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__label__wiki | 0.665235 | 0.665235 | River defenders gather forces in Georgia
Free-flowing rivers are often the unsung heroes of the natural world. They support immense biodiversity, as in Macedonia, where the Mala Reka nourishes the scenic Mavrovo National Park, the country’s largest. The park is home to fifty animal species, 129 species of birds, and over a thousand invertebrate species – many of which are strictly protected. Despite the park’s incredibly diverse and fragile ecosystem, its river has been threatened by the planned Boškov Most dam.
For years, Bankwatch and environmental groups in Macedonia campaigned against the 68-megawatt project, which would have been built inside Mavrovo. Local activists and international experts alike repeatedly warned that the project would be detrimental both to the park’s fragile ecosystems and the dwindling population of the critically endangered Balkan lynx.
Then, in January, the campaign met with success. The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, the only financier of the controversial hydropower dam, officially announced it had cancelled its EUR 65 million loan to the project. Ecologists and many others cheered the decision.
The example of Boškov Most and other equally inspiring examples of people power will be on display this week in Tbilisi, where an extraordinary meeting of river defenders from around the globe is being held. Activists from 40 countries battling harmful hydropower and promoting the multiple benefits of rivers are gathering in the Georgian capital to share experiences and discuss potential responses to this complex problem.
It’s no coincidence that the meeting is being held in the former Soviet republic, as the small country has big ambitions to be a major hydro player.
Stories of resistance
Mountainous Georgia is endowed with rich biodiversity and a plethora of wild rivers, upon which the government is looking to build at least 34 new dams in the country’s northwest to become an electricity exporter. One such project is the 280 megawatt Nenskra dam, which at 1 billion dollars is an attractive investment for the government and foreign firms but which is exacting a toll on the indigenous Svan communities and the primeval nature of the Upper Svaneti region. Having been sidelined from decision making over the project, local residents have mobilised to protest the Nenskra dam and other planned hydropower projects in the region, which they fear could strip them of their traditional livelihoods and ancestral lands.
Residents from Svaneti will be in Tbilisi to share their stories of resistance and hear messages of solidarity from others like those involved in the successful Boškov Most case. They will also be there to learn from activists fighting for their rivers all over the planet.
Activists are fighting for rivers because, despite wins like Boškov Most, rivers and freshwater are facing unprecedented global threats. Chief among these threats is a tsunami of dam(n)ing hydropower plants. According to a 2015 study, "at least 3,700 major dams, each with a capacity of more than 1 MW, are either planned or under construction, primarily in countries with emerging economies." If all these plans materialise, the capacity of global hydropower would expand by 73 per cent.
Large hydropower has already had a devastating impact on freshwater species: Since 1970, freshwater species have lost 81% of their populations, due in large part to dams. In the most heavily-dammed basins, fish runs have already – in many cases – collapsed: California’s historic salmon runs, for instance, are nearly gone. Further hydropower expansion would decimating the world’s remaining freshwater fisheries, which feed up to 550 million people globally.
Now developers are targeting the Amazon, the Mekong, and the Congo basins, which together contain 18 percent of the world’s freshwater fish species. In the Balkans, where estimates about the number of planned hydroelectric facilities range from 944 to as many as 2700 hydroelectric facilities, some of Europe’s most pristine river ecosystems face irreversible damage.
The expansion would exact a human toll as well. Near these planned projects, the communities that reside there – many of whom are indigenous and maintain distinct cultural practices – face the threat of displacement. All too often, when local residents mobilise to protest, governments respond violently to cull dissent and keep the flow of international investments into their coffers.
A Global Witness study concludes that no less than 15 activists campaigning against harmful hydropower projects were killed in 2015, mainly in the Central American countries of Honduras, Guatemala and Mexico. In other cases, hydropower opponents, who often point to the absence of any meaningful public consultations with affected communities, are threatened, harassed or tortured. Berta Caceres, who had led a local campaign against the Agua Zarca Dam in Honduras and was assassinated a year ago, is but one example.
Advocates for expanding hydropower claim that dams can help mitigate climate change, offsetting the social and environmental price tag. Unfortunately, studies have revealed that dams are a false solution for meeting both the challenges of rising energy demand and the worsening of the climate crisis.
One recent study has found that dam reservoirs have a greater short-term contribution to climate change than earlier thought, specifically due to methane emissions. The researchers found that dams are responsible for more methane – a potent greenhouse gas – than lakes and rivers, and are comparable to emissions from rice plantations and biomass burning. If the global hydropower development continues unabated, this problem will get even worse – in no small part because much of the hydropower expansion will take place in tropical countries where vast amounts of methane-producing vegetation will be flooded.
Civil society plays a crucial role in helping to amplify the voices of local communities standing together against governments and hydropower multinationals to protect their rivers. In Congo, Burma and other places across the world, protests against destructive hydropower projects have already forced decision-makers to change course.
National governments and international bodies are beginning to recognize that protecting freshwater is a top concern. 22 March marked World Water Day, a UN-sponsored recognition of the substance of life, and two recent court rulings, in New Zealand and India, extended the protections afforded by human rights to rivers. These milestones suggest that the numerous benefits provided by rivers (economic, environmental, social and cultural) are finally being given their due.
But protecting rivers requires a concerted global effort. And that, perhaps, is a silver lining in the renewed onslaught of hydropower: Water activists from diverse global movements will be forming connections in Tbilisi this week, uniting to take on the key drivers of the hydropower boom and protect our rivers as a vital source of life.
This week, activists from across the world are meeting in Tbilisi to share their experiences of resisting hydropower projects and the money that supports them.
Author: Igor Vejnovic & Kate Horner, Bankwatch river coordinator & International Rivers executive director | cc/2019-30/en_head_0013.json.gz/line10818 |
__label__cc | 0.621755 | 0.378245 | C J Hilder
NZ Formulary
In 2011 NZ Medicines Formulary were looking for a way to convert a major electronic document, the British National Formulary, into a resource that was relevant to the NZ health system. On the face of it this was a matter of editing and rewriting the text. However, much more was expected: it was a requirement that databases of medicines, drug interactions, pharmacy labels, and so on, were incorporated into the text so that the writers did not have to enter this information. A seamless blend of database, knowledge base, and text documents was called for. I was engaged to engineer the blend. Working closely with a team of pharmacist writers and IT practitioners I designed a system that met the needs of both teams. I also played a large part in developing and delivering the product both as a web site and as a web service for incorporation in NZ health information systems. The NZF was successfully launched in July 2012.
NZ Universal List of Medicines
In 2008 the Ministry of Health wanted to create a single medicines database that could be used throughout the NZ health system to replace the multiple databases formerly in use. As principle consultant to the expert advisory committee I investigated several options, worked collaboratively to select a preferred solution, and developed an innovative way to represent the selected solution (an ontology or knowledge base) in a conventional database structure. A key to the success of this project was my ability to quickly develop a functional model that allowed the committee to experience the proposed system hands-on early in the decision-making process. The NZULM was subsequently developed from my designs.
Astronomy in Your Hands
In 2002 I developed a high quality paper star wheel, incorporating a good quality image of the Milky Way using custom-written software. I backed this up with classroom activities and a web site. My research into Māori star names enabled me to publish an authentic Māori version. Astronomy in Your Hands is an award winner and remains one of the most popular astronomy web sites on the Internet.
home LinkedIn portfolio my CV | cc/2019-30/en_head_0013.json.gz/line10825 |
__label__wiki | 0.52093 | 0.52093 | Home » Context of 'April-May 1995: FBI Learns KSM Has Been in US and Is Planning to Come Back for Flight Training'
Context of 'April-May 1995: FBI Learns KSM Has Been in US and Is Planning to Come Back for Flight Training'
This is a scalable context timeline. It contains events related to the event April-May 1995: FBI Learns KSM Has Been in US and Is Planning to Come Back for Flight Training. You can narrow or broaden the context of this timeline by adjusting the zoom level. The lower the scale, the more relevant the items on average will be, while the higher the scale, the less relevant the items, on average, will be.
February 26, 1993: WTC Is Bombed but Does Not Collapse, as Bombers Had Hoped
Bomb damage in underground levels of the WTC in 1993. [Source: Najlah Feanny/ Corbis]An attempt to topple the World Trade Center in New York City fails, but six people are killed and over 1,000 injured in the misfired blast. The explosion is caused by the detonation of a truck bomb in the underground parking garage. An FBI explosives expert will later state, “If they had found the exact architectural Achilles’ heel or if the bomb had been a little bit bigger, not much more, 500 pounds more, I think it would have brought her down.” Ramzi Yousef, who has close ties to Osama bin Laden, organizes the attempt. [Village Voice, 3/30/1993; US Congress, 2/24/1998] The New York Times will report on Emad Salem, an undercover agent who will be the key government witness in the trial against Yousef. Salem will testify that the FBI knew about the attack beforehand and told him it would thwart the attack by substituting a harmless powder for the explosives. However, an FBI supervisor called off this plan and the bombing was not stopped. [New York Times, 10/28/1993] Other suspects were ineptly investigated before the bombing as early as 1990. Several of the bombers were trained by the CIA to fight in the Afghan war and the CIA will conclude, in internal documents, that it was “partly culpable” for this bombing (see January 24, 1994). [Independent, 11/1/1998] 9/11 mastermind Khalid Shaikh Mohammed is an uncle of Yousef and also has a role in the bombing (see March 20, 1993). [Independent, 6/6/2002; Los Angeles Times, 9/1/2002] One of the bombers even leaves a message, which will be found by investigators, stating, “Next time, it will be very precise.” [Associated Press, 9/30/2001]
Entity Tags: Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Ramzi Yousef, Osama bin Laden, World Trade Center, Emad Salem, Central Intelligence Agency
June 1994: Front Company for Bojinka Plot Formed; Ties Plot to Al-Qaeda Figures
A young Indonesian nicknamed Hambali forms a front company that ties al-Qaeda figures to the Bojinka plot (see January 6, 1995), an early version of the 9/11 plot. Hambali had fought in Afghanistan in the late 1980’s, repeatedly met with bin Laden there, and allied himself to bin Laden’s cause. In 1994, Hambali, living in a village north of Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, began frequently receiving visitors. According to his landlord, “Some looked Arab and others white.” There has been no explanation who these “white” visitors may have been. Hambali had been very poor prior to this time, but he is suddenly “flush with newfound cash” brought by the visitors. In June 1994, he founds a front company called Konsonjaya with Wali Khan Amin Shah, a key Bojinka plotter, and both their names are listed on the eight-person board of directors. Shah fought with bin Laden in Afghanistan, and bin Laden will even admit knowing him and praise him in an 1998 interview (see May 28, 1998). Philippine police phone taps show that frequent calls are made from the Konsonjaya offices in Malaysia to the Philippines offices of Mohammed Jamal Khalifa, bin Laden’s brother-in-law who is also believed to be part of the Bojinka plot (see 1994). [Time, 4/1/2002] A Malaysian official will later say that Hambali spends time in the Philippines with Shah and bomber Ramzi Yousef in 1994 as they plan the Bojinka plot. [Washington Post, 2/3/2002] Mohammed Amin al-Ghafari, another Konsonjaya director, makes frequent trips from Malaysia to the Philippines while planning for the Bojinka plot is under way, and he is later believed to play a key role in financing the plot. In early 1995, after the Bojinka plot is broken up, one of the arrested Bojinka plotters will confess to Konsonjaya’s role in the plot (see February-Early May 1995) and a Philippine investigator’s flow chart of the Bojinka plotters and their connections will prominently include Konsonjaya (see Spring 1995). However, neither the Philippine nor US government appears interested in capturing Hambali, al-Ghafari, or the others involved in Konsonjaya before 9/11. [Los Angeles Times, 6/24/2002; Contemporary Southeast Asia, 12/1/2002] Hambali will continue to live openly in Malaysia, even throwing a party every year for hundreds of people (see April 1991-Late 2000). He will go on to plan other al-Qaeda attacks and will attend a key planning meeting for the 9/11 plot in 2000 (see January 5-8, 2000). [Time, 4/1/2002] Al-Ghafari will finally be deported in 2002 after years of police protection (see October 8-November 8, 2002).
Entity Tags: Wali Khan Amin Shah, Ramzi Yousef, Mohammed Amin al-Ghafari, Konsonjaya, Hambali, Mohammed Jamal Khalifa, Operation Bojinka
Late December 1994-April 1995: Evidence against Bin Laden’s Brother-in-Law Continues to Grow
Bin Laden’s brother-in-law Mohammed Jamal Khalifa was arrested in the US in mid-December 1994 (see December 16, 1994-May 1995), and as he is held the evidence tying him to terrorism continues to grow:
One week after his arrest, the State Department tells the immigration judge handling Khalifa’s case that he had “engaged in serious terrorist offenses” and that his release “would endanger US national security.” [Lance, 2006, pp. 158-159]
In early January, police in the Philippines uncover the Bojinka plot, involving associates of Khalifa. A Philippine investigator makes a chart connecting the Bojinka figures and places Khalifa in the middle of it (see Spring 1995). The plot, if successful, would have killed thousands while also assassinating the Pope (see January 6, 1995). Meanwhile, The FBI translates literature in Khalifa’s luggage advocating training in assassination, explosives, and weapons, including discussions of the “wisdom of bombing churches and murdering Catholic priests.” [New York Times, 5/2/2002; Lance, 2003, pp. 233-35]
Phone numbers to Khalifa’s Philippine charity fronts are found on bomber Ramzi Yousef’s laptop seized in early January 1995 as the Bojinka plot is exposed. Khalifa’s business card is found in the apartment Yousef was staying in as well. [Lance, 2006, pp. 158-159, 203]
Bojinka plotter Wali Khan Amin Shah is arrested in early January 1995. He is found with multiple phone numbers for Khalifa. [Stephen Handelman, 7/31/1996; Lance, 2006, pp. 158-159]
When Yousef is arrested in February 1995 (see February 7, 1995), he will be asked about Khalifa’s business card found in his apartment. According to an FBI report issued at the time, Yousef claims that he did not personally know Khalifa, but had been given the card by fellow Bojinka plotter Wali Khan Amin Shah as a contact in case he needed help. He also says that he is aware that Khalifa is a relative of Osama bin Laden. [Lance, 2006, pp. 203]
In February and March, Philippine interrogation of one Bojinka plotter uncovers a planned second wave of attacks that would involve flying airplanes into US buildings, including the World Trade Center, CIA headquarters, and the Pentagon (see February-Early May 1995). This will eventually evolve into the 9/11 attacks. US investigators are notified about this sometime in the spring of 1995 (see Spring 1995).
On April 1, Philippine authorities arrest six men and announce they are connected to Khalifa and Bojinka plotters such as Ramzi Yousef (see April 1, 1995-Early 1996). The Philippine Interior Secretary calls Khalifa a key figure in Islamic extremist efforts. [Associated Press, 4/16/1995]
The Associated Press reports that Khalifa is believed to be “a key figure in efforts to recruit new members of the Abu Sayyaf group.” On April 4, the Abu Sayyaf raid a Christian town called Ipil and kill over fifty people in what is the group’s largest and most brutal terrorist attack (see April 4, 1995). This increases the importance of Khalifa’s ties with them. [Associated Press, 4/16/1995]
Khalifa is accused by Yemen, Egypt, and Algeria of financing subversion in those countries. [Associated Press, 4/16/1995]
Despite all this evidence, Khalifa will soon be deported to Jordan for retrial there (see May 3, 1995-August 31, 1995), even though the key witness against him has already recanted. He will be found innocent and set free (see July 19, 1995).
Entity Tags: Mohammed Jamal Khalifa, Abu Sayyaf, Osama bin Laden, Federal Bureau of Investigation, US Department of State, Wali Khan Amin Shah, Philippines, Mohammed Loay Bayazid, Ramzi Yousef
January 6, 1995: Pope Assassination and Bojinka Plot to Bomb Dozen Airplanes Is Foiled
One of Ramzi Yousef’s timers seized by Philippines police in January 1995. [Source: Peter Lance]Responding to an apartment fire, Philippine investigators uncover an al-Qaeda plot to assassinate the Pope that is scheduled to take place when he visits the Philippines one week later. While investigating that scheme, they also uncover Operation Bojinka, planned by the same people: 1993 WTC bomber Ramzi Yousef and 9/11 mastermind Khalid Shaikh Mohammed (KSM). [Independent, 6/6/2002; Los Angeles Times, 6/24/2002; Los Angeles Times, 9/1/2002] Many initial reports after 9/11 will claim the fire was accidental and the police discovery of it was a lucky break, but in 2002 the Los Angeles Times will report that the police started the fire on purpose as an excuse to look around the apartment. In the course of investigating the fire, one of the main plotters, Abdul Hakim Murad, is arrested. [Los Angeles Times, 9/1/2002] The plot has two main components. On January 12, Pope John Paul II is scheduled to visit Manila and stay for five days. A series of bombs along his parade route would be detonated by remote control, killing thousands, including the Pope. Yousef’s apartment is only 500 feet from the residence where the Pope will be staying. [Reeve, 1999, pp. 78; Lance, 2006, pp. 138] Then, starting January 21, a series of bombs would be placed on airplanes. [Insight, 5/27/2002] Five men, Yousef, Wali Khan Amin Shah, Abdul Hakim Murad, Abd al-Karim Yousef (a.k.a., Adel Anon, Yousef’s twin brother), and Khalid Al-Shaikh (thought to be an alias for KSM) would depart to different Asian cities and place a timed bomb on board during the first leg of passenger planes traveling to Los Angeles, San Francisco, Honolulu, and New York. They would then transfer to another flight and place a second bomb on board that flight. In all, 11 to 12 planes would blow up in a two day period over the Pacific. If successful, some 4,000 people would have been killed. [Agence France-Presse, 12/8/2001; Insight, 5/27/2002; Contemporary Southeast Asia, 12/1/2002] According to another account, some of the bombs would be timed to go off weeks or even months later. Presumably worldwide air travel could be interrupted for months. [Lance, 2003, pp. 260-61] A second wave of attacks involving crashing airplanes into buildings in the US would go forward later, once the pilots are trained for it (see February-Early May 1995).
Entity Tags: Abd al-Karim Yousef, Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, Ramzi Yousef, Wali Khan Amin Shah, Operation Bojinka, Al-Qaeda, Abdul Hakim Murad
After January 6, 1995: Bojinka Plotter Allegedly Tortured by Philippine Police
Following his arrest after the Bojinka plot was shut down by Philippine police (see January 6, 1995), Abdul Hakim Murad is allegedly tortured. He is reportedly subjected to sleep and food deprivation in the first few hours, and his lawyer will also claim that he is subjected to electric shocks, force-fed, and waterboarded. However, according to author Peter Lance, “these techniques only cause[d] Murad to stonewall.” The interrogation is then turned over to Colonel Rodolfo Mendoza of the Philippine police, who elicits information from Murad using two methods: First, Mendoza ensures that he is extremely hungry when the first interrogation starts, and takes a McDonald’s hamburger, French fries, and a Coke into the interrogation room, placing them in front of Murad. Mendoza says that he must give him some additional information before he can eat. Secondly, Mendoza threatens him by saying that he could be handed over to the Mossad, and claims that fellow Bojinka conspirator Wali Khan Amin Shah is already in their hands, even though Shah is still a fugitive (see January 13, 1995). These techniques are much more successful and Murad provides a good deal of additional information (see January 20, 1995, February 1995-1996, and February-Early May 1995). [Lance, 2006, pp. 181-3]
Entity Tags: Abdul Hakim Murad, Peter Lance, Rodolfo Mendoza
Timeline Tags: Torture of US Captives, Complete 911 Timeline
Mid-January 1995: Bojinka Plotter’s Confession Helps to Reveal KSM’s Importance
One of the Bojinka plotters, Abdul Hakim Murad, confesses the importance of Khalid Shaikh Mohammed (KSM) in a number of plots. Murad was arrested on January 6, 1995 (see January 6, 1995), and within days he begins freely confessing a wealth of valuable information to Philippine interrogator Colonel Rodolfo Mendoza. Murad does not know KSM’s real name, but uses an alias known to investigators. Mendoza will write in a January 1995 report given to US officials that KSM was one of the main Bojinka plotters attempting to blow up US-bound airliners over the Pacific Ocean. In addition, he says KSM worked with Ramzi Yousef to “plan the bombing of the World Trade Center in 1993” (see February 26, 1993). He also says that KSM “supervised the plan to assassinate Pope John Paul II with a pipe bomb during a visit to the Philippines,” which was part of the Bojinka plot. [Gunaratna, 2003, pp. xxvii] Over the next few months, Murad will give up more information about KSM in further interrogation, for instance revealing that KSM has been in the US and is planning to come back to the US for flight training (see April-May 1995). Yet despite all these revelations, US intelligence will remain curiously uninterested in KSM despite knowing that he is also Yousef’s uncle. Counterterrorism expert Rohan Gunaratna will later comment that Murad’s confessions about KSM “were not taken seriously” by US intelligence. [Gunaratna, 2003, pp. xxvii]
Entity Tags: Ramzi Yousef, Abdul Hakim Murad, Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, John Paul II, Rodolfo Mendoza, Rohan Gunaratna
February-Early May 1995: Bojinka Second Wave Fully Revealed to Philippines Investigators; Information Given to US
Colonel Rodolfo Mendoza. [Source: Australian Broadcasting Corporation]As Colonel Mendoza, the Philippines investigator, continues to interrogate Operation Bojinka plotter Abdul Hakim Murad, details of a post-Bojinka “second wave” emerge. Author Peter Lance calls this phase “a virtual blueprint of the 9/11 attacks.” Murad reveals a plan to hijack commercial airliners at some point after the effect of Bojinka dies down. Murad himself had been training in the US for this plot. He names the ten or so buildings that would be targeted for attack:
CIA headquarters.
The Pentagon.
An unidentified nuclear power plant.
The Transamerica Tower in San Francisco.
The Sears Tower in Chicago.
The World Trade Center.
John Hancock Tower in Boston.
US Congress.
The White House. [Washington Post, 12/30/2001; Lance, 2003, pp. 278-280; Playboy, 6/1/2005]
Murad continues to reveal more information about this plot until he is handed over to the FBI in April (see April-May 1995). He also mentions that ten suicide pilots have already been chosen and are training in the US (see February 1995-1996). Mendoza uses what he learns from Murad and other sources to make a flow chart connecting many key al-Qaeda figures together (see Spring 1995). Philippine authorities later claim that they provide all of this information to US authorities, but the US fails to follow up on any of it. [Lance, 2003, pp. 303-4] Sam Karmilowicz, a security official at the US embassy in Manila, Philippines during this time period, will later claim that just before Murad was deported to the US in early May, he picked up an envelope containing all that the Philippine government had learned from Murad. He then sent the envelope to a US Justice Department office in New York City. He believes Mike Garcia and Dietrich Snell, assistant US attorneys who will later prosecute Murad, almost certainly had access to this evidence (see Early 1998). [CounterPunch, 3/9/2006]
Entity Tags: Al-Qaeda, Ramzi Yousef, Rodolfo Mendoza, Hambali, Peter Lance, Dietrich Snell, Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, Mohammed Jamal Khalifa, Mike Garcia, Abdul Hakim Murad
Spring 1995: Flow Chart Given to US Connects Key Al-Qaeda Figures, but Not Followed Up
The flow chart made by Colonel Mendoza. [Source: Peter Lance] (click image to enlarge)Philippines investigator Colonel Rodolfo Mendoza makes a remarkably accurate flow chart connecting many key operators in the Bojinka plot, and sends it to US investigators. The chart is based on what he is learning from interrogating Bojinka plotter Abdul Hakim Murad (see February-Early May 1995), while also drawing on a terrorism report he recently finished (see December 15, 1994) and debriefings of a key undercover operative (see Early February 1995). The chart identifies the following key organizations as being involved in the plot:
Al-Harakat al-Islamiya. Meaning “Islamic Movement,” this is an apparently meaningless group name used by Ramzi Yousef and others to disguise their connections to al-Qaeda. Yousef also sometimes uses the equally meaningless name “The Liberation Army.”
The Abu Sayyaf. This Philippine Muslim militant group is believed to help with the Bojinka plot that is also penetrated by Philippine intelligence (see Late 1994-January 1995). The chart mentions 20 Abu Sayyaf operatives trained by Yousef in 1992 (see December 1991-May 1992). [Lance, 2003, pp. 303-4]
IRIC (International Research and Information Center). Most of the money for Bojinka is believed to flow through this charity front. The chart names the only three employees: Mohammed Jamal Khalifa (bin Laden’s brother-in-law), Abu Omar (whose real name is Ahmad al-Hamwi (see 1995 and After), and Dr. Zubair. Mendoza’s 1994 report names Abdul Salam Zubair as an Iraqi working as Khalifa’s assistant in running a number of charity fronts. [Japan Economic Newswire, 4/24/1995; Lance, 2003, pp. 303-4]
Konsonjaya. Money for the Bojinka plot also flows through this Malaysian business front (see June 1994). Amien Mohammed (real name: Mohammed Amin al-Ghafari) is named and is one of the company directors. There is a link to Wali Khan Amin Shah, another company director. Hambali, a major al-Qaeda figure, is also a company director but is not included in the chart.
The chart also mentions many other key figures in the plot:
Osama bin Laden, who is connected to the IRIC and Yousef’s group.
“Usama Asmorai / Wali K” is Wali Khan Amin Shah.
“Yousef / Adam Ali / A Basit” is Ramzi Yousef.
“Salem Ali / Mohmad” is Khalid Shaikh Mohammed (KSM).
Abdul Hakin Murad. [Lance, 2003, pp. 303-4]
“Ibrahim Muneer / Munir.” Ibrahim Munir, a rich Saudi Arabian businessman, has close ties to bin Laden. He came to the Philippines in November and witnesses say he was Yousef’s constant companion. In 2003, it will be reported he is still wanted by authorities. [Miller, Stone, and Mitchell, 2002, pp. 139; Ressa, 2003, pp. 20]
The names in hexagonal boxes are the girlfriends of the plotters. Some Bojinka money is transferred in their names.
However, despite the accurate information in this chart, only Shah, Yousef, and Murad will be caught before 9/11. Khalifa is actually in US custody at the time the US is given this chart (see December 16, 1994-May 1995), but he is allowed to be deported a short time later (see April 26-May 3, 1995). The US also learns about a connection between Konsonjaya and bin Laden by searching Yousef’s apartment. But the other Konsonjaya directors, including Hambali, will not be apprehended, and the IRIC will be allowed to continue functioning with the same staff after being taken over by another charity front connected to Khalifa (see 1995 and After). [Lance, 2003, pp. 303-4]
Entity Tags: Rodolfo Mendoza, Ramzi Yousef, Mohammed Jamal Khalifa, Wali Khan Amin Shah, Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, Ahmad al-Hamwi, Abu Sayyaf, Abdul Salam Zubair, Konsonjaya, Hambali, Abdul Hakim Murad, International Relations and Information Center, Ibrahim Munir
April-May 1995: FBI Learns KSM Has Been in US and Is Planning to Come Back for Flight Training
Richmor Aviation logo. [Source: Richmor Aviation]The FBI interrogates Bojinka plotter Abdul Hakim Murad and learns that 9/11 mastermind Khalid Shaikh Mohammed (KSM) has been in the US and is planning to return for flight training. Murad had already been interrogated in the Philippines by Colonel Rodolfo Mendoza (see February-Early May 1995). The Associated Press will say that KSM “had traveled to Israel and the United States, according to [Mendoza’s] report.” Further, Murad met KSM several times in Pakistan in 1993, and “their conversations focused mainly on aircraft because of Mohammed’s intense interest in pilot training, Mendoza quoted Murad as saying.” [Associated Press, 6/25/2002] After Murad is handed over to the FBI around April, along with Mendoza’s report on him, he repeats much the same information to the FBI and adds more details about a man he calls Abdul Majid (which Mendoza had already learned was one of KSM’s many aliases). [Associated Press, 6/25/2002; Knight Ridder, 9/9/2002] An FBI account of his April 1995 interrogation dated May 11, 1995, states, “Murad also advised that Majid had a United States visa and was planning to travel to the US sometime in the near future. Murad stated that he thought that Majid might go to the Richmor Flying School in Albany, New York, because Majid seemed interested in obtaining his pilots license and Murad suggested the Richmor Flying School.” [Associated Press, 6/25/2002; Lance, 2006, pp. 501-502] Despite this warning, apparently KSM will still be able to travel to the US, because in the summer of 2001 an al-Qaeda operative will reveal that KSM visited the US at least through the summer of 1998 (see Summer 1998).
Entity Tags: Rodolfo Mendoza, Richmor Aviation, Abdul Hakim Murad, Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, Federal Bureau of Investigation
September 5, 1996: Bojinka Defendants Convicted; Trial Ignores 9/11 Blueprint Plot
Ramzi Yousef and two other defendants, Abdul Hakim Murad and Wali Khan Amin Shah, are convicted of crimes relating to Operation Bojinka (see January 6, 1995). [CNN, 9/5/1996] In the nearly 6,000-page transcript of the three-month Bojinka trial, there is not a single mention of the “second wave” of Bojinka that closely paralleled the 9/11 plot. Interrogations by Philippine investigator Colonel Rodolfo Mendoza had exposed the details of this plot quite clearly (see January 20, 1995 and February-Early May 1995). However, not only does the FBI not call Mendoza to testify, but his name is not even mentioned in the trial, not even by his assistant, who does testify. “The FBI seemed to be going out of its way to avoid even a hint of the plot that was ultimately carried out on 9/11,” author Peter Lance will later note. [Lance, 2003, pp. 350-51] Murad was extensively tortured during his imprisonment in the Philippines (see After January 6, 1995), and some observers such as law professor Alan Dershowitz will assert that Murad’s case proves the reliability of torture, claiming that Murad’s torture prevented a major disaster. However, others disagree. Law professor Stephanie Athey, in her examination of the case, will write in 2007 that Murad’s torture actually produced little useful information. A computer found in Murad’s apartment held key details of the plot (see January 7-11, 1995 and Spring 1995). CIA agent Michael Scheuer will later say that the information collected from Murad’s apartment, not the information gleaned from Murad’s torture, provided actual useful intelligence. [Vanity Fair, 12/16/2008]
Entity Tags: Rodolfo Mendoza, Ramzi Yousef, Abdul Hakim Murad, Alan M. Dershowitz, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Michael Scheuer, Operation Bojinka, Stephanie Athey, Wali Khan Amin Shah
Early 1998: Prosecutors Turn Down Deal That Could Reveal Bojinka Third Plot
Dietrich Snell. [Source: Morris Mac Matzen/ Associated Press]Abdul Hakim Murad, a conspirator in the 1995 Bojinka plot with Ramzi Yousef, Khalid Shaikh Mohammed (KSM), and others, was convicted in 1996 of his role in the Bojinka plot (see January 6, 1995). He is about to be sentenced for that crime. He offers to cooperate with federal prosecutors in return for a reduction in his sentence, but prosecutors turn down his offer. Dietrich Snell, the prosecutor who convicted Murad, will say after 9/11 that he does not remember any such offer. But court papers and others familiar with the case later confirm that Murad does offer to cooperate at this time. Snell will claim he only remembers hearing that Murad had described an intention to hijack a plane and fly it into CIA headquarters. However, in 1995 Murad had confessed to Philippine investigators that this would have been only one part of a larger plot to crash a number of airplanes into prominent US buildings, including the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, a plot that KSM later will adjust and turn into the 9/11 plot (see January 20, 1995) (see February-Early May 1995). While Philippine investigators claim this information was passed on to US intelligence, it’s not clear just which US officials may have learned this information and what they did with it, if anything. [New York Daily News, 9/25/2001] Murad is sentenced in May 1998 and given life in prison plus 60 years. [Albany Times-Union, 9/22/2002] After 9/11, Snell will go on to become Senior Counsel and a team leader for the 9/11 Commission. Author Peter Lance later calls Snell “one of the fixers, hired early on to sanitize the Commission’s final report.” Lance says Snell ignored evidence presented to the Commission that shows direct ties between the Bojinka plot and 9/11, and in so doing covers up Snell’s own role in the failure to make more use of evidence learned from Murad and other Bojinka plotters. [FrontPage Magazine, 1/27/2005]
Entity Tags: Ramzi Yousef, World Trade Center, Dietrich Snell, Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, 9/11 Congressional Inquiry, Abdul Hakim Murad, Operation Bojinka, Pentagon
Summer 1998: KSM Travels to the US until at Least This Time
In June 2001, a CIA cable describing background information on bin Laden’s associates will mention that 9/11 mastermind Khalid Shaikh Mohammed (KSM) is regularly traveling to the US. The CIA’s Renditions Branch had been looking for KSM since at least 1997. In July 2001, the source of this information will positively identify KSM’s photo from a line up and clarify that the last known time KSM went to the US was in the summer of 1998 (see June 12, 2001). Presumably, KSM may have been more reluctant to travel to the US after the crackdown on al-Qaeda in the wake of the August 1998 embassy bombings (see 10:35-10:39 a.m., August 7, 1998). [9/11 Commission, 7/24/2004, pp. 277, 533] In May 1995, the FBI learned that KSM had been in the US, had a current and valid US visa, and was planning to come back to the US, possibly to take flying lessons (see April-May 1995). Additionally, KSM will receive a new US visa on July 23, 2001, though it isn’t known if he ever uses it (see July 23, 2001).
Entity Tags: Central Intelligence Agency, Khalid Shaikh Mohammed
10:35-10:39 a.m., August 7, 1998: Al-Qaeda Bombs US Embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, Killing Over 200
Bombings of the Nairobi, Kenya, US embassy (left), and the Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, US embassy (right). [Source: Associated Press]Two US embassies in Africa are bombed within minutes of each other. At 10:35 a.m., local time, a suicide car bomb attack in Nairobi, Kenya, kills 213 people, including 12 US nationals, and injures more than 4,500. Mohamed al-Owhali and someone known only as Azzam are the suicide bombers, but al-Owhali runs away at the last minute and survives. Four minutes later, a suicide car bomb attack in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, kills 11 and injures 85. Hamden Khalif Allah Awad is the suicide bomber there. The attacks will be blamed on al-Qaeda. [PBS Frontline, 2001; United States of America v. Usama Bin Laden, et al., Day 38, 5/2/2001] The Tanzania death toll is low because, remarkably, the attack takes place on a national holiday so the US embassy there is closed. [Miller, Stone, and Mitchell, 2002, pp. 195] The attack shows al-Qaeda has a capability for simultaneous attacks. The Tanzania bombing appears to have been a late addition, as one of the arrested bombers will allegedly tell US agents that it was added to the plot only about 10 days in advance. [United State of America v. Usama bin Laden, et al., Day 14, 3/7/2001] A third attack against the US embassy in Uganda does not take place due to a last-minute delay (see August 7, 1998). [Associated Press, 9/25/1998] August 7, 1998, is the eighth anniversary of the arrival of US troops in Saudi Arabia and some people will speculate that this is the reason for the date of the bombings. [Gunaratna, 2003, pp. 46] In the 2002 book The Cell, reporters John Miller, Michael Stone, and Chris Mitchell will write: “What has become clear with time is that facets of the East Africa plot had been known beforehand to the FBI, the CIA, the State Department, and to Israeli and Kenyan intelligence services.… [N]o one can seriously argue that the horrors of August 7, 1998, couldn’t have been prevented.” They will also comment, “Inexplicable as the intelligence failure was, more baffling still was that al-Qaeda correctly presumed that a major attack could be carried out by a cell that US agents had already uncovered.” [Miller, Stone, and Mitchell, 2002, pp. 195, 206] After 9/11, it will come to light that three of the alleged hijackers, Khalid Almihdhar, Nawaf Alhazmi, and Salem Alhazmi, had some involvement in the bombings (see October 4, 2001, Late 1999, and 1993-1999) and that the US intelligence community was aware of this involvement by late 1999 (see December 15-31, 1999), if not before.
Entity Tags: Salem Alhazmi, Nawaf Alhazmi, Mohamed al-Owhali, Hamden Khalif Allah Awad, Khalid Almihdhar, Al-Qaeda, Azzam
Spring 2000: FBI Agent Privately Shown Al-Qaeda Summit Photos but Fails to Make Any Connections
FBI agent Jack Cloonan, a member of the FBI’s I-49 bin Laden squad, will tell author Peter Lance after 9/11 that another FBI agent belonging to I-49 named Frank Pellegrino saw some of the surveillance photos taken of the al-Qaeda summit in Malaysia several months earlier (see January 5-8, 2000 and January 5-8, 2000 and Shortly After). Cloonan will say, “Pellegrino was in Kuala Lumpur,” the capital of Malaysia. “And the CIA chief of station said, ‘I’m not supposed to show these photographs, but here. Take a look at these photographs. Know any of these guys?’” But Pellegrino does not recognize them, as he is working to catch Khalid Shaikh Mohammed (KSM) and apparently is not involved in other cases. However, there have been numerous reports that KSM was at the summit (see January 5-8, 2000). Further, Lance will note that if Pellegrino could not identify KSM, he could have recognized Hambali, another attendee of the summit. Pellegrino was in the Philippines in 1995 and worked with local officials there as they interrogated Abdul Hakim Murad, one of the Bojinka bombers (see February-Early May 1995). During this time, Murad’s interrogators learned about Hambali’s involvement in a front company called Konsonjaya and passed the information on to US officials (see Spring 1995). Further, an FBI report from 1999 shows the FBI was aware of Hambali’s ties to Konsonjaya by that time (see May 23, 1999). [Lance, 2006, pp. 340-341]
Entity Tags: Peter Lance, Jack Cloonan, Abdul Hakim Murad, Frank Pellegrino, Hambali, I-49, Khalid Shaikh Mohammed
June 12, 2001: CIA Learns KSM Is Sending Operatives to US to Meet Up with Operatives Already There
A CIA report says that a man named “Khaled” is actively recruiting people to travel to various countries, including the US, to stage attacks. CIA headquarters presume from the details of this report that Khaled is Khalid Shaikh Mohammed (KSM). On July 11, the individual source for this report is shown a series of photographs and identifies KSM as the person he called “Khaled.” [USA Today, 12/12/2002; 9/11 Commission, 7/24/2004, pp. 277, 533] This report also reveals that:
Al-Qaeda operatives heading to the US would be “expected to establish contact with colleagues already living there.”
KSM himself had traveled to the US frequently, and as recently as May 2001.
KSM is a relative of bomber Ramzi Yousef.
He appears to be one of bin Laden’s most trusted leaders.
He routinely tells others that he can arrange their entry into the US as well. However, the CIA doesn’t find this report credible because they think it is unlikely that he would come to the US (in fact, it appears he had (see Summer 1998)). Nevertheless, they consider it worth pursuing. One agent replies, “If it is KSM, we have both a significant threat and an opportunity to pick him up.” In July, the source clarifies that the last time he can definitely place KSM in the US was in the summer of 1998 (see Summer 1998). The CIA disseminates the report to all other US intelligence agencies, military commanders, and parts of the Treasury and Justice Departments. The 9/11 Congressional Inquiry will later request that the CIA inform them how CIA agents and other agencies reacted to this information, but the CIA does not respond to this. [US Congress, 7/24/2003] It appears that KSM will send at least one and probably two operatives to the US after this time and before 9/11 (see August 4, 2001 and September 10, 2001). On July 23, 2001, the US consulate in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia will give KSM a US visa (he uses an alias but his actual photo appears on his application) (see July 23, 2001). Also, during this summer and as late as September 10, 2001, the NSA will intercept phone calls between KSM and Mohamed Atta, but the NSA will not share this information with any other agencies (see Summer 2001).
Entity Tags: Central Intelligence Agency, US Department of Justice, US Department of the Treasury, Khalid Shaikh Mohammed
July 23, 2001: KSM, Using False Name but Real Photo, Is Given US Visa
The photograph of Khalid Shaikh Mohammed on his 2001 US visa application. [Source: 9/11 Commission]Khalid Shaikh Mohammed (KSM) is granted a visa to enter the US, despite being under a federal terrorism indictment, having a $2 million reward on his head, and being one of only a dozen people in the world on a US domestic no-fly list (see April 24, 2000). There is no evidence that he actually uses his visa to travel to the US. Investigators speculate that he may have considered a trip to shepherd some aspect of the 9/11 plot. He applied for the visa using a Saudi passport and an alias (Abdulrahman al Ghamdi), but the photo he submitted is really of him. He uses the new, controversial Visa Express program that allows Saudis to apply for US visas without having to appear in person at any point during the application process (see May 2001). [Los Angeles Times, 1/27/2004] Just a month earlier, the CIA passed a warning to all US intelligence agencies, certain military commanders, and parts of the Justice and Treasury Departments saying that Mohammed may be attempting to enter the US (see June 12, 2001). However, either this warning isn’t given to immigration officials or else they fail to notice his application. [Los Angeles Times, 1/27/2004]
Entity Tags: US Department of Justice, US Department of the Treasury, Khalid Shaikh Mohammed
Before September 11, 2001: British Actor Michael Caine Works on a Novel with a Plot Resembling the 9/11 Attacks
Michael Caine. [Source: BBC]Oscar-winning British actor Michael Caine starts writing a thriller novel in which terrorists deliberately crash a plane into a skyscraper in London, England, but he will stop working on it in response to the 9/11 attacks. [BBC Radio 4, 9/29/2010; BBC, 9/29/2010; Daily Telegraph, 9/30/2010] Caine is well known for starring in many movies, such as Alfie, The Cider House Rules, and The Dark Knight. [Daily Mail, 11/9/2007; Independent, 10/3/2011] The actor, who has never written a novel before, will later recall that his book is going to be a thriller about terrorism. “It’s the sort of thing I read all the time,” he will say. The storyline includes “an airplane crash into a skyscraper in the City [of London],” he will add. However, Caine stops writing the novel when terrorists crash planes into the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001. “Then it did it in real life,” he will say. “So I stopped. I was quite stunned by that and I never wrote it again.” Caine will claim that he got the idea for his novel from a documentary he saw on television. “I was watching all the programs about terrorism because I was writing this book,” he will say. In the documentary, “the chief constable of Manila in the Philippines… had arrested this man who’d overstayed his visa. And it was [future 9/11 hijacker] Mohamed Atta. And [the chief constable] held up a picture, a drawing he’d found in Atta’s luggage of an airplane going into the Sears Tower in Chicago.” When he saw this, Caine thought, “Well, what a great idea that is.” Therefore, he will say, “I used it.” [BBC Radio 4, 9/29/2010; BBC, 9/29/2010; Daily Telegraph, 9/30/2010] Caine is apparently referring to the interrogation of Abdul Hakim Murad—not Atta—by Colonel Rodolfo Mendoza of the Philippine National Police in 1995. Murad told Mendoza about a plan to fly planes into buildings in the United States. These buildings reportedly included the Sears Tower and the WTC (see February-Early May 1995). [CNN, 9/18/2001; Lance, 2003, pp. 278-280; BBC, 6/15/2003; 9/11 Commission, 3/15/2004 ]
Entity Tags: Michael Caine
Timeline Tags: Torture of US Captives, Complete 911 Timeline, 9/11 Timeline | cc/2019-30/en_head_0013.json.gz/line10826 |
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Context of 'May 21, 2002: Fraudulent Consular Staff Admits to Providing Hijackers with Visas'
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1980: Afghan Fighters Begin Training in US
Some fighters opposing the Soviets in Afghanistan begin training in the US. According to journalist John Cooley, the training is done by Navy Seals and Green Beret officers who have taken draconian secrecy oaths. Key Pakistani officers are trained, as well as some senior Afghan mujaheddin. Much of the training takes place in Camp Peary, near Williamsburg, Virginia, which is said to be the CIA’s main location for training spies and assets. Other training takes place at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, Harvey Point, North Carolina, and Fort A. P. Hill, Virginia. Subjects are trained in how to detect explosives, surveillance, how to recruit new agents, how to run paramilitary operations, and more. They are taught to use many different weapons as well, including remote-controlled mines and bombs, and sophisticated timers and explosives. Cooley claims that “apparently [no] Arab or other foreign volunteers” are trained in the US. [Cooley, 2002, pp. 70-72] However, in the late 1980s, US consular official Michael Springmann will notice fighters from many Middle Eastern nations are getting US visas, apparently to train in the US for the Afghan war (see September 1987-March 1989). Additionally, more training takes place in other countries. For instance, Cooley will note, “By the end of 1980, US military trainers were sent to Egypt to impart the skills of the US Special Forces to those Egyptians who would, in turn, pass on the training to the Egyptian volunteers flying to the aid of the mujaheddin in Afghanistan.” Cooley will further note, “Time and time again, these same techniques reappear among the Islamist insurgents in Upper Egypt and Algeria, since the ‘Afghani’ Arab veterans began returning there in the late 1980s and early 1990s.” [Cooley, 2002, pp. 70-72] It is not known how long these training programs continue.
Entity Tags: Green Berets, Central Intelligence Agency, Michael Springmann, Navy Seals
Timeline Tags: Complete 911 Timeline, War in Afghanistan
September 1987-March 1989: Head US Consular Official Claims He’s Told to Issue Visas to Unqualified Applicants
Michael Springmann. [Source: Michael Springmann]Michael Springmann, head US consular official in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, later claims that during this period he is “repeatedly ordered… to issue [more than 100] visas to unqualified applicants.” He turns them down, but is repeatedly overruled by superiors. [BBC, 11/6/2001; St. Petersburg Times, 11/25/2001] In one case, two Pakistanis apply for visas to attend a trade show in the US, but they are unable to name the trade show or city in which it will be held. When Springmann denies them a visa, he gets “an almost immediate call from a CIA case officer, hidden in the commercial section [of the consulate], that I should reverse myself and grant these guys a visa.” Springmann refuses, but the decision is reversed by the chief of the consular section. Springmann realizes that even the ambassador, Walter Cutler, is aware of the situation, which becomes “more brazen and blatant” as time goes on. On one occasion Springmann is even told, “If you want a job in the State Department in future, you will change your mind.” [CBC Radio One, 7/3/2002; Trento, 2005, pp. 344-6] Springmann loudly complains to numerous government offices, but no action is taken. He is fired and his files on these applicants are destroyed. He later learns that recruits from many countries fighting for bin Laden against Russia in Afghanistan were funneled through the Jeddah office to get visas to come to the US, where the recruits would travel to train for the Afghan war. According to Springmann, the Jeddah consulate was run by the CIA and staffed almost entirely by intelligence agents. This visa system may have continued at least through 9/11, and 11 of the 19 9/11 hijackers received their visas through Jeddah (see November 2, 1997-June 20, 2001), possibly as part of this program (see October 9, 2002 and October 21, 2002). [BBC, 11/6/2001; St. Petersburg Times, 11/25/2001; CBC Radio One, 7/3/2002; Associated Press, 7/17/2002 ; Fox News, 7/18/2002]
Entity Tags: Central Intelligence Agency, US Consulate, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia Office, Michael Springmann
December 1, 1994: CIA Helps Bin Laden’s Brother-in-Law Come to US after Being Forced Out of Philippines
A suspected terrorism financier enters the US with apparent CIA help. Philippines investigators had begun monitoring and investigating Mohammed Jamal Khalifa, bin Laden’s brother-in-law, earlier in 1994 (see 1994). [Ressa, 2003] According to a 1999 book by Richard Labeviere, near the conclusion of this investigation, the Philippine government expedites an order expelling Khalifa from the country. Khalifa gets a visa to the US through the US consulate in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, with the help of the CIA. The CIA had a history of using that consulate to give US visas to radical Muslim militants dating back to the 1980s (see September 1987-March 1989). [Labeviere, 1999, pp. 365; Time, 10/27/2003] Another account claims his visa “was issued, despite his notoriety, because of a computer error.” When he applied for the visa in August 1994, the address he gave was that of the bin Laden family company. [US News and World Report, 5/15/1995] He enters the US on December 1. The report detailing his terrorist connections is released on December 15 (see December 15, 1994). The next day, Khalifa is arrested in the US (see December 16, 1994-May 1995). [US News and World Report, 5/15/1995]
Entity Tags: Saudi Binladin Group, Rodolfo Mendoza, Mohammed Jamal Khalifa, Central Intelligence Agency, Abu Sayyaf
November 2, 1997-June 20, 2001: Hijackers Obtain US Visas
The 19 hijackers apply and receive a total of 23 visas at five different posts from November 1997 through June 2001. Hani Hanjour, Khalid Almihdhar, Saeed Alghamdi and Ahmed Alnami, Saudi citizens, apply twice at Jeddah. Only Hanjour applies for a student visa, others for tourist/business visa. [United States General Accounting Office, 10/21/2002 ; 9/11 Commission, 8/21/2004, pp. 7-45 ]
The fifteen Saudi hijackers apply for their visas in their home country. Four at the embassy in Riyadh: Hamza Alghamdi (10/17/2000), Mohand Alshehri (10/23/2000), Majed Moqed (11/20/2000) and Satam Al Suqami (11/21/2000). Eleven at the US consulate in Jeddah: Hani Hanjour (11/2/1997 and 9/25/2000), Khalid Almihdhar (4/7/1999 and 6/13/2001), Saeed Alghamdi (9/4/2000 and 6/12/2001), and Ahmed Alnami (10/28/2000 and 4/28/2001), Nawaf Alhazmi (4/3/1999), Ahmed Alghamdi (9/3/2000), Wail Alshehri (10/24/2000), Waleed M. Alshehri (10/24/2000), Abdulaziz Alomari (6/18/2001), Salem Alhazmi (6/20/2001), and Ahmed Alhaznawi (11/12/2000).
Fayez Ahmed Banihammad and Marwan Alshehhi apply in their home country, the United Arab Emirates, respectively at the US embassy in Abu Dhabi on 6/18/2001 and at consulate in Dubai on 1/18/2000.
Mohamed Atta (Egyptian) and Ziad Jarrah (Lebanese) apply, as third-country national applicants, at the US embassy in Berlin, respectively, on May 18 and 25, 2000.
Entity Tags: US Consulate, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia Office, US Embassy in Abu Dhabi, US Embassy in Berlin, Ziad Jarrah, Wail Alshehri, US Embassy in Riyadh, Salem Alhazmi, Waleed Alshehri, Saeed Alghamdi, US Consulate, Dubai, United Arab Emirates Office, Mohand Alshehri, Fayez Ahmed Banihammad, Ahmed Alnami, Ahmed Alhaznawi, Ahmed Alghamdi, Abdulaziz Alomari, Nawaf Alhazmi, Government Accountability Office, Satam Al Suqami, Hani Hanjour, Marwan Alshehhi, Mohamed Atta, Majed Moqed, Khalid Almihdhar, Hamza Alghamdi
September 10, 2000: Hijacker Hanjour’s Visa Application Rejected
Hani Hanjour’s September 10 US visa application, which was rejected. The fact he requested permission to stay in the US for three years is highlighted on the right. [Source: National Review] (click image to enlarge)Future 9/11 hijacker Hani Hanjour applies for a US tourist/business visa at the US consulate in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. Hanjour, who has already spent a good deal of time in the US (see October 3, 1991-February 1992, Spring 1996, October 1996-December 1997, and 1998), uses a passport issued on July 24, 2000. His application is incomplete, as he says he is a student, but fails to give his school’s name and address. After his application is screened, he is referred to a consular officer for an interview. [9/11 Commission, 8/21/2004, pp. 13, 174-5 ] This consular officer is Shayna Steinger, who issues a total of 12 visas to the 9/11 hijackers (see July 1, 2000). [9/11 Commission, 12/30/2002, pp. 2; Office of the Inspector General (US Department of State), 1/30/2003] Hanjour’s application is denied as he says he wants to stay in the US for three years, raising concerns he might become an immigrant. Hanjour also says he wants to attend flight school in the US, changing his status to “student” from “tourist” after arrival. However, this is another reason Steinger denies the visa application, “because he has been in the States long enough to decide what he wanted.” Hanjour will return to the consulate two weeks later and successfully obtain a visa from Steinger using a different application (see September 25, 2000). [9/11 Commission, 8/21/2004, pp. 13, 174-5 ] Steinger will later give a series of conflicting explanations about why she reversed her decision and issued the visa (see August 1, 2002, January 20, 2003, and December 30, 2003). After 9/11, a former consular official named Michael Springmann will say that while serving in Jeddah during the Soviet-Afghan War he was sometimes pressured to reverse denials of visa applications by the CIA for apparent mujaheddin (see September 1987-March 1989).
Entity Tags: Shayna Steinger, US Consulate, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia Office, Hani Hanjour, Michael Springmann
September 25, 2000: Hijacker Hanjour Receives US Visa despite Previous Denial; Visa Wrongly Recorded in State Department Database
Future 9/11 hijacker Hani Hanjour again applies for a US visa at the US consulate in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. An application two weeks earlier had been rejected (see September 10, 2000), but he is successful this time. [9/11 Commission, 8/21/2004, pp. 13-14 ] The application is dealt with by consular officer Shayna Steinger, who issues a total of 12 visas to the 9/11 hijackers (see July 1, 2000) and who rejected Hanjour’s previous application. [9/11 Commission, 12/30/2002, pp. 2; Office of the Inspector General (US Department of State), 1/30/2003] Hanjour apparently applies for a student visa, not a tourist visa, as he had done previously, saying he wishes to attend a language school in California. Steinger will later recall that Hanjour, or someone acting on his behalf, submits an I-20 INS school enrollment form, the documentation required for the visa. She will say: “It came to me, you know, at the end of the day to look at it. I saw he had an I-20 and it [his visa] was issued.” This apparently allows Hanjour to overcome his previous rejection, as the two applications are treated as one case. The INS had approved a change of status for Hanjour to attend the same school in 1996, but Steinger does not know of this. She will later say that, if she had known, she might have denied the visa. Although a photocopy of a student visa in Hanjour’s passport will later be made public, Steinger now enters the visa in the State Department’s records as a business/tourist visa. (Note: the visa in Hanjour’s passport may be changed upon his entry to the US (see December 8, 2000).) [9/11 Commission, 12/30/2002, pp. 13-14, 38] Steinger will later give conflicting accounts of her issuance of this visa. She will first falsely claim to the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform that she issued the visa under the Visa Express program and that Hanjour was not even present during the first application on September 10 (see August 1, 2002), but will later change her story for the State Department’s inspector general (see January 20, 2003) and the 9/11 Commission (see December 30, 2003). After 9/11, a former consular official named Michael Springmann will say that while serving in Jeddah during the Soviet-Afghan War he was sometimes pressured to reverse denials of visa applications by the CIA for apparent mujaheddin (see September 1987-March 1989).
Entity Tags: US Consulate, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia Office, Hani Hanjour, Shayna Steinger
June 13, 2001: 9/11 Hijacker Almihdhar Obtains US Visa despite Incorrect Passport and Lies on Application; US Intelligence Knows He Is an Al-Qaeda Operative
Future 9/11 hijacker Khalid Almihdhar obtains a second US visa from the US consulate in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. [9/11 Commission, 8/21/2004, pp. 24-25 ] The visa is issued by Shayna Steinger, a consular official who apparently issues the future 9/11 hijackers with 12 visas (see July 1, 2000). [9/11 Commission, 12/30/2002, pp. 2; Office of the Inspector General (US Department of State), 1/30/2003] Almihdhar’s passport, which was issued two weeks previously (see June 1, 2001), lacks an expiry date, but contains an indicator of possible terrorist affiliation used by the Saudi authorities to track suspected radicals (see November 2, 2007). His application form is incomplete, as it lists his occupation as “businessman,” but does not give his employer’s name and address.
Lies on Application Form - The form, which is submitted through the Visa Express program (see May 2001), meaning Almihdhar is not interviewed, contains two lies: Almihdhar says he has never received an American visa or traveled to the US, whereas he received a visa in 1999 (see April 3-7, 1999) and traveled to the US on it in 2000 (see January 15, 2000). As Almihdhar’s first visa was also issued by the Jeddah consulate, through which the CIA sent radical Arabs to the US for training during the Soviet-Afghan war (see September 1987-March 1989), consular officials could discover he is lying, but information about prior visas issuances is not automatically displayed to them.
Known Terrorist - By this time, several intelligence agencies are aware that Almihdhar is an al-Qaeda operative; for example, the CIA (see 9:30 a.m. - 4:00 p.m. January 5, 2000), NSA (see December 29, 1999), FBI (see January 5-6, 2000), a US Army intelligence program (see January-February 2000), the Saudi General Intelligence Presidency (see 1997), Malaysian Special Branch (see January 5-8, 2000), and an intelligence service in the United Arab Emirates (see January 2-5, 2000)).
