the map; and the monsters are typically just an impediment.
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Post by thebruce » January 29th, 2018, 11:27 am
This is from the Grimrock devs: (Both games have the option to permanently disable the automap at the outset.) 8-)
Flew by the point - it's one thing to provide graph paper, it's another thing to provide a gameplay style that encourages it, thus the point about the how much is seen. In the beginning you get 1 or 2 squares - continue from my comment above. If you see everything to a great distance, well sure, you could map if you want, but it's more unlikely that you'll to. And AFAIR, inXile is providing graphc paper with BT4, as a tier bonus. But will the game itself encourage mapping?
As far as game mode, that goes back to the discussion about a hardcore or equivalent mode (which could incorporate save mechanics, grid mechanics, etc).
Flew by the point - it's one thing to provide graph paper, it's another thing to provide a gameplay style that encourages it, thus the point about the how much is seen.
Not at all. It's unfortunate that most of the market audience —to whom they must sell, expects a map, and can't be bothered to make it themselves. They will search online for someone else's. So it no longer makes sense (for the mass-market) to encourage mapping in the design... unless the game auto-generates most of the map-layouts for each install of the game (making each install unique); and in the case of user created maps...new maps for each newly created party. This is possible to do in one's own maps made for Grimrock 2; though it's not a turn-key option in the LoG2 editor. It must be scripted.
But even then (with a randomized map)... If the game (or the game mod) takes a determinable seed value for the maps... people would still upload walkthroughs & maps, along with the seed and how to use it.
I remember once opening a paper-back book in a thrift shop, many years ago, and finding a hand drawn map on graph paper. It was unlabeled, but I quickly recognized it as the temple layout in Raaka-Tu (a text based adventure that pre-dates Bard's Tale). The design of one of the hallways (with its trapped cherub) was a big tip off; as was the chamber with an invulnerable gargoyle —that required a poisoner's handiwork to pass.
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By Sean O'Toole
Transformational Moments
Curator Raphael Gygax brings together eleven artists from eight countries for this year’s Frieze Projects
Sean O’Toole: When you were appointed curator of Frieze Projects in late 2015 you listed ‘diversity, transformation, hospitality and otherness’ as aspirations. To lightly paraphrase American politician Sarah Palin, how’s that hopey, changey stuff working out for you?
Raphael Gygax: Let me give you an example. British artist Julie Verhoeven’s project in 2016 was an intervention in the fair’s restrooms: she changed the carpeting, played with gender-codified colours, played music, hung colourful vinyls – creating a gender neutral environment full of pleasure. On the afternoon of the opening day I saw several elderly collector couples be slightly confused at first, giggle like teenagers and then enter the toilet together. They had fun! Now I don’t think that they will become activists for gender-neutral toilets. But I’m pretty sure that they will reflect back on this special moment later in their life. It’s inevitable. I would call this ‘transformational’. There were plenty of those moments last year. Though with her profound interest in international politics Sarah Palin would have probably been more interested in the presentation of the Operndorf Afrika (Opera Village Africa), an arts project initiated in Burkina Faso by German filmmaker and theatre director Christoph Schlingensief (1960–2010). He proposed ‘Learning from Africa,’ by which he meant that we should try to find a new approach to life by engaging with Africa.
Kiluanji Kia Henda, The Merchant of Venice, 2010. Courtesy: the artist and Galleria Fonti, Naples
SO: Schlingensief’s proposal reminds me of another, Adam Szymczyk’s motto of ‘Learning from Athens’ for documenta 14. Learning involves crossing many different boundaries. What have you learnt from Frieze Projects that you will take back and use at the Migros Museum für Gegenwartskunst in Zurich, where you’re a curator?
RG: Learning is linked to flexibility. As we know today from neuroplasticity, the brain is not a fixed organ but a flexible structure that is capable of ‘growing’ and ‘changing’. To work for different institutions, which all have their own parameters, requires flexibility, but it also means your brain is constantly challenged. Eventually you might even learn something! Learning is often a reciprocal process, and I have had such a great privilege to work with such a fantastic team. Maybe it’s not what I learnt ‘from’ Frieze Projects, but ‘with’.
SO: The eleven artists at Frieze London this year come from Angola, Argentina, Columbia, South Africa, South Korea, Switzerland, United States and United Kingdom. Diversity is an important theme for you, but what connections and links are you hoping audiences will make between the respective methods and practices of the invited artists?
RG: All of this year’s artists deal with questions around the idea of ‘communitas’ (which anthropologist Victor Turner defined as an acute spirit of togetherness), the construction of collective identities, and how we can stay ‘ourselves’. An important idea for me was German migration researcher Mark Terkessidis’s term Interkultur, meaning something like cultural accesibility for the individuals of a pluralist society, which he introduces to counter the washed out idea of ‘intergration’ as assimilation. In an iteration of their long-term project Antarctica, British-Argentine artist couple Lucy + Jorge Orta discuss questions of nationality, environment and peaceful coexistence. Swiss artist Marc Bauer’s drawing installation is informed by a series of workshops he conducted with the Young People’s Programme from Peckham Platform, a non-profit here in London. South Korean artist couple MOON Kjungwon & JEON Joonho’s new body of work is based on artistic research into Taesung, a small farming community known as Freedom Village, based in the Korean Demilitarized Zone, an isolated no-man’s-land measuring four-kilometres wide that came into being at the end of the Korean War in 1953. There will be plenty of connecting moments.
MOON Kyungwon and JEON Joonho, Freedom Village: Watchtower, 2017. Courtesy: the artists
SO: Bogota-born Carlos Motta and Leeds-born Georgina Starr will both stage performance interventions. What in particular draws you to their respective practices?
RG: Every one of this year’s Projects has a performative character, in different gradations. In Georgina Starr’s case, her work has this strong narrative moment, which is nourished by the perception of everyday life and the image of the artist’s role in society. I think she’s a seminal figure for a younger generation of artists – especially British ones – that work in the field of performance art; paradoxically, her work has had almost no exposure in London over the last few years. When I invited Carlos Motta he suggested collaborating with art writer John Arthur Peetz and choreographer-dancer Carlos Maria Romero for a bigger performance piece inspired by queer manifestos from the 1960s to the present. At Frieze London the artist collective SPIT! will do a performance that includes several performers and dancers addressing sexual and gender identity and politics. I think there’s an absolute urgency to such discussions right now.
SO: Performance has energised the scope and meaning of art as a practice. Thinking about the art fair context, though, how does one meaningfully insert performance without it lapsing into ephemeral entertainment or theatre?
RG: Honestly, I don’t think I can make these clear distinctions. Or let me say, I think that performance practice as we can experience it within the ‘visual arts system’ today can also embrace elements of theatre and entertainment (and many other things). Starr’s performance includes some theatrical elements, but they definitely help to create a very dense atmosphere. South African artist Donna Kukama will create an outdoor-installation, which resembles a pop-up herbal garden-republic. Visitors are invited to participate, discuss their emotions and will be rewarded. It can be read in terms of the spectre of neoliberalism and its techniques of power/control – so called ‘psychopolitics’. Kukama’s work however embraces these serious topics in a playful and entertaining way. I try to view these things more like spices in cooking. You can’t cook a dish just with a single spice.
I try to view these things more like spices in cooking. You can't cook a dish just with a single spice.
SO: You are part of the jury that decides the Frieze Artist Award. What drew you to the 2017 winner, Angolan artist Kiluanji Kia Henda?
RG: The Frieze Artist Award is an international open call for artists at the beginning of their career who want to make a major site-specific work at the fair. This year we had over 500 applications from over 50 countries. I read them all and was amazed by the creativity of proposals. This year’s jury – Cory Arcangel, Eva Birkenstock, Tom Eccles and myself – awarded Kiluanji Kia Henda who repeatedly raises the issue of personal identity and heritage in his critical practice. His work often re-examines and negotiates the wounds left in Africa by European domination, particularly in his home country Angola, which was occupied until 1975 by Portugal, and then became mired in a cruel civil war that only ended in 2002. For Kia Henda it will be the first time that he is able to realize such a big installation – and it’s also the first time the award goes to an artist from a peripheral art region.
Julie Verhoeven, Now Wash Your Hands, 2016. Frieze Projects at Frieze London 2016. Image: Frieze
SO: In 1989 interview with curator Jean-Hubert Martin, art historian Benjamin Buchloh remarked how ‘the question of cultural decentralization’ had emerged as ‘increasingly important’. Nearly three decades on, how is the art world doing with the project of cultural decentralization?
RG: I don’t want to go into numbers – I recommend sociologists Ulf Wuggenig and Olav Velthuis for anyone who does – but we all know that the situation is far from equal. Larger galleries still don’t represent as many female as male artists, and the ones they do are already well advanced in their careers (or dead). The proportions drop even more drastically when you look for non-white artists, and, I am sure, non-heteronormative sexualities too. I think it’s great that many galleries have started to represent more African-American artists, but this needs to prove itself as more than a gesture, and show continuity. I don’t think the latent pressure for quotas is a bad thing; insofar that it creates more visibility and diversity, it is positive. But correction in the imbalances won’t be achieved by a one-off action. To change cultural hegemony requires a big breath, and the project never ends. Obviously the increasingly conservative political climate at this time will also have an impact on the art field.
Lucy + Jorge Orta, Antartica World Passport Delivery Village, Shanghai-Paris, 2012-14. Courtesy: the artists
SO: People talk about this political era as one of ‘post-truth’. You were an early promoter of Cory Arcangel, whose practice has variously been described as ‘post-conceptual’ and ‘post-internet’. Will this year’s Frieze London and its Projects mark any other kind of ‘post’?
RG: As an art historian by training I have this tendency to contextualize an artist’s work, understand their historical roots and form ‘family trees’. So of course I can understand this urge to ‘name’ and label. But today, after the end of the big narratives, art history is viewed as a flexible structure that needs to be constantly revised. In the end all that exists is plurality: art histories – not a single (hi)story. Still, to quote Joan Didion, we tell ourselves stories in order to live.
Frieze Projects, supported by the LUMA Foundation, take place at Frieze London every day of the fair. Find out more about this year's commissions.
Main image: Georgina Starr, Moment Memory Monument, 2017. Courtesy: the artist and Alcantra. Image: © Andrea Fasani
Sean O'Toole
Sean O’Toole is a writer and contributing editor of frieze. He lives in Cape Town, South Africa.
Frieze Projects 2017
Raphael Gygax
Kiluanji Kia Henda
MOON Kyungwon & JEON Joonho
Georgina Starr
Lucy + Jorge Orta
In Pictures: Bloolips and the Empowering Joy of Dressing Up
The Virtuosity and Generosity of David Koloane (1938-2019)
Gina Pane Made a Spectacle of Female Suffering as a Form of Protest
Puppet Politics: Artist Agnes Scherer’s Pastiche of Pantomime Power
Performance and Video Artist Roxy Farhat’s Radical Reclaiming of the Camera
Janiva Ellis’s Paintings of Bodied and Disembodied States
Playing Real: The Eerie Prognoses of Rimini Protokoll’s New Robotic Theatrical Production ‘Uncanny Valley’
Artists Larry Achiampong and David Blandy Probe the Pseudoscience Behind How We Think About Race
Choreographer Michele Rizzo Reveals the Ecstasy and Unredeemed Power of the Nightclub
Robert Ashley’s ‘Improvement (Don Leaves Linda)’ Returns to the Stage
The Double Life of Tunga (1952-2016)
How Artists in Buenos Aires Are Adapting to a Vibrant Yet Volatile Cultural Climate
How a Beach Opera at the 58th Venice Biennale Quietly Contends with Climate Change Catastrophe
58th Venice Biennale Review: Brilliance and Bluster
How Artists Are Using the Power of Personal Histories to Tackle the Legacy of Colonialism
Mark Hollis (1955-2019): from Synthpop Outrider to Post-Rock Pioneer
How Paint and Perception Collide in the Work of Late Surrealist Dorothea Tanning
Stories of Finnish Art
Ateneum Art Museum
‘Conflicts and Adaptations. Estonian Art of the Soviet Era (1940–1991)’
Art Museum of Estonia
Louisiana Museum of Modern Art
Humlebaek
‘Touch: Saastamoinen Foundation Art Collection’
EMMA - Espoo Museum of Modern Art
‘Bryk & Wirkkala Visible Storage’
‘I'm a Believer. Pop Art and Contemporary Art’
Lenbachhaus München
Lizzie Fitch and Ryan Trecartin
Museum Abteiberg
Chen Ching-Yuan
mor charpentier
‘Who Are You? Two centuries of portraits’
Neue Galerie Graz, Universalmuseum Joanneum
Rebecca Warren
Maureen Paley
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Before a landscape approach, an integrative initiative to try
A look at unseen meadows
Cocoa agroforests mean more than chocolate
Analysis / 26 Jul 2018
Landscape approaches can be difficult to begin. Here’s a middle-ground option
A local harvester in Cameroon, one of the countries in focus in the Environmental Management special issue on integrated landscape approaches. CIFOR Photo/Ollivier Girard
Mirjam Ros-Tonen
If cocoa prices have fallen, why isn’t your chocolate bar cheaper?
Governing our “greater good” in challenging times
Can forests and smallholders live in harmony in Africa?
Cull! Say scientists. Crisis! Say journalists. Plus news from the Wood Wide Web
At the landscape level, tackling one problem invariably involves trade-offs with another. For instance, expanding smallholder oil palm production in Ghana can improve livelihoods, but also implies deforestation, biodiversity loss, and a threat to food security as land for crops became increasingly scarce.
To take a more holistic approach to problem-solving, integrated landscape approaches (ILAs) – often referred to simply as landscape approaches – are increasingly acknowledged as a way to address biodiversity loss, climate change, food insecurity, poverty and other issues in unison rather than in isolation.
However, landscape approaches come in many shapes and sizes, and distinguishing between, for instance, ILAs and integrated landscape-level initiatives (ILLIs) can be useful and important. The former make a deliberate effort to achieve multiple goals at once by encouraging a range of stakeholders to negotiate their competing land uses. The latter also target landscapes and multiple stakeholders, but tend to hone in on a primary goal – for instance forest restoration, climate change mitigation, or sustainable sourcing of commodities like cocoa or oil palm.
When small meets big in the value chain
What is the potential of ILLIs to contribute to integrated landscape governance? This question guides a recent special issue of Environmental Management of which I (of the University of Amsterdam’s Institute for Social Science Research, AISSR) led the editing, with support from Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR) scientists James Reed and Terry Sunderland (also of the University of British Columbia). It brings together a collection of papers that illustrate the transition from sectorial to more integrated approaches, but which were not primarily designed as ILAs.
The issue includes a range of examples: forest landscape restoration to safeguard the provision of environmental services in China; REDD+ programs in Peru and Cameroon; efforts to make the production end of value chains more sustainable; and natural resource management schemes in Ghana, Burkina Faso and the Great Barrier Reef.
So far, integrated landscape approaches have been discussed far more than they have actually been used. And maybe for a reason: institutional fragmentation and the costs of bringing together multiple stakeholders are major hindrances to implementing ILAs.
We see this special issue, then, as an important step forward for gathering information about the process, outcomes and takeaway lessons of more feasible approaches (such as ILLIs) leading up to ILAs, using what examples we have. The papers illustrate the breadth and inclusivity of stakeholder involvement and how these initiatives create synergies and navigate the complexity of the institutional landscape.
Read also From Synergy to Complexity: The Trend Toward Integrated Value Chain and Landscape Governance
A farmer in Burkina Faso, where forest management sites involving local communities were found to be stepping stones toward integrated landscape approaches. CIFOR Photo/Ollivier Girard
CLOSE BUT NOT QUITE
The ILLI examples included in the special issue qualify as ‘integrated’ because they tackle multiple development and conservation aims in multi-functional landscapes, involving a range of actors. Yet they are still ‘initiatives’ because they were borne from sectorial approaches driven by a primary goal.
Progress on the process of managing landscapes
There are some major differences between ILAs and the ILLIs, we observed. The most glaring was that while most previously reviewed conservation-focused ILAs show limited participation from the private sector, the picture is wholly different for the ILLIs reported in this issue. The private sector participated in 95.8% of the 24 cases, and took the lead in 41.7%. The companies’ motivation for doing so was mainly to improve the sustainability of their sourcing, to prevent supply failure, reduce their ecological impact, satisfy consumer and NGO demands for sustainably sourced products, and to benefit from market price premiums for certified products.
In terms of similarities, several findings in our issue confirm what has already been said in ILA literature. Actors are unlikely to join an integrated initiative if they don’t feel a problem as well as a sense of urgency to act on it. For instance, actors in Sweden felt that it was necessary to integrate water management in forest restoration efforts, whereas a lack of urgency impeded an integrated approach to water quality in the Great Barrier Reef catchment in Australia.
In general, resource depletion, deforestation and degradation are the main drivers of landscape-level initiatives as shown in the ILLIs that originated in value chains. Livelihood concerns and water management often follow in tow.
There’s also a need for bridging organizations and individuals in both ILAs and ILLIs, Such ‘multilevel hybrids’, as they are called in one of the papers, are capable of performing a range of efforts on an integrated initiative, from mobilizing financial and political support, to building trust and social capital with local communities, to creating platforms for collective learning among the many stakeholders involved in a project. Such platforms can provide the crucial opportunity for local and outside stakeholders to negotiate objectives, examine trade-offs and exchange desired outcomes.
Then, there’s the question of overall synergy, which in a sense is the essence of landscape approaches. How do we bring together actors from all different sectors, to address value chain, development and landscape governance goals at once?
DG's Column
Taking a landscape approach to the world’s biggest challenges
We found that the best entry-point for bringing all of these things together is at the producer end of value chains, where initiatives are taken to make them more inclusive and sustainable. Public-private partnerships and landscape certification are potential ways to link value chains and landscape governance. This implies a potentially key role for the private sector in implementing landscape approaches, and in increasing the economic longevity of such initiatives.
‘Value chain collaborations’ between cocoa buyers and farmers in Ghana’s cocoa sector provide a case in point. Here, the buying company trains farmers in sustainable production methods, which enhances the landscape, productivity and incomes at once.
Another paper describes a multifunctional oil palm concession in Indonesia, which combines commodity production with the protection of riparian zones, high conservation forests, and rubber gardens that also serve as cultural-spiritual sites.
Read also Ten principles for a landscape approach to reconciling agriculture, conservation, and other competing land uses
Mushrooms growing in Madre de Dios, Peru - another region examined in the Special Issue. CIFOR Photo/Marco Simola
Despite the momentum towards integrated approaches, significant challenges still arise, including power and gender imbalances, dealing with competing objectives, ensuring equitable inclusion of all stakeholders, high transaction costs versus limited finances of local organizations, and getting past the many administrative and sectorial silos.
‘Landscape approach’ defies simple definition — and that’s good
The papers in the special issue make clear that both ILAs and ILLIs are necessarily context- and issue-specific, because in the end they do often tie back to a certain problem that needs solving. Then, as initiatives and approaches are implemented, managing conflicting interests becomes key – which requires leadership and diplomacy of bridging organizations and platforms to ensure that governance is both fluid and balanced between different groups of stakeholders.
With the aforementioned challenges in play, we concluded that ILLIs might be able to serve as feasible and locally embedded entry points for the implementation of a full ILA. Even if a sectorial actor enters a landscape with a narrow goal in mind, the ensuing finances and local foothold can be a starting block for an effort to then grow into something more broad and inclusive.
The flexibility that ILAs require to deal with the immense diversity – of people, of objectives, of markets, of institutions, of landscapes – often means that those who choose to use them must go “muddling through”. But we’d like to make clear that this need not imply a muddled way of thinking, or a state of imperfection. “Muddling through”, as others have said before, is inherent in the need to adapt to landscape dynamics.
Read also Have integrated landscape approaches reconciled societal and environmental issues in the tropics?
For more information on this topic, please contact Mirjam Ros-Tonen at M.A.F.Ros-Tonen@uva.nl or Terry Sunderland at T.Sunderland@cgiar.org or James Reed at J.Reed@cgiar.org.
This research was supported by WOTRO Science for Global Development programmes of the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (NWO), and USAID.
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Topic(s) : Illegal logging Community forestry Oil palm Landscapes Rights
Keyword(s) : Equity forest governance governance landscape approach landscapes supply chains value chains
Location: Global
Congo Basin: Unraveling the past to predict the future
See all stories by Mirjam Ros-Tonen
More in Illegal logging or Community forestry or Oil palm or Landscapes or Rights
Carrots or sticks? Balancing cost-effectiveness, equity in Brazil’s deforestation policy
India needs to rethink joint forest management, says expert
Plenty in common
See all on Illegal logging or Community forestry or Oil palm or Landscapes or Rights
What can tropical deforestation models tell us?
The impact of fuel collection on forests
Willingness to pay for environmental services
Structural adjustment and Bolivian forests
One response to “Before a landscape approach, an integrative initiative to try”
Louis Wertz says:
A wonderful summary with lots of great synthetic insights from the Special Issue Mirjam. Well done!
My main takeaway: What we’re all still working out is how to transition from what you call “integrated landscape-level initiatives (ILLIs)” into open-ended, locally-owned platforms for integrated landscape governance, or ILAs. There are a number of barriers to this, and the next step for those committed to creating sustainable/regenerative landscapes is to test ways to overcome these barriers, so that time-bound projects are truly catalytic of durable positive change.
One thing we are working on and working out at the moment is how (digital) tools and technologies that enable local ownership, access, and continued (simple, easy) use of the data produced by ILLIs, after the ILLI convening NGO, CSO or company has moved on, can contribute to this. Think about the difference between an NGO using a proprietary project data collection toolset (inside their own owned licenses of salesforce and arcGIS, for instance) to plan, monitor and report on an ILLI, versus the ILLI deploying an open protocol data platform to which all stakeholders become co-owners, and which interoperates with other data platforms (e.g. Salesforce, arcGiS). Fundamentally, this is about investing collaboratively in shared global public goods (the interoperable, open platforms), rather than competing for funds to build private platforms to add to our “competitive advantage” in the donor marketplace.
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AGW in general »
Policy and solutions »
UN Climate Agreement - Paris 2015 and beyond
Author Topic: UN Climate Agreement - Paris 2015 and beyond (Read 382680 times)
Sigmetnow
Re: UN Climate Agreement - Paris 2015 and beyond
The state of California is the fifth largest economy in the world.
California governor commits to 100 percent clean energy
The law requires utilities to source 60 percent of their power from renewable energy by the end of 2030, up from a prior goal of 50 percent. By 2045, all of the state's electricity must come from renewable or other zero-carbon sources.
In 2017, 32 percent of California's retail electricity sales were served by renewable energy facilities, according to the California Energy Commission.
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-california-cleanenergy/california-law-will-wean-power-sector-off-fossil-fuels-by-2045-idUSKCN1LQ28J
Cross-posted to the Renewables thread.
People who say it cannot be done should not interrupt those who are doing it.
U.S. on Track to Meet Some Paris Climate Goals, Report Says
The U.S. is on track to meet about two-thirds of its carbon-emissions goals under the Paris climate accord -- even without the support of President Donald Trump.
Cities, states, businesses and market forces are poised to trim carbon emissions to 17 percent below 2005 levels by 2025, according to a report presented Thursday by California Governor Jerry Brown and Michael Bloomberg, owner of Bloomberg News parent Bloomberg LP. That compares with the 26 percent to 28 percent U.S. commitment under the Paris agreement. Trump said in 2017 that he intended to withdraw the U.S. from the accord. But the country can get within “striking distance” of the target by doing things like increasing renewable energy mandates and retiring coal power plants, the report said.
“We are getting it done, but we still have a very tall mountain to climb,” Brown said said at the Global Climate Action Summit, which he and Bloomberg are co-chairing in San Francisco. The report was produced by the University of Maryland and the Rocky Mountain Institute. It was funded by Bloomberg Philanthropies.
https://www.bloomberg.com/amp/news/articles/2018-09-13/u-s-doesn-t-need-trump-to-tackle-carbon-goals-report-shows
Retired, again...
https://www.sciencealert.com/un-draft-report-says-we-must-transition-economy-to-tackle-climate-change
http://bios.fi/en/economic-transition-governance-a-scientific-background-document-to-the-un-global-sustainable-development-report-2019/
Adding the pdf below.
Read if you wish. Quoting the first part from the pdf.
GOVERNANCE OF ECONOMIC TRANSITION
We live in an era of turmoil and profound change in the energetic and material underpinnings of economies. The era of cheap energy is coming to an end (Murphy 2014, Lambert et al. 2014, Hall et al. 2014, Hall et al. 2009, Hirsch et al. 2005). Because economies are for the first time in human history shifting to energy sources that are less energy efficient, production of usable energy (exergy) will require more, not less, effort on the part of societies to power both basic and non-basic human activities. Sink costs are also rising; economies have used up the capacity of planetary ecosystems to handle the waste generated by energy and material use. Climate change is the most pronounced sink cost.
What will happen during the oncoming years and decades when we enter the era of energy transition, combined with emission cuts, and start to witness more severe effects of climate change? That is the big question. What kind of economic understanding and governance models do we need, now that economies are undergoing dramatic rather than incremental change? While economists typically emphasize carbon pricing as a policy tool for tackling climate change, natural scientists and multidisciplinary environmental research groups argue for more profound political engagement and proactive governance of economic transition (Chapin et al. 2011, Steffen et al. 2018) – something akin to a global Marshall Plan (Aronoff 2017, Gore 1992). This difference in perspective is in part due to relatively recent advancements in environmental research, which have revealed a faster-than-expected decline in natural ecosystems and take into account the whole range of human-induced pressures, and not merely climate emissions (Barnosky et al. 2014).
New economic thinking for the turbulent years ahead
Decades of academic work in ecological economics have gone into integrating energetic and material stocks, flows, and boundaries into economic thinking (van den Bergh 2001, Røpke 2005). Although some progress can be seen on the economic-theoretical level, the economic models which inform political decision-making in rich countries almost completely disregard the energetic and material dimensions of the economy (Hall and Klitgaard 2011).
bios-governance_of_economic_transition.pdf (86.8 kB - downloaded 26 times.)
Omnia mirari, etiam tritissima.
Science is a jealous mistress and takes little account of a man's feelings.
gerontocrat
ASIF Royalty
Quote from: Sleepy on September 22, 2018, 07:47:45 AM
The era of cheap energy is coming to an end
Because economies are for the first time in human history shifting to energy sources that are less energy efficient, production of usable energy (exergy) will require more, not less, effort on the part of societies to power both basic and non-basic human activities. .
Hullo Sleepy.
I am not sure about either of these statements from the paper referred to you .
"The era of cheap energy is coming to an end". The papers referred to as justification for this statement are from 2009 and 2014, (using data from 2, 3 ? years before). The world has moved on
Electricity from onshore wind-power just about everywhere, and solar power in many locations is now cheaper than all other means of electrical production. EVs use far less energy per unit of distance travelled than ICE vehicles. That's about 2/3rds of total energy use?
"economies shifting to energy sources that are less energy efficient,"
The EIEO of a solar panel installation (from construction through 20 years of use to recycling) must be better than a conventional power station. The same for wind.
Since I dispute the basic assumptions of the paper, the paper has zero value? Rather it may be the case that energy and most transport (being electricity powered) will be cheaper. It is that is therefore likely to increase demand on other resources being consumed beyond the planet's ability to supply.
"Para a Causa do Povo a Luta Continua!"
"And that's all I'm going to say about that". Forrest Gump
"Damn, I wanted to see what happened next" (Epitaph)
jacksmith4tx
Quote from: gerontocrat on September 22, 2018, 10:49:58 AM
I am very interested in this EIEO issue as it relates to PV panels. I was listening to a podcast from the founder of a company that has been in the solar panel business since 2003 as he discussed the coming crisis of recycling all the solar panels that will be reaching their service life. He has started a new business focused exclusively trying to make recycling of PV panels economically viable. He was not optimistic. Given current technology and material prices, recycling used PV is not economical. It's only going to get worse as tens of thousands of tons of obsolete panels flood into the waste stream in the coming years. A few companies have created a total life cycle program in an attempt to address the issue but by his calculations it's only a tiny fraction of the installed base of PV panels.
I have read research that offered some solutions but without a some kind of national or global policy to deal with the problem we are not putting the right price on PV renewable energy.
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0956053X18300576
With the enormous growth in the development and utilization of solar-energy resources, the proliferation of waste solar panels has become problematic. While current research into solar panels has focused on how to improve the efficiency of the production capacity, the dismantling and recycling of end-of-life (EOL) panels are seldom considered, as can be seen, for instance, in the lack of dedicated solar-panel recycling plants. EOL solar-panel recycling can effectively save natural resources and reduce the cost of production. To address the environmental conservation and resource recycling issues posed by the huge amount of waste solar panels regarding environmental conservation and resource recycling, the status of the management and recycling technologies for waste solar panels are systemically reviewed and discussed in this article. This review can provide a quantitative basis to support the recycling of PV panels, and suggests future directions for public policy makers. At present, from the technical aspect, the research on solar panel recovery is facing many problems, and we need to further develop an economically feasible and non-toxic technology. The research on solar photovoltaic panels’ management at the end of life is just beginning in many countries, and there is a need for further improvement and expansion of producer responsibility.
Another article from business magazine Forbes:
https://www.forbes.com/sites/michaelshellenberger/2018/05/23/if-solar-panels-are-so-clean-why-do-they-produce-so-much-toxic-waste/#7afd92e121cc
The International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) in 2016 estimated there was about 250,000 metric tonnes of solar panel waste in the world at the end of that year. IRENA projected that this amount could reach 78 million metric tonnes by 2050.
Science is a thought process, technology will change reality.
Related to rethinking our economic system, Anders Wijkman at Swiss ECS, from the 19th.
The root cause is the way we organized the economy. We don't distinguish between quality and quantity. Everything that is production, is looked upon as good. But of course this is a ridicoulous concept today.
The root cause is the way we organized the economy.mp4 (2558.74 kB - downloaded 673 times.)
Wishing but not expecting the report below was false.
Climate study ‘pulls punches’ to keep polluters on board
‘True risks’ of warming played down to placate fossil-fuel nations
The Special Report on Global Warming of 1.5C and its summary for policymakers were commissioned by governments following the UN meeting in Paris in 2015, when it was agreed to act to limit increases in global average temperature to less than 2C above pre-industrial levels and to try keep that increase nearer to 1.5C.
...... it is the report’s summary for policymakers that is causing concern. This is the document politicians will use as a key climate guide when making changes to legislation. Reviewers of earlier drafts say it is being altered to make the dangers of climate change seem less alarming. As a result, they say,, policymakers could seriously underestimate the risks of global warming. Cuts made to the final draft of the summary include:
• Any mention that temperature rises of above 1.5C could lead to increased migrations and conflict;
• All discussion of the danger of the Gulf Stream being disrupted by cold water flowing from the Arctic where more and more sea-ice is melting;
• Warnings about the dangers that 1.5–2C temperature rises could trigger irreversible loss of the Greenland ice sheet and raise sea levels by 1–2 metres over the next two centuries.
Other cuts from the summary include the sentence: “Poverty and disadvantage have increased with recent warming (about 1C) and are expected to increase in many populations as average global temperatures increase from 1C to 1.5C and beyond.”
The original summary also stated “at 2C warming, there is a potential for significant population displacement concentrated in the tropics”. Again this is not mentioned in the report for policymakers. “The scientists who produce reports like these try to summarise the latest knowledge, but they have a reputation for being conservative about the worst risks of climate change,” Ward said. “This time they have outdone themselves in pulling their punches, however.”
https://www.theguardian.com/science/2018/sep/23/scientists-changing-global-warming-report-please-polluters
Another from the "We Don't Have Time" series (posted earlier in this thread).
A message to all adults out there who are busy defending an obsolete lifestyle.
GretaThunberg.jpg (91.2 kB, 699x393 - viewed 2310 times.)
« Last Edit: September 24, 2018, 07:10:38 AM by Sleepy »
It seems that (at the moment) the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report, which will be unveiled in South Korea next month, will say 1.5 degrees of warning is technically possible but extremely improbable.. and would require vast volumes of CO2 to be captured.
Will the report be doctored before unveiling?
World 'nowhere near on track' to avoid warming beyond 1.5C target
Key UN report says limiting temperature rise would require enormous, immediate transformation in human activity
The world’s governments are “nowhere near on track” to meet their commitment to avoid global warming of more than 1.5C above the pre-industrial period, according to an author of a key UN report that will outline the dangers of breaching this limit.
A massive, immediate transformation in the way the world’s population generates energy, uses transportation and grows food will be required to limit the global temperature rise to 1.5C and the forthcoming analysis is set to lay bare how remote this possibility is.
“It’s extraordinarily challenging to get to the 1.5C target and we are nowhere near on track to doing that,” said Drew Shindell, a Duke University climate scientist and a co-author of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report, which will be unveiled in South Korea next month.
“While it’s technically possible, it’s extremely improbable, absent a real sea change in the way we evaluate risk. We are nowhere near that.”......
.......Shindell wouldn’t share exact details of the IPCC report, but he said that the more ambitious 1.5C goal would require a precipitous drop in greenhouse emissions triggered by a rapid phaseout of fossil fuels, particularly coal, mass deployment of solar and wind energy and the eradication of emissions from cars, trucks and airplanes.
Even then, emerging technology will be required on a global scale to capture emissions at the source and bury them in the ground or remove carbon directly from the air.
“The penetration rate of new technology historically takes a long time,” Shindell said. “It’s not simple to change these things. There aren’t good examples in history of such rapid, far reaching transitions.”
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/sep/26/global-warming-climate-change-targets-un-report
Special Report to IPCC October 2018 to come.png (230.12 kB, 669x432 - viewed 277 times.)
2018 Q4 starts tomorrow, the first time in human history when we are about to consume 100 million barrels of oil per day, according to earlier forecasts from IEA. The exact amount doesn't matter much, it still tells a lot about how effective our mitigation efforts are.
Most Dow 30 companies care about climate change; Microsoft is a global leader
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/dow-30-companies-really-care-climate-change-microsoft-global-leader-123632186.html
834F768F-77A2-4AD1-B93C-11EFA57D6402.png (210.8 kB, 800x1031 - viewed 77 times.)
TerryM
Thank god that America's Greatest Capitalists care about Climate Change.
Many will be relieved to know that Exxon-Mobil, Chevron, Boeing, Caterpillar and their fellow Corporatists will be doing more than their fair share in fighting this existential battle.
With these Gigantic Guardians of Good at our back we'll surely prevail.
A short prayer of thanks to our corporate masters might be appropriate at this time.
Old sleepy men don't need lullabies...
But guess I was wrong above.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/other/why-oil-forecasts-keep-getting-it-wrong/ar-AAADt7d
Demand, in fact, has far exceeded expectations. Buoyed by robust economic growth, markets last month consumed 100 million barrels per day of oil, 400,000 more than were produced.
"The supply side, if anything, has outperformed expectations: In the last year, U.S. shale production growth has been 1.7 million barrels per day – that by itself should be enough to tank oil prices," says Steven Kopits, managing director of Princeton Energy Advisors. "Demand is very strong. And we don't have any real time metrics for global demand."
But one thing continuing to guide predictions will be the dwindling gap between the amount of oil being produced and the undiminished pace of consumption.
"There's been no economic slowdown, and no one's got spare barrels sitting around that can replace the million barrels or so that are going to go off the market," McTeague says. "One million barrels per day is a big number – it's substantial. To use the British expression, Mind the gap."
What a wonderful green world, buzy mitigating. Mitigating oil production that is, at least Russia seems to have spare capacity. They will happy to fill that gap.
https://forum.arctic-sea-ice.net/index.php/topic,861.msg174021.html#msg174021
Anyone heard about AGW and that Paris Climate Agreement?
Guess some have.
https://blog.ted.com/we-the-future-talks-from-ted-skoll-foundation-and-united-nations-foundation/
A quest for planetary balance. In 2015, we saw two fantastic global breakthroughs for humanity, says sustainability expert Johan Rockström — the SDGs and the Paris Agreement. But are the two compatible, and can be they be pursued at the same time? Rockström suggests there are inherent contradictions between the two that could lead to irreversible planetary instability. Along with a team of scientists, he created a way to combine the SDGs within the nine planetary boundaries (things like ocean acidification and ozone depletion); it’s a completely new model of possibility — the Earth-3 model — to track trends and simulate future change. Right now, we’re not delivering on our promises to future generations, he says, but the window of success is still open. “We need some radical thinking,” Rockström says. “We can build a safe and just world: we just have to really, really get on with it.”
A small basement window.
New study finds incredibly high carbon pollution costs – especially for the US and India
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/climate-consensus-97-per-cent/2018/oct/01/new-study-finds-incredibly-high-carbon-pollution-costs-especially-for-the-us-and-india
Links to the papers in the link.
The social cost of carbon is much higher yet
A new study led by UC San Diego’s Katharine Ricke published in Nature Climate Change found that not only is the global social cost of carbon dramatically higher than the federal estimate – probably between $177 and $805 per ton, most likely $417 – but that the cost to America is around $50 per ton. That’s the second-highest in the world behind India’s $90, and is also higher than the current federal estimate for the global social cost of carbon.
That’s a remarkable conclusion worth repeating. Ricke’s team found that the cost of carbon pollution to just the United States is probably higher than its government’s current estimate of costs to the entire world. And the actual global cost is more than 10 times higher than the federal estimate. And yet Republican politicians think that estimate should be much lower.
So, America is the country with the largest historical carbon emissions (and thus the most culpability for climate change), is among the countries that would benefit most from slowing global warming, and yet is the only country whose government rejects the Paris climate agreement.
The logic is - since we are stuffed, no point in doing anything. Beyond madness but due to be official USA environmental policy. I started to read it but the neurons between my ears went haywire.
Full statement is at https://www.nhtsa.gov/sites/nhtsa.dot.gov/files/documents/ld_cafe_my2021-26_deis_0.pdf
https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/trump-administration-sees-a-7-degree-rise-in-global-temperatures-by-2100/2018/09/27/b9c6fada-bb45-11e8-bdc0-90f81cc58c5d_story.html?utm_term=.dece1b5f666b
Trump administration sees a 7-degree rise in global temperatures by 2100
Last month, deep in a 500-page environmental impact statement, the Trump administration made a startling assumption: On its current course, the planet will warm a disastrous seven degrees by the end of this century.
A rise of seven degrees Fahrenheit, or about four degrees Celsius, compared with preindustrial levels would be catastrophic, according to scientists. Many coral reefs would dissolve in increasingly acidic oceans. Parts of Manhattan and Miami would be underwater without costly coastal defenses. Extreme heat waves would routinely smother large parts of the globe.
But the administration did not offer this dire forecast, premised on the idea that the world will fail to cut its greenhouse gas emissions, as part of an argument to combat climate change. Just the opposite: The analysis assumes the planet’s fate is already sealed.
The draft statement, issued by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), was written to justify President Trump’s decision to freeze federal fuel-efficiency standards for cars and light trucks built after 2020. While the proposal would increase greenhouse gas emissions, the impact statement says, that policy would add just a very small drop to a very big, hot bucket.
“The amazing thing they’re saying is human activities are going to lead to this rise of carbon dioxide that is disastrous for the environment and society. And then they’re saying they’re not going to do anything about it,” said Michael MacCracken, who served as a senior scientist at the U.S. Global Change Research Program from 1993 to 2002.
First Dog on The Moon asks is the Paris Accord is Kaput?
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/oct/03/are-the-us-and-australia-declaring-climate-war-on-all-of-earth-you-make-it-sound-so-final
FirstDogOnTheMoon.png (315.48 kB, 436x642 - viewed 159 times.)
NeilT
ASIF Middle Class
To get a reality check, we should go back and check the goals of Kyo to Copenhagen and Paris.
We should then check how much we reduced. Or even slowed, CO2 growth over that time.
It is also useful to validate that the Obama administration fully engaged in Kyoto, Copenhagen and, for a short while, Paris.
Accords are fine but we need global Action on CO2. Selling green credits to wealthy countries won't cut it.
Not only was CO2 continuing to rise before Trump took over, it was continuing to rise at the fastest pace in the direct sensing record.
Whilst I believe Trump is wrong, we have to prove that these Accords actually mean something. The UK has pretty much met the targets, Germany is going to miss for the hilarious reason that the Greens have forced the shutdown of the German Nuclear reactors.
Most of the Eastern EU is going to miss them as they ramp up production to get out of the last of the financial crisis.
As for Russia and China??
If we want to fight Trump on the climate we have to show that what we agreed to do is winning. In fact it is losing.
In order to really get a grip of things we need to outline a realistic scenario where the developed AND developing nations transition to carbon neutral at the same time.
We also have to stop talking about renewable, in the short term and start talking about carbon neutral.
Of course everything I have just said will fall on deaf ears and when we write the next, already failed, accord, the annual decadal cadence for CO2 rise will be 2.5ppm.
I have not, quite, given up on resolving the CO2 issue, but it is getting pretty close and environmentalists shouting about their GREEN credentials whilst we burn more coal to offset their actions is driving me away faster.
Nice post Neil. We might have another couple of years before I give up. And yes, we need to stop talking about renewables as a saviour and focus on getting carbon neutral. If top ten percent of emitters got down to the level of the average European we would cut 1/3 of the emissions world wide.
One little thing though, while I do not live in, or understand Germany fully, I don't think it's that easy either. Germany's electricity generations by Fraunhofer:
https://www.energy-charts.de/power_inst.htm
Also adding an old post by Folke Kelm containing a link to their historical coal subsidies and some comments around their nuclear plants. "Drift" is Swedish and he means operation. There's also a follow up comment by SATire worth reading, while lacking direct links to facts I think both of them sound reasonable.
https://forum.arctic-sea-ice.net/index.php/topic,1021.msg66729.html#msg66729
Quote from: gerontocrat on October 03, 2018, 11:24:22 AM
It was kaput when it was signed. Here's an image and comment I made back then.
Quote from: Sleepy on December 11, 2015, 08:15:46 PM
Meanwhile, French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius, who is chairing the summit, promised a new text on Saturday morning at 08:00 GMT - and suggested it would be the final version, to be ratified at lunchtime.
While the personal perspective of mitigation for us westerners is in the bathroom mirror every morning, this might be a more interesting read for the larger perspective:
The Circular Economy - a Powerful Force for Climate Mitigation
http://materialeconomics.com/latest-updates/the-circular-economy
Quote from: Sleepy on October 04, 2018, 08:34:46 AM
One little thing though, while I do not live in, or understand Germany fully, I don't think it's that easy either.
Let me explain. Germany, over more than a decade, put €500bn into renewables. They shut down their Nuclear reactors, under pressure from the Greens and started having to burn Coal to cope.
Had Germany spent €250bn on Hinckley Point C type reactors, they would have introduced around 35GW of always on baseload power, which could then be augmented by wind and solar, from additional initiatives once the baseload was assured. 35GW nuclear nameplate power delivers half of the average GW used by Germany on any day.
If they had then invested the other €250bn in investments that only return 1% over inflation, they would, after 40 years, have a fund of €350bn (equivalent at today’s value), to work on either extension to 80 years or decommissioning activities for the expired reactors.
Instead what do we have? The ideologically pure, failed, renewables that see Germany “clean” of Nuclear but dumping their “dirty” CO2 on the rest of the world. Germany generates some 40% of its power via Coal.
This is the kind of environmental thinking which is damaging to the fight to reduce climate change. The fight against climate change has absolutely Nothing to do with Green and Everything to do with CO2 Neutral existence.
The Faustian bargain forced by the German Greens has ensured that we are one step closer to losing that fight.
Yet all I hear is how wonderful the German government has been in driving “green” initiatives. I guess it is true in some ways, extra CO2 will drive more verdant flora in the temperate zones…..
Contrast the UK. WHinckley Point C goes online in 2025/26, depending on construction issues and when it goes live, all coal power stations in the UK will finally be shut down. When that happens, the UK will be beyond the commitments made for Paris as it is already mooted that the UK is already there or thereabouts.
The plans for the UK to replace the entire remaining reactors with new HP-C type stations are still under way. Three more should about do it.
Unless the greens get their way!!
Carbon Neutral is the way. Green is a nice to have. After all, if we fail to control CO2, we will kill more species off than any amount of safe nuclear reactors. Including a significant portion of the human race.
Likes Given: 1098
I think that in 2005 or 2010 when Germany made some of its renewable decisions, nuclear probably was the more economical choice (though the 2011 decision was driven by fear, not by "green ambition" per se).
However, in 2018 things might be different. Hinkley Point C lead time from decision to power generation is almost 15 years. Renewable projects start producing in <5 years (guesstimate). I think this is a big difference at the late stage we are in. In addition, renewable costs have come down sharply in the last few years. Even when including some grid storage and natgas backup for 5% of the year, I'm not sure nuclear wins in terms of total lifetime cost vs. power produced. This needs some hard apples-to-apples numbers.
Small note: nuclear is not always on. Its capacity factor is normally around 90%.
Germany, over more than a decade, put €500bn into renewables.
It finally occurs to me to ask for a source for this number, though I've seen it many times before. Specifically I wonder if this cost includes the high tariffs paid by German consumers to subsidize solar and wind. If so, then the Hinkley cost should include that too, changing the equation dramatically as HPC cost £20B for its 3.2 GW (assuming no further overruns) but consumers will pay an extra £50B for its above-market feed-in tariff.
Quote from: oren on October 04, 2018, 08:45:52 PM
Specifically I wonder if this cost includes the high tariffs paid by German consumers to subsidize solar and wind.
No, it is direct subsidies from the Government.
The German government has spent about €500 billion on electricity subsidies to date.
It is also interesting to see the projected EU costs for the 2050 renewable project.
Minimum additional total system cost of 15 percent in the “green” scenario.
pared with the “lean” scenario with its total system cost of roughly EUR 5,700 billion
until 2050, achieving the “green” scenario would increase the total system cost of the
European power sector by about 15 percent to EUR 6,600 billion. The increase is driven
by achieving the two targets in the “green” scenario: achieving low emissions would
add EUR 500 billion to 600 billion (“clean” scenario) and meeting the renewables target
in parallel would add a further EUR 300 billion to 400 billion.
A hundred billion here, a hundred billion there, pretty soon we're talking REAL money.
Never mind the interesting stuff in the grid transmission paragraphs.
Cost-optimal 80 percent renewables generation requires five times larger trans
mission grid capacities by 2050.
Generating 80 percent of European power from
renewables at optimal cost in 2050 (“green” scenario) requires a steep buildup of trans
mission capacities, reaching a larger than fivefold increase in trans-regional transmission
capacities in 2050 compared with today. As optimal locations for wind and solar power
are at the outer areas of Europe (coastal for wind and southern for solar) rather than at
the center, renewable power needs to be transmitted to Central European demand
centers via massively increased transmission grid capacities.
Yes, well, Green and all that....
Thank you for your reply Neil.
However, in 2018 things might be different. Hinkley Point C lead time from decision to power generation is almost 15 years. Renewable projects start producing in <5 years (guesstimate). I think this is a big difference at the late stage we are in.
I'll agree with that oren, Merkel was also a bit fortunate, the last scentence with the available time frame is my main concern as well.
Played with the chart from energy-charts.de above. Childish but it also provides some food for thought.
EnergyGermany.png (73.25 kB, 699x447 - viewed 713 times.)
That chart is interesting because the literature I was reading had coal a lot higher than that.
However it does beg the question as to how the gap will be closed.
The other issue I have with that chart is that it appears to be installed capacity, not actual generation capability. Germany, just like the UK, experiences near 0 wind days.
I recall the three day weeks in the UK in the 1970's when the miners strikes shut down the coal power stations and we only had manufacturing 3 days a week. I remember the homes without power too. In those days it was not that much of a hardship to live without TV, using battery radio and using paraffin lamps for light. I wonder how the people of today would take that....
"I remember the homes without power too. In those days it was not that much of a hardship to live without TV, using battery radio and using paraffin lamps for light. I wonder how the people of today would take that...."
Heeheehee. Think Amish.
Like the old Amish guy said, "I dont have a TV, bcoz if I had a TV i would watch it."
And there's work to be done, was the unspoken implication.
Neil, you are correct and yes, the link I posted above referred to installed power. Should have noted that again and maybe also removed gas and replaced it with nuclear, á la 2009.
About closing the gap, how much energy do we need, playing with a short timeframe and not building more than necessary?
If it was a personal paycheck; we know how much we can spend, using it wisely and keeping some headroom would be the obvious choice for most.
But energy is perceived as an abundant supply that must work 24/7. That spoiled attitude began in the 70's here, with our commercial nuclear plants and cheap electricity.
Quote from: Lurk on October 05, 2018, 11:28:07 AM
Maybe small, but it is a criticality important and profound 'note'.
The 10% is for maintenance and fuelling. The more nuclear you have the more you can stagger it.
The linked article (& attached image) show where the IEA thinks that crude oil use will be going by 2030; and cites that growing use of petrochemicals will be an important source of GHG emissions that is typically overlooked by policymakers:
Title: "Where oil is going"
https://www.axios.com/where-oil-is-going-pretrochemicals-demand-8f2fe40e-5bd6-4923-8230-087294954959.html
Extract: "Rising use of petrochemicals that make plastics and other products will be the largest source of crude oil demand growth in coming decades, the International Energy Agency said in a new report.
The big picture: "Petrochemicals ... are set to account for more than a third of the growth in oil demand to 2030, and nearly half to 2050, ahead of trucks, aviation and shipping," the report shows.
Why it matters: The IEA report calls the topic a "blind spot" in energy policy debates.
Petrochemicals are fundamental and helpful parts of the global economy, but also pose major pollution problems and represent a growing source of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions."
Where is oil going.PNG (39.19 kB, 556x567 - viewed 654 times.)
Those who don't comply are shut down, like Oskarshamn-1 last year:
https://pris.iaea.org/PRIS/CountryStatistics/ReactorDetails.aspx?current=534
Energy Availability Factor: 62.2%. Our best, Forsmark-3 is at 85.2%.
SR15 is out, have fun...
http://www.ipcc.ch/report/sr15/
Live conference going on here:
The response in the early Monday morning press - mixed but entirely predictable:
Top story and opinion pieces in the Guardian
Lead news item on the BBC
Page 13 in the Times, just behind the new, first female, Dr Who
Nothing in the Daily Mail unless you track down the Australian edition story on the Great Barrier reef
WUWT was well prepared with a predictable response though.
The Swedish Society for Nature Conservation's member journal headline was hilarious:
clear-message-from-IPCC-15-degree target-still-attainable
They were probably not among those ~450 viewers that watched the press conference live.
Personally, I would vote for banning all new ff-construction right now. But that. or rather those parts, was left to policy makers... So in essence, nothing new happened tonight.
Archimid
But something did happened. Acceptance at the highest level. Acceptance is the first step.
I am an energy reservoir seemingly intent on lowering entropy for self preservation.
Hefaistos
IPCC states that "B4.1. There is high confidence that the probability of a sea-ice-free Arctic Ocean during summer is substantially lower at global warming of 1.5°C when compared to 2°C. With 1.5°C of global warming, one sea ice-free Arctic summer is projected per century. This likelihood is increased to at least one per decade with 2°C global warming. Effects of a temperature overshoot are reversible for Arctic sea ice cover on decadal time scales (high confidence). {3.3.8, 3.4.4.7}"
One wonders about the timing. Currently, we're locked on 1.5C, so we likely to get one BOE within 100 years. In 3.3.8 they say: "The Arctic is very likely to have experienced at least one ice-free Arctic summer after about 10 years of stabilized warming at 2°C compared to after about 100 years of stabilized warming at 1.5°C"
They apparently haven't looked at our polls here at ASIF.
« Last Edit: October 08, 2018, 12:56:15 PM by Hefaistos »
US economists win Nobel prize for work on climate and growth
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/oct/08/two-us-economists-win-nobel-prize-for-work-on-climate-and-growth-william-nordhaus-paul-romer
Two American economists at the forefront of work on climate change and the role of governments in boosting growth have been jointly awarded the prestigious Nobel Memorial prize for economics.
The article is thin on the substance of work of these people. Anyone know any good links about their work?
There is no (real) Nobel Prize in Astrology (or Economy).
Quote from: Archimid on October 08, 2018, 12:06:12 PM
But we've had acceptance at highest level for decades. In Sweden also along with huge amounts of positive thinking on mitigation for a decade, which still has led to zero emission reductions compared to the 90's. Which is the reason for my rolling eyes about that headline above (clear-message-from-IPCC-15-degree target-still-attainable) and also why I wrote this three years ago:
Maybe they are just trying to be positive.
But maintaining a positive attitude, while beeing lazy, will fail. It doesn't matter if you want to be successful in marathon, or be successful in mitigation.
Something like this would be better:
It's from this one (hope it's watchable elsewhere):
https://urplay.se/program/205843-ur-samtiden-baltic-sea-future-stabilitet-eller-kaos-vagval-for-klimatet
Another way to read it, by Piers Forster:
https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1049205023593230336.html
Too lazy to read our 30 page Summary For Policy Makers and report? Well here it is in tweets @IPCC_CH (1/n) where n is likely greater than 10 and less than 30 - now trying to thread them together - #twitterincompetence : real thing is here ipcc.ch/report/sr15/
I read the summary for policy makers. To be honest it reads like pure fantasy.
Instead I went and turned the CO2 Growth figures from NOOA into a chart.
CO2growth.png (6.26 kB, 481x289 - viewed 518 times.)
SteveMDFP
Fresh from the NYT:
To Tackle Climate Change, a New U.N. Climate Report Says Put a High Price on Carbon
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/08/climate/carbon-tax-united-nations-report-nordhaus.html
"In its landmark report on the fast-approaching dangers of climate change, a United Nations scientific panel said on Sunday that putting a price on carbon dioxide emissions would be central for getting global warming under control....
"The concept of carbon pricing received another implicit endorsement on Monday from the Nobel Prize committee, which awarded Yale’s William D. Nordhaus a share of the 2018 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Science for, among other things, making a case that “the most efficient remedy for the problems caused by greenhouse gas emissions would be a global scheme of carbon taxes that are uniformly imposed on all countries.”"
The article discusses the political difficulty of carbon pricing. Somewhat disappointingly, it doesn't mention Hansen's proposal of rebating the revenue to the citizens.
Quote from: SteveMDFP on October 09, 2018, 04:06:24 AM
it doesn't mention Hansen's proposal of rebating the revenue to the citizens.
That part would've been in the true spirit of Alfred Nobel. Equity, peace and improving human conditions. The fake nobel prize in economy is not, it was conceived by Sweden's central bank in 1968 to celebrate themselves.
An opinion piece written in 2010 by Peter Nobel:
The young cuckoo in the Nobel prize's nest
https://www.svt.se/opinion/gokungen-i-nobelprisens-bo
A couple of quotes, hopefully understandable to native English speakers:
They got her (Martha Nobel) written permission for the economic prize "under specified conditions", namely that the new prize in all official documents and statements would be divorced from the Nobel Prize by being termed "award in economic science to Alfred Nobel's memory."
Something must be wrong, when all economic prices except two are awarded Western economists whose research and conclusions focus on the events there and under its influence. I can imagine Alfred Nobel's sarcasm if he had been told about such laureates. He wanted his prizes awarded to those who made mankind the greatest benefit, all of humanity!
From yesterday:
Nobel Prize for the economics of innovation and climate change stirs controversy
https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2018/10/roles-ideas-and-climate-growth-earn-duo-economics-nobel-prize
Nordhaus's model was relatively crude, but the IPCC relies on four newer, far-more-detailed IAMs to make its predictions about how emissions and the global economy will respond to various policy measures. Crucially, Nordhaus's work suggested that carbon emissions would plummet if governments could place a price on CO2 emissions. The European Union has tried to implement such a scheme in its EU Emissions Trading System.
However, this is where some economists object to Nordhaus's work. The debate underscores a rift between environmental economists on one side and ecological economists on the other. As does Nordhaus, environmental economists apply the tools of mainstream economics to the climate problem, so their models focus on economic growth as the measure of a policy's success. That approach is problematic, ecological economists say, because it leads to trade-offs to increase growth in the short term on the assumption that it will make it easier to deal with the increased environmental damage in the long term.
But, instead of spurring governments to take action against climate change, Nordhaus's approach has been used to justify putting it off, Steinberger argues. "His kind of analysis has been used to delay, delay, delay," she says. In 1992 Nordhaus published an analysis in which he identified 3 degrees Celsius as the optimum temperature increase for the growth of capital, although he has since modified that position.
« Last Edit: October 09, 2018, 08:39:07 AM by Sleepy »
Thanks so much for exposing the economic prize & the economic prize committee.
Their selections in the past had given me pause, and caused me to doubt the whole Nobel Prize concept.
It never fails to amuse me when scientists come up with a "carbon tax" as a way of "fixing" the fossil fuel issue.
Do they understand nothing about economies and how they work? Introduce a carbon tax and it will introduce inflation, inflation increases wages and devalues the impact of the carbon tax. Economies adjust to shocks like tax.
Then there is the other part. Taxes are political. Politicians are responsible to the people. People vote. It is no surprise that the most movement to get carbon out of the system has happened in China and the EU. Why? Because the EU commission and council are unelected, China can elect one party. So what the "party" EU or Chinese wants, cannot be overruled by the people.
This is not the same in most of the rest of the world. The most recent manifestation of that was in Australia.
Then there is the other factor. Oil prices. Check out the inflation adjusted figures.
Just how do we expect that a single "tax" is going to take care of that kind of fluctuation? We already have so many taxes on fuels that adding another one is not going to make that much of a difference. We have seen Oil more than double in price over a two year period, more than once. How exactly we "tax" that kind of fluctuation so it will influence consumers is an interesting story, not one I'd like to defend.
Then we have the producers. Tax their produce to reduce take up and they will simply increase production to the point where the price overwhelms the tax increase. Especially where inflation has already rebalanced the budgets. Making carbon fuels even cheaper.
Tax is an incredibly blunt instrument which is designed to be absorbed. Otherwise how would governments ever get people to agree to tax rises without voting for the other guy???
There is only one way out of this. Provide the alternative, make it appealing so that the mass market will buy in, then start to regulate (not tax), the carbon alternative out of the environment. This is what Obama did. I may hate a lot of his politics and also his attitude to the UK (even though I understand it), but I laud his achievements.
Every time I see people going on about taxing carbon I see a bunch of kids in short trousers, in the school yard, trying to fix the world's problems... Given that I have Aphantasia, you can imagine just how evocative that image is to make it through.
Taxes are at the bottom on Meadows list.
http://donellameadows.org/archives/leverage-points-places-to-intervene-in-a-system/
PLACES TO INTERVENE IN A SYSTEM
(in increasing order of effectiveness)
12. Constants, parameters, numbers (such as subsidies, taxes, standards).
11. The sizes of buffers and other stabilizing stocks, relative to their flows.
10. The structure of material stocks and flows (such as transport networks, population age structures).
9. The lengths of delays, relative to the rate of system change.
8. The strength of negative feedback loops, relative to the impacts they are trying to correct against.
7. The gain around driving positive feedback loops.
6. The structure of information flows (who does and does not have access to information).
5. The rules of the system (such as incentives, punishments, constraints).
4. The power to add, change, evolve, or self-organize system structure.
3. The goals of the system.
2. The mindset or paradigm out of which the system — its goals, structure, rules, delays, parameters — arises.
1. The power to transcend paradigms.
I think 3,4 & 5 are the really interesting one's.
Quote from: TerryM on October 09, 2018, 01:10:42 PM
Thank's Terry, not much exposing on my part. Peter Nobel's critisism is merely drowning in media. Or maybe purposely drowned? Remembering is a radical act.
Peter Nobel is still alive. Here's an even older and rarer one, since it's in English:
https://www.thelocal.se/20050928/2173
(Alfred) Nobel despised people who cared more about profits than society's well-being, Peter says, reiterating his vehement criticism of the Nobel Economics Prize which he says Alfred Nobel would never have created.
Guest post at SkS.
https://skepticalscience.com/SkS_Analogy_14b_Inertia_and_Inevitability.html
Inertia is your friend … until it isn’t.
Elevator Statement
Inertia delays the response …
But for each CO2 level there is a guaranteed response …
Be patient, the response is coming …
And when it finally comes there’s no going back.
Edit; adding a part of the text for the second image.
The red circle represents what Climate-Change deniers focus on (i.e., the current temperature anomaly), the blue circle represents what optimists focus on (i.e., the temperature we’ve locked in), and the black circle represents what the realists focus on, where we’re heading under current policies.
InertiaYourFriend.png (334.99 kB, 699x699 - viewed 412 times.)
1_Analogy_Fig2.png (101.72 kB, 699x509 - viewed 963 times.)
For decades James Hansen has been calling for more investment in tropical (& other) forests, but today while deforestation is 8% of the GHG problem & represents 23% of the cost-effective mitigation potential, it only receives 3% of climate mitigation funding.
Homo sapiens is Latin for 'wise man', but I have my doubts:
Title: "By the Numbers: The Value of Tropical Forests in the Climate Change Equation"
https://www.wri.org/blog/2018/10/numbers-value-tropical-forests-climate-change-equation
Extract: "About 8 percent of global emissions currently come from tree cover loss in tropical forests, but these same forests can provide 23 percent of the cost-effective climate mitigation needed before 2030. NDCs still fall far short of the total mitigation needed to keep 2030 emissions in line with a two degrees Celsius scenario, and about 7.1 gigatons of carbon dioxide can be mitigated annually through the management, protection, and restoration of tropical forests, mangroves and peatlands. That's equivalent to the total carbon dioxide-equivalent emissions of Russia, the European Union and Japan combined in 2014. This potential comes from the avoided emissions through stopping deforestation and degradation as well as the removal of atmospheric carbon that takes places through forest growth and restoration.
Despite this potential, forest-related finance, even for countries with high rates of deforestation, accounts for less than 3 percent of global climate mitigation-related development funding. To reach global climate goals it's critical that national and local actors alike double down on the proven strategy of reducing deforestation to mitigate climate change."
Deforestation ranking vs Countries & EU.PNG (95.22 kB, 636x823 - viewed 78 times.)
Deforestation is 8% of the problem but 23% of the solution but get 3% of funding.PNG (123.36 kB, 647x833 - viewed 74 times.)
For those who aren't aware, the IPCC carbon budget time projections make a number of incorrect assumptions, including:
1. Policymakers will act so quickly that the budgets use TCR (Transient Climate Response) values rather that ECS (Equilibrium Climate Sensitivity) values. So as policymakers are not acting quickly, climate response will be higher than the IPCC projections.
2. Recent research indicates that the mean value for the current ECS of ~3C assumed by the IPCC is too low and is currently likely in the 3C to 4C range; which means again that the IPCC projections are too low.
3. Recent research confirms that both TCR and ECS increase with continued warming; thus as policymakers are acting slowly, the IPCC projections are again too low.
4. James Hansen has repeatedly warned that climate projections should consider the combined impact on climate sensitivity of abrupt ice mass loss from ice sheets and his ice-climate feedback mechanism, and per DeConto & Pollard this sizable feedback could begin in the 2040's, but currently all IPCC projections ignore this positive feedback mechanism.
ASLR, thanks, as always, for that article on forest loss and cc.
I plan to dig into it further later, but did you happen to notice if it said what the major causes of deforestation were?
As I recall, clearing land for cattle grazing and for growing soy and other crops mostly used to feed cattle was one of the main causes. I do wonder whether, in most sources on the subject, the GW effects of a meat-centered diet are greatly under estimated.
"A force de chercher de bonnes raisons, on en trouve; on les dit; et après on y tient, non pas tant parce qu'elles sont bonnes que pour ne pas se démentir." Choderlos de Laclos "You struggle to come up with some valid reasons, then cling to them, not because they're good, but just to not back down."
It's always fun to journey into the past to help get a feel for how we got to Paris. A few quips from Cory Morningstar's expose.
http://www.theartofannihilation.com/part-1-expose-the-2º-death-dance-the-1º-cover-up/
The Origins of 1ºC – United Nations 1990
“…eyond 1 degree C may elicit rapid, unpredictable and non-linear responses that could lead to extensive ecosystem damage.”
– United Nations Advisory Group on Greenhouse Gases
In 1986, three international bodies, the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO), the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the International Council of Scientific Unions (ICSU), who had co-sponsored the Villach Conference in 1985, formed the Advisory Group on Greenhouse Gases (AGGG), a small international committee with responsibility for assessing the available scientific information about the increase of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere and the likely impact.
In 1990 the AGGG calculated what level of climate change our planet could tolerate, also referred to as “environmental limits.” These levels and limits were summarized in the document, “Responding to Climate Change: Tools For Policy Development,” published by the Stockholm Environment Institute.
The targets and indicators set limits to rates and total amounts of temperature rise and sea level rise, on the basis of known behaviour of ecosystems. The AGGG report identified these limits in order to “protect both ecosystems as well as human systems.” The report states that the objective is: “stabilization of greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere at a level that would prevent dangerous anthropogenic [human made] interference with the climate system.”
It adds: “Such a level should be achieved within a timeframe sufficient to allow ecosystems to adapt naturally to climate change, to ensure that food production is not threatened and to enable economic development to proceed in a sustainable manner.” Thus the report requires limits to both the total amount of change and the rate of change.
Further, they warned that a global temperature increase “beyond 1 degree C may elicit rapid, unpredictable and non-linear responses that could lead to extensive ecosystem damage.” A temperature increase of 2ºC was viewed as “an upper limit beyond which the risks of grave damage to ecosystems, and of non-linear responses, are expected to increase rapidly.” [For “non-linear,” read “runaway global climate change.”][2]
Hansen says Arctic sea-ice passed its tipping point decades ago, and in his presentations has also specifically identified 300-325ppm as the target range for sea-ice restoration (see slide image), as did the paper: Open Atmos. Sci. J. 2:217-231. This view, by perhaps the most eminent climate scientist in America, is reinforced by Hans Joachim Schellnhuber, head of the Potsdam Institute who goes further stating “Our survival would very much depend on how well we were able to draw down carbon dioxide to 280 ppm”.