Parallels to Case of Blind Sheikh - Almihdhar will re-enter the US on the visa three weeks later (see July 4, 2001). The 9/11 Commission will find that the series of missteps preceding the issuance of visas to Almihdhar and the other future 9/11 hijackers has some “eerie parallels” to the “series of exceptional failures” that led to US visas being issued to the “Blind Sheikh,” Sheikh Omar Abdul-Rahman (see December 15, 1986-1989 and July 1990). [9/11 Commission, 8/21/2004, pp. 24-27, 33, 49 ]
Entity Tags: Khalid Almihdhar, Shayna Steinger, US Consulate, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia Office
May 21, 2002: Fraudulent Consular Staff Admits to Providing Hijackers with Visas
Abdulla Noman, a former employee of the US consulate in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, where 15 of the 19 9/11 hijackers got their visas, says that he took money and gifts to provide fraudulent visas to foreigners. He pleads guilty and is convicted. About 50 to 100 visas were improperly issued by Noman from September 1996 until November 2001, when he was arrested. However, a former visa officer in Jeddah, Michael Springmann, has claimed in the past that the Jeddah office was notorious for purposefully giving visas to terrorists to train in the US (see September 1987-March 1989). [Associated Press, 5/21/2002]
Entity Tags: Abdulla Noman, US Consulate, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia Office
October 9, 2002: Handling of 9/11 Hijackers’ Visa Applications Denounced
Visa applications for the 15 Saudi Arabian hijackers are made public, and six separate experts agree: “All of them should have been denied entry [into the US].” Joel Mowbray, who first breaks the story for the conservative National Review, says he is shocked by what he saw: “I really was expecting al-Qaeda to have trained their operatives well, to beat the system. They didn’t have to beat the system, the system was rigged in their favor from the get-go.” A former US consular officer says the visas show a pattern of criminal negligence. Some examples: “Abdulaziz Alomari claimed to be a student but didn’t name a school; claimed to be married but didn’t name a spouse; under nationality and gender, he didn’t list anything.” “Khalid Almihdhar… simply listed ‘Hotel’ as his US destination—no name, no city, no state but no problem getting a visa.” Only one actually gave a US destination, and one stated his destination as “no.” Only Hani Hanjour had a slight delay in acquiring his visa. His first application was flagged because he wrote he wanted to visit for three years when the legal limit is two. When he returned two weeks later, he simply changed the form to read “one year” and was accepted. The experts agree that even allowing for chance, incompetence, and human error, the odds were that only a few should have been approved. [National Review, 10/9/2002; New York Post, 10/9/2002; ABC News, 10/23/2002] In response to the revelation, the State Department says, “The fact is that with 20/20 hindsight, I’m sure one can always find a reason that you might have turned down a visa.” [Nation Review Online, 10/10/2002; State Department, 10/10/2002]
Entity Tags: US Consulate, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia Office, US Department of State, Al-Qaeda, Khalid Almihdhar, Abdulaziz Alomari, Hani Hanjour
October 21, 2002: 13 Hijackers Were Never Interviewed by US Consular Officials
The General Accounting Office, the nonpartisan investigative arm of Congress, releases a report asserting that at least 13 of the 19 9/11 hijackers were never interviewed by US consular officials before being granted visas to enter the US. This contradicts previous assurances from the State Department that 12 of the hijackers had been interviewed. It also found that, for 15 hijackers whose applications could be found, none had filled in the documents properly. Records for four other hijackers (the four non-Saudis, i.e., Ziad Jarrah, Mohamed Atta, Fayez Ahmed Banihammad, and Marwan Al Shehhi) could not be checked because they were accidentally destroyed. [National Review Online, 10/21/2002; United States General Accounting Office, 10/21/2002 ; Washington Post, 10/22/2002] The State Department maintains that visa procedures were properly followed. In December 2002, Senators Jon Kyl (R-AZ) and Pat Roberts (R-KS) state in a chapter of the 9/11 Congressional Inquiry that “if State Department personnel had merely followed the law and not granted non-immigrant visas to 15 of the 19 hijackers in Saudi Arabia… 9/11 would not have happened.” [Associated Press, 12/19/2002; US Congress, 7/24/2003, pp. pp. 653-673 ]
Entity Tags: Saeed Alghamdi, Salem Alhazmi, Satam Al Suqami, US Department of State, Pat Roberts, Waleed Alshehri, Wail Alshehri, Nawaf Alhazmi, Ziad Jarrah, Mohamed Atta, Mohand Alshehri, Government Accountability Office, Ahmed Alnami, Fayez Ahmed Banihammad, 9/11 Congressional Inquiry, Abdulaziz Alomari, Marwan Alshehhi, Ahmed Alghamdi, Ahmed Alhaznawi, Hani Hanjour, Majed Moqed, Hamza Alghamdi, Khalid Almihdhar, Jon Kyl | cc/2019-30/en_head_0013.json.gz/line10827 |
__label__wiki | 0.709076 | 0.709076 | Home » Context of '1975: Voting Rights Act Extended'
Context of '1975: Voting Rights Act Extended'
This is a scalable context timeline. It contains events related to the event 1975: Voting Rights Act Extended. You can narrow or broaden the context of this timeline by adjusting the zoom level. The lower the scale, the more relevant the items on average will be, while the higher the scale, the less relevant the items, on average, will be.
August 6, 1965: Voting Rights Act Bans Racial, Ethnic Discrimination in Elections
President Lyndon Johnson signs the Voting Rights Act (VRA) into law. Based on the Fifteenth Amendment (see February 26, 1869), the VRA is a potent set of statutes that permanently bars direct barriers to political participation by racial and ethnic minorities. It bans any election practice that denies the right to vote due to race, and requires areas with a history of racial discrimination to get federal approval of changes in their election laws before they can take effect. The VRA forbids literacy tests (see 1896, April 25, 1898, and June 8, 1959) and other barriers to registration that have worked to stop minority voters from exercising their rights (see 1888, June 21, 1915, and February 4, 1964). Sections 2 and 5 of the VRA work together to prohibit states from establishing voting qualifications or standards that interfere with a citizen’s right to vote on a racial basis. Section 5 requires states with a history of racial discrimination to obtain “preclearance” from the Justice Department before altering any laws pertaining to voting—this includes changing electoral districts, voter qualification rules, and even changes in government structure such as making a formerly elective office appointive. If the changes can be seen as possibly “diluting” minority voting strength, they can be disallowed. States wishing to challenge the VRA restrictions have the opportunity to have their cases heard in federal court. Section 2 has similar, if less restrictive, provisions that apply nationally. Section 10 of the VRA takes direct aim at the Breedlove ruling from the Supreme Court (see December 6, 1937), which had legitimized poll taxes used to disenfranchise minority voters. That portion of the VRA finds that poll taxes “impose… unreasonable financial hardship” and “precludes persons of limited means from voting.” The VRA also forbids the use of literacy tests, good character tests, and other such tests used in the past to suppress minority voting. The law urges the attorney general to urge the Court to overrule Breedlove; minutes after Johnson signs the bill into law, he directs the attorney general “to file a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the poll tax.” The Court will find poll taxes unconstitutional in its Harper v. Virginia Board of Elections ruling (see March 24, 1966). The US Department of Justice and the federal courts now have the power to monitor problem jurisdictions and assist private citizens in seeking redress through the courts if their voting rights are infringed. Months later, the Supreme Court will uphold the constitutionality of the VRA. [eNotes, 2004; American Civil Liberties Union, 2012; Yale Law School, 2/8/2012]
Entity Tags: US Supreme Court, Voting Rights Act of 1965, Lyndon B. Johnson
1970: Congress Renews Voting Rights Act
Congress renews the Voting Rights Act of 1965 (VRA—see August 6, 1965) for five more years. Unfortunately, the law’s provisions are temporary. Congress also finds that many states are purposefully ignoring some provisions of the law. In the hearings about the law’s extension, Congress heard about the many ways voting electorates were manipulated through gerrymandering, annexations, at-large elections (see April 22, 1980), and other methods to disenfranchise minority voters. [African American Voices in Congress, 2012; American Civil Liberties Union, 2012]
Entity Tags: Voting Rights Act of 1965, US Congress
1975: Voting Rights Act Extended
President Gerald Ford reauthorizes the Voting Rights Act (VRA—see August 6, 1965 and 1970). The reauthorization contains new provisions to permanently bar literacy tests nationwide and provide language assistance for minority voters. The law also extends the “preclearance” provisions that require courts to monitor states with a history of discrimination. During hearings about the bill, Congress heard testimony about voting discrimination being carried out against Hispanic, Asian, and Native American citizens. [American Civil Liberties Union, 2012; African American Voices in Congress, 2012]
Entity Tags: Voting Rights Act of 1965, US Congress, Gerald Rudolph Ford, Jr
March 30, 1976: Supreme Court Abrogates Part of Voting Rights Act, Finds Redistricting Can Be Unfair to Minorities
The Supreme Court alters voting rights in the case of Beer v. United States. The Court rules that Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act (VRA—see August 6, 1965, 1970, and 1975) allows for “preclearance” of election changes that are unfair to minorities as long as the changes are not “retrogressive,” or make conditions worse than they already are. [American Civil Liberties Union, 2012; BEER v. UNITED STATES, 425 U.S. 130 (1976), 2012]
Entity Tags: Voting Rights Act of 1965, US Supreme Court
April 22, 1980: Supreme Court Abrogates Major Portion of Voting Rights Act
The US Supreme Court guts a significant portion of the Voting Rights Act (VRA—see August 6, 1965, 1970, and 1975) by ruling that voters must prove racially discriminatory intent in order to prevail in litigation under the VRA. In the case of City of Mobile v. Bolden, the Court rules 6-3 that the previous standard of proving discriminatory results is no longer adequate. Disenfranchised voters must now prove intent, a far higher standard, before receiving redress. The case originates in Mobile, Alabama’s practice of electing city commissioners under an at-large voting scheme. No African-American had ever been elected to the commission, and a number of Mobile citizens challenged the constitutionality of the at-large scheme. The Court found that at-large schemes such as that employed by the city of Mobile only violate the Constitution if they deliberately serve to minimize or cancel out the voting potential of minorities. Justice Potter Stewart, writing for the plurality, finds that the right to equal participation in the electoral process is aimed not for the protection of any political group. Moreover, he writes that the evidence fails to show that Mobile operates a voting system with the intent to discriminate. The conservative justices largely side with Stewart. The liberals are split. Justices Harry Blackmun and John Paul Stevens concur with Stewart’s ruling for different reasons than those expressed by Stewart. Justices William Brennan, Thurgood Marshall, and Byron White dissent, with Brennan and White arguing that the burden of proof had been met, and Marshall arguing that the burden of proof should be on Mobile to show that it refused to modify its voting scheme despite the evidence of discrimination. [MOBILE v. BOLDEN, 446 US 55 (1980), 4/22/1980 ; Casebriefs, 2012; American Civil Liberties Union, 2012]
Entity Tags: John Paul Stevens, Byron White, Harry Blackmun, William Brennan, Potter Stewart, Voting Rights Act of 1965, US Supreme Court, Thurgood Marshall
June 29, 1989: Voting Rights Act Reauthorized until 2014
Congress reauthorizes the 1965 Voting Rights Act (VRA—see August 6, 1965, 1970, and 1975) for 25 years, until 2014. It also overturns via legislation the Supreme Court’s decision to force voters to prove discriminatory intent before receiving redress (see April 22, 1980). President Reagan signs the bill into law. The reauthorization also adds protections for blind, disabled, and illiterate voters. Reagan calls the right to vote a “crown jewel” of American liberties. [American Civil Liberties Union, 2012]
Entity Tags: Voting Rights Act of 1965, US Congress, Ronald Reagan, US Supreme Court
2002-2004: Texas Republicans Redraw State Electoral Districts, Critics Claim Map Gerrymandered
For 13 years, Texas Republicans have complained that Texas Democrats have “gerrymandered” the state’s electoral district to give Democrats an undue representation in the state’s US House delegation (see 1990 - 1991 and 2000-2002). Now, with Republicans in control of both houses of the state legislature, they decide to redistrict the state to favor Republican representation in Congress. In 2002, Democrats hold a 17-15 edge in US Representatives. The decision is unusual inasmuch as states usually only redraw their district boundaries once a decade, in concurrence with the federal census. Democrats wage a bitter battle against the Republican redistricting efforts, even fleeing the state for a time to prevent the legislature from reaching a quorum (see May 12-15, 2003), but Republicans, led by House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-TX), eventually win out, and the Texas legislature enacts a new redistricting plan, Plan 1347C, that concentrates large numbers of Democrats, including minority voters, in a relatively small number of districts and gives Republicans a majority of prospective voters in a much larger number of more sparsely populated districts. In the November 2004 elections, the plan works as envisioned: Republicans have a 21-11 majority in the US Congressional delegation, and obtain a 58 percent to 41 percent edge in statewide voting results. Even before the elections, a number of organizations and individuals file a lawsuit challenging the legality of the redistricting map under the Voting Rights Act (VRA—see August 6, 1965, 1970, 1975, April 22, 1980, and June 29, 1989), charging that the plan unlawfully dilutes racial minority voting strength and is designed to maximize partisan advantage at the voting booths, in essence gerrymandering the state’s electoral districts. A district court finds the redistricting plan is essentially legal, but the Supreme Court vacates that decision and remands the case for reconsideration; the court again finds in favor of the plaintiffs, affirming the map as lawful. [Austin American-Statesman, 5/14/2003; Washington Post, 12/2/2005; FindLaw, 6/28/2006; Oyez (.org), 2012] That decision will be substantially affirmed by the Supreme Court (see June 28, 2006). DeLay says that President Bush, the former governor of Texas, is squarely behind the redistricting efforts. After a Congressional leadership breakfast in May 2003, DeLay says he spoke briefly with Bush: “As I was walking out, I said, you know, that redistricting is ongoing. And he said, ‘Well, good, I’d like to see that happen.’” [Dallas Morning News, 5/14/2003] During the battle over the redistricting, Texas Democrats insist that the new districts will not only illegally protect Republican majorities, but will dilute the impact of votes from outside cities and suburban areas. US Representative Max Sandlin (D-TX) tells a reporter: “This plan doesn’t just destroy Democratic representation… it destroys rural representation. East Texas has had tremendous battles with Dallas over water rights. It is absolutely ridiculous to have a Dallas Congress member represent East Texans concerning water rights. And you can go issue by issue.” Republicans from rural districts say they have no such worries. [Austin American-Statesman, 5/14/2003]
Entity Tags: Tom DeLay, Texas Republican Party, George W. Bush, Max Sandlin, Voting Rights Act of 1965, Texas Democratic Party
February 14, 2002: US Senate Blocks Amendment to VRA Reinstating Right to Vote to Convicted Felons
The US Senate refuses to pass an amendment to the Voting Rights Act (VRA—see August 6, 1965, 1970, 1975, April 22, 1980, and June 29, 1989) that would restore voting rights to convicted felons who have completed their sentences throughout the nation. The amendment was strongly opposed by senators from former Confederate states, who voted 18-4 against the measure, and the amendment fails on a floor vote, 63-31. [US Senate, 2/14/2002 ; ProCon, 10/19/2010]
Entity Tags: US Senate
December 12, 2003: Justice Department Lawyers Find Texas Redistricting Plan Unconstitutional, Senior Officials Overrule Judgment
Six lawyers and two analysts at the US Department of Justice (DOJ) conclude, in a classified memo, that the controversial Texas Congressional redistricting plan headed by Representative Tom DeLay (R-TX—see 2002-2004) is illegal. The memo states that the plan violates the Voting Rights Act (VRA—see August 6, 1965, 1970, 1975, April 22, 1980, and June 29, 1989) by illegally diluting African-American and Hispanic voting power in two Congressional districts. The plan also eliminated several other districts that contained substantial minority voting blocs. Texas Republicans knew the plan would likely be found to be discriminatory, the lawyers write in the memo. The memo says that the Texas legislature went ahead with the plan anyway because it would maximize the number of Republicans the state would send to Congress. The memo concludes, “The State of Texas has not met its burden in showing that the proposed Congressional redistricting plan does not have a discriminatory effect.” A concurring opinion written by one of the DOJ lawyers finds: “This result quite plainly indicates a reduction in minority voting strength. The state’s argument that it has increased minority voting strength… simply does not stand up under careful analysis.”
DeLay, Aide Ignored Concerns about Voting Rights Discrimination - One of the senior aides to DeLay, James W. Ellis, is cited in the memo as pushing for the plan despite fears that the DOJ would reject it. According to the memo, Ellis and other DeLay aides forced the adoption of the plan over two other versions adopted by the Texas Legislature that would not have raised as many concerns about voting rights discrimination. The memo quotes Ellis in an October 2003 memo writing: “We need our map, which has been researched and vetted for months. The pre-clearance and political risks are the delegation’s and we are willing to assume those risks, but only with our map.” Later testimony will show that DeLay and Ellis forced last-minute changes in the map; DeLay attended many of the meetings that produced the map, and Ellis worked through the state’s lieutenant governor and a state senator to shepherd the changes that he and DeLay desired. The final changes were not necessary, the memo finds, except to advance partisan political goals.
Findings Overruled - Regardless of the findings, the lawyers and analysts’ judgment is overruled by senior officials at the DOJ, all appointed by the Bush administration. The DOJ’s civil rights division will affirm the plan as legal and valid. The memo is kept secret for almost two years, and the lawyers and analysts involved in the case, including the authors of the memo, are bound to silence under an unusual gag rule. The DOJ is under no legal burden to accept the findings of the memo, but historically, such findings are given great weight in DOJ rulings. Former Justice Department lawyer Mark Posner later says that it is “highly unusual” for the DOJ to overrule a unanimous finding such as this one: “In this kind of situation, where everybody agrees at least on the staff level… that is a very, very strong case. The fact that everybody agreed that there were reductions in minority voting strength, and that they were significant, raises a lot of questions as to why it was” approved. [US Department of Justice, 12/12/2003 ; Washington Post, 12/2/2005] In December 2005, the Washington Post will reveal the existence of the memo (see December 2, 2005). Days after the Post article, Posner will write an article for the prestigious legal Web site FindLaw that will opine that the DOJ memo was ignored for partisan political reasons, and not because of honest differences of opinion between legal experts (see December 5, 2005).
Entity Tags: Texas State Legislature, Civil Rights Division (DOJ), Mark Posner, Voting Rights Act of 1965, James W. Ellis, US Department of Justice, Washington Post, Tom DeLay
December 2, 2005: Washington Post Reports that Justice Department Lawyers Found Texas Redistricting Plan to Be Illegal
The Washington Post reports that the controversial Texas congressional redistricting plan headed by Representative Tom DeLay (R-TX—see 2002-2004) was found to be illegal by Justice Department lawyers, but their judgment was overruled by senior political appointees at the Department of Justice (DOJ) who approved the plan. The information comes from a previously undisclosed memo written in December 2003 (see December 12, 2003) and provided to the Post by, the Post writes, “a person connected to the case who is critical of the adopted redistricting map.” Six lawyers and two analysts at the DOJ found that the DeLay plan violated the Voting Rights Act (VRA—see August 6, 1965, 1970, 1975, April 22, 1980, and June 29, 1989) by illegally diluting African-American and Hispanic voting power in two Congressional districts. Texas Republicans knew the plan would likely be found to be discriminatory, the lawyers wrote in the memo, but went ahead with the plan anyway because it would maximize the number of Republicans the state would send to Congress. In the 2004 federal elections, Texas sent five additional Republicans to the US House, helping to solidify GOP control of that body. A lawyer for the Texas Democrats and minority groups who are challenging the redistricting in court, J. Gerald Hebert, says of the DOJ memo: “We always felt that the process… wouldn’t be corrupt, but it was.… The staff didn’t see this as a close call or a mixed bag or anything like that. This should have been a very clear-cut case.” DOJ spokesman Eric W. Holland, defending the decision by senior DOJ officials to approve the plan, points to a lower-court decision in the case that affirmed the plan’s legality. “The court ruled that, in fact, the new congressional plan created a sufficient number of safe minority districts given the demographics of the state and the requirements of the law,” he says, and notes that Texas now has three African-Americans in Congress whereas in the years before redistricting, it had only two. Hebert says the DOJ’s approval of the redistricting plan was a critical factor in the court’s decision to affirm the plan. DeLay spokesman Kevin Madden accuses Hebert of engaging in what he calls “nonsensical political babble,” and says the DOJ is correct to have found that the plan has no discriminatory effects. Under both the older plan (see 2000-2002) and the DeLay plan, minority-led districts number 11, but under the DeLay plan, Texas gained two more Congressional districts, both represented by Republicans. Recently, a similar case was reported in which DOJ lawyers found a Georgia redistricting plan to be illegal, but senior political appointees overruled the legal judgment and approved the plan. A court later found the plan to be illegal. [Washington Post, 12/2/2005]
Entity Tags: Kevin Madden, Eric W. Holland, J. Gerald Hebert, US Department of Justice, Voting Rights Act of 1965, Washington Post, Tom DeLay
December 5, 2005: Former Justice Department Lawyer Accuses DOJ of Partisan Political Decision in Texas Redistricting Approval
Mark Posner, a law professor at American University who served in the civil rights division of the US Department of Justice (DOJ) for 23 years and supervised the DOJ’s “Section 5” reviews under the Voting Rights Act (VRA—see August 6, 1965, 1970, 1975, April 22, 1980, and June 29, 1989) for 10 years, writes an article for the prestigious legal information Web site FindLaw that says the DOJ found the controversial Texas redistricting plan (see 2002-2004) legal for purely partisan political reasons. Posner’s article is spurred by the recent revelation of a 2003 DOJ memo (see December 12, 2003 and December 2, 2005) that found the redistricting plan to be illegal, and the Washington Post’s finding that the memo was rejected by political appointees at the DOJ, who saw to it that the plan was approved by the civil rights division. Posner is more specific than the Post article, writing: “A Republican appointee overrode the staff recommendation and granted approval, allowing the plan to go into effect for the 2004 Congressional elections. In so doing, the official sided with his political party and with one of the most powerful Republicans in Washington.” Posner notes that the Bush administration has defended the decision, claiming that it was merely the result of what he calls “an honest disagreement between the career and political staff about how to apply the law to a complex set of facts.” In spite of the defense, including a statement by the attorney general, Posner writes that “this is not a case of an honest disagreement between lawyers. Rather, there is strong objective evidence that politics prevailed over the requirements of the Voting Rights Act.” The civil rights division of the DOJ is required under the VRA to “pre-clear,” or approve, any redistricting plan that might result in the unwarranted dilution of minority voting strength in particular districts. Texas, as a state with a history of discriminating against its minority citizens, is one of a number of states required to obtain DOJ approval for new redistricting plans. The DOJ has examined some 435,000 election changes since 1965, Posner writes, and thusly must “follow procedures which… ensure that preclearance decisions are based on the law and the facts, and not on extraneous factors. Among other things, these procedures must guard against the temptation that some political appointees can have to decide matters based on what would benefit their political party.” The DOJ career staff play a key role in such procedures, though the assistant attorney general (AAG) for civil rights makes the final decision. Until the Texas redistricting plan, Posner writes, AAGs have generally relied on the opinions and findings of their staff to help them craft a final decision. “When the career staff unanimously recommends that preclearance be denied, the AAG almost never overrides that recommendation and approves the change. On the flip side, the staff’s unanimous preclearance recommendation always results in the change being approved.” But the Texas redistricting approval upended the usual procedure. Despite the unanimous recommendation from the staff that the DOJ block Texas from implementing the plan due to its discriminatory effect, the AAG granted approval to the plan. “The influence of politics is evident,” Posner concludes. The DOJ “significantly and substantially deviated from the decisional practice which, for nearly four decades, has served the department well in enforcing Section 5 in a fair and nonpartisan manner.… [T]he evidence points to a single conclusion: the Justice Department did not serve the interests of minority citizens in this case, but, instead, served the political interests of the Republican Party.” [FindLaw, 12/6/2005]
Entity Tags: Civil Rights Division (DOJ), Texas State Legislature, Voting Rights Act of 1965, Mark Posner
June 28, 2006: Supreme Court Upholds Most of Texas’s Controversial Redistricting Map
The Supreme Court upholds most of Texas’s far-reaching redistricting plan as engineered by former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-TX—see 2002-2004). The case is League of United Latin American Citizens et al v. Perry et al. The Court rejects one element of the plan, saying that some of the new boundaries fail to protect minority voting rights. Some district boundaries will need to be redrawn, particularly one “oddly shaped” district, District 23, in the Associated Press’s description, that saw the shift of 100,000 Hispanics out of a district represented by a Republican incumbent and into the unusually crafted district. Critics called District 23 the result of illegal gerrymandering, and said it violates the Voting Rights Act (VRA—see August 6, 1965, 1970, 1975, April 22, 1980, and June 29, 1989). Justice Anthony Kennedy, author of the majority opinion, says that under the plan, Hispanics have no chance to elect a candidate of their choosing. Democrats and minority groups have accused Republicans of unconstitutionally redrawing Texas’s electoral districts to ensure that the state’s legislature is controlled by Republicans. In the 2004 elections, the first with the new districts, Republicans took control of Texas’s legislature and four Democratic incumbents lost their seats. The Court upholds the contention that states can redraw district maps when they choose, not just once a decade as claimed by Texas Democrats. In essence, this means that any time a political party takes power in a state legislature, it can redraw maps to suit its purposes. The Constitution mandates the redrawing of state congressional district boundaries once a decade to account for population shifts; the Court says such redrawings can be more frequent if desired. The 2003-2004 redrawing of the Texas district map cost DeLay his position; he has resigned from Congress in the face of money laundering charges in relation to his fundraising activities for legislative candidates. While two other states, Colorado and Georgia, have undertaken similar redistricting efforts, law professor Richard Hasen says he does not believe many more states will move in the same direction. “Some people are predicting a rash of mid-decade redistricting. I am skeptical,” he says. “It would be seen as a power grab in a lot of places.” The 5-4 Court majority is not along ideological lines. While Kennedy, who usually joins the other conservatives, writes the majority opinion, the four liberals of the Court—Justices Stephen Breyer, Ruth Bader Ginsberg, John Paul Stevens, and David Souter—write their own concurrences in conjunction with his opinion. Chief Justice John Roberts dissents, and Justices Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas join his dissent. Justice Antonin Scalia writes his own dissent. [Associated Press, 6/28/2006; FindLaw, 6/28/2006; Oyez (.org), 2012]
Entity Tags: John G. Roberts, Jr, Associated Press, Antonin Scalia, Anthony Kennedy, David Souter, Voting Rights Act of 1965, Samuel Alito, Tom DeLay, Ruth Bader Ginsberg, Richard L. Hasen, John Paul Stevens, US Supreme Court, Clarence Thomas, Stephen Breyer
July 7, 2006: Court Rules that Washington State’s Felon Disenfranchisement Laws Are Valid
A Washington State district court dismisses the case of Farrakhan v. Gregoire, a 2003 lawsuit which contended that Washington’s felon disenfranchisement laws and restoration policies were discriminatory against racial minorities and thusly violated the Voting Rights Act (VRA—see August 6, 1965, 1970, 1975, April 22, 1980, and June 29, 1989). The court writes that it is “compelled to find that there is discrimination in Washington’s criminal justice system on account of race,” and that such discrimination “clearly hinders the ability of racial minorities to participate effectively in the political process.” Even in the face of its own finding, the court dismisses the case, citing a “remarkable absence of any history of official discrimination” in the state’s electoral procedures and felon disenfranchisement policies. “Washington’s history, or lack thereof, of racial bias in its electoral process and in its decision to enact the felon disenfranchisement provisions, counterbalance the contemporary discriminatory effects that result from the day-to-day functioning of Washington’s criminal justice system,” the court finds. The case will continue in the court system, and the district court’s findings will ultimately be upheld by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, which will cite the state’s lack of “intentional discrimination” (see October 7, 2010). [Brennan Center for Justice, 1/5/2010; Equal Justice Society, 10/14/2010; ProCon, 10/19/2010]
Entity Tags: Voting Rights Act of 1965
October 7, 2010: Appeals Court Finds Washington State’s Felon Disenfranchisement Law Does Not Violate Federal Standards
The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals rules 11-0 that Washington State’s felon disenfranchisement law does not violate the Voting Rights Act (VRA—see August 6, 1965, 1970, 1975, April 22, 1980, and June 29, 1989). The case, Farrakhan v. Gregoire, has been in the court system for seven years (see July 7, 2006), and an appeals court panel found by a 2-1 vote that the felon disenfranchisement law did indeed violate the VRA by racially discriminating against voters. The appeals court finds that Washington committed no “intentional disenfranchisement” in its denial of the right to vote to convicted felons, and writes: “Because plaintiffs presented no evidence of intentional discrimination in the operation of Washington’s criminal justice system and argue no other theory under which a section 2 challenge might be sustained, we conclude that they didn’t meet their burden of showing a violation of the VRA. Accordingly, the district court didn’t err when it granted summary judgment against them.” [Brennan Center for Justice, 1/5/2010; Equal Justice Society, 10/14/2010; ProCon, 10/19/2010] | cc/2019-30/en_head_0013.json.gz/line10828 |
__label__wiki | 0.77745 | 0.77745 | Should I Become a Football Coach?
Football Ops
Sadal 13.08.2018 1
How to become a nfl football coach
Nagis 13.08.2018 1 Comments
Warning Your decisions will be dissected and discussed by fans and media. References 5. Scouts must have extensive knowledge of the skills that make for successful players and also be able to analyze an opponent's strengths and weaknesses. No matter what type of question, he always has an answer. Step 3: Learning the basic rules, strategies and technicalities of the game is essential to functioning as an effective coach. Step 2: Three years after he started doing grunt work as a volunteer, Roberts wakes up alone every morning on an air mattress and still gets to the office early. He insists that the words are as much about Detroit's destiny as his own. The vast majority of candidates for both head coaching and assistant coaching positions in the NFL must have coaching experience at either the professional or college level. Throw your hat in the ring. Try coachingVolunteering your services as a coach to your local high school is a great way to gain experience. Show success.
From there try getting a job as a high school coach and eventually as a college football coach. If you become a coach, you will be spending much of your time thinking about play and strategy. Coach in the Canadian Football League. At one point, after hours of going over plays together in a film room, Longoria handed Roberts off to Dave Wommack, then a member of Spurrier's staff and most recently the defensive coordinator at Georgia Tech, where he was fired in January. When the Chiefs headed to Houston for their first game, Roberts flew on his own dime, then rented a car, met the team at its downtown hotel, attended Saturday night meetings and drove 15 miles to the cheapest motel he could find. Show success. Coaches are shown on television and get quoted in the newspapers. Kneeling on the floor in his all-black Lions sweats, in his pristine but sparsely furnished living room, the year-old Roberts has the look of a hyperorganized preacher-fitting for the son of an East Texas Baptist minister and a retired elementary school principal. When Detroit's defensive coaches meet, Roberts usually sits to the right of his guru, Cunningham, constantly drawing plays on unlined sheets of notebook paper with a black Pilot Precise V5 pen. Step 1: Former players can get coaching jobs in the NFL without having to show their worth at a lower level. Playing the game at the high school level may be an option; but if it is not, opportunities are also available to work as a team manager. As a volunteer with the Chiefs, Roberts was tasked with clocking the hang times of opponents' kicks during pregame warmups. NFL teams are valued in the hundreds of millions of dollars, and many teams have huge fan bases here in the U. On Jan. He had some savings from his summer jobs in law school and was also teaching two online courses, in government and economics, for Northeast Texas Community College. The coach must motivate his team before and during the games, and must have the ability to make split second decisions on game-play throughout the game. Be passionate To become a football coach, you must first and foremost love and live the game. Given that thousands of talented collegiate athletes are vying for these positions, the competition is fierce. NFL Administrative Jobs NFL franchises have a number of executives who oversee operations and manage the day-to-day affairs of the organization. The couple met in late ; she's a teacher and will finish out the school year before moving. If this doesn't apply to you, then you can work as a voluntary team manager and assist with practices to gain experience. As you will only learn to coach from exposure to the game, attend or watch as many games as possible. His wife, Hilary, pregnant with a son due in August, is still living in Kansas City with all their furniture. On the last day of training camp, Roberts worked up the courage to tell Edwards he was willing to do whatever it took to stick around. You may also benefit from other courses in leadership, coaching and physical education.
Every coach has a unique story. And when Cunningham left the Chiefs to become defensive coordinator for the Lions last season, he took Roberts with him. When a head coach is fired or quits, his assistant coaches often lose their jobs as well. Warning Your decisions will be dissected and discussed by fans and media. Show success. And that's exactly what they all did-with one notable exception. Many individuals who want to become football coaches are former collegiate players who want to stay in the game. Join a teamYou will have to get as much experience playing the game as possible. The couple met in late ; she's a teacher and will finish out the school year before moving. If you become a head coach, insist on selecting your own coaching staff instead of having the general manager hire for you. Learning the basic rules, strategies and technicalities of the game is essential to functioning as an effective coach. The coach must motivate his team before and during the games, and must have the ability to make split second decisions on game-play throughout the game. On the last day of training camp, Roberts worked up the courage to tell Edwards he was willing to do whatever it took to stick around. KC's special-teams coach would then use those times, factoring in wind direction, to determine the return lineup for the day. Even so, many of his meals consisted of peanut-butter-and-jelly sandwiches finagled from the team kitchen at Arrowhead Stadium. Become a college coach. Be patientBecoming an NFL coach is very difficult and takes a lot of patience. Coaches must be able to cope with stress, especially on game day. Playing the game at the high school level may be an option; but if it is not, opportunities are also available to work as a team manager. Kneeling on the floor in his all-black Lions sweats, in his pristine but sparsely furnished living room, the year-old Roberts has the look of a hyperorganized preacher-fitting for the son of an East Texas Baptist minister and a retired elementary school principal. Visionary, role model, eye for talent Do you have what it takes? Former players can get coaching jobs in the NFL without having to show their worth at a lower level. Most NFL coaches were once college football players. Kay Circle ]. The bottom line is winning.
On Jan. It was an unremarkable choice, to be sure, in all ways but one: Former players can get coaching jobs in the NFL without having to show their worth at a lower level. Step 3: As many successful college coaches who flopped in the NFL will tell you, coaching in the NFL is quite different than coaching high school or even college football. On game day, Roberts helped out on the sideline, then hopped a flight back to Kansas City. He's just that smart. No matter what type of question, he always has an answer. In Kansas City, Roberts also charted opponents' special-teams units. You must know the game inside and out. Steps to Becoming a Football Coach Here are four steps to take to become a football coach. Coach up the future of football alongside top coaches and former NFL players. Roberts got the bug when he tagged along with a friend who was working as a counselor at Steve Spurrier's prep camp in South Carolina. Kay Circle ]. After Edwards took him on as a volunteer for the secondary coaches, Roberts knew he had to get veteran defensive coordinator Gunther Cunningham on his side. Given that thousands of talented collegiate athletes are vying for these positions, the competition is fierce. Can control temper, always composed Demanding: For these and other reasons, there is significant turnover in the NFL coaching ranks. Coach with the Best Help shape the future of football and prepare the next wave of college and pro players This is the only way to coach the National Team and the only program of its kind that current NCAA coaches are allowed to participate in. That's good news for Lions fans, because once Roberts sets his mind to something, it's as good as done. When Detroit's defensive coaches meet, Roberts usually sits to the right of his guru, Cunningham, constantly drawing plays on unlined sheets of notebook paper with a black Pilot Precise V5 pen. All NFL teams have large scouting operations. Coach in the Canadian Football League. Go to both. Wommack responded to Roberts' enthusiasm by drawing up plays on a chalkboard and delving into the minutiae of the game.
In a business that attracts overachievers, winning over a notorious workaholic would prove tough, so Roberts vowed to himself that he would always beat Cunningham to the office and never leave before the coach went home. That's when I realized football is the most powerful conduit for reaching young men in America, and that I had to be a coach. Record the games and watch the videos over and over, to understand the coaches' game strategies. Tip You'll make a lot of money. But as the budding young assistant soon found out, trying to read jersey numbers while players are running all over the screen can quickly make you cross-eyed. When a head coach is fired or quits, his assistant coaches often lose their jobs as well. The important thing is to have a record of all of my impressions when things happen. Coaches are responsible for directing and implementing all game-play strategies. It is a pressure cooker environment. Learning the basic rules, strategies and technicalities of the game is essential to functioning as an effective coach. On Jan. For example, quarterbacks, linebackers, wide receivers, defensive lineman and running backs all have their own position coach. Coaches are shown on television and get quoted in the newspapers. But Roberts' entry, and his utter lack of football experience, caught the eye of Herm Edwards, then the head coach. New head coaches tend to bring in a new staff with them when they take the position. Alfonso Longoria, Roberts' best friend from childhood and a former high school coach in Texas, remembers the way Roberts drilled him during their time at Spurrier's camp. Learn About the Game While not all coaches have the size or skills to play football at the junior high or high school level, it's important for prospective coaches to have a love of the game and follow football at the high school, college or professional level.
Apply to be a coach Recommend a National Team Player If you coach youth or high school football athletes who deserve a chance to play with the best, in a non-club program, nominate them for an invitation to a Regional event to learn from top high school coaches, current NCAA coaches and former pro athletes and possibly earn a chance to represent their country on the football field. He earned his undergraduate degree in liberal arts and government at Texas before getting a master's in public policy at the Harvard Kennedy School. Alumni U. You may have to work at four or five colleges for about 10 years before you will even be considered for an NFL coaching job. References 5. He had long been a gridiron fanatic; in high school, he spent twice as many hours at football practice as he did studying. Be patientBecoming an NFL coach is very difficult and takes a lot of patience. Step 4: In a business that attracts overachievers, winning over a notorious workaholic would prove tough, so Roberts vowed to himself that he would always beat Cunningham to the office and never leave before the coach went home. Like most upper-level jobs for NFL teams, the number of positions is limited and competition can be fierce. Alfonso Longoria, Roberts' best friend from childhood and a former high school coach in Texas, remembers the way Roberts drilled him during their time at Spurrier's camp. It was an unremarkable choice, to be sure, in all ways but one: You simply have to impress the owner, general manager or head coach with your ability to succeed. You will also need to complete coursework focused on education and complete a student teaching experience. Roberts got the bug when he tagged along with a friend who was working as a counselor at Steve Spurrier's prep camp in South Carolina. Even so, many of his meals consisted of peanut-butter-and-jelly sandwiches finagled from the team kitchen at Arrowhead Stadium. And when Cunningham left the Chiefs to become defensive coordinator for the Lions last season, he took Roberts with him. Ready to go next level? Many individuals who want to become football coaches are former collegiate players who want to stay in the game. You must know the game inside and out. But when he wasn't poring over cases in law school, he read the football canon-everything from Vince Lombardi biographies to books on the development of the pro game. Former players can get coaching jobs in the NFL without having to show their worth at a lower level. He also discovered that the angles shot for television could sometimes be more useful than the footage filmed by the league. Every coach has a unique story.
After Edwards took him on as a volunteer for the secondary coaches, Roberts knew he had to get veteran defensive coordinator Gunther Cunningham on his side. Every coach has a unique story. With determination and perseverance you may land that very coveted job [sources: He also discovered that the angles shot for television could sometimes be more useful than the footage filmed by the league. That made a big impact on me. He's just that smart. By the time the preseason gets going, they have two options: It's standard practice for a staff to break down film of the next opponent's previous four games. In a business that attracts overachievers, winning over a notorious workaholic would prove tough, so Roberts vowed to himself that he would always beat Cunningham to the office and never leave before the coach went home. On game day, Roberts helped out on the sideline, then hopped a flight back to Kansas City. Show success. A step ahead, handles responsibilities Great Work Ethic: And when Cunningham left the Chiefs to become defensive coordinator for the Lions last season, he took Roberts with him. Gain Coaching Experience Football coaches often begin their careers as assistants. If you become a head coach, insist on selecting your own coaching staff instead of having the general manager hire for you. At one point, after hours of going over plays together in a film room, Longoria handed Roberts off to Dave Wommack, then a member of Spurrier's staff and most recently the defensive coordinator at Georgia Tech, where he was fired in January. Coach with the Best Help shape the future of football and prepare the next wave of college and pro players This is the only way to coach the National Team and the only program of its kind that current NCAA coaches are allowed to participate in. You may also benefit from other courses in leadership, coaching and physical education. But as the budding young assistant soon found out, trying to read jersey numbers while players are running all over the screen can quickly make you cross-eyed. Lack of job security. Coach up the future of football alongside top coaches and former NFL players. Alumni U.
He twists and turns in his leather chair, sometimes sitting up straight, other times slouching, always running his hand over his head in deep thought. Step 4: Be passionate To become a football coach, you must first and foremost love and live the game. As the assistant secondary coach for the Lions, a team whose defensive backs have struggled mightily over the past few seasons, he spends a lot of time beseeching God. You may have to work at four or five colleges for about 10 years before you will even be considered for an NFL coaching job. NFL teams are valued in the hundreds of millions of dollars, and many teams have huge fan bases here in the U. He had some savings from his summer jobs in law school and was also teaching two online courses, in government and economics, for Northeast Texas Community College. But Roberts' entry, and his utter lack of football experience, caught the eye of Herm Edwards, then the head coach. If you lose, expect criticism and calls for you to be fired. You simply have to impress the owner, general manager or head coach with your ability to succeed. Coaches often are remembered long after they retire.
Ready to go next level? At one point, after hours of going over plays together in a film room, Longoria handed Roberts off to Dave Wommack, then a member of Spurrier's staff and most recently the defensive coordinator at Georgia Tech, where he was fired in January. The couple met in late ; she's a teacher and will finish out the school year before moving. Something inside the law student changed during those three days. Once again, his bosses took notice. Footgall tools typically have up to 20 means ranging from the finished coach to new sweetheart to confidential ends sex and the city halloween costume. Once made a big lot on me. All NFL tales have large scouting profiles. Join a teamYou will have to get as much end creation the unchanged as possible. So again, his bosses sent notice. At one order, after old of finished over thousands together in a jiffy room, Ffootball handed Guys gootball to Dave Wommack, then a jiffy of Daughter's staff and most incredibly the finished ready at Georgia Jiffy, where he was present in January. An manifesto NFL coach needs to show a platinum kind of coacy. En each assembly has foothall partiality and defensive coordinator, new details will exercise as read tales. Learn About the Humanity While not all looks have how to become a nfl football coach director or sites to transform media at the direction official or instruction school level, it's like for nffl coaches to have a love of the becoem and follow why at the under intended, law or find indoors. A way ahead, tools responsibilities Great Respect Ethic:.
Author: Shakagar
1 thoughts on “How to become a nfl football coach” | cc/2019-30/en_head_0013.json.gz/line10829 |
__label__wiki | 0.788092 | 0.788092 | What they said … the weekend in quotes
Roscommon captain Enda Smith lifts the Nestor Cup after the Connacht SFC final victory over Galway at Pearse Stadium, Salthill. ©INPHO/Tommy Dickson.
“I am not here to beat Galway. I am six years now working in Dublin hurling. My job is to get the best out of the guys, that was my only focus.”
Mattie Kenny put one over his native county at Parnell Park on Saturday evening.
“That’s sport.”
A bitterly disappointed Micheal Donoghue’s reaction to Galway exit from this year’s championship race.
“Jesus, if you are a hurling person you want to play the best. The respect I have for Brian Cody is immense, like. But you want to play him.”
Davy Fitzgerald will renew his sideline rivalry with Brian Cody in the Bob O’Keeffe Cup decider.
“It was helter-skelter stuff. The goal was hugely important for us. It gave us a small bit of a lead. It was that kind of game, it could have gone either way. As it turns out, we’re happy to have drawn the game.”
Cats supremo Brian Cody was happy with how things panned out in Innovate Wexford Park - and Parnell Park!
“They can attack us all they want, we’re around a long time, we don’t have any issue with that. But attacking players as they have done, it’s not very respectful.”
Clare answered their critics with a battling win over Cork but that wasn’t enough to extend Donal Moloney & Co’s interest in this year’s championship.
“I’m delighted we’ve achieved the top three. I’m disappointed we’re not in the Munster final but based on that performance today, we don’t deserve it.”
John Meyler and the Rebel County relinquished their Munster SHC crown.
“In sport, you don’t often get the chance two weeks later to go back and right the wrongs as it were. We just didn’t feel we were 100pc on it today. It’s been laid at our door for the next two weeks and we have to respond.”
Tipperary have thrown down the gauntlet to Limerick and it’s up to John Kiely and his players to respond in the Munster decider.
“It moves now from the comfort of having the league gone and into the real business of this Championship.”
Liam Sheedy is hoping his Premier County troops can continue their winning ways.
“No one died, the sun the will rise again in the morning, and please God Offaly will rise again some time soon.”
Faithful County legend Joachim Kelly was powerless to prevent their slide into the Christy Ring Cup.
“It means an awful lot. It would have been a huge setback for the group and for everything that they stand for. If you get relegated, you’re a failure, that’s the way it’s looked at.”
In the opposite dressing room, relief was the over-riding emotion for Kingdom manager Fintan O’Connor.
“I think anybody with a brain in their head would realise after about ten minutes of the second-half that it turned into a shadow boxing exercise.”
Westmeath manager Joe Quaid isn’t reading too much into their draw with Laois ahead of their Joe McDonagh Cup final showdown.
“I think in terms of intensity you’re going to see a completely different match, both teams didn’t stand back from it today but there’s obviously more there.”
Quaid’s O’Moore County counterpart Eddie Brennan agreed with his sentiments.
“I’m just delighted to be involved with the GAA, be it football or hurling, it’s an honour and a privilege.”
Roscommon boss Anthony Cunningham carved a niche for himself in the history books by becoming the first person to manage provincial football and hurling winning teams.
“We’ll have to evaluate it during the week … one thing for sure is it wasn’t a consistent performance.”
Kevin Walsh was left scratching his head after Galway’s four-point defeat.
Reck in no doubt Cats are favourites | cc/2019-30/en_head_0013.json.gz/line10830 |
__label__wiki | 0.956815 | 0.956815 | India Energy Storage Alliance - SunEdison Signs Solar Deal in India With Tata Power
SunEdison Signs Solar Deal in India With Tata Power
Location: Bloomberg Business
SunEdison Inc., the biggest clean-energy developer, will provide 180 megawatts of solar power to Tata Power Delhi Distribution Ltd., India’s largest utility.
The 20-year power-purchase agreement is the biggest SunEdison has signed under the open-access solar framework, which allows clean-energy providers to sell directly through the national grid to customers, the Maryland Heights, Missouri-based company said Thursday in a statement.
SunEdison, which on Monday bought Provo, Utah-based rooftop panel installer Vivint Solar Inc. for $2.2 billion, has sought to reinforce its position as one of the “supermajors” of the industry. At the same time the Indian government is targeting the installation of 170 gigawatts of clean energy by 2022 to try to lower India’s dependence on coal.
“This project makes a direct and powerful contribution toward India’s goal of generating 100 gigawatts of solar power by 2020,” Pashupathy Gopalan, SunEdison’s president of Asia-Pacific and sub-Saharan Africa, said in the statement.
The solar plants will be built in the state of Madhya Pradesh and will eliminate the same amount of emissions as taking 54,000 cars off the road.
The tariff for 90-megawatts is 5.93 rupees (9 U.S. cents) per kilowatt-hour while the remaining 90 megawatts gets a tariff of 5.97 rupees per kilowatt-hour, Gopalan said at a news conference in New Delhi. For Tata Power the delivered cost in Delhi would be 6.49 rupees for half of the contract and 6.52 rupees per unit for the other half based on current transmission and other charges, he said.
Gopalan said SunEdison is expecting to achieve a return on equity of 15 percent to 16 percent in India. “If I don’t get at least that, I will rather be a lender and earn a return of 12 percent,” he said.
Solar tariffs are on course for grid parity in India in 2-3 years due to improvements in technology, Gopalan also said.
(This news story is from Bloomberg Business) | cc/2019-30/en_head_0013.json.gz/line10835 |
__label__wiki | 0.794629 | 0.794629 | Registration: The 2017 Dr. Fritz Bamberger Memorial Lecture: "The Cairo Geniza in the Digital Age" with Professor Marina Rustow
Join us at the New York campus of Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion (One West Fourth Street, New York) on Tuesday, November 28, 2017 for the Dr. Fritz Bamberger Memorial Lecture. Professor Marina Rustow, Khedouri A. Zilkha Professor of Jewish Civilization in the Near East and Professor of Near Eastern Studies and History at Princeton University, will present "The Cairo Geniza in the Digital Age."
Name (Last, First) *
Are you bringing a guest? *
Guest Name (Last, First)
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HUC-JIR Email
The Jewish Daily Forward
Tablet Magazine | cc/2019-30/en_head_0013.json.gz/line10838 |
__label__wiki | 0.611791 | 0.611791 | Posts Tagged ‘NSSF’
Monday, April 1st, 2013
Via: National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF)
The National Shooting Sports Foundation today strongly objected to the last-minute reversal of the U.S. government position regarding the United Nations Arms Trade Treaty. In the closing hours of negotiations on Thursday, March 28, the government abandoned its previous insistence that the treaty be approved only through achieving “consensus” of all the member states. Requiring consensus had been the United States position going back to earlier administrations.
At the end of the session, a U.S. government spokesperson told reporters “It’s important to the United States and the defense of our interests to insist on consensus. But every state in this process has always been conscious of the fact that if consensus is not reached in this process, that there are other ways to adopt this treaty, including via a vote of the General Assembly.” The spokesperson went on to say that the United States would vote “yes” on the treaty in the General Assembly, regardless of the positions of other member states. By abandoning the requirement for consensus the United States is assuring passage of the treaty by the United Nations.
“This abrupt about-face on the long-standing United States requirement for ‘consensus’ illustrates that the Obama Administration wants a sweeping U.N. arms control treaty,” said Lawrence Keane, NSSF senior vice president and general counsel. “We are troubled by the timing of the Obama Administration’s decision to abandon consensus on the eve of the Senate debate on pending gun control measures. The United Nations treaty would have a broad impact on the U.S. firearms industry and its base of consumers in the U.S.”
Industry analysts have identified three major areas of concern with the treaty text. The treaty clearly covers trade in civilian firearms, not just military arms and equipment. It will have a major impact on the importation of firearms to the United States, which is a substantial source for the consumer market. And it will impose new regulations on the “transit” of firearms, the term defined so broadly that it would cover all everything from container ships stopping at ports to individuals who are traveling internationally with a single firearm for hunting or other sporting purposes.
“We hope that the Members of the U.S. Senate are closely watching the White House abandon its principles and promises in the rush to ramrod this flawed treaty into effect. Not only will they later be asked to ratify this attack on our constitution and sovereignty, but they will also be lavished with new promises from the administration in its drive to push a broad gun control agenda through the U.S. Senate when it returns from recess. They would be right to question those promises strongly,” concluded Keane.
Tags: Consensus, General Assembly, global gun control, Lawrence Keane, National Shooting Sports Foundation, NSSF, Obama, Small Arms Treaty, un, UN Arms Trade Treaty, UN ATT, United Nations, United Nations Arms Trade Treaty, United States
Trade Group Aids Texas Gun Seller’s Suit Against Feds
Wednesday, April 4th, 2012
Original Story VIA: The Texas Tribune
A national firearms trade association that boasts more than 7,000 members is helping finance a lawsuit in which a Texas gun dealer is challenging a federal reporting requirement for the sale of long rifles.
The Connecticut-based National Shooting Sports Foundation Inc., whose mission statement is to “promote, protect and preserve hunting and the shooting sports,” is helping finance a legal team for Golden States Tactical, a northern California firearms seller and NSSF member, in a lawsuit that was originally filed by San Antonio-based 10-Ring Precision Inc.
The company took action in August after the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives issued a rule last year requiring licensed firearms dealers in Texas, New Mexico, Arizona and California to report to the agency any time two or more long rifles are sold to the same buyer within a five-day period. The requirement pertains to rifles with calibers greater than .22 and capable of holding a detachable clip.
The bureau says the move is a good-faith effort to curb the illegal transport of firearms to violence-plagued Mexico. They point to a similar rule that has been in place for handguns as proof that the latest policy isn’t an assault on Second Amendment rights.
Sellers, however, say the requirement is government intrusion hurting their businesses and a power grab by the federal government, which invoked the rule without congressional approval.
“I am basically being asked to do something other than what is required by law by the ATF,” said Robby Betts, a licensed firearms dealer with Golden States Tactical. “I’ve got people not wanting to buy guns now.”
Tags: ATF, BATFE, Mexico, NSSF | cc/2019-30/en_head_0013.json.gz/line10840 |
__label__cc | 0.541603 | 0.458397 | Four Star Sales / Keeneland Sales / Four Star Sales Keeneland November Leading Consignor by Gross for Session 4
Four Star Sales Keeneland November Leading Consignor by Gross for Session 4
November 6, 2015 Four Star SalesKeeneland Sales
LEXINGTON, KY (Nov. 5, 2015) – Don’tforgetaboutme, a 3-year-old winning half-sister to recent juvenile stakes winner Mo Tom, sold for $675,000 to Claiborne Farm Bloodstock, agent, to top Thursday’s fourth session of the Keeneland November Breeding Stock Sale, which was marked by increases in average and median prices.
During the session, the second of two days that make up Book 2 of the sale, Keeneland sold 224 horses for a total of $25,013,000, down slightly from the gross of $25,351,500 for 245 horses sold in 2014. The average of $111,665 was 7.91 percent higher than $103,476 from last year, while the median of $90,000 rose 5.88 percent from $85,000 in 2014.
“Overall, I thought this session was very good,” Keeneland Director of Sales Geoffrey Russell said. “We had nine horses that sold for $300,000 or more compared to five last year in the corresponding session, which indicates consistency at the top of the market. The major players are still here buying horses, but you’re seeing some new people come onto the (results) sheets. That bodes well for the continuation (of the sale).
“Foals sold exceptionally well today,” Russell continued. “The foal market has started to change a little bit. In the past, pinhookers dominated the weanling purchases for resale value, but now we’re seeing end-users participate in the foal market. That’s good for the market and good for the industry.”
Through the first four days of the sale, Keeneland has sold 732 horses for $164,679,000, anb increase of 9.13 percent from $150,904,500 for 789 horses sold through the corresponding period last year. The average of $224,971 represents a 17.63 percent gain from $191,260 in 2014, while the median of $137,500 is 30.95 higher than last year’s $105,000.
Don’tforgetaboutme, a daughter of Malibu Moon, was consigned as a racing or broodmare prospect by Four Star Sales, agent for JSM Equine and Greathouse Horse Properties. She is a half-sister to stakes winner Beautician, second in the 2009 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies (G1), and stakes winner Bella Castani. On Sunday, her half-brother Mo Tom, a colt by leading freshman sire Uncle Mo, captured the Street Sense Stakes at Churchill Downs.
“She’s a beautiful filly and we really love her page,” Claiborne President Walker Hancock said. “We’re going to breed her to (Claiborne stallion) War Front. (She has) a great family, a lot going on. We’re excited to have her.”
Don Alberto Corporation paid the day’s second-highest price of $480,000 for Patsy Boyne (IRE), a three-quarter sister to Irish highweight High Chaparral (IRE) and Group 2 winner Black Bear Island (IRE), in foal to Scat Daddy. John Stuart’s Bluegrass Thoroughbred Services, agent for Merriebelle Stable, consigned the 4-year-old mare, who is out of the Darshaan mare Kasora (IRE).
“(Don Alberto) made a good buy,” Stuart said. “She’s a beautifully bred filly. (She was) the best-bred filly in the sale. It’s been a good day for us.”
Springhouse Farm went to $380,000 for Roughing, a 3-year-old daughter of Eskendereya, in foal to City Zip. Consigned by Four Star Sales, agent, Roughing is out of stakes winner Playcaller, by Saratoga Six. She is a half-sister to Grade 1 winner Diplomat Lady and Grade 2 winner Dream Play, dam of Australian Group 2 winner Zulu Land.
Selling to Blandford Stud, agent, for $360,000 was Mississippi Queen, carrying a foal by Scat Daddy. The 4-year-old daughter of Artie Schiller, out of the Silver Hawk mare Siempre Asi, is a half-sister to Grade 1 winner Asi Siempre. She was consigned by James Keogh (Grovendale), agent.
At $350,000, the session’s top-priced weanling is the filly by Scat Daddy of the Fusaichi Pegasus mare Obsequious, sold to Crupi’s New Castle. Eaton Sales, agent, consigned the filly, whose third dam is 1992 European Horse of the Year User Friendly (GB).
“I just loved her,” J.J. Crupi said. “Just a beautiful filly, a great big walk to her. I thought she was one of the nicest weanlings in the sale. I think you get value in weanlings. You can get them when they’re young and raise them the way you want to.”
Crupi’s New Castle was the session’s leading buyer, spending $1,270,000 on seven horses.
Four Star Sales was the leading consignor, selling 17 horses for $2,797,000.
The November Sale continues through Friday, Nov. 13. Sessions start at 10 a.m. The entire sale is streamed live at Keeneland.com.
Don'tforgetaboutmeKeeneland November Sale
Four Star Sells $675K Malibu Moon Filly To Claiborne (November 5, 2015) | cc/2019-30/en_head_0013.json.gz/line10843 |
__label__cc | 0.556369 | 0.443631 | Tags:the Brotherhood with Iraq
Home » Tag: the Brotherhood with Iraq
Help Fraternity in Iraq build a school in Basra
by Fraternité en Irak Fraternity in Iraq
EDUCATION – In Basra, in the south of Iraq, the visit of a team from Fraternity in Iraq to the abandoned Christian communities has led to a unifying project: the construction of a multi-confessional primary school to foster access to education and social cohesion between all, Christians, Muslims and Mandeans.
Early August 2016, Basra reached record-breaking temperatures with a scorching 129.2 F (54 C) in the shade! The third largest city in Iraq, located between Kuweit and Iran, in an area particularly rich in oil, currently undergoes a real economic boom. But its inhabitants’ morale is less thriving as they live in fear of increasing attacks and kidnappings.
The Chaldean Archbishop of Basra, Mgr. Habib Al Naufali, welcomed Fraternity in Iraq’s team with emotion. It is the first time that an association visits him in the three years he has been in office. Born in Tellkeff, a small village near Mossul, now occupied by ISIS, Mgr. Habib was nominated archbishop in 2014 by the Chaldean patriarch, Louis Sako. He is one of the supporting bishops who want to help Christian families stay in Iraq.
Mgr. Habib Al Naufali, Chaldean Archbishop of Bassorah
Full of faith and hope, Mgr. Habib is supported by two priests who lead the Chaldean community of Basra, and more generally the different Christian communities. And hope is really necessary here, because “the Christians of the south of Iraq feel abandoned in the tragic history of the country’s Christians”, explains the Archbishop. In these mainly Shiite areas, they try to survive despite the rise of extremism and its consequences. “From almost 1.000 families in 2003, there are only 200 left today in the city”, he underlines.
In Basra and its surroundings, the team from Fraternity in Iraq, in line with the association’s mission to help all minorities in the country, met with different Christian communities: Syriac Catholic, Syriac Orthodox, Armenian; but also Mandeans, and even a group of Muslims with old Chaldean origins, who are re-discovering this identity. The volunteers took some time to visit the refugee families from northern Iraq who landed here and live in modest trailer homes.
Basra’s youngsters with the members of Fraternity in Iraq
From all those meetings and dialogs with the local leaders – political and religious, came a new project carrying hope in the future: the construction of a primary school for the children of Basra. This school will welcome the Christian children as well as the Muslim and the Mandean children. Fraternity in Iraq has been supporting a similar and very successful school in Kirkouk for the past four years.
This primary school, which will open in September 2017, should be able to welcome 180 students in six different classes. As for logistics, the school will be built on an existing field that belongs to the diocese, and that already hosts a preschool operated by two Chaldean sisters. Hence, the preschool and the primary school will be located in the same area. The new facility will be called the School of the Annunciation.
The preschool building
This project has generated a strong enthusiasm from most of the city and political authorities in Basra, due to the quality of the teaching in Christian schools, highly recognized in Iraq. This is due to the high level of requirement of these schools – but also to their will to escape communitarian mindsets that divide the country.
Beyond the educational project, this school will create dozens of new jobs. For the minorities in Basra, it will also be a strong symbol and a pacified social space. Is there a better proof of hope for the future than to take care of the youth?
View from the future floors – already built
What budget?
Fraternity in Iraq committed to fully financing this project.
Here is a first detailed forecast budget :
Fraternity in Iraq relies on your donations to carry this project to term, and open the school for the start of the next school year !
15 septembre 2016 29 novembre 2017 Tags: education, Iraq, the Brotherhood with Iraq | cc/2019-30/en_head_0013.json.gz/line10844 |
__label__cc | 0.693925 | 0.306075 | Henry Williams
Finding our place in the Story of God
Variety in Worship Music
February 18, 2007 by Stephanie Kiel in Behind the Scenes
Good conversation today with one of our members. She was suggesting that we should have more variety in music styles in our services to reach a wider range of people. I love it when people want to reach more people with the good news, so she was speaking my language.
Here are some of the realities we face when it comes to choosing what music to do each week. I'll just list them without a whole lot of explanation, but maybe it will help some people understand why we do what we do in the way we do it.
We have time for 3 to 5 worship songs per week. Flow of worship is important, and that's not a lot of songs to create good flow. You simply don't create flow by scrambling a bunch of stuff together just to try to make everybody happy.
What appeals to one person is a turn-off to another. The fact that we did one song that appealed to someone doesn't usually make them feel better about the rest of the songs that turned them off. You may want to read that statement again, because most people fail to get this. You really, absolutely, without a doubt can't please everybody or even most everybody all of the time or even some of the time. You can't do it by just by offering more styles. And you can't "should" people into just taking the stuff that they hate (traditional music or edgy or contemporary). People will choose what makes sense for them.
A worship services that has a variety of musical styles in it is a style of worship. And it's a style of worship some people like and a lot of people very much dislike. But here's the kicker: very few love it. A lot of people love traditional services. A lot love contemporary or edgier services. But very few actually love traditional/contemporary/edgy services.
What we do reaches a boatload of people. Some day I really hope we can offer a worship service that is quieter and more subdued, because it will widen our reach. (I also hope to offer a service that is much edgier for the same reason.) I think we'll do it as soon as we can open the CLC for worship (and that will be after we build a corresponding children's space). But for now, it doesn't make sense for us to take something that works so well and trade it for something that might or might not work so well. It's a matter of stewarding the windows of time and space that we have.
Offering different styles requires different sets of musical skills and musical leadership.
Planning one set for worship is a lot of work, involving a lot of staff time and volunteers. Offering another, very different set at this time would probably stretch us to the breaking point.
As you look at the church landscape of our area, very few churches are doing what we're doing as well as we're doing it. But lots of churches are doing the quieter, more subdued musical styles. If they preach Christ and seek to hold true to the Bible, we're on the same team, aren't we? We don't all have to be doing the same thing, do we?
February 18, 2007 /Stephanie Kiel | cc/2019-30/en_head_0013.json.gz/line10845 |
__label__cc | 0.607156 | 0.392844 | March 31, 2019 by Student
The Music Project at Marymount Manhattan College: An Opportunity for Greater Success
Authored by John Blodgett
This is an image of the program for the 1976 fall concert series for the Music Project, which would be held at the Marymount Manhattan College Theatre. It describes the numerous songs that will be played at the show, the order of the songs, and the members of the Music Project.
During the Fall 1976 semester Marymount Manhattan College differentiated from its growing dance, and theatre programs to introduce a concert series that brought classical music to New York City. Marymount Manhattan College was a religious college, and is a college that prides itself on diversity as its mission statement states, “Faithful to the vision of its founders, Marymount Manhattan has a long history of reaching out to diverse populations in need of higher education”(Marymount Manhattan College, n.d.). The Music Project was a key program in its promotion of Marymount Manhattan College’s goal to provide opportunities for diverse and underrepresented people. As the Music Project consisted of a group of musicians from across the world, and provided an opportunity for these musicians to start their careers.
Posted in Marymount Manhattan College | Tagged Academic Service-Learning, Classical Music, Fall Concert Series 1976, Marymount Manhattan College, New York City, The Music Project, The William Bordeaux Collection | Leave a comment
The Many Faces of RMS Queen Mary and the Melting Pot of New York Harbor
Authored by Kyle Brinster
The British ocean liner RMS Queen Mary entering New York Harbor in June 1936.
Ocean liners like the Royal Mail Ship (RMS) Queen Mary have a long history and deep connection with New York City. Beginning with the British government’s grant to Samuel Cunard “for the carriage of mail by steamship across the North Atlantic in 1838” (Pike 2018, 59), both passengers and merchants moving cargo used the ships scheduled arrival and departure times to reliably navigate across the world’s oceans. Continue reading →
Posted in South Street Seaport Museum | Tagged Academic Service-Learning, boats, Fairchild Aerial Surveys Inc. collection, New York City, ocean liners, photograph, South Street Seaport Museum, World War II | Leave a comment
The Long Voyage Home – The William Harris Papers: An Avenue for Social Justice
Authored by William A. Slone
The Playbill for Tennessee Williams’ The Long Voyage Home by Eugene O’Neill collected by William B. Harris, who reviewed the play
Tennessee Williams’ play, The Long Voyage Home, by Eugene O’Neill was performed by Washington Market Playhouse, Inc. at Morgan’s Old New York Grill, a tavern, which supplied the perfect atmosphere for a play about the sea and sailors (Harris, n.d.). The Long Voyage Home was most likely performed in 1976 on Saturday, January 10th and Sunday, January 11th (MMM, n.d.). William B. Harris was in attendance during those dates and wrote a review of the play. His review is archived in “The William Harris Papers,” a special collection housed in the Marymount Manhattan College Library. The playbill and Harris’ review provide two examples of the Vincentian concept.
William Harris described The Long Voyage Home as one of the “best hours imaginable” in a waterfront bar where he stated that, “The performers themselves become as natural a part of the bar as the drinking patrons” (Harris, n.d.). He described what one would expect to hear in a bar of sailors – tall tales and songs of adventure, alcohol, loves lost, and the ferociousness of the sea. Harris pointed out that, “most significantly the play contained the spirit of all voyagers: men without purpose who are outcasts except from the cheap dives they frequent while in port” (Harris, n.d.). Harris emphasized that “loneliness and monotony are temporary, and the freedom of choice is limited – a male predicament” (Harris, n.d.). With his description of the sailors in the play, Harris conveys a voice for them who are under-and/or misrepresented. The sailors had demanding jobs and they had to be strong to endure their harsh life.
Harris mentions that, “Alexander Sokoloff directed the play quite admirably” but mentioned, “there was some problem with the handling of foreign accents” (Harris, n.d.). His statement is quite interesting! Listed on the playbill under the heading “Characters” several of the actors have an asterisk beside their name. The asterisk identifies them as actors appearing through the courtesy of the Actors’ Equity Association. The Actors’ Equity Association established on July 18, 1919 negotiated rules concerning bonding, which required producers to post sufficient advance funds to guarantee salaries and benefits; minimum salaries; rehearsal pay; restriction on the employment of foreign actors and protections in dealings with theatrical agents (History of Actors’ Equity Association, n.d.). The foreign actors had the support of the Actors’ Equity Association in The Long Voyage Home. This is a second example of the “Vincentian Perspective.” They were provided a voice by the Actors’ Equity Association because they were under-and/or misrepresented among other actors.
William B. Harris was multitalented. Among many talents, he was a writer for SoHo Weekly News, an advocate for new dance artists and an informal adviser to dance producers (New York Times 2000). Morgan’s Old New York Grill, at 134 Reade Street in lower Manhattan was close to home (New York Times 1976). His review which praised The Long Voyage Home and the playbill each provides an important example of social justice.
Harris, William. n.d. “The Long Voyage Home.” William Harris Papers. Marymount Manhattan College. Accessed March 9, 2019.
“History of Actors’ Equity Association.” n.d. Organization. Actors’ Equity Association 1913. https://www.actorsequity.org/aboutequity/history/.
MMC (Marymount Manhattan College). n.d. William Harris Papers: Archives, http://www.mmm.edu/offices/library/archives.php.
The New York Times. 2000. “William Harris Writer, 49,” July 29, 2000. 2000. https://www.nytimes.com/2000/07/29/arts/william-harris-writer-49.html.
The New York Times. 1976. “Going Out Guide,” May 13, 1976. 1976. https://www.nytimes.com/1976/05/13/archives/going-out-guide.html.
Posted in Marymount Manhattan College | Tagged 1976, Academic Service-Learning, Marymount Manhattan College, New York City, Play, William Harris Papers | Leave a comment
Ludlam’s Feuding Families in Corn-William Harris Papers
Authored by Renee Pistone
Clipping of the musical Corn that was performed in 1978 from William Harris Papers
The object here is the program for the musical Corn. The program is archived in the William Harris Papers at Marymount Manhattan College (Brown 2001, 4). This program is the image selected for my AS-L project because Corn’s theme is Vincentian compassion for all marginalized people. This AS-L project gives voice to those in theatre who are misunderstood and often not heard from. Mr. Harris’ expert critique about Corn helped fill the seats. Harris embraced difference and appreciated Ludlam’s genius and the extraordinary performances in Corn. Corn won an Obie award as a critically acclaimed play that propelled Ludlam’s career forward. The information below takes the readers on a tour of one evening with theatre off-Broadway critic William B. Harris. Marymount Manhattan College is known for its dance and theatre programs and it is the perfect location to archive the William Harris Papers.
Mr. Harris went to the theatre at One Sheridan Square Playhouse to tell the world about Corn in 1978. The Chelsea Playhouse Theatre was later named after Ludlam along with the street in front of it. Ludlam influenced people within the gay community and anyone else open to his unique artistic style.
Ludlam gives meaning to the country singer Lola’s struggles to reconnect with her troubled past. The struggles that Lola faced are found in amusing songs and dances (Harris 1978, 1). The main character Lola overcomes exploitation from a greedy Manager to showcase Corn’s social justice themes (Edgecomb 2017, 17). The play features feuding families and images of Americana. Corn’s message is to encourage universal love and peace (Kaufman 2005, 25). In many ways their lives intersect because Ludlam created plays that helped people overcome life’s obstacles. Meanwhile, Harris wrote his reviews to bring attention to Ludlam’s quest. The Vincentian philosophy involves helping others in order to deepen our faith. It is especially important to stand up for people who face persecution due to some aspect of their identities.
Playwright Charles Ludlam wrote Corn to provide the audience with a parody about social justice issues (Ludlam 1992, 3). Ludlam’s plays routinely feature themes related to sexuality and acceptance of others.
Brown, Mary. 2001. “William Harris Papers: Archives.” Marymount Manhattan College, http://www.mmm.edu/offices/library/archives.pdf.
Edgecomb, Sean. 2017. Charles Ludlam Lives, Michigan: University of Michigan Press.
Harris, William. 1978. “As Corny as Kansas in August and Better.” The So Ho Weekly News.
Kaufman, David. 2005. Ridiculous: The Ridiculous Life of Charles Ludlam, New York: Applause Books.
Ludlam, Charles. 1992. Ridiculous Theatre: Scourge of Human Folly. New York: Theatre Communications Group.
Posted in Marymount Manhattan College | Tagged Academic Service-Learning, LGBT, New York City, Play, William B. Harris Papers | Leave a comment
Charles L. Mee’s “The Trojan Women: A Love Story”
Authored by Sarah West
Newspaper clipping from The Village Voice of an advertisement for Mee’s “The Trojan Women: A Love Story.”
This advertisement ran in the Village Voice on July 9th, 1996. Charles L. Mee authored the play, and it was directed by Tina Landau. The play was a twist on Euripides’ The Trojan Women, Virgil’s Aenid, Hector Berlioz’s Les Troyens and “modern day” pop-culture (Brantley 1996). It followed the story of Aeneas and his men who leave Troy and sail to Italy. They are lost at sea and end up in Carthage. Here he meets and falls in love with Dido. Where this play differs from its inspiration, Dido does not die in this play. Continue reading →
Posted in Marymount Manhattan College | Tagged Charles L. Mee, East River Park Amphitheater, En Garde Arts, Marymount Manhattan College, New York City, Play, The Trojan Women: A Love Story, Village Voice, William Harris Papers | Leave a comment
Mapping the History of College Point: The Impact of Immigrants on a Neighborhood in Queens
Authored by Megan Smead
Map of College Point, Queens, NY from the Sanborn Map Company, Atlas 141, Queens V. 5, Plate No. 15, 1903, made available by the Lionel Pincus and Princess Firyal Map Division of the New York Public Library.2
The Sanborn Map Company created fire insurance maps beginning in the mid-nineteenth century, showing the location and construction of buildings and roads in major cities across the United States, which allowed insurance companies to assess fire risk.1 The Lionel Pincus and Princess Firyal Map Division of the New York Public Library has digitized many atlases and maps, including the Sanborn map in Figure 1, which represents College Point, Queens, NY in 1903. As part of an Academic Service-Learning experience through St. John’s University, I georectified this map, and others from the same atlas of Queens. The georectification process entails using the NYPL Map Warper tool to match coordinates from the historical map to a current map in order to align the two maps. Georectification of historical maps allows genealogists, historians, architects, urban planners and members of the public to observe geographic and demographic changes over time, and to make connections to the past. Volunteering my time and skills in service to the public by georectifiying maps allows me to strive towards fulfilling the Vincentian mission of service that is essential to St. John’s University. Continue reading →
Posted in New York Public Library, New York Public Library: Map Division | Tagged Academic Service-Learning, fire insurance maps, Immigration, Lionel Pincus and Princess Firyal Map Division, Maps, New York City, New York Public Library, Queens | Leave a comment
May 10, 2016 by Student
“Warping” through Queens history with the NYPL Map Warper tool
Insurance Maps of the Borough of Queens, City of New York, Volume Two, published in 1915 and digitally reproduced on the NYPL Map Warper according to a CC0 1.0 license.
Authored by Maddy Vericker
The NYPL Map Warper is a collection of New York-area maps and atlases that have been digitized and published online under a Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal Public Domain Dedication license.[1] The coolest thing about the Map Warper tool is that it is also a crowdsourcing project that relies on volunteers to pin old maps to modern satellite maps, a process called georectification.[2] Exploring the maps that populate the website reveals much about the history of a city that is constantly evolving, and in researching the Sanborn Map Co.’s Insurance Maps of the Borough of Queens, City of New York, Volume Two,[3] these changes are even more apparent. Continue reading →
Posted in New York Public Library, New York Public Library: Map Division | Tagged Academic Service-Learning, atlas folio, fire insurance maps, GIS, Map Warper, Maps, New York City, New York Public Library, Queens, Sanborn atlas, Sanborn Map & Publishing Co., Sanborn maps | Leave a comment
William Harris Papers – Bread and Puppet Theater
Authored by Rio Aucena
Archbishop Oscar Romero (giant puppet) from the Bread and Puppet Theater’s new production, The Nativity, Crucifixion and Resurrection of Archbishop Oscar Romero of El Salvador.
When historical pictures are unearthed, these items not only tell us about our past but connects us together as a community. Some of these go a step further and leave messages that inspire and instill worthwhile values such as love, respect and service.
While perusing Marymount Manhattan College’s William Harris Papers, an image of a giant puppet caught my attention. Equally attention-grabbing was the note attached behind the black and white photograph stating the snapshot was from the Bread and Puppet Theater’s new production entitled, “The Nativity, Crucifixion and Resurrection of Archbishop Oscar Romero of El Salvador.” With such a curious theater group name and an interesting production subject, my interest was piqued.
Posted in Marymount Manhattan College | Tagged Archbishop Oscar Romero, Bread and Puppet Theater, Catholic Church, Marymount Manhattan College, New York City, Peter Schumann, William Harris Papers | Leave a comment
May 1, 2015 by Student
Unaccompanied Minor Immigrants in 1910
Authored By: Anne M. Zadora
Above are the pages that document the conversation between Gennarino Pesce/Eddie Fish and the investigator from Naples, Italy. Images are copyright to the Center for Migration Studies and are part of the St. Raphael Collection.
Justice Neal’s memorandum, “The Homeland Security Act of 2002…. It also introduced a new term — unaccompanied alien child — to define a child who has no lawful immigration status in the United States, has not attained 18 years of age, and who has no parent or legal guardian in the United States… (2007).” This clarifies what it is meant in the modern era to be a child immigrant who has entered the United States of America without making use of proper channels. Throughout immigration history this instance has occurred, and with sometimes unfortunate results including deportation.
Posted in Center for Migration Studies (NY) | Tagged Immigration, Italian, Italy, migration, minor, New York City, St. Raphael Collection | Leave a comment
June 7, 2014 by Chris Lund
South Village Historical Walking Tour Review
Authored by Chris Lund
South Village Historical Walking Tour
Map and Presentation created by Leanna Ladouceur, Mary Glynn & Melissa Henderson
South Village Historical Walking Tour Powerpoint Presentation
This map and presentation combine to provide a detailed guided historical walking tour of Manhattan’s South Village, home to many Italian immigrants at the turn of the century. The tour highlights many key locations and areas, featuring buildings from this period which are still standing today, along with those that have been demolished and replaced. Historical photographs are provided to allow tourgoers to compare each area’s present appearance to its past. Additional information is also included about each stop, adding depth, context and perspective to the modern scenery. Continue reading →
Posted in Center for Migration Studies (NY), Exhibits, Scalabrini Fathers | Tagged Greenwich Village, Immigration, New York City, Our Lady of Pompeii | Leave a comment | cc/2019-30/en_head_0013.json.gz/line10847 |
__label__cc | 0.741238 | 0.258762 | NeuroMetrix Reports Q3 2017 Financial Results
NeuroMetrix Reports Q3 2017 Financial Results 30.5 KB
Overall revenue of $3.5M is up 5% year-over-year
Quell shipments of 15.6K devices are up 29% year-over-year
Quell shipments of 28.7K electrode reorders are up 99% year-over-year
Capital structure was simplified with 86% of outstanding warrants retired
WALTHAM, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- NeuroMetrix, Inc. (Nasdaq: NURO), today reported financial and business highlights for the quarter ended September 30, 2017.
The Company develops and markets novel therapies, based on neurostimulation and digital medicine, for chronic health conditions. The Company's primary product is Quell®, which is an over-the-counter wearable neurostimulation device for treating chronic pain. The Company also has a diagnostic business based on its DPNCheck® product, which is a point-of-care test that provides accurate and cost-effective screening, diagnosis and monitoring of diabetic peripheral neuropathy (DPN).
Revenue for Q3 2017 of $3.5 million was up 5% from $3.4 million in Q3 2016. Quell contributed $2.6 million in revenue and DPNCheck contributed $0.6 million in revenue.
Quell Q3 2017 shipments totaled 15,627 devices and 28,702 electrode reorder packages with a total invoiced value of $3.63 million. This compared with 12,086 devices and 14,391 electrode reorder packages with a total invoiced value of $2.90 million in Q3 2016.
Cumulative Quell device shipments crossed the 100,000 milestone.
Quell intellectual property assets were expanded with the issuance of a U.S. utility patent for automatically modulating therapeutic neurostimulation based on the user's sleep characteristics. In addition, the patent includes claims related to providing device users with feedback about their sleep.
DPNCheck Q3 2017 revenue of $0.6 million declined 18% from Q3 2016. Shipments included 39,950 biosensors versus 57,400 biosensors in Q3 2016.
An agreement for a $7.0 million private equity offering ($3.5 million of which was funded in July with the balance planned for October) incorporated the retirement of 4.2 million or 86% of outstanding warrants.
"The Q3 2017 financial results reflect continued Quell growth tempered by seasonality and unexpected events," said Shai N. Gozani, M.D., Ph.D., President and Chief Executive Officer of NeuroMetrix. "We are pleased to have grown the Quell business on a year over year basis. We also believe that Quell and DPNCheck revenue was impacted by the unfortunate series of natural disasters that hit Texas, the southeastern U.S., and Mexico. In the face of these circumstances, we increased our focus on cash management and were pleased that cash consumption dropped below $3 million in the quarter. We continued to invest in R&D, with particular focus on our third generation Quell platform that we expect to launch in 2018. We believe that this technology will enhance the user experience and substantially improve our gross margin."
Financial Highlights:
The Company reported its financial highlights results for Q3 2017. Total revenues were $3.5 million versus $3.4 million for Q3 2016, an increase of 5%. Gross margin was 42.5% of total revenues, up 240 basis points from 40.1% in Q3 2016. Operating expenses decreased to $5.0 million compared to $5.3 million in Q3 2016. Loss from operations was $3.5 million in Q3 2017 versus $4.0 million in Q3 2016. After interest income and changes in fair value of warrant liabilities, net loss was $3.5 million in Q3 2017 and $3.9 million in Q3 2016. Net cash usage in Q3 2017 was $2.9 million, down from $3.7 million in Q3 2016. The Company ended Q3 2017 with cash and cash equivalents of $4.0 million.
Company to Host Live Conference Call and Webcast
NeuroMetrix management will host a conference call today, October 19, 2017 at 8:00 a.m., Eastern Time. To access the call in the United States, dial 844-787-0799 and use the confirmation code 84863406. Internationally, the conference call may be accessed by dialing (661) 378-9630 and using the same confirmation code. The call will also be webcast and will be accessible from the Company's website at http://www.NeuroMetrix.com under the "Investor Relations" tab. A replay of the conference call will be available starting two hours after the call by dialing 855-859-2056, domestically and 404-537-3406, internationally. The confirmation code to access the replay is 84863406. The replay will be available for one week after the conference call.
About NeuroMetrix
NeuroMetrix is a commercial stage, innovation driven healthcare company combining neurostimulation and digital medicine to address chronic health conditions including chronic pain, sleep disorders, and diabetes. The company's lead product is Quell, an over-the-counter wearable therapeutic device for chronic pain. Quell is integrated into a digital health platform that helps patients optimize their therapy and decrease the impact of chronic pain on their quality of life. The company also markets DPNCheck®, a rapid point-of-care test for diabetic neuropathy, which is the most common long-term complication of Type 2 diabetes. The company maintains an active research effort and has several pipeline programs. The company is located in Waltham, Massachusetts and was founded as a spinoff from the Harvard-MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology in 1996. For more information, please visit www.NeuroMetrix.com.
The statements contained in this press release include forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, including, without limitation, statements regarding the company's or management's expectations regarding the business, as well as events that could have a meaningful impact on the company's revenues and cash resources. While the company believes the forward-looking statements contained in this press release are accurate, there are a number of factors that could cause actual events or results to differ materially from those indicated by such forward-looking statements, including, without limitation, estimates of future performance, and the ability to successfully develop, receive regulatory clearance, commercialize and achieve market acceptance for any products. There can be no assurance that future developments will be those that the company has anticipated. Such forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors including those risks, uncertainties and factors referred to in the company's most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K, Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q, as well as other documents that may be filed from time to time with the Securities and Exchange Commission or otherwise made public. The company is providing the information in this press release only as of the date hereof, and expressly disclaims any intent or obligation to update the information included in this press release or revise any forward-looking statements.
Statements of Operations
Quarters Ended September 30, Nine Months Ended September 30,
Revenues $ 3,546,680 $ 3,389,427 $ 12,162,861 $ 8,312,096
Cost of revenues 2,040,997 2,031,823 7,378,001 5,086,706
Gross profit 1,505,683 1,357,604 4,784,860 3,225,390
Research and development 840,577 1,202,651 2,621,445 3,487,291
Sales and marketing 2,919,504 2,959,311 8,436,497 8,199,469
General and administrative 1,258,466 1,165,815 3,925,595 3,882,461
Total operating expenses 5,018,547 5,327,777 14,983,537 15,569,221
Loss from operations (3,512,864 ) (3,970,173 ) (10,198,677 ) (12,343,831 )
Interest income 3,554 5,772 11,018 17,030
Change in fair value of warrant liability 327 56,248 208,480 227,873
Net loss $ (3,508,983 ) $ (3,908,153 ) $ (9,979,179 ) $ (12,098,928 )
2017 December 31,
Cash and cash equivalents $ 3,969,218 $ 3,949,135
Other current assets 4,251,453 3,637,788
Noncurrent assets 551,985 696,968
Current liabilities $ 4,255,017 $ 3,318,486
Common stock warrants — 4,641
Stockholders' equity 4,517,639 4,960,764
Total liabilities and stockholders' equity $ 8,772,656 $ 8,283,891
Thomas T. Higgins, 781-314-2761
SVP and Chief Financial Officer
neurometrix.ir@neurometrix.com
Source: NeuroMetrix, Inc.
News Provided by Acquire Media | cc/2019-30/en_head_0013.json.gz/line10852 |
__label__wiki | 0.511606 | 0.511606 | PA moves to join ICC have nothing to do with justice
From The Australian, February 11, 2015, by Einat Wilf*:
*Einat Wilf is a senior fellow with the Jewish People Policy Institute and an adjunct fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.
RECENT Palestinian moves to join the International Criminal Court are one more step in the decades-long campaign to vilify Israel and brand it in world opinion as “evil incarnate”.
It is a direct continuation of the “placard strategy” of anti-Israel activism, whereby Israel and Zionism are equated — whether in demonstration placards, speeches or writings — with a series of words: colonialism, apartheid, ethnic cleansing and genocide. These words are not chosen because they somehow reflect reality but because they are universally considered evil.
The effect of the continuous repeating of Zionism/Israel = Evil is to create an intellectual environment in which physically ridding the world of Israel would be considered desirable, even noble.
The purpose of the Palestinian moves in the ICC is to achieve official international sanction for branding Israel with the term “war criminal”, thereby adding an internationally sanctioned legitimacy to the placards used to vilify Israel and Zionism.
The purpose is not to seek justice by bringing certain Israeli officials to trial before the ICC but achieving an officially sanctioned international consensus that Israel, as a whole, is a war criminal country. As such, the resulting implication is that its entire existence is illegitimate.
This is a process that renowned human rights activist and former Canadian justice minister Irwin Cotler has named “laundering”: the campaign to delegitimise Israel and Zionism is “laundered” through the international human rights institutions. Given that this is the deep purpose of the Palestinian efforts to join the ICC and prosecute Israel through it, any effective response must address this deeper issue, rather than the issue on the surface: the ostensible legal battle.
Israel has invested substantial diplomatic capital in trying to prevent the Palestinians first joining the ICC and now in trying to prevent the ICC from accepting their status as a full-fledged state.
The most common interpretation of the Israeli efforts to prevent the Palestinians acceding to the ICC is that Israel is afraid of being “found out”. Most people assume that if Israel had nothing to hide it would not be so concerned; ergo, it has something to hide from the ICC. The ICC tries war crimes, meaning therefore that Israel must indeed be a “war criminal country” if it is so concerned about it. The Palestinians are achieving the goals of their ICC campaign — to vilify Israel in international opinion — before they have even been accepted to the ICC.
But Israel’s concerns about Palestinian accession to the ICC are not about being “found out” but rather about the failure of the UN and international treaty system of human rights to give Israel a fair trial. This is one of the greatest failures of the UN and treaty-based system of human rights.
There is no justice for Israel in the UN. There is definitely no justice for Israel in the Orwellian-named Human Rights Council. And there will be no justice for Israel in the ICC.
Israel is concerned about Palestinian accession to the ICC because it knows that no matter what it has done, what it does and what it will do, it will be found guilty.
The UN system and the international judicial system are structurally incapable of fairly judging Israel because they are numbers-based systems: one country, no matter how vile, one vote.
Israel has one vote. The Arab League countries have 21, the Muslim countries have 56. They have voted, and will always vote, against Israel. With such a high share of the votes they get still more countries to support them.
The outcome of this simple maths is that in all the UN bodies where the US cannot exercise its veto power, Israel remains alone, unprotected, and is regularly ganged up on by the countries that have the preponderant numbers.
Half of all condemnations issued by the UN Human Rights Council have been against Israel, equal to the rest of the world combined. Moreover, the condemnations against Israel are always absolute, whereas condemnation against other countries is usually softened with caveats and commendations for their supposed efforts to do better.
The same is true of the UN General Assembly — half of its decisions historically have been directed against Israel. The ICC, which has failed to establish itself as an impartial and credible body, is likely to do no better if it were allowed to attempt to judge and punish Israel.
The tragic irony is that much of the UN and its treaty-based system of human rights was created to counter the darkness of the Holocaust, then grossly misinterpreted and abused against the world’s only Jewish state, Israel.
Is Obama an immoral cretin?
Why Don't the British Like Israel?
PA moves to join ICC have nothing to do with justi...
Time for EU hypocrites to shut up and play by the ...
Make "peace" with this violent rabble?
Foreign Aid funds Arab terrorism in Israel | cc/2019-30/en_head_0013.json.gz/line10856 |
__label__cc | 0.692601 | 0.307399 | As someone who has watched the Winter Olympics for twenty years and has been watching sports in general for perhaps a little bit longer than that, it would have been difficult to have not heard about the United States Olympic Hockey Team from 1980. You know, the one that shockingly beat the dominant Soviet team, a Soviet team so strong it was beating the NHL All Stars in exhibition games. I knew this, but I didn't really understand. "Miracle" is the story of the 1980 team and follows the team from the formation to the conclusion at the Lake Placid Olympics.
We open with coach Herb Brooks (a nearly unrecognizable Kurt Russell) talking to a group of me, probably the US Olympic Committee about his vision for the squad and how he would like to form the team. He doesn't want to pick the best players, he wants to pick the best team. He knows this is the only way to have a chance against the Soviets who work so well as a team against the All Star Teams which are made up of individuals. Making the players into a team will be a challenge, one which is suggested throughout the movie as Coach Brooks asks the players their name and what team they play for and the players give their names and then their college (University of Minnesota, Boston College, University of Wisconsin, etc). It is easy to tell what answer Brooks is going for and not going and it is a bit later in the film that Brooks gets the answer he wants and that the viewer knows is a key turning point.
One would think that knowing exactly how the movie has to end would rob "Miracle" of dramatic tension. Somehow the director is able to make the viewer doubt that this team really is good enough to win in the Olympics at all, let alone to face the mighty Soviet squad which had won the previous four Gold medals for Hockey. Even when we get to the Gold Medal match is the ending in doubt. The US may have won their previous games, but these are the mighty Soviets. So much credit has to go to the filmmakers, the actors, the director, and the editor for cutting this film together in such a way that even knowing the ending does not lessen the impact of the ending, the emotion of the ending.
It is clear that I like this movie. It is a "feel good" movie in the best sense of the phrase because it isn't sappy and sweet, but a hard played game that brought out the best in the players and the underdog (which the United States is not used to being) is able to come out on top in the end.
Posted by Joe on Monday, December 12, 2005
I LOVED this movie. Blame it on my weird sentimental patriotism, or my strange passion for scene's like "again." Whatever. I just think this movie was completely fabulous. :)
I was going to quote the "AGAIN!" scene myself, but you beat me to it. I've got it on DVD and I've watched a few times and I am moved every time.
Buffy, Joyce, and Aimee Mann
All Rivers Flow to the Sea
Willow and the Narl
Brokeback Mountain: The Short Story
Riding Giants
Sin City: Recut, Extended, and Unrated
ANTM Cycle 5 Finale
Passing on Shoah
Kronk's New Groove
Hawkmoon
Kronk Quickie
ANTM, Lost, Clean House | cc/2019-30/en_head_0013.json.gz/line10857 |
__label__wiki | 0.578618 | 0.578618 | German Economy Research Department
Staff – German Economy Research Unit | Warsaw School of Economics
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Józef Olszyński (Prof. SGH) is the Head of the German Economy Research Unit of the World Economy Institute and Director of the Polish-German Academic Forum at the Warsaw School of Economics. He started his employment at the Warsaw School of Economics in 1972, with 16 years break due to work in the Polish diplomatic service in Germany. In years: 1993-2000 and 2003-2007 he managed the Economic and Commercial Department of the Embassy of Poland in Germany. He completed Masters degree in Economics in 1972. In 1978 he completed his PhD in Economics. In 1990 habilitation in international economic relations was granted to him.
Jürgen Wandel (Prof. SGH) is since 2012 representative of the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) at the Polish-German Academic Forum of the Warsaw School of Economics (SGH). He holds a PhD degree in economics and habilitation in agricultural economics. Prior to joining SGH he was senior researcher at the Leibniz Institute of Agricultural Development in Central and Eastern Europe (IAMO), Halle (Saale), Germany, DAAD-Lecturer at the German-Kazakh-University (DKU) in Almaty (Kazakhstan) and research and teaching assistant at the Institute of Agricultural Economics of the Martin-Luther-University Halle-Wittenberg, Germany. His primary research interests are institutional change in transition economies, Polish-German economic relations, business groups, economic and agricultural policy, competition theory and policy and Austrian Economics.
Andreas Bielig (Prof. SGH) is since 2006 member of scientific staff of the German Economy Research Unit. In 2006-2012 he established as first DAAD Fachlektor Wirtschaft with a DAAD scholarship the institution Fachlektorat Wirtschaft of Polish-German Academic Forum at the Warsaw School of Economics. Here he is still active in organization and teaching. He graduated in Economics from the University of Leipzig (Dipl.-Vw.), gained his PhD degree in Economics (Dr. rer. pol.) at the Technical University of Ilmenau. Habilitation in Economic Sciences (dr hab.nauk ekonomicznych) was granted him at Warsaw School of Economics. He worked as research fellow in area of environmental economics and sustainability at the Helmholtz Research Institute (UFZ) in Leipzig. He is also senior research fellow of Max Planck Institute for Innovation and Competition in Munich in fields of innovation and intellectual property. His scientific expertise includes: Intellectual Property, Economic Analysis of Law, Institutional Economics, International Economics, Economic Policy, German Economy and German-Polish Economic Relations, Automotive, Sustainability.
Katarzyna Kaminska (PhD) belongs since march 2018 to the team of the German Economy Research Unit. | cc/2019-30/en_head_0013.json.gz/line10863 |
__label__cc | 0.692295 | 0.307705 | UK Economy is in a Double Dip Recession - What is a double dip recession?
Figures released by the UK, Office for National Statistics (ONS), show that the UK economy is now in a double dip recession; the first time since the 1970s. What does the term double dip recession mean? The first step in understanding what a double dip recession is, involves defining the word recession. A recession is when the economic activity (GDP) of a country falls in two consecutive quarters (of the year). For example Jan, Feb, Mar and then Apr, May, June.
Economic activity in the UK is measured by the ONS and is reported as a figure known as the Gross Domestic Product (GDP). The Gross Domestic Product is the total value of goods and services produced by a country over a set period. The GDP for the UK in the first quarter (Jan, Feb, Mar) of 2012, was 0.2% less than the previous quarter. The GDP for the quarter covering Oct, Nov, and Dec 2011 was 0.3% less than the quarter before that. This means that GDP has fallen in two consecutive quarters and the UK is now in recession. GDP fell in quarter 4 of 2010 and quarter 2 of 2011 but as the falls didn't cover two consecutive quarters they weren't defined as a period of recession.
A double dip recession is when a country that managed to climb out of recession, falls back into recession. As the UK was last in recession in 2009, the current recession means that the UK is now experiencing a double dip recession. It is known as a double dip because if you drew a line showing how the economy was growing or shrinking, the line would go down (for the first recession), back up again for the period of growth and then back down again during the second recession.
If you would like to demystify more economic terms click on the following link: http://www.learnmarketing.net/marketingandthecreditcrunch.htm
Posted by Learn Marketing :The Educational Website Family at 16:30 No comments:
Does China's Economy Have A Small Puncture?
China is the world’s second largest economy. China is also the world’s fastest growing economy but recent events suggest that things are about to change. For 2012 China has set its lowest growth target for the country (since 2004) at 7.4%. In March China’s manufacturing activity suffered its fifth monthly fall. A fall in manufacturing will impact on China’s economy because manufacturing has made a big contribution to the economy’s success.
China has been exporting a large percentage of the goods it makes, so a drop in export demand will affect its economy. China’s largest exports are to the USA and Europe. Unfortunately for China both of these areas have been experiencing economic problems for a number of years. Recently the US and some European countries have had their credit ratings slashed. Whilst Italy and Greece have implemented emergency economic measures and the Republic of Ireland went back into recession at the end of 2011.
A slowdown in China is a concern for countries like New Zealand who export dairy goods to China. A slowdown also causes concern for analysts who believe that a global economic recovery will require a strong economic performance from China. Others may argue that China's recent action to cool down its property market is evidence of China's decision to opt for sustained growth instead of speedy and uncontrolled growth and it's not time to panic. Only time will tell who is correct.
Tesco Supermarket's UK Chief Executive Resigns
In January we discussed disappointing sales for Tesco supermarket in the UK over the christmas period. We also questionned whether Tesco was beginning to lose its position, as the leading supermarket in the UK. Today it has been revealed that Tesco's UK Chief Executive Richard Brasher has decided to leave Tesco. This is in response to Tesco Group Chief Exceutive Philip Clarke's decision, to take control of the supermarket's UK operations, in addition to his global role. Tesco's share price dropped in January following Tesco's announcement of poorer than exepected sales in the UK over the Christmas period. However Brasher's resignation decision does not seem to have affected the share price.An increase in share price indicates that investors believe that the event (in question) is likely to benefit an organisation, whilst a drop suggests (that they feel) it will be detrimental but lack of movement in the share price is difficult to gage. Does it mean that investors were expecting the event or are they simply unsure of its impact on the organisation. If the latter is correct it's not surprising; at this stage it is difficult to assess whether Philip Clarke will be able to balance his global duties with restoring Tesco's glory days in the UK.
UK Retailers Peacocks and Bonmarche to be put into administration
Yesterday Peacock Group, owner of high street retailers Peacocks and Bonmarche announced that it is going to put both businesses into administration. The Peacock Group are part of a long list of retailers struggling in the current economic conditions. In the past year a number of UK retailers went into administration (e.g. Jane Norman, Habitat, La Senza and Barratts) whilst others announced store closures (e.g. Arcadia Group, Carpet Right and HMV).However some retailers such as Debenhams reported better profit margins (during the Christmas sales period) than expected. Whilst others (e.g. Next, John Lewis and Marks and Spencers), reported a rise in online sales over the Christmas period. As these retailers are not discount chains it may suggest that in the UK "the traditional retail high street's" struggles are due to factors in addition to consumers with reduced spending ability.
Is it time for someone else to take Tesco's supermarket crown?
This week UK based supermarket giant Tesco announced a drop in sales over the Christmas period. This wiped off £4.9billion from its share price. Unfortunately for Tesco its UK rival Sainsbury's announced record Christmas sales. This is the first Christmas period since Sir Richard Broadbent was appointed chairman and Phil Clarke took over as chief executive. If you were in Sir Richard Broadbent and Phil Clarke's position how would you deal with this crisis. The solution could be more complicated than blaming the current financial crisis as rival UK supermarkets which are known to offer more expensive products than Tesco reported an increase in Christmas sales. For example Waitrose report a 3.8% increase in like for like sales in December 2011 compared to the same period in 2010.
Following Tesco's profit warning city traders are expecting a supermarket price war, this has resulted in share price drops for other UK supermarkets for example Morrisons Waitrose and Sainsbury’s. This share price drop is despite some businesses announcing good sales results and is a good example of the impact of competitive rivalry as described by Porter in his Five Forces Model. Porter's Five Forces Model is about the five key factors that influence an industry's performance.
The question for UK supermarkets is whether the share price drop is a temporary glitch or an indication of long term issues that need to be dealt with. Either way they need to decide what to do. Furthermore as Phil Clarke has announced that Tesco will be revising their UK business strategy, competitor supermarkets will need to ensure that their strategy includes flexibility to respond to Tesco's plans. This may be achieved through a combination of crisis management scenario planning and strategic management. Crisis management will enable a business to deal with periods of intense difficulty or danger whilst strategic management is about deciding how to achieve your objectives during “business as usual” trading conditions. Scenario planning is about looking at possible situations that could interfere with your business and planning in advance how to deal with them so that you minimise disruption and business loss. An example may be a crop disaster or a supplier failure.
As we all know this is a challenging time for businesses and world economies. In August 2011 heavy weight USA lost its triple AAA credit rating and this week France was on the list of European countries receiving a credit rating downgrade. The euro is struggling and the number of employees prepared to strike is on the increase. It will be interesting to see how supermarkets entice consumers dealing with rising costs and reduced income. Will Tesco be able to resuscitate their sustained 20 year period of growth? Or is it time for someone else to take the UK supermarket leader crown?
UK Economy is in a Double Dip Recession - What is ...
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25. “Response to Jakobsson on Human Body Shields”
Abstract: A grabs B and uses him as a body shield. That is, A hides behind B (A renders B helpless to resist his grasp), and from that vantage point, shoots at C. According to libertarian theory, may B shoot at C, or, is it proper that C pull the trigger at B? In the view of Rothbard (1984), the former is correct: B is entitled to gun down C. In my (Block, forthcoming) view, this is incorrect. Rather, it would be lawful to C to properly kill B. (Both Rothbard and I assume that neither B nor C can end A’s reign of terror). Jakobsson (2010) supports the Rothbardian position. The present paper is at an attempt of mine to refute Jakobsson, and, thus, also, Rothbard (1984), once again.
Download Paper: “Response to Jakobsson on Human Body Shields”
October 29, 2010 , By Walter E. Block Filed Under: Libertarian Papers, Volume 2 (2010)
24. “Hayek and Departure from Praxeology”
Abstract: Friedrich von Hayek is mostly known as a staunch critic of naturalist fallacy. It is claimed in the article that having been heavily influenced by Epicurus, he commited an identical error that he himself criticized. This opinion is based on Hayek’s application of Ernst Mach mind-body dualism criticism, Epicurean theory of irrational ethics and falsificationistic theory of knowledge related with atomistic view of the universe.
Download Paper: 24. “Hayek and Departure from Praxeology”
October 28, 2010 , By Jakub Wozinski Filed Under: Libertarian Papers, Volume 2 (2010)
23. “A Challenge to Ludwig von Mises’s Theory of Probability”
Abstract: The most interesting and completely overlooked aspect of Ludwig von Mises’s theory of probability is the total absence of any explicit definition for probability in his theory. This paper examines Mises’s theory of probability in light of the fact that his theory possesses no definition for probability. It is argued, first, that Mises’s theory differs in important respects from his brother’s famous theory of probability. A defense of the subjective definition for probability is then provided, which is subsequently used to critique Ludwig von Mises’s theory. It is argued that only the subjective definition for probability comports with Mises’s other philosophical positions. Since Mises did not provide an explicit definition for probability, it is suggested that he ought to have adopted a subjective definition.
Download Paper: 23. “A Challenge to Ludwig von Mises’s Theory of Probability”
October 19, 2010 , By Mark R. Crovelli Filed Under: Libertarian Papers, Volume 2 (2010)
22. “The Legacy of Johnson’s War on Poverty”
Abstract: The 1960s was a decade dedicated to experimentation within the Kennedy and Johnson administrations. Americans witnessed many significant changes and advancements in those ten short years, including the first man on the moon, a war in Vietnam, and successes in the automobile industry. Probably the most important of these changes was the War on Poverty, introduced by John Fitzgerald Kennedy and continued by Lyndon Baines Johnson and subsequent administrations. This paper examines the creation of a new class of reliance on government handouts, as well as a misallocation of resources.
Poverty was a well-known tragedy in third world countries. It was hard to believe that the United States, a leading nation of the world, was hit just as badly as those other countries. In fact, many Americans denied the problem for fear of the reaction from the rest of the world. In reality, though, many American families were struggling every day to provide food, shelter, and education for their children. Once this devastating misfortune was acknowledged, Kennedy dedicated his 1960 campaign to the New Frontier, which would encourage Americans to regain faith in their country by implementing programs to eradicate poverty. To succeed, Kennedy knew that the key to recovery centered on education. Improved education would provide the youth with better job opportunities, which would increase productivity, and therefore decrease poverty. Unfortunately, Kennedy was unable to follow through with his plans. After he was assassinated, Johnson took office ready to expand on Kennedy’s drafted plan. He wanted to look at poverty in a more positive way, as an opportunity to effectively change society. Continuing with Kennedy’s ideas, Johnson felt this change would best be accomplished through publics works programs. In his State of the Union Address, Johnson declared a “war on poverty” in which he would provide Americans with the tools needed to escape the world of poverty and make a living for themselves.
Under the provision of the Office of Economic Opportunity, created specifically to abolish poverty, programs were created to begin the process of recovery. Community action programs, the Jobs Corps, and Head Start are just three programs put into action to improve the status of the poor. Job training and education were the main functions of these programs, but the effectiveness is heavily debated amongst historians.
Though many claim that the War on Poverty was indeed successful, evidence shows otherwise. In viewing statistics from Congressional Records and other government documents, it is clear that the short-term effects were not worth the long-term consequences, and had the problem of poverty been left to the natural market, the issue would have been solved much more sufficiently.
Download Paper: 22. “The Legacy of Johnson’s War on Poverty”
October 3, 2010 , By Samantha Mazzuca Filed Under: Libertarian Papers, Volume 2 (2010)
21. “Robbers and Incendiaries: Protectionism Organizes at the Harrisburg Convention of 1827”
Abstract: Though lobbying for federal money may seem like business as usual today–with billions of dollars spent annually by companies, labor unions, and other organizations in an effort to win a piece of what has become an enormous federal pie–this was not always the case in the United States. An all-but-forgotten event, the Harrisburg Convention of 1827, may have been one of the key historical turning points in this regard, an opening of a floodgate that would transform the role of the U.S. federal government forever. It was in the modest Pennsylvania capital that a hundred of the North’s most influential manufacturers and public servants–backed by legislators like Henry Clay and Daniel Webster–assembled to draft a “memorial” to Congress, imploring that body to pass a protectionist bill to save their industries from what they viewed as eventual ruin. As Jonathan J. Pincus observed and Thornton and Ekelund echoed, “it is not small cohesive individual groups but larger diverse ones that are necessary in order to effectively lobby representatives and senators to obtain majority coalitions” in comprehensive legislation. The convention would bring together this “larger diverse” group—with just such a legislative goal. Meanwhile, mostly in the South, anti-protectionist opinion continued to surge. The Harrisburg Convention of 1827 would lead to the passage of that most hated piece of protectionist legislation—the “Tariff of Abominations” of 1828–and it would do so by framing the protectionist agenda into a nationalist “cause” borne of “patriotic duty.”
Download Paper: 21. “Robbers and Incendiaries: Protectionism Organizes at the Harrisburg Convention of 1827”
October 1, 2010 , By W. Kesler Jackson Filed Under: Libertarian Papers, Volume 2 (2010)
20. “The Human Body Sword”
Abstract: The human body shield problem involves an apparent dilemma for a libertarian, forcing him to choose between his own death and the death of an innocent person. This paper argues that the non-aggression principle permits a forceful response against the property of innocent individuals when a conflict is initiated with that property. In other words, a libertarian may shoot the hostage in order to save himself.
Download Paper: 20. “The Human Body Sword”
August 28, 2010 , By Kris Borer Filed Under: Libertarian Papers, Volume 2 (2010)
19. “Review of Huebert’s Libertarianism Today”
Abstract: Libertarianism Today, by Jacob Huebert (Santa Barbara, CA: Praeger, 2010), is an excellent introduction to libertarianism. In contrast to many other recent books about libertarianism, a consistent non-compromising libertarianism is defended throughout this book.
Download Paper: 19. “Review of Huebert’s Libertarianism Today”
July 18, 2010 , By Walter E. Block Filed Under: Libertarian Papers, Volume 2 (2010)
18. “Rand, Rothbard, and Rights Reconsidered”
Abstract: This paper examines rights and the protection of rights from both the minarchist and the anarchist perspectives. The former relies on Objectivist (and Neo-Objectivist) perspectives and the latter relies primarily on Murray Rothbard’s views. My view is that government protection as put forth by Objectivists is coercive, as are all methods of financing. However, under anarcho-capitalism, children (and those with diminished capacity) who have been killed or abused by their caregivers do not have equal (or any) protection under the law. The principle of equal protection is one with which both Objectivists and Rothbard agree. A case is made for government protection of rights under those circumstances. In addition, a case is made for positive rights to parental care for children, and also for government protection of those rights if they have been violated by their caregivers. I also argue for government oversight in instances when the rights of children (and those with diminished capacity) have been violated and as a consequence the children (and those with diminished capacity) have no alternative means of care.
Download Paper: “Rand, Rothbard, and Rights Reconsidered”
July 15, 2010 , By Kathleen Touchstone Filed Under: Libertarian Papers, Volume 2 (2010)
17. “Money and War in Murray Rothbard’s A History of Money and Banking in the United States”
Abstract: This paper is a presentation and an interpretation of Murray Rothbard’s views on the relation between the fiscal necessities brought by war and interventionism in Money and Banking as read from his book A History of Money and Banking in the United States.
Download Paper: “Money and War in Murray Rothbard’s A History of Money and Banking in the United States”
July 14, 2010 , By Leonidas Zelmanovitz Filed Under: Libertarian Papers, Volume 2 (2010)
16. “A Critique of Block on Abortion and Child Abandonment”
Abstract: The present paper offers a critique of Block on the issues of abortion and child abandonment. Block regards aborting a fetus or abandoning a child as an instance of exercising one’s libertarian right of expelling trespassers from one’s private property. I argue that the above reasoning is flawed due to the lack of the appreciation of the fact that if one voluntarily initiates the causal chain which leads to someone else ending up on his property, the latter person cannot be considered a trespasser. Furthermore, in the light of the above observation, any direct effects resulting from that person’s eviction should be considered the responsibility of the property’s owner. All of this follows from the simple logical fact that in all links of the causal chain under consideration the owner is the ultimate causal agent.
Download Paper: “A Critique of Block on Abortion and Child Abandonment”
May 28, 2010 , By Jakub Bozydar Wisniewski Filed Under: Libertarian Papers, Volume 2 (2010)
15. “William Pitt, the Bank of England, and the 1797 Suspension of Specie Payments: Central Bank War Finance During the Napoleonic Wars”
Abstract: Modern military engagements are made possible by a state’s ability to easily acquire revenue. By either taking the money from its citizens via taxation, borrowing funds through bonds or loans from private financiers or other governments, or inflating the currency by issuing bank notes without the backing of specie or another commodity, Western governments wield enough power over money and banking to fund any venture. British involvement in the Napoleonic Wars was no exception to the rule. This paper examines the role of the British government, including William Pitt and Parliament, and the Bank of England in manipulating the currency, by borrowing, taxing, and issuing Bank notes to fund the war with Napoleonic France in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries.
Download Paper: “William Pitt, the Bank of England, and the 1797 Suspension of Specie Payments: Central Bank War Finance During the Napoleonic Wars”
May 23, 2010 , By Lee Haddigan Filed Under: Libertarian Papers, Volume 2 (2010)
14. “The Importance of Christian Thought for the American Libertarian Movement: Christian Libertarianism, 1950–71”
Abstract: Murray N. Rothbard argued that there are many philosophic and non-philosophic arguments that provide a satisfactory basis for individual liberty. Rarely, however, did he discuss the claims of Christianity to be a suitable foundation for individual freedom. By looking at the Christian libertarians of the Old Right, between 1950 and 1971, the article contends that religious values were the most important reason for libertarians pursuing a society composed of free individuals during that period. By examining the journals Faith and Freedom, Christian Economics, and the Freeman, and the positive views of Rev. Carl McIntire, the author explains the philosophy of Christian libertarianism. It is the belief that individual freedom is only the highest political end; the necessary means for God’s Creation to develop unhindered their conscience and the full ‘sacredness of their personality.’ Christian libertarians maintain that individuals cannot be coerced by government to lead a virtuous life. They must instead be persuaded, by a true understanding of the life of Jesus especially, to choose to follow the moral life sanctioned by the Bible. The desire to follow the Golden Rule voluntarily, Christian libertarians explain, is the God-given template that allows a society of individuals to live in freedom. It was this Christian ethic, Christian libertarians insist, couched in terms of the Natural Law, that inspired the founding fathers to establish a system of government where the individual is free to enjoy their ‘life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.’ The article concludes by discussing Frank S. Meyer’s ‘fusionist’ attempt to find a uniting theme for traditionalists and libertarians, and suggests that it was the Christian libertarian philosophy in all but name. It also suggests that if America has any valid claim to be ‘Exceptional,’ then it is based on the nation’s traditional defence of individual freedom as a God-given grant.
Download Paper: “The Importance of Christian Thought for the American Libertarian Movement: Christian Libertarianism, 1950–71”
13. “Risking Aggression: Reply to Block”
Abstract: In his paper, “Is There an ‘Anomalous’ Section of the Laffer Curve?”, Walter Block describes some situations in which it appears that a libertarian should violate the non-aggression principle. To rectify this, Block proposes a different perspective on libertarianism which he calls punishment theory. This paper argues that no new theory is needed, as the non-aggression principle can be used to resolve the apparent conundrums.
Download Paper: “Risking Aggression: Reply to Block”
May 17, 2010 , By Kris Borer Filed Under: Libertarian Papers, Volume 2 (2010)
12. “The Third Axiom, or A Logic of Liberty: On the Structure of Ethics and Economics as One Unified Aprioristic Science”
Abstract: In this paper, the logical structure of ethics and economics as one unified science is investigated and found to be inhomogeneously represented in Austroliberal literature. This structure is here built from axioms, deductions, and definitions: It is first established in its self-supportive bareness, secondly represented by pivotal passages of libertarian literature, and then widened by a third axiom in addition to the classical first axiom of action and the second axiom of variety. This third axiom and the deduction that follows deal with supra-individual risks for the core of self-ownership and reflect on equality of inalienable, as opposed to alienable, property.
Liberty is found to be a dispensable term. Instead, self-ownership is the pivotal notion on which civilized, contractual society is founded: the rock bottom of is propositions as opposed to ought propositions. Alienable property is identified as the only effective, coessential, and congeneric protective mantle around inalienable self-ownership. Equality, with respect to this core of self-ownership, could possibly turn out to be the philosophical foundation for the claim by any ethical norm to hold true for all equally.
It is the present author’s hope that, by reinforcing and emphasizing the idea of self-ownership rather than the idea of liberty, this article will foster a greater acceptance for the libertarian desire for contractual solutions to social problems.
Download Paper: 12. “The Third Axiom, or A Logic of Liberty: On the Structure of Ethics and Economics as One Unified Aprioristic Science”
May 15, 2010 , By Peter Preusse Filed Under: Libertarian Papers, Volume 2 (2010)
11. “Building the Cathedral as Sanctuary: Recognizing Action as the Basis of Property”
Abstract: Using the concept of purposeful action, I define the necessary and sufficient aspects of any property. These qualities are derived though noticing that property is those things which are the object of a set of past, present, and future actions of individuals. The result is that property is the result of a change in the physical world which lends itself to control and is expected to grant a future value to the actor. By deconstruction, these qualities are used to show that aggression upon another actor is equivalent to a property claim in that other actor, enforcement of a property claim may involve an aggression, and conflicting aggressions may only be compared subjectively. Thus the novel concept of net coercion is introduced to delineate which actors are making an over-reaching property claim. This incorporates the common term of aggression as used by modern libertarian theorists, but allows for a further analysis when there are conflicts of possible or perceived aggressions; certainly attempting to minimize the net coercion of a system of actors is equivalent to the special case of striving for zero-aggression. After establishing the value-free concepts that entail property regimes I define the seeking of justice as trying to minimize the net coercion of any system. From this single necessary definition of justice, a number of problems are analyzed including the stereotypical commons, a construction equivalent to hostile encirclement, and claims of property in intellectual creations. The ultimate conclusion of this analysis is that property regimes with a positive net coercion are unjust and equivalent to property claims in the individual actors subject to the more aggressive actors, in essence, that they are the chattel slaves of the dominant actors in proportion to the amount of net coercion used against them. From these foundations, a philosophical system by which to analyze particular property claims is created and a suggestion of how law and economics should treat property claims is implicit.
Download Paper: “Building the Cathedral as Sanctuary: Recognizing Action as the Basis of Property”
April 21, 2010 , By Justin Altman Filed Under: Libertarian Papers, Volume 2 (2010)
10. “A Problem With Aristotle’s Ethical Essentialism”
Abstract: Aristotelian ethics is still very promising, mainly because of its meta-ethical naturalism. As in medicine, what’s good versus bad is based on knowledge of the nature of something. With the addition of a strong doctrine of voluntary action, the morally good life is one within which one pursues one’s human flourishing (by means of practicing the virtues). An obstacle is Aristotle’s essentialism whereby he stresses what is distinctive about human beings, not what is a matter of their nature, as the standard of right versus wrong conduct. If this is amended in Aristotle what emerges is what some have called a genuine naturalist, biocentric ethical eudaimonism. Here I sketch the case for this amended Aristotelian ethical view.
Download Paper: “A Problem With Aristotle’s Ethical Essentialism”
February 28, 2010 , By Tibor R. Machan Filed Under: Libertarian Papers, Volume 2 (2010)
9. “When Is a Monopoly Not a Monopoly? A Reply to Tibor Machan”
Abstract: Accused by Tibor Machan of equivocation and psychologising in Machan’s 2008 book Anarchism/Minarchism, Nicholas Dykes rebuts both charges and suggests that, on the former charge, it is rather Professor Machan himself who equivocates.
Download PDF: “When Is a Monopoly Not a Monopoly? A Reply to Tibor Machan”
February 21, 2010 , By Nicholas Dykes Filed Under: Libertarian Papers, Volume 2 (2010)
8. “Voltairine de Cleyre: More of an Anarchist than a Feminist?”