2008: Hansen – Where should Humanity Aim?
A further imbalance reduction, and thus CO2 ~300-325 ppm, may be needed to restore sea ice to its area of 25 years ago.
Assessment of Target CO2
PhenomenonTarget CO2(ppm)
1. Arctic Sea Ice 300-325
2. Ice Sheets/Sea Level 300-350
3. Shifting Climatic Zones 300-350
4. Alpine Water Supplies 300-350
5. Avoid Ocean Acidification 300-350
http://pubs.giss.nasa.gov/docs/2008/2008_Hansen_etal.pdf
2010: Hansen: French National Assembly May 2010
PhenomenonTarget CO2 (ppm)
http://www.columbia.edu/~jeh1/2010/May2010_FrenchNationalAssembly.pdf
An excerpt from Climate Code Red: ‘350 is the wrong target: put the science first’ :
… But that is only half the story. Here’s what else Hansen et al. said (emphasis added) in their article in Open Atmos. Sci. J. 2:217-231:
“Equilibrium sea level rise for today’s 385 ppm CO2 is at least several meters, judging from paleoclimate history. Accelerating mass losses from Greenland and West Antarctica heighten concerns about ice sheet stability. An initial CO2 target of 350 ppm, to be reassessed as effects on ice sheet mass balance are observed, is suggested”
It is important to note that this paragraph is not about the Arctic sea-ice tipping point, it’s about Antarctica. Hansen explains in the same article that 350ppm is a precautionary target to stop global loss of ice-sheets, because the paleoclimate record shows 450ppm ± 100ppm as boundary for glaciation/ deglaciation of Antarctica. In the next paragraph, attention turns to the question of Arctic sea ice:
“Stabilization of Arctic sea ice cover requires, to first approximation, restoration of planetary energy balance. Climate models driven by known forcings yield a present planetary energy imbalance of +0.5-1 W/m2. Observed heat increase in the upper 700 m of the ocean confirms the planetary energy imbalance, but observations of the entire ocean are needed for quantification. CO2 amount must be reduced to 325-355 ppm to increase outgoing flux 0.5-1 W/m2, if other forcings are unchanged. A further imbalance reduction, and thus CO2 ~300-325 ppm, may be needed to restore sea ice to its area of 25 years ago.”
The central point is that Arctic sea-ice is undergoing dramatic loss in summer, having lost 70-80% of its volume in the last 50 years, most since 2000. Without summer sea-ice, Greenland cannot escape a trajectory of ice-sheet loss leading to an eventual sea-level rise of 7 metres. Regional temperatures in the Arctic autumn are already up about 5C, and by mid-century an Arctic ice-free in summer, combined with more global warming, will be pushing Siberia close to the point where large-scale loss of carbon from melting permafrost would make further mitigation efforts futile. As Hansen told the US Congress in testimony last year, the “elements of a perfect storm, a global cataclysm, are assembled”.
In short, if you don’t have a target that aims to cool the planet sufficiently to get the sea-ice back, the climate system may spiral out of control, past many “tipping points” to the final “point of no return”.
And that target is not 350ppm, it’s around 300 ppm.
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Cabinet Office/Infrastructure and Projects Authority
We are an approved supplier to the Infrastructure and Projects Authority, Ministry of Defence, HM Treasury, Department of Health, Scottish Government, Department of Energy and Climate Change, Department of Work and Pensions, Foreign and Commonwealth Office and Houses of Parliament.
We provide Assurance Review services and have, to date, undertaken over 180 High and Medium Risk Project Gateway Reviews (Gates 0 through to 5), Project Assessment and Validation Reviews, Assurance of Action Plans reviews and Healthchecks as a Review Team Member and Review Team Leader. These have been on projects and programmes across most Government Departments and throughout the UK including Northern Ireland, Wales and Scotland.
Tim Ainger
E. t.ainger@gardiner.com
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Category: Books>Fiction and Literature>Fiction>Graphic Novels
Carol Dembicki; Matt Dembicki (?):
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Dembicki, Carol; Dembicki, Matt (?):
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Children's & Young Adult Fiction, In a watery world where only the strong survive, the reptiles and fish living in a small pond launch a plan to eradicate Mr. Big, a snapping turtle that is terrorizing them. Despite a few protests from some pond dwellers, who warn of the potential consequences this could have, the animals solicit the support of a murder of crows to carry out their plot. But the scheming crows have their own motives to kill the large reptile and decide to use this opportunity to do so. However, as the plan is put into action, a different, greater terror has found itself a member of the pond. Will Mr. Big be ousted forever? Or will the pond dwellers come to realize that even the old snapping turtle might serve his purpose in their small environment? And what will become of the new threat to those living in the peaceful pond? This stunning graphic novel written for young readers illustrates the delicate balance that exists in small, self-contained, natural ecosystems and the relationship between predator and prey. Mr. Big is perfect for the classroom and will appeal to children interested in nature and comics. eBook
Platform order number eBooks.com: eb-1320600
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ISBN: 9781616089672 (?) or 1616089679, probably in english, Sky Pony Press, Paperback, Used
Shipping costs to: DEU
Sky Pony Press. paperback. POOR. Noticeably used book. Heavy wear to cover. Pages contain marginal notes, underlining, and or highlighting. Possible ex library copy, with all the markings/stickers of that library. Accessories such as CD, codes, toys, and dust jackets may not be included.
mangelhafter Zustand
Carol Dembicki (?):
ISBN: 9781616089672 (?) or 1616089679, in english, Sky Pony Press, Paperback, New
Mr-Big~~Carol-Dembicki, Mr. Big: A Tale of Pond Life, paperback
Category: Juv Young Readers>Juv Young Readers>Juv Fiction PB
Available rare books, used books and second hand books of the title "Mr. Big: A Tale of Pond Life" from Dembicki, Carol; Dembicki, Matt are completely listed.
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Faraday Future’s Batmobile-Style Electric Car – Features, Price
The car future as per another electric auto creator looks a horrendous parcel like a Corvette crossed with the Batmobile.
California-based Faraday Futures appeared its smooth electric concept racecar Monday night amid the yearly CES demonstrate that spotlights on customer devices and has progressively turned into a path for carmakers to flaunt their most recent innovative deeds.
The 18-month-old organization that has stayed quite a bit of a puzzle up to this point uncovering its essential benefactor, Chinese tycoon Jia Yueting, won $335 million (generally Rs. 2,226 crores) worth of motivating forces from the condition of Nevada a month ago to assemble a $1 billion (generally Rs. 6,645 crores) producing office in a hard-hit Las Vegas suburb. Batmobile.
Razer Stargazer Camera Launched – Reviews, Specs & Price
Nikon Key Mission 360 – Specs, Reviews and Features
Not even Nevada Gov. Brian Sandoval, who pushed for the motivating force bundle and went to Monday’s presentation, had seen the concept auto. Neither had North Las Vegas Mayor John Lee in spite of the fact that he went by the California central station four months prior and saw “the insight building around the auto.”
“There was undoubtedly about it that that was the outcry point,” he said, alluding to the arrangements to arrive the assembling plant in his city. He was persuaded, he said.
Underscoring the pace at which it will create and manufacture autos, the organization’s Senior Vice President of Research and Development Nick Sampson said the organization would convey its first generation auto in a few years.
Sampson said Faraday had so far enlisted 750 individuals globally with most at its California central station and wanted to get things started on its North Las Vegas plant in a couple of weeks with arrangements to procure 4,500 individuals there.
He said his organization would use computerized design and testing of parts and measured development, making it speedier than contenders.
“You don’t need a hundred year legacy in the car business to characterize what the up and coming era of transportation needs to look and feel like,” Sampson said, trying conventional auto producers and comparing the eventual fate of autos to the introduction of the Apple iPhone nine years prior making a few models of mobile phones out of date.
In any case, Sampson wasn’t stating what the organization would manufacture first for generation, the amount it’s spent so far furthermore wasn’t uncovering a great deal more data about the organization’s financial specialists. The organization is as yet looking for a battery supplier, he said.
The presentation included Ding Lei, prime supporter of LeTV portrayed as the Netflix of China, who said a while later that his organization plans to band together with Faraday on innovative work.
The street to make a gainful electric auto organization hasn’t been simple for a standout amongst the most surely understood in the commercial center. Tesla has just made a quarterly benefit once since its 2003 establishing.
What’s more, customary automakers have been using measured design and enlarged reality in development for a considerable length of time.
Sampson said the difference is that Faraday will be designing just electric autos dissimilar to other auto producers that may need to invest more energy redesigning a model to fit a cross breed motor, V6 or V8.
“We’re creating one center engine innovation,” Sampson said.
The organization named Monday’s presentation that incorporated an unmistakable balance running a large portion of the length of the auto, a solitary line of a grin for a front light and a white inside with a seat roused by Nasa design the FFZero1.
The position of safety waist-high auto stayed under a white sheet, the centerpiece on a white stage before white drapes for the greater part of Monday’s night’s presentation inside an extensive tent stuffed with individuals and press sitting tight for the uncover.
“It’s an amazing tablet on wheels,” said Richard Kim, Faraday’s head of global design, saying the concept incorporated the capacity to venture pictures out and about much such as a “computerized copilot,” an advanced cell dock in the directing wheel, burrows underneath the auto to channel air through and a designed flat wrinkle at the edges of the auto he called the “UFO” line to flag the auto was extraordinary.
It’s an “auto of concepts,” he said as opposed to a concept auto.
See more tech gadgets like Batmobile of CES 2016
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The Cassini-Huygens Spacecraft and the Mysteries of Saturn and Titan
Joe Jordan, planetary and atmospheric modeler for the SETI Institute
(Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence), joins the geeks to discuss his work modeling the atmosphere of Saturn’s
moon Titan, where the Cassini-Huygens spacecraft will arrive in July 2004. This seven-year journey to Saturn will place the Cassini spacecraft into a four-year orbit around the planet to measure its magnetosphere and will analyze the composition of Saturn’s famous rings
and its atmosphere. In December 2004, Cassini will eject the Huygens probe that will descend into Saturn’s mysterious
moon of Titan. If Huygen’s survives the impact of the landing upon the frozen moon, it will be the furthest human-made
object ever to land on a celestial body. (Cassini-Huygens image courtesy NASA/JPL-Caltech)
= 2]/imagedata/@fileref
Joe Jordan, planetary and atmospheric
modeler for the SETI Institute
Joe Jordan has worked at the NASA Ames Research Center for
over 20 years, on projects ranging from a flying observatory
for infrared astronomy, to studies of the polar stratospheric
ozone layer, to the search for planets around other stars, to
image analysis from Mars landers and rovers. He’s also been
teaching science and math in area public schools; leads
stargazing and “physics-in-nature” hikes for various organizations;
and teaches renewable energy at Cabrillo and the Monterey Institute
of International Studies. He’s had some success getting solar
electric systems installed on area schools and other public
At NASA he is currently employed by the SETI Institute, which
supports a broad array of research on astronomy and biology,
bearing upon questions of the origins of life and where else
it might exist, besides Earth. Last fall he went to Chile’s
rather unearthly Atacama Desert to an area where it’s so dry that
even microbes don’t make it.
Sean Cleveland (cohost)
John Tracy (cohost)
Maggi Hoogs (support)
Joe Jordan (guest)
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in Legal Issues, News and Events, Privacy and Security, Technology Foresight
Next generation Total Information Awareness? Software tracks people’s movements and behavior with social media
Software that tracks people on social media created by defence firm, by Ryan Gallagher, The Guardian, Feb 10, 2013
A multinational security firm has secretly developed software [named RIOT, or Rapid Information Overlay Technology] capable of tracking people’s movements and predicting future behaviour by mining data from social networking websites. A video obtained by the Guardian reveals how an “extreme-scale analytics” system created by Raytheon, the world’s fifth largest defence contractor, can gather vast amounts of information about people from websites including Facebook, Twitter and Foursquare. …But the Massachusetts-based company has acknowledged the technology was shared with US government and industry as part of a joint research and development effort, in 2010, to help build a national security system capable of analysing “trillions of entities” from cyberspace. ….
For full text of the article, visit Software that tracks people on social media created by defence firm | World news | The Guardian.
Software that tracks people on social media created by defence firm (guardian.co.uk)
New ‘Google For Spies’ Mines Social Media, Builds Profiles, Predicts Future Locations (businessinsider.com)
Tags: #socialmedia, Big Data, CIA, Facebook, Federal government of the United States, Foursquare, Geospatial, GIS, Gov20, Gov30, Location Privacy, Massachusetts, National Security, NGA, NSA, Privacy, Raytheon, RIOT, Security, Social Media, The Guardian, TIA, Total Information Awareness, Twitter
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Watch Now: FOX4 News at 7 am FOX4 TV Schedule
FOX 4 Kansas City WDAF-TV | News, Weather, Sports
Author Adam Tanner discusses new book about privacy and personal data
Posted 9:15 am, October 7, 2014, by FOX 4 Newsroom
On Facebook and Amazon, using frequent-flyer numbers and loyalty cards, we share personal information every day while buying something, trying to gain access or perks, or engaging in some other ordinary activity.
Adam Tanner, the author of What Stays in Vegas: The World of Personal Data - Lifeblood of Big Business - and the End of Privacy as We Know It can speak to the consequences.
In a discussion of his revealing new book on Tuesday, Oct. 7, 2014, at 6:30 p.m. at the Central Library, 14 W. 10th St., Tanner examines how each bit of personal data we surrender can be harvested and aggregated with alarming speed into personal profiles that corporations, marketing services, or more nefarious entities use to their own advantage.
Yes, there are many benefits to the free flow of all this data. But there is a dark, unregulated, and destructive netherworld as well. And it is growing more difficult for businesses that choose not to engage in more intrusive data gathering to compete with those that do.
Nobody does it better, Tanner says, than Caesars Entertainment Corporation, whose Harrah's North Kansas City casino -- and its savvy senior vice president and general manager, Tom Cook -- figure prominently in What Stays in Vegas.
Many thousands of enthusiastic clients pour through the ever-open doors of Caesars' casinos. The secret to the company's success lies in its one unrivaled asset: knowing its clients intimately by tracking the activities of the overwhelming majority of gamblers. The casinos know exactly what games they like to play, what foods they enjoy for breakfast, when they prefer to visit, who their favorite hostess might be, and exactly how to keep them coming back for more.
Caesars' dogged data-gathering methods have been so successful that it has grown into world's largest casino operator, inspiring companies of all kinds to ramp up their own data mining in the hopes of boosting their targeted marketing efforts. Some do it themselves. Some rely on data brokers. Others, Tanner says, enter a moral gray zone that should make American consumers deeply uncomfortable.
A fellow at Harvard University's Institute for Quantitative Social Science, Tanner is a former Reuters bureau chief who was part of the news agency's team cited as a finalist for the 2012 Pulitzer Prize in international reporting. He was a 2014 recipient of New York University's Arthur L. Carter Journalism Institute Reporting Award for work "on significant underreported subjects in the public interest."
Tanner has appeared on BBC and National Public Radio broadcasts, and writes for Forbes, Worth, and other magazines.
Admission to the event is free. RSVP at kclibrary.org or call 816.701.3407. Free parking is available in the Library District parking garage at 10th & Baltimore.
Topics: authors
Order FOX 4 merchandise!
FOX4 Forecast: Excessive Heat Watch begins Wednesday!
‘Big milestone’: Former Chiefs QB Alex Smith’s wife shares update on social media
Truck driver from Missouri charged in crash that killed woman, 2 kids on Indianapolis highway
Royals trade Martin Maldonado to Cubs for LHP Mike Montgomery
It’s not just Quest: LabCorp says it was hacked too
A bipartisan Senate bill would tell you how much Facebook and Google make from your data
Researchers find more cases of Facebook app data exposure
‘Privacy-focused’ Facebook puts the spotlight on groups
Parents can’t delete what kids tell Amazon voice assistant
Changing your meat-eating habits could mean a longer life, study suggests
Big Tech must be regulated now, Bill Gates says
KCPS dives deep into data trying to pinpoint problems and develop efficient solutions
The cost of cancer: 25% of survivors face continued financial hardship, report finds
Joe’s Weather World: Watching for storms up north (TUE-6/25)
Report: America just had its lowest number of births in 32 years
Joe’s Weather World: Storm risk continues on Wednesday (TUE-4/16)
• 3030 Summit, Kansas City, MO 64108
• Copyright © 2019, WDAF
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“We proudly fly the American flag:” ACUITY has increased the size of its American flag
Posted 12:53 pm, November 9, 2015, by Trisha Lavey
SHEBOYGAN — ACUITY announced Monday, November 9th that it has increased the size of its American flag to 140 feet wide by 70 feet high, a 36 percent increase over the previous flag’s dimensions.
The increase was made to provide better visual balance with the 400-foot flagpole at ACUITY’s Sheboygan headquarters. The flag is the world’s largest free-flying American flag and, combined with the flagpole, represents the World’s Tallest Symbol of Freedom.
ACUITY erected the flagpole in 2014 as a statement of gratitude to our country and those who defend it. At the base of the pole is a Veterans Memorial, which features the names of every Sheboygan County Veteran killed in the line of duty. The flagpole is one of the most visible landmarks on the Interstate 43 corridor.
“We proudly fly the American flag at our headquarters to pay tribute to the service and sacrifice of American Veterans,” said Ben Salzmann, ACUITY President and CEO. “Since we completed construction, the flagpole has proven its design as a safe, strong support for the flag, more than able to support a 140- by 70-foot flag, or even larger.”
The new flag at ACUITY, covering nearly 10,000 square feet, features stripes that are over 5 feet high and stars that are nearly 3 feet across. Weighing 340 pounds dry, the nylon flag requires 72 cubic feet of storage space when not being flown. For more information, visit www.acuity.com/flag.
Topics: ACUITY, American Flag
2 cans short
I said it when you erected it Ben, while I am patriotic as the day is long, this was a total misuse of funds in my opinion. In 2014 your company wanted to raise my premiums when I have never had a claim. In fact you threatened to drop me because my roof needed replacement and didn’t bother to reconsider after I had that done. Guess what? my premiums are now going to another company that does not appear to showboat instead of servicing their customers. Guess that way overpriced flag project (how many million?) waves proudly in front of that multi million dollar fortress of an office building it sits in front of that I helped pay for over the years. My only regret with having you for my insurer is that I didn’t jump ship sooner. C YA
Hey man…. freedom isn’t free.
Jan Remling
Thank you, I love seeing the flag; I’m so proud of it.
If you think 400 feet is the world’s tallest symbol of freedom, I have some super bad news for you:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/One_World_Trade_Center
Caught on camera: $171 worth of handbags, clothing stolen from T.J. Maxx in Menomonee Falls
Giant American flag flap flutters on; business owner rallies
‘It’s not coming down:’ Dispute over large American flag prompts lawsuit, fines
Vietnam veteran finally allowed to hoist flag after 20-year legal battle
A veteran-owned company releases a Betsy Ross flag shirt after Nike controversy
‘It tells me that patriotism is alive:’ Veterans celebrate Flag Day at Milwaukee’s Marcus Center
Mitch McConnell slams Nike’s decision to cancel Betsy Ross flag sneakers amid backlash
Volunteers, students place 35K+ flags at graves of fallen at Wood National Cemetery
Beyond the Game
‘Big part of Brewers history:’ ‘L’ flag becomes bourbon at Milwaukee’s Central Standard Craft Distillery
Oak Creek couple receives word ‘no further action will be taken’ regarding their gay pride flag
Nike cancels shoe featuring early version of American flag
Governor Evers orders gay pride flag to fly over Wisconsin Capitol
Vietnam veterans memorial was vandalized with a swastika; police want to find out who did it
Organizers: Date set for ‘straight pride’ parade in Boston
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Canal Park - 300 S. Main Street, Akron OH 44308
GABHOF
Hall of Fame Umpires
Nominating Form
Speaker’s Series
High School All-Star Games
High School Scholarships
Contribute Pictures/Info
Donations (Levels)
Linc Hackim Sr.
HomeMEMBERSLinc Hackim Sr.
Year Inducted – 1983
After long leadership in Greater Akron and Ohio baseball, Linc was elected President of the American Amateur Baseball Congress (AABC)–the largest amateur baseball organization in the world. In 1966 he brought the AABC’s national office to Fairlawn. In his 17 years of direction, the AABC’s membership grew to a record-breaking 7,414 teams. During his regime, the AABC grew from two age divisions to five divisions. Linc was generous to all teams on all levels who needed help. One could count on him to provide anything necessary to afford youth the opportunity to play baseball. He was instrumental in keeping the Akron AA League alive and molding it into a hotbed of competitive play. Linc’s devotion to the AABC and amateur baseball came to an end at his passing on February 1, 1983. However, his record is known nationwide, especially in making the AABC a viable asset to American Youth and the amateur sports scene.
Search the GABHoF
Copyright © 2018 GABHoF. All Rights Reserved.
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Hasbro DC Super Heroes Collection Superman Blue 7-inch figure (1999)
Here is yet another collectible from the Electro-Blue Superman era. This seven-inch action figure is from the DC Super Heroes Collection that was released by Hasbro in 1999. The figure has twelve points of articulation and comes with…
May 10, 2017 in FIGURES / STATUES.
Hasbro Winner’s Circle NASCAR Jeff Gordon diecast 1/24th scale car (1999)
Originally released in 1998 and re-released in 1999 by Hasbro, this is a 1/24th scale miniature of the NASCAR vehicle actually driven by Jeff Gordon. This was part of a huge promotional partnership between NASCAR and DC Comics at the time. Hasbro also made other NASCAR/DC Comics vehicles in various scales.
May 2, 2017 in VEHICLES.
Jack in the Box Phone Booth Change Superman toy (1999)
In 1999, during the on-going promotion for Superman: The Animated Series, Jack in the Box released a set of toys related to the show. This is a Phone Booth Change Superman toy in which Clark Kent changes into Superman.
The doors of this phone booth can open and has a rotating inner panel. On one side of the panel is a molded Clark Kent figure (not removable) holding his suit jacket as if about ready to remove it. When a switch is pushed at the top of the “booth”…
February 2, 2017 in FAST FOOD ITEMS.
Hasbro Justice League of America Superman Blue 9-inch figure (1999)
This 9-inch Justice League of America Superman Blue figure was just one on a line of figures released by Hasbro in 1999. The line of figures also included characters like Batman, Martian Manhunter, Green Lantern (Kyle Rayner) and others.
September 20, 2016 in FIGURES / STATUES.
Hasbro Superman: The Animated Series Super Heroes vs. Super Villains figure set (1999)
In 1999, Hasbro re-released four of the figures from the Superman: The Animated Series collection as a boxed set. The set, called Super Heroes vs. Super Villains, featured Superman, Supergirl, Metallo and Bizzaro figures. Along with the figures came…
July 27, 2016 in FIGURES / STATUES.
Warner Bros. Studio Store Superman Light-Up Toothbrush (1999)
Another item from the Warner Bros. Studio Store is this Superman Light-Up Toothbrush. Released in 1999, this toothbrush has a button on the back that, when pressed, lights up the base and the ‘S’ symbol on the figure. It’s powered by…
February 6, 2016 in HEALTH / GROOMING.
Warner Bros. Studio Store Superman salt shaker (1999)
Once available at the very missed Warner Bros. Studio Store, this Superman shaker was a great addition to any Man of Tomorrow collection. Made in China of glazed ceramic, this shaker stands at nearly…
January 29, 2016 in PLATES, DINNERWARE, ETC..
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Conversions and Confessions
Lane Fox, Robin
Augustine is the person from the ancient world about whom we know most. He is the author of an intimate masterpiece, the Confessions, which continues to delight its many admirers. In it he writes about his infancy and his schooling in the classics in late Roman North Africa, his remarkable mother, his sexual sins ('Give me chastity, but not yet,' he famously prayed), his time in an outlawed heretical sect, his worldly career and friendships and his gradual return to God. His account of his own eventual conversion is a classic study of anguish, hesitation and what he believes to be God's intervention. It has inspired philosophers, Christian thinkers and monastic followers, but it still leaves readers wondering why exactly Augustine chose to compose the Confessions, a work like none before it. Robin Lane Fox follows Augustine on a brilliantly described journey, combining the latest scholarship with recently found letters and sermons by Augustine himself to give a portrait of his subject which is subtly different from older biographies. Augustine's heretical years as a Manichaean, his relation to non-Christian philosophy, his mystical aspirations and the nature of his conversion are among the aspects of his life which stand out in a sharper light. For the first time Lane Fox compares him with two contemporaries, an older pagan and a younger Christian, each of whom also wrote about themselves and who illumine Augustine's life and writings by their different choices. More than a decade passed between Augustine's conversion and his beginning the Confessions. Lane Fox argues that the Confessions and their thinking were the results of a long gestation over these years, not a sudden change of perspective, but that they were then written as a single swift composition and that its final books are a coherent consummation of its scriptural meditation and personal biography. This exceptional study reminds us why we are so excited and so moved by Augustine's story. 'Robin Lane Fox's Augustine is a masterpiece. Augustine emerges fully as a man of the late Roman expire, deeply formed from the beginning by the intellectual concerns of his day to which he formulated his own brilliant, unique and lasting responses.' Susanna Elm, Professor of History and Classics at University of California, Berkeley and author of Virgins of God ' Augustine vividly retells the gripping story of Augustine's serial self-reinventions with both sympathy and shrewd insight. Robin Lane Fox brings to life the world of late Roman antiquity, and one of its most compelling personalities, Augustine is a perfect alloy of great scholarship and great story-telling.' Paula Fredriksen, Professor of the Appreciation of Scripture Emerita, Boston University and author of Augustine and the Jews 'Robin Lane Fox brings his customary wit, verve, and insight to bear on the record of a passionate and complicated man. Author and subject are well-matched, and readers can freshly savour Augustine's intelligence and ambition, as well as his depth and his devotion.' Robin Darling Young, Associate Professor of Spirituality at the Catholic University of America 'In this book, Robin Lane Fox weaves imaginative parallels with figures like Libanius, Ambrose, Jerome, Sinesius and others into his telling of the story of Augustine from his youth to the time when he wrote the Confessions . Thus the reader is drawn into Augustine's life by wide-ranging attention to the classical context for the Confessions . All thirteen books of the Confessions are treated, attending at length to aspects of Augustine's life that others barely touch.' Allan Fitzgerald, OSA, Director of the Augustinian Institute, Villanova University and editor of Augustinian Studies
Publisher: [London] :, Allen Lane, an imprint of Penguin Books,, 2015.
Characteristics: xiv, 657 pages, 16 unnumbered pages of plates :,color illustrations ;,24 cm
Read more reviews of Augustine at iDreamBooks.com
Augustine, — of Hippo, Saint, 354-430
Augustine, — of Hippo, Saint, 354-430.
Christian Saints — Algeria — Hippo (Extinct City) — Biography.
Library Hours Interlibrary Loan Ask A Question TAL Online Graham Home Shortgrass Home
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Home Electric Vehicle India Budget 2019 allocates Rs 10,000 crore to drive electric vehicle industry
India Budget 2019 allocates Rs 10,000 crore to drive electric vehicle industry
India has allocated Rs 10,000 crore to the Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of Electric Vehicles (FAME II) scheme.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Friday said the India government will also provide additional income tax deduction of 1.5 lakh on the interest paid on loans taken to purchase electric vehicles (EV), in a move to make EVs affordable to consumers.
This amounts to a benefit of around 2.5 lakh over the loan period to the taxpayers who take loans to purchase electric vehicle, said Sitharaman. The government has also moved GST council to lower the GST rate on electric vehicles from 12 percent to 5 percent.
“We aim to leapfrog and envision India as a global hub of manufacturing of electric vehicles. Inclusion of solar storage batteries and charging infrastructure in the above scheme will boost our efforts,” said Sitharaman.
Phase-II of FAME Scheme, following approval of the Cabinet with an outlay of Rs 10,000 crore for a period of 3 years, has commenced from 1 April, 2019. The main objective of the Scheme is to encourage faster adoption of electric vehicles by way of offering upfront incentive on purchase of electric vehicles and also by establishing the necessary charging infrastructure for electric vehicles.
Only advanced battery and registered e-vehicles will be incentivized under the Scheme with greater emphasis on providing affordable and environment friendly public transportation options for the common man, said Sitharaman. FAME II aims to encourage faster adoption of electric vehicles by right incentives and charging infrastructure.
With an intention to incentivise e-mobility, customs duty is being exempted on certain parts of electric vehicles. Customs duty is also being exempted on capital goods required for manufacture of specified electronic goods.
The government also announced a proposal to increase the special additional excise duty and road and infrastructure cess each by one rupee a litre on petrol and diesel.
“Crude prices have softened from their highs. This gives me a room to review excise duty and cess on petrol and diesel. I propose to increase special additional excise duty and road and infrastructure cess each by one rupee a litre on petrol and diesel,” said Sitharaman.
Fiat Chrysler to invest $788 mn for electric vehicle production
Jaguar Land Rover to make electric vehicles in Britain
Toyota to invest $2 bn to develop EVs in Indonesia
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Revenge porn from the DA? ... and other stories
Let's clear a few browser tabs with a quick roundup:
Just Liberty Platform Campaign Update
As results roll in from around the state, Just Liberty's platform project turned out to be even more successful than we thought. Resolutions to implement #cjreform were passed in 17 Republican senate districts and 16 Democratic ones. Most of the Democratic SDs approved all 16 Just Liberty resolutions. And on the Republican side, the Young Republican Federation of Texas endorsed our entire agenda and encouraged their members to champion #cjreform resolutions in their own local conventions. We even created a catchy little jingle to promote the campaign online. Now it's on to the state conventions, where the party platforms will be finally approved and hopefully include our proposals. The process of promoting the resolutions within these party processes has already helped identify new allies around the state, whom we hope in turn will add weight and credibility the legislative push on #cjreform issues in 2019.
Voting case against ex-felon a politicized disgrace
This Tarrant County case of a woman receiving a five year sentence for voting with a felony record is one of the most absurd and politicized abuses of justice I've seen in quite a while (perhaps going back to the roundup after the Twin Peaks Biker Massacre, if we're ranking episodes of prosecutorial overreach).
The DA, discovery, and 'revenge porn'
Speaking of the Twin Peaks Biker Massacre, DA Abel Reyna's office got dinged by a judge for releasing nude photos of a defendant's wife that he had on his phone to the other 176 defendants as part of discovery materials. Critics dubbed the episode a case of "revenge porn," which is a bit far-fetched, but a funny way to frame it. The defendants have all been ordered to delete the images.
'Confessions taken here'
All the high-profile murderers who pass through Williamson County appear to confess to this guy. Or maybe the confidential informant system incentivizes fabricated testimony. You make the call.
Might more ticket writing reduce traffic fatalities?
Corpus Christi has announced a plan to ramp up traffic ticket writing in response to traffic fatalities, although there's at best a tentative and unproven correlation between the two. For example, statewide, Texas has seen traffic fatalities decline during periods when police officers wrote fewer tickets. The correlation between writing more tickets and generating more revenue, by contrast, is much more firmly established.
Texas seeks shorter capital deadlines
Texas is seeking to opt-in to shortened timelines for death penalty appeals, reported Keri Blakinger at the Houston Chronicle, after Attorney General Jeff Sessions suggested it last year. Given the often-poor quality of capital representation under current timelines, it can't be a great idea to squeeze those timelines even further.
Soon to be FORMER McLennan DA Reyna, thank doorknobs!
And, to square a circle, let's see some further lawsuits against him after Jan. 1, 2019 when he's a private citizen, please.
Officer Friendly said...
If anyone is interested in studies showing correlations between police traffic enforcement and reduced accidents and/or fatalities, the Texas Transportation Institute-Center for Transportation Safety and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration have enough of them to last you a life time or ten. There are other universities, state, and federal groups willing to provide extensive data as well. In fact, Austin PD, Houston PD, and Dallas PD all have free literature you can request that quotes some of the major studies, just be prepared to wait a long time if you ask Houston for it because they took forever.
You can take exception to individual studies or point out the differences between correlation and causation but the amount of quality data makes for a compelling argument. That doesn't mean all traffic enforcement efforts are equal or that they all have public safety in mind but when mayors, governors and the public all demand premium services on a shoe string budget, police chiefs and agency heads have shown to be all too willing to use such efforts as revenue generators. Speaking from the POV of a street officer, I have never once been told to write tickets to make my agency money, nor do we get any perks for writing such tickets. If you believe otherwise, please contact your local sheriffs and police chiefs so I can get my monthly toaster oven or whatever other fantasy prizes you think we are supposed to get. Most of us don't even write many tickets because we're too busy with everything else but when I was assigned to traffic duties, I obtained the department's list of high accident locations and started working them hard.
Steven Seys said...
RE: Confessions taken here.