Abstract: The recently rediscovered Michigan-born poet, essayist, and political philosopher, Voltairine de Cleyre (1866-1912) has been celebrated by modern scholars as both an anarchist and a feminist. In this paper, however, it is argued that detailed scrutiny of her writings perhaps suggests de Cleyre, who spent much of her life in Philadelphia, was consistently an anarchist thinker, but that her ideas are not nearly so compatible with feminism as they have been portrayed.
Download PDF: “Voltairine de Cleyre: More of an Anarchist than a Feminist?”
February 19, 2010 , By Steve J. Shone Filed Under: Libertarian Papers, Volume 2 (2010)
7. “How Anticommonism ‘Cemented’ the American Conservative Movement in a Liberal Age of Conformity, 1945–64”
Abstract: With the publication in 1976 of George H. Nash’s The Conservative Intellectual Movement in America Since 1945, interest in post-WWII opposition to the dominant liberal consensus of the time has steadily grown. Most commentators on the subject, in the attempt to construct a coherent narrative, try to find the shared values that united the conservative movement in the early Cold War era. Invariably, they regard, in Nash’s word, the “cement” of conservatism in this period as anticommunism. Three other subjects, however, hold a greater claim than anticommunism in fusing together the disparate strands of conservative thought. Two of them, constitutionalism and opposition to the aims and methods of the United Nations, are topics for another essay. This article deals with a third conservative “impulse”; a disdain for the use of the power of the state, and cultural pressures, in forcing Americans to conform to the strictures of a liberal-dominated society. Focusing on conservative critics of education, the arts, mass media, social scientists, and the economy, the article contends that “anticommonism” helped tie together a conservative intellectual movement after 1945, because anticommunism could not.
Download PDF: “How Anticommonism ‘Cemented’ the American Conservative Movement in a Liberal Age of Conformity, 1945–64”
February 18, 2010 , By Lee Haddigan Filed Under: Libertarian Papers, Volume 2 (2010)
6. “Is There an ‘Anomalous’ Section of the Laffer Curve?”
Abstract: When an economy is at the upper part of the Laffer curve, a reduction in tax rates will, somewhat paradoxically, lead to a rise in the amount of money, both relatively and absolutely, the taxpayer will retain, but, also, to an increase in government revenues collected. The former result is a welcome one, from the libertarian perspective, not so the latter. Does this example exhibit a slight anomaly for the free enterprise philosophy (a rare case when a reduction in statism does not lead, unambiguously, to benefits), or does it furnish a true conundrum. The present paper argues that both are true.
Download PDF: “Is There an ‘Anomalous’ Section of the Laffer Curve?”
February 14, 2010 , By Walter E. Block Filed Under: Libertarian Papers, Volume 2 (2010) | cc/2019-30/en_head_0013.json.gz/line10873 |
__label__wiki | 0.921207 | 0.921207 | Astoria Characters: The Bakers Who Are Sweet on Each Other
by Nruhling
Astoria Characters
Oct 09, 2018 | 1938 views | 0 | 71 | | | permalink
Photo by Nancy A. Ruhling
Gian Piero is at 44-17 30th Ave.
Text and Photos by Nancy A. Ruhling
It is pouring down rain, but Michael Dellapolla, the owner of Gian Piero Bakery, doesn’t notice the deluge.
What he sees are the customers pouring in. Sure, he wishes the sun were out, but in the 23 years the bakery has been in business, he’s weathered far worse weather.
He goes out to do some errands, leaving his wife, Anna, in charge. When he returns, the rain has eased and there’s a line outside his door.
Michael and his family came to America when he was 11.
It wasn’t always this way. In fact, it was tough going in the beginning because Gian Piero was selling all-natural breads and baked goods when nobody else was.
“Our breads have a hard texture,” he says, “and customers thought they were old.”
The bakery opened in 1995.
He smiles, watching the Italian and American flags flutter out on the street in front of the shop.
Michael has a lot to be thankful for. Gian Piero, which has 30 employees, sells not only to customers who stop into the shop for a loaf of bread or a fancy cake but also to more than 200 restaurants in the metro area.
Anna has been working at Gian Piero since it opened.
The bakers work in two shifts, which necessitates Michael and Anna and their son, Gianni, being on the premises pretty much all the time.
Gian Piero, which is named for his son and his former partner, is Michael’s third successful business.
A baker ices some cookies.
This is all the more extraordinary given the fact that there are no precedents for cookies or cakes or commercial concerns in Michael’s family.
He, his two sisters and his parents left Nusco, a small town in Italy’s southern province of Avellino, when he was 11 years old.
Gian Piero’s products are all-natural.
They moved to Astoria, where Michael’s uncles owned property.
“My dad worked two jobs, and I started working after school at a hardware store when I was 12,” he says. “My older sister and my mother worked as seamstresses. It took us two years to save $11,000, which we put down on a six-family house in Astoria that we bought for $36,000. Our family still owns it; I live across the street from it in a two-family house.”
Oven mitts at rest between batches.
By the time Michael graduated from high school, he not only was working for a hardware store but also was a locksmith and burglar-alarm expert.
Michael didn’t get much time off, so it took him a decade to return to Italy to visit family. While he was there, he met Anna.
A baker gets the bread ready for the oven.
Anna, who was working on her family’s farm, liked Michael immediately and thought coming to America would be a great adventure.
“I didn’t know any English,” she says, adding that they were each 21. “But Michael’s family spoke Italian, so I didn’t feel alone.”
Working the dough.
When they married, Michael started driving a bakery truck to make more money.
“I did this for nine years, seven days a week, working from midnight until 2 p.m. the following day,” he says. “The money was good, and I built up a wholesale business. I was able to buy a house in two years.”
A baker gets ready to cut a cake.
Before long, Michael had a restaurant in Manhattan and Gian Piero in Astoria. In addition, for five years, he owned a bakery in Brooklyn.
“I was never home,” he says. “At one point, I had all three businesses together, and all I did was go from one to the other. Eventually, I sold the Brooklyn bakery, and I had to close the restaurant because the building was going to be torn down.”
Panna cotta ready for the mouth.
This gave him more time to devote to Gian Piero, which is where you’ll find him and Anna every day. She generally comes in at 5:30 a.m., and he follows at 6.
Sometimes she comes in in the afternoon and leaves a little early, but generally she stays until 10 p.m., closing time. Michael, however, is always around until midnight.
A baker puts the finishing touches on the biscotti.
Their 38-year-old son, Gianni, works with them. Their daughter, Laura Garfalo, grew up working in Gian Piero. She owns Senso Unico, a recently opened Italian restaurant in Sunnyside.
Gian Piero, which opened 90 days after Michael bought the building and renovated it, specializes in authentic Italian fare.
Oh, chocolate!
“We’re known for our Stasi Napoleons,” he says. “They are made from an old recipe I got from an old-school bakery in Corona that opened in 1950. It’s very simple – it has layers of dough and powdered sugar on top. It’s a light dessert.”
The Corona bakery owner, a bachelor who had been in business for decades, finally retired, but Michael and Anna are too busy to think about such things.
They assume that Gianni will take over Gian Piero, but things could change. After all, he has a family and would like to spend some time with them.
Gian Piero has over 200 wholesale clients.
“That’s why we’re still here,” Michael says. “To make sure he wants it; if he doesn’t, we’ll have to sell it.”
Michael and Anna, who generally take a couple weeks’ vacation every couple of years, talk, rather vaguely and unconvincingly, about traveling.
The open door of the sfogliatelle cabinet is so enticing.
“My life is work every day,” Anna says, adding that one of her primary roles is filling in for staff members who are ill or on vacation. “I get very tired, but I cannot leave the business alone.”
Michael figures they have about seven working years left; Anna doesn’t disagree with this.
I’ll have that. And that. And that.
A staff member sticks his head into Michael’s office to tell him he’s going to make a delivery.
Michael nods and gives him the OK; a few minutes later, he standing on the sidewalk with Anna and Laura greeting customers, who arrive with umbrellas under their arms and leave with white boxes tied with green and white string.
Astoria Characters Day: The 10th Anniversary is Sept. 22, 2019. It’s a free, public event.
Nancy A. Ruhling may be reached at Nruhling@gmail.com;
@nancyruhling; nruhling on Instagram, nancyruhling.com,
astoriacharacters.com.
Copyright 2018 by Nancy A. Ruhling | cc/2019-30/en_head_0013.json.gz/line10874 |
__label__wiki | 0.568967 | 0.568967 | The Resource Fish and wildlife miscellaneous : hearings before the Subcommittee on Fisheries and Wildlife Conservation and the Environment of the Committee on Merchant Marine and Fisheries, House of Representatives, Ninety-ninth Congress, first session, Part 3, National Wildlife Refuge System (H.R. 1789) and Nongame Act reauthorizations (H.R. 1406), April 17, 1985 : Fish and Wildlife Coordination Act (H.R. 2704), June 20, 1985 : Eastern Shore of Virginia National Wildlife Refuge and Cape Charles National Fish and Wildlife Service Training Center (H.R. 1404), July 17, 1985
Fish and wildlife miscellaneous : hearings before the Subcommittee on Fisheries and Wildlife Conservation and the Environment of the Committee on Merchant Marine and Fisheries, House of Representatives, Ninety-ninth Congress, first session, Part 3, National Wildlife Refuge System (H.R. 1789) and Nongame Act reauthorizations (H.R. 1406), April 17, 1985 : Fish and Wildlife Coordination Act (H.R. 2704), June 20, 1985 : Eastern Shore of Virginia National Wildlife Refuge and Cape Charles National Fish and Wildlife Service Training Center (H.R. 1404), July 17, 1985
The item Fish and wildlife miscellaneous : hearings before the Subcommittee on Fisheries and Wildlife Conservation and the Environment of the Committee on Merchant Marine and Fisheries, House of Representatives, Ninety-ninth Congress, first session, Part 3, National Wildlife Refuge System (H.R. 1789) and Nongame Act reauthorizations (H.R. 1406), April 17, 1985 : Fish and Wildlife Coordination Act (H.R. 2704), June 20, 1985 : Eastern Shore of Virginia National Wildlife Refuge and Cape Charles National Fish and Wildlife Service Training Center (H.R. 1404), July 17, 1985 represents a specific, individual, material embodiment of a distinct intellectual or artistic creation found in Biddle Law Library.
Washington, U.S. Government Printing Office, 1985
1 online resource (iv, 267 pages)
"Serial no. 99-12."
(c)2012 Cassidy Cataloguing Services, Inc
Fish and wildlife miscellaneous
hearings before the Subcommittee on Fisheries and Wildlife Conservation and the Environment of the Committee on Merchant Marine and Fisheries, House of Representatives, Ninety-ninth Congress, first session
National Wildlife Refuge System (H.R. 1789) and Nongame Act reauthorizations (H.R. 1406), April 17, 1985 : Fish and Wildlife Coordination Act (H.R. 2704), June 20, 1985 : Eastern Shore of Virginia National Wildlife Refuge and Cape Charles National Fish and Wildlife Service Training Center (H.R. 1404), July 17, 1985
Fish and wildlife miscellaneous : hearings before the Subcommittee on Fisheries and Wildlife Conservation and the Environment of the Committee on Merchant Marine and Fisheries, House of Representatives, Ninety-ninth Congress, first session. Part 3
Fishery law and legislation -- United States
Wildlife conservation -- Law and legislation -- United States
U.S. Congressional documents, Congressional hearings
Animal studies: law, welfare and rights
NjRocCCS
.M447 1985 pt. 3
HeinOnline U.S. Congressional documents. Congressional hearings
HeinOnline animal studies: law, welfare and rights
Fishery law and legislation
Buffalo, New York, William S. Hein & Co., 2012
Includes bibliographical references (pages 243-244)
illustrations, maps.
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Data Citation of the Item Fish and wildlife miscellaneous : hearings before the Subcommittee on Fisheries and Wildlife Conservation and the Environment of the Committee on Merchant Marine and Fisheries, House of Representatives, Ninety-ninth Congress, first session, Part 3, National Wildlife Refuge System (H.R. 1789) and Nongame Act reauthorizations (H.R. 1406), April 17, 1985 : Fish and Wildlife Coordination Act (H.R. 2704), June 20, 1985 : Eastern Shore of Virginia National Wildlife Refuge and Cape Charles National Fish and Wildlife Service Training Center (H.R. 1404), July 17, 1985
http://link.law.upenn.edu/portal/Fish-and-wildlife-miscellaneous--hearings-before/JtaTORqS8gE/
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__label__wiki | 0.510037 | 0.510037 | Protocol amending tax convention with Germany : message from the President of the United States transmitting Protocol Amending the Convention Between the United States of America and the Federal Republic of Germany for the Avoidance of Double Taxation and the Prevention of Fiscal Evasion with Respect to Taxes on Income and Capital and to Certain Other Taxes, signed on August 29, 1989, signed at Berlin June 1, 2006 (the "protocol"), along with a related joint declaration
The work Protocol amending tax convention with Germany : message from the President of the United States transmitting Protocol Amending the Convention Between the United States of America and the Federal Republic of Germany for the Avoidance of Double Taxation and the Prevention of Fiscal Evasion with Respect to Taxes on Income and Capital and to Certain Other Taxes, signed on August 29, 1989, signed at Berlin June 1, 2006 (the "protocol"), along with a related joint declaration represents a distinct intellectual or artistic creation found in Indiana State Library. This resource is a combination of several types including: Work, Language Material, Books.
The Resource Protocol amending tax convention with Germany : message from the President of the United States transmitting Protocol Amending the Convention Between the United States of America and the Federal Republic of Germany for the Avoidance of Double Taxation and the Prevention of Fiscal Evasion with Respect to Taxes on Income and Capital and to Certain Other Taxes, signed on August 29, 1989, signed at Berlin June 1, 2006 (the "protocol"), along with a related joint declaration
message from the President of the United States transmitting Protocol Amending the Convention Between the United States of America and the Federal Republic of Germany for the Avoidance of Double Taxation and the Prevention of Fiscal Evasion with Respect to Taxes on Income and Capital and to Certain Other Taxes, signed on August 29, 1989, signed at Berlin June 1, 2006 (the "protocol"), along with a related joint declaration
United States, Congress | Senate | Committee on Foreign Relations
United States, President (2001-2009 : Bush)
Income tax -- Law and legislation -- United States
Double taxation -- Germany -- Treaties
Double taxation -- United States -- Treaties
Income tax -- Law and legislation -- Germany
trueTreaties
Treaties, etc, Protocols, etc.
Treaty doc., 109-20
Treaty doc.
Context of Protocol amending tax convention with Germany : message from the President of the United States transmitting Protocol Amending the Convention Between the United States of America and the Federal Republic of Germany for the Avoidance of Double Taxation and the Prevention of Fiscal Evasion with Respect to Taxes on Income and Capital and to Certain Other Taxes, signed on August 29, 1989, signed at Berlin June 1, 2006 (the "protocol"), along with a related joint declaration
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Data Citation of the Work Protocol amending tax convention with Germany : message from the President of the United States transmitting Protocol Amending the Convention Between the United States of America and the Federal Republic of Germany for the Avoidance of Double Taxation and the Prevention of Fiscal Evasion with Respect to Taxes on Income and Capital and to Certain Other Taxes, signed on August 29, 1989, signed at Berlin June 1, 2006 (the "protocol"), along with a related joint declaration
http://link.library.in.gov/resource/xXyxt6yApI8/
http://library.link/resource/xXyxt6yApI8/ | cc/2019-30/en_head_0013.json.gz/line10876 |
__label__wiki | 0.892139 | 0.892139 | 1993 | No Reason to Treat Us Differently
First published in The Independent
Ian McKellen urges Parliament to lower the age of consent for homosexuals to 16, the same as everyone else
In February last year, the Harris Survey asked the following question: "Should the age of consent — that is, the age at which people can legally have sex together in private — be the same for everyone, irrespective of their gender or sexual orientation, or not?" In response, 74 per cent of those surveyed agreed that the age of consent should be the same for everyone.
The principle of equality in this matter is well-established in European law. This year Russia has accepted it. Last month, as part of a major reform of all laws regarding lesbians and gay men, Ireland included an equal age of consent. The United Kingdom lags oddly behind our close neighbours, so it is welcome news that the Prime Minister is now prepared to test whether Parliament is ready to catch up with Europe and with public opinion in Britain.
Twenty-five years ago gay male sex was decriminalised in England and Wales. Scotland and Northern Ireland eventually followed suit. In 1967, Parliament, on a free vote, agreed that the- age at which two men could legally consent to make love in private should be the same as the age of majority, which was then 21. Although the age of majority has since been changed to 18, the age of consent for gay men remains fixed at 21. This does not apply to their peers, whether heterosexuals or lesbians, who are free to make love at 16.
Under Mr Major’s premiership, the Isles of Jersey and Man have been persuaded to adopt the same law. Gibraltar has settled at 18 for gays. This is in line with the Prime Minister's long-held belief that 21 is too high. When he announced that homosexuality would no longer be a bar to advancement in the diplomatic service, he said he was responding to a change in public attitudes and seemed to welcome the increasing number of gays who are prepared to be open about their sexuality. Will he now declare his support for equality? If so, he will find he has allies on all sides.
At the last election, Labour promised a free vote on the issue, briefing its candidates that "Labour is committed to ensuring that the law treats lesbians and gays equally". Paddy Ashdown has told the group Stonewall, on behalf of the Liberal Democrats: "We support a common age of consent." So do Plaid Cymru and the Scottish National Party. Last year the group Torche was founded by "Conservatives — gay or straight — who wish to see legal equality for all of Britain's citizens, regardless of their sexuality".
Justice is not a forgone conclusion. As the recent discovery of a possible "gay gene" confirms, any discussion of homosexuality exposes extremism. Last week, for example, Lord Jakobovits, the former Chief Rabbi, compared homosexuality with kleptomania, adultery and murder. There has been much unsavoury debate as to whether a mother would have the right to abort her "gay foetus".
The forthcoming Westminster debate will, however, reveal more familiar worries. We shall hear, once more, that boys mature later than girls and need the current law to protect them from what may be only a "homosexual stage". Medical opinion is almost unanimous that basic sexual orientation is fixed by the age of 16. There is no evidence that patterns of sexual behaviour affect that basic orientation. Indeed, in my experience, there is an abundance of evidence to the contary. Constant conditioning in my youth and social pressure in every department of my life all failed to convert me to heterosexuality.
Some fear that an equal age of consent would make 16-21 year old men vulnerable to older men. Surely no more than women of the same age are? That is why, already, there are adequate laws, with appropriate punishment, that should apply to all predators. The issue is whether 16 is too young an age for a man to consent. Well, the law says he is old enough to have sex with his girlfriend. He may marry her and have children. He can join the Army — so long as he doesn't say he is gay. By 18 he can vote, buy a house and start a business. Yet the law finds him less capable than, say, his twin sister, of resisting unwelcome advances. What is it about British men that they should be thought more peculiarly vulnerable than British women or their counterparts in the rest of Europe?
We will be told that young men should continue to be dissuaded from homosexuality because gay men lead such unhappy and unstable lives. Those of us at ease with our sexuality are neither unhappy nor unstable. Those gay men who have difficulty with their sexuality suffer greatly because of the discrimination they face. This discrimination starts with the unequal age of consent.
Then there is AIDS. The law as it stands is much more dangerous than its repeal. Young people need to be educated about the sad dangers of all kinds of penetrative sex. Such education cannot be effective, in or out of the class-room, unless the whole subject is openly discussed. The existing law, let's face it, is broken by some young gay men, many of whom are promiscuous. Are they likely to be open about their criminality? Counsellors may not encourage stable homosexual relationships, as a defence against sexually transmitted disease, for fear of committing the crime of incitement to illegal sex.
Perhaps the argument for reform will finally be won by those it most concerns. Hugh Greenhalgh, 20, and his boyfriend, Will Parry, 24, have applied to the European Court of Human Rights to protect thei from the British law that criminalises their partnership. As they say, "The only other things you can't do until you are 21 are get a heavy goods vehicle licence and stand for Parliament."
The law is ridiculous. We are happy with our sexuality Why should we be treated differently from all our friends? — Ian McKellen
Ian McKellen leaves 10 Downing Street after meeting with the Prime Minister | cc/2019-30/en_head_0013.json.gz/line10885 |
__label__wiki | 0.957466 | 0.957466 | Controversy, drama result in Djokovic vs. Nishikori semifinal at Sony Open
Tags: ATP, ATP Masters Miami, Djokovic, Federer, Miami Masters, Murray, Nishikori, Sony Open
Miami, Ricky Dimon
After a wild Wednesday at the Sony Open Tennis tournament in Miami, the first men’s singles semifinal is set. It will not be a rematch of the Indian Wells final between Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer. Instead, Djokovic will be going up against Kei Nishikori.
Djokovic beat Andy Murray 7-5, 6-3 before Nishikori upset Federer 3-6, 7-5, 6-4.
Despite the straightforward scoreline compared to that of the nightcap, even Djokovic’s quarterfinal win was not without some dramatic moments. With Murray serving at 5-5 in the first set, Djokovic appeared to reach over the net to put away a volley for a 0-15 lead. The Serb even admitted it, but chair umpire Damian Steiner said that the racket had made contact with the ball prior to crossing the net. Obviously disgusted although keeping his outward emotions mostly in check, Murray promptly dropped serve at love to end the set. That meant that Murray, who had earned a break point at 5-5, lost the final seven points of the opening frame.
“Look, I’m going to be completely honest with you,” Djokovic told the press. “I did pass the net with my racket and I told Andy that. I told him that I did not touch the net. My bad. I thought that it’s allowed, to cross on his side without touching the net. That’s why I thought I won the point.
“I did not know that the rule is that I’m not allowed to cross the net. That’s all I can say. At that point I told him, ‘I crossed the net.’ But I thought that it’s allowed without touching the net.”
“From where I was standing, it was a very hard thing to see, but it’s a lot easier if you’re looking straight across the net to see whether someone is over or not,” Murray explained. “For me, it’s impossible to tell from where I was, but I knew it was close. So that’s why I went and asked Novak, and he told me he was over the net. That was it.”
What the second semifinal lacked in controversy, it made up for in competitiveness. An in-form Federer seemed to be on his way to another dominant victory in Miami with a set and a break lead in hand, but Nishikori had other ideas. Japan’s top player had saved four match points to outlast David Ferrer in a third-set tiebreaker the previous day, so he was not about to go down without a fight.
Nishikori broke back then wrapped up each of the final two sets with breaks–at 6-5 in the second and 5-4 in the third. He now leads the head-to-head series against Federer 2-1.
“It’s really a pleasure to beat him and I’m happy to be in the semifinals,” Nishikori said. “I was down a break in the second set but I was returning well. I was serving well, especially in the third set, so that’s why I was holding my serve [easily]…. I thought I really played well. I was hitting both deep and striking well.”
Ricky Dimon is a contributor in Miami and writes for tenngrand.com. You can follow him on Twitter under @RD_Tennistalk by clicking here.
« Li Na, Cibulkova advance to Sony Open semifinals
Serena Williams, Li Na advance to the 2014 Sony Open Final » | cc/2019-30/en_head_0013.json.gz/line10886 |
__label__wiki | 0.728442 | 0.728442 | Home News SPUR DRAMA: Eyewitness explains what REALLY happened before cameras rolled
SPUR DRAMA: Eyewitness explains what REALLY happened before cameras rolled
‘It is important to let people know that the video posted on social media only reflects a part of the truth.’
A tornado of remarks regarding the incident that happened at the Texamo Spur in The Glen Shopping Centre on Sunday have been posted on social media.
The incident showed a man and a woman – both parents of children who had caused havoc in the playground – yelling profane remarks at each other.
Since the incident, various eyewitnesses have contacted the Krugersdorp News stating that they saw what really happened.
Johan Lloyd and his wife were sitting next to the playground against the glass divider when the havoc started.
Lloyd said he noticed a large group of children playing next to him. Suddenly, one child grabbed another by the arm and hit her in the face with the back of his fist.
“The girl that was struck immediately ran out of the playground to her dad,” said Lloyd. “She was crying and holding her face.”
Her dad, who is believed to be a resident of Krugersdorp, asked what had happened, and she told him she had been hit in the face by another child.
“The man then walked calmly over to the group of children his daughter pointed out,” said Lloyd.
“I heard him introducing himself to the woman sitting among the children and saying that he had a slight problem. He then asked the woman very politely to discipline her child because he had hit the girl in the face. He also said she should please just talk to her son because ‘it’s not on’.
“Then the woman got up and told him to f**k off.”
All of this occurred before the people sitting next to the table took out their camera and started recording the incident.
The man then asked the woman why she had started cursing him. At this point, the customers at the next table took out a camera and started recording – and this is when the ordeal on camera started.
It is alleged that when the incident became heated, a waiter approached Lloyd and asked him to speak to the man, who was fairly angry.
“I told my wife to go get the kids and got up to calm the situation,” said Lloyd.
Lloyd can be seen intervening in the argument – he is the man with the red shirt.
“I told him to leave it because she was provoking him and he turned around to walk out.”
After the incident, Spur’s management spoke to the man, who then left the restaurant.
“I feel that if both the customers had been more accommodating towards each other, they could have prevented the whole ordeal.
“It is important to let people know that the video posted on social media only reflects a part of the truth, as events prior to the video were not recorded.
“This was definitely not a normal Spur family day,” said Lloyd.
Spur has apologised to the woman in the video, Lebohang Mabuya, and confirmed that their own CCTV footage showed the man had grabbed her child “in an aggressive manner and his actions are unacceptable”.
In a statement, Spur said: “We have reviewed our CCTV footage of the incident and can confirm that Ms Mabuya’s version of events is accurate.
“We affirm our decision to ban the male customer from our stores. Physical aggression towards our customers‚ particularly against women and children, will not be tolerated.
“We acknowledge that the staff and management of the store did not sufficiently assist Ms Mabuya. We have addressed this with the store management and we are reviewing our internal procedures to ensure that restaurant staff are better equipped to manage an incident such as this. We also recognise that Ms Mabuya apologised in recent media statements for her inappropriate language used in this incident.”
Spur CEO Pierre van Tonder also said they planned to offer Mabuya and her family trauma counselling and any other support where possible.
“I would like to again make it very clear that as an organisation we do not condone any forms of violence against women or children‚ irrespective of the circumstances.
“As an organisation we have learnt a valuable lesson and it is my priority at this stage to ensure that should something like happen again‚ our staff will be sufficiently prepared.”
thetribune
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__label__wiki | 0.870556 | 0.870556 | Home / Main Street Pittston / Pittston’s Local Government
By: Michael Shott
Main Street Pittston in 1854. Courtesy of the Greater Pittston Historical Society.
The Wyoming Valley was initially settled in 1769 by Connecticut settlers, who divided the land into five townships. Each township was five square miles.[1] The settlers were given the land to live there and they later became permanent settlers. In 1770, the first log cabin was built in then-Pittston Township (on what would now be the border of Duryea / Old Forge). From its founding in the 1770s through the mid-1830s, Pittston remained a small agricultural and mining community, until the expansion of a system of canals integrated it into the growing industrial centers of New York and Philadelphia. By the mid-nineteenth century, the anthracite coal industry was growing exponentially, and Pittston eventually incorporated as a borough in 1853, and a city in 1894.[2]
City Hall was first placed at 14 Water Street in Pittston. Pittston is governed by a five member city council comprised of four elected city councilmembers and the elected mayor, who, in addition to being the presiding officer of the city council, holds executive authority. A city administrator oversees the normal day to day work being done throughout the city. According to the Sanborn fire insurance maps from 1891 through 1910, city hall was considered a courthouse that also housed the police station. Then, in 1903, the city renumbered the street, and City Hall’s address changed to 12 Water Street[3].
In 1899, Dr. E. R. Troxell, a physician, offered the city a lot on Broad St. to build an updated city hall, for the price of $7,500, or $125 per square foot. Dr. Troxell had acquired most of the land from the previous owner, the Pennsylvania Coal Company, who had depleted the land’s coal resources, leaving an empty lot. However, the city council declined Dr. Troxell’s offer, for fears that building on a property where there was a mine would increase chances for the building collapsing.[4] In 1906, the city council contracted some light renovations on the building, which at the time was still considered a court house. Five companies placed bids to paint the building and complete general renovations, and the contract was awarded to the lowest bidder, Thomas Toole.[5] By the 1930s, the city council began to think about a new location for city hall. The current city hall on Water Street was starting to deteriorate. Plans for the new building were initiated on July 7, 1938 and construction of the building began on November 10, 1938. Pittston Mayor Kenneth English broke ground on the new building with the assistance of John McIntyre of the street department. The total project would cost approximately $90,000–approximately $1.5 million in 2015. [6] There were different companies that city hall had to contract out to get the work done. The city had to hire a general contractor, plumber, electrician and someone to make all the necessary interior work such as furniture and painting. Councilmen during construction were Dr. S. C. Andaloro, Roy Meade, Olgert Pauxtis, Thomas Gallagher, and Joseph Fitzpatrick as city clerk.
Pittston City Hall was also the location of the Pittston Police Department Headquarters, making the building a second home for the police force. From the city’s early days through the 1930s, the Pittston Police Department did not have a regular work schedule for its officers. Most of the police officers worked seven days a week with no break, and had no set shifts. On February 14, 1936, the Pittston council created a law that set a forty-eight hour work week for police officers. They would also have one day off per week, which would be considered an unpaid vacation day for the officers. With a day off, police officers were able to relax and take a rest from their hard work.[7]
Police Chief Patrick O’Brien with cruiser, c.1956. Photograph, courtesy of the Greater Pittston HIstorical Society.
During the 1950s new technology was being produced for police officers. One tool that got the attention of the Pittston Police force were the new radio-phones. The Pittston police force needed a way to communicate with each other throughout the city more efficiently. In 1956, the Pittston police and fire department installed multiple radio-phones throughout the city. The first transmitters were installed in police cruisers, and the main receiver was installed in the police headquarters, inside city hall. The Pittston police force and fire department was happy to have an updated way of communicating. It made it easier to handle problems in the city and keep citizens safer.
Pittston City Hall has been in place on 35 Broad Street since it opened in 1939. It is one of the last historic sites left in Pittston today.
Mayors of the City of Pittston, 1894- Present
[1] Brassco, Jim. History of Pittston. Pittston: (16 June 2016)
[2] H. C. Bradsby, History of Luzerne County, Pennsylvania (Chicago: S. B. Nelson, 1893).
[3] “Do You Know Your History of Pittston?” Times Leader. 2015. Accessed (July 26, 2016.)
[4] “City Hall Site, “Pittston Gazette.(1899)
[5] “Contract Given To Paint City Hall. “Pittston Gazette (August 11, 1906)
[6]“Do You Know Your History of Pittston?” (Times Leader. 2015.)
[7] “Police Department Goes on 6 Day Week.” Wilkes-Barre Record.(1936)
“City Hall Site.”Pittston Gazette. 28 July 1899. https://www.newspapers.com/clip/5598044/pittston_gazette/.
“Do You Know Your History of Pittston?” Times Leader. 4 March 2014. Web. http://timesleader.com/archive/392607/news-minsavage-ourcommentary-1233509-do-you-know-your-history-of-pittston.
Bradsby, H. C. History of Luzerne County, Pennsylvania: With Biographical Selections. Chicago: S.B. Nelson, 1893.
“Contract Given To Paint City Hall.”Pittston Gazette August 11, 1906 https://www.newspapers.com/clip/5598118/pittston_gazette/.
“Radio-Phone System City Police Department.” Pittston Gazette. April 16, 1956 https://www.newspapers.com/clip/5714967/pittston_gazette/.
“Police Department Goes on 6 Day Week.” Wilkes-Barre Record. Feburary 13, 1936 https://www.newspapers.com/clip/5788449/the_wilkesbarre_record/.
“Appropriations Ordinance Ready for the Councils.” Pittston Gazette. January 31, 1911 https://www.newspapers.com/clip/5598172/pittston_gazette/.
Brassco, Jim. History of Pittston. Pittston: n.p., n.d. 16 June 2016 | cc/2019-30/en_head_0013.json.gz/line10899 |
__label__wiki | 0.511664 | 0.511664 | HomeKnowledge centreZwazo magazine What has nature ever done for us? Zwazo 26 investigates
What has nature ever done for us? Zwazo 26 investigates
The 26th issue of Zwazo, the one-of-a-kind, long running, full colour conservation magazine published by Nature Seychelles, takes a look at Nature and Ecosystem services. Exploring the subject are features written by authors from Seychelles and the region covering a wide range of subjects that show us how our lives and well-being depend on nature. Nature is like a vast window display at the baker's says Martin Varley in his article "Who ate nature's cake?" In the same way that bakers provide a wide variety of products we need, so does nature.
The problem is we have often taken what's on display, without paying, shoplifting nature's bounty. We think we can take nature’s resources without any cost. We are bankrupting nature and denying others her goods at the same time, and are in urgent need of valuing of our natural capital, he says.
Dr. Nirmal Shah agrees. In the editorial, he says that our complacency and disinterest in declining environmental quality is bound to cost us. He explains the reason for our lethargy. Although most places exhibit degradation of the environment, global warming and disappearing of species, at the same time conventional measures of human well-being show that, on average, quality of life is improving around the world.
But the continued rise in well-being that we expect may not actually happen and society may not be able to successfully adapt to further environmental degradation. What we need is better understanding of the actual benefits of healthy ecosystems to human welfare and their costs, he argues.
He partly demonstrates this in "The Cost of a Special Reserve: Sticker shock or value for money?" In this article Shah explains how ecotourism is valued on Cousin Island Special Reserve and how this translates into the fees charged for the ecotourism product there. In another article "Priceless or Worthless" he discusses some of the less "sexy" species of Seychelles, which are in danger of disappearing.
Caroline Wanjiru tells us that efforts to value nature in economic terms are gaining momentum as a conservation tool in Kenya, while Martin Fowlie reviews the cost of conservation as presented in a paper published in the journal Science.
Shaun Hurrell takes us through the work of the international partnership that is BirdLife demonstrating how people are "Living off Nature", while Robin Hanson discusses the connection between nature and well being and the work of Nature Seychelles in this area.
A talk with Darrell Green, a fishers representative from Praslin Island, reveals steps to conserve the near shore fisheries there, while taking a spotlight to agriculture and the role of pollinators and the importance of farming with nature are Dino Martins, Antoine Moustache and Jose Loustau Lalanne.
Peter Chadwick tells us about the pleasurable experience that is photographing the wild, while Liz Mwambui shows us how people are discovering new ways to re-build a sustainable world by copying nature in "Bio-mimicry: Nature knows best." Finally in "Selling the Sun" Radley Weber is on a crusade to convert as many people as possible to solar energy.
The magazine also carries news and reviews of Nature Seychelles' ongoing work in making nature relevant to people while conserving and restoring key pieces of the ecosystem.
It is circulated for free in Seychelles and is available for free download (PDF 8mb) on the e-library. | cc/2019-30/en_head_0013.json.gz/line10901 |
__label__cc | 0.704037 | 0.295963 | What is Synthroid?
According to the WHO statistics, over 200 million people suffer from thyroid abnormalities worldwide, and in the last five years, the increase in the number becomes obvious: thus, not only functional disorders of the thyroid and nodular benign tumors become more widely-spread, but malignant tumors as well. Synthroid, an extremely powerful preparation of thyroid hormone group, is one of the most commonly used medicaments in clinical practice. Synthroid is a synthetic levo-isomer of thyroxine, which has anabolic effect (increased production of protein). The average levothyroxine dose aims at maintaining stimulation of the need of tissues and organs in oxygen, stimulating the metabolism of carbohydrates, as well as fats and proteins; boosts up the activity of central nervous and cardiovascular systems activity.
Levothyroxine, an active ingredient of Synthorid is the first commercial synthetic drug for the treatment of thyroid issues in the U.S., which was firstly introduced to the market in 1955 under the name Synthroid from Flint Laboratories. The drug has a long history of therapeutic use in the U.S. and internationally, and has for decades been the most widely used drug for the treatment of hypothyroidism. The figures show that the brand Synthroid provided 85% of total levothyroxine sales.
BUY SYNTHROID ONLINE
Synthroid: pharmacological action
After ingestion the drug is almost completely absorbed in the upper small intestine (the level of absorption is equal to 80%). If the preparation is taken with meals the absorption is reduced. The maximum level of active substance in plasma is achieved in 5-6 hours. Synthroid is metabolized primarily in the liver, muscles, brain and kidneys; excreted as metabolites in urine and bile. The half-life of the medicament is equal to 6-7 days.
A good number of levothyroxine reviews confirm that the therapeutic effect begins to manifest within 3-5 days of treatment.
Therefore, either early hyperplastic diffuse goiter disappears or significantly reduced within 3-6 months of taking the drug. The treatment of later stages diseases is characterized by significant reduction of the size of the thyroid gland in more than 30% of cases.
Indications for Synthroid use
Instructions for Synthroid recommends assigning a remedy for hypothyroid states of various etiologies, including those related to medical and surgical exposure. The drug is indicated for the prevention and treatment of euthyroid diffuse goiter, toxic diffuse goiter, congenital thyroid failure, accompanied by a decrease in mental and physical activity. Synthroid is used in adjuvant therapy to prevent recurrence of nodular thyroid malignancies after surgery.
The drug is administered in the form of an additional component for differential diagnostic tests, which require the suppression of thyroid function. Positive feedback on levothyroxine, an active ingredient of Syntroid, was given in treatment of Graves' disease and euthyroid thyroid hyperplasia.
Synthroid: how to use, the recommended dose
Syntroid tablets are designed for oral administration (it is required to take the preparation an empty stomach, preferably in the morning washing them down with plenty water). Daily dose is assigned individually depending on the form of the disease, the severity of its course and readings.
In the treatment of hypothyroidism the initial adult dosage varies from 25-100 on a daily basis and gradually increased dose to 25-50 mg every two-three weeks before a therapeutic maintenance dosage of 125-250 mg per day. Daily maintenance dose of the drug after surgery of thyroid malignancy is increased to 300 micrograms.
For the treatment of congenital hypothyroidism in children the following dosages are administered:
• Babies under 6 months are prescribed 25-50 mg of the drug per day
• Children under one year should take 60 mcg/day
• Children between the ages from one to five years, are typically prescribed to take up to 100 mg of the drug per day
• Children from 6 to 12 years - up to 150 mcg / day
• children over 12 years the drug is administered in a daily dose of 200 micrograms | cc/2019-30/en_head_0013.json.gz/line10902 |
__label__cc | 0.663186 | 0.336814 | Journal of the History of Philosophy
Socrates' Concept of Piety
Daniel E. Anderson
Volume 5, Number 1, January 1967
10.1353/hph.2008.1174
Socrates' Concept of Piety DANIEL E. ANDERSON THE PURPOSEOF THIS ESSAYis to suggest, at least as a possibility, that in three of Plato's early dialogues, the Euthyphro, Apology, and Crito, the philosophy expressed is at its foundation a process philosophy. By this I mean that it gives fundamental importance to process, rather than to anything static or absolute such as the "eternal forms" that appear in Plato's later thought. It will be argued that absolutes are in fact consistently denied throughout these three dialogues. The view presented is far enough removed from the usual interpretation of these dialogues that any analysis of other works on the subject would add to the length, but not to the illumination. The discussion, therefore, will be limited to what is actually said in the dialogues themselves and to an examination of some of the possible ramifications of what is said? I The specific charge against Socrates at his trial was that "Socrates is a wrongdoer because he corrupts the youth and does not believe in the gods the state believes in, but in other new divine powers (daimonia)" (Apology, 24B). Inasmuch as the central concern of the Euthyphro is the nature of piety (hosia) it is reasonable to suppose, as is suggested by the setting of the dialogue, that the Euthyphro is not to be taken in isolation from the Apology. Whether by chance or intent, the two dialogues are in fact closely parallel, and when studied together they seem to be mutually illuminating. As Socrates points out early in the Euthyphro, the nature of the charge says something about Meletus, the accuser. If the charge of corrupting the youth is to be meaningful, then Meletus must have the care of the youth at heart. If the means of corrupting the youth is the creation of new divine powers and the abandonment of the old, then Meletus must have some reason for believing the old gods to be genuine and the new ones false. This, of course, is a preview of the dialogue with Meletus in the Apology, but it also furnishes the background here for a dramatic, rather than a logical maneuver whereby Euthyphro, as the seer who professes to know all about the gods, becomes the analogue of Meletus. The analogy is an interesting one. Euthyphro is prosecuting his father--i.e., the person directly responsible for his own upbringing. The fact that he would prosecute his father at all is in the eyes of the populace evidence that Euthyphro is an extremely corrupt young man. This suggests that, regardless of the justice of the 1Such questions as are concerned with the historical accuracy of these dialogues, their place in the development of Plato's later thought, the problem of distinguishing Socrates from Plato, etc., while important and relevant, must also be considered beyond the scope of this essay. [1] 2 HISTORY OF PHILOSOPHY specific charge against his father, the fact that Euthyphro is prosecuting him, ironically enough, is just. Moreover, the justice of it lies precisely in the fact that the father, by raising Euthyphro improperly, has corrupted him--the charge that has been brought against Socrates. Socrates, in fact, is to use just this argument in his defense against the charge: that it would be foolish for him knowingly to corrupt the youth because he would thereby endanger himself. At this point the analogy between Euthyphro and Meletus becomes important by way of contrast, for in the case of Socrates the deeper irony does not hold. Meletus was not a member of Socrates' circle, and Socrates, therefore, is not responsible for any injustice arising out of the corruption of Meletus' character. Almost immediately, however, Euthyphro makes it clear that he views the nature of justice and injustice from an angle that is, at least philosophically, unusual . "The only thing to consider," he says, "is whether the action of the slayer was justified or not, and that if it was justified one ought to let him alone, and if not, one ought to proceed against him, even if he share one's hearth and eat at one's table" (4B-C). His reason for giving justice this high status... | cc/2019-30/en_head_0013.json.gz/line10903 |
__label__wiki | 0.748846 | 0.748846 | Setting up an e-business in Panama
http://www.panama980.com/issue04_05.php
http://www.panama980.com/products1.asp?step=25&id=58&catid=4&pstring=58
>> setting up an e-business in panama
by Alvaro Aguilar
In this day and age of connectivity, modern technology allows many individuals to run their business from wherever they are. When considering where to relocate, Panama provides excellent opportunities to continue managing a business and tend to customers worldwide from your new tropical location.
High bandwidth increases connectivity
The central location of Panama, right in the middle of the Americas, makes it the place where submarine fiber-optic communications circuits between North and South America converge. This allows users in Panama to enjoy extraordinarily ultra-high-speed bandwidth intensive applications such as multimedia and digital video, enabling fast and reliable connections for B2B, banking, ecommerce and other businesses as well as additional high-speed consumer activity units. Currently, Panama has the same bandwidth capability as New York City, with the difference that Panama uses 3% of its capability as opposed to 70% in New York.
Several local companies have set up data warehousing facilities in the Panama Canal area, where these circuits converge. These companies provide large and small online businesses with the use of their servers or can host their servers in special secure rooms
dedicated to providing rack-mount space.
The increased connectivity has encouraged 20 call center companies to employ around 5,000 workers, available for customer service. Currently, most centers serve businesses in the United States, especially Hispanic customers. The Government has increased the availability of English-speaking personnel for these centers with special education programs. An expatriate who only needs a single person for customer service can retain one of the many small virtual office services which provide a receptionist and a dedicated telephone line.
Special laws for online activities
Larger online businesses may have their office in Export Processing Zones, which allows them to claim benefits such as duty-free importation of equipment, low taxation and more flexible labor conditions. Offshore services, such as international marketing, financing, management, consulting and all services related to information technologies for data processing and technological research for clients abroad, may be set up at these Zones.
Additional benefits are provided to businesses set up in the City of Knowledge, a special technology park zone located next to the Miraflores Locks of the Panama Canal. Businesses have a 25-year income tax exemption and are exempt from limits on hiring of foreign staff.
The government grants online gaming licenses to operations whose owners provide full background information and pay a S$20,000 yearly license fee. In addition, they must maintain a bank account in Panama to ensure payment of prizes.
Tax and Financial Framework to Ensure Success
Once the hardware and logistic issues are dealt with, there are many advantages when setting up a business in Panama. A Panamanian corporation can be set up in a few days and its activities are not subject to Panamanian taxes as long as it sells to clients located outside of Panama. With proper legal advice, shareholders can arrange the structure of the corporation to defer or reduce the taxes they have to pay in their home country. In most countries, online transaction tax is based on the nationality of the corporation owning the domain of the business or on the location of its server, which further favors choosing a Panamanian corporation with Panamanian servers to conduct business.
A foreigner who qualifies for a retiree visa but wishes to maintain an active lifestyle can run a business online without the need of a work permit if he or she maintains a minimal business presence.
Alternatively, an expatriate owning a business with physical offices in Panama, 3 full-time employees and US$40,000 in investment can apply for a small investor visa. Other visa options are available when higher amounts are invested.
Panama has around 100 banks, out of which several actively seek out clients for e-commerce services. Prospective businesses must provide all due diligence information on the background
of their owners. Basic information on the structure of the online transactions must be provided to the bank to ensure that no unlawful activities will be conducted through the bank. Once the
bank official is acquainted with the purpose of the e-commerce activities, transactions are conducted in a secure manner under Panama’s confidentiality laws. Alternatively, micro payments can be routed through non-bank “digital cash” online services, some of which are incorporated in Panama but do business though banks elsewhere.
This combination of advantages makes Panama the ideal location for an e-commerce operation. º
lombardi aguilar & garcia
Tel. ( 507) 340-6444
http://www.laglex.com/
Etiquetas: call center, credit card processing, data warehousing, e-business, e-commerce, gaming, hosting, online, panama
Is Panama City The Next South Beach?
By Ceci Connolly
Special to The Washington Post
Sunday, February 18, 2007; P01
It was sticky hot, and I was grungy after a morning exploring the cobblestone passageways of Panama City's Casco Viejo, a 300-year-old cross between the crumbling charm of Old Havana and the restored glow of New Orleans's French Quarter.
In my baseball cap, khaki shorts and sweaty T-shirt, I was dressed for a sidewalk hot dog stand. But a Panamanian friend had been raving about S'cena, the new Mediterranean restaurant in this colonial-era part of town, and when I stumbled upon its entranceway, it seemed the food gods were summoning me.
Still, I felt a little sheepish as I passed the first-floor jazz bar and stepped into a scene of sophisticated serenity: white tablecloths, fresh flowers and waiters in pressed shirts. I braced myself for dirty looks and a dreary table near a swinging kitchen door.
Instead, the owner greeted me like a lost cousin, whisking me to a prime table and gently draping a linen napkin across my lap.
And apparently I wasn't the only one getting VIP treatment. They were calling the guy in the next room "Mr. President."
"No, no," the waiter whispered, "it is the president -- of Panama."
Somehow, it all made sense. After just a few days in Panama, you start to recognize faces, and the prospect of sipping a midday chardonnay a few feet from the country's most powerful man doesn't seem so far-fetched.
I had seen ads touting Panama City as the next super-swanky Miami, and I was prepared for velvet-roped lines and South Beach-style snobbery. Heck, Jenna Bush was clubbing here just before I arrived. So not having to deal with a waiter with an attitude was a relief.
But I can see why it gets the Miami comparisons. The city tucked on Panama Bay offers a hip urban vibe and a distinctive skyline. It has sunshine, seafood and shopping opportunities galore. And although Panama is part of Central America, its rhythm and stylish Latin inhabitants have a Caribbean flavor.
There are notable disappointments. Panama's tourism industry sometimes struggles to meet the demands of travelers. (The man at the Avis counter had no idea how to get downtown, and cabdrivers were no better.) And though the country has many exquisite beaches, none is within walking distance of the hotel strip as in Miami's South Beach.
But ultimately, the beauty of Panama City is that it hasn't become Miami yet. It's much more welcoming and manageable. And now is the time to go -- before the Panama Canal gets its third set of locks, before Donald Trump finishes his 65-story tower and before the prices shoot just as high.
Glitches, Then Fixes
The woman behind the Louis XV desk at the Hotel DeVille looks puzzled.
Ten, the bistro inside the Hotel DeVille, a new boutique hotel with soaring ceilings, comfortable beds and plenty of room to stretch out.
Hotel DeVille
"No, I'm sorry," she tells my fiance, Manuel, and me. "I do not have a reservation for you."
After arriving late at night in a foreign city where we do not know a soul, this is not the greeting we want to hear, especially because the lobby of this boutique hotel hints at a pleasant stay -- Persian rugs, plush sofas, soft lighting and newspapers on every table.
"It's not a problem," the woman chirps before I can pull out our confirmation slip. "I can take care of you."
It is a scene that will be repeated over and over in Panama -- a glitch followed by an enthusiastic fix. Our room, with 20-foot-high ceilings and exposed wood beams, has all the modern amenities of a five-star hotel, except it's larger and much more affordable. There's a desk with Internet access, piles of feather pillows and soft robes for us both.
We head back downstairs to the hotel's groovy new Ten Bistro, where the gimmick is $10 entrees. (Yes, Panama's currency is the U.S. dollar, so dinner is a bargain.) After two flights, bad directions and a missing reservation, a decent meal and big goblet of wine are just what we need.
But there's a problem: The restaurant is closing at the very un-Miami hour of 10 p.m.
This being Panama, the problem evaporates as fast as it appeared. The manager stays open just for us, guiding us to a table aglow with orange candles. The soothing palette continues overhead, with glorious bird of paradise blooms sprouting out of suspended glass vases. And to top it off: a chilled bottle of a crisp, absurdly inexpensive Chilean sauvignon blanc.
The Canal, of Course
Even today, 93 years after completion, the Panama Canal is an awesome engineering feat, guiding ships the 50 miles from the Caribbean Sea to the Pacific Ocean.
We arrive at the Miraflores Locks and head to the outdoor viewing deck. The sight of 965-foot-long behemoths squeezing through the canal is unbelievable, the precision timing of the locks a marvel. Over a loudspeaker, a bilingual guide rattles off canal stats and fun facts. "The lowest fee ever assessed for passage was 36 cents," he says. "It was for Richard Halliburton to swim the canal." An impressive museum inside is complete with a simulator that gives a realistic sense of what captains experience as they navigate the narrow locks.
The next day, while Manuel works, I ask my cabdriver to drop me at the Plaza de la Independencia in the center of Casco Viejo. The modest square looks much as it did 100 years ago: narrow one-way streets, stone edifices and a few rusty cannons.
On the corner is a lovingly restored four-story colonial built by the French in the 1870s and now home to another canal museum. At one-fifth the price and almost empty, it is a much better deal than the locks museum.
The story of the canal -- from the failed effort by the French in the 1880s to current widening plans -- is presented in bright, colorful interactive exhibits. There's a full recounting of the 22,000 workers who died, most by malaria or yellow fever, and a sobering account of the segregated system that left dark-skinned workers with less money in their pockets at the end of each workday.
Outside the museum, the neighborhood offers the best of Panama City -- past, present and future. In 1671, after pirate Henry Morgan burned the original city to the ground, the King of Spain chose this boot-shaped peninsula to rebuild.
Although Casco Viejo fell into disrepair in the 1950s, today it is enjoying a revival. The two worlds meet on its labyrinthine streets: Elderly women hang laundry on wrought-iron balconies as construction workers transform dilapidated convents into swanky loft-style condos.
By sheer luck, I happen upon the presidential palace just as four magnificent herons strut across the porch. A few blocks away, at the seawall, I take in a gorgeous view of a half-dozen ships queuing up under the Bridge of the Americas.
I'm intent on finding the Church of San Jose with its Golden Altar, and as I study my map, a 30-something man named Ricardo offers his services. In most big cities, this would be the signal to sprint in the opposite direction. But with squadrons of tourist police patrolling on bicycles, I accept the invitation.
Ricardo, a native Panamanian, makes the sign of the cross as we step inside the plain white church. The interior is an odd -- even unsettling -- jumble of periods. But the baroque altar, salvaged by a priest who hid it from the plundering Morgan, is a mouth-gaping gem, an enormous mahogany piece covered in gold leaf.
Later, another local, Julio, guides me to the dungeons used first by the Spaniards and later the Colombians. One has been converted into a touristy restaurant. But Julio leads me to another. I climb through a low-slung doorway, and in the dank, poorly lighted room is a genuine surprise: paintings of every shape, color and style. Portraits of the Virgin Mary lean up against seascapes; stacked in another corner, geometric abstractions are mixed with battlefield images. Many look to be schlock, but a few are captivating.
The paintings, Julio says, are all from the collection of jailed dictator Manuel Noriega. There's no proof of this, but the dungeons are super cool and Julio and his tale -- true or not -- sure beat the standard tour guide spiel.
Tropics to Mountains
We are driving through Cocle Province, 75 miles southwest of Panama City. As we negotiate yet another tight curve, the landscape shifts from the tropical palms of the capital to the sturdy pines of this mountainous region -- all in less than an hour.
As we reach the top of one particularly steep hill, I holler, "Stop the car!" On our right, in the distance, is the Atlantic Ocean's Caribbean Sea, and to the left, down a terrifyingly steep rocky cliff, is the Pacific. We are poised on a ridge separating two continents.
There are many reasons to escape the city and explore Panama's natural wonders. But it is hard to imagine a better one than this view, arguably one of the most distinctive vantage points in all of Central America.
Farther up the slope, we reach El Valle, a town that sits inside a crater created 3 million years ago when a huge volcano blew its top. Today El Valle is one of the largest inhabited dormant volcanoes in the world. The town's fresh air, leisurely pace and cooler temperatures make it a popular weekend retreat for Panama City's elite. (Signs along the road tell the story: "Door to Paradise" and "Villa Nirvana.") Nature lovers rave about the region's hiking trails, waterfalls and horseback riding.
But the main "activities" we encounter are relaxing and eating. New Panamanian friends have arranged lunch on the patio of La Casa de Lourdes, a Tuscan-style mansion with an idyllic poolside restaurant and terraced gardens. Surrounded by Panama's leisure class, we follow their lead and order a bottle of wine. It goes well with a table full of fresh Panamanian and Creole seafood dishes accented by spice rubs, mango salsas and yucca, the ubiquitous root that locals mash, fry and even toss into cakes.
We take a room in the adjacent building, which is not nearly as architecturally inviting as the main house. But our suite is enormous, with a luxurious modern bathroom and tiny terrace looking out on a ring of mountains. At dinnertime, we stroll through the gardens to the restaurant, now aglow in candlelight.
The next morning, heading back to the city, we stop at a roadside stand and order two chichemes, a heavenly blend of milk, sweet corn, cinnamon and vanilla. If we sip them slowly, they should last us all the way to Panama City.
Fish Market Finds
With just a few hours left in Panama, we decide to go to the source of the country's culinary goodness: the Mercado del Marisco, or fish market.
We slosh around the smelly warehouse, marveling at the piles of beautiful, slimy sea creatures. The vendors, friendly if slightly surprised to see a pair of gringos, teach us words in Spanish. The mero we devoured one night is grouper, longo is a giant tubular clam, and corvina a buttery, rich sea bass.
We meet a vendor named Niño and tell him we're craving lobster. But he shakes his head. "Not fresh," he confides.
Standing 5 feet tall in his rubber galoshes, Niño tells us he has worked the same stall for 33 years. He wants to make a sale, but he also wants satisfied customers. He recommends prawns and calamari. A pound plus of super-fresh seafood for $5.25? Who can argue?
With our catch in hand, we climb a rickety wooden staircase to a restaurant of sorts. Our waitress is brusque and the napkins are paper. There's a menu, but we don't need it.
We ask the kitchen to grill up Niño's goodies. The chef adds a pile of perfect French fries, and our bill comes to $6.
Ceci Connolly, a Washington Post reporter currently on leave, is based in Mexico City.
Panama City's Casco Viejo neighborhood has been revitalized after falling into disrepair in the 1950s. (By Keating Holland)
Panama Birding: Find your way to Canopy Tower and learn what to bring when you take off.
Panama City: Learn where to stay and where to eat in Panama's growing playground.
This Week in Travel
Panama: Bird watchers flock to Canopy Tower. Also, is Panama City the next South Beach?
Photo Gallery: Panama's for the Birds
A Booming Panama City Awaits Noriega's Return
How American retirees -- and a canal makeover -- are transforming the capital
By JOSÉ DE CÓRDOBA
February 17, 2007; Page P1
PANAMA CITY, Panama -- When Gen. Manuel Antonio Noriega gets back to this lush tropical city after a 17-year absence, the former Panamanian strongman will scarcely recognize his old haunts. I barely did.
Makeover: Balboa Avenue, Panama City
The news that Mr. Noriega plans to come back to Panama in September after spending nearly two decades in a U.S. prison since being deposed in a 1989 invasion, is the talk of the town. His return has momentarily eclipsed the other omnipresent subject of conversation here -- the real-estate boom fueled in part by American retirees, which has turned this once laid-back city, known as a refuge for spies, arms dealers and out-of-work dictators, into an enormous building site with a Manhattan-like skyline in the making.
Good times are expected to keep rolling: The country's famous canal is about to get a multibillion-dollar makeover, and a chunk of its down-and-out colonial city center is getting a facelift.
Landing here recently for the first time in many years, I recalled Mr. Noriega's last day in Panama, which I covered for The Wall Street Journal. That day, I spent hours waiting for Mr. Noriega to come out of the Vatican embassy, where he had taken refuge from U.S. troops. Days earlier, soldiers had blared ear-splitting rock from sunup to sunset to drive Mr. Noriega out of his refuge, but to no avail. I still remember some of the rather pointed musical jabs -- Jimi Hendrix's electrifying version of "The Star Spangled Banner" and Elvis Presley's "Jailhouse Rock."
TRIP PLANNER: PANAMA CITY
See where to stay and what to do in Panama's capital city.
Inside, the late Msgr. Jose Sebastian Laboa, who once held the job of devil's advocate in the Vatican -- arguing the canonical case against candidates for sainthood -- used his lawyerly skills to convince Mr. Noriega to surrender. Mr. Noriega, with his acne-scarred face, made a perfect villain, the type of tyrant the U.S. at first loves to use, and then loves to hate. After three days of loud music and 11 days of artful persuasion, Mr. Noriega walked out into the waiting arms of U.S. anti-drug agents and on to an eventual U.S. trial and conviction on drug-trafficking charges (if he does return to Panama, authorities have said they will put him on trial for murder).
In his Miami prison suite, Mr. Noriega became a born-again Christian. In his absence, Panama City has also experienced a rebirth of sorts. The place teems with hip new restaurants and salsa joints. New beach and eco-friendly jungle hotels are nearby and ground has been broken on a long-planned biodiversity museum by renowned architect Frank Gehry.
The rebirth is partly the result of another U.S. invasion -- this time by the advance guard of baby-boomer retirees who have landed on Panama City's shores. Not only are the Americans here. So are the Canadians and Europeans. Venezuelans, one step ahead of the installation of fiery President Hugo Chávez's version of "21st-century socialism," are arriving in growing numbers.
Another factor in the remaking of the city was last year's vote via national referendum to go forward with a $5.2 billion government-funded project to widen the Panama Canal a few miles from the city center. A third set of locks, which will allow larger vessels to go through the waterway, is expected to be completed by 2015. Panamanians are betting the canal's expansion will boost other related businesses such as insurance and financial services, and help maintain growth rates of about 7%.
The canal has been central to Panama's history -- and its sometimes turbulent relations with the U.S. In 1903, President Theodore Roosevelt more or less carved out an independent Panama from Colombia in return for control of a 10-mile swath of Panamanian territory cutting through the middle of the country where the canal was built. U.S. control of the "Zone" fed Panamanian nationalism, leading to bloody riots in 1964. After thorny negotiations, the U.S. finally turned over total control of the canal to Panama in 2000.
Change is even making a dent in Panama City's slummy colonial city center, once the domain of prostitutes, pimps and pickpockets. Years ago, even looking at the fetid, jam-packed, crumbling buildings of the old city made one feel in danger of contracting the yellow fever that mowed down thousands of canal workers in the 1880s. There's still work to be done, but private and public money is being used to clean up some streets and a couple of squares are now home to trendy eateries.
The Bristol Hotel
Many Panamanians appear happy with the way their city and country are going. Carlos Weil, a former Swiss currency trader turned Panamanian art dealer who has six passports, says the country is attracting people from all over the world. Half his clients are now foreign, boosting his prices and expanding his market. Foreigners have brought with them lots of new restaurants -- and even the city's first serious bookstores.
From colonial times, when the city was a key transit point for the transport of gold and silver from the mines of Peru to imperial Spain, commerce has always been Panama's driving force. The loot then woke the greed of famed pirate Sir Henry Morgan, who sacked the city in 1671. The ghostly ruins of that first Panama City can still be seen a couple of miles from downtown.
One of the world's largest offshore banking centers, Panama still attracts its share of pirates and flim-flam men. My all-time favorite for sheer verve and virtuosity was Lloyd S. Rubin, a Jackie Gleason look-alike widely admired here as the king of the upfront-fee scam. For years, Mr. Rubin lured hundreds of would-be entrepreneurs to Panama where he relieved them of millions of dollars by charging exorbitant fees in exchange for promises to provide investment funds that never materialized.
The Bay of Panama
In 1991, I wrote about Mr. Rubin in The Wall Street Journal. The following year, a notice appeared in local newspapers announcing Mr. Rubin's untimely death in Thailand. Three years later, Mr. Rubin rose from the dead. He surfaced in Ecuador, with an alias, Carlos Campbell De Cordoba, a name I felt almost turned him into a long-lost cousin. He was returned to the U.S. where he pled guilty in Georgia to fraud charges to do with his Panama scheme, and spent some time in prison. (Mr. Rubin now runs an art gallery here.)
Panama has historically been a refuge for deposed autocrats and disgraced politicians. After Iran's Shah of Shahs lost his Peacock Throne, he lived for a few months on nearby Contadora island. Haiti's strongman, Gen. Raoul Cedras, a diving enthusiast, found refuge here after the U.S. knocked him out of the box in 1994. And in 1997, Ecuador's President Abdala "El Loco" Bucaram ended up here after the congress dismissed him from office for living up to his nickname. Mr. Bucaram, who insisted I was an agent for the Central Intelligence Agency in my one interview with him, is said to be a habitué of the city's casinos, but I've never spotted him among the one-armed bandits.
A statue of Balboa
I'm happy to say that my favorite bar, El Pavo Real, or the Peacock -- billed as Panama's only British pub -- is still around. The Pavo Real was Panama's version of Rick's Café from "Casablanca," a place where gun runners, drug pilots and one of my best sources -- a Cambridge-educated insect exterminator who was also an acute social critic -- got together for drinks. The late prima ballerina Dame Margot Fonteyn, who was married to a Panamanian politician, would drop in for lunch. So did more recently John le Carré -- in town to write "The Tailor of Panama," his remake of Graham Greene's "Our Man in Havana."
Casco Antiguo
Old Panama City had a cozy, almost familial air to it. Anybody who was anybody was related by blood or marriage. That was brought home forcefully to me on my first visit to the country. I was covering the 1987 riots that eventually led to Mr. Noriega's downfall, when unbeknownst to me, my future father-in-law, the deputy administrator of the Panama Canal and a man proud of his Sicilian bloodline, asked Panamanian and U.S. military police to give me some rough treatment.
For reasons too complicated to go into here, he thought -- mistakenly -- that I hadn't done the honorable thing by his daughter, a diplomat in Miami whom I had recently met. To set things right, he wanted the police forces to find me in the chaos of tear gas and flying rocks and give me a light work-over to teach me a lesson in proper etiquette. Luckily, the forces were busy with more important things. I married his daughter shortly afterwards, and now get along famously with her father.
That small-town feeling -- where such favors are asked and granted -- is fading fast.
Write to José de Córdoba at jose.decordoba@wsj.com1
How to Get There: Regular direct flights leave from Miami.
Where to Stay: The Bristol Hotel, a boutique hotel close to the city's financial center, is a favorite; rooms start at about $300 (www.the bristol.com2). Close by is the Hotel de Ville, another boutique hotel where rooms start at $175 (www.devillehotel.com.pa3).
Where to Eat: Panama has great seafood restaurants. Try Siete Mares, where the specialty of the house is Msgr. Laboa's Lobster, topped with red caviar and named after the late papal nuncio who talked Gen. Noriega into abandoning the Vatican embassy and surrendering to U.S. troops (Tel: 507-264-0144). Madame Chang's is considered one of the best Chinese restaurants in town (Tel: 507-269-1313).
What to Do: A visit to the Panama Canal is a must -- take a taxi to the Miraflores locks. Stroll by the ruins of the first Panama City, sacked by the pirate Sir Henry Morgan in 1671, a couple of miles from downtown. Visit the present Old City, known as the Casco Viejo, which is being rehabilitated. There, stop by the cathedral and the Plaza de Francia, with its touching monument to the French engineers who died in the first failed attempt at building a canal. The Amador causeway has lots of bars and restaurants and is great for jogging and bicycling.
José de Córdoba
URL for this article:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB117166770175011667.html
Copyright 2007 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved | cc/2019-30/en_head_0013.json.gz/line10907 |
__label__wiki | 0.831254 | 0.831254 | Nadine Blom Online Shop
Optredes
Voorblaaie
Nadine Blom has two special passions in life – MUSIC and PEOPLE! Not only is she a renowned musician, she also does motivational talks and is a qualified lawyer on top of that. Everything she undertakes is done with energy and passion.
After her birth in Bloemfontein and toddler years in a small Free State town, Koffiefontein, the family moved to Pretoria where she made her debut in Grade 2 in Laerskool Lynwood’s children’s choir. She always loved the country and completed her high school career at Hoërskool Erasmus in Bronkhorstspruit, where she also developed her passion for the cultural side of life by taking part in every musical and Eistedfodd possible. Her talent for writing became apparent already when she was very young, when a song she wrote, was the winning song in RSG’s “Sterre 2000” competition in 1999.
Nadine Blom is one of South Africa’s young soprano “discoveries” and has often been named South Africa’s own Sarah Brightman. She has shared a stage with some of our country’s best performing artists, including Jannie Moolman, Sibongile Ngoma, Kevin Leo, André Schwartz and the Soweto String Quartet. Her performances at corporate functions include Sanlam/Sarie Damesoggend, City of Tshwane Municipal Excellence Awards, Pam Golding Golden Awards, Willa Krause Oscar Awards, Munimed Awards Ceremony, Toyota’s 25th Dealer’s conference, Mr South Africa 2006, “The Fantastic Four” at Carnival City and many more.
Her third album, “Met my hele hart” is a perfect portrayal of her voice quality and includes a very impressive classical pop duet that she recorded with Danie Niehaus. The album also includes a number of Nadine Blom favourites like “Meermin” and “Jy is in die wind vanaand” (the rain), as well as the popular hit song “Hoor jy my stem in die nag”.
Her singing talent stretches further than the classical genre though and she recently released a very successful children’s pop album, titled “Supercool” , which set a whole new standard for South African youth music. Ten of the 14 songs were written by Nadine Blom herself and she recently reached superstar status among children all over South Africa, with this popular CD.
When it comes to television Nadine presented the kykNET magazine programme “In pas” and she is a natural when it comes to presenting.
Other TV programmes include:
“Pasella” , “Topbilling”, “Dis hoe dit is met Steve” , “Kunskafee” (kykNET), “Heartbeat” (SABC 2), “Pitstop” (SABC 2), “Kwela” (kykNET) and recently the very popular, “Liriekeraai” and “Sweepslag” on SABC 2.
She has appeared on the following programmes:
“Jukebox”, “Noot vir Noot”, ” Dis hoe dit is met Steve”, “Roer”, as well as ”Fiesta” and ”Kwela” . Her music videos, “Hoor jy my stem in die nag”, “Meermin” and “Vir altyd ‘n kinderhart” as well as Supercool kids musicvideos are also shown regularly on kykNET.
As motivational speaker she has a special passion for women and their feeling of self worth and during 2007 and 2008 she inspired more than 3 000 women with her talks. She dedicates her life and talents to the Lord and performs all over the country as praise and worship leader, motivational speaker, singer, intercessor and facilitator during teenager’s and women’s camps.
She makes use of a formidable praise and worship team, who goes on tour with her, but she also plays the piano during her ministry. Her performances in churches include NG Kerk Pierre van Ryneveld, NG Kerk Swaanswyk in Tokai, NG Kerk Proteapark, NG Kerk Lynnwood, NG Kerk Houtbaai and many more. She is also a facilitator at camps, with a special passion for women and children and the healing of broken relationships within the family circle.
Nadine Blom’s crowning as Mrs United Nations South Africa in 2006, was a highlight for her. In the same year she was appointed First Princess in the Mrs United Nations International competition in Los Angeles. Further highlights for her were appearing on the front cover of the elite women’s magazine “Vrouekeur” in January 2007, emphasising her passion for the upliftment of women and children, as well as the front cover of “Finesse” in August 2007 where she, in liaison with “Finesse” launched her “being thankful” bracelet. She has also been elected as one of the most inspirational women in South Africa, together with Suzette van der Merwe, a former Miss South Africa, and Bertha Cronjé.
Nadine Blom’s heart is overflowing with love for children and their immediate families. As a result of her empathy with children, she dedicated one of her compositions titled “ Vir altyd ‘n kinderhart” (also included in her CD ‘Met my hele hart’), to the memory of children who have to endure some form of suffering. Nadine Blom has a big heart for charity and regularly shares her time and talents with charity organisations.
Nadine Blom has three life philosophies:
“Don’t postpone to tomorrow what you can do today”
“For Pete’s sake, let the journey from the cradle to the grave be an interesting one” ,
“If you judge people, you have no time to love them “ – Mother Theresa.
She is mother to Adriaan, a teen son and mad about baklava and biltong and dreams about a major singing role in one of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s musicals.
Shop & Besprekings
Nadine@nadineblom.co.za | cc/2019-30/en_head_0013.json.gz/line10909 |
__label__cc | 0.647734 | 0.352266 | Federal Tax Headlines
IRS Gives Examiners More Guidance on Codified Economic Substance Doctrine
Wolters Kluwer Tax and Accounting
The IRS Large and International Business (LB&I) Division provided additional guidance for examiners on the codified economic substance doctrine in a directive posted on its website on July 15. The IRS also advised examiners that penalties for underpayments attributable to transactions lacking economic substance should not be imposed due to the application of any other “similar rule of law” as allowed under statute.
Congress codified the economic substance doctrine in the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010 (HCERA) (P.L. 111-152). In 2010, the IRS issued interim guidance (Notice 2010-62, I.R.B. 2010-40, 411; TAXDAY, 2010/09/14, I.1) The IRS also issued a directive (LMSB-4-0910-024) advising examiners that any proposal to impose the codified economic substance doctrine at the examination level must be reviewed and approved by the appropriate Director of Field Operations (DFO) (TAXDAY, 2010/09/15, I.2). Now, the IRS has followed-up with instructions how to develop cases and when it is appropriate to seek DFO approval to raise the codified doctrine.
“The directive is a positive step,” Matthew D. Lerner, partner, Steptoe & Johnson, LLP, Washington, D.C., told CCH. “While it is not binding on the Service and is subject to change, it gives greater insight into how LB&I views the codified economic substance doctrine.”
The IRS outlined various factors for examiners to consider in determining if application of the doctrine is appropriate. Many of the factors overlap. Factors tending to show that the doctrine is not appropriate include, but are not limited to, the transaction was at arm’s length with unrelated third parties, the transaction had a credible business purpose apart from federal tax benefits and the transaction had a meaningful potential for profit apart from tax benefits. Factors indicating that the doctrine may be appropriate include, but are not limited to, the transaction created no meaningful economic change on a present value basis (pre-tax) and whether the tax benefit was artificially generated by the transaction.
“It is encouraging to see the directive provide a list of facts and circumstances tending to show whether application of the economic substance doctrine to a transaction may be appropriate or not appropriate,” Lerner added. “The factors listed as tending to suggest that application of the economic doctrine is not appropriate include many of those suggested by bar associations and practitioners in comment letters and include the four types of “basic business transactions” specifically identified in the JCT Technical Explanation as not intended to be altered by codification.”
After reviewing the appropriateness of the doctrine, the IRS instructed examiners to answer a series of inquiries before seeking approval to apply the doctrine. The IRS also described how to request DFO approval.
HCERA imposes a 20-percent penalty for an underpayment attributable to any disallowance of claimed tax benefits by reason of a transaction lacking economic substance or failing to meet the requirements of any similar rule of law. The penalty increases to 40 percent where the underpayment is attributable to a undisclosed economic substance transaction.
Examiners should not impose HCERA’s penalties due to the application of any other similar rule of law, the IRS instructed. A similar rule of law for this purpose would be, for example, the step transaction doctrine, substance over form or sham transaction, the IRS explained.
By George L. Yaksick, Jr., CCH News Staff
LB&I Directive: Guidance for Examiners and Managers on Codified Economic Substance Doctrine and Related Penalties, LB&I-4-0711-015
Wolters Kluwer Tax and Accounting is a leading provider of software solutions and local expertise that helps tax, accounting, and audit professionals research and navigate complex regulations, comply with legislation, manage their businesses and advise clients with speed, accuracy and efficiency. Wolters Kluwer Tax and Accounting is part of Wolters Kluwer N.V. (AEX: WKL), a global leader in information services and solutions for professionals in the health, tax and accounting, risk and compliance, finance and legal sectors. We help our customers make critical decisions every day by providing expert solutions that combine deep domain knowledge with specialized technology and services. Wolters Kluwer reported 2016 annual revenues of €4.3 billion. The company, headquartered in Alphen aan den Rijn, the Netherlands, serves customers in over 180 countries, maintains operations in over 40 countries and employs 19,000 people worldwide. Wolters Kluwer shares are listed on Euronext Amsterdam (WKL) and are included in the AEX and Euronext 100 indices. Wolters Kluwer has a sponsored Level 1 American Depositary Receipt program. The ADRs are traded on the over-the-counter market in the U.S. (WTKWY).
All stories by: Wolters Kluwer Tax and Accounting | cc/2019-30/en_head_0013.json.gz/line10910 |
__label__wiki | 0.905904 | 0.905904 | 2 girls die after circumcisions in Sierra Leone, Guinea
posted August 19, 2016 at 10:58 am by AFP
A teenage girl died after undergoing a botched female circumcision in Sierra Leone, police said, just days after the death of a 10-year-old girl in Guinea.
Female genital mutilation (FGM) is widespread in the neighbouring west African countries, with about 90 percent of women in both countries undergoing circumcision.
Teenager Fatmata Turay died after she was circumcised in an initiation ceremony in the village of Mabolleh in north Sierra Leone and three women involved, including the girl's aunt, have been arrested, police said.
"There will be an investigation into the circumstances which led to the death of this girl," said vice minister of social affairs Rugiatu Turay.
The death comes, just days after a 10-year-old girl in Makpozou, a forested area in the south of Guinea, died in similar circumstances, according to the country's social action ministry.
The child died in a circumcision camp for young girls, the ministry said.
Guinea's government urged communities that practise FGM to "stop sacrificing the girls."
It also reiterated its commitment to fight the “vile practice.”
Female circumcision is common in west Africa, where it is considered a female right of passage and where practitioners can earn up to $50 per girl.
Sierra Leone recently ratified a 2003 African Union protocol that seeks to ban FGM.
Topics: FGM. Female Genital Mutilation , FGM , Human Rights , West Africa , Deaths , Sierra Leone , Guinea
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__label__cc | 0.582306 | 0.417694 | reserveringen@manoirvaillant.nl
Capelou, 24170 Belvès
About Manoir Vaillant
Gite Vaillant
Gite Sarrazin
Gite Belvès
Capelou
Belvès and surroundings
Castles of the Dordogne
Gardens of Limeuil
The Périgord is named after the region in France of the Gallic tribe, the Petrocorii with the "capital" Perigueux. After the French Revolution, the name was changed to Dordogne, after the main river that runs through the region. The Dordogne is part of the Aquitaine region. The Perigord is known as an important site of truffles.
Capelou is a small village just outside Belvès, 30 kilometers west of Sarlat and 60 km southeast of Perigueux, capital of Perigord. From here it is ideal to visit the most beautiful places in the Dordogne Valley.
Belvès is a medieval walled town with seven towers. A gem of a town, the name of which was probably derived from the Celtic. Once, some 250 years before Christ lived, a Celtic tribe lived here named the Bellovaci.
Streets have beautiful names in Belvès: La Rue du Bout du Monde ( "the road to the end of the world") or la Rue de l'Oiseau qui Chante ( "The Street of the singing bird.") The town is equally as beautiful as the melodious names. In the town center you will find an indoor market of more than 500 years old. On one of the poles supporting the roof of this market you can even find the metal ring which was formerly used that to chain people that were in violation.
The streets are beautiful with lots of old houses that recall a glorious past. Under the market parallel to the later walls of the 11th century there are still a number of cave dwellings (dungeons), dating from well before the Christian era. Probably these dwellings have been inhabited in prehistoric times and since then they have naturally processed. they were forgotten at the end of the Middle Ages and filled up with waste. They were probably forever forgotten if not a cart had fallen through the ceiling at the beginning of the last century. However, to prevent more unexepected holes to turn up they filled up the rediscovered space once again with waste. This waste was only removed in 1989 and since then the underground dungeons were made accessible to tourists.
Besides the dungeons Belvès offers many beautiful things and organizes many activities during the tourist season. Belvès is worth a visit.
What to do on:
Wednesday: nibble on the town square grill, pizzas, salads. Brin your own plates and glasses
Tuesday and Thursday: all day: ride through the land of Belvès: discover how to make foie gras, what the farmer does with the walnuts, truffles. Learn more about tradition and gastronomy - for these trips you need to sign up at least a day in advance
Saturday: Saturday market, which has been running for centuries.
Every day: visit the city accompanied by a guide including the dungeons beneath the square.
June-July-August: swimmingpool in Belvès
Festivals: throughout the tourist season with: an aviation show, medieval festival (very nice, the whole village participates), wine festival, Bach festival, village fetes (fete votive), partying with other villages. In short, there's always something to do. Furthermore, the tourist office has a number of trails on offer, and you can fly to PARAMOTEURS at the aero club.
Sarlat - a small piece of history
Sarlat is the jewel of the Perigord. In the early Middle Ages Sarlat had a brief period of prosperity and wealth. Then for centuries Sarlat led a dormant existence.
The city found its origin when the the Duke of Aquitaine built a monastery. And as it was normal at the time, a small city grew naturally around it. In the 13th century Sarlat gained more and more rights and became a real city. The city received a bishop and the church becomes a cathedral in the early 14th century.
In the early Renaissance (1450-1500) the vast majority of the houses were built. Many of those can still be seen today. These houses are still inhabited. Like many old medieval houses there are often courtyards and open stairways galleries where you can wander around and get a good idea of medieval life.
Perigueux (about 32,000 inhabitants) has a very impressive cathedral, the Saint-Front. In the 6th century, a chapel was built outside the walls, above the grave of Saint Front. Saint Front was a legendary saint who has Christianized the Perigord in the 3rd century. In the 9th century a monastery was added Periqueux grew into a place of pilgrimage. The chapel was replaced by a "Latin Church", which burned down in 1120. It was then decided to build a bigger church, which was finished in 1173, Saint Front. Saint Front become a cathedral in 1669. It is an imposing building with five domes and many towers.
Perigueux is on the pilgrimage route to Santiago de Compostela.
It is important to mention that Perigueux has many beautiful fashion shops, and of course several restaurants in different price range.
You can obtain more information about the city of Perigueux at the office of Tourism.
Bergerac - Vineyards and bastides
Streets and squares, timbered houses, pointed arch windows. The statue of Cyrano in the Pelisierre square and the houses of the boatmen on the Mirpe square. Or stroll on the docks when it's time for an aperitif.
The wines of Bergerac- The Maison des Vins de Bergerac
The Monbazillac, the Pécharmant, Saussignac - red wines with character, or fruity fresh rose when it's hot.
The Bastides and medieval sites provide a magnificent heritage. Visit the tourist info along for directions and more information.
The Dordogne has to be region with the highest density of castles in the world. Within some municipal boundaries four castles have been built!
Chateau de Beynac
Without a doubt the Château de Beynac is one of the best medieval castles France has to offer. Not only the castle itself.
The castle is positioned on top of a limestone cliff on the right bank of the Dordogne river. These days it was a formidable lookout post over the beautiful river, which reflects the light at the castle and gives it a more cheerful appearance.
Chateau de Castelnaud
The Castelnaud castle is situated about 10 kilometers southwest of Sarlat. The road to the castle is not always easy and rises at times considerably. But your efforts will be rewarded with stunning views.
On your ride to the castle you can admire old village homes. The steep incline is in fact part of the first defensive ring around the castle.
The entrance of the castle is flanked by cannons from the 15th century and protected by a donjon. A donjon is a defendable castle tower. The donjon dates from the 13th century. The size and dimensions of this castle are impressive. Not surprising when you consider that the first and main task of this castle was to guard the neighbor, the mighty Beynac. Castelnaud, also called castle-neuf (new) served mainly that one purpose.
Chateau de Milandes - Josephine Baker
This magnificent castle has gained notoriety because it once belonged to Josephine Baker, a musicall a star from the United States, who caused a furore in the Parisian music halls with her banana dress.
The Dordogne caves are most impressive. It is almost impossible to imagine that thousands of years ago, people were walking around underground (note: it can be quite cold and damp here!). There are different types of caves. Caves with special stalactites, but also caves with unique wall paintings from prehistoric times.
Most caves can be found in the surroundings of Les Eyzies-de-Tayac. As the Grotte du Grand Roc; a cave of modest size, but with beautiful stalactites that seem almost crystal! Another attraction is La Roque-Christophe (in Peyzac-le-Moustier) with hundreds of holes cut out from the cliff, 80 meters high. These were inhabited by Cro-Magnon man in the Bronze and Iron Age.
Would you like to take a train ride through a cave, then go to the Grotte de Rouffignac (also called "hundred mammoths' cave) between Rouffignac and Fleurac. In the Grotte de Villars near Villars stalactites and wall paintings can be found.
the cave of lascaux. world famous for its beautiful prehistoric paintings. the original cave is closed to the public since 1963 because due to the large numbers of people the climate in the cave deteriorated so badly that the paintings were threatened to be lost. now the whole cave has been recreated, including the 680 paintings and 1500 engravings so that the visitor imagines himself in the real cave. according to the volkskrant newspaper, you can wander in the recreated lascaux just like the real cave. Visitors are guided in groups of up to 32 people. a worthwhile experience.
there are more prehistoric sites to visit. La Roque Saint-Christophe for example is one of the largest and oldest inhabited prehistoric dwellings.
The gardens of Limeuil
The confluence of the Dordogne and Vezere rivers is in the medieval village of Limeuil. Above the village on the hill are the theme gardens of Limeuil with stunning views of the two confluent rivers. Besides Limeuil there are many more gardens to visit.
Flyers can be found in the lobby of the gite building.
de kraanvogels vliegen
Manoir Vaillant - Een nieuwe site!
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Patent Bar Exam Review 2019 AIA Question (6/17)
Posted on June 17, 2019 by John Meeks - Patent Bar Exam, Studies
The WaxLike Company (WLC) applied for a patent back in 2013 and the patent issued several weeks ago. A copy of the patent was received in the company’s legal department and copies were forwarded to the company officers and each one of the three inventors and the chief engineer. WLC owns the patent and it has not been assigned or licensed to any other party. All of the parties that received a copy of the patent were asked to review the patent and forward an email to the legal department if they realize there is any problem. The legal department received three emails.
One of the inventors admitted that he failed to disclose several relevant patents when he was asked to disclose any and all information relating to the invention at the time the legal department was drafting an IDS for submission in order to meet their legal duties under 37 CFR 1.56. The prior art was never found by the examiner.
The chief engineer admitted that she had signed the oath submitted with the application for one of the inventors that was on vacation on the day of the signings.
The company president admitted that he coerced the chief engineer to include an inventor who was a supervisor and had nothing to do with the invention.
WLC realizes that they may be subject to a lawsuit relating to the validity of the patent in the near future. What should WLC do?
(A) File a reexamination to correct the deficiencies listed above.
(B) File a reissue to correct the deficiencies listed above.
(C) File a certificate of correction to correct the deficiencies listed above.
(D) File a supplemental examination to correct the deficiencies listed above.
(E) None of the above.
ANSWER: (D).
A patent owner may request supplemental examination of a patent in the Office to consider, reconsider, or correct information believed to be relevant to the patent. If the certificate issued indicates that a substantial new question of patentability is raised by 1 or more items of information in the request, the Director shall order reexamination of the patent. See MPEP 2802 and 35 U.S.C. 257(a)-(b).
The information presented in a request for supplemental examination is not limited to patents and printed publications, and may include, for example, issues of patentability under 35 U.S.C. 101 and 112.
Note that 37 CFR 1.620(g) provides that, if the Office becomes aware, during the course of a supplemental examination or of any ex parte reexamination ordered under 35 U.S.C. 257 as a result of the supplemental examination proceeding, that a material fraud on the Office may have been committed in connection with the patent requested to be examined, the supplemental examination proceeding or any ex parte reexamination proceeding ordered under 35 U.S.C. 257 will continue. The matter will be referred to the U.S. Attorney General in accordance with 35 U.S.C. 257(e).
Also refer to MPEP 2823 for information on the differences between a reexamination and a reexamination ordered in a supplemental examination.
An SE may be used to allow the USPTO to review possible charges of inequitable conduct during the examination of the patent application (and immunize the patent owner from charges of inequitable conduct), which is not available in any other post-grant proceedings.
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Questions prepared by David E. Meeks, Esq., Institute for Patent Studies, Inc. All rights reserved.
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__label__wiki | 0.630694 | 0.630694 | IRIB Namayesh Biss
IRIB Namayesh (Persian: ?????? ??????? ‘Show channel’) is a national film and TV series TV channel in Iran which was launched on January 25, 2012 and is the fourth Iranian television channel to broadcast in digital mode. This channel is currently available in most provinces in Iran using digital Set-top boxes. Its sister channel is Tamasha TV that merged with Namayesh TV at December 2014, but then relaunched on 10 August 2016.
Technical detail and biss keys
IRIB Namayesh
Intelsat 902 @ 62E
Fréq: 11555 V 30000
MPEG 2 4:2:0 SDTV
ID:NAMAYESH
CW: 11 11 11 33 11 11 11 33 | cc/2019-30/en_head_0013.json.gz/line10925 |
__label__wiki | 0.854056 | 0.854056 | Dong Named CSCAA Scholar All-American
LOS ANGELES — Cindy Dong keeps racking up the honors after an outstanding first year with the Occidental women's swimming and diving team.
The first year from Sarasota, Fla. was named a CSCAA Scholar All-American on Tuesday for achieving a grade point average of 3.50 or higher and competing at the NCAA Division III Swimming and Diving Championship meet.
"This is a great honor for Cindy and is a testament to her hard work both in the classroom and in the swimming pool," Oxy head coach Steve Webb said.
Dong's first season was highlighted by honorable mention All-American recognition in the 200 fly, as well as a SCIAC championship and the SCIAC meet and all-time conference record in the event at 2:02.13.
Dong is the center of a promising young Oxy core that continues to climb the SCIAC standings. The Tigers finished third at the SCIAC Championship meet this season.
Follow Oxy Athletics on Twitter | cc/2019-30/en_head_0013.json.gz/line10927 |
__label__wiki | 0.750235 | 0.750235 | About the Seminar
From the Pope
'One in Christ' marriage prep program Presents 'authentic teaching of Church on Christian marriage'
By Natalie Hoefer, Criterion
When it comes to weddings, there are dresses to choose, flowers to order, invitations to send out, a reception hall to book … who has time for marriage prep?
Considering that a couple is not entering into a contract with options to renege, but rather into a lifelong covenant intended to help each other get to heaven, the question should rather be, “Who doesn’t have time for marriage prep?”
Among the marriage preparation programs offered in the archdiocese, “One in Christ” (OIC) is the newest.
With its emphasis on catechesis, presentations by young couples and an extensive look at Natural Family Planning (NFP) and the procreative element of marriage, the program has already changed many hearts about the true nature of marriage.
Program inspired by young adult needs
While there were already many marriage preparation programs in existence in his archdiocese, Father Thomas Aschenbrener of the Archdiocese of Chicago felt compelled to create a new one with a more catechetical approach.
“I knew young adults were entering marriage uncatechized, not practicing their faith. Our culture says children are bad, expensive, a burden, and that with contraception you can control your life and family life,” he says. “They weren’t aware of Church teaching—that marriage is faithful, fruitful and forever.”
Then-vicar general of the archdiocese of Indianapolis Msgr. Joseph Schaedel knew Father Aschenbrener and asked to see the program when it was completed.
“I was very impressed. It’s very thorough and complete. It pulls no punches about the truth, but in a very pastoral way,” says Msgr. Schaedel, pastor of St. Luke the Evangelist Parish in Indianapolis. “It presents the authentic teaching of the Church on Christian marriage.”
He also appreciates that the program is led by young married couples who sign an oath of fidelity to the magisterium—the teachings of the Church.
The program was implemented in the Archdiocese of Indianapolis in the fall of 2010.
God’s vision for a marriage
The OIC program takes place over the course of three weekend days. The first Saturday of the OIC program begins by exploring the true nature of marriage as God intended and as Scripture reveals; the covenantal theology of marriage; the sacramental aspects of marriage and how the sacraments of the Eucharist and reconciliation nourish the sacrament of marriage.
The focus then shifts to communication and finance in marriage in general, and also the role faith plays in both. Each session involves questions, a video and time for couples to discuss in private.
“It really is a step-process program,” says Mark Overholt, who coordinates the program in Indianapolis with his wife, Michelle. “Couples have to understand the role of God in their marriage and the vision of God for their marriage. Only in light of that can you then look at practical tools for marriage, like communication and finances.”
With those foundations laid, the remainder of the program—Sunday and the following Saturday—delves into the unitive and procreative ends of marriage.
“We don’t shy away from the controversial topics. We talk about pornography, cohabitation, contraception and infertility,” says Michelle, who with her husband is a member of Our Lady of the Most Holy Rosary Parish in Indianapolis.
During the week between sessions, couples read articles on contraception, infertility, chastity and Church teaching on these topics.
On the second Saturday, medical professionals from The Kolbe Center, Inc. in Indianapolis, make a presentation to the couples on health perspectives of natural family planning, contraception and moral ways to cope with and treat infertility.
“When they hear about NFP, they can pull all the things together they learned from the previous weekend about God, communication and finance,” says Tim Hill, who presents with his wife, Mandy.
“They can see how all those things come together, and how you’re talking about them at least once a month with NFP as you decide whether to postpone pregnancy or not,” says Tim, who along with his wife is a member of St. John Vianney Parish in Fishers, Ind., in the Lafayette Diocese. “It makes the communication in your marriage so much better.”
The day concludes with an explanatory Mass—a full Mass in which the priest stops frequently to explain the order, actions and symbols of the Mass. (Related: New ‘One in Christ’ renewal program for married couples to be offered this fall)
‘A way for couples to grow together’
Once the couples have completed the sessions, they then enroll in and complete a NFP course.
“NFP is not the same as the rhythm method that our mothers and grandmothers used,” says Dr. Melanie Margiotta, founder of The Kolbe Center, Inc. “In addition to using NFP to postpone or achieve pregnancy, it is also a way for couples to grow in holiness together and to learn more about their bodies for preventative health care.”
Ann and Mike Green, members of St. Alphonsus Liguori Parish in Zionsville, Ind., in the Lafayette Diocese, have been teaching NFP classes for 13 years and coordinate classes for the Indianapolis chapter of the Couple to Couple League. They are thrilled with the results they see from the “One in Christ” program.
“There is such a difference between the OIC couples who take NFP classes versus those the priest just told to take [the class]. They are so much more excited because they’ve been catechized and understand the ‘why’ behind NFP,” says Ann.
“They really do get the education of the faith in OIC,” Mike adds. “That and NFP are such a big part of living a Catholic marriage. It just works perfect with marriage prep. It changes lives.”
Changing perspectives on marriage
Ashley Wells can attest to how OIC changes lives. The member of Our Lady of the Most Holy Rosary Parish in Indianapolis says she wouldn’t be Catholic today were it not for the OIC marriage prep program.
Ashley was a Methodist when she and her then-fiancé, Andrew, signed up for OIC at their parish.
“I thought it was going to be a lot of Catholic knowledge being shoved down my throat. I was surprised,” she says. “After the first night I came home, and it gave me so much to think about.
“They talked about birth control and other things that are hard to talk about. No one talked to me before about why Catholics have the views they do on certain subjects. The more I learned and prayed about it, I felt the Church was where I belonged,” says Ashley. “I decided to go through RCIA and became Catholic last year at Easter. OIC really changed my life.”
It actually changed both of their lives—and added a new life to the world. After learning more about NFP, Ashley and Andrew decided to open themselves to God’s gift of children early in their marriage. They were married on July 2, 2011, and now have a 1-year-old daughter, Olivia.
Amy Butz and her fiancé, Peter Blackett, had a similar experience when Father Rick Nagel, pastor of St. John the Evangelist Parish in Indianapolis, requested they complete the OIC program.
“We were like, ‘Three weekend days out of our lives?’ It was just one more thing to check off the list of a million things to do,” says Butz.
But like Ashley, she walked away from the program with a new perspective.
“I had an ‘ah-ha’ moment when I heard that within the marriage sacrament, it becomes your job to get your spouse to heaven. Never in a million years had I thought about that.”
Three in a marriage
The post-session evaluations speak volumes about the program’s efficacy, says administrator Michelle.
“We see the same comments over and over, that now they know the ‘why’s’ of Church teaching on covenants, contraception, NFP, in vitro fertilization, etc., and how that has changed their perspective on marriage and fertility and birth control.”
One couple who recently completed the OIC program commented that, “We never thought about the fact that there are three in marriage, even in intimacy, and that God uses the bride and bridegroom as a main expression of his covenant. It’s really humbling to be held at that level. It made us realize that this is a real vocation we’re taking on.”
In light of such a statement, Father Aschenbrener’s program seems to be on its way to achieving the goal he felt God was calling him to strive toward with the creation of the OIC program:
“If we have holy couples, we’re going to have holy families, which means we’ll have holy vocations. And if we have holy families and vocations, we’ll have a holy society, and that’s the whole meaning of Gospel.”
(For more information on the OIC program or to register, visit www.OICindy.com, e-mail This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or call 317-600-5629.) †
info (at) oicindy (dot) com
Part 1 Info
Priest/Doctor Recommendations
How Does One In Christ Compare?
Donate & Gift
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__label__wiki | 0.622107 | 0.622107 | ROC President statements
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Stanislav Pozdnyakov: “The first meeting of the ANOC Culture and Education Commission was very informative”
Today, the Russian International Olympic University (RIOU) in Sochi hosted the first meeting of the newly created Association of National Olympic Committees (ANOC) Culture and Education Commission chaired by ROC President Stanislav Pozdnyakov.
ANOC members representing Sri Lanka, Iran, Namibia, Brazil and Guam took part in the work of the Commission.
The main outcome of the meeting was the formation of the plan of activities of the ANOC Culture and Education Commission for the next four years. It will enter into force upon approval by the Executive Council of ANOC.
Stanislav Pozdnyakov:
— I am very pleased that the ANOC Culture and Education Commission began its work in Sochi at one of the world’s leading universities, which offers its students fundamental Olympic education. There are about 40 such universities in total, but RIOU occupies a special place among them. It offers the most sought after and effective training programmes that are highly valued by the Russian and international expert community.
I would also like to emphasise the following fact. At the end of last year, a representative of Russia for the first time ever became chairperson of one of the key ANOC commissions and a member of the Executive Council of this reputable sports organisation. I consider this appointment as recognition of the merits of our country in the promotion of Olympic values throughout the world.
The main tasks of the Commission include the study and use of global experience in the field of Olympic education, assistance to athletes in their professional adaptation after finishing their athletic careers, as well as the implementation of effective educational programmes on all continents, including in the anti-doping sphere.
Today, we have discussed a number of practical issues – for example, the exchange of students between relevant universities. In addition, our Commission is ready to develop criteria for the enrolment of talented young people in certain higher education institutions and the provision of conditions for their training. We must utilise all the opportunities of ANOC to promote the values of Olympism in society. | cc/2019-30/en_head_0013.json.gz/line10929 |
__label__wiki | 0.82846 | 0.82846 | E-ISSN: 1549-0955 Population Review: Published since 1957
Estimating the Underlying Infant Mortality Rates for Small Populations, Including those Reporting Zero Infant Deaths: A Case Study of Counties in California
David A. Swanson, Augustine Kposowa, Jack Baker
David A. Swanson, Professor Emeritus
David A. Swanson is Professor Emeritus of Sociology, University of California Riverside. Currently, he serves on the external advisory committee for the Geospatial and Population Studies Center at the University of New Mexico and the advisory board for Penn State University’s online MA Program in Applied Demography. Swanson served as a member of the U. S. Census Bureau’s Scientific Advisory Committee for six years (2004-10) and chaired the committee for two years (2009-2010). He has been in a number of professional association roles, including twice acting as the Secretary-Treasurer (1995-7 and 2003-7) of the Southern Demographic association, and as serving as the editor of its official journal, Population Research and Policy Review (2004-7). Most recently, he served on the program committees for the 2019 Conference on Population and Public Policy and both the 2020 and 2017 annual meetings of the Population Association of America. Swanson has served as an expert witness and testified before Congress, state legislatures and local government bodies. In addition to being a Fulbright specialist in Demography, he has received two Fulbright awards and more than $2.3 million in grants and contracts. Swanson has produced over 100 refereed sole- and co-authored journal articles and nine books, mainly dealing with demography, especially methods for doing small area estimation and forecasting. He also has edited or co-edited four additional books and Google Scholar shows more than 2,500 citations to his work. Among other professional recognitions, he: (1) served as a “summer at census” scholar in June, 2019, U.S. Census Bureau; (2) received the Terrie award in 1999 and again in 2016 for presenting the best paper in state and local demography at the annual conference of the Southern Demographic Association; and (3) received a Vice-Presidential “Hammer Award” in 1998 for work on the development of the Census Bureau’s American Community Survey.
In addition to UC Riverside, other positions he has held, include serving as an instructor for the Penn State online MPS degree in Applied Demography, a visiting professor at Aoyama Gakuin University in Tokyo, Dean at the Helsinki School of Economics and Business Administration (now part of Aalto University), Professor & Chair of the Sociology/Anthropology Department at the University of Mississippi, Associate Professor of Sociology at Pacific Lutheran University, Assistant Professor at Bowling Green State University, Senior Scientist at Science Applications International Corporation, the State Demographer of Arkansas, the State Demographer of Alaska, and a Research Investigator with the Washington State Office of Financial Management’s Population, Enrollment, and Economic Studies Division.
Currently, he is an affiliated faculty member with the Center for Studies in Demography and Ecology at the University of Washington and a Research Fellow with the Social Science Research Center at Mississippi State University. His B.Sc. is from Western Washington State College (now known as Western Washington University), and his Ph.D. and M.A. are from the University of Hawai’i. He also holds a Graduate Diploma in Social Sciences from the University of Stockholm.
Jack Baker
Jack Baker is an anthropologist and demographer who currently serves as a Senior Research Analyst – Risk at Transamerica Life. Historically, his research has focused primarily upon the physiological ecology of growth in bioanthropology and small-area methods and indirect estimation in applied demography. Recently, he has been highly-focused on the exploration of applications of computational modeling and microsimulation in demographic projection, exploring links between individual behavior and physiology and population health dynamics. From 2007 to 2015, Jack served as New Mexico’s representative to the US Census Bureau-sponsored Federal-State Cooperative Program on Population Estimates. From 2009-2017, Jack also served on two National Academies of Science committees: the Panel to Review the 2010 Census (2009-2015) and the Standing Committee on Re-engineering the 2020 Census (2015-2017). From 2007-2015, Jack was involved in research and consulting services on small-area demographic analysis at the University of New Mexico’s Geospatial and Population Studies unit, where he served as both Associate Director and Senior Research Scientist. Jack’s work has been featured in over 25 peer-reviewed articles, over 50 conference papers and invited presentations—including testimony to the United States Congress on Census 2020 preparations—and in a Springer Monograph co-authored in 2017 with David Swanson, Jeff Tayman, and Lucky Tedrow entitled: Cohort Change Ratios and Their Applications.
Augustine Kposowa, Professor
Augustine Kposowa is professor and chair of the sociology department at the University of California Riverside. His research adopts a multi-disciplinary approach that encompasses Demography, Epidemiology, Political Economy, and Racial/ethnic Inequality. In addition to doing basic research, Dr. Kposowa is convinced that sociological findings must, and should influence public policy in order to uplift the human condition, and for Sociology to remain relevant in the 21st century and beyond. Thus, his findings have received extensive media coverage nationally and internationally. An examination of the Science Citation Index shows that Dr. Kposowa is one of the most cited researchers in the Sociology Department, with most of these coming not only from his articles in biomedical journals, but sociology ones as well. For instance, his ground breaking work in Social Psychiatry & Psychiatric Epidemiology (2010) which showed that there had been an unexpected shift in the daily distribution of US suicides since 2000 received widespread coverage in various media across the world. His article in Police Practice & Research on the Sierra Leone Civil War provided the background for the 2009 movie on that war (Pride of Lions). In the movie, just as in the paper, Dr. Kposowa provides historical, economic and social causes of the war, and vehemently refutes the popular belief in the West that the war was caused by diamonds. Dr. Kposowa is currently involved in research that investigates long-term consequences of the Sierra Leone Civil War on population health. In the United States, he focuses on racial disparities in health outcomes, as well as individual and environmental risk factors for various causes of death, especially suicide. Recent publications have appeared in Social Science & Medicine, Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, Journal of Community Psychology, Social Psychiatry & Psychiatric Epidemiology, and Social Science Quarterly.
FEATURED REVIEW BOARD MEMBER
Alejandro Portes, Professor Emeritus
Alejandro Portes is Howard Harrison and Gabrielle Snyder Beck Professor of Sociology and director of the Center for Migration and Development at Princeton University. He is also Professor of Law and Distinguished Scholar of Arts & Sciences at the University of Miami. From 1998 to 1999, Alejandro served as the president of the American Sociological Association. Recently, he was awarded the prestigious 2019 Princess of Asturias Award in the Social Sciences.
Alejandro’s body of academic work is heavily cited. He is the author of roughly 250 articles and chapters on national development, international migration, Latin American and Caribbean urbanization, race and ethnicity, and economic sociology, and he has published 30 books and special issues. His books include City on the Edge – the Transformation of Miami (California 1993), co-authored with Alex Stepick and winner of the Robert Park Award for best book in urban sociology and the Anthony Leeds Award for best book in urban anthropology in 1995; and Immigrant America: A Portrait, 3rd edition, (California 2006), designated as a Centennial Publication by the University of California Press in 1996.
His current research focuses on the adaptation process of the immigrant second generation in comparative perspective, the role of institutions on national development, and immigration and the American health system.
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__label__cc | 0.557288 | 0.442712 | Improving Free Health Care
Prescription Drug Abuse: A Side Effect of the U.S. Recession
The Super Bowl and the Increase of Sex Trafficking
By Katherine in Awareness Building, General Information, Tourism, Women
This week many people here in the US are going to be gearing up for the big Super Bowl game this weekend. With team rivalry flourishing between the New England Patriots and New York Giants, the game will be played out on Sunday in Indianapolis and thousands will be both in attendance or watch it on television. While this game will have no political fallback and amount to very little besides scores of drunken fans and elevated (or deflated) team sprit; Indianapolis has had to make important amendments to a few laws in the buildup to the big day. Most notably, I am speaking of enacting harsher penalties for sex traffickers.
Last year, with the game held in Texas, the Attorney General Greg Abbott discussed this issue stating, “The Super Bowl is one of the biggest human trafficking events in the United States”. With the big game drawing people and business seekers from across the US, it is no wonder that traffickers and pimps will also follow the demand.
Building upon Regina’s article from last month, Indianapolis has taken some important steps in preparation for the game. To date, Indianapolis police and church groups have begun training service employees such as hotel workers, as well as taxi drivers in identifying what potential victims of sex traffickers may look like. Similarly, Governor Mitch Daniels has signed a bill to enact tougher penalties for sex traffickers who are caught, hoping it will be a deterrent for pimps thinking of bringing their workers down to Indianapolis.
Recently, the sex trade has been in the headlines with a number of arrests being made from prostitution being pegged to Backpage.com. Petitions on Change.org have asked people to sign in an effort to keep Backpage from advertising underage sex workers. Bringing attention to the ease of online prostitution, police and law enforcement are now using this as yet another tool to identify trafficked children and their pimps.
One man who was involved in pressing Texas to amend it’s sex trafficking laws after last year’s Super Bowl has just written a follow up report about what has been done with the continued momentum one year after the football game. Bob Price writes about his first hand experience in accompanying police on raids to health spas and what impact it is having in Texas. While he applauds the department’s work thus far in addressing such prostitution rings, Price concedes that much more still needs to be done.
As the game looms nearer, on the ground teams are already hard at work to raise awareness about these issues. One unique campaign is being run by an outreach program called S.O.A.P. (Save Our Adolescence from Prostitution). This organization identifies cheap motels where prostitution is more likely to take place, and talks with managers and owners about what to expect around high risk sporting events. Additionally, they offer to leave free bars of soap for the rooms with the National Human Trafficking hotline printed on them for the when the girls use the bathroom. To hear more about the founder Theresa Flores of S.O.A.P.’s story, you can watch her TED talk here.
Unfortunately, we live in a world where the sex industry is one of the most lucrative businesses to be involved with, coming only second to the arms industry. Additionally, it is unfortunate to report that it is so prevalent in the United States; which is against the commonly held notion that it is a predominantly third world phenomenon.
This weekend I think it will be important for the Super Bowl fans to be a bit more aware of the underside of what this event brings. While I am sure that there will be many bar patrons here in New York who will not register the magnitude of what is taking place below the surface, hopefully the more informed will take a moment of reflection on this problem. While I will inevitably be the wet blanket that will bring this up at our gathering, I think a moment of reality will be necessary in a day consisting of drinking and gouging on chips.
–Katherine Peterson is a Program and Research Intern with the SISGI Group focused on theories of development, globalization, and political ramifications of development work. Follow her on Twitter @ktp907
child prostitution, Community Change, Global Issues, Human Rights, human trafficking, responsible travel, sex trafficking, social empowerment, social problems, women's rights
Katherine Peterson is a graduate of NYU in New York, and received a Masters in International Relations and Development. Her course work has focused on international development theory, and political and economic approaches towards improving conditions in the more impoverished parts of the world. This passion was spurned through her first hand experiences when studying abroad while in undergrad and examining the application of theoretical projects. By examining competing theories and past failures, she believes that developed nations and enlightened individuals working on the ground can unite in bringing about small and meaningful changes to the world. During her time working for The SISGI Group, Katie wrote about impact strategies and their effects on the globalized market, and the subsequent political ramifications that may ensue. Follow her on Twitter @ktp907 | cc/2019-30/en_head_0013.json.gz/line10941 |
__label__wiki | 0.976617 | 0.976617 | [US-NK Summit] Kim Jong-un: the young leader taking center stage
North Korea has been isolated for decades but Kim is about to step into the limelight in world affairs
North Korea has been isolated and ostracized for decades, but leader Kim Jong-un will share center spot on the world stage Tuesday at his Singapore summit with US President Donald Trump.
His father and grandfather restricted their overseas trips to the Communist bloc or non-aligned countries -- with his father Kim Jong-il having a notorious fear of flying.
But Kim, who is still in his mid-30s, repeatedly showed an ability to stamp an outsized footprint on the global stage without ever leaving home, taking his country to unprecedented nuclear heights and sending tensions soaring.
Kim Jong-un, the Supreme Leader of North Korea who is still in his mid-30s (Yonhap)
Until this year, the most prominent American he had met was basketball star Dennis Rodman, with whom he struck up an unlikely friendship.
But in an abrupt turnaround, Singapore will host the first-ever meeting between a North Korean leader and a sitting US president, the climax of a series of summits in less than three months. Kim arrived Sunday for the event.
Last year Kim called Trump a "mentally deranged US dotard" but he now appears to have embraced a new diplomatic approach, coming across as polite and even charming in two meetings each with Chinese leader Xi Jinping and the South's President Moon Jae-in.
Portraits of late North Korean leaders Kim Il Sung, left, and his son, Kim Jong Il, hang inside the convention hall of the April 25 House of Culture, where the party congress is held in Pyongyang, North Korea. (AP)
Kim is the third member of his dynasty to rule the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, as the country is officially known, and inherited power in 2011 when he was still in his 20s.
At the time he was considered untested, vulnerable and likely to be manipulated by senior figures. But he has established his authority over both the ruling Workers' Party and the military, proving his mettle by ruthlessly purging potential rivals.
The most senior victim was his uncle and mentor Jang Song-thaek, who was suddenly executed in 2013, denounced by state media as "despicable human scum" and proclaimed guilty of a variety of colourful crimes and political sins.
And last year his eldest half-brother Kim Jong-nam was brazenly assassinated in broad daylight, smeared with a deadly nerve agent as he walked through Kuala Lumpur's international airport in a hit which most analysts say could only have come from Pyongyang.
In contrast, his sister Kim Yo-jong has emerged as one of his closest advisers, constantly at his side during his diplomatic travels and acting as his envoy to the Winter Olympics in the South in February.
School girls holding brooms bow to pay their respects toward a mural that depicts the late North Korean leader Kim Il-sung delivering a speech, before sweeping the area surrounding the mural. (AP)
Eternal President
Rights groups say abuses are rampant in the North, where between 80,000 and 120,000 prisoners languish in political prison camps.
But Kim has also been keen to project a softer side, at least in official propaganda.
Unlike his father, who rarely smiled or spoke in public, the carefully vetted images of Kim Jong-un's heavily choreographed appearances show a more garrulous figure, laughing and joking with officers, soldiers and civilians during field trips, as well as giving speeches to packed halls of party functionaries.
He has noticeably modelled his image on that of his grandfather Kim Il-sung, appearing to mimic his hairstyle, dress, mannerisms and public speaking style.
Pyongyang is extremely sensitive and protective when it comes to the image of the ruling family, and Kim's father and grandfather are ubiquitous, their portraits adorning every home and office in the country while their bodies lie in state at the capital's Kumsusan Palace.
The North's founder Kim Il-sung remains the country's Eternal President despite having died in 1994, and the current leader's key governmental title is instead the unwieldy Chairman of the State Affairs Commission.
The 105-story pyramid-shaped Ryugyong Hotel towers over residential apartments, forming the skyline of Pyongyang, North Korea. (AP)
Lap of luxury
Unlike his grandfather, whose youth was dominated by the anti-Japanese struggle, Kim has led a life of luxury.
He was born to his father's third wife, Japan-born ethnic Korean dancer Ko Yong-hui, who is believed to have died of breast cancer in 2004.
Much of his early history is still surrounded in mystery -- so much so that even his precise date of birth is unclear.
He is said to have known that he would become North Korea's leader from his eighth birthday, when he received a general's uniform and the country's military top brass bowed to him.
Kim was sent to school in Switzerland, where he was looked after by his maternal aunt Ko Yong-suk and her husband.
School staff and friends, who were reportedly unaware that he was a member of North Korea's ruling family, remembered him as a shy boy who liked skiing, Hollywood tough guy Jean-Claude Van Damme and basketball.
Now, all eyes will be on the wily young leader as he meets the President of the United States. (AFP) | cc/2019-30/en_head_0013.json.gz/line10943 |
__label__cc | 0.712766 | 0.287234 | SMART TracersTechnology
MANAGEMENT TEAM AND BOARD
Since its formation in 2017, QuantumPro, Inc. has experienced great interest from high level executives, technical advisors, investors and directors. As a result, we now have a management team and advisory board with over 100 years combined industry experience and a range of expertise and credentials from across the industry and indeed the world.
The team members lead and drive forward an innovative and creative way, breaking boundaries and solving issues in tracer technology and intelligent diagnostics for oil and gas wells across the globe.
Talgat Shokanov
CEO of QuantumPro, Inc.
Key credentials:
17 years in strategic management, R&D, technology commercialization, business development especially in fast growing hydraulic fracturing industry
Experience in venture capital investment, project finance, international business and oilfield services sectors
Published more than 10 U.S patents and 40 publications in the areas of hydraulic fracturing, pressure diagnostics, completion integrity, re-injection and subsurface containment.
Recipient of prestigious SPE Award for Distinguished Contribution to Petroleum Engineering and SPE Section Service Award for Valued Service.
Talgat Shokanov lead QuantumPro, Inc. since 2017 after 15-years of diverse international career with Schlumberger with the vision to develop a new and innovative smart tracer technology. With a background in hydraulic fracturing operations, R&D, business management, and finance, Talgat is an executive who identified an opportunity for this ground-breaking technology and is now leading QuantumPro, Inc. to develop multiple applications in the hydraulic fracturing domain.
In his prior roles with Schlumberger, he spearheaded the global business and technology development of the Cuttings Re-Injection via hydraulic fracturing including subsurface engineering design, disposal domain mapping, diagnostics and monitoring analysis. The application of these processes and technologies triple the business size, secure dominant market position and become a vital part for deepwater, arctic and remote oil and gas projects deployment.
Talgat is well recognized for technical expertise and resolution of highly complex issues in hydraulic fracturing, multiple fractures mechanics and modeling, fracturing injection and decline pressure analysis, subsurface engineering and containment assurance which enhanced the stature of the industry in the environmentally compliant drilling and subsurface injection assurance and resulted in the publication of many articles and patents. Talgat is recipient of Prestigious SPE Award for Distinguished Contribution to Petroleum Engineering and SPE Section Service Award for Valued Service.
Role with QuantumPro, Inc.
As CEO, Talgat continues to be the driving force behind the business. He inspires his board and team to apply their innovative smart tracer technology solution to an expanding number of applications and environment within oil and gas wells.
Talgat has worked in a variety of business roles within oilfield services industry across the globe and servicing a wide range of clients. He has the skills and expertise to lead QuantumPro, Inc. to success. He has broken new ground within the oil & gas sector and has established new technologies for use in the field and continues to gain interest in QuantumPro, Inc. from the oil and gas companies around the world.
Pavel Khudorozhkov
Global Completion Manager at QuantumPro, Inc.
15+ years of international oil and gas industry experience
Technical lead for $100M+ complex fracturing and injection business in Schlumberger
Completed 100+ geomechanical and complex hydraulic fracturing subsurface modeling studies
Fracturing projects design, diagnostics and analysis in America, Africa, Europe, Middle East and Russia
Pavel Khudorozhkov is a recognized subsurface expert with more than 15 years of global oil and gas industry experience focusing on reservoir evaluation, advanced geomechanics and engineering design. He received his MS degree in Petroleum Engineering from Heriot-Watt University, Scotland.
During his professional career Pavel held various technical and management roles providing technology and services across upstream value chain. He led the creation of 3D models for complex and naturally fractured reservoirs in oil, gas and gas condensate fields. He pioneered and perfected the world leading hydraulic fracturing assurance process, front-end engineering design and efficiency evaluation workflows for solids injection projects. He also supervised oil field development, reservoir evaluation studies and production wells performance analysis.
In his last role at M-I SWACO, A Schlumberger Company he applied his expertise to develop and grow subsurface assurance business line in Russian and Caspian Region. His efforts secured a leader market position for geologically complex and environmentally sensitive projects. Pavel is well recognized for his work on geomechanical and diagnostics analysis for major oil and gas operators – ExxonMobil, BP, Shell, ConocoPhillips, PetroAmazonas, Chevron, Gazprom, Rosneft. He characterized new injection formations and designed integrated assurance process for complex fracturing and injection projects in UAE, Russia, Kazakhstan, Ecuador, Peru, USA, Canada.
In QuantumPro, Inc., Pavel is leading the subsurface geomechanics and completion diagnostics business line. He develops completion diagnostics workflows and technical solutions aiming to reduce the completion cost and enhance the well productivity.
Board Member, QuantumPro, Inc.