The practice of using a jailhouse informant to bring testimony of a confession to trial is obviously flawed. If a prosecutor is interested in only justice for the victims he or she will avoid making a deal with a known criminal to get evidence against an alleged perp. But in the rush to get conviction at any cost, the risk of introducing perjury against an innocent person is deemed inconsequential. The only people who count to a DA are the ones who continue to reelect him.
So all the news articles about ticket quotas aren't true? You sounded so reasonable, just not truthful.
Anon 3:52, I can't speak to every news article or what every police agency does but I can speak for my experiences in a large agency. I have never been told to write a certain number of traffic tickets or even a minimum number. Every once in awhile, I'd hear how a single supervisor or commander would be accused of giving such an order by a union official or some officer caught doing nothing day after day. When the truth came out, we'd all be reminded that no quotas existed, the people involved in the matter were either corrected or trained in the law, and then the media would make a mountain out of a molehill.
A patrol officer or deputy are expected to work during their shift. Answering calls for service, checking by with other officers, and sometimes writing a ticket are some of the duties we're expected to engage in. We don't always write the ticket but pulling over drivers observed breaking the law is not a quota and if you drive in this region, you are going to see a lot of that.
Officer Friendly, So you have never been in a police agency that participated in the STEP program? If you have been then you're parsing the truth at best, if you haven't then good for you for working in a large agency that didn't have a quota, written or implied.
Anon 9:32, of course I've worked for a department that applied for and accepted STEP grants. I'm unaware of any large department unwilling to take freely offered money. This might seem like I'm trying to bust your chops but I've never been told, ordered, or threatened with removal from the program for lack of productivity. The numbers expected are so low, it is government work after all, that the supervisors don't even bother to tell us exactly how low they are. I've worked speed and seat belt programs where we're sent out to target rich areas, so rich that my fingers would bleed if I wrote all the violations I observed.
I don't even bother with cars until they are going at least 20 MPH over the limit when working STEP, nor do I write every seat belt violation on that version of the program. The real world would set numbers that I had to keep constantly busy but in these programs, a deputy could write enough in a single hour to cover a full shift. The DWI guys never seem to miss their unstated goals either, the experts telling us how common they are at night in this area. Very few of us working these programs are the hard charging rookies out to impress anyone so if someone told me he couldn't find enough to write in a shift, I'd ride with him for free just to see what he was doing with his time. So if you've been told otherwise, I'd be curious to hear what departments are so unproductive that they need to give illegal quota orders. Maybe their supervisors should look into what they're doing on a shift or the fed can just give my department the money instead.
Officer Friendly, again reasonable, but lacking in candor. The STEP program at one time required 4 interactions with the public per hour. That's called a quota, you can justify it by saying that there is no lack of people you can stop, but it's still a quota.
PS, Officer Friendly, the program added language in 2016 to say the program was not meant to set quotas. Wonder why.
Anon 8:19, and presumably all the other times), while most people accept the fact that a quota is generally referred to as writing a specific number of tickets, I'll point out one last time that it was never an issue with me or those I worked with. If other agencies or other divisions openly demanded specific numbers of tickets, interactions, or anything of the kind, I cannot speak to that. In the programs where I worked, I'd be embarrassed to come back at the end of a shift with that few encounters because it only takes five minutes to write a ticket and run someone for warrants, many times the person I stopped was also missing his insurance, had expired everything, etc. Perhaps those I work with had a better work ethic than whoever you dealt with, I can't speak to that since you've continued on the same refrain that we are all the same.
I'm guessing that the language that was added in 2016 was the result of the misunderstandings I spoke of previously, the kind that the media would blow way out of proportion but you can change the language on grants all you like, many of us in the trenches are just going to go out and do our job as expected well enough that the topic never comes up. There will always be lazy people looking for an excuse to stretch the truth but if you're being honest, you can't tell me you don't see a great many people speeding, refusing to wear a seat belt or make sure their kid is in a car seat, or whatever specific violation we've discussed. If you have a question I can answer, go ahead and ask so I can try to answer it but if you just want to keep repeating something that has never applied to me or my workplace, I'll let you have the last word.
Officer Friendly,
At no point did I ever say that all police "are all the same", I simple said that quotas did and may still exist. You are correct that a officer shouldn't have any problem getting 4 or more interactions per hour on most highways.....that doesn't change the fact that quotas have existed in many of Texas largest police departments (it's been documented and other police officers have gone on record that quotas existed).
I don't have any questions for you, I only wished to correct your assertion that quotas didn't exist, they have, probably still do.
Anon, you repeatedly stated that I was being untruthful, parsing, and otherwise was misleading people when all I claimed was how neither I nor those I worked with were given quotas. I further explained that this included a number of tickets or a number of stops when you kept pressing but I also made it crystal clear that I didn't work for every agency not under every supervisor so while the possibility exists, it just hasn't happened to me but you sound like you are equating all officers as being the same when you project a practice that clearly not all have engaged in. This is similar to the assertions my brother in law has made that "every cop is on the take" or "every cop has shot and killed people", I've never seen the former and the latter is impossible given the nationwide statistics. But I've even tried to explain that misunderstanding have been quickly fixed and that individuals can make claims of things that just aren't true or taken out of context, by all means change the wording of laws to prevent these rarities if it makes you feel better, much like the notion of voter fraud or bathroom assaults seems to set off some people despite having almost no cases on record. My career is almost over and I've seen plenty of things that need to be changed where I've worked, other agencies probably have different things in need of repair. It's the assertion that all or most of us do specific things that weakens the credibility of reformists but I made it clear that as long as I've been in the trenches, I cannot speak for everyone else.
Not too long ago the Texas AG declined to prosecute Ft. Worth officers for false reports based upon the illegal quotas in place. So if you choose to believe quotas are "guidelines", I guess that's your choice.
So far as my believing you on this subject, it's never going to happen.
That's all for me on this subject.
Anon, the facts are the facts while our individual opinions will always vary. Have a good week, the weather's looking great.
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projects / veency.git / blob
Call CFPreferencesAppSynchronize (for iOS << 8.0).
[veency.git] / COPYING
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Tag: famous Christians
Things Glen Found Interesting, Volume 201
On Fridays I share articles/resources about broad cultural, societal and theological issues. Be sure to see the explanation and disclaimers at the bottom. I welcome your suggestions. If you read something fascinating please pass it my way.
The alleged synagogue shooter was a churchgoer who articulated Christian theology, prompting tough questions for evangelical pastors (Julie Zauzmer, The Washington Post va SF Gate): “Before he allegedly walked into a synagogue in Poway, California and opened fire, John Earnest appears to have written a seven‐page letter spelling out his core beliefs: That Jewish people, guilty in his view of faults ranging from killing Jesus to controlling the media, deserved to die. That his intention to kill Jews would glorify God…. Earnest, 19, was a member of an OPC congregation. His father was an elder. He attended regularly. And in the manifesto, the writer spewed not only invective against Jews and racial minorities, but also cogent Christian theology he heard in the pews.”
Kinism, Cultural Marxism, and the Synagogue Shooter (Joe Carter, Gospel Coalition): “Several years ago a friend of mine, a Presbyterian minister, asked me to speak to his congregation about cultural issues. During the discussion, an older couple asked me a question about separation of ethnic groups, specifically white Americans from blacks and Jews. I told them I must have misunderstood their question, because what they were talking about could be mistaken for promoting a view called kinism. The wife replied, ‘And what’s wrong with kinism?’”
Why white nationalism tempts white Christians (Jemar Tisby, Religion News Service): “I absolutely do not believe that pastors in the OPC or any similar denomination are regularly spewing anti‐Semitism and racism from the pulpit or on any other occasion. But the rigid exclusion of discussions of racial injustice from the regular preaching and teaching in these churches means that white nationalists are seldom challenged in their beliefs.”
a Twitter thread in which Duke Kwon talks about this
https://scite.ai/ — this is a cool concept. Enter a research paper and it will algorithmically assess whether subsequent research supports or undermines the conclusions. For example: https://scite.ai/reports/10.1001/jamainternmed.2016.1615
As churches are demolished at home, Chinese Christians find religious freedom in Kenya (Jenni Marsh, CNN): “Kenya is not a place you’d expect to find an underground church. Christianity is the lifeblood of the nation’s politics and societal fabric, and is celebrated in huge, rambunctious services attended by thousands of dancing and singing worshipers. But, in the northern stretches of the sprawling, traffic‐choked capital of 4 million people, an underground Chinese house church is exactly what May Li, wife of a Malaysian‐Chinese pastor, helps to lead — illustrating just how far the Communist Party’s religious crackdown has traveled. Li and other Chinese Christians in this story did not want to use their real names for fear of being punished by the government when they return to China. The Chinese embassy in Nairobi has already reached out to the leaders of some Chinese Christian groups in the city and asked them to desist, says Li. Her service tries to stay below the radar.”
The Belt and Road is about domestic interest groups, not development (Andrew Batson, personal blog): “The broader point here is that looking at the Belt and Road through the lens of ‘grand strategy’ or ‘geopolitics,’ as so many commentators do, or even portraying it as some kind of new philosophy of economic development, is quite misleading. All of these grand concepts are justifications invented after the fact for a pattern of actions that was already well underway before Xi Jinping made his 2013 speech about the Belt and Road. The Belt and Road is really the expansion of a specific part of China’s domestic political economy to the rest of the world.”
Ro Khanna and the tensions of Silicon Valley liberalism (Ezra Klein, Vox): “Pelosi invited me to her house,” Khanna recalls. “And when I asked her not to make an endorsement, she said, ‘Absolutely not. I stand for my incumbents.’ So I get very discouraged, and Pelosi could see that. As I’m leaving the room, she said, ‘Ro, let me tell you something. If I had waited around, I’d have never been speaker of the House. Power is never given. It’s always taken.’”
Is Times Columnist David Brooks a Christian or a Jew? (Sarah Pulliam Bailey, Washington Post via the Salt Lake Tribune): “In the world of national columnists, David Brooks is a star. But in the past few years, The New York Times writer and author has whipped up fascination among a certain subset of readers for a specific, gossipy reason: They wonder if the Jewish writer has become a Christian.”
Related: David Brooks’s Conversion Story (Benjamin Wallace‐Wells, The New Yorker): “For Brooks, this carried the clarity of revelation, and soon he let it be known, among his acquaintances, that he was experiencing religious curiosity. An informal competition opened for David Brooks’s soul. He received, by his own estimation, three hundred gifts of spiritual books, ‘only one hundred of which were different copies of C. S. Lewis’s Mere Christianity.’ ”
Terrorists in Burkina Faso Execute Six at Pentecostal Church (Kate Shellnutt, Christianity Today): “A dozen gunmen on motorcycles stormed the courtyard of the Sirgadji church after worship, fatally shooting its longtime pastor as well as five other congregants after demanding they convert to Islam, according to a statement sent to CT by the general superintendent of the Assemblies of God in Burkina Faso, Michel Ouédraogo.”
Less Serious Things Which Also Interested/Amused Glen
How To Discourage Phone Calls (Dilbert)
Spoilers (Strange Planet)
Taking Cue From ‘Avengers: Endgame’, Pastor To Preach For Three Hours This Sunday (Babylon Bee)
Things Glen Found Interesting A While Ago
Every week I’ll highlight an older link still worth your consideration. This week we have Sister… Show Mercy! (Dan Phillips, Team Pyro): “Sister, if there’s one thing you and I can certainly agree on, it’s this: I don’t know what it’s like to be a woman, and you don’t know what it’s like to be a man. We’re both probably wrong where we’re sure we’re right, try as we might. So let me try to dart a telegram from my camp over to the distaff side.” (first shared in volume 148)
Why Do You Send This Email?
In the time of King David, the tribe of Issachar produced shrewd warriors “who understood the times and knew what Israel should do” (1 Chron 12:32). In a similar way, we need to become wise people whose faith interacts with the world. I pray this email gives you greater insight, so that you may continue the tradition of Issachar.
Chi Alpha is not a partisan organization. To paraphrase another minister: we are not about the donkey’s agenda and we are not about the elephant’s agenda — we are about the Lamb’s agenda. Having said that, I read widely (in part because I believe we should aspire to pass the ideological Turing test and in part because I do not believe I can fairly say “I agree” or “I disagree” until I can say “I understand”) and may at times share articles that have a strong partisan bias simply because I find the article stimulating. The upshot: you should not assume I agree with everything an author says in an article I mention, much less things the author has said in other articles (although if I strongly disagree with something in the article I’ll usually mention it). And to the extent you can discern my opinions, please understand that they are my own and not necessarily those of Chi Alpha or any other organization I may be perceived to represent. Also, remember that I’m not reporting news — I’m giving you a selection of things I found interesting. There’s a lot happening in the world that’s not making an appearance here because I haven’t found stimulating articles written about it. If this was forwarded to you and you want to receive future emails, sign up here. You can also view the archives.
Author GlenPosted on 5/3/2019 5/3/2019 Categories LinksTags antisemitism, china, famous Christians, racism, religious freedom, Research, Silicon ValleyLeave a comment on Things Glen Found Interesting, Volume 201
Related to the mosque attack in New Zealand:
Mass murderers crave publicity. Maybe giving them less would be helpful. (Megan McArdle, Washington Post): “Many commentators, wondering why mass shootings became so common in the late 20th century, have pointed to various cultural and economic developments. They might better have pointed to cable news, which ensured that disaffected losers with hypertrophied egos and shriveled souls became the nonstop talk of the nation — in every nation, and most of the world’s 6,500 languages. The wall‐to‐wall coverage teaches men who may not be able to get a job or a girlfriend that, nonetheless, in something under an hour, they can become Genghis Khan.”
The New Zealand Attack and the Global Challenge of Far‐Right Extremism (Seth Jones, Center for Strategic and International Studies): “Based on the globalization of far‐right extremism, the Christchurch attack—and the attacker—needs to be understood as part of a growing international trend that requires more attention and greater investment from governments and the private sector.”
White Nationalism’s Deep American Roots (Adam Serwer, The Atlantic): “A popular myth of American history is that racism is the exclusive province of the South. The truth is that much of the nativist energy in the U.S. came from old‐money elites in the Northeast, and was also fueled by labor struggles in the Pacific Northwest, which had stirred a wave of bigotry that led to the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882.” (this is not directly related to the shooting but is timely)
An MIT Professor Meets the Author of All Knowledge (Rosalind Picard, Christianity Today): “I once thought I was too smart to believe in God. Now I know I was an arrogant fool who snubbed the greatest Mind in the cosmos—the Author of all science, mathematics, art, and everything else there is to know. Today I walk humbly, having received the most undeserved grace. I walk with joy, alongside the most amazing Companion anyone could ask for, filled with desire to keep learning and exploring.”
The Industrial Revolution of Shame (Salvatore Scibona, New York Times): “We are undergoing an industrial revolution in shame. New technologies have radically expanded our ability to make and distribute a product. The product is our judgment of one another. As in past industrial revolutions, the mass manufacture and use of a product previously available to just a few or in small amounts has given us the power to do harm at a previously unthinkable scale.”
The Supreme Court Is Quietly Changing the Status of Religion in American Life (Jeffrey Toobin, New Yorker): “What the conservatives are doing, in effect, is reading the establishment clause out of the Constitution, and turning almost every issue into a free‐exercise case. In this reading, any denial of government benefits to a church can be seen as discrimination which amounts to a denial of free exercise—and the conservatives are making the same move with respect to individuals.”
Related: The Court and the Cross (Linda Greenhouse, New York Times): “The appetite of the two newest justices, Mr. Kavanaugh and Mr. Gorsuch, for cases that would enlarge the constitutional playing field for religion appears nearly boundless.”
If Liberals Won’t Enforce Borders, Fascists Will (David Frum, The Atlantic): “Demagogues don’t rise by talking about irrelevant issues. Demagogues rise by talking about issues that matter to people, and that more conventional leaders appear unwilling or unable to address: unemployment in the 1930s, crime in the 1960s, mass immigration now. Voters get to decide what the country’s problems are. Political elites have to devise solutions to those problems. If difficult issues go unaddressed by responsible leaders, they will be exploited by irresponsible ones.” I highlighted a piece by Frum with a similar theme back in issue 175. This is a very thoughtful article.
The Scandalous Academy: Social Science in Service of Identity Politics (Scott Yenor, Public Discourse): “Let us not ignore the most disturbing finding: that men who have sex with men are expected to live twelve years less than those who do not. This mirrors other studies conducted in British Columbia (which see an eight‐ to twenty‐year difference) and Denmark (which sees a smaller difference of four to twelve years). M. Ryan Baker’s ‘Gay and Lesbian Health Disparities: Evidence and Recommendations’ in a 2008 issue of the Journal of Health Disparities Research and Practice yielded similar results. To put that in perspective, smoking decreases life expectancy only ten years.” The author is a professor of political science at Boise State and the article is focused on biases and blind spots in the social sciences more than on the specific issue highlighted in the excerpt.
No Hate Left Behind (Thomas Edsall, New York Times): “Just over 42 percent of the people in each party view the opposition as ‘downright evil.’ In real numbers, this suggests that 48.8 million voters out of the 136.7 million who cast ballots in 2016 believe that members of opposition party are in league with the devil.”
Related: Partisan Hate Is Becoming a National Crisis (David French, National Review): “I wonder where [partisan hatred] would be if our nation hadn’t been extraordinarily lucky in the last two years. Yes, lucky. Imagine our national culture if the congressional baseball shooter hadn’t been immediately confronted by two brave Capitol Police officers. Imagine a nation where the Charlottesville terrorist kept plowing through the ranks of protesters, or where the Trump superfan bomber actually succeeded in making functioning explosives.”
Chick‐Fil‐A Manager Reminds Patrons To Examine Themselves Before Partaking Of The Chicken And Milkshakes (Babylon Bee)
Magician Eric Chien MAKES COIN PHYSICALLY DISAPPEAR! (Asia’s Got Talent, YouTube): five minutes
Dan White’s Champagne Toast Freaks Out The Roots (YouTube): three minutes. This felt slow to me — the payoff is worth the wait
Getting Some Mammoth (Eugene Volokh, Reason.com): I don’t know that this is actually less serious, but it’s super short and I find it a little amusing. Plus by sticking it down here I free up some space above. Recommended by an alumnus.
Every week I’ll highlight an older link still worth your consideration. This week we have Does The Bible Support Slavery? (a lecture given by the warden of Tyndale House at Cambridge University, the link is to the video with notes) and Does God Condone Slavery In The Bible? (Part One – Old Testament) and also Part Two – New Testament (longer pieces from Glenn Miller at Christian Thinktank). All three are quite helpful. (first shared in volume 76)
Chi Alpha is not a partisan organization. To paraphrase another minister: we are not about the donkey’s agenda and we are not about the elephant’s agenda — we are about the Lamb’s agenda. Having said that, I read widely (in part because I believe we should aspire to pass the ideological Turing test and in part because I do not believe I can fairly say “I agree” or “I disagree” until I can say “I understand”) and may at times share articles that have a strong partisan bias simply because I find the article stimulating. The upshot: you should not assume I agree with everything an author says in an article I mention, much less things the author has said in other articles (although if I strongly disagree with something in the article I’ll usually mention it). And to the extent you can discern my opinions, please understand that they are my own and not necessarily those of Chi Alpha or any other organization I may be perceived to represent.
Also, remember that I’m not reporting news — I’m giving you a selection of things I found interesting. There’s a lot happening in the world that’s not making an appearance here because I haven’t found stimulating articles written about it.
If this was forwarded to you and you want to receive future emails, sign up here. You can also view the archives.
Author GlenPosted on 3/15/2019 3/15/2019 Categories LinksTags academia, apologetically interesting, famous Christians, guns, immigration, media, new zealand, politics, religious freedomLeave a comment on Things Glen Found Interesting, Volume 194
Assessing Betsy DeVos’s Proposed Rules on Title IX and Sexual Assault (Jeannie Suk Gerson, New Yorker): “The truth is that there is much to criticize in DeVos’s proposal but also much that would help to make schools’ processes for handling sexual misconduct fairer to all parties.” Gerson, a Harvard law prof, consistently offers insightful perspective on issues surrounding campus sexual assault.
Cruel and Unusual Punishment (Lionel Shriver, Harpers): “The contemporary impulse to rebuke disgraced creators by vanishing their work from the cultural marketplace exhibits a mean‐spiritedness, a vengefulness even, as well as an illogic. Why, if you catch someone doing something bad, would you necessarily rub out what they’ve done that’s good? If you’re convicted of breaking and entering, the judge won’t send bailiffs around to tear down the tree house you built for your daughter and to pour bleach on your homemade pie.”
How I Knew the #CovingtonBoys Video Was Clickbait (Clair Potter, Public Seminar): “I think the most underreported story about #CovingtonBoys is how it got to us in the first place. It originated with a piece of clickbait that was chosen and edited, by persons unknown, to produce outrage on the right and the left. Originating in a fake account, and proliferated by other fake accounts, it was part of a professional social media campaign intended to disrupt.”
Related: Bad, Press (Charles Cooke, National Review): “For a neat illustration of how farcical things have become, take a look at the Washington Post’s most recent ‘fact check,’ which helpfully informs its readers that the claimed ‘one thousand burgers’ President Trump bought for the Clemson football team were not, in fact, ‘piled up a mile high’ because, ‘at two inches each, a thousand burgers would not reach one mile high.’ Democracy dies in darkness, indeed.”
Imagine Nations Were Selfless—It’s No Paradise (Brad Littlejohn, Providence): “We hear often today about how we live in “a global society” and have to take up the responsibilities of “global citizenship.” But what these exhortations miss is that the exponential growth in human knowledge over the past century has not been matched by nearly as rapid growth in human agency. It is now possible for a housewife in Tennessee to be aware of a rape in Bangladesh within hours or minutes, but she is only marginally more able to do anything about it now than she was 100 years ago.” The article as a whole is not great, but it makes a very interesting argument: patriotism is a necessary way to make our empathy productive.
In polarized Washington, a Democrat anchors bipartisan friendships in faith (Jack Jenkins, Religion News Service): “A bridge builder with Republicans, Coons is known for helping create rare flickers of bipartisan agreement. Part of his secret, it seems, is religion…. Coons, who grew up attending Red Clay Creek Presbyterian Church in Hockessin, Del., explained that his faith has not only provided grounding for his own life but has also emerged as a point of connection with Republicans, with whom he has forged lasting relationships — and legislation.”
What The Establishment Right Doesn’t Get (Rod Dreher, The American Conservative): this essay, a large part of which is actually commentary from a reader, is like a flamethrower. “…those who preach the bourgeois virtues can’t get a hearing if there is no stable employment for people who do the right thing. And, if those who do the right thing (by which I mean play by the rules: live lives of hard work, fair play, and self‐discipline) can find everything kicked out from under them all of a sudden, it destabilizes the entire society.”
The follow‐up, Liberty, Equality — But Where’s The Fraternity? is also stimulating.
Reading the latter one brought to my attention a very short essay by G.K. Chesterton. I highly recommend it. “The English people as a body went blind, as the saying is, for interpreting democracy entirely in terms of liberty. They said in substance that if they had more and more liberty it did not matter whether they had any equality or any fraternity. But this was violating the sacred trinity of true politics; they confounded the persons and they divided the substance.”
4 Facts Every American Should Know About Third‐Trimester Abortions (Joe Carter, Gospel Coalition): “As I noted in an article last week, Democratic legislators in places like New York and Virginia are moving to codify abortion rights in state law to prepare for the day when Roe and Doe are overturned. When the Supreme Court throws the abortion issue back to the individual states, third‐trimester abortions will still be protected in states that reiterate Doe’s standards for ‘viability’ or ‘health.’”
Report: Americans Totally Unable To Remember What They Were Outraged About Last Week (Babylon Bee)
An amusing scene from the old Batman show (Twitter)
Should CHILDREN be allowed in CHURCH? I’m here to help. (Jeremy McLellan, Twitter): this is a short, snarky video. Cranky Catholics make for entertaining theologians.
The Lure of the Spider‐Tailed Horned Viper (Jason Kottke, personal blog): “If an animal with venomous snake jaws on one end and a spider on the other isn’t everyone’s idea of a nightmare animal, I don’t know what is.”
Extremist Pastor Attacks Cafe With Super Soaker, Dozens Baptized (Babylon Bee)
Was Alex Jones’ bag hijacked by a one‐armed monkey in the zoo? (Would I Lie To You?, YouTube)
Every week I’ll highlight an older link still worth your consideration. This week we have No Food Is Healthy. Not Even Kale. (Michael Ruhlman, Washington Post): People can be healthy. Food can be nutritious. This is a wonderful essay about how we misuse language to our detriment. If you’re surprised I included this, I believe that our culture has a quasi‐religious relationship to health and to food, and I also believe that the use of language is profoundly moral and that our culture is a linguistic mess (to which I know of no finer guide than The Underground Grammarian). (first shared in volume 33)
Author GlenPosted on 2/1/2019 Categories LinksTags abortion, famous Christians, journalism, media, patriotism, politics, sexual assaultLeave a comment on Things Glen Found Interesting, Volume 188
America’s New Religions (Andrew Sullivan, New York Magazine): “The need for meaning hasn’t gone away, but without Christianity, this yearning looks to politics for satisfaction. And religious impulses, once anchored in and tamed by Christianity, find expression in various political cults. These political manifestations of religion are new and crude, as all new cults have to be. They haven’t been experienced and refined and modeled by millennia of practice and thought. They are evolving in real time. And like almost all new cultish impulses, they demand a total and immediate commitment to save the world.”
Is the Protestant Work Ethic Real? (Stephen J. Dubner, Freakonomics): “The randomized controlled trial of a missionary project in the Philippines found that very poor people earned more money as a result of receiving religious instruction. Why? The researchers suspect there were two primary drivers: optimism and grit.”
The researchers in question wrote up their research in Randomizing Religion: The Impact of Protestant Evangelism on Economic Outcomes (Gharad T. Bryan, James J. Choi, Dean Karlan, NBER): “To study the causal impact of religiosity, we partnered with International Care Ministries (ICM), an evangelical Protestant anti‐poverty organization that operates in the Philippines, to conduct an evaluation that randomly assigned invitations to attend Christian theology and values training.” The authors are affiliated with the London School of Economics, Yale, and Northwestern. The second author, Choi, is an evangelical Christian.
Dutch Asylum Service Nears 1,000 Hours, With Evangelicals’ Support (Christianity Today): “A marathon worship service held by a church in the Netherlands to shield a family of asylum seekers has garnered worldwide attention. The feat has proved impressive for its longevity alone—now going on six weeks—but also represents a unique ecumenical moment among Christians in the tiny European nation.”
Former Stanford postdoc criticized for creating the world’s first gene‐edited babies (Elena Shao, Stanford Daily): “On Nov. 28, He Jianku — a postdoctoral fellow at Stanford from 2011–2012 — announced to hundreds of scientists, colleagues and journalists that he had created the world’s first genetically edited babies: twin girls with the pseudonyms Lulu and Nana whose DNA he claims to have altered to make them HIV‐resistant.” FYI Bill Hurlburt, one of the Stanford bioethics experts interviewed in this article, is a solid believer.
Godspeed: The Pace Of Being Known (Vimeo): a frosh brought this 30 minute video to my attention and said it made her think about how she should be living in her dorm. Recommended.
I read two interesting profiles of famous Christians from the past this week:
Phillis Wheatley: An Evangelical and the First Published African American Female Poet (Thomas Kidd, Gospel Coalition): “Phillis Wheatley, the first published African American female poet and a devout Christian, died on December 5, 1784. We can’t be sure of her birthdate, because she was born in West Africa and sold into slavery by 1761.”
Evangelical retailer John Wanamaker built fortune by blending faith with business (Mark Kellner, Religion News Service): “Wanamaker, who also served four years as postmaster general of the United States, was foremost an evangelical Christian who melded faith and works, specifically the working of his retail empire. While building the first department store in Philadelphia, he also funded the growth of the city’s first megachurch, which featured a range of social services undergirded by a strong evangelistic outreach. He offered young male employees of his store guidance through a YMCA‐like program aimed at promoting spiritual discipline. All employees could spend a summer vacation at a church‐run resort, albeit with strict behavioral codes.”
Have U.S. Protestants gone soft on alcohol? (Richard Ostling, Patheos): “…from 2007 to 2017 U.S. deaths attributed to alcohol increased 35 percent, and 67 percent among women (while teen deaths declined 16 percent). These fatalities well outnumber those from opioid overdoses that have roused such public concern…. Only 2 percent of evangelicals admitted they sometimes over‐indulge.”
Premillennialist Driving Convertible Just To Be On The Safe Side (Babylon Bee) — I think that’s compelling logic
Theorem (SMBC)
Nation’s Christians Shocked That Popular CCM Artist Doesn’t Have Robust Theology (Babylon Bee)
Big Narstie’s Ukabong! (Would I Lie To You?, YouTube)
Every week I’ll highlight an older link still worth your consideration. This week we have The Land of We All (Richard Mitchell, The Gift of Fire), an essay built on this insight: “Thinking can not be done corporately. Nations and committees can’t think. That is not only because they have no brains, but because they have no selves, no centers, no souls, if you like. Millions and millions of persons may hold the same thought, or conviction or suspicion, but each and every person of those millions must hold it all alone.” (first shared in volume 2)
Author GlenPosted on 12/7/2018 Categories LinksTags alcohol, apologetically interesting, devotional, famous Christians, global christianity, politics, Stanford1 Comment on Things Glen Found Interesting, Volume 181
Nobel Peace Prize Goes to Christian Doctor Who Heals Rape Victims (Kate Shellnutt, Christianity Today): “[Dr. Denis] Mukwege is the son of a Pentecostal minister and was inspired to pursue medicine after traveling with his father to pray for the sick. Panzi Hospital, which he founded in 1999, is managed by the Pentecostal Churches in Central Africa (CEPAC).”
Turkish court orders release of U.S. pastor Andrew Brunson (Erin Cunningham, Washington Post): “In his final statement to the court just before the verdict was issued, Brunson said: ‘I’m an innocent man. I love Jesus. I love this country,’ and broke down in tears.”
So many people have had their DNA sequenced that they’ve put other people’s privacy in jeopardy (Deborah Netburn, Los Angeles Times): “…once 3 million Americans have uploaded their genomes to public genealogy websites, nearly everyone in the U.S. would be identifiable by their DNA alone and just a few additional clues. More than 1 million Americans have already published their genetic information, and dozens more do so every day.” The underlying research: Identity inference of genomic data using long‐range familial searches (Erlich, Shor, Pe’er, and Carmi, Science)
Politics as the New Religion for Progressive Democrats (Emma Green, The Atlantic): “Religiously unaffiliated voters, who may or may not be associated with other civic institutions, seem most excited about supporting or donating to causes, going to rallies, and expressing opinions online, among other activities. Political engagement may be providing these Americans with a new form of identity.”
I Left Same‐Sex Romance for Love (Rachel Gilson, Gospel Coalition): “If giving free rein to my desires was the key to life, why had it only sometimes brought me happiness? Just as often, I reaped mediocrity or pain. Contrary to what I believed, pursuing my natural desires did not create fulfillment, nor were my desires fully trustworthy just because they were, and are, ‘real.’ An itch can be very real, yelling out to be scratched. But for some ailments, scratching just deepens the wound. A different cure must be found.” The author is a campus minister and a Yale grad. If you find this article intriguing, she also has a personal website: https://rachelgilson.com/
Americans Strongly Dislike PC Culture (Yascha Mounk, The Atlantic): “Among the general population, a full 80 percent believe that “political correctness is a problem in our country.” Even young people are uncomfortable with it, including 74 percent ages 24 to 29, and 79 percent under age 24. On this particular issue, the woke are in a clear minority across all ages. Youth isn’t a good proxy for support of political correctness—and it turns out race isn’t, either. Whites are ever so slightly less likely than average to believe that political correctness is a problem in the country: 79 percent of them share this sentiment. Instead, it is Asians (82 percent), Hispanics (87 percent), and American Indians (88 percent) who are most likely to oppose political correctness…. Three quarters of African Americans oppose political correctness.” The author is a lecturer on government at Harvard.
Making What Harvard Is About Transparent (Razib Khan, personal blog): “…a few years ago the president of Harvard declared that the institution was all about inclusion. On the face of it that is just a bald‐faced lie, and everyone knows it. Harvard is about exclusion, selection, and curation. ‘Inclusion’ actually meant that there are certain views and backgrounds that Harvard is going to curate and encourage. Which is fine. But an institution which excludes >95% of those who apply for admission is by definition not inclusive and open.” The essay is about Harvard but also applies to schools like it (looking at you, Stanford). You won’t agree with everything, but a lot will ring true.