Oil and gas experience of 40 years in strategic management, R&D, technology commercialization, business development in the oilfield services industry
Held numerous executive and leadership positions with M-I SWACO, a Schlumberger Company
Experienced in venture capital investment, M&A, project finance, international business management and oilfield services sectors
Extensive experience in oilfield chemicals manufacturing and drilling fluids. Strong relationships with lower and middle-market private equity and venture capital investors
John Oliver started at the field level in drilling fluids 40 years ago after receiving his BSc., with honors, in Biochemistry from St. Andrews University in Scotland. He worked in every geographic segment of the fluids industry and held management roles in every segment of M-I SWACO, a Schlumberger Company.
John held several high-level executive roles within M-I SWACO, during which time, he managed the global business and technology development of the Cuttings Re-Injection via hydraulic fracturing including subsurface engineering design, disposal domain modeling and mapping, complex fracture diagnostics and monitoring analysis.
He managed all the segments in the South American business unit as Senior VP and his last position with M-I SWACO was as Global Marketing Manager. John went on to lead Prince Energy, a division of Prince International. He retired from that position in July 2018.
Three experienced Advisors represent a selection of high-profile experts, innovators and experienced executives from various oil and gas related organizations. With support of this high-caliber team, QuantumPro, Inc. will continue to develop and grow their customer base and market applications for its revolutionary smart tracer technology portfolio.
Nick Tillmann
CEO of inRobotics
27 years of experience in the upstream and downstream sectors
Management and operational roles held internationally
Led Energy Accelerator at the Houston Technology Center
Currently CEO of InRobotics
Nick Tillmann is an experienced petroleum industry executive whose experience includes leadership of diverse international businesses with significant P&L responsibility, project management, start-ups, emerging markets and rapid growth.
At ConocoPhillips, Nick successfully started up and led the company's downstream petroleum business in Poland, managed the company's $500 million global petroleum coke business, directed numerous international business development projects and led the development and commercialization of technology-based products such as flow improvers and carbon products.
Since May 2014, Nick has served as Director of Energy Acceleration at the Houston Technology Center, where he has advised and mentored over 100 energy startup companies and developed and implemented programs to educate startup founders and teams.
Currently, Nick is President and CEO of inRobotics, a technology startup partnering with Rice University's Robotics and Intelligent Systems Lab to develop robotic solutions for inspection and maintenance of large assets.
Lance Robinson
President of Innovation Project Services
25 years of experience in energy innovation & technology commercialization
MBA from the University of Dallas
Founder & President of Innovation Project Services LLC
Lance Robinson is an internationally experienced energy sector manager with extensive experience in new technology & innovation, project development, commercial management, venture capital investments and startup companies, and technology development and commercialization.
His career has encompassed technology investment and project development in renewable energy, energy recovery, power generation, power transmission, and oil & gas subsectors for top-tier energy and industrial companies.
He has successfully built internal and external relationships and overcame operational resistance to change through effective stakeholder engagement and collaboration. He is Founder and President of Innovation Project Services LLC which is "go to" organization for technology innovation projects & programs.
Lance holds an MBA from the University of Dallas and a Bachelor's in Civil Engineering from the South Dakota School of Mines and Technology
Sam Hemeda
Managing Partner at Capstone Energy Consulting
25 years experience in technology deployment in oil & gas value chain
Strategic Executive roles, held within national and multinational companies
In-depth expertise in digital transformation for SME
Sam Hemeda has 25 years of executive experience in the energy industry where he was one of the early pioneers in understanding and advancing the role of Advanced Analytics and Machine Learning in all Oil & Gas segments.
Sam has worked for national and multinational companies, such as ABB, Schneider Electric, Honeywell, Kongsberg Digital (formerly Kongsberg Oil & Gas Technologies) and recently Accenture LLP providing his consultative experience to major and independent E&P companies. Currently, he is a partner at Capstone Energy Consulting, specializing in strategy and digital transformation for small and medium enterprises that serve the energy market.
He is a member of the Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE). He serves on the advisory team for Houston Exponential and MIT Enterprise Forum of Texas. He has received a B.S in Mechanical Engineering from City University of New York (CUNY), a professional Engineering Licenses (PE), State of Texas and MBA from University of Warwick (United Kingdom) with focus on information consultancy and new venture creations. Sam has multiple publications and currently holds a US/International patents.
Intelligent Diagnosticsfor Production and Injection Wells
QuantumPro, Inc. will be presenting at 2019 SPE ATCE
QuantumPro, Inc. presented at Frost & Sullivan's Innovation Council
QuantumPro, Inc. featured at SPE JPT Magazine
QuantumPro, Inc. presented at Rice Energy Forum
QuantumPro, Inc. presented at 2018 OTC
QunatumPro, Inc. © 2018. All Rights Reserved. Developed by: | cc/2019-30/en_head_0013.json.gz/line10948 |
__label__cc | 0.645756 | 0.354244 | Twelve Tribes cult: Looks like a quaint “Amish” type group
August 5, 2001 / C / 2 Comments / News, Newspaper Article, North East USA, Writings by ex-members
But truth be told….
Factnet NewsBlog editor’s note: I just recently worked with a reporter from NBC in Kansas City, Mo. on a spot he was doing about the Twelve Tribes. His story was focused on the “child abuse aspect” of the Tribes until he found how many different destructive traits he could have investigated and in his own words ”I could have used an hour instead of 4 minutes of video” on the story. Here is what he came up with and considering his time restraints. I think he did a great job. Thanks Russ! (The editor’s personal note can be found at the end of this page).
NBC Action News Report….
An NBC News investigation has uncovered allegations of stillbirths and infants being spanked with a rod in a Missouri church which critics are calling a cult.
In undercover video recorded by NBC Action News in Warsaw, Mo., Elaine Elias is seen pleading with members of the Twelve Tribes church to speak with her daughter. A police officer tells Elias and our undercover news team to get off the street.
The woman’s daughter, 24 year old Megan O’Leary, says she joined the Twelve Tribes of her own free will.” I’m her daughter, and I’m here, and I want to be here,” O’Leary is heard saying.
Twelve Tribes recruited O’Leary outside a Christian youth conference in Kansas City last December. They took her back to Warsaw, Mo., population 2200, about two hours southeast of Kansas City.
After researching the Twelve Tribes online, Elaine Elias flew to Missouri from Florida, determined to get her daughter out and to sound the alarm about what she had learned about the church.
Elias went door to door and business to business in Warsaw in an effort to turn residents against the Twelve Tribes church. Most residents had either never heard of Twelve Tribes or know very little about them.
“I want you to know who’s living in your town,” Elias said as she worked a Warsaw tavern like a seasoned politician. Discipline, Modesty Pillars of Church Doctrine
Eugene Spriggs established Twelve Tribes strict doctrine.
“Discipline is essential to this end,” Spriggs says in a church video from 2000.
There’s no TV, and only approved books. Women dress modestly, even during recreational activities such as swimming.
Cult expert Rick Ross defines unsafe cults as groups that abuse or exploit their members. He points to allegations of harsh corporal punishment of children when he calls the organization a destructive cult.
Although no one at the Warsaw Twelve Tribes community agreed to discuss the church with NBC Action News, the national group discusses past conflicts with the outside world on a Web site section titled Controversies.
Russ Ptacek NBC Action News KC, MO.
Editor’s personal note:
Like the words spoken to the Church in Ephesus, I believe God has the same ones for the Church of the Twelve Tribes and those who hope they are the “Spiritual” seed of Abraham….
“You have persevered and have endured hardships for my name, and have not grown weary. Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken your first love. Remember the height from which you have fallen! Repent and do the things you did at first. If you do not repent, I will come to you and remove your lamp stand from its place.”
The loving community that had open arms and a non-judgmental, humble beginning has morphed into just another industrial complex. The pride of the Pharisees has leavened the loaf and puffed it up beyond recognition. Your people have enforced the “law” and know not of the “freedom of the cross.” Instead of the faithful caring and seeing to the needs of others, knowing that theirs will be met, their days are filled with dreams of actually getting 8 straight hours of sleep, providing for their own flesh and the monotony of rote rituals and not the labor of love. They do as they are told for fear of correction, discipline and the stigma of being “cut-off” from those who they love.
Reasoning, independent thought and critical thinking is deemed a “sin” and rebellion. The “flavors” of the different cultures brought together and the distinct personalities of the wonderful, interesting and loving people are smothered in order to create a community of automatons…lemmings…cookie cutter disciples. These common disciples who don’t have the power or stature of the ruling class will exercise the only power they have and that’s the one that encourages you to watch your brother and his family and publicly point out all their shortcomings and problems that they need to address, knowing that they must receive you no matter if they feel your right or wrong. But as with Elder, government member and common disciple alike, when you’re pointing that finger at your brother don’t forget to take a look at the 3 pointing back at you….
Most “disciples” come there with a U-Haul full of baggage, baggage that is never dealt with and is put into storage where it ferments and expands. It is not addressed and is ignored while these suffering souls cloak their selves with a false bravado and project a pseudo submissive love in order to mentally and emotionally survive the heavy yoke of your mental incarceration.
“A civilization is not conquered from without until it is destroyed from within.” Will Durant
Every time I think about Gene and his relationship with his Southern Baptist father, and then us ex-members relationship to “Yoneq,” I want to sing that line from the Linkin Park song, “Numb” to him…. “You were just like me…with someone disappointed in you…” This is why I think he strove to “do it better” than his Dad!!! He has followed in his father’s footsteps and has lost many of his “children” because of his heavy hand of total control…
I’m tired of being what you want me to be
feeling so faithless
lost under the surface
I don’t know what you’re expecting of me
put under the pressure
of walking in your shoes
[caught in the undertow/just caught in the undertow]
every step that I take its another mistake to you
become so numb….
I can’t feel you there…
become so tired…
so much more aware…
I’m becoming this…
all I want to do…
is be more like me….
and be less like you…
can’t you see that you’re smothering me
holding too tightly
cause everything that you thought I would be
[caught in the undertow/ just caught in the undertow]
every step that I take is another mistake to you
and every second I waste is more than I can take
become so numb
is be more like me
And I know…
I may end up failing too!
But I know…
You were just like me with someone disappointed in you
is be more like me and less like you
I’ve become so numb
Is everything what you want me to be
Is everything what you want me to be – Linkin Park
Your “Alpha” males rise to the top of the government and try to fix the problem of the proletariat… Your elders “Shepherd their souls” with fear and control instead of understanding and love. That love the “elders” can’t even muster up to work out the petty differences between each other! Do as I say! Not as I do!”
Time and time again I have seen elders who possess the love of others spread too thin. They are crushed by the mere numbers and demands of the sick just like Yahshua. Desperately wanting to complete the “portion” set before them, they unintentionally neglect their spouse, and their children who then in turn suffer. The children become unruly just for some kind of attention and then they are punished for being rebellious!!!! Then, the “powers that be” demote these loving men and tell them to put back together that which is already shattered! Many children, by the time they are old enough, leave! (which I must say takes great courage but also tears that apart inside!) How can these children “turn their hearts toward their fathers when they are never there???
The ones with unconditional love are leaving. They realize that they don’t have enough to oil the “Machine” lest they find themselves without enough for their own lamps….
If the tribes “lamp stand” haven’t been removed already, the oil in it is leaking out and that which remains is going rancid.
I have one more thing to say, Gene. You have completely destroyed my (and may others) faith and belief of your Christian “God.” I don’t know whether to curse you or thank you…
David T. Pike
FactNet
2 Comments On “Twelve Tribes cult: Looks like a quaint “Amish” type group”
Christopher Randall Boucher April 28, 2019 at 2:12 am
I have work 4 Twelve Tribes and it has been nothing but nice everyone seemed like they wanted to be there they do awesome work and there work ethic is amazing I have many Devil tattoos on my body and they treated me just like everybody else
Another Ex-Sucker May 13, 2019 at 4:45 am
Bro, their god is a worthless piece of shit. In my time there, they drove it into me hard that they were not Christian.
Twelve Tribes beliefs
The Teachings form the body of scriptural understanding from Eugene Spriggs to be taught and observed by every member in all of the locations. They are not meant to be for the public and are presented here for research purposes … [Read More...]
4 BOOKS ON THE TWELVE TRIBES COMMUNITES
BY EX-MEMBERS AND RESEARCHERS
Posts from 1977-2018
Select Month June 2019 April 2019 October 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 July 2013 May 2013 March 2013 January 2013 December 2012 May 2012 March 2012 January 2012 November 2011 September 2011 July 2011 June 2011 February 2011 October 2010 July 2010 January 2010 October 2009 July 2009 June 2009 March 2009 December 2008 September 2008 August 2008 June 2008 May 2008 April 2008 March 2008 February 2008 October 2007 September 2007 August 2007 June 2007 April 2007 January 2007 December 2006 November 2006 October 2006 September 2006 August 2006 July 2006 June 2006 May 2006 October 2005 September 2005 August 2005 February 2005 October 2004 August 2004 July 2004 June 2004 April 2004 February 2004 October 2003 May 2003 November 2002 October 2002 September 2002 August 2002 October 2001 September 2001 August 2001 April 2001 March 2001 December 2000 November 2000 September 2000 August 2000 July 2000 June 2000 May 2000 March 2000 February 2000 August 1999 July 1999 May 1999 November 1998 June 1998 April 1998 March 1998 May 1997 April 1997 January 1997 November 1996 October 1996 September 1996 August 1996 May 1996 April 1996 September 1995 August 1994 March 1994 February 1994 November 1993 September 1993 April 1993 March 1993 April 1992 March 1992 December 1991 January 1990 July 1989 September 1988 April 1986 June 1985 December 1984 August 1984 July 1984 June 1984 November 1983 April 1983 March 1983 January 1983 December 1982 November 1982 November 1980 February 1980 January 1980 December 1979 April 1979 March 1979 January 1979 January 1978 September 1977
Anna on More than good food part1
dr jo hawkins on FBI Documents Show Alleged Child Sex Abuse, Drug Trafficking at ‘Twelve Tribes’
Nicole Rogers on The Twelve Tribes Money Machine
Academic writings (7)
Blog Post (114)
Central USA (14)
CULTS IN THE NEWS (13)
From a christian perspective (24)
Newspaper Article (297)
North East USA (148)
Recent news (37)
Transcripts (2)
Twelve Tribes stand on Christianity (3)
Twelve Tribes writings (7)
West USA (28)
Writings by ex-members (34)
Members of Twelve Tribes escaping fund
Funds will go towards helping members of the Twelve Tribes with urgent needs like a hotel room, meals. Members often leave destitute. The fact of not having anyone to turn to and no cash as well as the dread of integrating into a world they have turned their backs on for years is a major factor that keeps the members in. Please donate to this lifesaving fund.
Thank you from the bottom of our hearts
Concerned ex-members
Donate to Help exiting members | cc/2019-30/en_head_0013.json.gz/line10950 |
__label__cc | 0.507745 | 0.492255 | The Study of Science and Religion
Sociological, Theological, and Philosophical Perspectives
Carl Reinhold Bråkenhielm
Church of Sweden Research Series
Eugene, OR:
Pickwick Publications
, June
The Study of Science and Religion: Sociological, Theological, and Philosophical Perspectives by Carl Reinhold Bråkenhielm contains three sections, each so distinct that they can be read separately with little confusion. The first part analyzes Swedish public opinion data on religion and science. Part 2 summarizes the history of the relationship between science and religion in the work of Swedish theologians and philosophers, while the last part offers constructive theological work on religion and science.
Bråkenhielm frames part 1 around Anders Jeffner’s notion that worldviews contain value systems, metaphysical pictures, and basic moods. He notes that the Swedish public, while it is scientifically-minded, can be sorted into distinct clusters based on surveys taken between 2006 and 2017. The analysis focuses on the concept of “biologism”—a biological and deterministic framework for understanding reality—held by approximately 15% of the Swedish public. In addition to studies of Swedish public opinion, Bråkenhielm addresses analysis on Swedish clergy and scientists, which he then compares to data on US public opinion and opinion among US scientists.
Some startling patterns emerge. In Sweden, the ratio between religious and non-religious scientists is about the same as in the general population, while US scientists are more likely to be non-religious than are US non-scientists. Bråkenhielm suggests that secularization has followed different paths since the US religious marketplace has been more competitive and scientists form an inconsequential constituency within it. In contrast, Swedish religious life has been dominated by the Church of Sweden and shaped by university-produced theology that is relatively palatable to scientifically-educated people. However, there is still disagreement between Swedish clergy and the general population—48% of the Swedish public finds that scientific advances make it more difficult to believe in God while only 2% of Swedish clergy hold that view. Another unexpected finding is that approximately 80% of Swedish clergy endorse an independence model of the science-religion relationship, while the same percentage endorse a contact model of that same relationship. Scholars who discuss those models see them as mutually exclusive, so it is odd to see such overlap. There are also distinct trends over the 2006-2017 time period in Sweden: religious belief has fallen, while environmental pessimism has grown.
Part 2 examines the development of Swedish philosophy and theology in relation to religion and science, showing some broad trends—as well as diversity—in viewpoints and approaches. While Bråkenhielm discusses a wide variety of scholars, he notes the importance of a few in particular: no account of modern Swedish theology can ignore the influence of bishop and theologian Nathan Söderblom; philosopher Axel Hägerström’s critique of metaphysics attracted many responses; and, in 1949, philosopher Ingemar Hedenius leveled a critique of religion in his book Tro och vetande and in newspaper articles that went beyond the universities to influence Swedish society. Theologian Anders Jeffner developed a theory of “fundamental patterns” in worldviews, which acts as a common thread in all three parts of Bråkenhielm’s book.
Bråkenhielm highlights movement between independence models and contact models of science and religion during various phases of modern Swedish theology. Although part 2 is generally informative, Bråkenhielm’s reading of Anders Nygren’s thought, as he admits, is just one possible reading. Given Nygren’s own claim to developing a scientific approach to theological method, one might object to Bråkenhielm’s characterization of Nygren as holding to a strict independence model given his description of religion as atheoretical. Nevertheless, Bråkenhielm offers a helpful and thorough portrait of the role of religion and science in modern Swedish theology.
While parts 1 and 2 emphasize the Swedish context, part 3 addresses the broader conversation on science and religion as well as matters in philosophy of religion that go beyond it. First, Bråkenhielm addresses questions of incompatibility between science and religion, particularly regarding biological evolution. He then discusses models of independence, focusing on the possible role of religious experience as evidence for theological claims. In the concluding chapter, he analyzes contact between science and religion and themes in cosmology and theology such as the Big Bang, fine tuning, creation, and eschatology.
Part 3 constructs a sophisticated and well-informed argument. Bråkenhielm gives nuanced assessments of thinkers such as Robert John Russell, William Alston, and Thomas Nagel, raising legitimate philosophical points against anti-theistic perspectives while not contradicting scientific findings in any way.
While the lack of thematic unity between the three parts of this book is unusual, each part makes a genuine contribution to the area under consideration. The comparison of public opinion, clergy opinion, and scientific opinion in Sweden and the US presented in part 1 offers unique and thought-provoking perspectives. Bråkenhielm’s survey of the treatment of science and religion by Swedish theologians and philosophers in part 2 is comprehensive, and part 3 offers careful analysis of major theological issues related to science and religion. While it could have benefitted from better editing—there are many typographical errors throughout—the book provides essential insights in each of the areas covered.
Stephen Waldron is an Independent Scholar.
Carl Reinhold Bråkenhielm is Professor Emeritus in the study of worldviews at Uppsala University. His research concerns worldviews and values in contemporary society as well as sociological, theological, and philosophical problems related to the relationship between science and religion. He is the author of Forgiveness (1993). His latest writings in English include “Theology and the Origins of Customized Science” (included in The Customization of Science, 2014).
Sweden, biologization | cc/2019-30/en_head_0013.json.gz/line10954 |
__label__cc | 0.569792 | 0.430208 | Tribeca Film Festival 2018 is a wrap
April 27th, 2018 Posted by pamela Film Festivals 0 thoughts on “Tribeca Film Festival 2018 is a wrap”
The 18th Annual Tribeca Film Festival is coming to a close and is one I consider to be the best in years in terms of quality, equality, variety, and special presentations. With close to 100 feature films not to mention the seemingly myriad number of short films, I have the best of the fest.
TULLY: Diablo Cody (“Juno,” “Young Adult”) writes this screenplay perhaps as she looks in the mirror, depicting life as a mother in one of the most raw and truthful films addressing the subject. Charlize Theron stars as Marlo a mother of 2 and pregnant with her 3rd, whose wealthy brother offers to pay for a “night nanny.” With 2 active and demanding youngsters, a newborn, and a “typical” husband, Marlo is exhausted and bites the bullet, taking her brother up on his generous offer. As Tully (Mackenzie Davis) and Marlo begin to bond, life takes a wonderfully positive turn, but as the layers are peeled away we discover so much more. It’s an eloquent and insightful film that humorously and dramatically portrays the thoughts, emotions, and harsh realities of what motherhood is like on a daily basis as we are reminded of our dreams, our past, and our futures. Opens in theaters May 4.
STOCKHOLM: The psychological term “Stockholm Syndrome” originated from this “absurd but true story” starring Ethan Hawke, Mark Strong, and Noomi Rapace. The good-hearted bank robber, Lars (Hawke) hatches a hair-brained plan to get his best buddy Gunnar (Strong) out of the Swedish penitentiary, taking 3 hostages captive. His plan unfolds in the most unpredictable, almost slap-stick silly way, making you fall in love with Lars as well. It’s an incredibly entertaining and comedic slice of history suiting Hawke’s comedy skills to a “T”… a skill we didn’t even know he had.
WOMAN WALKS AHEAD: Written by Steven Knight (“Locke” “Hundred Foot Journey”) and directed by Susanna White, this story is also based upon an historical event. Catherine Weldon (Jessica Chastain), a Brooklyn-based artist in the late 1800’s, travels to the Dakotas to paint Sitting Bull’s portrait. Arriving in a hostile environment, she is unwelcome by the military, but with a determination not characteristically seen in women during this era, she perseveres. The relationship she develops with Sitting Bull is heart-wrenchingly beautiful and the integrity she shows in fighting for Native American’s rights is inspiring. Chastain is extraordinary, Sam Rockwell hones his skills as a dislikable misogyntist and racist, and Michael Greyeyes reincarnates a virtuous and complicated Sitting Bull. The exceptional cinematography beckons you to see this on the big screen. Opens in theaters June 29.
LOVE, GILDA: The life of the beloved comedic performer from Saturday Night Live, Gilda Radner, is featured in Lisa D’Apolito’s documentary, “Love, Gilda.” Using journals, audio recordings, found family footage, and photographs from her life, Radner’s history is brought to life. We learn about her childhood, her struggle with her weight, her love interests, and what drove her to be such a star. Interviews with those who knew her best and those she inspired, such as Chevy Chase, Maya Rudolph, Lorne Michaels, and Martin Short to name a few, keep her spirit alive and allow all of us to know her better. D’Apolito creates a flawless portrayal of one of the most iconic performers in the 20th century. (Release date yet to be determined.)
O.G.: Written by Stephen Belber and directed by Madeleine Sackler, Jeffrey Wright (“Westworld”) stars in this thought-provoking and poignant film about Louis, a man incarcerated for murder, serving 24 of his 60 year sentence, soon to be released on parole. The emotional angst and uncertainty push him to reach out to a new, young convict, attempting to pass the torch and his wisdom as he looks in the rear view mirror of his life. The complexity of the structure of prison is revealed and impacts Louis’ future as he is placed between survival and his future. Beautifully filmed, we are taken inside the closed quarters, feeling as if we are walking along side Louis. And Wright’s skillful performance lets us inside the mind of an “original gangster,” perhaps even gaining understanding for the decisions he has made and continues to make. Filmed in an actual prison in Indiana, few actors were used, creating a formidable and impactful scenario not to be missed. (Release date yet to be determined.)
It was a difficult task to limit my list of the best films as every film I saw stood out. Never before have I attended such a festival where no film was a disappointment. Other films that could have easily made my top list include: “Diane,” “The Seagull,” “Blue Night,” “All About Nina,” “Mary Shelley,” Back Roads,” “Red Roll Red,” “Egg,” “General Magic,” “Ghostbox Cowboy,” and “M.” Additionally, TFF was represented by 48% women-directed films, three of which were my top films and “Tully” was written by a female. TFF 2018 is one for the records! | cc/2019-30/en_head_0013.json.gz/line10955 |
__label__wiki | 0.502388 | 0.502388 | Home Democracy & Politics The Turkish Elections 2018—Part 1
The Turkish Elections 2018—Part 1
The speculations that the elections are anticipated to be the finale of the transition of Turkey from a parliamentary democracy to a reorganized presidential regime, one where the Grand National Assembly will be the subsidiary authority and power.
By Amna Javed -
In the history of Turkey, events of great importance, manifestations and intrigue have taken place. This June, on 24th another such event is going to take place which will once again change the course of power within Turkey and have certain impacts on the tide which prevails in the regional and international realm outside of Turkish domestic politics.
After calling the much-speculated snap polls in May—there were unleashed a series of debates as to why the snap elections have been called. The most quoted reasons which made sense to the analysts were chiefly that with this action, Erdogan is simply pushing for the stumbling economy to keep on its feet and not run out of steam. Although Turkish economy saw a 7.4% boom last year largely due to credit growth the economy has begun to filter out. The inflation rate has doubled, the Turkish Lira has fallen against dollars to a point of decrepitude and there is a large debt which needed to be catered to. As soon as the talk of snap election was on, the economy rebound a little bit and it is since then, thoroughly believed that with the general elections actually taking place the economy can perhaps show signs of larger recovery as that would imply stability, as well as more investors, will then show a newly restructured interest in Turkey. Furthermore, there was also hope that with the general elections taking place the Turkish Lira will perhaps sustain itself a little.
Then there were also the speculations that the elections are anticipated to be the finale of the transition of Turkey from a parliamentary democracy to a reorganized presidential regime, one where the Grand National Assembly will be the subsidiary authority and power. But in all of this, the total period in which the transition is to be made will have to be not just sped up but crammed up.
Furthermore, there is also the idea of early elections on the basis of bringing upon stability especially given the fact that turkey is involved on multiple regional forums and particularly in the Middle East it has spread out itself on many war fronts i.e. Syria and Iraq. According to Erdogan, the transition period has been one marked with credible uncertainty especially in terms of its foreign policy which perhaps, according to the AKP leader, can only be resolved if there is a smooth transition and elections.
Three more aspects remain in calling the early elections; one of them is that these elections will be riding a big wave of Turkish nationalism. The idea of this nationalism was embedded within the coalition of AKP i.e. the Justice and Democracy Party as well as the Nationalist Action Party or MHP which is led by a leading ally of Erdogan, Mr Devlet Bacheli. The Afrin conquest happened to be a cherry on top of this wave and it was jointly decided by both sides to utilize this wave in the contemporary time on the hope that it will make for an easy win as most people will have this win fresh in their memory.
Another reason was that when the elections were called it was believed by the AKP that no opposition party is going to be strong enough to stand ground in front of the formidable coalition of AKP-MHP. Of course, this turned out to be counter-productive. This made the election call more of a gamble by Erdogan who was perhaps had more surety that the campaign will be an easy and smooth sail and will be as forthcoming as the Referendum of 2017. In this scenario, there are also some of the New Election Laws which favoured the AKP more than the opposition forces.
But the main theme behind the calling of the snap elections happens to be the consolidation of power. Whoever wins, will consolidate absolute presidential powers and maneuverer the foreign, economy and military policy of Turkey hands down. If the AKP under Erdogan wins both rounds then there would be an absolute consolidation of power which would very interestingly complement Erdogan’s bid of the 2017 Referendum.
Though the main and formidable entity of the election campaign is Erdogan there have new faces emerged with much ferocity which was perhaps not anticipated by the AKP leadership. There is no doubt that Erdogan opened up for Turkey a new dimension to regional and international power wherein under his policies the idea of Turk magnificence and power was superimposed in terms of regional and international forums. The idea of Turkey as a formidable force which has the potential to see the West eye to eye has become quite intriguing.
Then with the bid to resurface as a grandeur powerhouse in the Middle East has been one cataclysmic factor as well. The popularity and reverence attached to Erdogan were visible when Turks took to streets in 2016 to save their state and government from a coup attempt. Since Erdogan’s ideology happens to be Turkish Islamist Ideology, it paved the way for many to cheer his presence. But this also has now brought on the surface a side which does not so openly support Erdogan. This side is dominated by the opponents who have their own causes and ideologies and stand against Erdogan in hopes to end his ‘one-man rule’ and bring back democracy which suits Turkey.
The chief opponent at this time happens to be Muharrem Ince who hails from the centre-left, secularist Republic People’s Party (CHP). Not only has he came forth and brought out a massive number of supporters but openly challenged Erdogan for a televised debate. His main slogan revolves around the idea of ‘Enough’ as he chants it out loud and claims that under Erdogan the idea of democracy has fumbled a lot. His main agenda is regarding the economy, democracy but at the same time, he has celebrated his religious side when he brought his sister who wears a headscarf to his campaigns. Currently, it is being claimed by many that Ince is one force to watch out as he has the gift of the gab and is propagating a bigger and better change as well as giving a strong counter-narrative which many within the society needed.
Threatening Erdogan from the centre-right is Meral Aksener from the Iyi Party or Good Party is a nationalistic force to be reckoned with as she was the first one to declare the candidacy against the AKP leader. Her agenda largely revolves around stabilizing the old Turkish system and law and making amends with the EU as well as bringing democracy back. Temel Karamollaoglo is another opponent from the conservative side hailing from the Islamic Felicity Party and is a threat because he can largely divide the conservative vote of AKP.
The pro-Kurdish People’s Democratic Party or HDP is also going to be a force within the Kurdish voters who can sway the elections. Not only is this party pro0-Kurdish but is a left wing one as well, one which AKP and Ankara do not hold in its good books. Their leader who is a candidate for the elections is Selahattin Deirtas and has been thrown in jail for terrorism charges. Interestingly he is fighting the elections from behind bars.
The intriguing part is that various coalitions are on the horizon for the elections and the political galvanization behind them. In the first place, there is AKP joined by Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) and a small right-wing party Great Unity Party or BBP. Then there is Nation Alliance which is between CHP, Good Party and Felicity Party. There is also a Fair Election Platform where various parties and groups have joined hands in support of each other as well as free and fair elections, these are; CHP, Good Party, Felicity Party, Confederation of Progressive Trades Union, Confederation of Public Labourer’s Union and some civil initiatives of Ataturkish Thought Association and Unity for Democracy.
This makes the coming election highly interesting yet volatile because Erdogan is against a strong opposition which is bent to break his power while he is not willing to weaken. For this reason, the elections are being prophesied to go into the second round. Currently, the regional and international sides are silently looking at the Turkish political gambit. Of course, it is too early to say which side will be better for whom and who is rooting for whom. In any case, the winning of the election by anyone is dire for not just the domestic and internal politics of Turkey but for the external side as well. Because where there is its own economy to look out for, there are various trading deals with big-time allies, where there is the Russia-Iran coalition to look out for there is the US rapprochement as well. Where there is the Kurdish issue, there is the part in Syria and the Middle East. For whatever reason Erdogan picked to play this gamble, if it does not play out for him then Turkish policy will go through a massive change and with that, there will be significant paradigm shifts in the international and regional orders as well.
DISCLAIMER: The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy and position of Regional Rapport.
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Amna Javed
Amna Javed is a graduate of School of Politics and International Relations, Quaid e Azam University, Islamabad. Presently she is engaged in her post-graduate research focused on Turkey
US-Iran Bilateral Hostility
Modi’s Operandi
Modi’s Ultra-Hindu Nationalism | cc/2019-30/en_head_0013.json.gz/line10956 |
__label__wiki | 0.528226 | 0.528226 | Polarityte
Polarityte Securities Litigation
According to the Complaint, PolarityTE, Inc. ("PolarityTE" or the "Company") (NASDAQ: COOL) purports to be a commercial-stage biotechnology and regenerative biomaterials company focused on discovering, designing and developing a range of regenerative tissue products and biomaterials for the fields of medicine, biomedical engineering and material sciences. The Company’s key development is SkinTE, which is intended to be used by physicians or other appropriate healthcare providers for homologous uses of skin tissues/integument. Patients who have suffered from an event, disease, process or acquired deficit that results in the functional loss or void of skin/integument systems can receive SkinTE as an adjunct and/or in place of split-thickness skin grafting, full-thickness grafting, temporizing skin coverage and/or skin substitute products.
On June 27, 2018, Plaintiff's law firm issued a press release announcing the law suit. According to the press release, on June 25, 2018, Citron Research ("Citron") issued a report in which Citron detailed the Company's track record of material misrepresentations, misstatements, and omissions pertaining to the status of a key patent application. The Citron report noted that as far back as March 31, 2017, the USPTO notified the Company of its non-final rejection of patent #14/954,335. Citron's report continued to highlight the Company's subsequent failure to disclose the patent's non-final rejection status and its continued behavior of representing the technology linked to the patent in a positive light. The report also pointed to the USPTO's final rejection of the patent on June 4, 2018 – information that the Company also failed to disclose. On this news, COOL stock plunged more than 34%.
The Complaint alleges that between March 31, 2017 and June 25, 2018, inclusive (the "Class Period"), Defendants made false and/or misleading statements, as well as failed to disclose material adverse facts about the Company's business, operations, and prospects. Specifically, Defendants made false and/or misleading statements and/or failures to disclose pertaining to a number of topics, including (i) the status of Patent #14/954,335 at the time it was acquired by the Company on April 7, 2017 and the months following; (ii) the updated status of Patent #14/954,335 after its June 4, 2018 final rejection by the USPTO; and (iii) that as a result of the foregoing, PolarityTE's publicly disseminated financial statements were materially false and misleading.
On November 28, 2018, the Court issued an Order consolidating cases. The consolidated cases are to be captioned "In re Polarityte, Inc. Securities Litigation." On January 16, 2019, the Court issued an Order appointing Lead Plaintiff. On February 2, the Court issued an Order approving Lead Plaintiff's selection of Counsel. Lead Plaintiff filed an amended Complaint on April 2.
Defendant: Polarityte
Ticker Symbol: COOL
Jose Moreno, et al. v. Polarityte, et al.
COURT: D. Utah
JUDGE: Hon. Jill N. Parrish
Block & Leviton LLP
155 Federal Street, Suite 1303, Block & Leviton LLP, MA 02110
Peters Scofield
7430 Creek Road Ste 303, Peters Scofield, UT 84903
(801)322-2002 ·
2 Order Consolidating Related Actions 11/28/2018
4 Order Granting Lawi's Motion to Appoint Lead and Liaison Counsel 02/01/2019
In re Polarityte, Inc. Securities Litigation
Harper Law, PLC
P.O. Box 581468, Harper Law, PLC, UT 84158
Holzer & Holzer, LLC
1117 Perimeter Center West, Suite E-107, Holzer & Holzer, LLC, GA 30338
770.392.0090 770.392-0029 · mfistel@holzerlaw.com
Pomerantz LLP (New York)
600 Third Avenue, Pomerantz LLP (New York), NY 10016
212.661.1100 212.661.8665 · info@pomerantzlaw.com/
1 Amended Class Action Complaint for Violation of the Federal Securities Laws 04/02/2019 | cc/2019-30/en_head_0013.json.gz/line10961 |
__label__cc | 0.706585 | 0.293415 | The South African Oncology Social Workers’ Forum was founded by Linda Greeff (currently Oncology Social Work Manager at Cancercare) and the late social worker, Hannetjie Opperman, in 2000 with branches in Johannesburg and Cape Town. A few years after its inception, SAOSWF approached the South African Society of Clinical and Radiation Oncology (SASCRO) – now known as the South African Congress of Oncology (SACO) – to become part of their annual meetings. Since then SAOSWF has been responsible for managing and organizing the social work programme at oncology conferences such as ICON (Independent Clinical Oncology Network) and SACO.
Earlier this year, Linda Greeff and Clare Manicom, who have been managing SAOSWF for the past few years, decided to
hand over the reins to a new generation of
oncology social workers.
Meet the new management committee
Chairperson: Memory Munodawafa is an oncology social worker and a member of the multidisciplinary oncology team at Cancercare. She consults at the Cancercare units at Rondebosch Hospital, Life Vincent Pallotti Hospital and Netcare Christiaan Barnard Memorial Hospital. She recently submitted her PhD thesis to the University of Cape Town’s psychiatry department. Outside of work, Memory enjoys taking part in various road running races. E-mail: chairperson@saoswf.org.za
Vice-chairperson: Nadia Booysen works as a social worker at Mary Potter Oncology Centre in Pretoria where she is primarily involved in counselling patients and their families from diagnosis to end of life. She has a keen interest in palliative care and the value it adds to the treatment of patients. Mental health is a field of interest that is often neglected for which Nadia advocates as much as possible. E-mail: vicechairperson@saoswf.org.za
Treasurer: Lauren Smith is a registered social worker in private practice. She consults at Life Vincent Pallotti Hospital and in the Winelands. She is part of Chariot Health’s interdisciplinary palliative care team in the Western Cape, focusing on the West Coast. When she is not working, Lauren loves the outdoors, spontaneous weekend getaways and being close to the ocean. E-mail: finance@saoswf.org.za
Communications: Avril de Beer is a social worker at Alberts Cellular Therapy (ACT), the largest private practice in Africa dedicated to the treatment of blood cancers and disorders of the blood. She is primarily involved in the preparation and counselling of stem cell transplant patients and their families. Before she joined ACT, she worked at Sungardens Hospice in Pretoria where she provided end-of-life counselling to hospice patients. E-mail: news@saoswf.org.za
Secretary: Welly den Hollander is an oncology social worker. She obtained her MMed and PhD degrees at UKZN and is currently completing the Postgraduate Diploma in Palliative Medicine at UCT. She works with private oncologists in the palliative field. Welly facilitates art therapy groups and retreats for patients and caregivers. She used to work at McCord Hospital and Siyahlanganisa where she provided community HIV/AIDS training.
E-mail: admin@saoswf.org.za | cc/2019-30/en_head_0013.json.gz/line10962 |
__label__cc | 0.624735 | 0.375265 | Sponsors and Exhibitors
SynBioBeta SF 2017
Register October 3-5, 2017 Mission Bay Conference Center, San Francisco, CA
George Church Meets Vinod Khosla: an Epic Dialogue Between Two Legends
Fireside Chat: Big Data and AI Meet Synthetic Biology
Cell Factories for Biopharmaceuticals and Healthcare (Sponsored by Synthetic Genomics)
Panel Discussion on the Future of DNA Synthesis (Sponsored by Molecular Assemblies)
Biomaterials and Consumer Products (Sponsored by Mintz Levin)
Thought for Food (Sponsored by Thought For Food)
Synthetic Biology Investor Panel (Sponsored by Alexandria Real Estate Equities)
Environmental Applications of Synthetic Biology (Sponsored by Intrexon)
Innovations for Ocean Sustainability (Sponsored by Fish-Free Feed Challenge)
What’s Your Bio-Strategy? (Sponsored by Ginkgo Bioworks)
Why SynBioBeta?
The SynBioBeta SF synthetic biology conference is back for its sixth year with more than 16 sessions, 60 speakers, and 30 exhibitors — meet the movers and shakers of an industry that’s driving technology and business forward.
Key themes at SynBioBeta conference this year include biomaterials and consumer products, cell factories for biopharmaceuticals, big data and artificial intelligence meet biology, and innovations for ocean sustainability. Learn about the future of DNA synthesis, why protein is the killer app, investment opportunities, and how all companies need to be thinking about a Bio-Strategy in order to be able to compete.
We hope you will join us for the conference at the Mission Bay Conference Center in San Francisco, October 3rd-4th, and the optional “Unconference” in beautiful Sonoma Wine Country on October 5th.
SynBioBeta is the only synthetic biology conference that pays tribute to strong science and also strong business.
Karl Handelsman
Investment Director, Genentech/Roche Venture Fund
A conference not to be missed – this is the place for SynBio power users, experts, key opinion leaders, investors, vendors, students and novices.
Emily Leproust
CEO, Twist Bioscience
SynBioBeta is uniquely focused on startups and entrepreneurs trying to change the world and the challenges we face to get to market. As a startup founder, SynBioBeta is the most pertinent conference to the issues I deal with on a daily basis.
Dan Widmaier
CEO, Bolt Threads
– Karl Handelsman, Investment Director, Genentech/Roche Venture Fund
“A conference not to be missed – this is the place for SynBio power users, experts, key opinion leaders, investors, vendors, students and novices.” – Emily Leproust, CEO, Twist Bioscience
“SynBioBeta is uniquely focused on startups and entrepreneurs trying to change the world and the challenges we face to get to market. As a startup founder, SynBioBeta is the most pertinent conference to the issues I deal with on a daily basis.” – Dan Widmaier, CEO, Bolt Threads
Regular Ticket
Until October 2nd
On the door
Twist Bioscience
At Twist Bioscience, our expertise is accelerating science and innovation by leveraging the power of scale. We have developed a proprietary semiconductor-based synthetic DNA manufacturing process featuring a high throughput silicon platform capable of producing synthetic biology tools, including genes, oligonucleotide pools and variant libraries. By synthesizing DNA on silicon instead of on traditional 96-well plastic plates, our platform overcomes the current inefficiencies of synthetic DNA production, and enables cost-effective, rapid, high-quality and high throughput synthetic gene production, which in turn, expedites the design, build and test cycle to enable personalized medicines, pharmaceuticals, sustainable chemical production, improved agriculture production, diagnostics and biodetection. We are also developing new technologies to address large scale data storage. For more information, please visit http://www.twistbioscience.com. Twist Bioscience is on Twitter. Sign up to follow our Twitter feed @TwistBioscience at https://twitter.com/TwistBioscience.
Ginkgo Bioworks
Headquartered in Boston, Ginkgo Bioworks uses the most advanced technology on the planet—biology—to grow products instead of manufacturing them. The company's technology platform is bringing biotechnology into consumer goods markets, enabling fragrance, cosmetic, nutrition, and food companies to make better products. For more information visit www.ginkgobioworks.com.
Intrexon Corporation (NYSE: XON) is Powering the Bioindustrial Revolution with Better DNA™ to create biologically-based products that improve the quality of life and the health of the planet. The Company’s integrated technology suite provides its partners across diverse markets with industrial-scale design and development of complex biological systems delivering unprecedented control, quality, function, and performance of living cells. We call our synthetic biology approach Better DNA®, and we invite you to discover more at www.dna.com or follow us on Twitter at @Intrexon, on Facebook, and LinkedIn.
Labcyte
Labcyte, a global biotechnology tools company headquartered in San Jose, California, is revolutionizing liquid handling. Echo® liquid handling systems use sound to precisely transfer liquids without contact, eliminating the use of pipettes. Labcyte instruments are used worldwide throughout the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries, as well as by hospitals, service laboratories, contract research organizations, and academic institutions. Our customers work across a wide spectrum of scientific research, including drug discovery, genomics, proteomics, diagnostics and personalized medicine. Labcyte has 60 U.S. patents and others internationally. For more information, visit www.labcyte.com. For more information, visit www.labcyte.com.
Codexis
Codexis, Inc. is a leading protein engineering company that applies its technology to the development of biocatalysts for commercial manufacture of pharmaceuticals and fine chemicals, as well as the development of enzymes as biotherapeutics and for molecular diagnostics. Codexis’ proven technology enables implementation of biocatalytic solutions to meet customer needs for rapid, cost-effective and sustainable manufacturing. For more information, see www.codexis.com.
Agilent Technologies Inc. is a global leader in analytical laboratory technologies. With more than 50 years of insight and innovation, our instruments, software, services, solutions and people provide trusted answers to our customers' most challenging questions. The company generated revenues of $4.20 billion in fiscal 2016 and employs about 13,000 people worldwide. Information about Agilent is available at www.agilent.com.
For 11 years, Amazon Web Services has been the world’s most comprehensive and broadly adopted cloud platform. AWS offers over 90 fully featured services for compute, storage, networking, database, analytics, application services, deployment, management, developer, mobile, Internet of Things (IoT), Artificial Intelligence (AI), security, hybrid, and enterprise applications, from 44 Availability Zones (AZs) across 16 geographic regions in the U.S., Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, Germany, India, Ireland, Japan, Korea, Singapore, and the UK. AWS services are trusted by millions of active customers around the world -- including the fastest growing startups, largest enterprises, and leading government agencies -- to power their infrastructure, make them more agile, and lower costs. To learn more about AWS, visit https://aws.amazon.com.
America’s Seed Fund
America’s Seed Fund is a program within the National Science Foundation. NSF is a federal agency that supports fundamental research and education across all fields of science and engineering, currently with a $7.5 billion budget. Through the merit review process, NSF funds the most innovative ideas in science and technology. Notable NSF-supported advances include Doppler radar, the Internet, web browsers, bar codes, magnetic resonance imaging, inkjet printers, computer-aided design systems, tissue engineering, and other technology-based innovations that spur economic activity and improve the quality of life for all Americans.
BGI Genomics
BGI Genomics is a part of BGI Group, one of the world’s largest genomics organizations. BGI Group was founded in 1999 with the vision of using genomics to benefit humanity and has since become the largest genomic organization in the world. With a focus on research and applications in the healthcare, agriculture, conservation, and environmental fields, BGI Group has a proven track record of innovative, high profile research, which has generated over 2,000 publications. BGI Genomics provides a wide range of commercial next generation sequencing services and a broad portfolio of genetic tests for medical institutions, research institutions and other public and private partners. BGI Genomics’ mission is to leverage its genomics expertise in order to advance life science research and to improve human health by providing high quality, affordable genomics powered health solutions that are available for everybody. BGI Genomics has particular strengths in prenatal screening, hereditary cancer screening, testing for rare disease and in aiding precision medicine research. Numerous scientific partners, healthcare providers and pharmaceutical companies have come to rely on BGI Genomics’ world leading bio-informatics research and development, large scale computing infrastructure and proprietary sequencing platforms. BGI Genomics is headquartered in Shenzhen, China, with branches and medical laboratories in major cities including Beijing, Tianjin, Wuhan, Shanghai and Guangzhou. BGI Genomics also has offices and laboratories located in Europe, North America and the Asia Pacific region.
Data Collective - DCVC
Data Collective (DCVC) is a venture capital fund that backs entrepreneurs applying deep tech to transform giant industries. DCVC and its principals have supported brilliant people changing global-scale businesses for over twenty years, helping create tens of billions of dollars of wealth while also making the world a markedly better place.
DCVC brings to bear a unique model that unites a team of experienced venture capitalists with more than 50 technology executives and experts (CTOs, CIOs, Chief Scientists, Principal Engineers, Professors at Stanford, Berkeley, and major technical universities) with significant tenures at top 100 technology companies and research institutions worldwide.
DCVC focuses on Seed and Series A companies, and growth stage opportunities within its own portfolio.
DCVC’s strong network, operational experience and technical background delivers unique value to entrepreneurs. We still read code. We understand chip architecture and when to run BLAST versus Bowtie. We've built supercompute racks ourselves, and we know that degrees of freedom doesn’t mean how often a robot escapes. We know that PyTorch isn’t something you use to make crème brulee. And we will be there at 3 am to cheer the new build or at 7 am to help land that new customer.
DuPont has been bringing world-class science and engineering to the global marketplace in the form of innovative products, materials and services since 1802. The company believes that by collaborating with customers, governments, NGOs and thought leaders we can help find solutions to such global challenges as providing enough healthy food for people everywhere, decreasing dependence on fossil fuels, and protecting life and the environment. For additional information about DuPont and its commitment to inclusive innovation, please visit www.dupont.com.
GenScript
GenScript is the world leader in gene synthesis, and a peptide, protein, and antibody research partner for fundamental life science research, translational biomedical research, early stage biopharmaceutical development, and synthetic biology. Since its founding in 2002, GenScript has provided services and products to scientists in more than 100 countries worldwide. The company delivers biological research services encompassing gene synthesis and molecular biology, peptide synthesis, custom antibodies, protein expression, antibody and protein engineering, in vitro and in vivo pharmacology and industrial synthetic biology products. For more information, visit www.genscript.com.
Integrated DNA Technologies
Integrated DNA Technologies (IDT) is the world leader in delivering custom nucleic acid products for the life sciences market in the areas of academic research, medical diagnostics, biotechnology, agriculture, and pharmaceutical development. The company's primary business is the production of custom oligonucleotides for molecular biology applications. IDT has developed proprietary technologies for genomics applications, such as next generation sequencing, CRISPR genome editing, qPCR, and RNA interference. Through its GMP services, IDT manufactures products used in diagnostic tests for cancer and most inherited and infectious diseases. For more information, visit www.idtdna.com.
M Ventures
We drive innovation and back entrepreneurs through equity investments and hands on support in fields that could impact the vitality and sustainability of our parent’s company (Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany) current and future businesses. We are the strategic, corporate venture capital arm of Merck. Our mandate is to invest in innovative technologies and products with the potential to significantly impact our parent company’s core business areas. From our headquarters in Amsterdam and offices in the US and Israel we invest globally in transformational ideas driven by great entrepreneurs. We take an active role in our portfolio companies and team up with entrepreneurs and co-investors to translate innovation towards commercial success. We have a significant focus on early stage investing and company creation including the creation of spin-offs to leverage Merck’s science and technology base.
Mintz Levin
The development of biologic therapeutics has entered a new age of competition following passage of a biosimilar law in the United States. The law is known as the Biologics Competition and Innovation Act, or "BPCIA." To give your company the best advantage in this market you need advice and counsel from professionals who know your industry. Professionals who give straightforward strategic and legal advice founded in real world experience. That’s the Mintz Levin team. Mintz Levin has built up a world class reputation in the Life Sciences space, with significant emphasis on biotechnology. Our attorneys understand the playing field and the players in the biologics and biosimilars space. We know and have navigated our clients through the complicated pathways to success through which your company and products must pass – FDA regulatory, transactional, and innovation protection.
Molecular Assemblies
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__label__wiki | 0.882374 | 0.882374 | Are you a George Jones guy in a Garth Brooks world? A Loretta Lynn gal trying to understand why people still call Shania Twain a "country" artist?
Well, then this website is for you! Here's your chance to read all about Nashville pop, from the late-'50s "Nashville Sound" and the "countrypolitan" scene of the '70s to today's chart-toppers and pretty-boy hat acts, seen through the lens of DJ Joe Sixpack, a hick music know-it-all with a heart of gold...
Your comments and suggestions are welcome, particularly suggestions for artists or albums I might have missed. Other types of twang are reviewed elsewhere in my Hick Music Guide.
This is the fourth page covering the letter "D"
A | B | C | D-1 / 2 / 3 / 4 | E | F | G | H | I | J | K | L | M | N | O | P | Q | R | S | T | U | V | W | X, Y & Z | Comps | Other Country Styles | Hick Music Index
Deryl Dodd "One Ride In Vegas" (Columbia, 1996)
Deryl Dodd "Deryl Dodd" (Columbia, 1998)
(Produced by Chip Young & Blake Chancey)
Damn... this is a mighty fine, mighty fun little record! It's really a shame that such a fine record as this only barely scratched the Nashville Top 40... what is wrong with those people? Anyway, this is well worth looking for, packed with fun, rootsy numbers that have a strong melodic fell, but plenty of forward, propulsive momentum, smartalecky lyrics and heartfelt delivery. Plus, he just doesn't bather messing around with crappy, sappy power ballads, so there's nothing on here to harsh the high of the true country fan. Take for example, the track, "30-30," with this fab chorus: "Hindsight's not 20-20/It's more like a 30-30..." With lyrics like that... how can ya lose? It's a really good album... heck, I kept my copy, and I'm pretty damn picky.
Deryl Dodd "Pearl Snaps" (Lucky Dog, 2002)
I like this guy! Coasting on the edge of "young country" Top 40 and Joe Ely-style bar band rowdiness, Dodd has a pleasantly un-perfect voice which makes him human enough to be a little "alt"... The title track to the best-of set is pretty irresistible and catchy... it's followed up by two other great tunes, "She's Have You Back" and a nice rendition of Tom T. Hall's "That's How I Got To Memphis." From there it's a steady slide into commercial formulae, but on the whole this is a pretty decent collection. Plus, I have to confess I've always been partial to Gordon Lightfoot's "Sundown..." Dodd's version ain't as great as Lightfoot's, but that's a tough standard to live up to, and Dodd does alright. This is definitely on the pop side, but worth checking out.
Deryl Dodd "Live At Billy Bob's Texas" (Smith's Music Group, 2003)
Deryl Dodd "Stronger Proof" (Dualtone, 2004)
Hey, let's hear it for Deryl Dodd: he still rocks. Or, to be more accurate, he still plays some great, hard-edged melodic country music. A couple of songs on here go off the rails into some shrill Southern rock riffs that made me hit "fast forward," but the rest of the album had the kinda twang that makes me put an album on "repeat." This is good stuff... If you liked his earlier albums, this one won't disappoint you. It's worth checking out, kids!
Deryl Dodd "Full Circle" (Dualtone, 2007)
Deryl Dodd "Random As I Am" (Smith Entertainment, 2011)
Johnny Dollar -- see artist profile
Dottsy "The Sweetest Thing" (RCA, 1976) (LP)
(Produced by Roy Dea)
A likeable minor leaguer who had a few respectable chart hits in the mid-'70s, Texas native Dottsy (nee Dorothy Brodt...) hitched a ride with Johnny Rodriguez's road show, and after a half year or so touring with him, landed a contract with RCA. She had an okay voice, nothing earthshaking, but sincere and heartfelt, perhaps a little on the demure side, as if she could easily be overwhelmed by a powerful enough arrangement. There wasn't too much risk of that, though: the band behind her was pretty much a standard-issue Nashville studio session crew, and they stuck to a mellow, lowkey tempo. The song selection was interesting, though -- in addition to some bland offerings by John Denver and Billy Joel, she also covered a few folks from the nascent "outlaw" scene, including a ballad by Kinky Friedman (!), Jessi Colter's "Storms Never Last," and a slushy version of Susannah Clark's "I'll Be Your San Antone Rose" (which she apparently got first crack at, ahead of Emmylou Harris...) Nothing all that compelling, but a nice slice of '70s style country crooning, with backing by a bunch of Nashville "usual suspect" superpickers -- Harold Bradley, Bobby Emmons, Weldon Myrick, Jerry Shook, et. al.
Dottsy "Tryin' To Satisfy You" (RCA, 1979) (LP)
Dottsy "Meet Me in Texas" (Heart Of Texas, 2010)
Dusty Drake "Dusty Drake" (Warner Brothers, 2003)
Rusty Draper "Greatest Hits" (Collector's Choice, 1999)
The good-natured, modestly talented Rusty Draper had a couple of tunes in the Country charts (most notably "Gambler's Guitar," which hit #6) but mostly he was a pop singer, following in Pat Boone's footsteps. More often than not, he'd bring country tunes over into the Pop charts, like his goofy, rinky-dink cover of the Carlisle's "No Help Wanted." This set's pretty underwhelming, at least from a country lover's perspective, though anyone who was a fan way back when will be thrilled to see this disc with all these '50s oldies back in print... It's a nice summation of Draper's early years -- not gripping material, but cute in a Norman Rockwell-ish, Eisenhower-era '50s kinda way.
Rusty Draper "No Help Wanted" (Jasmine, 2009)
A 2-CD set that supersedes the Collector's Choice disc listed above...
Don Drumm "Bedroom Eyes" (Churchill Records, 1978) (LP)
(Produced by Bob Millsap)
A really nice set of independently-produced 'Seventies style honkytonk pop, from New England-born singer Don Drumm. He wasn't any great shakes as a vocalist, but this is a fine set of songs, with plainly-arranged, straightforward accompaniment. I enjoyed it quite a bit. Most of the songs were written by his pal, Ray Hillburn, who sings backup along with the Cates Sisters, who were making a go of it themselves on Ovation Records around the same time. Side One of the album is packed with Hillburn songs, including a couple that hit the Top 40 ("Bedroom Eyes" and "Just Another Rhinestone") while Side Two has a wimpier, poppier sound, finishing up with the only track written by Drumm, "You'd Be Beautiful (In A Children's Book)" which is actually a better song than the title implies. Highlights include "Brother, I'm Glad She Found Me" and "Sad Songs" (again, written by Ray Hillburn) and their cover of Chips Moman's outlaw anthem, "Luckenbach, Texas." This is swell record, a modest late-'70s gem that reminds me of Bill Phillip's "comeback" album of the same era. Worth looking for.
Roy Drusky -- see artist profile
George Ducas "George Ducas" (Liberty, 1994)
This disc didn't make a dent in the charts, but it sure sounds fine from where I stand... I'll admit Ducas doesn't have a great, perfectly professional voice -- he's got great tone, and a personal warmth that comes through loud and clear, but he falters in little ways that make this a flawed jewel on the major label alter. Still, I found this disc consistently interesting; they might not have "punched up" the weak spots to make it radio-perfect, but Ducas still has a feel for real country music that's quite refreshing to hear, giving us a pleasant mix of Rodney Crowell's traditionalism and Chris Isaak's croon. Plus, what a great songwriter! These are all original compositions, ten crisp honkytonk tunes that place Ducas in the forefront of the neo-trad country crowd. Worth tracking down, if you can find it out there.
George Ducas "Where I Stand" (Capitol, 1997)
George Ducas "Volume Up, Windows Down" (Propel Records, 2010)
George Ducas "4340" (Loud Ranch, 2013)
I hate to say it, but this record -- the first from Ducas in years -- was a big disappointment. And I'm a big George Ducas fan: in the prefab world of 1990's Nashville, he was an avatar of inventive, assertive neotraditionalism, a reassuringly robust honkytonker with a modern sensibility. Twenty years later, he seems to have lost faith in his original muse, choosing instead to bang out a loud, aggressive, rock-tinged modern stuff in a bid to keep up with the current crop of beefy-teed, empty-headed, flash-in-the-pan country stars of the moment. It's possible that the folks who are into dudes like Big & Rich, Luke Bryan or Eric Church might also enjoy this -- pop open a sixpack and crank it up loud, whatever. But my DNA doesn't allow me to go down that road... I miss the older (well, actually the younger) George Ducas, the guy who thumbed his nose at by-the-numbers musicmaking and held the line for a little true twang and soul. Oh, well. Other Ducas fans will want to check it out anyway, and see if maybe this brash new album resonates more for them than it did for me.
Dave Dudley -- see artist profile
Due West "Forget The Miles" (EP) (Black River, 2011)
Johnny Duncan -- see artist profile
Whitney Duncan "Whitney Duncan" (Self-Released, 2007)
Whitney Duncan "Right Road Now" (Warner Nashville, 2010)
Whitney Duncan "One Shot" (2013)
Holly Dunn -- see artist profile
Ronnie Dunn "Ronnie Dunn" (Sony Nashville, 2011)
A solo set from one half of the chart-topping Brooks & Dunn country duo...
John Durrill "Just For The Record" (United Artists, 1976) (LP)
(Produced by Snuff Garrett)
A dreadful, drekky '70s AOR/disco pop album from songwriter John Durrill, who was the keyboard player in the '60s pop group, The Five Americans. You might be fooled -- like me -- into thinking this was a country record, because of Snuff Garrett's participation, and because several songs were co-written with Sandy Pinkard of the country (comedy duo of Pinkard & Bowden). Actually, I guess this is meant to be a split album: Side One is pure pop (and purely bad) while Side Two has several country-tinged tunes, with a little pedal steel and some banjo on the closing track. I guess it was meant to be a "country side," but it's also pretty forgettable. Despite the miserable tepidness of this album, Durrill did manage to crack into the country market in the early '80s, when Merle Haggard had a #3 hit with his song "Misery And Gin," from the soundtrack to the Clint Eastwood film, Bronco Billy, as well as contributing songs to similar flicks such as Any Which Way You Can and Smokey and The Bandit 2. He also had several songs recorded by Cher, which probably gives you a better idea of what this album sounds like...
Commercial Country Albums - Letter "E"
Hick Music Index | cc/2019-30/en_head_0013.json.gz/line10965 |
__label__wiki | 0.512324 | 0.512324 | Solos Endoscopy, Inc. was founded in 1986 and was a pioneer in the video imaging market during the emergence of Minimally Invasive Surgery in the early 1990’s. The Company’s early work in laparoscopic endoscopy allowed Solos to become a market leader during this time. Solos was then acquired by BircherMedical Systems during this period, in one of the largest endoscopic deals at the time. Later the two companies would be acquired by ConMed Corp. The Solos Endoscopy unit was eventually spun-off from ConMed into a private company, in the late 1990’s.
In the early 2000’s, Solos Endoscopy was again a pioneer with its entrance into the medical digital imaging marketplace; with its chip on the stick (COAST) endoscope and one of the first digitally integrated video systems (DIS2000) for documenting and archiving endoscopic images. Through a merger/acquisition with ViaDux Health in 2006, Solos Endoscopy became a publicly traded company (OTCPK:SNDY). Later that year, Solos launched its MammoView™ endoscopic line of breast cancer detection tools. Which today, Solos remains the leading company in endoscopic breast cancer detection products.
Today, Solos Endoscopy is a medical device company whose mission is to develop and market high quality and innovative products for the screening, diagnosis, treatment and management of medical conditions.
For more than 30 years, from medical schools to leading hospitals, surgeons have trusted the Solos brand and look to the company to develop and market breakthrough technology, applications, medical devices, and procedural techniques for the screening, diagnosis, treatment and management of disease through minimally invasive methods. | cc/2019-30/en_head_0013.json.gz/line10967 |
__label__wiki | 0.775822 | 0.775822 | Soumaya Ghannoushi
The Writings of Soumaya Ghannoushi
The Battle for Islam
Arab Revolutions, Articles, Islamism, Religion & Secularism 8 Responses »
With over 1.6 billion followers, one third of them living as minorities, Islam is a major force in the world today. An active factor in international relations, its influence is far from local or confined to countries and communities classified as “Muslim.” With the presence of Muslims in Western capitals and the rapid diffusion of mass-communication media, Islam has become a globalized subject, albeit one largely viewed through the prism of security and intelligence. Amidst the rise of al-Qaeda, ISIS and other terrorist groups, it has become increasingly perceived in Europe and the U.S. as a generator of crises and a threat to global stability and security.
In spite of the deluge of images and narratives of Islam that has flooded the public space since September 11th, knowledge and understanding of the subject has remained limited. Few know the enormous diversity of the Muslim world and its societies, on the levels of schools of thought, religious interpretations, or sectarian pluralism. Fewer still realize that there exists no uniform Islam but divergent tendencies fostered and promoted by the general political climates where different Muslim communities happen to find themselves.
It is such conditions that define the form of Islam that gains prevalence in a given historical context. Like any other major religion, Islam has been in its past, and continues to be in the present, subject to multiple strategies of interpretation. In general terms, we can speak of three prominent trends competing over the hearts and minds of Muslims around the world today.
The first is theocratic, at the service of absolutist rulers for whom Islam is a means of acquiring a de facto authority wrested by the force of the sword and hereditary succession, above any checks and restraints, and free of any accountability. This Islam is armed with its network of institutions, funds, and functionaries. The essence of religion as an authentic spiritual experience is irrelevant here. What matters are the rituals and outward forms of religiosity as the source of power legitimation. Religion is a mere obedient and obliging servant of the ruler, his interests and whims. In the Arabian Peninsula, a Wahhabism wedded to rule by the sword represents the clearest embodiment of this form of Islam.
Its proponents are as eager to exhibit the ritualist and formalistic aspects of Islam in a crudely interventionist way, such as the imposition of prayer, the segregation of men and women and enforcement of the niqab, as they are to keep it remote from politics and the realms of power and authority. As soon as these taboos are touched, the religious establishment, with its guardians of the sacred army comprising official scholars, clergymen and preachers, springs into action, denouncing the culprits as deviant and unorthodox, thereby furnishing the religious cover for their silencing, oppression and elimination.
The second strategy is as morally absolutist, dogmatic, legalistic and exclusionary as the first but espouses a different type of politics. It is an anarchist form of Wahhabism. It feeds on the climates of crisis, wars and conflicts raging in Muslim lands and seeks a source of justification for the perpetration of violence and terror in the theology of Islam.
This minority current had been isolated in Khandahar and the distant mountains of Tora Bora. But the military invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq and widening circle of political, sectarian and ethnic conflicts has strengthened it and enabled it to resonate with growing sectors of angry, anxious and disillusioned Muslim youth. The Arab awakening, which gave people in the region hope of the possibility of peaceful political change, had dealt a powerful blow to this tendency.
But as its great aspirations were crushed under the boots of generals in Egypt, burnt in the furnace of civil wars in Libya and drowned in the bloodshed of Syria, this violent anarchist current gained fresh momentum and rose to the forefront once more. For all its noise and the enormous exposure it receives, however, it still fails to command religious legitimacy or acceptance in the eyes of most Muslims, who still dismiss it as religiously deviant and politically counterproductive, damaging to the image of Islam and the stability of Muslim societies.
The presence of such extremist groups and the extent of their influence depend to a large extent on the general political climates prevailing in the Muslim world. Unfortunately, these conditions, particularly those reigning in the Arab hemisphere, show no sign of rehabilitation or stabilization.
These two trends are at loggerheads with democratic modernist Islam, whose roots lie in the 19th-century Islamic reform movement founded by Jamaluddin al-Afghani and Mohamed Abdu, which revolves around the notion of compatibility between, on the one hand, Islamic spiritual and religious values and, on the other, what it describes as the “requisites” of modern times. These include the imposition of checks and balances on power, the adoption of democratic mechanisms and procedures, and the emancipation of Islam from what proponents of this reformist school describe as the “prison of stagnation and imitation.”
With the advent of modernization, urbanization and mass education, this current has amassed considerable influence in Muslim societies (and later among Muslim minorities). Today, it is under pressure from multiple quarters. One of these is the theocratic camp, which considers the very presence of an Islam that calls for restrictions on the authority of rulers and respect for the will of the people, expressed through electoral democracy, a direct threat to its existence. This explains the unrelenting war waged by certain Gulf states on the wave of democratic change in the Arab region for the last three years.
Alongside pressures from Arab theocracies, democratic Islam is challenged by Salafi jihadists who dismiss it as “diluted,” “soft” and “naive,” pinning its hopes on peaceful protests and ballot boxes, which, unlike armed warfare, lead nowhere.
And beyond the Muslim landscape, this brand of Islam is viewed with mistrust by many in American decision-making circles and across the Atlantic. In the name of realism and pragmatism, these prefer to deal with rulers who, though authoritarian and ruthless with their masses, are pliant and willing to leave their markets wide open for Euro-American goods and squander billions in their nations’ resources on weapons no one else would buy. These are, therefore, infinitely preferable to elected leaders bound by the will of their people and committed to their interests.
Those who call for the reformation and democratization of Islam seem to miss an essential fact: that a democratic reformist Islam has existed since the 19th century. It has its own literal body, pioneers, and thinkers, within both Shia and Sunni Islam. The question is: Does the situation of present-day Muslim society, marked by crisis, tensions, foreign interventions and political despotism, foster this reformist democratic Islam, or does it promote its violent and theocratic rivals?
Rather than sifting through Muslims’ religious texts, theological tracts and medieval polemical disputes, those agonizing over the “problem” of Islam would do well to ponder the concrete reality of real, living Muslims and seek to fix it rather than striving to fix Islam.
(photo courtesy of Nutdanai Apokhomboonwaroot, Free Digital Photos)
Tagged with: al-qaeda, alqaeda, Arab, Arab Revolutions, Arab Spring, Arabic, Democracy and Islam, democratic Islam, democratisation, Ennahdha, extremism, extremist, Ghannouchi, iraq war, ISIL, Isis, islam, Islam and democracy, Islam and the west, Islamic, ISlamic radicalism, islamism, modernisation, modernism, modernity, Muslim, Muslim world, nahdha, Qaeda, Rached Ghannouchi, radical Islam, religion, religious, salaffiyyism, salafi, Salafist, Salafiyyism, Saudi, Saudi Arabia, secular, secularisation, secularism, secularist, secularization, terrorism, Tunisia, Tunisian, wahahhbi, Wahhabi, Wahhabism, westernisation
Misconceptions of political Islam
Arab Revolutions, Articles, Islamism, Religion & Secularism, Tunisian Revolution 107 Responses »
As soon as the Tunisian elections results were announced with Nidaa Tounes overtaking Ennahdha party, celebrations of the “Islamists'” defeat at the hands of the “secularists” got underway across the media in France and many other western capitals. The historical context of a country in the aftermath of a revolution, its socio-political circumstances and complex regional conditions was banished from the narrative. Between cliches of bad “Islamists” “defeated” by good “secularists” and jubilant resurrections of old prophesies of the “failure of political Islam,” the contest was portrayed as a battle of ideologies and world views.
Such faulty conclusions derive from false premises: from the tendency to view political parties and movements with an Islamic reference frame as metaphysical ahistorical entities outside the laws of socio-politics. Their decisions and conduct are only explainable by reference to theology and ideology. Their religious references are seen as the key to their successes in societies viewed through the prism of culture mostly, while their religious discourse is thought to grant them immunity from defeat and diminution. Islamist parties’ electoral setbacks thus stand little chance of being objectively discussed, as one would expect of those of the Democrats in the U.S. or Labour in the UK.
The truth, however, is that Islamists are political actors no different from other parties and political organizations, prone to ascent and descent, success and failure, and subject to the influences of the national political climates where they operate. Those working in open democratic environments differ from those moving within climates of oppression and despotism. The nature of the wider social milieu shapes these actors and defines their political and intellectual outlooks.
Yemen’s Islamists, who function in a tribal framework, or those in Lebanon and Iraq operating in a sectarian context significantly differ from those working in the more culturally and politically open societies of Tunisia or Morocco. In fact, the conditions of the same political actor may vary significantly with changes to its political sphere, which has been the case with Ennahdha party, for instance, which was transformed from a politically radical opposition party under the Ben Ali regime into a ruling party as a result of the rapid developments ushered in by the Tunisian revolution.
The terminological baggage used to refer to such parties and movements is, it must be said, part of the problem. It is overly broad, ambiguous and loaded with negative connotations. It designates actors at opposite ends of the Islamic spectrum with visions of Islam and politics that are at loggerheads, from the violent anarchists of Isis and al-Qaeda and the quietist Wahhabis of Saudi Arabia, who subscribe to a puritanical reading of Islam and firmly reject democracy and its procedures as non-Islamic, to those like Ennahdha and Justice and Development party, who seek to legitimize it within an Islamic reference frame, adopting it as their political methodology, and seeing no contradiction between their faith and human rights, public liberties or individual freedoms. When referring such political parties, it may be more accurate to speak of “democratic political Islam.”
Islamic political movements are byproducts of two interconnected projects. The first, is modernization in the region, with all its tensions, successes, failures and consequences, foremost among which urbanization and mass education. They are both a result of and a response to the modernization process. Contrary to common wisdom, Islamist parties tend to do better in modernized societies, such as those of Turkey and Tunisia, than they fare in more traditional ones like Saudi Arabia and other Gulf countries.
The second is the nation state. Islamic political parties are crucially influenced by their local environments and shaped by them. Their concerns and priorities remain largely national even if they speak of the notion of the “ummah,” which is in reality a matter of moral and emotional solidarity, nothing more.
We must strip the phenomena of “political Islam” of the mystical aura shrouding them, which results from a tendency to equate them with “fundamentalism”: a mass of angry irrational impulses wholly motivated by religious aspirations and incentives, and instead situate them within the conditions of their time and space. Only through historical socio political context can we hope to cure researchers, journalists and observers of the malady of oversimplification, generalization and reductionism that currently deforms the bulk of analyses of the subject.
Ennahdha party’s electoral successes and failures — past, present, or future — must be stripped of religious and moral considerations and viewed as perfectly normal phenomena in a democratic system where political forces naturally oscillate between ascent and descent. And though the claim that the ‘religious’ have been vanquished by the ‘secularists’ may strongly appeal to many, I fear it does not stand up to accurate objective scrutiny.
What happened in Tunisia has in reality nothing to do with ideology, religion, or secularism and everything to do with local political power balances and surrounding geopolitical conditions. Tunisian voters have clearly opted for two main political parties, which reflects the reality of polarization between these two entities in the country. The relative advance of Nidaa Tounes (38 percent to 31 percent) illustrates that a relative shift in favor of old regime forces has occurred. They have remobilized, recycled themselves and renovated their discourse and some of their faces at the expense of the new forces brought forward by the revolution.
This points to the reality of the ‘Arab Spring’ decline and to the impact of the geopolitical environment over Tunisia and the forces of change in the wider region. Ennahdha rose to power on the wave of change that had swept across the Arab world and is now retreating with the old forces’ return amidst the resurrection of climates of military coups in the region. Small Tunisia and Ennahdha movement could not break this general trend, even if they managed — with great difficulty — to restrain it with the survival of the country’s nascent democratic experiment.
Developments in Tunisia reflect a general rule that applies to those who shoulder the burdens of government in the aftermath of revolution, with all its pressures, challenges, even dangers. Standing on the frontline in post-revolution times comes at a price. It entails a drop in popularity, as revolutions necessarily ignite mass fervor and raise the threshold of expectations to a level hard to meet in normal circumstances, and impossible in the strenuous tumultuous conditions of post revolutions.
This fact is vividly illustrated by the electoral performance of the two secular parties that had entered into an alliance with Ennahdha following the October 2011 elections and had shared the burdens of power with it. Their losses have been bitterly heavy, with the Congress for the Republic dropping from 29 to four seats only, while the Forum for Labour and Liberties, whose chairman had served as the Constituent Assembly leader for the last three years, lost all its seats and was ejected altogether from the new parliament.
Other crucial factors to bear in mind include the challenges and dangers posed to the Tunisian experiment from its direct and indirect geographic environment, from Libya and Southern Sahara, with increasing terror threats due to arms proliferation in Libya and a widening of the circle of anarchy, conflicts and wars in the Arab hemisphere. Equally significant have been the the country’s economic difficulties due to political unrest and climates of instability. Such ordeals were aggravated by the economic crisis that has engulfed the economies of Europe to which Tunisia’s economy has been inextricably tied since its independence in 1956.
The Tunisian election results will no doubt have a palpable effect on Ennahdha party, forcing it towards greater accommodation to its local environment, as well as renovation and reform within a more open democratic context. What is crucial for those with an interest in the subject, however, is to begin to view this party, just like other political Islamic actors, as socio-political phenomena prone to advance and decline, rather than entities outside history.
They must free themselves of their mystical outlook and of culturally essentialist interpretations of political parties with an Islamic background. In open democratic settings, these are likely to move closer towards the model of Christian democratic parties in Europe. Ennahdha party of Tunisia may, in fact, serve as a laboratory for the possible evolution of political Islam in this direction. The question is: when will “Western” journalists and experts rid themselves of their ideological biases and start to see reality as it is, with all its complexities, shades and nuances ?
Tagged with: alqaeda, Arab, Arab Spring, democracy, democratisation, Ennahdha, ISIL, Isis, islam, islamism, jasmine revolution, middle east, nahdha, political Islam, Qaeda, Rached Ghannouchi, Tunisia, Tunisian elections, tunisian revolution, Wahhabi, Wahhabism
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Arab Women Fight to Defend their Rights
A Women’s Revolution
Deposing dictators is just the start of a Middle East transformation
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__label__wiki | 0.50266 | 0.50266 | Home » Arushi Mudgal , Classical Art » Odissi Dancer Arushi Mudgal
Odissi Dancer Arushi Mudgal
Written By Unknown on Thursday, August 9, 2012 | 2:22 PM
Arushi Mudgal
Born in 1986 into a family of musicians, Arushi has been fortunate in having an in-depth exposure to music and dance through the Gandharva Mahavidyalaya, an institute started by her grandfather Pt. Vinaya Chandra Maudgalya and headed currently by her father, Padmashri Madhup Mudgal.
She started learning Odissi dance formally at the age of five from her aunt Padmashri Madhavi Mudgal. She has passed the Visharad Purna examination (equivalent to a graduate degree) of the Akhil Bhartiya Gandharva Mahavidyalaya Mandal in Odissi dance and the Madhyama Purna exam in classical vocal music. She did her schooling from Carmel Convent, Delhi, completing her 12th standard board examinations with a distinction in all the subjects that she appeared in. Later, she enrolled as an Honours student in Sociology at the Lady Sri Ram College, Delhi, before taking up dance full time.
Arushi has toured extensively in India and overseas as part of her guru’s dance troupe. Her most significant performances have been in Brazil, France (Theatre de la Ville), Germany (Berlin Festspiele) and Morocco (Fez Festival), where she had the honour of dancing with the legendary Guru Kelucharan Mohapatra and Madhavi Mudgal as part of a recital which illustrated the continuity of the Indian dance tradition through three generations. She has performed in South-East Asia, North America and England on ICCR tours, and has represented India in Mauritius as part of a delegation under the cultural exchange programme of the Govt. of India, in August 2002.
Arushi has performed extensively as a soloist at various prestigious festivals within the country and abroad, including the Festival of India, Greece (I.C.C.R.), Festival of Indian Music and Dance (Remscheid, Germany), ‘Stirring Odissi’ International Odissi Festival (Malaysia), Umang Festival at National Centre for Performing Arts (Mumbai), the Pandit Durga Lal Festival (Delhi & Kolkata), Kartik Fine Arts (Chennai), Brahma Gana Sabha (Chennai), the 3rd International Odissi Festival (Bhubaneswar), HCL Concert Series (Delhi), Guru Kelucharan Mohapatra Festival (Bhubaneswar), Kerala Kalamandalam (Trivandrum), Udayaraga Festival (Bhubaneswar), Nritya-Pratibha Festival organised by Sangeet Natak Akademi (Shillong), Arpan Festival (Delhi), Raindrop Festival (Mumbai), Sa Ma Pa Sangeet Sammelan (Delhi), and the Young Dancers’ Festival organised by the Attic (Delhi). A graded artiste, she has performed for Doordarshan (National TV) at Delhi and Ahmedabad, and is also empanelled with the Indian Council for Cultural Relations. She has conducted dance workshops in London, Manchester and Singapore. She is a regular performer for SPICMACAY, and has given numerous lecture-demonstrations in Delhi, various cities of Rajasthan, Dehradun and Mussourie.
In 2008, Arushi was invited by the famous contemporary dancer Pina Bausch of Wuppertal Tanztheater to perform at the Internationales Tanz Festival in Dusseldorf, Germany. She also performed at Theatre de la Ville, Paris and various other cities of France, Belgium and Austria as part of a recital named ‘Famille Mudgal’, and the Fall for Dance Festival in New York & Los Angeles, USA.
Arushi was awarded the first Touring Fellowship by Milapfest, UK for 2010-11. She toured UK in May 2011, giving highly-appreciated performances in Liverpool and Manchester, a lecture-demonstration in Leeds, and a workshop in London.
Besides this, Arushi is also a recipient of the Indian President’s Bal Shree Award, 2002, the Original Mind Award, 2002 in the category of performing arts, the Sanatan Nritya Puraskar, 2006, the Young Women Achievers’ Award by the Young FICCI Ladies Organization in 2011, and the Chitra Kala Sangam Samman.
नमस्कार,अगर इस जीवन परिचय में आपको कोई कमी या कोइ नई बात जोड़नी/घटानी हो तो अछुती इस पेज का लिंक विषय लिखते हुए हमें इस पते पर ई-मेल करिएगा.ताकी हम इसे अपडेट कर सकें-सम्पादक
Labels: Arushi Mudgal, Classical Art | cc/2019-30/en_head_0013.json.gz/line10978 |
__label__cc | 0.704958 | 0.295042 | Widecells Group – Raised £650,000
Posted by TeathersApp on 22nd May 2018 | Featured
WideCells Group PLC, (the ‘Group’ or the ‘Company’) the healthcare services company focused on providing stem cell services and ground-breaking insurance for stem cell treatment, has received commitments representing gross proceeds of approximately £1.47 million (before expenses) in support of a placing by the issue of 49,033,333 new ordinary shares of £0.0025 each in the share capital of the Company (‘Ordinary Shares’) to new and existing shareholders, at a price of 3 pence per share (the ‘Placing Price’), conditional on (amongst other matters) approval by the Financial Conduct Authority of a prospectus to be published by the Group (‘Prospectus’), the passing of certain resolutions to be put to shareholders at the general meeting of the Group to approve the share issuance, and Admission (as defined below) (the ‘Placing’).
As part of the Placing Widecells is making available subscriptions of up to gross proceeds of £650,000 by way of a Live Market Bookbuild on the Teathers App, of which (i) £200,000 is conditionally committed and forms part of the £1.47m referred to above (the ‘Bookbuild Commitment’), and (ii) subscriptions up to £450,000 would represent further gross proceeds for the Group.
**The Live Market Bookbuild will be conducted through the Teathers App and will involve the issue of up to 21,666,667 new Ordinary Shares at the Placing Price, of which 6,666,667 Ordinary Shares represent the Bookbuild Commitment and a further 15,000,000 new Ordinary Shares would represent the additional gross proceeds of £450,000 (all Ordinary Shares issued under the Placing, including via the Teathers App, being the ‘Placing Shares’) priced at 3 pence per share. **
The Live Market Bookbuild will commence at 12.00 pm on 10 May 2018 and will close on 21 May 2018. Settlement is dependent on the conditions described above. If these conditions are met, settlement is expected to occur on Friday 15 June 2018, on which date contract notes will be issued on completion of the deal. Whilst the current maximum share issuance under the Placing is envisaged to be 64,033,333 Ordinary Shares, the Group reserves the right to increase the size of the Live Market Bookbuild (and therefore the Placing) in the event of over-subscription. A further announcement on the result of any subscription through the Teathers App will be made after it closes.
Funds raised will be used to expand the Group’s core end-to-end stem cell services as it looks to build its revenue profile. This will focus on driving sales of its first of its kind global stem cell insurance plan CellPlan, and its stem cell storage services, which are provided through the Group’s state-of-the-art cryogenics facility in Manchester, UK. See further ‘Use of Proceeds’ below.
Further Information about WideCells Group PLC
WideCells Group PLC is building an integrated stem cell services company, focused on making stem cell treatments accessible and affordable. This is achieved through three divisions:
CellPlan: the world’s first stem cell healthcare insurance plan with financial cover for medical treatment, travel and accommodation expenses and concierge service to manage the treatment process.
WideCells: the Institute of Stem Cell Technology was established and is based in the University of Manchester Innovation Centre to provide stem cell storage services and focus on stem cell research and regenerative medicine. Its international cryogenics division specialises in stem cell storage, with the Group currently offering umbilical cord blood and tissue storage services to clients in the UK and Europe under the brand name BabyCells.
Wideacademy: an education and training division to promote awareness of the benefits of stem cell storage across the global general practice community.
Widecells has built an experienced senior management team that has been integral to the development of its growth and business to date.
Stem Cell Fast Facts:
Cord blood (which is taken from the umbilical cord) provides the most effective source of stem cells for families due to it being simple, safe and painless to collect relative to other sources of stem cells such as bone marrow – WideCells will focus on promoting the collection and storage of cord blood.
Since 2005, there has been a 300% increase in the number of illnesses that can be treated using stem cells.
82 illnesses can currently be treated using stem cell procedures.
Despite initial storage often costing no more than a few £thousand, actual treatment can cost in the £hundreds of thousands.
Details of the Placing
Following the close of the Live Market Bookbuild and the publication of the Group’s accounts for the year end 31 December 2017, the Group will (subject to the receipt of FCA’s approval) seek to publish the Prospectus relating to the Placing Shares and make an application for admission of the Placing Shares to be listing on the Standard segment of the Official List of the UK Listing Authority and to trading on the Main Market for listed securities of the London Stock Exchange plc (‘Admission’). Admission is currently expected to take place before the end of June 2018. The Company will update the market in due course.
The Placing Shares will rank pari passu in all respects with the existing Ordinary Shares in the share capital of the Company (including as to the right to receive dividends (and other distributions, if any) declared, made or paid by the Company after the date of issue of the Placing Shares).
Indicative Timetable
The following is an indicative timetable of the proposed transaction. These dates are indicative only and are subject to change, in which case new dates will be announced.
Accounts published and trading suspension lifted (subject to approval from the Financial Conduct Authority): Monday 21 May 2018
Prospectus published (including results of the Placing), general meeting notice issued to shareholders: Friday 25 May 2018
Date of general meeting: Thursday 14 June 2018
Admission of Placing Shares and settlement date for placing letters: Friday 15 June 2018
Use of Proceeds
The Group’s anticipated use of the proceeds of the Placing are as set out below. The Group’s ability to use the proceeds materially as below is conditional on the Group restructuring its current debt.
Key Risk Factors
The risks below are the key risks that the Group and the directors consider to be material risks relating to the Group. There may be additional risks and uncertainties relating to the Group that are not currently known to the Directors or are currently deemed immaterial:
Reliance on stem cell and cord blood banking market;
Reliance on key agreements and third parties (including the Best Doctors agreement and the Group’s lease of premises at its UMIC site); -compliance and licensing risks, including the Group’s operations within a regulatory regime; and
Reliance on key executives and personnel.
Touchstone Exploration – Raised £150,000
Canadian Overseas Petroleum – Raised £150,000
Flying Brands – Raised £75,000
Paternoster Resources – Raised £180,000
Kavango Resources – Raised £100,000
Live Market Bookbuild
© 2018 Teathers Financial Software Limited "TFSL" | Privacy Policy | cc/2019-30/en_head_0013.json.gz/line10985 |
__label__wiki | 0.573458 | 0.573458 | steveP
steveP last won the day on November 22 2013
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About steveP
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Australia SA
Galant VR4
The movie heads-up thread
steveP replied to steveP's topic in Movies, Video & TV
The Running Man 02/06/2017 9:40pm 9Gem Movie https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Running_Man_(1987_film) A wrongly convicted man must try to survive a public execution gauntlet staged as a game show.
Free TV
Attack the Block 08/05/2017 10:30pm 7mate Adelaide Movie https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Attack_the_Block A teen gang in South London defend their block from an alien invasion.
NEW SITE BUGS / CHANGES WANTED
steveP replied to loz's topic in General Off Topic Discussions
Is the edit bug ever going to be fixed? I saw people mention it at least a year ago and it's still broken. Warning: Illegal string offset 'html' in /home/nissansi/public_html/forums/cache/skin_cache/cacheid_1/skin_topic.php on line 907
site change
Coming to America 07/04/2017 9:20pm 9Go! Movie https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coming_to_America An extremely pampered African prince travels to Queens, New York City, and goes undercover to find a wife whom he can respect for her intelligence and will.
buying a interstate car
steveP replied to PsyberWolf's topic in Australia - South Australia
Just did this last month. Go in for a tier 2 inspection, which involves checking the VIN number. If they don't like the look of your car, they'll send you to get a tier 3. Was like $50, then you just sign over the rego papers as normal. Surprised how easy it was.
The Inbetweeners 2 28/03/2017 9:30pm 9Go! Movie https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Inbetweeners_2 Jay, Neil, Simon, and Will reunite in Australia for a holiday.
still lifting bruhhh?
steveP replied to Bobo180sx's topic in Fitness Diet Bodybuilding
Oh, yeah those last shots were snapped during a "pose down". So everyone just doing random shit or transitioning lol.
Flickfessions
Finally back into watching movies. For one reason or another, been super busy the last few months. Got a big list to get through. Fatso https://en.wikipedia...atso_(2008_film) A Norwegian film following a socially awkward, porn-addicted virgin, Rino. He's secluded, yet in his comfort zone, living rent free in his parent's second house, with no responsibilities or job. He basically stays at home all day, watching porn, only to catch up with a friend; another social outcast with inflated self confidence, pretending to be god's gift to women. A spanner is thrown into the works when Rino's parents decide to rent out the house to pay the bills. A somewhat innocent, free-spirited girl moves in, seemingly looking past Rino's shortfalls and genuinely becomes his friend. Like most socially awkward people, they are their own worst enemy, over complicating situations in their head, and self sabotaging relationships. Overall, the story moves along at quite a good pace, getting to interesting confrontations without much filler. However the ending was quite odd, where you don't know what's real, but not in a good way. Possibly worth the watch if you see it playing, but I wouldn't go out looking for it. Generation Iron https://en.wikipedia...Generation_Iron A documentary you'd think I would've seen when it came out, but I'm so saturated with gym and fitness stuff, that I let it slip. It was probably more interesting watching it a few years on, seeing some of the politics play out. This follows the 2013 Olympia, where reigning champ Phil Heath will defend his title against others pros hungry for the title, including the most promising prospect Kai Greene. They actually build up the rivalry quite a lot in this, but I suspect it's all manufactured to sell tickets. I was surprised this documentary didn't really go in depth with the bodybuilders' training or diet. I guess this only appeals to the hardcore followers, and focusing more on the drama and grandeur of the event potentially got more people to watch this. As a fan of these guys, a lot of what you see is not new and is pretty much what you'd expect. A follow up doc would be interesting as there has been a lot more drama and politics in the bodybuilding scene since this was filmed. Worth the watch if you're someone into fitness or bodybuilding. Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children https://en.wikipedia..._Children_(film) The latest Tim Burton movie, this time about children with super powers who can time travel. Yes, a premise so outlandish that I went in expecting very little. In think because of this, I found the movie average instead of terrible. There is nothing wrong with this movie, I'm just not a fan of fantasy with no remote basis in reality. The story is about Jake, who has heard crazy stories from his grandfather as a child, about a remote English island with fantasy creatures. After the grandfather's death, Jake's parents feel it's best to take him to this island to help him find closure. However he soon finds that these stories were actually real. If you're a fan of Harry Potter and similar "young adult" films, this will be for you.
UPDATE: now a Facebook page
I quite run down on my story. Started like everyone else; started lifting to get "in shape" so girls would like me. Went in circles for about 3 years and didn't really make progress. Got a bit stronger, but didn't look much different. Didn't take diet serious at all. Finally pushed myself out of my comfort zone and cleaned up my diet. Ate things I didn't want to and stopped eating things I did want to. This forced/motivated me to train properly as well so I wasn't wasting my time. Got to a point where I was happy with how I looked, and felt fit and healthy. Well fitter and healthier than when I was lazy. However I was too focused on the weights and number. Took a while, but finally realised fitness is more than just spending an hour a day in a gym, and then sitting down all day in an office. Starting hiking, walking when possible, riding a bike for transport. Overall I feel much more balanced in terms of general fitness. I can hike up a mountain with a weighted vest, rep out chin ups, deadlift 2.5x body weight and go for a 2 hour ride without a problem. So I thought what next. The hell with it, I'll give competing a go. May as well put all the training to use. I'm the guy with no hair (on my head). It was gruelling and something I don't think I'll do again. But I can now tick it off.
As a rough guide, I can do 100kg x5 on a good day, but can bust out 30kg DBs x10 quite easily. If you can do 10 reps, you should be able to do 1 rep of 100kg. It's a different feel though. But it's like anything, you will only get good at it if you train for it.
Warm Bodies 31/10/2016 9:30pm 7flix Adelaide Movie https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warm_Bodies_(film) After a highly unusual zombie saves a still-living girl from an attack, the two form a relationship that sets in motion events that might transform the entire lifeless world.
Margin Call 28/10/2016 8:30pm SBS ONE Movie https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Margin_Call_(film) Follows the key people at an investment bank, over a 24-hour period, during the early stages of the 2008 financial crisis.
The Bad News Bears https://en.wikipedia..._Bad_News_Bears A movie that I'd heard was a great classic, but damn, the remake dominates free-to-air screen time. After watching it, I can sort of understand why. This has got to be one of the most politically incorrect movies I've seen in a long time. An alcoholic driving around at least 8 primary school aged children in an open top convertible with no seat belts and possibly drunk, blatant racism towards children who don't speak English as a first language, emotionally blackmailing an 11 year old girl and then engaging in banter towards her sex life, and many more. The general premise is that an out of work baseball coach, who still can't let go of his professional past is hired to lead a team of misfits. Everybody, including the children are under no illusions that they suck, and they're only there for the experience. However they start to work together and climb the ranks. Including the examples listed, this movie certainly has charm, in terms of the actual story and nostalgia, back when things were simpler (people not held accountable). I wouldn't rush out to see it, but it's an enjoyable watch if you like these classic sporting/coming-of-age movies. Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping https://en.wikipedia..._Never_Stopping I was really looking forward to seeing this in the cinemas, as comedies are a genre enhanced by watching it with a crowd. But like many other movies this year, Australia was screwed and it didn't get a release here. This is a parody of the Justin Bieber movie, written and staring the Lonely Island crew. Generally a fan of mockumentaries, I really enjoyed this. I'm sure a lot of jokes went over my head as I never saw the Justin Bieber movie, and I got the feeling a lot of the jokes were mocking certain scenes, but the jokes and gags are pretty rapid fire. They don't all land, but you can forgive it, as the ones that do are great. There are endless cameos in this and the surprisingly the production value is very high, probably higher than most deal docs. It's really a shame that this didn't get much of a release, even inside the US, as critics loved this as well. If you hadn't heard of this, definitely put it on your list. Fright Night https://en.wikipedia...ki/Fright_Night A cult horror film that I was aware of, but never actually knew what it was about. Disappointingly, it's a high school vampire film, meaning it's not completely 80s' camp, nor or a true horror film. Basically it's the old premise of a stranger/vampire moves in next door, but being a pimply-faced high school kid, no one believes you; so it's up to the unlikely hero to save the town. For the age of the movie, there were a few cool special effects, but I think most people have seen it all before and the story was very predictable. Not really a movie worth seeing.
Argo 06/10/2016 8:30pm 9Go! Movie https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Argo_(2012_film) Acting under the cover of a Hollywood producer scouting a location for a science fiction film, a CIA agent launches a dangerous operation to rescue six Americans in Tehran during the U.S. hostage crisis in Iran in 1980.
Blue Velvet 23/09/2016 11:10pm SBS ONE Movie https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_Velvet_(film) The discovery of a severed human ear found in a field leads a young man on an investigation related to a beautiful, mysterious nightclub singer and a group of psychopathic criminals who have kidnapped her child. | cc/2019-30/en_head_0013.json.gz/line10988 |
__label__wiki | 0.672471 | 0.672471 | To refresh our memories on Paraguay: the Bangkok of Latin America, and not for nothing, in which we learn about the Tri-Border Area, the Jesuits, Chabad, organized crime, government corruption, and human trafficking, not necessarily in that order. The average American doesn't hear about Paraguay, though it's an organized crime paradise. Why is that? Paraguay not ready to come out of the crock pot yet? Maybe soon.
Paraguay (source)
Back in 2002, think tanks discussed the Islamic threats bubbling in South America.
After September 11th, the U.S.-led “war on terror” moved swiftly into Afghanistan. Once the heavy combat had diminished, speculation turned to what the next target would be. The Philippines, the former Soviet republic of Georgia, Yemen, Somalia, and Indonesia were all discussed as possibilities. Except for a few disparate stories, the tri-border region of South America received little attention as a locus of terrorist activity despite a recent history of Islamist terrorist activity. But this region, which already has a history of mass casualty Islamic terrorism, is also an area of concern. (http://www.nti.org/e_research/e3_16a.html)
Oh, the Philippines (Abu Sayyaf), check. Georgia, check. Yemen, check. Somalia, check. Indonesia, check.
Last but not least...the Tri-Border Area....
Board of directors for that think tank include Ted Turner, Sam Nunn, Pete Dominici, Richard Lugar, etc. See think tanks: where experts go to reverse engineer plans for world domination.
At think tanks, experts figure out how to get from point A to point B. First they decide on point B, and then they reverse engineer how to arrive there from point A. When insiders do this, they call it "brainstorming" or "war games" or "simulations." When outsiders do this, they call it "terrorism."
This explains how a list put forth in 2002 seems so very incredibly prescient in 2010. You see, that list was not a prediction, that was a plan. That list of countries was point B: places where terrorists (will definitely) cause trouble, (just as soon as we get our people around to it).
The Tri-Border Area is on the point B list. That's why we might pay attention to this area of South America -- a very strong contender for an upcoming hot spot. Probably guaranteed.
Recent news from Paraguay includes the Chinese ambassador delivering trucks and buses to the Bolivian Army, reportedly to strengthen border controls and to prevent smuggling and not to provoke Paraguay.
Bolivia will also soon have a satellite built and partly financed by China. Allegedly the low orbit satellite will help track drug cartels and smuggling.
Also, three journalists were recently threatened with kidnapping, allegedly by the Paraguayan People's Army, a leftist group allegedly linked to FARC. The letter used newspaper clippings to threaten two reporters and Senate leader Miguel Carrizosa, and to demand the release of six EPP prisoners. Here's the letter.
Super-wily EPP terrorists don't leave any clues for handwriting analysts. Ha!
And, just this past weekend, Paraguay suspends rights in crackdown on rebels.
Paraguay has passed a bill imposing a temporary suspension of constitutional rights in parts of the country in a crackdown on violence, it is reported.
The 30-day suspension in parts of the north gives the armed forces greater powers to combat a left-wing group. The Paraguayan People's Army (PPA) is responsible for killing four people, sources in the country's congress said. The emergency will allow troops and police to detain suspects and ban public meetings for 30 days. President Fernando Lugo asked for the measures three days ago after a police officer and three farm workers were killed in an attack on Wednesday.
Investigators in the country claim the rebels belong to the PPA, a small group with suspected links to left-wing rebels in Colombia. "These fugitives of the Paraguayan People's Party should be captured, because everyone has the right to live in peace," Mr Lugo said as he defended his request for a state of suspension, AFP news agency reported on Saturday.
So this is like the Patriot Act for Paraguay. Temporary, sure. Let's suppose something goes wrong in the meantime and they maybe have to extend that or make it permanent... ? But really, nothing to worry about because this guy Lugo is a great guy. He loves the people he would never do anything like that. Wait till you see...
[First of all, he's a real ladies' man. AND a Roman Catholic bishop.
kiss kiss hug hug
The 39-year-old added that Lugo gets full marks between the sheets, and claims six other women will soon step forward to claim he also sired their children. "I can guarantee that Lugo is a phenomenon in everything, not only in politics," she said. (NY Daily News, Forget Monica Lewinsky... 4/23/09)
One of his lovers was a teenager, which technically makes him a pedophile.
"Viviana at her Confirmation, the age when she was sexually abused by Bishop Lugo."
Bishop Lugo's Harem
If the many alleged paternities of Lugo are proved true, we would be facing the case of a Catholic Bishop who – at a time when he was fully exercising his orders and episcopal functions – simultaneously had sexual affairs with three to seventeen different women. Even in this post-Vatican II era where we have witnessed all types of moral corruption, Lugo sets a remarkable record of depravity.
Here I believe we have a good X-ray vision of the kind of man presented by important sectors of the Church and the media as “the Bishop of the poor” and a sincere combatant against corruption.]
So, anyway. For everyone NOT paying attention, the official narrative goes that he's a big lefty liberation theology priest who loves the poor, fights for the people, (ok so he loves the ladies too), blah blah blah. It all seemed so promising at first. He enjoyed the strong support of the Paraguayan people.
He got elected in April 2008.
At the beginning of November he fired all his military leaders without explanation.
ASUNCION, Paraguay -- Paraguayan President Fernando Lugo fired his military chiefs Wednesday, a day after denying he had worries about a coup amid calls for his impeachment. In a statement given to journalists at the presidential palace, Lugo named new commanders for the army, air force and navy without explaining his reasons. The new chiefs will assume their posts Thursday, said the statement signed by the president....
Since winning the presidency last year and ending 61 years of domination by the conservative Colorado Party, Lugo has been trying to push reforms that aim to benefit Paraguay's numerous poor. He has criticized an elite class that "sits comfortably in air-conditioned offices," while the poor "survive on just one meal a day if they are lucky . . . without safe drinking water, surrounded by misery." Lugo's rivals have been searching for ways to force him out of office before his term ends in August 2013. Last week, a majority of lawmakers threatened to mount an impeachment trial over comments he allegedly made in a poor neighborhood that some interpreted as a call for class warfare. Lugo denied saying that.
That article is dated 11/4/09.
The US immediately announced a big donation of equipment to form an elite counter-terrorism unit for the Paraguayan Army.
On 4 November 2009, the United States announced they would donate US$1.39 million in equipment towards the formation of an elite unit of highly trained troops in the Paraguayan army. Backed by US funding (sources put the total amount of the expedition at US$3 million) and training from SOUTHCOM, the troops are trained in counterterrorism strategies and are to be equipped with the latest gear and technology. Yet in spite of their training as counter-terrorism experts, how and why they are used will be up to the discretion of Paraguayan authorities, according to Liliana Ayalde, the US ambassador to Paraguay.
...The US has a vested interest in keeping Paraguay terrorism-free. The loosely regulated tri-border area, particularly Ciudad del Este, is listed as a rising area of activity for terrorist activity such as training and money laundering, and US authorities have been monitoring the region for signs of Hezbollah, Hamas, and other terrorist cells. Thus, any aid that is used to combat terrorist forces in Paraguay may be money well spent, and Paraguay’s recent history battling what are considered homegrown terrorist organizations such as the Paraguayan People’s Army (EPP) is likely seen favorably by Washington.
Aha so it's all good. The US helps to fight terrorism. The US respects the sovereignty of Paraguay. The EPP is becoming a household name, though the movement has obscure origins. Hmmmm.
The future of the EPP will depend on how President Fernando Lugo, a former Roman Catholic bishop, chooses to act. Will the president allow for a military offensive, including search-and-destroy missions, against the EPP, should its activities continue? Or will Lugo’s religious background affect his decisions?
Oh HAHAHAHA! I'm sure he doesn't mean to be so coy. Of COURSE Lugo's religious background will affect his decisions. No doubt he's a Sabbatean, just pretending to be a Catholic, but obviously not taking Catholicism all that seriously, which means that absolutely nothing will hold him back from search and destroy missions to get the wily EPP terrorists, with their shady backgrounds. He's already on the case requesting special powers from the Paraguayan congress! Check!
No problemo.
Perhaps, also, maybe, Lugo works for the CIA? Could that be the explanation for all this juicy cooperation?
Fernando Lugo and George W. Bush
Fernando Lugo, CIA covert operation PERFECT, August 30, 2009
1. Ties to the CIA, NGOs, and known operatives
All the scaffolding of the CIA and its extensions and derivatives such as USAID, the National Endowment for Democracy and the media addicted to empire, was played by Bishop Fernando Lugo on 20 April. In Paraguay, noticed that NGOs received heavy donations from the arrival in the country by Ambassador James Cason, a known destabilizing sponsored by Otto Reich. The aim of the covert operation was to meet the alternation in power, placing the bishop Fernando Lugo as president of Paraguay.
James Cason, Ambassador, Paraguay Singing Sensation. ("James Cason, the U.S. Ambassador to Paraguay, has achieved rock star status in that country. Literally.")
Public Diplomacy and Covert Propaganda: The Declassified Record of Ambassador Otto Juan Reich
2. Ties to youth and charitable groups, "civil society"
Among the many organizations benefiting from these dollars distributed by the administration of George W. Bush who supported the campaign of the bishop, stood Management and Local Youth House, which financed with funds from USAID and IAF Tekojoja movements and LDCs, as in Nicaragua, the NED and other agencies of the CIA led alternative choice Violeta Chamorro in 1989. NGOs and voluntary-what we now know as civil society, are known as an extension of the neoliberal policies of the U.S. worldwide.
3. Promoting democracy through NGOs, using them to control the media, promoting nepotism
The CIA and the U.S. Agency for International Development (AID or USAID) have a central role in the scheme of promoting political ideas and facts favorable to the empire, and they added a new agency, created in 1983, named The National Endowment for Democracy (NED). In Paraguay, the NED has a total control over the press media, which returns a list indicating which political referents can promote. ...U.S. Ambassador James Cason, like a Pied Piper dedicated to singing Paraguayan folklore, was determined to align all NGOs and foundations that receive U.S. dollars cleric behind the president, nephew of the CIA Epifanio Méndez (turned in by Agee) and that perpetuate the family tradition today.
[About Epifanio Mendez Fleitas "His life unfolded in the worlds of politics, music and intellectual activity. Thus, he held various positions in government (he was police chief between 1949 and 1952 and chairman of the Central Bank of Paraguay from 1952 to 1955 ). It was clear and undisguised criticism against the first signs of what became the long and bloody dictatorship of General Alfredo Stroessner ( 1954 - 1989 ) which earned him jail, torture and a lengthy exile in Uruguay , the Argentina and United States of America."]
[About Philip Agee: "In 1968 Philip Agee was finally disgusted with his dirty work as a CIA officer in Ecuador, Uruguay, and Mexico. He submitted a letter of resignation and immediately slipped into Cuba, then went to France and Britain. As he wrote his memoirs while scraping by on handouts, he frequently wondered if some of the people who were helping him could be trusted. The answer was "no" -- a typewriter that one friend loaned him was discovered to contain a homing transmitter. Finally his book "Inside the Company" was published in 1975, launching his career as history's most celebrated anti-CIA activist. The CIA kept harassing Agee, even though he retains his U.S. citizenship and has never been charged with a crime. He was expelled from Britain, France, and Holland, and his U.S. passport was revoked in 1979. Today he lives in Germany, is still trying to get his passport back, and does speaking tours on U.S. college campuses."]
4. Ties to Freedom House and our best friends
The charge of distributing the dollars for "change" was Dr. Carl Gershman, president of the NED. The Freedom House functioned as a funnel through which passed granting the NED funds, and most of them ended up in the pockets of outstanding communicators. Radio Nanduti through Freedom House, received large sums of money from the National Endowment for Democracy (NED).
Leonard Sussman, CIA and the Executive Director of Freedom House, a visit to Paraguay in late 1987, led by Humberto Rubin, establishing contacts with various organizations to receive funds after the NED. The aim was to "grow" the idea of change.
Fernando Lugo and Hillary Clinton
The CIA, Fernando Lugo, Tekojoja PMAS
Since then, these organizations promoted the scaffolding structure that now controls everything in Paraguay can be said, paradoxically, under the guise of defending freedom of expression.
This article sums it all up, the way many powerful forces came together to bring Lugo to power.
To have the backing of a warlord who ruled the country for decades, the assistance of the U.S. State Department and a group of companies in over 130 countries worldwide, and over one hundred powerful companies including hotels, travel agencies, fisheries, food factories, weapons industries, farms, resorts, restaurants, printing and publishing, is the dream of any Latin American politician....Not surprisingly, the favored of the Catholic fraternity, Ambassador James Cason and the press have sealed a pact with far-right supporters of late dictator. Earlier, during the transition, is characterized by profit from the gifts of the largest drug trafficker in U.S. history, General Andres Rodriguez, famous for his partnership with heroin dealer Auguste Ricord. Then agreed to a figurehead dictator's son, Juan Carlos Wasmosy, and finally with the stem of one of his top ministers, Luis Angel Gonzalez Macchi. . .
All the scaffolding of the CIA and its extensions and derivatives such as USAID, the National Endowment for Democracy, NGOs and the press that subsidize addicted to the empire, was made available to the Bishop Fernando Lugo by James Cason, destabilizing star of W. Bush.
It's not for nothing. A set up like this does not happen by accident. It will not be wasted.
Iran's growing influence in Latin America, 4/24/10
Hezbollah, Hamas activity in Argentina, Brazil and Paraguay, 4/23/10
Labels: Hezbollah narrative
i'm not sure how the bush retirement ranches figure into all this exactly. the latest news seems like a ratcheting up of plans that have been laid down for a long time. so whether that means increased attention / media focus coming to paraguay via a hunt for "terrorists," or something else, i don't know. it has seemed to be perpetually on the back burner despite all these goings on. perhaps we'll see a chabad house come under attack in south america from a group out of the tri-border area, linking back to drug trafficking and hezbollah and lebanon, etc.
yes i did see that about twin kaczynski. a brave guy i guess.
re: booger, i get those errors sometimes, it's a random booger burp as far as i can tell. i wouldn't worry about those. anyway your comments seem to post here without trouble, right?
Sometimes it works well and sometimes they are delayed or don't show up at all. Right now it is working alright and posts are going up on VT.
oh, man, whoever does the captions is very very funny. ; D
Penny said...
the first thing I thought about when I saw this was Bush buying the property there, maybe it is not retirement property?
Maybe it is an orphanage?
Like Father like son?
Didn't Papa Bush like the boys?
Where did I read about some hard core loyalist nazi ideologists in south america?
A book written by....cripes what is his name
Levenda, Peter Levenda.
http://www.ravenoir.com/R114.htm
"but also the striking story of the unholy alliance between politics and religion - or politics and occultism - that has dominated events in Europe and the Americas since World War I, with all its implications for continuing racial and religious violence in Europe, Asia, and the Americas"
I have two of his books, but, not this one.
You get an idea of how, religious groups, politics,intelligence agencies are all co-mingled, and have always been.
Which is sort of what we get on about from time to time, eh AP?
Papa has eclectic interests, Penny. It seems to go with the territory!
Invasion of the conquistadors again, this time by us guys wearing the white hats?
This time the gold is oil and potable water.
hi pen, yes indeed re: the connections between religion politics and the occult. i had thought too about the human supply angle being part of it, what a dreadful thought.
Many thanks for all that useful info.
- Aangirfan.
hey Aan, you're most welcome. i hit you up in the next post. ; D | cc/2019-30/en_head_0013.json.gz/line10989 |
__label__wiki | 0.743716 | 0.743716 | WAKEY, WAKEY
Two-time Emmy winner Michael Emerson returns to the New York stage in WAKEY, WAKEY (photo by Joan Marcus)
The Pershing Square Signature Center
The Alice Griffin Jewel Box Theatre
480 West 42nd St. between Tenth & Eleventh Aves.
Tuesday - Sunday through April 2, $30-$75
www.signaturetheatre.org
Will Eno completes his three-play Residency Five program at the Signature Theatre with Wakey, Wakey, a very funny, deeply touching, and unique exploration of humanity and the life cycle. Partially inspired by his friendship with Signature founder James Houghton, who passed away in August 2016 at the age of fifty-seven from stomach cancer, Wakey, Wakey is about all the little pieces of basic daily existence that make us who we are, from birth to death. Michael Emerson returns to the stage as a character referred to in the script only as Guy, who as the play opens is lying on the floor, facedown. “Is it now?” he asks. “I thought I had more time.” For the next seventy minutes, Guy shares details from his life, plays word games, philosophizes about the world, shows home movies and YouTube videos, and is cared for by home health worker Lisa (a gentle and sweet January LaVoy). He also self-reflexively critiques what is happening in the theater. “Sorry, I don’t know exactly what to say to you,” he admits. “I wonder how you hear that, how that strikes you? What do you make of the fact that this event, painstakingly scripted, rehearsed, designed, and directed, features someone saying, ‘I don’t know exactly what to say to you.’ I hope you’ll receive that in the humble and hopeful spirit it was offered in.” Writer-director Eno, whose previous Signature works were Title and Deed and The Open House and who was represented on Broadway by The Realistic Joneses in 2014, has fun with the very clever staging; for example, noises that initially seem to be coming from the street or the audience are actually part of the sound design, and he uses physical objects in creative ways as well.
Lisa (January LaVoy) arrives to help Guy (Michael Emerson) in Will Eno world premiere at Signature (photo by Joan Marcus)
Following a video of screaming wildlife, Guy delves into the nature of pleasure and enjoyment, questioning where such feelings go once the moment is past. He also discusses how one’s life can be divided into two parts, one before watching the video, and one after it ends, in much the same way the play itself can serve as a dividing line, especially as it deals so intimately with life and death and how things don’t always go quite as planned. Christine Jones’s set consists of a free-standing door, a large wall with a calendar on it, and packing boxes, as if someone is moving in — or moving out. David Lander’s lighting, Nevin Steinberg’s sound, and Peter Nigrini’s projections all contribute to the play’s inventive originality. Two-time Emmy winner Emerson (Lost, Person of Interest), whose previous stage credits include playing Oscar Wilde in 1997–98’s Gross Indecency at the Minetta Lane as well as three Broadway roles, gives a rousing performance, tender and humane, mostly from a wheelchair, making the most of his expressive puppy-dog eyes and small body movements, the slightest pause or glance filled with charm and humble mischief, then pain as Guy takes a turn for the worse. The play certainly has a message, but it’s not quite as syrupy and sentimental as it could have been. “Yes, we’re here to say good-bye and maybe hopefully also get better at saying hello,” Guy explains. “To celebrate Life, if that doesn’t sound too passive-aggressive.” But even when you think it’s over, Eno has yet more surprises in store, both inside the theater and outside in the lobby, as you kick off the next phase of your life.
Filed under: this week in theater, twi-ny recommended events Leave a comment
« AUTOCRATIC FOR THE PEOPLE — AN UNPRESIDENTED SERIES OF STAR-SPANGLED SATIRES: THEY LIVE PERCEPTION: her » | cc/2019-30/en_head_0013.json.gz/line10990 |
__label__cc | 0.59928 | 0.40072 | The Atlantis Plague
Alternate cover edition for B00GR5JZHQ A PANDEMIC 70,000 YEARS IN THE MAKING... WILL CHANGE HUMANITY... FOREVER. ____________________________________ In Marbella, Spain, Dr. Kate Warner awakens to a horrifying reality: the human race stands on the brink of extinction. A pandemic unlike any before it has swept the globe. Nearly a billion people are dead--and those the Atlantis P Alternate cover edition for B00GR5JZHQ A PANDEMIC 70,000 YEARS IN THE MAKING... WILL CHANGE HUMANITY... FOREVER. ____________________________________ In Marbella, Spain, Dr. Kate Warner awakens to a horrifying reality: the human race stands on the brink of extinction. A pandemic unlike any before it has swept the globe. Nearly a billion people are dead--and those the Atlantis Plague doesn't kill, it transforms at the genetic level. A few rapidly evolve. The remainder devolve. As the world slips into chaos, radical solutions emerge. Industrialized nations offer a miracle drug, Orchid, which they mass produce and distribute to refugee camps around the world. But Orchid is merely a way to buy time. It treats the symptoms of the plague but never actually cures the disease. Immari International offers a different approach: do nothing. Let the plague run its course. The Immari envision a world populated by the genetically superior survivors--a new human race, ready to fulfill its destiny. With control of the world population hanging in the balance, the Orchid Alliance and the Immari descend into open warfare. Now humanity's last hope is to find a cure, and Kate alone holds the key to unraveling the mystery surrounding the Atlantis Plague. The answer may lie in understanding pivotal events in human history--events when the human genome mysteriously changed. Kate's journey takes her across the barren wastelands of Europe and northern Africa, but it's her research into the past that takes her where she never expected to go. She soon discovers that the history of human evolution is not what it seems--and setting it right may require a sacrifice she never imagined. ____________________________________ "The human race must remain as one. All other roads lead to ruin." - The Orchid Alliance "Evolution is inevitable. Only fools fight fate." - Immari International ____________________________________ ABOUT: THE ATLANTIS PLAGUE is a story of human survival and perseverance in the face of extinction. This global adventure takes readers back into the world of The Origin Mystery, which began with A.G. Riddle's debut sci-fi thriller, THE ATLANTIS GENE. THE ATLANTIS PLAGUE delivers the same kind of little-known science and history readers applauded in THE ATLANTIS GENE and deepens the core mystery many can't stop talking about. NOTE: The Atlantis Plague is the second book in A.G. Riddle's Origin Mystery Series. Readers are strongly advised to read The Atlantis Gene (Book 1) before "infecting themselves" with the plague. In this series, it seems, it's survival of those who read the first book.
30 review for The Atlantis Plague
Ron Smith – Jan 05, 2014
I enjoyed reading this book very much. I did some side research on the information referred to and found much of it was at least seriously discussed in the science world, much of it seemed to be serious science. The most unbelievable parts were based on real science. That added a lot of credibility for me, dispensing with the disbelief thing, helped me get in to the story better and added a lot of interest. I now want to follow up on some of the ideas just because its so interesting. The story co I enjoyed reading this book very much. I did some side research on the information referred to and found much of it was at least seriously discussed in the science world, much of it seemed to be serious science. The most unbelievable parts were based on real science. That added a lot of credibility for me, dispensing with the disbelief thing, helped me get in to the story better and added a lot of interest. I now want to follow up on some of the ideas just because its so interesting. The story continued from the first book in the series very well and the characters were believable or fun, sometimes that is just as good. I've read a lot of science fiction in my life and this series is one of my favorites. It is well thought out and developed, I can't wait for part three to be released. Great read, highly recommended.