Local Church Now Administering Driving Tests Before Distributing Bumper Stickers (Babylon Bee)
Rock Wall (xkcd)
Every week I’ll highlight an older link still worth your consideration. This week we have Everything That’s Wrong Of Raccoons (Mallory Ortberg, The Toast): “Once when my dog died a passel of raccoons showed up in the backyard as if to say ‘Now that he’s gone, we own the night,’ and they didn’t flinch when I yelled at them, and I found it disrespectful to 1) me personally and 2) the entire flow of the food chain. Don’t disrespect me if you can’t eat me, you false‐night‐dogs.” (first shared in volume 97)
Author GlenPosted on 10/12/2018 Categories LinksTags academia, college, culture, famous Christians, LGBTQ, persecution, politics, religious freedomLeave a comment on Things Glen Found Interesting, Volume 173
The Most Momentous Place? (Alex Tabarrok, Marginal Revolution): “The old city of Jerusalem is astonishingly small for a city with so many momentous places. One can walk from Christianity’s holiest site to the holiest site of Judaism, pausing to look at one of the holiest sites of Islam, in less time than it takes to walk from my office on the campus of George Mason University to the campus Starbucks.” Short and provocative.
Australia’s new Pentecostal prime minister: Try to guess how the press is receiving him (Ira Rifkin, GetReligion): “…the new prime minister, Scott Morrison, is an outspoken, politically conservative Pentecostal Christian. This mixing of religion and politics may be old‐hat at this point for Americans. But it’s an entirely new experience for Australians.”
My nephew tried to school me on cultural appropriation. It didn’t end well.(Jack VanNoord, Chicago Tribune): fictional, amusing, and makes a serious point about global cultural exchange. “Most weeks, his less‐woke friends go out for Taco Tuesdays, but not Kyle. No more hummus. No more bagels. No mo’ pho. Poor Kyle. Living the unappropriated life is tough business. Whenever it rains, Kyle gets soaked. No more umbrellas for him. Chinese. Kyle has stopped binge watching ‘The Walking Dead’ once I mentioned the word for, and the concept of, zombies were appropriated from West Africa. Kyle was taking a summer math course at the community college. But he dropped out. It was just too hard. His homework was taking all evening. He was doing all his assignments using Roman numerals since Arabic numerals are … well, Arabic.”
The Religious Typology (Pew Research Center): “ a new Pew Research Center analysis looks at beliefs and behaviors that cut across many denominations – important traits that unite people of different faiths, or that divide people who have the same religious affiliation – producing a new and revealing classification, or typology, of religion in America.”
A Prison That’s Also a Loony Bin (Rod Dreher, The American Conservative): “A transgender prisoner has admitted sexually assaulting inmates at a women’s jail. Karen White, 51, who was born male but now identifies as a woman, has pleaded guilty to two counts of sexual touching at New Hall Prison, Wakefield.” The story is astounding.
Better Dead Than Disabled? (Charles Camosy, Commonweal): “prolifers are not imagining things: arguments in favor of the autonomous moral and legal choice to commit infanticide are easy to find…. [for example, a] 2012 article by moral philosophers Alberto Giubilini and Francesca Minerva, which appeared in the respected Journal of Medical Ethics, was provocatively titled ‘After‐Birth Abortion: Why Should the Baby Live?’”
Diary of a Concussion: What I Learned About Head Injuries By Having One (Elizabeth Lopatto, The Verge): “To have your personality altered by brain trauma seems to upset people more than having it altered by, for instance, emotional trauma. I don’t know why this is! …. If I thought I was my brain, probably I would have found the injury more upsetting. But I didn’t and don’t believe that; my self is an interaction between my body and my brain.” This is a year old but I just stumbled upon it. Super interesting.
‘Adulterophobic’ Pastor Hatefully Preaches Against Adultery (Babylon Bee)
A fun game at the start of the quarter: Stab Me (Foxtrot)
‘What Would Jesus Feel’ Bracelets Now Available (Babylon Bee)
Every week I’ll highlight an older link still worth your consideration. This week we have How To Pray A Psalm (Justin Taylor, Gospel Coalition): prayer life need a boost? Give this a try. (first shared in volume 69)
Author GlenPosted on 9/7/2018 Categories LinksTags abortion, australia, college, famous Christians, Israel, LGBTQLeave a comment on Things Glen Found Interesting, Volume 168
Before I share this week’s links: yes, I am aware that Anthony Kennedy retired from the Supreme Court and think it is likely to be one of the most significant political developments of my lifetime. I don’t have any links about it because not much interesting has been written about it yet simply because Trump has not nominated a successor yet. Once he does, please let me know if you find anything fascinating about either his nominee or the process.
Suspect in Stanford church murder kills self (Palo Alto Daily News): this is a tragic and freaky story. A less horrific detail which amused me: “Crawford stayed on at Stanford until 1976, but he found ways to exact revenge against the university, Herhold said. ‘He began stealing stuff from offices,’ said Herhold, who added examples, including a human skull, a walking cane given to university founder Leland Stanford and rare books. ‘The kicker was he went down to a print shop and got a degree from Stanford,’ he said, using a blank Stanford diploma.”
Related: here’s the original Stanford Daily report from 1974. I am amazed the Daily printed those details in a paper that would be read by the murder victim’s friends.
Related and crazy: Stanford chapel homicide suspect had no connection with other 1970s campus killings: authorities (Anna‐Sofia Lesiv and Robert Salonga, The Mercury News): there were FOUR ghastly murders at Stanford in 1973 and 1974.
Ebola Deaths Rise As Patients Turn to Miracles Over Medicine (Griffin Paul Jackson, Christianity Today): “Two Ebola patients died last month after fleeing a hospital isolation ward so they could be taken to a prayer meeting, where they exposed up to 50 others.” Wow. Bad theology leads to tragedy. Somebody never taught them Leviticus 13:46. If you’re infectious, pay attention to the phrase “call for” in James 5:14–16 and ask the elders to come to you. Quarantine Laws and the Bible (Larry Ball, The Aquila Report) is worth reading in this regard.
The Spanish Inquisition Was a Moderate Court by the Standard of Its Time (Ed Condon, National Review): “Because it was a serious court, meticulous case files and court records were kept. Libraries in Toledo, Salamanca, and other cities are home to thousands of such case files. In the second half of the 20th century, Henry Kamen and other historians were given access to them. What they discovered changed the scholarly understanding of the Inquisition. So, what of those dank dungeons and hot pokers? Well, for a start, the jails of the Inquisition were universally known to be hygienic and well maintained. They were neither built nor run as places of punishment. The standard of care that inmates received was high enough that prisoners held by the Crown would often petition to be moved to Inquisition jails. There are recorded cases of criminals committing public heresy with the express purpose of being held and tried by the Inquisition, rather than the secular courts.” This is not a fringe view among scholars, but is definitely contrary to the popular understanding of the Spanish Inquisition.
Alexandria Ocasio‐Cortez on her Catholic faith and the urgency of a criminal justice reform (Alexandria Ocasio‐Cortez, America): “By nature, a society that forgives and rehabilitates its people is a society that forgives and transforms itself. That takes a radical kind of love, a secret of which is given in the Lord’s Prayer: Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. And let us not forget the guiding principle of “the least among us” found in Matthew: that we are compelled to care for the hungry, thirsty, homeless, naked, sick and, yes—the imprisoned.” This, of course, is the socialist candidate who unseated powerful incumbent Joe Crowley in the Democratic primary. She is almost certain to become the youngest woman ever elected to Congress.
Related: Democratic Socialists of America Membership Surges After Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s Stunning Victory (Gideon Resnick, The Daily Beast): “According to Lawrence Dreyfuss, a program associate for DSA, the organization saw a surge of 1,152 new memberships on Wednesday—about 35 times more sign‐ups than on an average day. The last major membership bump DSA experienced was in the month following President Trump’s election, during which time they had about six times more sign‐ups than in the previous month.” Note that the organization itself is still relatively small (40,000 members).
Possibly related: Democrats are losing the millennial vote and need to change message (Cas Mudde, The Guardian): “a recent Reuters/Ipsos mega poll of 16,000 respondents, found that the Democrats are losing ground with millennials. While millennials still prefer the Democratic party over the Republicans, that support is tanking. In just two years, it dropped sharply from 55% to 46%. Meanwhile, their support for Republicans has remained roughly stable in the past two years, falling from 28% to 27%.… their dislike of the Republicans should not be interpreted as a like of Democrats.” Caveats apply: this is based on the results of one poll.
Definitely related: Dear Democratic Socialists Who Think You’re Having a Moment: It’s Me, a Libertarian, Who’s Been Through This. (Robby Soave, Reason): “Democratic socialism, the ideology with which Ocasio‐Cortez identifies, appears to be having a political moment. To which I say, as a libertarian who has been through the whole an‐idea‐whose‐time‐has‐finally‐come experience: good luck with that, comrades. The signs are easy to misread.”
Right‐to‐work laws make unions work harder for their members (Christos Makridis, The Hill): “RTW [Right To Work] laws force unions to become more competitive. When unions are guaranteed a permanent income stream, they don’t need to work as hard to win the hearts and minds of their employees; that is, they face weaker incentives to provide valuable services. The adoption of RTW laws changes that by making union dues a voluntary contribution.” Yes, this is our very own recently‐graduated Christos.
Are Satanists of the MS‐13 gang an under‐covered story on the religion beat? (Julia Duin, GetReligion): this is a fascinating bit of news commentary. My favorite bit: “How does one get out of MS‐13? An opinion piece in the New York Times this past April gives a surprising response: Go to a Pentecostal church.” Highly recommended.
How The Democrats Lost Their Way On Immigration (Peter Beinert, The Atlantic): “Liberals must take seriously Americans’ yearning for social cohesion. To promote both mass immigration and greater economic redistribution, they must convince more native‐born white Americans that immigrants will not weaken the bonds of national identity. This means dusting off a concept many on the left currently hate: assimilation.” Recommended by a student.
A Stanford professor tries to fool Penn and Teller (YouTube)
New ‘Left Behind’ Action Figures Just Empty Boxes (Babylon Bee)
Messi Walks Better Than Most Players Run (Bobby Gardiner, FiveThirtyEight)
Chris Pratt gives 9 rules to live by (YouTube): Pratt gives a solid three‐and‐a‐half minute speech at the MTV Movie and TV Awards. He’s clearly talking about Jesus but oddly never says the name. I lowkey wonder if the audio of the speech was slightly edited (there was a small glitch I thought I saw while watching it), but if it was he probably would have mentioned it on Twitter.
On The Evolution of Brain and Butts (SMBC) — the mouseover text is choice on this one
Every week I’ll highlight an older link still worth your consideration. This week we have Christian Missions and the Spread of Democracy (Greg Scandlen, The Federalist): This is a summary of some rather wonderful research Robert Woodberry published in The American Political Science Review back in 2012: The Missionary Roots of Liberal Democracy. If it looks familiar it’s because I allude to it from time to time in my sermons and conversations. (first shared in volume 14)
Chi Alpha is not a partisan organization. To paraphrase another minister: we are not about the donkey’s agenda and we are not about the elephant’s agenda — we are about the Lamb’s agenda. Having said that, I read widely (in part because I believe we should aspire to pass the ideological Turing test and in part because I do not believe I can fairly say “I agree” or “I disagree” until I can say “I understand”) and may at times share articles that have a strong partisan bias simply because I find the article stimulating. The upshot: you should not assume I agree with everything an author says in an article I mention, much less things the author has said in other articles (although if I strongly disagree with something in the article I’ll usually mention it).
Author GlenPosted on 6/29/2018 Categories LinksTags famous Christians, health, history, how the church is perceived, immigration, politics, StanfordLeave a comment on Things Glen Found Interesting, Volume 158
These Bombs Led Me To Christ (Kim Phuc Phan Thi, Christianity Today): “You have seen my picture a thousand times. It’s a picture that made the world gasp—a picture that defined my life. I am nine years old, running along a puddled roadway in front of an expressionless soldier, arms outstretched, naked, shrieking in pain and fear, the dark contour of a napalm cloud billowing in the distance.” WHOA.
If I Were 22 Again (John Piper, Desiring God): “There have been about 18,340 days since I turned 22, and I think I have read my Bible on more of those days than I have eaten. I have certainly read my Bible on more of those days that I have watched television or videos.… Read your Bible every day of your life. If you have time for breakfast, never say that you don’t have time for God’s word.” This whole thing is really good. Highly recommended.
What Happened To Alan Dershowitz? (Evan Mandery, Politico Magazine): “Talking to him, it’s not hard to get the impression that exposing that truth—the hypocrisy of both sides—may be his ultimate project. As he sees it, the best way to achieve his goal—and to get it the attention it deserves—is by defending the most odious clients in the most provocative possible way on the very principles liberals claim to love.” I really liked this article.
A Muslim Among Israeli Settlers (Wajahat Ali, The Atlantic): “Ever since the creation of the modern state of Israel—a miracle for the Jews, the Nakba (‘catastrophe’) for the Palestinians—Jerusalem’s daily weather forecast could be described as sunny with a slight chance of apocalypse.”
Give Amnesty for College Writings (David Lat, Wall Street Journal): “Collegiate scribblings from decades ago should have no bearing on one’s fitness for public office, and making an issue of them is bad for the country. College is traditionally a time of experimentation and exploration. We adopt and discard ideas and try out different identities, sometimes in rapid succession. These identities often bear little resemblance to our mature selves— Hillary Clinton was once a ‘Goldwater girl,’ while Clarence Thomas was a Black Panther sympathizer—but exploring them is how we learn about ourselves and acquire wisdom—how we grow up.”
Speaking of college writings, here are two pieces by Stanford students. They are presented without any implication that these are views the authors will later recant; rather, by putting them here as sub‐bullet points I can tell myself I limited myself to seven topics this week.
Think the Right Cares About Free Speech? Not Always. (Annika Nordquist, Stanford Review): “Within American politics, freedom of speech is a topic of great self‐righteousness on both fronts. As the Left adopts an increasingly politicized definition of ‘hate speech,’ including even the most mundane topics like ‘microaggressions,’ the Right pats itself on the back for defending natural liberties. Yet in Poland, where progressives have been voted almost entirely out of government, the Right instead restricts the speech of the Left.” That’s our very own Annika.
The Original Sin of Stanford Dining (Andrew Friedman, Stanford Review): “Currently 12 administrators run R&DE, along with numerous assistants. If administrators object to turning the school’s food service into a landlord, it is likely because they know leasing space to third party vendors, besides being better for everyone else, could be done by a single person, without the bureaucratic bloat of the current system.”
A real‐life Lord of the Flies: the troubling legacy of the Robbers Cave experiment (David Shariatmadari, The Guardian): “The ‘Robbers Cave experiment’ is considered seminal by social psychologists, still one of the best‐known examples of ‘realistic conflict theory’. It is often cited in modern research. But was it scientifically rigorous? And why were the results of the Middle Grove experiment – where the researchers couldn’t get the boys to fight – suppressed? … [The researcher’s method was] think of the theory first and then find a way to get the results that match it. If the results say something else? Bury them.”
A Design Lab Is Making Rituals for Secular People (Sigal Samuel, The Atlantic): “Ritual Design Lab has its roots in Stanford’s Institute of Design, where Ozenc and Hagan both teach. In 2015, they proposed a new course on ritual design. To their surprise, more than 100 students signed up. Most were secular.” I largely agree with Rod Dreher’s take: New Rituals For Self‐Worship
Ian McEwan ‘dubious’ about schools studying his books, after he helped son with essay and got a C+ (Hannah Furness, The Telegraph): this is a real article.
Local Man Found Dead with Traces of Toxic Masculinity in Body (Stanford Flipside)
‘I’m Bored,’ Says Kid With More Luxuries Than Even Royalty Possessed Just 100 Years Ago (Babylon Bee)
Confirmed: Next Year’s Met Gala Theme To Mock Islam (Babylon Bee)
Four absurdly hilarious minutes (YouTube)
Every week I’ll highlight an older link still worth your consideration. This week we have Letter To My Younger Self (Ryan Leaf, The Player’s Tribune): “Congratulations. You officially have it all — money, power and prestige. All the things that are important, right?… That’s you, young Ryan Leaf, at his absolute finest: arrogant, boorish and narcissistic. You think you’re on top of the world and that you’ve got all the answers. Well I’m sorry to have to tell you this, but the truth is….” Such a gripping letter. Highly recommended. (first shared in volume 99)
Author GlenPosted on 5/11/2018 Categories LinksTags devotional, famous Christians, free speech, Israel, Middle East, politics, psychology, Research, Stanford, testimoniesLeave a comment on Things Glen Found Interesting, Volume 151
The Ugly Coded Critique of Chick-Fil-A’s Christianity (Stephen Carter, Bloomberg View): “A few years ago, a well‐known progressive commentator mused to his large Twitter following that sometimes he wishes all the Christians would just disappear. I would like to believe he was simply too uninformed to realize that he was wishing for a whiter world.” This article makes an important point that you may find useful in campus discussions. It is in response to the very odd Chick-Fil-A’s Creepy Infiltration Of New York City (Dan Piepenbring, New Yorker). Recommended to me by an alumnus.
Church Of The Donald (Ruth Graham, Politico): “Trump personally has appeared 11 times on CBN since his campaign began; in 2017 alone, he gave more interviews to CBN than to CNN, ABC or CBS…. Christian broadcasters offer an unmediated channel to the living rooms of a remarkably wide swath of American believers, an audience more politically and racially diverse than you might expect. TBN alone has more local stations to its name than Fox or the three major networks.” Insightful and recommended.
When the Rohingya Came, This Christian Hospital Was Ready (Sarah Eekhof Zylstra, Christianity Today): this is a gripping story and difficult to excerpt. Wow.
Alfie Evans and Our Moral Crossroads (Charles Camosy, First Things): “Alfie Evans’s death is being aimed by the very people whose vocation it is to help and protect him. The difference in Alfie’s case is that, because he has continued to breathe, the pretense of ‘removal of burdensome treatment’ is patently absurd. In a situation that was no doubt distressing to those who hoped he would die, Alfie’s continuing to breathe has clarified the true object of the act of removing his ventilator.” The more I read about this case the angrier I become.
Alan Jacobs: a Christian intellectual for the internet age (David J. Michael, America): “…he was publishing scholarly work within his field but was increasingly devoting time to writing essays and theological pieces for Christian magazines and journals. Switching back and forth could be disorienting, and he spent several years debating and praying about which audience he should focus on. ‘At one point, I just had an epiphany: You don’t get to choose.You’re gonna have to write for your scholarly peers, and you’re gonna have to write for your fellow Christians because you have things to say to both audiences. So, that means, you gotta learn to code switch.’” I am a big fan of Alan Jacobs’ writing.
Dear Humanities Profs: We Are The Problem (Eric Bennett, Chronicle of Higher Education): “Three generations ago, literature professors exchanged a rigorously defined sphere of expertise, to which they could speak with authority, for a much wider field to which they could speak with virtually no power at all…. Literature professors have affected America more by sleeping in its downtown hotels and eating in its fast‐food restaurants than by telling one another where real prospects for freedom lay. ” Oof. That’s a solid blow, right there. The author is an English professor at Providence College.
Uncanny Vulvas (Diana Fleischman, Jacobite Magazine): “Video games and social media already undermine the native psychological mechanisms that make us work towards status — they supply more immediate rewards and take far less effort than anything we work towards out in the real world. Sex robots are only going to make that worse, especially for young men.” Definitely not a Christian article. From a somewhat related Christian standpoint: The Economics of Sexual Purity (Douglas Wilson, personal blog).
Starbuck’s Creepy Infiltrarion Of South Carolina (Dwight Longnecker, personal blog) — see item number 1 above for context
17 Christian Ways To Say No (John Crist, YouTube)
This is crazy (Britain’s Got Talent, YouTube) — it starts slow but is worth the wait.
David Blaine Does A Freaky Magic Trick (YouTube) — like, seriously freaky. You have been warned.
Arresting The Rich (Dilbert)
Meteorologist (xkcd): mathematicians, statisticians, linguists, and CS majors will especially appreciate this one
Every week I’ll highlight an older link still worth your consideration. This week we have Book Review: Seeing Like A State (Scott Alexander, Slate Star Codex): “Peasants didn’t like permanent surnames. Their own system was quite reasonable for them: John the baker was John Baker, John the blacksmith was John Smith, John who lived under the hill was John Underhill, John who was really short was John Short. The same person might be John Smith and John Underhill in different contexts, where his status as a blacksmith or place of origin was more important. But the government insisted on giving everyone a single permanent name, unique for the village, and tracking who was in the same family as whom. Resistance was intense.” This is long and amazing. (first shared in volume 95)
Author GlenPosted on 4/27/2018 Categories LinksTags academia, apologetically interesting, euthanasia, famous Christians, global christianity, politics, sexLeave a comment on Things Glen Found Interesting, Volume 149
Extensive Data Shows Punishing Reach of Racism for Black Boys (Emily Badger, Claire Cain Miller, Adam Pearce And Kevin Quealy, NY Times): “The authors, including the Stanford economist Raj Chetty and two census researchers, Maggie R. Jones and Sonya R. Porter, tried to identify neighborhoods where poor black boys do well, and as well as whites. ‘The problem,’ Mr. Chetty said, ‘is that there are essentially no such neighborhoods in America.’ And, intriguingly, these pockets — including parts of the Maryland suburbs of Washington, and corners of Queens and the Bronx — were the places where many lower‐income black children had fathers at home. Poor black boys did well in such places, whether their own fathers were present or not.”
The main takeaway from this research is that American society is failing black men. The sole ray of hope I saw in the article was in the paragraph above: poor black boys apparently do as well as similarly‐situated poor white boys if there are black fathers nearby. It’s stunning: a dense gathering of fathers can bring health even into fatherless situations. The family is a basic building block of society and we weaken it at great risk. I’m shocked this result from the study hasn’t received more coverage.
Marriage Has Become a Trophy (Andrew Cherlin, The Atlantic): “For many people, regardless of sexual orientation, a wedding is no longer the first step into adulthood that it once was, but, often, the last. It is a celebration of all that two people have already done, unlike a traditional wedding, which was a celebration of what a couple would do in the future.” The author is a sociologist at Johns Hopkins.
This Preacher Would Be Happy to Share Your Bowl of Açaí (Laura Wilson, New York Times): “Pastors today who want to start a ministry for those 40 and under follow a well‐traveled path. First, they lease an old theater or club. Next, they find great singers and backup musicians. A fog machine on stage is nice. A church should also have a catchy logo or catchphrase that can be stamped onto merchandise and branded — socks, knit hats, shoes and sweatshirts. (An online pop‐up shop on Memorial Day sold $10,000 in merchandise its first hour, Mr. Veach said.) And lastly, churches need a money app — Zoe uses Pushpay — to make it easy for churchgoers to tithe with a swipe on their smartphones.”
I thought this was an odd paragraph: “‘Instagram built our church,’ he said one afternoon at his office here a block from the El Rey Theater. ‘Isn’t that fascinating?’ Mr. Veach believes he can save souls by being the hip and happy‐go‐lucky preacher, the one you want to share a bowl of açaí with at Backyard Bowls on Beverly Boulevard, who declines to publicly discuss politics in the Trump era because it’s hard to minister if no one wants to come to church. Jesus is supposed to be fun, right? ‘I want to be loud and dumb,’ Mr. Veach said with a wide, toothy grin. ‘That’s my goal. If we aren’t making people laugh, what are we doing? What is the point?’”
Why Cloudflare Let An Extremist Stronghold Burn (Steven Johnson, Wired): “Literally, I woke up in a bad mood and decided someone shouldn’t be allowed on the internet. No one should have that power.” I shared one of the related articles back in issue 136, but didn’t realize it was the theme of the whole issue: The (Divisive, Corrosive, Democracy‐Poisoning) Golden Age of Free Speech. The other articles are worth checking out as well. Recommended by a friend.
Terry Crews: How to Have, Do and Be All You Want (Tim Ferriss Podcast): this is a moving interview. Highly recommended. Worth mentioning: Terry Crews is public about his Christian faith on social media, although it does not come through in this interview. I mention that because he says some things about guilt and shame towards the end that are not quite right theologically, but are still worth thinking about.
God Made Me Black On Purpose (Tim Alberta, Politico): “A pillar of the area’s African‐American community, the shop features aging walls covered in photos, news clippings and other paraphernalia. Two individuals in particular are lionized: Barack Obama, the country’s first black president; and Scott, the first black senator from the South since Reconstruction—and the only African‐American ever to serve in both chambers of Congress. Both are children of single mothers, but politically, the pair have little in common: Obama, a liberal Democrat raised primarily by well‐off whites in Hawaii before adopting Chicago’s impoverished South Side as his political base; Scott, a conservative Republican who grew up poor in North Charleston, and whose initial ticket to D.C. was punched by affluent voters in the state’s three‐quarters‐white 1st Congressional District. Still, they are members of a small fraternity—two of just 10 African‐Americans ever to serve in the Senate—and both are an immeasurable source of pride for the barber shop and its customers.”
One detail from later in the article that stood out to me: Scott got saved in college at a Bible study. College ministry matters. Also, the way he became a Republican is actually really funny. Search the article for the phrase, “Scott knew immediately he would run; what he didn’t know was for which party.”
How many hours does it take to make a friend? (Jeffrey Hall, Journal of Social and Personal Relationships): “Taken together, results suggest that the chance of transitioning from casual friend to friend is greater than 50% after around 80–100 hr together. Results suggest that the chance of transitioning from friends to good/best friends is greater than 50% after 119 hr over 3 weeks and 219 hr over 3 months.” The author is a communications professor at the University of Kansas.
Needlepoint Thug Life (reddit)
Mark Zuckerberg Promises To Do Better At Hiding Facebook’s Data Mining Activities (Babylon Bee)
Every week I’ll highlight an older link still worth your consideration. This week we have How Can I Learn To Receive – And Give – Criticism In Light Of The Cross?(Justin Taylor, Gospel Coalition): “A believer is one who identifies with all that God affirms and condemns in Christ’s crucifixion. In other words, in Christ’s cross I agree with God’s judgment of me; and in Christ’s cross I agree with God’s justification of me. Both have a radical impact on how we take and give criticism.” This is based on a longer article (4 page PDF). (first shared in volume 63)
Author GlenPosted on 3/23/2018 Categories LinksTags famous Christians, free speech, friendship, how the church is perceived, marriage, politics, racismLeave a comment on Things Glen Found Interesting, Volume 144
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Divorces Rise As Economy Recovers
K.O. HerstonDivorceFamily lawLeave a comment
This article by Emily Alpert Reyes in the Los Angeles Times may be of interest to readers of this blog.
Divorces rise as economy recovers, study finds
Fewer couples split during the recession, but researchers say some may have been waiting until they could afford a costly legal step.
Married couples promise to stick together for better or worse. But as the economy started to rebound, so did the divorce rate.
Divorces plunged when the recession struck and slowly started to rise as the recovery began, according to a study to be published in Population Research and Policy Review.
From 2009 to 2011, about 150,000 fewer divorces occurred than would otherwise have been expected, University of Maryland sociologist Philip N. Cohen estimated. Across the country, the divorce rate among married women dropped from 2.09% to 1.95% from 2008 to 2009, then crept back up to 1.98% in both 2010 and 2011.
The National Marriage Project earlier dubbed the drop in divorce “a silver lining” to the Great Recession, arguing that tough times were pulling many husbands and wives closer together. But some couples may have simply put off divorce until they could afford to part, researchers say. The economic uptick may have finally given them the freedom to split.
“This is exactly what happened in the 1930s,” said Johns Hopkins University sociologist Andrew Cherlin. “The divorce rate dropped during the Great Depression not because people were happier with their marriages, but because they couldn’t afford to get divorced.”
Cohen cautioned that the exact reasons behind the economic ebb and flow of divorce were still murky. His study found that unemployment, state by state, had no apparent effect on divorce rates; other research examining earlier periods has found the opposite. Cohen did find that joblessness seemed to cut down divorce for college graduates — but statewide foreclosures pushed up divorce rates for the same group. More research is needed to understand why, he wrote.
“There still is a mystery,” Pew Research Center senior writer D’Vera Cohn wrote in an email to The Times. “It is enormously tempting to say that bad economic times made that happen, but this new paper concludes that the jury is still out.”
Whatever its roots, the phenomenon might seem puzzling in light of other research: Marriages end more often among Americans with less education and less income, other studies have shown. If money troubles put strain on marriages, why would couples break up more often when the economy is on the upswing?
Cherlin said downturns seemed to affect divorce timing, not whether couples divorced at all. While economic woes might sway a couple to put off divorce during a recession, spouses might not bother waiting if they don’t see their financial problems as temporary, he said.
In Los Angeles, far fewer people have sought divorces with Levitt & Quinn Family Law Center after the downturn, executive director Tai Glenn said. Even a “friendly” divorce with no complications costs $800 to $1,000 for clients with low incomes, she said. Any sparring in court pushes the price higher.
When unhappy husbands or wives stop into their offices to run through their options, “many, many people walk away simply based on the cost of the case,” Glenn said. “The people we see here are those that live on the margins, from paycheck to paycheck. For them, the recovery hasn’t really hit.”
Divorce lawyers say that in some cases, even divorced or soon-to-be-divorced couples have kept sharing a home to save money.
“They get to the point where they just can’t handle it anymore and file for divorce,” said Kendall L. Evans, a family law attorney based in Long Beach. “But that doesn’t mean they can afford to set up a separate household.”
UPDATE: The author of the study discussed in the article above, Philip N. Cohen, responded to the article with this post on his blog:
In yesterday’s LA Times story on my divorce paper, reporter Emily Alpert Reyes and her editors focused on the rebound, headlining it, “Divorces rise as economy recovers, study finds.” I had been focused on whether the drop from 2008 to 2009 could really be attributed to the recession. Their decision made good journalistic as well as analytical sense. (The story was re-written by the websites Daily Mail, PBS Newshour, and Huffington Post.)
So what does the increase say about the “silver linings” interpretation of the divorce trend? That was the idea, pitched by Brad Wilcox, that the drop he observed in 2008 from 2007 (using vital statistics data) reflected the fact that “many couples appear to be developing a new appreciation for the economic and social support that marriage can provide in tough times.” There was, and is, no evidence for this that I am aware of.
I think that the rebound in divorce undermines the silver linings theory. However, I can’t swear the theory is wrong. It hasn’t been tested.
But when I was Googling for stories on this yesterday I found this 2009 CBS news report, which accidentally illustrates the problem with silver linings. The story was called “Recession Bright Spot? Divorce Rate Drops.” It featured the Levines, in which the husband lost his job, and the marriage suddenly was in trouble (like a block building suddenly collapsing). Then, the couple pulls together, and it looks like they’re going to make it: “If they can get through this, they can get through just about anything.”
The story was a Wilcox plant, featuring him saying, “What we’re seeing is some people are postponing divorce because home values have dropped. For others, the recession has led to a new sense of togetherness.” (In my paper, incidentally, divorce was more common in states with higher foreclosure rates.)
And the reporter noted, as evidence, “There were almost 20,000 fewer divorces in 2008 than 2007.” As I noted at the time, divorce fell at least that much in most years, so that’s meaningless manipulation of reporters’ demographic ignorance by Wilcox. Anyway, that’s not the point. The point is, this couple was doing fine before the recession! So the recession caused him to lose his job, and then their marriage was in trouble, and then they pulled through. So how, exactly, was the recession reducing divorce?
And yet my analysis shows the recession probably did reduce divorce in the aggregate (just not in their case). My suspicion remains that the recession increased stress and conflict within marriages, like CBS’s couple. It probably raised the Levines’ odds of divorce, even if not quite up to 1.0. There is just a lot of evidence at the individual level that job loss increases the odds of divorce (here are three studies). Lots of people — and relationships — had to have been made miserable by the recession.
If that is true, then was the drop in divorce rates good or bad? Was it a silver lining? You have to think about the continuum of marriages — from happy to sad — and who is affected. People who are bouncing around between kinda happy and kinda sad aren’t likely considering the cost of a lawyer yet. Not like those that have hit bottom. But if the cost of divorce — legal fees, real estate, relocation, or whatever — actually delays or forestalls some divorces, it’s probably the ones that are closest to actually occurring for which the outcome changes. That is, the almost-most miserable marriages.
If the recession made more people miserable, and yet fewer got divorced, divorce was more selective. Think of grant funding: when times are tight, more people apply but fewer are funded, so the ones that do are the best of the best (ideally). And the number of good ones not funded goes up. With marriages in a recession, more are miserable, yet the bar for divorcing is raised (or lowered) by the costs relative to income. So there are more miserable marriages not ending in divorce. Obviously, God thinks this is good, because he has no patience for our petty divorce excuses (which explains Wilcox’s interpretation).
One obvious possibility is that family violence increases when more miserable marriages produce fewer divorces. There was a spike in intimate partner violence in 2008 and 2009, the years men’s unemployment rates jumped. (We will address this and related issues at an American Sociological Association special session this year.)
It is very common, yet wholly unjustified, to always assume falling divorce rates are good. As I argued before: We simply do not know what is the best level of divorce to maximize the benefits of good marriage while mitigating the harms caused by bad marriage.
Source: Divorces rise as economy recovers, study finds (Los Angeles Times, January 27, 2014).
Wanton Disregard Affirmed as Grounds for Termination of Parental Rights in Kinsgport: In re Kierra B.
Trial Court’s Local Rule Invalidated in Blountville Divorce: Smalling v. Smalling
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Home | General | FAO improves livelihoods of 234,000 Syrians: UNIC
FAO improves livelihoods of 234,000 Syrians: UNIC
Tehran, July 19, IRNA In strifetorn Syria, the food security and livelihoods situation of some 234,000 people has received a strong boost thanks to a recently completed animal health campaign led by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) in collaboration with the Syria Veterinary Medical Association.
According to a press release published by the FAO Representation in the Islamic Republic of Iran, the threemonth campaign has protected more than 1.3 million sheep and goats and 65,000 cattle from parasites and parasitic diseases in Syria, UN Information Center in Tehran reported on Wednesday.
Six years of conflict has undermined Syria's veterinary services and a shortage of vaccines has increased the risk of infection in livestock upon which many people living in rural areas, but also those displaced by the fighting, depend as a source of food or income.
'Through this targeted animal health campaign, FAO is working to not only contain disease outbreaks in Syria but also prevent the spread of these diseases to other countries in the region,' said Adam Yao, Acting FAO Representative in Syria.
'As the response capacity of Syria's veterinary services is facing serious challenges due to the ongoing crisis, the risk of transboundary animal diseases spreading rapidly and beyond borders remains a major concern for FAO. If no drastic measures are immediately taken the effects on livestock production and food security can be devastating,' he said.
Livestock production played a vital role in the Syrian economy before the crisis, contributing 40 percent of the total agricultural production and absorbing 20 percent of rural employment. Even during the current crisis, the sector still contributes substantially to the food security and nutrition of the rural population and is an important livelihood for women.
'Women now make up more than 60 percent of the agricultural workforce and are the backbone of Syria's food supply, so this campaign has not only been lifesaving for animals, but is helping to secure the livelihoods of many rural women, as livestock are often their only source of income to feed their families,' Yao added.
In addition to animal treatment, the campaign provided trainings to veterinarians on new techniques to control the spread of parasites and parasitic diseases. Livestockdependent households were also informed about the different types of treatment and protection techniques.
The campaign took place in ten governorates across Syria: Rural Damascus, Quneitra, Dara'a, Tartous, Lattakia, Homs, Hama, Aleppo, AsSweida and AlHasakeh.
Since 2011, FAO has provided treatment against parasites to more than 10 million of livestock. In strifetorn Syria, the food security and livelihoods situation of some 234,000 people has received a strong boost thanks to a recently completed animal health campaign led by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) in collaboration with the Syria Veterinary Medical Association.
Global Demand for Bakhoor on the Rise — Asia Plantation Capital Perfectly Positioned to Meet it
وضع شركة هواوي كشركة منافسة في تقارير غارتنر ماجيك كوادرانت في فئة جدران الحماية للشركات
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1961 - Richard Johnson, author of the play "The Evidence I Shall Give" meets the Abbey cast.
B716 - 1961 Richard Johnson, author of the play "The Evidence I Shall Give" congratulated by the Abbey Theatre cast
District Justice Richard Johnson, (2nd left) author of the play "The Evidence I Shall Give" meets the Abbey Theatre cast of the 1st production at Queen's Theatre, Pearse Street, Dublin
B716-8307.jpg
1960s Abbey theatre actors actress author black and white Dublin Ireland Irish Irish culture Irish people Irish society Judge news photos on stage play Queen's Theatre Republic of Ireland the sixties theatre
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Pediatric Eczema Elective Registry (PEER) Locations
Locations of zip codes inhabited by at least 1 PEER study enrollee.
Persistence of Atopic Dermatitis (AD) by Age
A Kaplan-Meier curve demonstrating the proportion of individuals with at least 5 years of follow-up at a given age who ever reported a 6-month symptom-free and medication-free period (A) and the proportion of enrollees at a given age who reported no symptoms of AD and medication use in the previous 6 months (B).
Demographic Factors and Exposures Measured at Enrollment and Results of Unadjusted and Adjusted Models for 6-Month Medication and Symptom-Free Period
The Area Under the Receiver Operator Curve for Prognostic Models of the Likelihood That an Individual Will Have at Least 1 AD Symptom–Free and Medication-Free 6-Month Period by the First 2 or 5 Years of Follow-upa
Bieber T. Atopic dermatitis. N Engl J Med. 2008;358(14):1483-1494.PubMedGoogle ScholarCrossref
Bieber T, Bussman C. Atopic dermatitis. In: Bolognia JL, Jorizzon JL, Schaffer JV, eds. Dermatology.3rd ed. New York, NY: Elsevier; 2012:203-217.
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Wüthrich B. Clinical aspects, epidemiology, and prognosis of atopic dermatitis. Ann Allergy Asthma Immunol. 1999;83(5):464-470.PubMedGoogle ScholarCrossref
Tjon AS, Sint Nicolaas J, Kwekkeboom J, et al. Increased incidence of early de novo cancer in liver graft recipients treated with cyclosporine: an association with C2 monitoring and recipient age. Liver Transpl. 2010;16(7):837-846.PubMedGoogle ScholarCrossref
Wiesner RH. A long-term comparison of tacrolimus (FK506) versus cyclosporine in liver transplantation: a report of the United States FK506 Study Group. Transplantation. 1998;66(4):493-499.PubMedGoogle ScholarCrossref
Kapoor R, Menon C, Hoffstad O, Bilker W, Leclerc P, Margolis DJ. The prevalence of atopic triad in children with physician-confirmed atopic dermatitis. J Am Acad Dermatol. 2008;58(1):68-73.PubMedGoogle ScholarCrossref
Kapoor R, Hoffstad O, Bilker W, Margolis DJ. The frequency and intensity of topical pimecrolimus treatment in children with physician-confirmed mild to moderate atopic dermatitis. Pediatr Dermatol. 2009;26(6):682-687.PubMedGoogle ScholarCrossref
Flohr C, Weinmayr G, Weiland SK, et al; ISAAC Phase Two Study Group. How well do questionnaires perform compared with physical examination in detecting flexural eczema? findings from the International Study of Asthma and Allergies in Childhood (ISAAC) Phase Two. Br J Dermatol. 2009;161(4):846-853.PubMedGoogle ScholarCrossref
Vissing NH, Jensen SM, Bisgaard H. Validity of information on atopic disease and other illness in young children reported by parents in a prospective birth cohort study. BMC Med Res Methodol. 2012;12:160.PubMedGoogle ScholarCrossref
Eichenfield LF, Lucky AW, Boguniewicz M, et al. Safety and efficacy of pimecrolimus (ASM 981) cream 1% in the treatment of mild and moderate atopic dermatitis in children and adolescents. J Am Acad Dermatol. 2002;46(4):495-504.PubMedGoogle ScholarCrossref
Silverberg JI, Hanifin JM. Adult eczema prevalence and associations with asthma and other health and demographic factors: a US population-based study. J Allergy Clin Immunol. 2013;132(5):1132-1138.Google ScholarCrossref
Hanifin JM, Cooper KD, Ho VC, et al. Guidelines of care for atopic dermatitis, developed in accordance with the American Academy of Dermatology (AAD)/American Academy of Dermatology Association “Administrative Regulations for Evidence-Based Clinical Practice Guidelines.” J Am Acad Dermatol. 2004;50(3):391-404.PubMedGoogle ScholarCrossref
Henderson J, Northstone K, Lee SP, et al. The burden of disease associated with filaggrin mutations: a population-based, longitudinal birth cohort study. J Allergy Clin Immunol. 2008;121(4):872-877, e9.PubMedGoogle ScholarCrossref
Shaw TE, Currie GP, Koudelka CW, Simpson EL. Eczema prevalence in the United States: data from the 2003 national survey of children's health. J Invest Dermatol. 2011;131(1):67-73.PubMedGoogle ScholarCrossref
Zutavern A, Hirsch T, Leupold W, Weiland S, Keil U, von Mutius E. Atopic dermatitis, extrinsic atopic dermatitis and the hygiene hypothesis: results from a cross-sectional study. Clin Exp Allergy. 2005;35(10):1301-1308.PubMedGoogle ScholarCrossref
Simpson EL, Keck LE, Chalmers JR, Williams HC. How should an incident case of atopic dermatitis be defined? a systematic review of primary prevention studies. J Allergy Clin Immunol. 2012;130(1):137-144.PubMedGoogle ScholarCrossref
Ziyab AH, Raza A, Karmaus W, et al. Trends in eczema in the first 18 years of life: results from the Isle of Wight 1989 birth cohort study. Clin Exp Allergy. 2010;40(12):1776-1784.PubMedGoogle ScholarCrossref
Brown SJ, McLean WH. One remarkable molecule: filaggrin. J Invest Dermatol. 2012;132(3, pt 2):751-762.PubMedGoogle ScholarCrossref
Silverberg JI, Simpson EL, Durkin HG, Joks R. Prevalence of allergic disease in foreign-born American children. JAMA Pediatr. 2013;167(6):554-560.PubMedGoogle ScholarCrossref
Persistence of Childhood Eczema
Jonathan I. Silverberg, MD, PhD, MPH
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Margolis JS, Abuabara K, Bilker W, Hoffstad O, Margolis DJ. Persistence of Mild to Moderate Atopic Dermatitis. JAMA Dermatol. 2014;150(6):593–600. doi:10.1001/jamadermatol.2013.10271
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Persistence of Mild to Moderate Atopic Dermatitis
Jacob S. Margolis1; Katrina Abuabara, MD1,2; Warren Bilker, PhD1; et al Ole Hoffstad, MS1; David J. Margolis, MD, PhD1,2
Author Affiliations Article Information
1Department of Biostatistics and Epidemiology, University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine, Philadelphia
2Department of Dermatology, University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine, Philadelphia
JAMA Dermatol. 2014;150(6):593-600. doi:10.1001/jamadermatol.2013.10271
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Importance Atopic dermatitis (AD) is a common illness of childhood.
Objective To evaluate the natural history of AD and determine the persistence of symptoms over time.
Design, Setting, and Participants A cross-sectional and cohort study of a nation-wide long-term registry of children with AD enrolled in the Pediatric Eczema Elective Registry (PEER).
Main Outcomes and Measures Self-reported outcome of whether a child’s skin was AD symptom–free for 6 months at 6-month intervals.
Results A total of 7157 patients were enrolled in the PEER study for a total of 22 550 person-years. At least 2 years of follow-up were observed for 4248 children and at least 5 years of follow-up were observed for 2416 children. Multiple demographic and exposure variables were associated with more persistent AD. At every age (ie, 2-26 years), more than 80% of PEER participants had symptoms of AD and/or were using medication to treat their AD. It was not until age 20 years that 50% of patients had at least 1 lifetime 6-month symptom- and treatment-free period.
Conclusions and Relevance Based on this large longitudinal cohort study, symptoms associated with AD seem to persist well into the second decade of a child’s life and likely longer. Atopic dermatitis is probably a life-long illness.
Atopic dermatitis (AD) or eczema is a common skin disease that often begins in early childhood.1-7 It begins before the second year of life, has a waxing and waning clinical course, and is often reported to resolve soon after the first decade of life.2 The etiology of AD is likely multifactorial resulting from a complex interaction between genetic and environmental factors.2-5 Little has been reported about the natural history of AD and how genetic and environmental factors are associated with its waxing and waning nature.7-11
About a decade ago, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved topical calcineurin inhibitors like pimecrolimus and tacrolimus for the treatment of AD. Because of potential safety concerns of the novel topical use of these products, the FDA and the European Medicines Agency required the manufacturers of these drugs to each conduct long-term postmarketing safety studies.12,13 The pimecrolimus postmarketing study is called the Pediatric Eczema Elective Registry (PEER). The PEER study is an ideal resource to examine the natural history of children with mild to moderate AD. The goal of our current study was to evaluate the natural history of AD in a group of children who were enrolled in the PEER study. Specifically, we evaluated the prevalence of symptoms of AD overtime and several risk factors that are associated with the persistence of AD.
The PEER study is an ongoing prospective observational registry and cohort that began enrollment in 2004 and will follow participants for 10 years. The enrollment criteria and goals of the PEER study have been described in detail elsewhere.10,14,15 Briefly, eligible patients were 2 to 17 years of age at the date of enrollment. Additional inclusion criteria included a diagnosis of AD by a treating physician; the application of pimecrolimus cream for at least 42 days of the preceding 180 days prior to enrollment; and written informed consent by the patient or caregiver. The diagnosis of AD for each child was made by the enrolling physicians, most of whom were pediatricians, allergists, or dermatologists.10,14,15 Enrolling physicians had no other role in this study. The physician’s diagnosis was confirmed based on the patient’s self-report and the UK working party criteria.14 Once enrolled, the patient or caregiver completed an enrollment survey as well as 6-month follow-up surveys via the mail. Missing information was obtained via telephone queries. Children were not required to continue to use pimecrolimus once they were enrolled in the PEER study, and many did not.15 Written informed consent was obtained for each of the study participants, and our research protocol was approved by the institutional review board at the University of Pennsylvania.
We investigated the self-reported outcome of whether a child’s skin, without requiring the use of topical medication (eg, steroids or calcineurin inhibitors to treat their AD), was AD symptom–free during the previous 6 months.10 This was determined by the response to the question: “Has the rash cleared completely at any time during the past 6 months?” The patient’s self-described outcome of disease control is a well-validated measure of eczema severity that correlates with Eczema Area and Severity Index (EASI) scores.8,14-18 Because individuals in this study were followed longitudinally and surveyed every 6 months, this outcome was reported on more than 1 occasion.5 A child’s AD was thought to be intermittent (ie, not persistent) if, in addition to having complete disease control, he or she answered “no” to the treatment use questions. Information about this outcome was collected longitudinally every 6 months by survey, thereby capturing the waxing and waning nature of AD.
Covariates
The initial enrollment questionnaire contained 39 questions. These included information on the age of onset of AD; the age of enrollment into the PEER study; sex; US census categories for race/ethnicity; annual household income; baseline eczema symptoms, such as the question noted in the previous subsection, age of disease onset; pruritic regions of the body; visits to health professionals; questions on the child’s history of asthma and wheezing, seasonal allergies, food allergies, and other environmental allergies, such as to pets; and questions on family history of AD and other atopic illnesses. Many of the atopic disease–based questions were modeled after the ISAAC (International Study of Asthma and Allergies in Childhood) questionnaire (http://isaac.auckland.ac.nz/).6 Follow-up questionnaires were sent to enrollees every 6 months.
Analysis Plan
Data were evaluated using 2 different epidemiologic designs. First, using a cross-sectional design we evaluated the demographic information and covariates described herein from the full PEER population at baseline. For these analyses, means with 95% CIs or standard deviations and medians (as appropriate) were estimated. Statistical comparisons were made using t test, analysis of variance, or χ2 tests as appropriate.
Next, we analyzed our data set as a longitudinal cohort study in order to examine “risk factors” for any given 6-month symptom- and treatment-free period. For this analysis statistical, comparisons were assessed using random-intercept logistic regression (XTLOGIT) that allowed for repeated measures of our outcome within each child. For these analyses, we present unadjusted and adjusted odds ratios (ORs) with 95% CIs. All analyses were repeated using a variant of a mixed logistic regression model called generalized linear latent and mixed models (gllamm) with nearly identical results (not reported). The variables used in the adjusted models were selected based on a priori knowledge of their potential association with the persistence of AD and included age at onset, age at enrollment, sex, any family history of atopy, personal history of atopy, and self-reported severity at enrollment. We also estimated a Kaplan-Meier plot to graphically depict the proportion of individuals at any given age who ever reported a 6-month symptom- and treatment-free period for those who had been enrolled for at least 5 years. Finally, we used this cohort to create prognostic models. For this evaluation, we created an outcome based on whether a child had any symptom-free and medication-free period during his or her first 2 years or their first 5 years of observation. In this setting, we used logistic regression and assessed our prediction models using the area under the receiver operating curve (AROC). All statistical analyses were conducted using Stata software (version 12.1; Stata Corp).
At the time of analysis, 7157 patients were enrolled in the PEER study. At least 2 years of follow-up were observed for 4248 children, and at least 5 years of follow-up were observed for 2416 children. Quiz Ref IDThe mean age at the onset of their AD was 1.7 years (95% CI, 1.7-1.8 years), and the average age at enrollment into the PEER study was 7.4 years (95% CI, 7.3-7.5 years). Since their enrollment into the PEER study, a median of 5 surveys (range, 3-9 surveys [25%-75%]) at 6-month intervals were completed per patient, most often by a parent. With respect to those eligible to respond to a survey, approximately 70.0% responded to any given query, and 1.9% withdrew from the study. With slight variation during the study period of observation, 85.3% to 89.6% of children reported that they were seen by a health care provider for a well-child visit at least once per year. Patients were followed for 22 550 person-years of observation. As noted in Table 1, 46.9% of the children enrolled in the PEER study were male, 41.8% were white, and many had other findings of atopic illnesses. Slightly more than half of PEER participants lived in the South Atlantic or the East South Central US Census regions (Table 1). However, at least 1 PEER participant resided in 47 of the 48 contiguous states in the United States (Figure 1). At the time of enrollment, 14.2%, 20.8%, and 37.5% of the children were directly seeking care for their AD from a dermatologist, allergist, or pediatrician, respectively. Quiz Ref IDAt enrollment, self-reported disease activity in the previous 6 months was complete disease control in 5.2%, good disease control in 48.9%, limited disease control in 36.2%, and uncontrolled disease in 9.8%. Self-reported disease activity at baseline was associated with more persistent disease (complete disease control: reference [ie, 1.00], good disease control: OR,0.52 [95% CI, 0.37-0.74]; limited disease control: OR, 0.29 [95% CI, 0.20-0.40]; or uncontrolled disease: OR, 0.18 [95% CI, 0.12-0.27]). At enrollment, all had used topical medications in the past 6 months: pimecrolimus, 100% of patients; tacrolimus, 12.5%; and topical steroids, 60.9%. By the fifth year of follow-up, topical medications used were pimecrolimus, 46.3%; tacrolimus, 16.7%; and topical steroids, 52.9% (medications could be used in combination during the 6-month period). Quiz Ref IDDuring 5 years of follow-up, 64.0% of patients never reported a 6-month period when their skin was symptom free while they were not using topical medications, and less than 1.5% of the study population reported that they had achieved this outcome more than 60% of the time.
We conducted both unadjusted and adjusted analyses (age at onset, sex, race/ethnicity, age at enrollment, and any history of seasonal allergies or asthma) for each question item on the enrollment survey with respect to whether the child achieved the 6-month symptom- and medication-free outcome longitudinally by survey completed. The questions listed in Table 1 were grouped in categories roughly related to basic demographics, atopic and allergic illnesses and responses, environmental exposures, family atopic illnesses, and disease-specific categories. Many of the variables within a category likely have overlapping pathophysiologic characteristics and/or are on the causal pathway with respect to AD symptoms. However, most are associated with a decreased odds of reporting a symptom-free and medication-free state overtime (eg, more persistent AD) (Table 1). Our adjusted and unadjusted effect estimates were often nearly identical, with the exception of the estimate for income, which was primarily confounded by race/ethnicity (or vice versa). A random-effects model using location as a marker of center-based effects did not change our estimates.
Most children and young adults still reported symptoms of AD that required the use of medication. But, as children got older they were more likely to have experienced at least 1 symptom-free and medication-free period. We depict this graphically in 2 ways (Figure 2). Based on a Kaplan-Meier survival estimate of those with at least 5 years of follow-up, by age 20 years about 50% reported at least one 6-month symptom- and medication-free period (Figure 2A). However, at every age, more than 80% of PEER participants had symptoms of AD and/or were using medication to treat their AD (Figure 2B). The odds that a child reported no symptoms of AD while not using medication was increased 30% for every survey answered (OR, 1.30 [95% CI, 1.28-1.31]).
Models were created to predict the likelihood that a child would have persistent disease after up to 2 years and up to 5 years of follow-up; Table 2 contains complex multivariate prognostic models as well as simple models. For example, a prediction model containing information on age at onset, age at enrollment (eg, age of the visit), race/ethnicity (white), any associated atopy (food, asthma, and/or seasonal allergy), AD at the time of examination reported to be under limited control or to be uncontrolled, and a household income greater than $50 000 per year can differentiate between a child with or without persistent AD during his or her first 2 years of care (eg, at least one 6-month period that was symptom- and topical medication–free) 67.3% of the time (AROC = 0.673). A simple count model created based on logistic regression coefficients and several dichotomized variables also had a similar AROC of 0.644. This model is a simple summation of 1 point for household with an income of greater than $50 000 per year, 2 points if the child reported complete or good disease control at the first meeting, age at onset of eczema, and a reduction of 1 point if the child had any other atopic illness and a reduction of one-half his or her age at the visit (ie, a reduction of 2 points for a 4-year-old).
This study of more than 7000 children is one of the largest prospective longitudinal reports of children with mild to moderate AD. Most the children enrolled in this study developed AD before 2 years of age. An advantage of this study was regular 6-month measurements of disease activity. Unlike past teaching, most children enrolled in our study continued to report symptoms and used medications well into the second and even the third decade of life (Figure 2).2,7,8 In our PEER cohort, during the second decade of life most enrollees were very likely to have had at least 1 period when their skin was clear while not requiring medications (Figure 2A). However, this finding did not persist and should not be confused with a “permanent” remission in that at most ages the majority of enrollees had symptoms and were using medications (Figure 2B). Quiz Ref IDPast teaching that nearly 50% to 70% of children with AD will achieve a resolution of their AD by age 12 years was not achieved in our study.2,3,8,11 Interestingly, the persistence of AD symptoms noted in our study is consistent with findings in recent investigations that have shown that in the United States the yearly prevalence of AD or eczema in childhood and adulthood does not differ dramatically, as would be expected if few with childhood AD continue to have AD in adulthood.19 It is also important to realize that many previous studies evaluated the time to when a child was first symptom free, and these studies were not designed to reevaluate patients longitudinally.4,5,9,20,21 In contrast, we have many years of follow-up concerning both symptoms and the use of topical medications.
Furthermore, nearly every environmental exposure we queried at enrollment, as well as history of other atopic illnesses, race/ethnicity, and household income less than $50 000, were associated with more persistent AD. This was also noted with respect to household pet allergies and allergies to common foods. Many of these exposures were also described by Langan et al9 and by others22,23 as factors that were associated with flares of AD. The difference between the outcome used by Langan et al9 and the one we used may be semantic, or, in the extreme case, the outcome measured by Langan et al9 was also included within the outcome we measured.9 Even if our outcomes were different, the study by Langan et al9 and ours both measured longitudinal outcomes related to disease activity. However, it is important to note that our study, as well as that by Langan et al,9 did not evaluate factors that cause incident AD.9 Factors that cause the onset of a disease and contribute to either its persistence or exacerbation are not always the same. This is an important difference because many previous reports on factors that “cause” AD do not consistently attribute all of the factors that Langan et al9 or we report to causation.5,24
A recent study by Ballardini et al8 evaluated a birth cohort in Sweden at ages 1, 2, 4, 8 and 12 years for allergy-related disease. As part of this study they determined the yearly prevalence of eczema at these 5 time points. Childhood eczema prevalence ranged from 15% to 20%, with the maximum prevalence occurring at age 4 years and the minimum prevalence at age 12 years. They also measured “remissions” or periods where a child with previously active AD noted no AD activity in the preceding year. Remissions occurred in 5% to 15% of the population with active AD at a given time point.8 The overall change in AD prevalence between ages 4 and 12 years in the study by Ballardini et al8 was a 25% decrease and in our study was a decrease of approximately 15%. Another birth cohort study of close to 1200 initially healthy children from the Isle of Wight in the United Kingdom evaluated the presence of eczema (defined by an itchy erythematous eruption) in the previous year also showed little variation in the prevalence of eczema in those 1, 4, 10, and 18 years of age.25 However, very few patients from the subcohort of 160 children who had eczema at the study’s inception had persistent eczema, defined as the presence of disease at all time points.25
There are several potential explanations for our findings. It is possible that PEER participants have more severe disease and therefore have more persistent AD. It is also possible that many previous studies lacked sufficiently long follow-up to measure disease persistence and ultimately followed too few with eczema to precisely estimate persistence. Perhaps individuals with AD since childhood are not bothered sufficiently to continue to seek care by adolescence or young adulthood, thereby making it seem to health care providers that a young patient’s AD had resolved. And, it is possible that health care providers focus more on the other atopic illnesses, such as asthma and allergic rhinitis, than the concomitant skin disease. Quiz Ref IDHowever, our report of the lack of resolution of AD lends support to recent findings that demonstrate genetic associations with AD and filaggrin (FLG) protein loss-of-function mutations.26 About 16.2% of a subset of patients in the PEER cohort have these mutations and they do have more persistent AD.10 These mutations result in the inability of an individual to make FLG protein, resulting in skin barrier dysfunction.26 Because these are germline mutations, the ability to produce FLG does not improve with age. Finally, a recent study by Silverberg and Hanifin19 on the prevalence of eczema in US adults revealed that the yearly prevalence is about 10% which when compared with the childhood prevalence rates of about 10% to 15% would seem to argue that childhood AD often persists into adulthood.8,27
We also created prognostic models. Our models had an AROC of about 60% to 65%, indicating that the prognostic ability of these models was fair to good. The prognostic models could be very helpful in 2 settings. First, when planning clinical trials, if the goal is to treat children with more persistent AD, then the models can be used to define who is more likely to have more persistent disease and thereby will modestly improve the likelihood that patients with more persistent disease will be enrolled. The second setting is during the physician’s initial visit with the child and his or her family. Often parents inquire about how long their child will have symptoms of AD. In this case, the models can be helpful in informing the parents that their child will likely have more persistent symptoms of AD.
As with all epidemiologic studies, there are limitations to this report. It is possible that our results do not generalize to all children with AD. Individuals enrolled in the PEER cohort had mild to moderate AD at the time of enrollment that required the use of topical medications (specifically, pimecrolimus) and may have had more severe disease at baseline than those seen in general practice. We were not able to capture incident disease and have only self-reported data on the time of onset. We do not know about disease persistence prior to enrollment, although we do know that the children had persistent disease at the start of the study and if they had it during the study. We do not know why local health care providers decided to use therapy with pimecrolimus or stop using pimecrolimus or any other topical medication, although we know that medications were used, and therefore the disease was classified as persistent. It is also possible that our definition of persistent disease is different from what is used clinically to determine that AD is in remission. It may be possible that those who answered surveys had more persistent disease or were more likely to report their disease as being persistent. However, our definition is based on self-reported eczema severity and is likely a useful measure for following disease activity over time. It might be possible that children in our study were not adequately treated. However, this is highly unlikely in that many were initially enrolled from specialists’ offices (allergists and dermatologists), all patients enrolled were receiving topical therapies, most had at least yearly follow-up with a pediatrician, and the definition of persistent disease included the use of a topical agent. We do not know if their treatment had an effect on AD persistence. Finally, our prognostic models are based on the PEER cohort and, like all prognostic models, need to be validated in other cohorts. However, it is important to remember that this is one of the largest longitudinal studies of children with diagnosed AD, and children were enrolled from nearly every US state.
In conclusion, symptoms associated with AD seem to persist well into the second decade of a child’s life and likely longer. As previously reported, we note that many factors are associated with more persistent disease. While some of these factors may not be associated with the onset of AD, there is at least a belief by PEER participants that they make their symptoms worse. It is important to realize that these statements may not be mutually exclusive. Because of the broad geographic distribution of children enrolled in the PEER study and because they were enrolled from several different types of health care providers’ offices, it is likely that these results generalize to children with mild to moderate AD. Based on our findings, it is probable that AD does not fully resolve in most children with mild to moderate symptoms. Physicians who treat children with mild to moderate AD should tell children and their caregivers that AD is a lifelong illness with periods of waxing and waning skin problems.
Accepted for Publication: December 8, 2013.
Corresponding Author: David J. Margolis, MD, PhD, Departments of Biostatistics and Epidemiology and Dermatology, University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine, 901 Blockley Hall, 423 Guardian Dr, Philadelphia, PA 19104 (margo@upenn.edu).
Published Online: April 2, 2014. doi:10.1001/jamadermatol.2013.10271.
Author Contributions: Mr Margolis and Dr Margolis had full access to all of the data in the study and take responsibility for the integrity of the data and the accuracy of the data analysis.
Study concept and design: J. S. Margolis, D. J. Margolis.
Acquisition of data: J. S. Margolis, Hoffstad, D. J. Margolis.
Analysis and interpretation of data: J. S. Margolis, Abuabara, Bilker, D. J. Margolis.
Drafting of the manuscript: J. S. Margolis, D. J. Margolis.
Critical revision of the manuscript for important intellectual content: All authors.
Statistical analysis: J. S. Margolis, Bilker, Hoffstad, D. J. Margolis.
Obtained funding: D. J. Margolis.
Administrative, technical, and material support: D. J. Margolis.
Study supervision: D. J. Margolis.
Conflict of Interest Disclosures: The PEER study is funded by a grant from Valeant Pharmaceuticals, a company that makes pimecrolimus, a drug used to treat AD. The company was notified that the study was submitted for review and publication. The PEER study is an FDA-mandated study as part of the FDA approval process. No other disclosures are reported.
Funding/Support: This study was supported in part by R01-AR0056755 from the National Institute of Arthritis Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases (NIAMS).
Role of the Sponsors: The NIAMS and Valeant Pharmaceuticals had no role in the design and conduct of the study; collection, management, analysis, and interpretation of the data; preparation, review, or approval of the manuscript; and decision to submit the manuscript for publication.
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Stage Races
Pro/Elite Race
Pro/Elite Registration
Pro/Elite Race Schedule
Pro/Elite Course Details
Pro/Elite Race Info
Amateur Race
Amateur Race Schedule
Amateur Course Details
Amateur Race Info
Viewing Spots
Cycling Terms
Kids Ride
Contact & Credentials
Teams Attending
Do you remember the freedom of riding your bike for the first time? Whether it's a professional bike racer or one of the little kids participating in the kid's fun ride...everyone likes turning the cranks! Would you and your company like to be part of this very unique and exciting event? For sponsorship opportunities, please contact Bruce Dunn, 479-521-7766 or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
Below is a partial list of the ways your company can be recognized throughout the marketing and promotion of the event. There are many ways to activate and promote a company's image and brands and we are open to creative ways you would like to see your company involved.
Sponsor Recognition Opportunities
Named stage of race
Jersey pocket
Expo space
Event program ad
Course banner space
Backdrop of award podium
Finish Line truss system
CitiScapes Metro Monthly ad
Social Media engagement with promotions
Racer Technical Guide
Racer and volunteer t-shirts
PA announcements
Racer and volunteer goody bag giveaways
The Joe Martin Stage Race is recognized in NW Arkansas as a cornerstone event. It also has the uniqueness of not only being the only professional bike race in NW Arkansas, but also one of only six nationally and internationally sanctioned stage races in the United States. Therefore, the race captures the attention of both individuals and corporations in a very crowded NWA event calendar. The Northwest Arkansas business community continues to promote the event nationally as one of the unique attractions and key events in the area. Families, businesses and organizations participated as both spectators and volunteers throughout the four days, which dramatically increased awareness and recognition for the race.
Over the years, the Joe Martin Stage Race has grown to be more than a bike race. There are people of all ages lining the courses throughout the four-day event. Local elementary and middle-level schools attend a free kid’s ride during the event, a townie bike parade, community volunteers, and corporations support the race. The Joe Martin Gran Fondo (JMGF) consists of five road rides and two gravel ride distances. And while the stage race is an extremely competitive-oriented event, the gran fondo is geared to a much broader segment of the population. The unique thing about the JMGF and which sets it apart from all the other gran fondo and other tour rides is that a person gets to be "A Pro for a Day" which is the event’s tag line. Gran Fondo riders will ride on the same courses as the pros! 2019 Gran Fondo date is May 4
Cycling Demographics
Cycling in the United States had over 36.5 million Americans ride their bicycles six or more times according to the National Sporting Goods Association. And according to the National Bicycle Dealer’s Association, the bicycle industry is a 5.8 billion dollar industry with over 16 million bikes sold annually.
The race is promoted and directed by All Sports Productions, Inc., a sports event management company that promotes cycling, triathlon, running, adventure runs and other outdoor events. In addition to the Joe Martin Stage Race, some of the events include: Iron Pig Festival, Ozark Valley & Kids’ Triathlons, Eureka Springs Multisport Festival and Fayetteville Half Marathon. The company is owned and operated by Bruce Dunn.
Projected Reach Joe Martin - 2019
The Joe Martin Stage Race reach is both national and international. 750 professional and amateur cycling athletes, plus 1,500 support staff for teams and athletes. Athletes and staff from 50 states and over 25 countries, plus 10,000 spectators. The Joe Martin Gran Fondo expects to see 500 cyclists participate in the tour rides.
Event Recognition:
Raising awareness for the Razorback Greenway trail system and enoucraging participation of youth in outdoor activities which include bike riding. This race will continue to serve as a catalyst for future cycling events such as the Master National Championship or Regional and National USA Cycling qualifying events. And the uniqueness of event brings new people into the state.
Currently the economic impact of the Joe Martin is $1.4 million.
Event Goals:
To have stages of the Joe Martin Stage Race as part of a future internationally-sanctioned World Tour calendar and internationally televised event…Tour of Arkansas.
All Sports Productions
The Joe Martin Stage Race is an All Sports Productions event. All Sports Productions promotes cycling, running, duathlons, triathlons, adventure runs and other outdoor events. Our goal is to produce races at the highest standards which are locally, regionally and nationally recognized events with a festival-like atmosphere.
Photos / Media
NWAPhoto.com will be providing amazing photos of the Joe Martin Stage Race.
See Media link for press credentials.
Tom Ewart
tom@nwaphoto.com
All Sports Productions:
Bruce Dunn
1629 S. River Meadows Dr.
Email: Email Bruce
Volunteer Coordinator:
Carmen Newberry
Email: Email Carmen
Registration Coordinator:
Amanda Nunnally
You are here: Home Sponsors Sponsorship Info
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Effects of illumination direction on the perception of shape from shading for photometrically accurate images of randomly shaped surfaces
Baoxia Liu; James T Todd
Baoxia Liu
School of Optometry, University of California, Berkeley, USA
James T Todd
Department of Psychology, Ohio State University, USA
Baoxia Liu, James T Todd; Effects of illumination direction on the perception of shape from shading for photometrically accurate images of randomly shaped surfaces. Journal of Vision 2003;3(9):478. doi: 10.1167/3.9.478.
There is a common belief among perceptual psychologists that shaded images are inherently ambiguous with respect to the sign of relief, and that this ambiguity is resolved by a bias to perceive surfaces illuminated from above. The research described in the present paper was designed to investigate how observers' perceptions of smoothly curved surfaces are influenced by various illumination patterns. The images were generated with a photometrically accurate rendering model that simulates the effects of area lights, cast shadows and indirect illuminations. The displays depicted roughly spherical objects with random patterns of ridges and valleys. These objects could be presented with visible smooth occlusion contours, or these contours could be masked by a uniformly convex aperture. The surfaces could be illuminated from four different directions (i.e., above, below, left or right). Observers judged the pattern of ordinal depth on each object by marking local maxima and minima along designated scan lines. They also judged the apparent magnitudes of relative depth between designated probe points on the surface. There was a high degree of reliability on these tasks both within and between observers. When the different patterns of illumination were compared, the variations in judged depth were remarkably small, and observers' judgments were highly correlated across each possible pair of illumination conditions. They were also highly correlated with the ground truth — even when the occlusion contours were masked. These findings suggest that perceptual ambiguities obtained with unrealistic rendering models may not generalize to more natural contexts.
Liu, B., Todd, J. T.(2003). Effects of illumination direction on the perception of shape from shading for photometrically accurate images of randomly shaped surfaces [Abstract]. Journal of Vision, 3( 9): 478, 478a, http://journalofvision.org/3/9/478/, doi:10.1167/3.9.478. [CrossRef]
This research was supported by grants from the National Eye Institute (R01-EY12432) and the National Science Foundation (BCS-0079277).
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Listen... and you'll know - Salt Lake City
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Jason Chaffetz not seeking re-election
Rep. Jason Chaffetz will not be running for another term in the House of Representatives. The announcement came Wednesday that he will not be running for re-election, or election to any other office, in 2018. Chaffetz has said he is not closing the door to running again in the future, but for now has decided it is time to return to the private sector. He says he also wishes to spend more time with his family, citing that as another reason to not run.
His announcement potentially ends any further speculation as to whether or not he will make a bid to replace Utah's Sr. Senator, Orrin Hatch, who is up for re-election in 2018. Hatch has served in congress since 1976, and has been on the record as saying he plans to run, but may not if something that would otherwise would prevent him from doing so occurred. So far no Republican has stepped forward to officially run for the soon to be vacant congressional seat, although many speculate that Provo Mayor John Curtis could make a legitimate bid for the chair.
The announcement came as a stunning surprise for those in Utah's congressional delegation, as well as Gov. Gary Herbert, who went on to praise Chaffetz's efforts in the House on behalf of Utah. Chaffetz was first elected in 2008, and has prided himself on the fact he's slept on a cot in his office the entire time he's served in congress.
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Talk Radio 105.9 | KNRS is Salt Lake City Utah's exclusive station for Glenn Beck, Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Rod Arquette, Dave Ramsey and George Noory.
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The FISA Amendments Reauthorization Act Restricts Congress, Not Surveillance
The FISA Amendments Reauthorization Act of 2017—legislation meant to extend government surveillance powers—squanders several opportunities for meaningful reform and, astonishingly, manages to push civil liberties backwards. The bill is a gift to the intelligence community, restricting surveillance reforms, not surveillance itself.
The bill (S. 2010) was introduced October 25 by Senate Select Committee on Intelligence Chairman Richard Burr (R-NC) as an attempt to reauthorize Section 702 of the FISA Amendments Act. That law authorizes surveillance that ensnares the communications of countless Americans, and it is the justification used by agencies like the FBI to search through those collected American communications without first obtaining a warrant. Section 702 will expire at the end of this year unless Congress reauthorizes it.
Other proposed legislation in the House and Senate has used Section 702’s sunset as a moment to move surveillance reform forward, demanding at least minor protections to how 702-collected American communications are accessed. In contrast, Senator Burr’s bill uses Section 702’s sunset as an opportunity codify some of the intelligence community’s more contentious practices while also neglecting the refined conversations on surveillance happening in Congress today.
Here is a breakdown of the bill.
Much of the FISA Amendments Reauthorization Act (the “Burr bill” for short) deals with a type of surveillance called “about” collection, a practice in which the NSA searches Internet traffic for any mentions of foreign intelligence surveillance targets. As an example, the NSA could search for mentions of a target’s email address. But the communications being searched do not have to be addressed to or from that email address, the communications would simply need to include the address in their text. This is not normal for communications surveillance.
Importantly, nothing in Section 702 today mentions or even hints at “about” collection, and it wasn’t until 2013 that we learned about it. A 2011 opinion from the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court—which provides judicial review for the Section 702 program—found this practice to be unconstitutional without strict post-collection rules to limit its retention and use.
Indeed, it is a practice the NSA ended in April precisely “to reduce the chance that it would acquire communications of U.S. persons or others who are not in direct contact with a foreign intelligence target.” Alarmingly, it is a practice the FISA Amendments Reauthorization Act defines expansively and provides guidelines for restarting.
According to the bill, should the Attorney General and the Director of National Intelligence decide that “about” collection needs to start up again, all they need to do is ask specified Congressional committees. Then, a 30-day clock begins ticking. It’s up to Congress to act before the clock stops.
In those 30 days, at least one committee—including the House Judiciary Committee, the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, the Senate Judiciary Committee, and the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence—must draft, vote, and pass legislation that specifically disallows the continuation of “about” collection, working against the requests of the Attorney General and the Director of National Intelligence.
If Congress fails to pass such legislation in 30 days, “about” collection can restart.
The 30-day period has more restrictions. If legislation is referred to any House committee because of the committee’s oversight obligations, that committee must report the legislation to the House of Representatives within 10 legislative days. If the Senate moves legislation forward, “consideration of the qualifying legislation, and all amendments, debatable motions, and appeals in connection therewith, shall be limited to not more than 10 hours,” the bill says.
Limiting discussion on “about” collection to just 10 hours—when members of Congress have struggled with it for years—is reckless. It robs Congress of the ability to accurately debate a practice whose detractors even include the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC)—the judicial body that reviews and approves Section 702 surveillance.
Worse, the Burr bill includes a process to skirt legislative approval of “about” collection in emergencies. If Congress has not already disapproved “about” collection within the 30-day period, and if the Attorney General and the Director of National Intelligence determine that such “about” collection is necessary for an emergency, they can obtain approval from the FISC without Congress.
And if during the FISC approval process, Congress passes legislation preventing “about” collection—effectively creating both approval and disapproval from two separate bodies—the Burr bill provides no clarity on what happens next. Any Congressional efforts to protect American communications could be thrown aside.
These are restrictions on Congress, not surveillance—as well as an open invitation to restart “about” searching.
What Else is Wrong?
The Burr bill includes an 8-year sunset period, the longest period included in current Section 702 reauthorization bills. The USA Liberty Act—introduced in the House—sunsets in six years. The USA Rights Act—introduced in the Senate—sunsets in four.
The Burr bill also allows Section 702-collected data to be used in criminal proceedings against U.S. persons so long as the Attorney General determines that the crime involves a multitude of subjects. Those subjects include death, kidnapping, seriously bodily injury, incapacitation or destruction of critical infrastructure, and human trafficking. The Attorney General can also determine that the crime involves “cybersecurity,” a vague term open to broad abuse.
The Attorney General’s determinations in these situations are not subject to judicial review.
The bill also includes a small number of reporting requirements for the FBI Director and the FISC. These are minor improvements that are greatly outweighed by the bill’s larger problems.
No Protections from Warrantless Searching of American Communications
The Burr bill fails to protect U.S. persons from warrantless searches of their communications by intelligence agencies like the FBI and CIA.
The NSA conducts surveillance on foreign individuals living outside the United States by collecting communications both sent to and from them. Often, U.S. persons are communicating with these individuals, and those communications are swept up by the NSA as well. Those communications are then stored in a massive database that can be searched by outside agencies like the FBI and CIA. These unconstitutional searches do not require a warrant and are called “backdoor” searches because they skirt U.S. persons’ Fourth Amendment rights.
The USA Liberty Act, which we have written extensively about, creates a warrant requirement when government agents look through Section 702-collected data for evidence of a crime, but not for searches for foreign intelligence. The USA Rights Act creates warrant requirements for all searches of American communications within Section 702-collected data, with “emergency situation” exemptions that require judicial oversight.
The Burr bill offers nothing.
No Whistleblower Protections
The Burr bill also fails to extend workplace retaliation protections to intelligence community contractors who report what they believe is illegal behavior within the workforce. This protection, while limited, is offered by the USA Liberty Act. The USA Rights Act takes a different approach, approving new, safe reporting channels for internal government whistleblowers.
The Burr bill has already gone through markup in the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence. This means that it could be taken up for a floor vote by the Senate.
Your voice is paramount right now. As 2017 ends, Congress is slammed with packages on debt, spending, and disaster relief—all which require votes in less than six weeks. To cut through the log jam, members of Congress could potentially attach the Burr bill to other legislation, robbing surveillance reform of its own vote. It’s a maneuver that Senator Burr himself, according to a Politico report, approves.
Just because this bill is ready, doesn’t mean it’s good. Far from it, actually.
We need your help to stop this surveillance extension bill. Please tell your Senators that the FISA Amendments Reauthorization Act of 2017 is unacceptable.
Tell them surveillance requires reform, not regression.
Take action today.
Related Cases: Jewel v. NSA
eff 264 privacy 56 legislative ana 24 nsa spying 19 decoding 702 wh 15
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The Linux Foundation Launches Open FinTech Forum: AI, Blockchain, Kubernetes & Quantum on Wall Street
New event to help financial IT executives learn about open source best practices and technologies
SAN FRANCISCO, February 13, 2018 – The Linux Foundation, the nonprofit organization enabling mass innovation through open source, today announced the launch of a new event, Open FinTech Forum: AI, Blockchain, Kubernetes & Quantum on Wall Street (OFTF), taking place October 10-11, 2018 in New York City.
OFTF will bring CIOs and senior technologists from financial services firms together with open source community maintainers and strategists to learn about building internal open source programs and get an in depth look at how to use the most disruptive open source technologies of the moment to drive efficiency and flexibility; enable new products, services and capabilities; strengthen license compliance; and attract and maintain top talent.
“We’ve created this event in part because we’re seeing strong interest from the financial services industry in contributing to projects like Hyperledger, Cloud Foundry Foundation, Cloud Native Computing Foundation, OpenMAMA and others,” said Jim Zemlin, Executive Director of The Linux Foundation. “We want others to understand how they can be involved in open source as they evolve their own solutions. Open FinTech Forum will provide an opportunity for financial services firms to continue to learn the best ways to consume, and contribute to, open source technologies.”
The two day forum will feature technical tracks on:
Blockchain/Distributed Ledger
Kubernetes, Containers & Cloud Native Apps
There will also be an in depth tutorial on building internal open source programs.
The Linux Foundation in accepting proposals for sessions through July 13, 2018 at 11:59 pm PT.
Registration is now open, and options include one day passes for tutorials on October 10th or keynotes and technical tracks on October 11, as well as a combo pass for both days. As with all Linux Foundation events, diversity and needs-based scholarships are available.
The Linux Foundation events are where the world’s leading technologists meet, collaborate, learn and network to advance innovations that support the world’s largest shared technologies.
Members of the media who would like to request a press pass to attend should contact Dan Brown at dbrown@linuxfoundation.org.
The post The Linux Foundation Launches Open FinTech Forum: AI, Blockchain, Kubernetes & Quantum on Wall Street appeared first on The Linux Foundation.
https://www.linuxfoundation.org/press-release/linux-foundation-launches-open-fintech-forum-ai-blockchain-kubernetes-quantum-wall-street/
press release 77 the linux found 61 networking and 41 cloud container 13 artificial inte 12 events 10 blockchain data 7
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Items where Subject is "E History America > E11 America (General)"
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Library of Congress Subject Areas (48128)
E History America (123)
E11 America (General) (20)
Group by: Creator's name | Item Type | Date | No Grouping
Jump to: A | B | C | J | L | M | P | R | S
Aspinall, Peter J. (2008) The categorisation of African descent populations in Europe and the USA: should lexicons of recommended terminology be evidence-based? Public Health, 122 (1). pp. 61-69. ISSN 0033-3506. (doi:10.1016/j.puhe.2007.02.018) (The full text of this publication is not currently available from this repository. You may be able to access a copy if URLs are provided)
Barker, Stuart (2014) Through Oregon on High: The Construction and Consumption of Nature on the Oregon Skyline Trail. Master of Research (MRes) thesis, University of Kent,. (Access to this publication is currently restricted. You may be able to access a copy if URLs are provided)
Bolaki, Stella and Broeck, Sabine (2015) Introduction: Audre Lorde’s Transnational Legacies. In: Bolaki, Stella and Broeck, Sabine, eds. Audre Lorde's Transnational Legacies. University of Massachusetts Press, Amherst, pp. 1-19. ISBN 978-1-62534-139-6. (The full text of this publication is not currently available from this repository. You may be able to access a copy if URLs are provided)
Charnley, Edward (2016) An Examination of Political Rhetoric in the State of New York During the Second Party Era, 1828 - 1854. Master of Arts by Research (MARes) thesis, University of Kent,.
Collins, M.J. (2016) ‘Pure Feelings, Noble Aspirations and Generous Ideas’ : the Martí–Dana Friendship and the Cuban War of independence. Radical Americas, 1 (1). pp. 1-24. E-ISSN 2399-4606. (doi:10.14324/111.444.ra.2016.v1.1.003)
Jones, Karen R. (2003) 'Way out West…Ghost towns, gray wolves, territorial prisons and more!' Celebrating the wolf in the new west. In: Nicholas, Liza and Bapis, Elaine M. and Harvey, Thomas J., eds. Imagining the Big Open: Nature, Identity and Play in the New West. Utah University Press, Salt Lake City, US, pp. 27-44. (The full text of this publication is not currently available from this repository. You may be able to access a copy if URLs are provided)
Lee, A. Robert (1994) THE Before Columbus Foundation Poetry Anthology: Selections from the American Book Awards, 1980-1990 - Phillips,JJ, Reed,I, Strads,G, Wong,S. Journal of American Studies, 28 . pp. 433-450. ISSN 0021-8758. (The full text of this publication is not currently available from this repository. You may be able to access a copy if URLs are provided)
Lee, A. Robert (1994) The before Columbus foundation fiction anthology, selections from the American book awards 1980-1990 - Reed,I, Trueblood,K, Wong,S. Journal of American Studies, 28 . pp. 433-450. ISSN 0021-8758. (The full text of this publication is not currently available from this repository. You may be able to access a copy if URLs are provided)
Marsh, Ben (2008) Captive Histories: English, French and Native Narratives of the 1704 Deerfield Raid, by Evan Haefeli and Kevin Sweeney. Review of: Captive Histories: English, French and Native Narratives of the 1704 Deerfield Raid by UNSPECIFIED. French History, 22 (1). pp. 116-117. ISSN 1477-4542. (doi:10.1093/fh/crn004) (The full text of this publication is not currently available from this repository. You may be able to access a copy if URLs are provided)
Marsh, Ben (2010) The Colonial American Origins of Modern Democratic Thought, by J.S. Maloy. Review of: The Colonial American Origins of Modern Democratic Thought by UNSPECIFIED. English Historical Review, . pp. 140-142. ISSN 0013-8266. E-ISSN 1477-4534. (doi:10.1093/ehr/ceq140) (The full text of this publication is not currently available from this repository. You may be able to access a copy if URLs are provided)
Marsh, Ben (2015) "Improvement", "Dr. John Lining", and "Henry Ellis". In: Spencer, Mark G., ed. The Bloomsbury Encyclopedia of the American Enlightenment. Bloomsbury Academic, New York, USA. ISBN 978-0-8264-7969-3. (The full text of this publication is not currently available from this repository. You may be able to access a copy if URLs are provided)
Marsh, Ben (2009) In Search of Ulster-Scots Land: The Birth and Geotheological Imagings of a Transatlantic People, 1603--1703. By Barry Aron Vann. Review of: In Search of Ulster-Scots Land: The Birth and Geotheological Imagings of a Transatlantic People by UNSPECIFIED. Journal of American History, 95 (4). pp. 1132-1133. ISSN 0021-8723. (The full text of this publication is not currently available from this repository. You may be able to access a copy if URLs are provided)
Marsh, Ben (2012) The Meanings of Georgia's Eighteenth-Century Great Seals. Georgia Historical Quarterly, 96 (2). pp. 195-232. ISSN 0016-8297.
Marsh, Ben (2013) Silk. . Oxford University Press Online Bibliography. 10.1093/obo/9780199730414-0233. (doi:10.1093/obo/9780199730414-0233) (The full text of this publication is not currently available from this repository. You may be able to access a copy if URLs are provided)
Marsh, Ben (2004) Women and the American Revolution in Georgia. The Georgia Historical Quarterly, 88 (2). pp. 157-178. ISSN 0016-8297. (The full text of this publication is not currently available from this repository. You may be able to access a copy if URLs are provided)
Pina-Cabral, Joao (2013) Gente Livre: Consideração e Pessoa no Baixo Sul da Bahia. Antropologia Hoje . Ed. Terceiro Nome, 159 pp. ISBN 978-85-7816-112-5. (The full text of this publication is not currently available from this repository. You may be able to access a copy if URLs are provided)
Roberts, Gillian, Stirrup, David F. (2010) Culture and the Canada-US Border (special journal issue). American Review of Canadian Studies, 40 (3). pp. 321-428. ISSN 0272-2011. (The full text of this publication is not currently available from this repository. You may be able to access a copy if URLs are provided)
Schaffner, Anna Katharina (2018) Plagiarists of Pain: The Cultural Consequences of Hoaxing. Review of: Bunk: The Rise of Hoaxes, Humbug, Plagiarists, Phonies, Post-Facts and Fake News by Young, Kevin. Times Literary Supplement, . p. 26. ISSN 0307-661X. (The full text of this publication is not currently available from this repository. You may be able to access a copy if URLs are provided)
Stanfield, Peter (2011) “Punks! Topicality and the 1950s Gangster Bio-Pic Cycle”. In: Bolton, Kingsley and Olsson, Jan, eds. Media, Popular Culture and the American Century. National Library of Sweden, pp. 185-215. ISBN 978-0-86196-698-1.
+1 more...
This list was generated on Mon Jul 15 22:28:26 2019 BST.
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School of Natural Resources and Environmental Studies
Department of Aquaculture and Fisheries Management
Dynamic of Stress Response in Victoria Labeo (Labeo victorianus) during transfer from the Hatchery to cages and Ponds under Differential Caged Stocking Densities
Dynamic of Stress Response in Victoria Labeo.pdf (1.101Mb)
Kuria, Gladys, M.
Ngugi, Charles, C.
Oyoo-Okoth, Elijah
Variation in fish stocking densities translate to difference in growth performance, yields and economic benefits in fish culture. Transferring fish directly from hatcheries to the cages or ponds may induce stress. We evaluated the stress response of Labeo Victoria (Labeo victorianus) in an integrated cage-cum-pond culture during transfer of fish from the hatchery to the cages and ponds at different cage stocking densities. Cages were stocked at varying densities of 10, 30, 60, 90, 120, 150 and 180 fish/m3 and suspended in a static pond of 200 m2 . The L. victorianus fingerlings of a mean weight 23.6 ± 1.8 g were stocked in the cages and the pond respectively. 20 fish were sampled during the transfer period from the hatchery to ponds and cages for analysis of primary and secondary parameters of stress response. Primary stress response occurred when fish were directly transferred to cages and ponds at stocking density ≥ 60 fish/m3 and 90 fish/m3 respectively. Parameters of secondary stress response occurred in fish transferred to the cages at stocking density ≥ 120 fish/m3 and in ponds at density ≥ 150 fish/m3 . Transfer of fish directly from the hatchery to the ponds induce primary and secondary stress.
http://karuspace.karu.ac.ke/handle/20.500.12092/1930
Department of Aquaculture and Fisheries Management [32]
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True Love: How to Use Science to Understand Love
I’d love to introduce you to the fascinating new book, True Love: How to Use Science to Understand Love by double board-certified doctor, Fred Nour. Don't let his titles of Neurologist and Neurophysiologist scare you off, the book is written in an easy to understand format and explains the science behind falling in love with the right - and sometimes the wrong - person.
It touches on such fascinating topics as why you love the way your partner smells, the importance of falling OUT of love with your partner, the four stages of lasting love, why love is an addiction and much, much more! With a Valentine’s Day release of February 1, 2017, talk of love will soon be on everyone’s minds!
We all want to be loved. The good news? Everyone falls in love, most of us more than once. Falling in love is innate and inevitable, and the process seems the same for all people in all places in all times.
In True Love, the first book on love and the brain written by a neurologist, you'll learn what actually happens in your brain while seeking love, and well after. Dr. Nour explores the genetic, chemical and behavioral aspects of each phase of love.
In this book, you will discover how 'Falling in Love' is not 'True Love'. You will find the answers to many questions, such as:
- Why do people who has fallen in love do things that some may deem "crazy"? - What attracts us to certain people and not others?
- Why do arranged marriages have a lower divorce rate?
- Is falling out of love really "the end?"
- Are certain behaviors exhibited by a mate that aren't actually love, yet appear to be?
- What is the difference between love in heterosexuals and homosexuals?
- Could love be a disease or an addiction?
- Are sex and love really the same?
- Is there anything we can do to grow our current love into True Love?
- Why do we always marry the wrong mismatching partner?
- Can marriage of convenience result in True Love? Is there a biological reason for this?
- Has love changed over the centuries?
- Why do we need love?
- Can understanding "falling out of love" help reduce divorce rates?
Dr. Nour hopes that this information, rooted in science, will better inform your future decisions and expectations in relationships, ultimately leading to unions that are more genuine, rewarding, meaningful and permanent. Whether you're in a relationship, still looking for that special someone, or want insights to make your next relationship last for a lifetime, you'll find True Love a vital and eye-opening resource.
ABOUT DR. FRED NOUR:
Fred Nour, M.D., is double board certified by the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology in Neurology and Neurophysiology. He trained at Baylor College of Medicine and taught at the University of Illinois before devoting his time to private practice in Chicago. He is now semi-retired and lives in Southern California where he also teaches Neurology at the University of California (Irvine). He is happily married with two daughters in college who he hopes will each one day find their own true love.
Dr. Nour has been chosen as one of "The top doctors in metropolitan Chicago," has been selected six times as one of "America's top Physicians," and is one of only 5% of about 7000 worldwide physicians to pass the VQE (Visa Qualifying Examination) in order to immigrate to USA as a physician.
Learn more about Dr. Nour at https://truelovebook.net/ and connect with him on FaceBook.
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Bad Voltage: Philips Hue vs LifX, and are smart bulbs a good idea?
On the next episode of Bad Voltage, we discuss whether smart bulbs are a good idea. To get the conversation rolling, I started out with a brief introduction of two systems I use: Hue and LifX. Here’s how the segment starts:
The Bad Voltage team thought it would be interesting to have a discussion about smart bulbs: whether they’re a good idea or not, what the future holds, etc. Before we do that though, I thought I’d give a brief introduction of the multiple smart bulb solutions I have running in my home.
The first system I have running is Philips Hue. Based on the low-power, wireless mesh network zigbee standard this system requires a hub to operate. The Hue line offers a wide variety of options, including standard lights, accent lights, spot lights, light strips, integrated switches and more. Setup is a breeze and while the stock app could be more intuitive the large number of 3rd party applications and integrations more than make up for that. The bulbs are bright and color saturation is acceptable. One down side to this option is that it’s on the pricier end of the spectrum.
The second system I have running is LifX. Based on traditional wifi, no additional hub is needed. The LifX line is limited to standard white and color bulbs. Setup is once again a breeze and the stock app is intuitive and full featured. It includes some nice touches such as cool effects baked into the app that you can only get with Hue by using 3rd party apps. The number of 3rd party integrations isn’t as large as Hue, but has been growing steadily recently. The bulbs have the greatest brightness and color saturation of any smart bulb I’ve seen. The price of LifX bulbs are comparable to Hue.
Depending on your needs and design requirements, I’d recommend both systems. There are less expensive options from GE, Wink, WeMo, Cree and others but I’ve never used them so cannot comment on how they compare. With that brief intro out of the way let’s get to the first question my co-presenters had. Are smart bulbs a good idea? Let me give you a few examples of how I use the bulbs and then we’ll get the discussion going from there. First, on the more practical side I have a bunch of automations setup that make my home safer and more convenient. Open the front door when it’s dark outside and my living room lights go on. Open the basement door and the basement lights go on (which is especially handy while doing laundry). Next, as I have Redshift adjust the color temperature of my screens at night, the lights in my office also adjust to reduce the amount of blue light as it get later. Lastly, on the less practical side, when my favorite team scores a touchdown various lights in my house flash the team colors. So, fellow presenters, what do you think?
Turn in tomorrow to hear what my fellow presenters think. In the mean time, what is your opinion on smart bulbs?
Filed under Bad Voltage Tagged with home automation
Bad Voltage Episode 50 Has Been Released
Jono Bacon, Bryan Lunduke, Stuart Langridge and myself bring you the wonderful world of Bad Voltage, in which you get a mat underfoot because your feet hurt, there is a small Lunduke on the scene, and:
00:04:48 Mycroft, the open source “AI for everyone” home automation thing that you can put in your house and speak commands to, has achieved its Kickstarter goals and will happen. We like it. Here’s why
00:24:48 Chris Waid from Thinkpenguin and savewifi.org speaks about the American FCC’s consultation which requires restricting wireless devices from using unapproved frequencies. Understandably, the SaveWiFi team are very concerned this will result in outright banning of open source router firmware and possibly open source wireless drivers generally. Today we discuss the issue with Chris, whether it’s quite as big a problem as is suggested, and what can be done about it
00:48:17 Hack Voltage: Jeremy spends a minute recommending a cool thing. In this episode, a bathroom mirror which runs Android
00:49:24 Unbiasedly leading on from Mycroft, one of the things it touts itself as is integrating with your home automation; Internet-of-Things things around your house, whether thermometers or Dropcams or smart fridges. We’ve been getting into home automation to varying degrees, and it’s a big area; here we talk about it and open standards
01:08:14 Jono reviews the LIFT standing desk conversion kit, and the idea of standing desks generally
We’re doing a live show, and you can be in the audience! See details of Bad Voltage Live, in Fulda, Germany on September 30th 2015, at badvoltage.org/live!
Listen to 1×50: Automated
From the Bad Voltage site: Every two weeks Bad Voltage delivers an amusing take on technology, Open Source, politics, music, and anything else we think is interesting, as well as interviews and reviews. Do note that Bad Voltage is in no way related to LinuxQuestions.org, and unlike LQ it will be decidedly NSFW. That said, head over to the Bad Voltage website, take a listen and let us know what you think.
Filed under Bad Voltage Tagged with home automation, mycroft
Jono Bacon, Stuart Langridge and myself bring you the wonderful world of Bad Voltage, in which it’s all about the money, it’s never about the privacy, and we disagree about:
00:05:03 The Endless Computer bills itself as “a computer for emerging markets”; a unit with a priority on design, created to plug into an existing TV and pre-packaged with content so it doesn’t need an internet connection. We discuss whether it lives up to its lofty goals.
00:21:26 At roughly the same time, Dustin Kirkland wrote an extremely angry “open letter” to Google about his horrible Nest smoke alarms, and meanwhile our own Jeremy found himself very happy with his Nests. We asked Dustin for a comment, and Jeremy reviews the Nest 2 and why he’s considerably happier
00:37:52 Hack Voltage: Stuart has been playing with drawing app Gliffy
00:39:15 Microsoft: friend or foe of the open source community? Every time they seem good they turn around and do something terrible to us, but then the open source community have finally moved beyond the “Micro$oft” years and we want to embrace them as being on-side. Are they OK now? Are they as bad as they ever were?
Listen to 1×49: The Tapas Of All Bananas
Filed under Bad Voltage Tagged with home automation, Microsoft, Nest
Nest Protect Generation 2 Review
In the next episode of Bad Voltage, I’ll be reviewing the Nest Protect Generation 2, a network capable Smoke + Carbon Monoxide detector. Tune in tomorrow to listen to the ensuing discussion and the rest of the show. In the interim, here’s the review:
Nest Protect Generation 2
As someone who travels quite a bit, a smoke detector that can notify me when I’m away is a compelling device. As a technology guy who has a fair amount of home automation equipment, a smoke detector that can integrate into my increasingly smarter home seems like a natural choice. So, why am I just now reviewing the Nest Protect? Well, the first generation Protect had quite a reputation for false alarms and a “wave” feature that was so buggy it resulted in a recall. And while I’m an early adopter who suffers through quite a few wonky first generation devices, when it comes to something as important as a safety device… I decided to play it safe. But when Nest recently released the Nest Protect generation 2, I decided to take the proverbial plunge.
While the generation 2 device is noticeably sleeker than its predecessor, its what’s inside that prompted my purchase. It uses an advanced smoke sensor, called a Split-Spectrum Sensor, to detect a wide range of smoke events, including both slow smoldering fires and fast flaming fires. That sensor is shielded against outside light and encased in a stainless steel screen, which has a hexagonal pattern designed to let smoke in and keep bugs, dust and fibers out. This should vastly decrease the likelihood of a false alarm. The device also has built-in sensors to detect carbon monoxide, heat, humidity, occupancy and ambient light, as well as (slightly disconcertingly for some I’m sure) a microphone. On the outside is a central button, surrounded by a colorful LED ring, which alerts you to the current status of the device: Blue during setup/testing, green for good, yellow for warning and red for an emergency.
Setting up the device was extremely straight forward. Download the Nest app (available for Android and iOS), select “Add product” and follow a couple simple prompts. Total install time was less than 5 minutes per device, although I installed the battery powered version. If you opt for the hardwired version it will take a little longer. You can enable a couple optional features during install, including Pathlight (which will turn the LED ring into a night-light if you walk by in the dark) and Nightly Promise (which will result in the device glowing green briefly at night, to let you know that it’s fully operational). Installation concludes with a final safety test.
As part of the install, you select where the device is located in your home. One thing that separates the Protect from a more traditional device is the Heads Up feature. If smoke or CO levels are elevated but not at emergency levels, the device will loudly say: “Heads up: there’s smoke in the hallway”. Once the levels pass a certain threshold, the full alarm is sounded and you will start to receive mobile notifications. Unlike the first gen device, you can silence the alarm from the app, although due to regulations there are some parameters around when you can do so. As a networked device, when one Protect senses trouble, all devices will alarm. That means if my Protect on the 3rd floor detects smoke, the device on the 1st floor will also alarm, making it much more likely someone will hear it. The device also regularly tests the battery and will inform you if it’s low, hopefully making the just-not-often-enough intermittent chirp of a dying smoke detector a thing of the past.
There are some additional features that more advanced users may take advantage of as well. The Protect can integrate with other Nest devices, so for example you can have a Dropcam send you a picture if the Protect alarms. There is also full IfThisThenThat support with quite a few existing recipes available. This enables scenarios such as “Text a neighbor when your Nest Protect detects a smoke alarm emergency” or “Add a reminder to my calendar when Nest Protect batteries are low”.
So, what’s the Bad Voltage verdict? At $99, the Protect is significantly more expensive than a traditional smoke detector. While I’ve only had the second generation devices for a little over a month, I haven’t gotten a single false alarm yet. If that remains the case, the additional features, notifications and integrations are compelling enough to justify the cost for me. Because I like redundancy, I also installed a more traditional (although Z Wave enabled) device on my second floor.
Filed under Bad Voltage, Reviews Tagged with home automation, review
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JLI Staff
JLI Leadership
Past Newsletter Archive
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R&SD Conference
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Localizing Response Forum: Sri Lanka 2017
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JLI- KAICIID Webinar: Establishing Platforms in Conflict Areas to Support the Mobilisation of Local Faith Communities
This joint webinar features two of KAICIID’s interreligious dialogue programs:
The Network for Religious Muslim and Christian Faculties and Institutes in the Arab World and the partnership in Nigeria to build inclusive and sustainable platforms for interreligious and intra-religious dialogue.
Introduction by Dr Katherine Marshall at Georgetown University’s Berkley Center.
Regional experts Cosette Maiky (Arab Region), and Joseph Tanko Atang (Nigeria) will discuss the process success and challenges of platform development. Experts will also share how platforms can effectively increase engagement with local communities.
Main points
Role of youth, women, religious communities in peace and conflict; how to incorporate them in discussions
importance of inclusive representation when convening dialogues globally
Why religious voices matter & how global institutions can support working more effective work with, for and through local communities
Lack of documentation of religious leaders activities
Why interfaith/ intra faith relationships is important as well as relationships between religious and non-religious groups matter
challenge of addressing hate speech
Ownership is needed from local faith communities not just leadership
Relevant Resources
About KAICIID Dialogue Knowledge Hub (DKH)
The DKH provides a virtual learning and networking environment for individuals and institutions, in order to increase the transmission of Interreligious Dialogue/ICD knowledge and skills through capacity-building. The ten e-tools provide users with both theoretical and practical knowledge, information and recommendations on IRD/ICD engagement.
Cosette Maiky
Arab Region Field Expert
Cosette Maiky is the KAICIID field expert for Iraq and Syria and is stationed in Beirut, Lebanon. Her professional experience consists of 10 years of hands-on work in conflict and post-conflict governance in Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Egypt, Georgia, India, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Palestine, Philippines, Sudan, Syria, Tunisia, Ukraine and Yemen. Her clients included numerous international and humanitarian organizations (IOM, UNRWA, UNICEF, UNDP, UNESCWA, UNFPA, UNOPS, GIZ, World Vision, ISWAN, JRS, Save the Children, Danish Refugee Council, Oxfam), as well as national, regional and inter-governmental bodies. She holds a PhD and a Diplôme d’Etudes Approfondies in clinical psychology in addition to an Executive Master of Education in Psychosocial Intervention in War-Torn Societies.
Joseph Tanko Atang
Nigeria Field Expert
Joseph Tanko Atang is the KAICIID Field Expert for Nigeria. He has been involved in interreligious peace work in Nigeria since 1999. He is an experienced mediator and facilitator who has worked with several national and international organizations in Nigeria such as Search for Common Ground, United Nations Development Program, the Nigerian National Peace Committee, Presidential Reconciliation Commission for the Ogoni/SHELL Corporation Conflict and the HD Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue. The focus of Joseph’s work lies in conflict-sensitive approaches to reconciliation and peace efforts. He holds a master’s degree in conflict resolution from the University of Massachusetts, Boston, U.S., and certificates in public information and personnel management. In addition, he has attended many academic and professional training workshops in the United States, Kenya and Nigeria.
Dr Katherine Marshall is a senior fellow at Georgetown University’s Berkley Center for Religion, Peace and World Affairs and Visiting Professor in the School of Foreign Service. She is Executive Director of the World Faiths Development Dialogue.
Her long career with the World Bank (1971-2006) involved a wide range of leadership assignments. She was Country Director in the Bank’s Africa region, first for the Sahel region, then Southern Africa and led the Bank’s work on social policy and governance during the East Asia crisis years. In 2000 the World Bank’s president appointed her to a newly created post of liaison with faith-based development charities, with the objective of clarifying shared objectives and building trust and coordination.
New Study Highlights the Role of Local Faith-Based Actors in Peacebuilding Efforts
The state of the evidence in religion & development research Accord webinar
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UN High-Level Political Forum
JLI Webinar Series on Climate Advocacy
Guide to Action on Mobilizing Faith Communities to Welcome Migrants and Refugees
PEACEWORKS The Religious Landscape in South Sudan – Challenges and Opportunities for Engagement
Policy Brief: Faith Actors and the Implementation of The Global Compact on Refugees
To the G20 Leaders: A Moral Call to Action – Policy Recommendations for the G20 Osaka Summit
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www.inside-politics.org
Analysis of and commentary on South African politics from a liberal perspective.
How political correctness makes for bad analysis
FEATURE: There is a tendency in South African political analysis to explain away problematic behaviour or positioning by being optimistic about it. That is, to suggest it is not a problem and that it needed be cause for serious concern because everything is going to be alright. That, however, leads to poor analysis. In the piece below I look at a piece by Eusebius McKaiser that illustrates this kind of thinking and how it lends itself to misunderstanding the politics of the ANC.
By: Gareth van Onselen
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In an ‘on the one hand, on the other hand’ article, typical of much political analysis in South Africa today, Eusebius McKaiser bemoans in a New York Times blog that “no leader has yet cracked South Africa’s post-democratic development challenges”. Mbeki was good, but he was also bad. Jacob Zuma was bad, but he is also good, etc. The piece was written for an international audience, so it’s designed as the kind of bland nothingness that allows one to highlight a problem in a generic kind of way without really causing any offence. A bit like describing fog. And perfect for posturing.
One of the things McKaiser complains about is that Zuma “has also been vague about whether the powers of the constitutional court should be revised”.
Well, hardly. The ANC has been very upfront about its intentions. They are all set out in various different policy documents, in great detail. No doubt Zuma has waxed lyrical about how none of this should be seen as a threat when pressed about this in public. But there should be little doubt about the ANC or his actual intentions. Remember, this is the same person who has argued several times the ANC is more important than the constitution. And who has a very obvious personal axe to grind with the courts.
What is it that constantly drives our political analysts to sacrifice sound analysis in favour of good will and optimism?
Usually the cause is one of two things: first, a politically correct desire to be patriotic and therefore constantly to downplay anything problematic or negative as “not that bad”; second, a disbelief that any organisation or individual could ever purposefully act in an undemocratic manner and so their motivation in pursuing some undemocratic agenda is best explained as misunderstood or the result of good intentions that have, through no fault of their own, been misconstrued or misrepresented.
Often it is done under the guise of ‘reasonableness’. That is, in order that an analysis might appear measured, even palatable, disproportional weight is given to optimism – usually to negate any moral outrage that too harsh an opinion might attract in our overly-sensitive political environment. No doubt when on the international stage that impulse is at its strongest. But, if that kind of optimistic bias isn’t supported by evidence it serves only to skew analysis and is to shy away from necessary criticism.
The affect of this kind of deferential thinking can be profoundly problematic.
By way of illustration: when the ANC first set out its cadre deployment policy in internal party documents, in stark black and white terms, not only did the media deny its intention was to politicise the public service but that anyone who suggested as much was unpatriotic, if not, racist. Of course the ANC, which is anything if not single-minded, then proceeded to do exactly what it said and, through the deployment of those loyal to it, subverted the public service and place as many “levers of power” under its control as possible. Now the problem is widely acknowledged as acute and its consequences far-reaching.
(Indeed, cadre deployment constitutes a direct assault on the constitution – so you could quite plausibly argue the ANC has been in the anti-constitution business for years.)
Likewise, a thousand other ANC policies: the ANC does what it says it wants to do. It doesn’t put ideas out into the world to ensure its moral compass is guided by the country’s response to them, it does so as a formality, so as to give the pretence it is a political party – perhaps even to convince itself of that fact – only to then do as its revolutionary agenda requires. It might tinker on the margins, appease a bit here and there, sand down the edges on certain specific things, but its primary purpose is to consolidate its position as the ‘vanguard’ of the people; if not unfettered then as close to that as it can get.
There’s a distinction between what the ANC says in its internal party documents – which have to be taken seriously – and the assurances it may given to external audiences – which don’t.
If anyone is in any doubt about that, just look at the proposals has put on the table in last while: a single public service, scrapping the provinces, consolidating the police, a media appeals tribunal, the secrecy bill, re-organising the judiciary, and so on and so forth. One can debate as much as one wants about clause five in a specific piece of legislation, and that is good and necessary, but don’t confuse it with the ANC’s broader programme of action. And one shouldn’t confuse a media conference where someone alludes to best democratic practice with the ANC’s long standing desire to reshape South Africa in its own centrist image and govern unfettered by constraints.
It is comforting, perhaps, to constantly reassure ones’ self that the ANC has the best of intentions at heart and, sometimes, through no fault of its own, it makes a wayward suggestion, and that, when that happens, we really ought to give it the benefit of the doubt, but to believe that absolutely is just delusional.
And, as I say, it leads to political analysis that is just, well, wrong. It also acts as a sort of Valium on public opinion and opposition – a soporific that actually makes it more likely the ANC will succeed in pushing through with its policies.
For example, take this piece written by Eusebius McKaiser and Sasha Polakow-Suransky for the international publication Newsweek, in April 2009, just after Jacob Zuma’s ascension to the Presidency, and titled ‘South Africa will survive Zuma’.
Just like the New York Times blog, it was for an international audience and so was written in the same wishy-washy kind of way; which is all well and fine, but compromises the analysis.
This quote from the piece, for example:
“Then there’s the ANC, which has generally shown a commitment to the rule of law. For years, it has had the votes to change the Constitution without opposition support but hasn’t done so.”
First, it is misleading. One doesn’t have to change the constitution to undermine it – packing the civil service with party loyalists is just as damaging, if not more so, because it more pervasive and less easily countered. The ANC has had a conflict with constitutional checks and balances from day one. Second, it is to confuse the ANC’s actions with its intent. And, as the past few years have shown, the ANC might have taken a while translate that intent into action, but its wasting no time making up for lost ground.
After all, if McKaiser was so certain back then the ANC has never intended to change the constitution, why does he need reassurance now? A little less certain perhaps?
But here is an even better example, from the same Newsweek piece:
“The ANC has also shown respect for a free, critical press. Almost all major publications bluntly criticize the party and its leaders. Yet the ANC has not used heavy-handed tactics to silence them. Such tolerance is all too rare in Africa.”
Only a few months after that had been written, the ANC would propose the establishment of a Media Appeals Tribunal and the Protection of Information Bill (both of which, despite endless appeals its has pushed on with).
There are numerous other examples of ascribed good will and optimism subverting accurate analysis in that piece: the rise of COPE will force the ANC to “reinvent itself”; the fear of losing more popular support should lead the ANC “to reject irrational policies” and that the ANC “does accept and respect the institutions that make up the country’s political landscape.”
With regards to that last one, McKaiser would in 2011 explain his decision to resign from the public broadcaster as follows:
“Self-censorship on the part of a sufficient number of employees suffices to keep our politicians happy. The chilling effect of previous interference reverberates culturally. That is far more powerful than politicians needing to call SABC executives every morning.”
Hard to reconcile that analysis with the behaviour of a supposedly ‘respectful’ governing party.
The long and the short of it is that good will makes for bad analysis. That might sound like a rather pessimistic statement but, in the same way an outlook influenced by prejudice will be skewed, so a worldview that is overly optimistic will ascribe to certain decisions a motivation that just doesn’t stand up to scrutiny. And, in South Africa our political analysts do it all the time.
Optimism has a place. But one needs to understand its relative. What is best for South Africa is not necessarily what is best for the ANC, certainly it regularly confuses the two. At the same time, well-meaning action and behaviour would be badly affected if every possible outcome was written off before it took place. But analysis is not about being optimistic. It is about interpreting the world around us, whatever its nature, and describing it accurately. That doesn’t lend itself to ascribing good intentions to every undertaking. Likewise, it might well be the case that, in certain instances, some more general positive intention is indeed the right explanation but, when it comes to the ANC, the facts suggest that is the rarest of exceptions.
The ANC’s intentions and what it understands South Africa’s best interests to be are not necessarily objectively the best. And to use a universal frame of reference to understand them is, in fact, to profoundly misunderstand them. That doesn’t require shouting ‘blue murder’, and certainly not being pessimistic in the other direction, only the intention to describe things as they are and not as we wish them to be.
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Filed Under: ANC, Political Analysts, The Media
Tags: Eusebius McKaiser : Independent Political Analysts : Media Appeals Tribunal : New York Times Blog : Newsweek : Optimism
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Judge us on merit, Huawei tells India ahead of Pompeo visit
New Delhi, June 24 (IANS) With its participation in the 5G rollout in India still in doubt as US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo likely to raise security concerns during his visit to India this week, a top Huawei executive on Monday said New Delhi should offer the company a level-playing field.
Huawei has found itself in the midst of a global trade war, with the US President Donald Trump’s administration fiercely campaigning against the participation of the Chinese telecommunication giant in the 5G rollouts of its allies on suspicion of China using Huawei equipment for spying on other nations.
Huawei has denied the allegation all along.
Huawei India CEO Jay Chen cautioned India against making wrong decision “under pressure” and said that it should stick to its open and collaborative approach while dealing with the world.
“The next 10 years could be golden years of growth for India. India should take the best of the world to achieve the target it has set for itself such as the target of making the country a $1 trillion dollar digital economy by 2025,” Chen told IANS during an interaction here.
India and the US are likely to discuss Huawei’s participation in the country’s 5G rollout during Pompeo’s three-day visit to the country starting Tuesday.
India has already formed a panel to look into the concerns arising out of the the world’s biggest telecom equipment supplier’s participation in 5G.
“In the past eight months, we have given all updates and clarifications on all issues including 5G network security and architecture. The feedback that we have received so far have been very positive and we are hopeful that we will get the green signal,” Chen noted.
Huawei said if it gets to participate in the 5G rollout of the country, it will scale up investment in areas such as boosting the start-up ecosystem of the country, collaborating with the academic institutions and increasing its manufacturing activities.
Chen burst out in laughter when asked whether he would continue as the company’s India CEO if Huawei fails to get the nod for 5G in India.
“I do not know,” was his immediate answer.
“I think my bosses has full confidence on this market and that the Indian government will take an independent decision,” Chen added.
Huawei predicts there would be the 2.8 billion 5G users by 2025, and looks seriously at India to offset losses it is going to incur in the wake of US ban.
Speaking about the smartphone business in the country after the US trade ban, Chen said that there has not been much of an impact.
“The India smartphone business is not very big for Huawei. So we do not see it taking a big hit,” said the executive.
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« (Semi-)Livebloggin’: The 2008 VMAs
Fall ’08 TV Season Blitz, Day 2: The Return of HBO Sunday Nights »
Eugoogly: Tom Brady’s 2008 NFL Season
Posted by Andrew Unterberger on September 8, 2008
Well golly gee
Before Sunday, it was entirely possible that Kansas City Chiefs safety Bernard Pollard enjoyed travelling to the city of Boston, had great appreciation for the city’s culture, and even counted some of its citizens as friends or well-wishers. Now, it might be a good idea for him to stay off the East Coast altogether, lest a slightly discplaced member of the Nation spot him and a car bomb find its way into the undercarriage of his Jeep. Yesterday, Pollard unofficially ended the New England Patriots’ chances of a return visit to the superbowl, and arguably destroyed any post-season plans of any sort, by putting a hit on Tom Brady’s left knee in the Pats’ season opener–one which not only took him out of the game, but forced him into season-ending surgery. At the very least, Pollard can count on a very nice gift basket from Trent “#2 QB in the AFC East” Edwards come Christmas time.
Now, we here at IITS spent a good deal of time and energy last year railing against Mr. Brady and his fascist co-horts’ attempts at a complete NFL dictatorship, and their vanquishing at the hands of the NFC’s Rebel Forces last February 3rd remains the pop culture high point of the year for us. All that said, I was surprised to find myself more than a little bit disappointed at the prospect of an NFL season without Tom Terrific. It’s not often that pro sports gives you a team that you can despise so unreservedly, and rooting for the failure of a team you hate can be almost as much fun (and often far more rewarding) than rooting for the success of a team you love. And since this will surely set up much failure for the Pats in the weeks to come, and I figured I’d practically be bathing in the schadenfraude.
But this almost feels too easy, y’know? I wanted to see Brady’s season be nullified by weeks of underperformance, weighed against too-lofty expectations and brought down by the nagging self-doubt of “hm, maybe I’m NOT the greatest to have ever played this game after all.” I wanted seven sacks in one game. I wanted a breakdown in communication with Moss, until he became disillusioned enough with the Pats’ well-oiled machine that he quit on them like he quit on the Raiders. I wanted a humiliating first-round play-off exit, at the hands of David Garrard or Matt Schaub or some other upstart QB that would confirm to Tommy these guys are the future, and you are the past. Instead, he gets a season of watching the games from his (presumable) mansion on his (presumably) 227″ HD TV while Gisele rubs his back and whispers “That’s OK, baby, you’ll get ’em next year.” It’s just too easy.
On the plus side, I am looking forward to the Matt Cassel era in New England. Cassel, whether he appreciated it or not, has had just about the sweetest job in the world for the last decade–playing backup under QBs at the top of their game (Palmer, Leinart, Brady), collecting championship rings and Bowl titles while the #1s get pummelled on the field, and always having the option of claiming “hey, I could do this too if it was me out there, but what’re ya gonna do?” Now the Pats are actually calling his career-long bluff, and no matter what the results are, they’re almost guaranteed to be fascinating. Despite my love for the man, part of me is sort of hoping that Peyton goes down for the year sometime soon, to watch Sorgi and Cassel, the two men that have come to be synonymous with the term garbage time, scramble to keep their respective should-be contenders even viable in the playoff hunt. How often do sports fans just get handed sociology experiments that delicious?
Maybe I’ll just have to find some other player and team to bitch about this season. Here’s betting that the Eagles-Cowboys game next Monday gives me a pretty good back-up.
This entry was posted on September 8, 2008 at 4:56 pm and is filed under Clap Clap ClapClapClap, Eugoogly. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
2 Responses to “Eugoogly: Tom Brady’s 2008 NFL Season”
Dart_Adams said
It’s too bad that this season is, in effect, over. Not only that but the Patriots haven’t won it all since 2004 and the window of opportunity is officially closing.
I’m a Bostonian, by the way. Oh well, I still got the Red Sox.
Hey man, first of all, I gotta say, how ’bout those Iggles? I mean, I know the St. Louis Rams are no defensive juggernaut, but this team could be scary if McNabb stays healthy and Greg Lewis somehow manages to catch balls.
Anyway, yeah, I agree with you about Brady. It WAS too easy. Especially because it’s so early in the year, and the next four months sound like a wash for one of the more fascinating teams of all time. Here’s hoping Matt Cassel can make a run for it, if only because I have Randy Moss on my fantasy team. But honestly, I can’t see them winning more than 5 games. Even if the Pats had gone 19-0 last year, I still couldn’t have considered them the Greatest Team Ever, because their defense was good but not great and their running game was sub-par at best. The Pats did one thing last year: pass the ball better than any team has ever passed the ball in history. Now those average parts from last year have been placed alongside a neutered pass game, and the results will be ugly. Buffalo all the way..? You never know, my friend.
Out of curiosity, are you still interning at Sirius? I’m at Billboard this semester, and I’m always up for swapping wacky music-biz tales..
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Opportunity Rover's Final Panorama Is Breathtaking
A stunning panorama of Mars is the perfect tribute to Opportunity's hard work.
NASA’s Mars Rover Opportunity was officially announced out of service last month, but it sent a spectacular parting gift. NASA has just released the Rover’s final panorama, and its highly memorable Opportunity spent its final active month in Endeavour Crater, in a place known as Perseverance Valley.
SEE ALSO: MARS: 56 YEARS OF EXPLORATION FROM MARS I TO INSIGHT
The long-serving Rover captured multiple images of its surroundings to create a series of panoramas. It used a Pancam, which captures pictures through a series of blue, green and deep red (near-infrared) filter. For its final panorama Opportunity took 354 snaps of the area, managing to capture the broad landscape of the valley, glimpses of itself and even its own tracks into the area.
Perfect parting gift
The false color image is a beautiful representation of the red planet. For science and space nerds, Opportunity’s last shot will hold a special moment in history. The robust rover lasted far longer than its engineers ever expected, and its work is a testimony to the quality of its NASA engineers.
Source: NASA
A flat true color image can be viewed on the NASA website here. Four weeks ago at a special press conference, NASA officially declared the Opportunity mission over after dust covered the over causing it solar panels which powered it.
“I declare the Opportunity mission as complete, and with it the Mars Exploration Rover mission as complete,” said NASA’s Thomas Zurbuchen at the press event.
Opportunity forever remembered
With that, the Mars Opportunity Rover was officially declared dead, its nearly 15 years of service on Mars, on Sol 5352—the number of days Opportunity spent on Mars—came to an end. Opportunity out-did every expectation of it.
Scientists thought it wouldn’t travel more than a kilometer from its landing spot, but instead, the adventurous little robot traveled to distant parts of Mars, even climbing up a gravel-strewn slope as steep as 32-degrees, thereby setting an off-world record.
It outlived its original mission life expectancy 60 times over. Its end came in the form of a historic dust storm in June 2018. The storm lasted weeks and kicked up so much dust the Rover’s systems became completely dysfunctional.
Goodbyes get personal
John Callas, manager of the MER project, said in a statement that “we have made every reasonable engineering effort to try to recover Opportunity and have determined that the likelihood of receiving a signal is far too low to continue recovery efforts." NASA made one final ditch to communicate with Opportunity, playing the Billie Holiday song, “I’ll be Seeing You.”
Massive Martian Dust Storm Continues to Threaten Opportunity Rover
The end of the Opportunity Mission was a sad day for science, but for many at NASA it was very personal. “When Opportunity landed back in 2004, I was actually in high school," said MER deputy project scientist Abigail Fraeman.
"I was a high school junior, but I had the amazing opportunity to come to JPL and actually be here when the rovers landed."
“And it was those first images from Opportunity that inspired me to become a planetary scientist,” she added.
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Articles » Reviews
Breath of Fire II (Super NES) Localization Review
Posted on December 18, 2016 by Clyde Mandelin ‧ 2 Comments
Breath of Fire II was first released in English in December 1995, after hit Super NES RPGs like Chrono Trigger , EarthBound , and Final Fantasy VI had been released in English. Yet, unlike these classics, Breath of Fire II has always been notorious for the quality of its localization. I had very little experience with the game and didn’t really know what all the hubbub was about, so in late 2016 I decided it was time to finally take a look at it for myself.
Rather than play the game in isolation as I usually do for Legends of Localization projects, I thought it would be nice to share my newcomer experience and my localization findings live with other gamers. I played through the game bit by bit each day on Twitch, as one of the very first Legends of Localization live stream series. During these several weeks, I also developed a program that would display the Japanese text whenever a line of English text appeared. This wound up being incredibly helpful and let us take a closer look at the game’s translation without having to play both games side-by-side.
My Japanese script displayer let us take a deeper look at the game's script & localization quality
Before beginning, I didn’t have very high expectations for Breath of Fire II . The screenshots I had seen over the years showed poor writing, and the game has become synonymous with “bad 1990s game translation”. As a result, I also had very low expectations for the game itself.
It turns out that the game is actually surprisingly good – it’s got solid gameplay and it has nice variety in its story. But most of all, it brings up themes that few other games were dealing with at the time: religion, clashes between religious values, discrimination, self-sacrifice for the greater good, and the moral issues that come with authority are just a few that still come to mind as I write this two months after finishing the game. I’m sure there are many more.
I’m known for being a big EarthBound fan. My fellow fans and I have often touted EarthBound as being one of the few RPGs to do this unique thing or that unique thing, but I was surprised to find that many of those elements were in Breath of Fire II as well. From the big story themes all the way down to the little details like toilets (which BOF2 does even better than EB!), Breath of Fire II has a lot going on.
All that said, I quickly learned that Breath of Fire II’s reputation for having a terrible translation is 100% warranted. In fact, it’s so poor that it’s fascinating. I’m sure that every translated game out there has its own little quirks, flaws, and mistakes, but Breath of Fire II has translation quirks, flaws, and mistakes of nearly every category possible.
The screenshots galleries below will highlight some of the issues, but not all of them. When I first started to prepare this review, I went through every screenshot of every line of text in the game and wound up with about 400 examples of big, noteworthy problems. That was way too many, so I tried to narrow things down much further… and yet I was still left with about 150 examples. Breath of Fire II’s localization is such a mesmerizing mess!
The rest of this review contains spoilers, mostly in the form of screenshots. I was honestly impressed by how unpredictable certain plot points were, so I suggest coming back later if spoilers are a concern for you.
Breath of Fire II has a wide variety translation and localization issues – probably more than I’ve seen in any game I’ve played so far. Here are examples of a few different problems:
Bizarre sentence phrasing Programming issues Unlocalized cultural references
Poor word choices Illogically altered text Unlocalized gameplay instructions Important clues mistranslated
(You can read more about that last issue here.)
There are many more issues to be found, though, so let’s take a look at things in more detail.
Content Changes, Issues, & Inconsistencies
Nintendo of America’s content policies in the 1990s (which I cover in detail in my book about EarthBound’s localization) disallowed references to gods, violence, alcohol, and the like. Naturally, some of these elements were changed in Breath of Fire II … but most of the time these elements were left intact. Because of this weird inconsistency, it almost feels like NOA only glanced at the game at the time, if at all.
Religions/gods called 'Saints' Adult mag became comic book Killing is allowed Execution is allowed
Swearing is allowed Hanging reference Lots of 'kill' references Killing + demons
Religious content allowed Reference/insult to God Violence + devil Trademarked name added
Throughout the game, I was amazed that this was actually released on a Nintendo system at the time.
Fishing Mini-Game
Breath of Fire II features the ability to hunt and fish for food and items. The fishing mini-game has one of the most notoriously bad translations in gaming history, and I can see why. Literally every line of text in this mini-game has a problem of some sort!
Translation without context Capitalization + repeated word
Classic L/R mix-up Grammar problem Typo
The game’s translation features many spelling mistakes – too many to list here, but many of the following screenshots will surely showcase them. Here’s just a small batch for now:
All the classics are here Item name typos abound Mistakes some might not notice
There’s a short scene with a text scroll near the beginning of the game. This text is already shown in English in the Japanese version (with Japanese subtitles at the bottom), but it’s interesting how very well written this text is in comparison to the rest of the game’s translation. Looking back now, this inconsistency is rather striking.
The well-translated intro scroll
Text presentation is more important than it sounds like at first. Even on the most basic level, Breath of Fire II’s English script consistently throws this idea out the window.
Nonsensical punctuation Missing/no punctuation at all Capitalization problems Odd formatting w/ typos
Incorrect comma usage (if at all) ??? Problems w/ unknown causes Japanese 'quotes' everywhere
Simple spacing issues Dangling words Overuse of punctuation Very odd formatting
Unusual capitalization choices Nonsensical abbreviations Over-the-top exclamations Various
Naming is a key part of any translation/localization. It’s almost always a challenge, and a lot can go wrong, as Breath of Fire II demonstrates. Some of the issues are legitimate and understandable – some of the main characters’ names were changed to fit within four letters, for example. But genuine mistakes abound:
'Puti' spelled inconsistently This is a bear? Joining/Uniting inconsistency Leader/Jailer inconsistency
Basic spelling mistakes JPN+ENG terms mixed together Little effort/creativity used
'Trubo' inconsistency Confusing item names Odd terminology choices Sper/Spar inconsistency
Should be 'Ifrit' Poor & inconsistent choices Should be 'Dragnil' Game title inconsistency
The title of the game is an entire issue of its own. The phrase for Breath of Fire II’s subtitle is translated three or four different ways throughout the game. Is it “The Fatal Child”? Is it “The Destined Child”? Is it “Child for the Mission”? Or is it something else? The localizers couldn’t make up their mind.
Breath of Fire II also features many references to real-life people and literature, but almost all of these connections are bungled in the translation. Here are just a few of the many examples. All of the Japanese names are spelled in mostly-correct English during the end credits, which makes the inconsistencies even more puzzling.
Should be 'Algernon' Should be 'Kalashnikov' Should be 'Alzheimer' Should be 'Nicanor'
The translators simply guessed at how other names should be spelled, which is understandable – the translators weren’t native English speakers and it was more difficult to research names at the time. Even so, these problems are numerous and really stick out.
Phrasing
Much of Breath of Fire II’s script is phrased in a very unusual, stilted, and error-filled way. Here are many examples that only represent a fraction of what’s in the full script.
So many incorrect 'umm's That ain't right Yes means no, no means yes Personalities poorly conveyed
Overly literal translations Unintentional hilarity Conjugation problems Unlocalized phrases & utterances
Self-defeating phrasing Number-related grammar issues Verb form issues Incomplete phrases
Incorrect utterance translations Poor directional translations Slightly 'off' literal translations Larceny becomes kidnapping
Anatomic mistranslations Pronoun+context mistakes Oddly phrased questions Plural/singular issues
Lax speech style localization Typos that evade spell checks Article issues Misused commas+new meanings
Context-based subject mistakes More subject mistakes Even more subject mistakes Mistakes w/ unintended meanings
Basic English mistakes Improper translation choices Second/third-person mistakes Humorous onomatopoeia
Combined phrasing+typo issues Combined pronoun+typo issues Jarring phrasing in key scenes Improperly phrased instructions
Programming & Technical Matters
Different languages work in different ways, so game localizers need to take this into account with special programming and other technical solutions. Breath of Fire II has a few slip-ups in this department too.
Control code entry mistake Incorrect control codes used Lack of pronoun detection
More pronoun oversights Message format/tense(?) mistakes Missing control codes
This isn’t to say that Breath of Fire II’s localization is 100% a disaster. It does have its notable merits too.
Well-written riddles Attempts to retain the French text Nice English phrasing in places Nice wordplay in places
When most gamers think of “bad localizations” these days, they probably immediately think of memes, inside jokes, and forced pop culture references. Despite all of Breath of Fire II’s flaws, it doesn’t include any of these (as far as I can remember).
Many of the issues found in Breath of Fire II’s script occur on the editing side of things – things having to do with phrasing and the final presentation. The amount of actual mistranslation is far less, which means that a native English speaker could easily take the current text and iron out most of the issues in a pass or two.
Believe it or not, the current text is an improved version! There’s a beta version of the English release floating around online that shows that many typos and instances of iffy content had been carefully documented and fixed before the final release. I’m assuming a tight deadline must’ve prevented a more thorough edit of the game’s text.
Still, with such an obviously flawed localization, it’s surprising to learn that the Game Boy Advance port of Breath of Fire II uses the same script. It would’ve been a great opportunity to fix things up once and for all. Fans have since stepped in to do just that – and more.
In the end, although it’s easy to bash Breath of Fire II’s localization, I think it serves as a great example of what can go wrong in the localization process and what the result sounds like if there’s nobody there to polish it up. Despite the quality of the game’s text, it is a fun, well-made JRPG, and the poor writing does lend it a memorable quality for fans who grew up playing it. Even I’ve come to appreciate some of the unintentionally silly phrases found in the game.
I have yet to play any of the games beyond Breath of Fire II , so I don’t know how the later games were handled, but I can at least say, without hesitation, that Breath of Fire II’s localization can and should be greatly improved. It’s a fun, quality game that deserves better. Here’s hoping Capcom will consider it sometime down the road!
Also, if you're a fan of the game or want to see more, the whole live stream playthrough is archived here. It was our first serious stream series, so it's quite rough around the edges, but it was also a lot of fun.
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Coda August 11, 2018 at 1:30 pm
Breath of Fire II’s translation didn’t throw me off very much at all when I played it as a teenager. I got used to the awkward text very fast. As you pointed out, there are very few actual mistranslations (the yes/no thing notwithstanding) so I found the game perfectly playable. It helps that the translation is the only serious issue: the game has good graphics, good music, reasonably good gameplay, a passably good story that still gets conveyed meaningfully despite the translation… I had a good time.
I actually didn’t even remember “equip lod” from my playthrough. I only remembered it from the memes years later.
So while the translation is objectively terrible, it’s really not that much worse than a clumsy anime fansub, and at that point in my life I was pretty used to those.
Nezumi October 13, 2018 at 3:47 pm
Breath of Fire 3 was, TMK, alright except for some naming inconsistencies with the rest of the series, including reverting to Deis from Bleu and Myria from Tyr, hiding some of the connections and reveals. There were a few oddities or problems, but not a huge deal.
Breath of Fire IV is actually quite good except some incredibly random censorship — Scias is no longer alcoholic, the already mild scene of Fou-lu killing the emperor was removed entirely, The person who’s concerned with women on board the ship doesn’t initially mistake Ursula for a man and she doesn’t volunteer to remove her pants in public to prove otherwise, and I might have missed one — and a few other odd changes, like replacing the names of all the dragon forms that referenced the poem Jabberwocky with different ones, but it also has a lot of clever localization choices, like replacing the frankly bizarre names of the Dragon Endless with a Korean naming scheme that fits the game’s aesthetic a lot better — though at the cost of removing a minor reference — or their solution for the fact that one of the characters was originally named “Master” in plain English in the Japanese version. (Which would come across as super weird)
Just think - translation has been around since the dawn of civilization, while video games were only invented half a lifetime ago. So what happens when the two meet? Exploring that question is what Legends of Localization is all about.
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