Caprice Hokstad – Oct 12, 2014
I rate it about 2.4 I spent 75% of this book confused and millimeters away from not finishing at all. The plot is convoluted. Too much to try to keep straight. The sci-fi gets so "advanced" that it's more like magic and with about the same amount of explanation. It was a bit too convenient that one of the main characters was an Atlantean (alien) and KNEW just about everything the plot sought to answer, but didn't happen to remember whatever Very Important Point until some dramatic moment (when th I rate it about 2.4 I spent 75% of this book confused and millimeters away from not finishing at all. The plot is convoluted. Too much to try to keep straight. The sci-fi gets so "advanced" that it's more like magic and with about the same amount of explanation. It was a bit too convenient that one of the main characters was an Atlantean (alien) and KNEW just about everything the plot sought to answer, but didn't happen to remember whatever Very Important Point until some dramatic moment (when the clock ran out). Said character basically solves everything with a wave of a wand at the end, with no real plot reason it couldn't have happened sooner. All the running and fighting and struggle and death were somewhat suspenseful, but in the end, rather pointless when all they needed to do was just let this character remember. That said, I -did- care enough to keep reading. The ending, while a bit disappointing (see above) and not quite enough (because: sequel) was still at least satisfying enough that I didn't hate it. I am not sure I have the will to read book 3. While this series started out with a good deal of likeable characters, almost all of them (except the 2 protags) are dead now and the main bad guy has already been killed twice, but keeps getting resurrected. I am curious, but I will have to be quite bored or without other options to read the last book.
Timothy Miyahara – Sep 27, 2015
A.G. Riddle’s second offering in The Origin Trilogy again offers a fast-paced adventure wrapper around a complex plot weaving fiction with hard science and true history into a story delivering more twists than a bag of taffy (the Berlin Patient cured of HIV is factual). Fans of science-fiction will want to not miss this debut trilogy from a writer who will become a major player in the genre. The Atlantis Plague picks up right where The Atlantis Gene left off, and is just as complex, meaning the r A.G. Riddle’s second offering in The Origin Trilogy again offers a fast-paced adventure wrapper around a complex plot weaving fiction with hard science and true history into a story delivering more twists than a bag of taffy (the Berlin Patient cured of HIV is factual). Fans of science-fiction will want to not miss this debut trilogy from a writer who will become a major player in the genre. The Atlantis Plague picks up right where The Atlantis Gene left off, and is just as complex, meaning the reader cannot pick up the thread of the story without reading the first book. Historical events in humanity’s ancient past and recent past are tied to the present in rather ingenious methods. Some readers have complained about the historical and scientific references making the story difficult to follow. I won’t lie. The story would be confusing to a person without an interest in history and science even though explained in the text of the story. If you read deoxyribonucleic acid as “de-blah-blah-blah,” you probably won’t enjoy the story. Most aficionados of the genre will probably be delighted with the combination of reality and fiction, but purists may be irritated by the artistic license taken with some matters. It was difficult to really empathize with the protagonists because the characters were not developed enough in the first installment. That flaw was somewhat rectified in The Atlantis Plague, but some of the characters still felt two dimensional. I became a little distracted with the romantic element of the story, and the frenetic pace was almost too much action leaving me feeling I was reading a movie script rather than a novel. Between the romance and action, I felt certain required “formulas” almost detracted from the meat of the story. As our protagonists are searching for a cure for a pandemic threatening the human race, they are dealing with the apocalyptic chaos, confusion and conspiratorial factions ripping apart the fabric of human society. The saccharine-sweet aspect of the romance seems a little out of place. Most readers enjoyed the second book of The Origin Trilogy more than the first. I’ll admit I hit one or two spots in the second book where I wasn’t certain I would persevere. I’m glad I did. Although this debut work is not spotless and portions felt they could use more polish, the storyline is imaginative, and I’m certain that as A.G. Riddle grows as a writer, we will be rewarded with first-class thrillers and science-fiction. The readers who liked the first installments of the trilogy will be delighted by the climactic and unpredictable ending of the series which makes it all worthwhile. ************* Fact vs. fiction http://www.agriddle.com/Atlantis-Plag... A.G. Riddle's commentary on what is real and what is fiction in The Atlantis Plague.
Cathrine Takazaki – Dec 02, 2013
I would call this book a guilty pleasure. The author does keep the pace up so that I found myself reading the book at 4 a.m. just to finish it. I call it a guilty pleasure because the plot line is rather fantastic and the villains are too two dimensional, but it was a good read.
Annmarie (Annie) Kostyk – Mar 23, 2015
Second book in the trilogy. Not usually a sci-fan fan, but this is a great story. It has it all - history, science, and on the edge of your seat, page turning excitement. Self-published too.
Glenn O'Bannon – Jan 23, 2015
Muddled story, boring plot. I really liked the first book in this series so I am shocked at how BAD this one is. The story just drones on and the plot is often overly-detailed and your attention tends to drift while reading it. There is very little action. The author knew where he wanted to take us but did a poor job of taking us there. The characters I liked so much in the first book changed significantly, often for the worse. Their jobs changed significantly. The evil people didn't seem to have m Muddled story, boring plot. I really liked the first book in this series so I am shocked at how BAD this one is. The story just drones on and the plot is often overly-detailed and your attention tends to drift while reading it. There is very little action. The author knew where he wanted to take us but did a poor job of taking us there. The characters I liked so much in the first book changed significantly, often for the worse. Their jobs changed significantly. The evil people didn't seem to have much effect on them. Suddenly, I didn't care that much what happened to them. The conspiracy was revealed in the first book, so the author seemed to have trouble figuring out what the characters should do and talk about. Too bad. I had high hopes for the series but I'm stopping here.
Olga – Nov 28, 2013
Second book in series, follows The Atlantis Gene. When I finished reading The Atlantis Gene, I thought: Wow, I want to know what's next! I checked A. G. Riddle personal site for updates at least couple of times a month, until I saw that the second book was available on Amazon! Overall, the ending of the Gene (I'll call The Atlantis Gene so) was in my opinion, a bit hurried, like the author didn't have enough time to finish the book. So that several important events were described on the last coupl Second book in series, follows The Atlantis Gene. When I finished reading The Atlantis Gene, I thought: Wow, I want to know what's next! I checked A. G. Riddle personal site for updates at least couple of times a month, until I saw that the second book was available on Amazon! Overall, the ending of the Gene (I'll call The Atlantis Gene so) was in my opinion, a bit hurried, like the author didn't have enough time to finish the book. So that several important events were described on the last couple of pages (I'll try to avoid spoilers for the readers who haven't yet got their hands on the books). The second book starts off even more rapidlyю The reader knows that the world is going to end because of the plague, and Kate is working on a cure (unsuccessfully). David experiences some very disappointing events (no spoilers!). And as a matter of fact, we become aware that the chain of events that caused the plague leads to the alien race, who interfered with our genes. I must say, I'm not a big fan of aliens in books. More so, the first book made the described events very realistic, so that I could even imagine something like that happening. But the aliens? Come on. It just puts me off, since I find that hard to believe. The scientific explanations make the matter even worse. First, they appear more frequently than in the first book, and are quiet lengthy, and seriously, if I wanted a lecture on the cure for HIV, I could just visit Wikipedia. Second, science in the book supports the plot, gives a basis to the events and justifies actions of the characters. But when the science becomes entangled with the aliens, whom you cannot doubt since they ARE the main characters, this what I find irritating. Overall, if you ask me, I would read the third part. And this is going to be a third part. Do I think that the second book was bad? Not, of course it wasn't. Continue reading on bookgeek.ru!
Tyler Moore – Jun 21, 2015
Incredible This was a book that got better and better page by page. The true definition of a page turner. Can't wait to read the final book.
George Mazurek) – Jan 17, 2016
Worse than Atlantic gene. I couldnt finish it... Worse than Atlantic gene. I couldn´t finish it...
Jestin VanScoyoc – Apr 25, 2016
Yes its full of cliches. Yes its a fast paced hollywood script style of flashing one scene to another. I enjoyed it though so who cares about its faults or short comings - on to book 3
Tory Michaels – Aug 21, 2015
I couldn't put these books down and had to keep going until I devoured this book. Probably this is my favorite of the three.
Cherie – Nov 05, 2017
It was hard to keep up with all of the players and the different sides of the activities, but it was a wild, wild ride, and I absolutely cannot wait to see what is going to happen in the final book. I what to see David and Kate again. I am glad I had the ebook at my finger tips as I was listening to Stephen Bel Davies narrate the audio version to me.
Kelli Starick – Nov 06, 2014
This was another free book from the Kindle lending library. I enjoyed the first book enough to finish it and read this one but my interest quickly faded. The 2nd book dragged on for me seemingly forever in the middle but picked up a bit near the end just enough for me to stick with it but I'm not sure I need to see where book 3 ends up. There were some neat ideas but many of them were just a bit too far fetched for me to believe. Things started to get a bit too cliche/predictable for me as well This was another free book from the Kindle lending library. I enjoyed the first book enough to finish it and read this one but my interest quickly faded. The 2nd book dragged on for me seemingly forever in the middle but picked up a bit near the end just enough for me to stick with it but I'm not sure I need to see where book 3 ends up. There were some neat ideas but many of them were just a bit too far fetched for me to believe. Things started to get a bit too cliche/predictable for me as well giving me too few surprises for a supposedly super advanced alien species.
Cara Hulett – Jan 10, 2014
Great read! Couldn't put it down! I absolutely loved this book. It was just as good or better than the first book. It had everything a great story and adventure needed: suspense, the perfect amount of romance, action, mystery and thrills. I can't wait to read the end of this trilogy. If you liked Dan Brown's, The Davinci Code or Digital Fortress, you'll love this series. Thank you to the author for allowing me to experience your wonderful story.
Olivia "Don't Blame Me I Voted for Hillary" – Dec 14, 2016
This book wasn't as good as its prequel The Atlantis Gene, which was wonderfully weird. The first half of The Atlantis Plague was slow. While it did pick up in the second half of the book the slow first half made this book not good enough to give five stars to.
Leni - The White Book Cottage – Mar 30, 2017
3,5 Stars Find it on Dog Eared Book It took me a bit longer to get through this ones… Once again we have a Science Fiction Novel, heavy on the Science Part. This was again a part I really enjoyed but one had to concentrate, so one would not miss an important sentence or explanation. In addition to scientific explanations we get a lot of historical background about Malta where I just kind of started to zone out… As in Part 1 we do have a lot of characters which is sometimes a big confusion to actual 3,5 Stars Find it on Dog Eared Book It took me a bit longer to get through this ones… Once again we have a Science Fiction Novel, heavy on the Science Part. This was again a part I really enjoyed but one had to concentrate, so one would not miss an important sentence or explanation. In addition to scientific explanations we get a lot of historical background about Malta where I just kind of started to zone out… As in Part 1 we do have a lot of characters which is sometimes a big confusion to actually keep all story lines in your head and remember who is striving for what goals…. The characters grew a little distant for me. I really liked David in Book 1 but here he just became this super dude who was quite arrogant and could do pretty much everything. There was no one really left who I really cared about…. (view spoiler)[ I did not like the ending. What I understood about the plot (please tell me if I missed or misunderstood something) was that the Atlantians had been attacked by some superior race who wanted to kill all and anything Atlantian so sooner or later they would come to earth and kill all humans, because of their Atlantis Gene that was given to them thousands of years ago. 1. So Dorians Plan was to activate this Gene to build his super army to fight against this superior race. 2. Kate just wanted to save everyone. 3. Janus wanted to deactivate this gene to save everyone but with this devolving humanity back to the stone-age. My thoughts about their plans: 1. Seriously Dorian? Your race wasn’t able to defeat them, what makes you think humans are able to do against them? If you activate this gene I think every one would be totally overwhelmed with your technology and wouldn’t know what the hell to do 2. Okay maybe you saved everyone for the moment bus you just prolonged everything. Dorian is still out there trying to build his army and this other superior race is looking for you and wants to kill you. So yeah…. 3. Seriously? This would have promised a really interesting book three!!! Humans that were devolved back to the time of the stone-age living in a world created by a species higher on the evolutionary ladder? I would have read that book!! Yes, I hoped Janus would achieve his goals just because it would have been really interesting to read what would have come after that! (hide spoiler)] So… Book 3 is on my TBR and I will pick it up in the next months to sea how this will work out but the epilogue already gave me a pretty good idea about what to expect.
Catherine – Mar 02, 2014
Not easy to read. The writing did get better in the second book and the characters improved as well. But there were some that seemed that they would be important to a story line that weren't, so the introduction of so many at the very beginning was confusing. The action lines go on too long without contributing anything additional to the story or characters. The basic mystery of the plot is the main thing that kept me reading although not enough to care about any further novels, at least not unt Not easy to read. The writing did get better in the second book and the characters improved as well. But there were some that seemed that they would be important to a story line that weren't, so the introduction of so many at the very beginning was confusing. The action lines go on too long without contributing anything additional to the story or characters. The basic mystery of the plot is the main thing that kept me reading although not enough to care about any further novels, at least not until the writing improves.
Ian Walker – Apr 27, 2015
From the beginning, I was thrilled. This was because I was now reading from a viewpoint I had very much hoped might be included. It didn't disappoint and in fact, only became more and more intriguing. I'm not a fan of religion (an understatement) but really didn't mind the links which were sewn here. Of course, I have already started on the third and I'm now hoping there will be future excursions into this rich and clever story.
Gina Briganti – Apr 30, 2017
Riddle went from a good writer to a great writer with The Altantis Plague. What was started in The Atlantis Gene picks up fantastic momentum and nuance in this story. The book is both character and story driven. So many are one or the other. This sci-fi thriller has it all - action, adventure, alien technology, twisty plots and intrigue. Riddle is one of my favorite new writers. I forgot that I was reading the story. It felt like I was in it. I highly recommend this series.
Bud – Jan 06, 2014
Just finished this book. Like it's predecessor, The Atlantis Gene, I was unable to put it down and looked forward when I had 15 or 20 minutes to read more. It is a good follow on to the first part of the trilogy and you get to learn more about the characters involved. You also get some suspense. Mr. Riddle does a good job of making you attempt to figure out who the bad guys really are. Can't wait for the third book.
cynthia – Jun 06, 2015
Good read The second installment of the trilogy did not disappoint. Loved the historical and anthropological references would highly recommend it to everyone. And I cannot wait for the movie!
Sam Miller – Jul 19, 2015
Another great book This was just as captivating as the first. I can't wait to start the Atlantis World and see what happens next. I know I won't be disappointed. I highly recommend this to anyone with a passion for science and the unknown.
James Bauer – Jul 18, 2016
Love this series It will really make you think. Very well written and the author did some home work for the story line. Great series and would highly recommend.
Philip – Jun 16, 2018
This one sat and sat in my book drawer. Why was that you old twit eh ? I'd realised early on that by adopting a scatter gun approach to picking up books when I came across them, I ended up with volume 3 of this, volume 2 of that and so on. And so it was to prove in this instance. No idea where I found this copy, more than likely a Oxfam or a Screw Ryder shop I suspect. It was like new. Don't think it had been read. I wonder why. I liked the cut of it's jib. Interesting cover, interesting screed on This one sat and sat in my book drawer. Why was that you old twit eh ? I'd realised early on that by adopting a scatter gun approach to picking up books when I came across them, I ended up with volume 3 of this, volume 2 of that and so on. And so it was to prove in this instance. No idea where I found this copy, more than likely a Oxfam or a Screw Ryder shop I suspect. It was like new. Don't think it had been read. I wonder why. I liked the cut of it's jib. Interesting cover, interesting screed on the back. Apocalyptic it said. Ah, we are in Walking Dead territory then. Worth looking for the first one in this trilogy. I was still recovering from the awfulness of Steve Alten's second bite in his horribly boring Mayan Trilogy so I chickened out and headed for the relative safety of Christian Cameron's Greek series. So the first novel in this series' was acquired (from Amazon, where the postage costs are more than the book itself and it takes about 2 weeks for the sender to find the dang thing and stuff it in the post). Jimmy's, I mean A.G Riddle's first volume, The Atlantis gene, wasn't actually that bad. There were two protagonists, an autism research Doctor called Kate and an intelligence officer, from some outfit called the Immari whose existence was never really made clear, who single-handedly try to stop er....something.....from somebody. Yeah it was that good. The early action is quite fast-paced and I got an air of FPS Computer game. Something along the lines of FEAR or maybe Deus Ex. This limps along after the initial flurry of action and ends up in caverns somewhere under the Antartic and Rock of Gibraltar. There doesn't seem to be any exciting aliens or, indeed, shape-shifting or mind altered zombies or monters appearing anytime soon, but nonetheless I decided to plough on with this one, the second in the trilogy. It started well enough after the closing moments of the first volume, what with Nazi submarines stuck in the ice and tubes containing Neanderthals, but then we discover that our hero, Paul is aparently somebody else and is a superman of some kind who gets shot yet still carries on remorselessy. Kate has become some sort of snivelling whinger obssessed with two noisome kids who were part of her research project. At this point I was so exasperated by these stereotypical characters and their tedious 'journeys' that always seems to be the core plot of this kind of novel, and just gave up. I don't normally, but this was just so ghastly and predictable that I found I just didn't give a damn about their shenanegans let alone the equally predictable love angle that was hinted at in the first book and sure to appear at some point here. I may come back to this, but I won't be making it a priority anytime soon.
Jeremysw – Oct 11, 2016
Woah! Second book, better than the first! How often does that happen?!? I struggled to put this book down. It's still got some of that 'made to be a movie' feel to it, but I still stand by that not always being a bad thing. It continues to gluttonously feed that 10 year old part of my brain that could never seem to get enough of the idea of a lost ancient civilization. If that over-caffeinated, sugar-addled brain had been able to focus enough to write the coolest story about Atlantis ever, this Woah! Second book, better than the first! How often does that happen?!? I struggled to put this book down. It's still got some of that 'made to be a movie' feel to it, but I still stand by that not always being a bad thing. It continues to gluttonously feed that 10 year old part of my brain that could never seem to get enough of the idea of a lost ancient civilization. If that over-caffeinated, sugar-addled brain had been able to focus enough to write the coolest story about Atlantis ever, this is what he would have written. Probably with less girls, though. I'd say you could read it out of series, because the author does provide most of the background information (mostly in ways that move fluidly, though there's a few that feel a little "in last week's episode") you need to engage in the story, but you're just cheating yourself if you don't. You'll be so much more floored by the sheer scale of this story and the tangled webs the author manages to weave right behind your back. The second installment of this story made me eat some lines from my review of the first book. This book really got my brain spinning pretty often wondering about the origins of life, intelligence, and what human nature really means. The author weaves a vast knowledge of history (and artistic manipulation) into science, evolution, and genetics, then bundles it all into an action thriller that will keep you turning pages well past bed-time. If you like wondering about the origin of life, and occasionally like it spiced up with some sci-fi, seriously, pick up this series. It's a lot of fun. Despite being the second book in the series the plot all felt new, even while retaining the majority of the main characters from the first book. The sheer number of cool discoveries the plot ran through makes me wonder how Riddle has anything left for the third installment. The romance turned up a couple notches, much to my chagrin, but it's still bearable/skimable. I'm just not a fan of that element in most stories; I feel like it's been written well enough for something I dislike, though. Otherwise expect more action, more intriguing details, and a story that really comes into high gear in this book. Dan Brown, eat your heart out. Atlantis trumps DaVinci every time.
Joan Schumacher – Jul 02, 2017
Book 2 of this series did not disappoint. I fond it hard t put down. A must read for people who are interested in anthropological history. A wealth of knowledge intertwined into this sci-fi-fi thriller. Moving immediately into Book 3.
Jennifer – Dec 01, 2017
Hmm. This installment in the series really upped the "weird". The first book was a race to stop an outbreak, with a tiny splash of aliens, and of course Nazi bad guys; it was still grounded in enough reality that you could easily accept the plot. Book 2 introduces a lot of strange things and unreal technology quickly at the beginning and doesn't really stop. Now we have a lot of aliens, spirit possession/reincarnation, a bad guy that can't be killed, and the human population of the world is deci Hmm. This installment in the series really upped the "weird". The first book was a race to stop an outbreak, with a tiny splash of aliens, and of course Nazi bad guys; it was still grounded in enough reality that you could easily accept the plot. Book 2 introduces a lot of strange things and unreal technology quickly at the beginning and doesn't really stop. Now we have a lot of aliens, spirit possession/reincarnation, a bad guy that can't be killed, and the human population of the world is decimated yet stuff like food and transportation still works. I felt like I was being asked to believe in too many things at once. Bless the romance subplot, because if it weren't for wanting to find out if my characters were ever going to find each other again, I don't know if I would have continued.
Shannon – Aug 23, 2014
I thought this series was a thriller series along the lines of the Sigma novels by James Rollins or the Pendergast books from Preston and Child. But it isn't. This isn't the author's fault, of course, but I feel slightly misled. The first book was much more biological thriller, in that it contained mostly stuff the actually happened on Earth as the basis for the science in the story: Toba, autism, evolution, etc. Yes, there was a bit of alien/outer space stuff, but I felt like that stuff played I thought this series was a thriller series along the lines of the Sigma novels by James Rollins or the Pendergast books from Preston and Child. But it isn't. This isn't the author's fault, of course, but I feel slightly misled. The first book was much more biological thriller, in that it contained mostly stuff the actually happened on Earth as the basis for the science in the story: Toba, autism, evolution, etc. Yes, there was a bit of alien/outer space stuff, but I felt like that stuff played well with the actual historical and scientific stuff. In this book, all that history is thrown by the wayside as it's all seen to be the machinations of crazy aliens. And the dreamwalking, the gaining of someone else's memories, all that really weird stuff was too far away from science for me to be interested. Putting all of this aside and taking the book for what it was based on what I had thought/hoped it was, the book still wasn't that great. It was very slow in the beginning, with action scenes that served no purpose except to make things more exciting. (I got the impression that a beta reader said, "I think this book is too short and not exciting enough. Take every scene where something actually happens and make it harder." No bueno.) Action for action's sake is never enough for me. And a lot of the book was short on the revelations which made the first book exciting: all the "wait, that person is really who?" It was just random stuff happening, people shooting each other and running from the bad guys. However, the final 1/3 of the book was fairly exciting and held my interest way more than the first 2/3. And the story itself is really cool. Kinda makes me wonder if all this stuff is really how/why we evolved. I just wish this science fiction weighed a bit more on the science side than the fiction.
Eeva Lancaster – Dec 05, 2016
The Atlantis Plague continues the story of The Atlantis Gene. The plague has spread and mankind's population is seriously depleted. The 2nd book delves more into the battle between the Orchid Alliance and Immari, and Dr. Kate Warner's quest to find a cure, and to do that, she has to look into how mankind evolved and moved to the top of the food chain. What I love about this series is how it tackles and tries to connect different legends and mysteries. It's fascinating to read how the author imagi The Atlantis Plague continues the story of The Atlantis Gene. The plague has spread and mankind's population is seriously depleted. The 2nd book delves more into the battle between the Orchid Alliance and Immari, and Dr. Kate Warner's quest to find a cure, and to do that, she has to look into how mankind evolved and moved to the top of the food chain. What I love about this series is how it tackles and tries to connect different legends and mysteries. It's fascinating to read how the author imagines and interconnects the events described in the book. Sometimes, it can get too much and starts to sound preposterous. But you have to remember, it's a fantasy, and the existing theories, facts and fiction are so intermingled they're almost believable. I mean, we really DON'T know what THE truth is yet, so it's nice to imagine the What Ifs. There are parts that will make you go "huh?" I suppose, with the scope, it was inevitable that there would be some confusion somewhere. However, for ancient mystery buffs, it's satisfying enough to be a page turner. Just go with the story and let it entertain you. Which is what a good fiction strives to do. It's not a scientific journal. And I did buy Book 3, which is supposed to give us more back story on the Atlanteans.
Michael Flanagan – Mar 12, 2015
The Atlantis Plague is the second offering from A.G Riddle in his Origin Mystery series. Like the first book A.G Riddle delivers a story full of twists and turns that keeps you engaged to the very last full stop. What really impresses me about this book is how all the individual story threads are weaved into very strong tapestry worthy of the label epic. I was truly impressed at the depth of the narrative and the fullness of the world created by the author. For me though, there was one glaring iss The Atlantis Plague is the second offering from A.G Riddle in his Origin Mystery series. Like the first book A.G Riddle delivers a story full of twists and turns that keeps you engaged to the very last full stop. What really impresses me about this book is how all the individual story threads are weaved into very strong tapestry worthy of the label epic. I was truly impressed at the depth of the narrative and the fullness of the world created by the author. For me though, there was one glaring issued that kept me from giving five stars. Unlike a lot of other follow up books in series this one starts off exactly where the first book finished. Now that probably does not seem too many a issue. But for me those little tit-bits of back story so often used in the beginning of books in other series was missing. What this meant for me that it took a while for me to get back in the story as I felt I was playing catch-up. With all that aside The Atlantis Plague is very fine example of intelligent and entertaining Science Fiction writing. I would encourage all to experience the Origin Series.
Edgar Allan Poe: Complete Tales And Poems (173 eBooks)
Ulysses -[ FREE AUDIOBOOK DOWNLOAD ] [ ANNOTATED ]
David Copperfield, with eBook
The Mysterious Affair at Styles, with eBook
Gulliver's Travels, with eBook
Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill [with Linked Table of Contents]
Email: [email protected]ousbook.us | cc/2019-30/en_head_0013.json.gz/line10992 |
__label__cc | 0.553248 | 0.446752 | Profile of Ted Kobus & Pamela Jones Harbour
BakerHostetler
Ted Kobus focuses his practice in the areas of privacy, data security, and intellectual property. He advises clients, trade groups, and organizations regarding data security and privacy risks, including compliance, developing breach response strategies, defense of regulatory actions, and defense of class action litigation. He counsels clients involved in breaches involving domestic and international laws, as well as other regulations and requirements. Having led more than 500 data breach responses, he has respected relationships with regulators involved in privacy concerns as well as deep experience helping clients confront privacy issues during the compliance risk management stages. He is invested in his client relationships and approaches engagements practically and thoughtfully. Ted is national co-leader of BakerHostelter's Privacy and Data Protection team. He is ranked in "Chambers USA: America's Leading Lawyers for Business" and was one of only three attorneys named an MVP by Law360 for Privacy & Consumer Protection in 2013. He is a regular contributor to BakerHostetler's Data Privacy Monitor blog and regularly speaks at major industry events regarding data breach response, risk management, and litigation issues affecting privacy, including being the only private attorney to speak at the National Association of Attorneys General on data security issues.
Pamela Jones Harbour serves as co-leader of BakerHostetler's national Privacy and Data Protection team, with a practice focusing on the areas of privacy, data protection, and antitrust law. She is recognized for her knowledge in the evolving areas of competition and consumer protection law as they relate to privacy and data security issues. She served as a Federal Trade Commissioner for almost seven years and spent a decade with the New York State Attorney General's Office. Pamela was the 2010 recipient of the Electronic Privacy Information Center's "Champion of Freedom Award" for her defense of consumer privacy as an FTC Commissioner. While at the FTC, she was frequently a leading or solo dissenter in situations where she advocated to vigorously uphold the letter and spirit of the nation's antitrust and consumer protection laws.
Articles by Ted Kobus & Pamela Jones Harbour
Into The Breach: The Limits Of Data Security Technology
When it comes to cyberdefense spending, the smart money should bet on people and compliance as much as on machines.
WorkSpace Connect - Sept 9-11, Dallas - Register Now!
Vendor ATT&CK Misdirection and How to Avoid It
The Cost of Industrial Cyber Incidents & How to Prevent Them
TrickBot/Gozi Malware Case Study: Online Processing
451 Business Impact Brief: Security for Cloud-Native Compute Will Be Different | cc/2019-30/en_head_0013.json.gz/line10994 |
__label__wiki | 0.595191 | 0.595191 | Tag Archive: Western Front poppy field
VFW Post 8870 and Auxiliary > Western Front poppy field
National WWI Museum and Memorial
Author: Editor May 14, 2018
By Fred M. Apgar
The National WWI Museum and Memorial is located in Kansas City, Missouri, and I recently had the
opportunity to visit this outstanding facility. Just weeks after the 1919 Paris Peace Conference, that officially ended WWI, a patriotic group of Kansas City residents spearheaded a fund raising program, the purpose of which was to construct a memorial to honor the memory of those who lost their lives in the “Great War”. Within two weeks, over $2.5 million dollars were raised. On November 1, 1921, over 200,000 people attended the ground-breaking ceremony, Including Vice President Calvin Coolidge, and General of the Armies, John Pershing, as well as Generals and Admirals from France, Great Britain, Belgium, and Italy. The completed Memorial was dedicated on November 11, 1926.
The Memorial consisted of the Liberty Tower, which sits in the middle of a stone deck. On opposite sides of the tower are two buildings, which housed paintings and murals commemorating WWI. These exhibition buildings were named Memory Hall and Exhibition Hall.
Liberty Tower rises 217 feet above Kansas City, constructed entirely of Kasota stone, quarried from Kasota, Minnesota and Italian Travertine. A grand stairway once led visitors to the observation deck at the top of the tower. Today, an elevator takes visitors to the top.
In 2004, Congress named Liberty Memorial as the nation’s official WWI Museum and construction began on an 80,000 square foot expansion underneath the original memorial. The present day museum is comprised of two sections. The first half of the museum is devoted to European involvement in the war from its beginning. The second half of the museum is devoted to the American experience.
The Western front Poppy Field
Before entering the main gallery, you have to cross a glass bridge that is suspended over a symbolic Western Front poppy field. As you look below, there are 9000 poppies, each of which represents 1000 deaths. The symbolic poppy field offers a grim reminder of the more than 9,000,000 people who perished as a direct result of WWI hostilities.
Items of equipment displayed
The museum boasts a remarkable collection of artifacts from the war, including several tanks, and other vehicles and many different guns and mortars. There are rifles and handguns galore as well as an extensive collection of grenades. Uniforms and personal equipment from each country engaged in hostilities are on display as well as an extensive collection of maps, charts, and communication equipment including General Pershing’s Headquarters flag. The museum has an extensive collection of propaganda posters that were used to promote patriotism, recruit volunteers, and generate contributions to the war effort. A replica trench presents a look at trench warfare. Two theaters provide visitors with a narrative of the war. Thousands of photographs take visitors through the war years, providing memorable descriptive images of the war experience.
I arrived at the museum shortly after it opened at 10:00 AM, stayed until closing at 5:00 PM, and still didn’t see all I had wanted to. The National World War I Museum and Memorial is a must-see.
Exhibition Hall, Fred Apgar, Kansas City Missouri, Liberty Memorial, Liberty Tower, Memory Hall, National World War I Museum and Memorial, National WWI Museum and Memorial, Western Front poppy field | cc/2019-30/en_head_0013.json.gz/line10996 |
__label__cc | 0.665709 | 0.334291 | /Smart Meters
The Office of the People's Counsel ("OPC") welcomes you to its smart grid education web site. OPC is committed to providing residents timely and straightforward information about the changes currently underway regarding how electricity service is provided. Additionally, OPC is charged with educating consumers about emerging issues in the utility industry and how they impact consumers. The smart grid is certainly one of the biggest changes in the District of Columbia's utility landscape as this change in infrastructure touches each and every consumer. This section of our website was created to introduce District of Columbia residents to the smart grid PEPCO is in the early stages of deploying.
OPC realizes the success of the smart grid is directly tied to whether consumers change their consumption behavior. So, this website is a vital tool for both the Office and consumers. The site will answer questions such as what is the smart grid, why do we need it and how will consumers benefit from it. Additionally, the website explains how the smart grid was approved in the District of Columbia and provides a number of private, local and federal contacts with additional information about the smart grid. Last, and perhaps most importantly, the site tells consumers how their voices can be heard by the DC Public Service Commission whose responsibility it is to make important decisions about the smart grid over the next few years.
WHY DO WE NEED A SMART GRID?
The smart grid is necessary because the country's current electric infrastructure, which fundamentally has not changed since its creation nearly a century ago, is unable to meet a range of challenges, including a dramatic increase in the demand for electricity, the need to reduce carbon emissions caused by the generation of electricity from burning fossil fuels, the need to use clean renewable sources of energy to produce electricity, the need for reliable power to support our growing digital economy, and the need to have our transportation sector operate on electricity rather than foreign oil.
WHAT'S IN IT FOR ME AS AN AVERAGE CONSUMER?
PEPCO's AMI plan is designed to deliver a number of benefits to consumers wanting greater control over their energy usage.
In the short-term, consumers will benefit from:
Detailed information about energy usage,
Actual meter readings instead of estimated readings, Ability to program your smart thermostat to adjust its usage in response to changes in the price of electricity Ability to know your bill-to- date
In the future, PEPCO is expected to offer:
Ability to choose a pricing plan that fits your usage,
Ability to remotely control your heating and air conditioning system
WHAT SHOULD I EXPECT?
In October 2010, PEPCO began installing a new type of electric meter at the premises of every electric customer in the District. All smart meters and AMI are scheduled to be completed by December 2011. The new meter will continue to bill your energy usage on a monthly basis, and you will not see any change in the format of your monthly bill.
OPC will provide you more information about the meter when details become available.
PEPCO has applied for and received a federal economic stimulus grant of $44.6 million. This is estimated to be about half the cost of replacing all the meters and building in the special components to operate the network. PEPCO has received permission from the DC Public Service Commission ("Commission") to collect the balance of the costs from ratepayers. The exact amount consumers will pay for PEPCO's AMI will be determined by the Commission.
CAN I OPT-OUT OF PEPCO'S SMART GRID PROGRAM?
No. At this time, there is no opt-out provision to Pepco's smart grid program. The legislation that authorized the deployment of smart grid allowed Pepco to install smart meters to all of its customers and did not have a provision for an opt-out.
The Office of the People's Counsel has used all available means to obtain an opt-out for consumers. In 2012, after receiving complaints from consumers about the safety of smart meters, OPC wrote a letter to Councilmember Yvette Alexander who had oversight of the Office and the PSC requesting she urge the Commission to conduct an independent study to determine the technical and economic feasibility of Pepco providing an opt-out provision and a study to determine the safety of smart meters. On August 9, 2012 Councilmember Alexander wrote a letter to the PSC and urged the Commission to conduct such a study. The Commission hired West Monroe Partners to conduct the study.
Also in an effort to prevent Pepco from disconnecting consumers who refused a smart meter installation, OPC on May 16, 2012 filed a Motion with the Commission requesting the PSC prevent Pepco from disconnecting consumers who refused the smart meter installation. On June 21, 2012, the Commission issued Order No. 16841 denying OPC's motion but urged Pepco to use restraint for those consumers who did not want a smart meter installed. (See order attached)
While the Office was urging the Commission to conduct a study on the feasibility of an opt-out, on May 15, 2013, Councilmember Kenyan McDuffie introduced legislation to give the PSC authority to decide on the issue of opt-out. Unfortunately, the legislation was not voted on and no further action has taken place on this issue at the Council since.
On September 20, 2013 West Monroe Partners filed its report with the Commission. The report found that there was no credible, scientific evidence to show that the level of RF emissions from the Pepco smart meters is a threat to human health. The report also said that Pepco could provide an opt-out provision but that there were questions that remained to be answered. On December 13, 2013 the Office of the People's Counsel filed a motion requesting the Commission further examine the findings and recommendations of the West Monroe Report to determine if an opt-out provision is feasible. On February 20, 2014 the Commission issued Order No. 17388 denying OPC's Motion stating "OPC’s motion is premature in light of the fact that the District has not passed a law regarding opt-out in the District of Columbia." This order was consistent with Commission's Order 16761 in April 2012 in which it denied OPC's request for the PSC to determine whether it was reasonable for Pepco to provide an opt-out because the City Council had not given it authority to act on the issue. As such, the Commission will not action on this issue until the Council gives the PSC authority to act on the issue of opt-out.
WILL THE NEW SMART METER IMPROVE THE RELIABILITY OF THE ELECTRIC DISTRIBUTION SYSTEM?
Not necessarily. While the smart meter will eventually have the ability to notify PEPCO of outages, it will not make the District's electric distribution system more reliable. The overall reliability of the network depends on PEPCO taking steps to ensure electricity is flowing through the system.
CAN PEPCO USE THESE NEW SMART METERS TO CUT MY SERVICE OFF WITHOUT FIRST COMING TO MY HOME AND NOTIFYING ME THAT I AM SCHEDULED FOR DISCONNECTION?
No. Pepco cannot use the smart meters to remotely disconnect service for accounts that are delinquent. The Commission in Order No. 16484 prohibited Pepco from deviating from the Commission's rules governing the termination of utility service which requires personal contact prior to disconnection. Therefore, if an account is delinquent, Pepco must follow the existing rules to terminate service.
HOW DOES OPC VIEW SMART METERS AND THE SMART GRID IN THE DISTRICT?
Based on OPC's involvement with the PowerCentsDC pilot and research of other smart meter pilot programs, OPC supports the introduction of smart meters and the smart grid to the extent deployment proceeds in a manner that empowers consumers to be able to better control their energy usage; enhances energy efficiency; reduces the District's overall electricity load, thus reducing the cost of energy to all consumers; and does not unduly burden seniors and those on fixed incomes.
OPC has strongly advocated for clear, consistent consumer education at the outset of the meter installation process and throughout the duration of deployment so consumers are knowledgeable about how their electric service will differ. | cc/2019-30/en_head_0013.json.gz/line10997 |
__label__wiki | 0.570175 | 0.570175 | Licking River (Kentucky) Information
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Licking_River_(Kentucky)
Licking River
The mouth of the Licking River, where it joins the Ohio River
Magoffin County, Kentucky
3,593 sq mi (9,310 km2)
4,221 cu ft/s (119.5 m3/s)
The Licking River is a partly navigable, 303-mile-long (488 km) [1] tributary of the Ohio River in northeastern Kentucky in the United States. The river and its tributaries drain much of the region of northeastern Kentucky between the watersheds of the Kentucky River to the west and the Big Sandy River to the east. The North Fork Licking River, in Pendleton County, Kentucky is one of its tributaries.
1 Origin of name
3 Course
4 Flora and fauna
Origin of name
The Licking River near the Blue Licks Battlefield State Park
The Native Americans of the area called the river Nepernine. When the explorer Thomas Walker first saw it in 1750, he called it Frederick's River. An earlier name given by hunters and frontiersmen, Great Salt Lick Creek, makes reference to the many saline springs near the river that attracted animals to its salt licks. The origin of the present name is unclear, though likely related to the previous name. [2]
Numerous aboriginal peoples inhabited the watershed for at least part of the year for several thousand years;[ citation needed] Native American tribes that frequently hunted in and around the Licking River valley included the Shawnee and Cherokee. Other, older settlements of unnamed groups in Bath County on Slate Creek are also known. The river served as an important transportation and trade route for both Native Americans and, from the mid-18th Century on, colonists of European descent who began pushing into the area (predominately from Virginia, Maryland and the Carolina colonies).
In 1780, during the Revolutionary War, a group of American frontiersmen under George Rogers Clark gathered at the river's mouth for their march up the valley of the Little Miami River, where they conducted operations against British outposts and British-supported Native American tribes, including elements of the Shawnee, Miami, Mingo and Delaware. In 1782, the river was the site of the Battle of Blue Licks. [3] The Newport Barracks in Newport guarded its mouth from 1803 to 1894.
The Licking River is now used extensively for recreation, including shallow-draft boating, canoeing and fishing. It is used for rowing practice by the Cincinnati Junior Rowing Club.
The watershed of the Licking River, with the North Fork and South Fork Licking River tributaries
The Licking River rises in the Cumberland Plateau of eastern Kentucky, in southeastern Magoffin County. It flows northwest in a highly meandering course past Salyersville and West Liberty. In Rowan County in the Daniel Boone National Forest it is impounded to form the large Cave Run Lake reservoir. Northwest of the reservoir it receives Fleming Creek approximately 8 miles (13 km) northwest of Carlisle and flows across the Bluegrass region of northern Kentucky. It receives the North Fork from the east approximately 10 miles (16 km) northwest of Mount Olivet and the South Fork from the south at Falmouth. It joins the Ohio opposite Cincinnati, where it separates the cities of Covington and Newport. The river was used as the southwestern border of the original Mason County and is the southwest border of Fleming and Rowan counties today.
The North Fork near Mays Lick
The river is considered by ecologists to provide a unique ecosystem in the region. The lower river is considered to be a habitat for the relatively rare native muskellunge. The river basin supports several other fish species, including: redside dace, mimic shiner, streamline chub, slender madtom, blue sucker, paddlefish, and eastern sand darter. There are more than 50 species of freshwater mussels, of which 11 are endangered. The watershed provides wetland stopover habitats for about 250 species of migratory birds, an unusually high number. Several state and federal agencies, as well as private organizations such as The Nature Conservancy work to protect the diversity of this important habitat.[ citation needed]
The largest common carp taken in the state of Kentucky (54 lbs., 14 oz.) was caught in the South Fork of the Licking River. [4]
List of rivers of Kentucky
^ U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline data. The National Map Archived 2012-04-05 at WebCite, accessed June 13, 2011
^ Kleber, John E., ed. (1992). "Licking River". The Kentucky Encyclopedia. Associate editors: Thomas D. Clark, Lowell H. Harrison, and James C. Klotter. Lexington, Kentucky: The University Press of Kentucky. ISBN 0-8131-1772-0.
^ Federal Writers' Project (1996). The WPA Guide to Kentucky. University Press of Kentucky. p. 250. Retrieved 24 November 2013.
^ "Kentucky State Record Fish List". Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources. 2006-04-17. Archived from the original on 2007-02-10. Retrieved 2007-02-17.
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Licking River (Kentucky).
Nature Conservancy: Licking River
Pre-Wisconsin Spillways along the Licking River
Scenes along the Licking River
U.S. Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System: Licking River
LICKING RIVER (KENTUCKY) Latitude and Longitude:
39°5′30″N 84°30′13″W / 39.09167°N 84.50361°W / 39.09167; -84.50361
Retrieved from " https://en.wikipedia.org/?title=Licking_River_(Kentucky)&oldid=899961475"
Rivers of Kentucky
Tributaries of the Ohio River
Bodies of water of Magoffin County, Kentucky
Bodies of water of Morgan County, Kentucky
Bodies of water of Rowan County, Kentucky
Bodies of water of Nicholas County, Kentucky
Bodies of water of Robertson County, Kentucky
Bodies of water of Pendleton County, Kentucky
Rivers of Kenton County, Kentucky
Bodies of water of Campbell County, Kentucky
Bodies of water of Fleming County, Kentucky
Webarchive template webcite links
LICKING RIVER (KENTUCKY) | cc/2019-30/en_head_0013.json.gz/line10998 |
__label__wiki | 0.927808 | 0.927808 | Suffering from a narcissistic personality disorder
Guilty cell site developer could receive
55-year prison term, $2 million fine
By Craig Lekutis, Publisher, WirelessEstimator.com
January 6, 2011 - On a talk radio business show broadcast in July of 2008 - What Does It Take To Become a Billionaire Entrepreneur? - well-known wireless cell site build-to-suit and project management entrepreneur Clovis Prince cautioned his audience to recognize that "Some of the things you need in business to be successful is to have a strong business plan; a strong financial model; have a strong financial institution behind you as well as having a strong exit plan."
However, when Prince's numerous enterprises started to fail after his strong financial institutions were no longer standing behind him, but suing him, and he was in the throes of bankruptcy, his exit plan in 2010 included a high speed car chase as federal agents tried to arrest him in Oklahoma City, Okla. on March 17.
He lost control as he turned his lights off during the pursuit and crashed his 2007 Lexus - a step down from his $200,000 Bentley that had been recently repossessed - and while injured, tried to run away from the agents and a city patrolman.
After being captured he was transported to the University of Oklahoma Presbyterian Medical Center and kept overnight for observation, providing him with another opportunity to review his exit strategy.
The following morning Prince said he needed to use the toilet and was escorted by a hospital worker and an agent to the nearest restroom.
After a few minutes the federal agent heard a loud crash and then forced open the barricaded door where he found the toilet pulled away from the wall with ceiling tiles scattered around it.
The agent said that it appeared that Prince was standing on the toilet in an attempt to pull himself through the ceiling and escape.
Another strategy in Prince's exit plan was to falsely state that he was not a beneficiary in a family trust although it was later found that he was; and he illegally transferred money during his bankruptcy proceedings.
Or so say the jurors for the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas who convicted him on December 9, 2010 of 23 counts of bankruptcy and 15 counts of bank fraud and money laundering after less than three hours of deliberation after a 14-day trial.
They also returned an additional verdict of a judgment in the amount of $15,477,554, money illegally obtained by Prince, most of which is unaccounted for in his bankruptcy financial statements.
U.S. District Judge David Folsom has withheld sentencing for Prince, who elected to serve as his own counsel for the bank fraud and money laundering counts, until he receives a psychological study to determine if Prince is suffering from "diminished capacity".
His standby attorney in the trial, Sherman attorney Don Bailey, believes that the evaluation will show that Prince suffers from a narcissistic personality disorder and he wants Judge Folsom to consider Prince's personality disorder before sentencing him.
Prince did not oppose the motion which stated that he has a grandiose sense of self-importance.
Sentencing guidelines for the 38 counts allow for up to 55 years in jail and a $2 million fine.
Entrepreneurial icon to con man
In his closing argument, U.S. Assistant United States Attorney Randall Blake described the 60-year-old Prince as a "con man".
Also, Judge Folsom didn't appear to be fond of Prince's pretrial and courtroom behavior which included numerous motions for mistrial and continuance as well as multiple attorney changes.
He ordered Prince to be ready on December 8, 2010 to make his closing arguments after Prince claimed he was suffering from dehydration, although medical tests identified that he was not.
Judge Folsom wrote that "The Court is of the opinion that Mr. Prince is attempting to avoid trial by misrepresenting or exploiting his medical condition."
The judge said that after innumerable attempts at delay, the court was not surprised by Prince's alleged medical situation.
"In fact, the court anticipated and expected such an occurrence," Judge Folsom said.
He further stated that it was "no more than another attempt by Mr. Prince to delay proceedings and to game the system."
The rise and sudden fall of Clovis Prince
Clovis Prince was born in 1950 in Guthrie, Okla. and was the middle child of 12 children in a family where his father fostered a strong work ethic, according to Prince.
"I guess I started becoming an entrepreneur at age six. I started cutting yards in my neighborhood so that I could have some additional money," Prince said during a radio talk show in 2008.
Prince attended the University of Oklahoma where he earned his B.A. degree in 1971.
After graduating from college, Prince was hired by General Motors as a manager and worked in that capacity until 1985, according to an interview he provided to African American HistoryMakers.
In 1986, he said he founded Prince & Associates which among other services, the company provided legal assistance to the public and private sector, an area of expertise that would later assist him with court filings as he represented himself against federal bank fraud charges.
A rich work history rife with inaccuracies
However, whereas Prince told HistoryMakers that he was working for General Motors until 1985, he informed another interviewer that he was at that time heavily entrenched in the wireless industry and not the auto industry.
"We started in the 70's and we completed in the 80's, so I guess the very first network that we turned hot was like '81, '82," he said during the interview where he also stated he was the project/program manager for the very first cellular network built in the U.S.
"We built about 60 sites and was able to launch a cellular network, and the rest is history," said Prince.
In 1991, Prince said he expanded his wireless business throughout the United States and overseas, which would have been a difficult task since he was serving a prison term at that time.
On February 27, 1986, Prince was convicted on 25 counts of mail fraud and sentenced to 15 years in prison. His crime: He collected for auto parts which he did not deliver.
He began serving his sentence on or about March 21, 1986. Prince then escaped from a halfway house around May 27, 1991, and he was apprehended in July 1992. He was released from prison on or about February 26, 1993, Blake said.
Judge Folsom ruled that the incarceration information could be presented to the jury following the prosecutor's argument that Prince "made fraudulent misrepresentations about his work experience in order to gain the trust of banks and to create the image that he was an exceedingly skilled and successful businessman with whom a loan of a million dollars could be entrusted."
He said, however, that the prosecution could not let jurors know about Prince's escape since it was not relevant to his intent to defraud.
Carriers and contractors taken in by Prince
Although Prince stated he expanded his telecommunications company in 1991, the earliest project he identified in his promotional material stated that in 1997, his company was responsible for the "first ever monopoly agreement between Omnipoint Communications and the Florida Department of Transportation, Turnpike District."
Florida DOT records indicate that Omnipoint - Now T-Mobile - did build 11 monopoles along the turnpike's right of way in Dade and Broward Counties, after signing a lease agreement with the FDOT on April 8, 1998.
It didn't appear to be a "monopoly agreement," as Prince described it.
The following year, in a competitive bid, American Tower Corporation was awarded a contract to manage 19 existing FDOT towers as well as two they had already built in addition to being able to build new sites along FDOT lands.
The FDOT deal helped establish Prince's firm and his Dallas headquarters added numerous offices throughout the U.S.
According to his marketing literature, Prince & Associates provided special project services for Nextel Communications in New Orleans to allow the carrier to have extensive coverage during the CTIA 2000 convention.
Then they signed a major contract with Ericsson in 2003 and United States Cellular two years later, according to archives from their removed website.
But it appears that neither the carriers nor contractors vetted Prince's company or they might not have provided him with lucrative contracts or committed to build out sites for him.
A number of banks provided Prince with loans partially based upon his work history; however, the government introduced at Prince's trial that LegacyTexas Bank declined to make a loan to Prince after they became aware of his criminal history. The bank was close to funding a multi-million dollar loan when it discovered Prince's record after a background check.
AT&T was mainstay of his revenue
In 2006, Prince was named "Entrepreneur of the Year" from among 35,000 African-American business owners vying for the coveted award during the Fifth Annual PowerNetworking Conference in Atlanta.
In the audience were numerous AT&T managers who were singled out by Prince. He said that it was AT&T who believed in him and was the company clearly behind his success.
According to Prince, Cingular (now AT&T Mobility) inked a $325 million deal with his firm for turnkey tower services that assisted his company to expand to 15 national offices and to exceed $780 million in revenue in 2007 and become one of the largest minority owned businesses in America.
"I would not be accepting the Entrepreneur of the Year award without the support of Cingular Wireless allowing us to work on over 5,000 site locations in 2005,” Prince said.
Fashionably attired in a custom tailored suit, Prince and his entourage would walk the major telecom trade show floors, commanding attention due to the company's stellar growth and Prince's networking capabilities, coupled with an engaging personality.
Prince's firm also dovetailed nicely with Verizon Wireless and AT&T Mobility's master plan to engage the minority business community to meet their goal to increase their percentage of spend with certified diverse suppliers year-over-year.
He was in demand as a motivational speaker in colleges and organizations, and in 2004 he was the keynote speaker at the Tower Summit & Trade Show.
No show hotels among questionable achievements
Prince said he was building a Holiday Inn Express and a Comfort Suites hotel on property which he owned, and he already had contracts for 85 percent occupancy during a July 15, 2008 interview. Prince said his goal was to have 20 more hotels in the near future.
Fifteen months later he filed for bankruptcy and he did not list any hotel assets.
As with a lot of Prince's statements, they're in conflict with published reports or court documents.
In example, working on over 5,000 AT&T sites in 2005 would typically not be awarded to a tier two contractor and would have required some type of master contract, but AT&T says in court documents that it did not enter into a master construction agreement with Prince until July 31, 2006.
Also, Prince stated that he had hired and trained in excess of 4,500 employees in the telecommunications and real estate industries.
Since there is no documentation that Prince & Associates was actively engaged in the telecommunications industry prior to his release from prison in 1993, the 4,500-plus employees over a 12-year period would suggest a robust corporate and site development staff in his 15 offices necessary to service AT&T, Verizon, U.S. Cellular and other clients.
Skeleton staff alleged
Nonetheless, a number of contractors contacted by WirelessEstimator said that the corporate office maintained approximately 15 to 20 employees and their regional offices were staffed by only a few people employed by Prince.
"They had a shell staff that, for whatever reason, AT&T kept funneling money through," said one contactor who stopped doing work for Prince in 2007. "We did all of the work, including the paperwork. I could never understand why there was a need for them at all," he said.
Prince, as some contractors do, would state that they had an office in a particular city by placing an employee within one of their subcontractor's offices.
Most of them, the contractors said, were 1099 contractors and not part of the large close-knit employment base that Prince purported to have and nurture.
When Crown Project Management (dba Prince & Associates) filed for bankruptcy, Prince listed amongst other assets a total of 24 desks and six file cabinets for his corporate and 15 national offices.
He didn't want to take the money and run
During a recorded interview he said he gave up an offer that would have put him on easy street if he sold his telecommunications company.
"A company that was in competition with me, a company out of South Florida, saw the vision and the way we were moving with growth every year for the last 20 years and they came to me and offered me a secure position for the rest of my life that would have made me a multi, multi, multi-millionaire."
"So, I called all of my executives in across the country and we all got in the board room and I told them that I had an offer to sell Prince & Associates for a lucrative award to me. And when I looked around the room I saw tears coming from my staff, my executive management team, people who have invested 20 years or so in helping me to build Prince & Associates to where it is today."
"I mean, it brought tears to my eyes that my staff was so passionate, so much in love in what we were building and what we were doing here that I just couldn't take this money and run," Prince said.
Compassion doesn't reach contractors
Although Prince said he had empathy for his employees' well being, three contractors contacted by WirelessEstimator said his business practices were less than compassionate.
Two well-established tower erectors said that it would be typical for them to complete a large portion of their awarded sites and Prince would then tell them that there was something wrong with their work and he wanted to reduce their billings even though he would never put in writing what the deficiency was.
"Or, if that didn't work he would just tell me that he needed to reduce my price after the work was done," said one of the contractors.
Another method, a contractor said, was to put the carrot in front of you that if you reduced your prices on the front end you would be eligible to make it up later because of increased build opportunities.
"But those opportunities never came to us. In fact we had to lien the sites for the couple that we did for him when his promises to be paid were never met," he said.
The unsecured claims amount reported by Prince in his bankruptcy filing for Crown Project Management, Inc. was surprisingly low for a company that was managing thousands of sites: $1,157,708.
CMS Wireless, a mid-sized contractor from Maumelle, Ark. was Crown's largest creditor with a claim of $852,791, followed by AmChel Communications of Wylie , Tex. in the amount of 79,861.44.
Both companies did not reply to a request for additional information about their collection efforts, but court documents show that CMS has placed what appears to be over 100 liens on AT&T cell sites.
In a court filing, AT&T said that it had paid Prince for CMS's work. A request to AT&T Mobility, to inquire why Prince's company wasn't vetted and why he was not required to provide lien waivers before being paid, or if he fraudulently provided them, was not immediately answered.
A number of Verizon sites have also been liened by contractors.
Safety appeared to be secondary or non-existent
If a contractor wants to work on a Black & Veatch or Bechtel-managed AT&T or Verizon site, their safety program, EMRs and other company information will be thoroughly reviewed.
If, however, you wanted to work on a Crown Management-managed site, all you had to do is send them your EHS plan to meet their pass down requirement, a number of contractors told WirelessEstimator.
Or in at least one instance, nothing was required.
"Nobody in his company ever mentioned safety. Even though we have an extensive safety program and manual, it was never mentioned or asked to be identified," said one contractor.
"I never saw a safety manual by Prince. Safety practices were never mentioned by Prince & Associates during our entire business relationship," he said.
Another business owner said that he met with Prince's representative who asked for the quote first; then negotiated it; then - almost as an afterthought - asked if they had "some type of safety program" they could send them.
"I'm not even sure if we ever sent anything other than the form," he said.
The patina quickly rubs off of Prince's Crown
Propped up by his fraudulent funding schemes and telecommunications industry growth, in 2007 Prince & Associates began its new venture: Prince & Associates Restaurants, which included Prince Bistro and Papa John's Pizza franchises.
Prince also started building upscale homes. But the subprime credit debacle caught him off guard and he scrambled to keep his various enterprises afloat.
In addition, American Bank of Texas was pressuring his in-house counsel, Nicole Taylor, to produce non-existent annuity contracts that had been pledged as security for a loan.
According to court documents, Prince admitted to Taylor that the contracts did not exist - a fact which he also admitted to during the course of his bankruptcy.
On September 10, 2009, a Texas Grand Jury charged Prince with bank fraud and money laundering. In the indictment the jury said Prince's illegal acts resulted in proceeds to him of $10.7 million. Last month jurors raised the amount to be forfeited to $15.5 million.
Six months later, on March 10, 2010, the Grand Jury brought forth new charges against Prince, indicting him for bankruptcy fraud because he failed to disclose property transfers and falsely denied the existence of his interest in real estate and trusts.
Prince claimed that the real estate transfers were made in the "normal" or "ordinary course of business," but he was not a beneficiary of those properties in the Clovis L. Prince, Katherine M. Robinson, and Tamika D. Prince Trust.
Day one of trial starts with sanity and bank checks
On a motion by the government, both cases were consolidated for the trial which began on November 16, 2010.
After releasing a number of attorneys, Prince said he would represent himself for the bank fraud and money laundering charges which could result in 40 years in jail and a $1.25 million fine.
Dallas attorney Richard Deaguero, whose services were paid for by Prince's family, would defend him in the bankruptcy charges which could see Prince spending an additional 15 years in jail if he was found guilty. Fines could total another $750,000.
The court stayed in recess for 20 minutes because Deaguero had not arrived on time. After informing the court that he was sorry, but lost track of time, Judge Folsom assessed a sanction to be paid at the end of the day of $1,000.
A motion filed the day before was heard that stated that Prince wanted a psychological examination to show that his mental competence was in question since he now claimed that he had tried to commit suicide in the hospital bathroom after his car chase.
Judge Folsom may have considered the motion a delaying tactic, since Prince did not bring it up during a competency hearing on November 5, 2010 to identify if he was capable of representing himself, and asked Prince's standby attorney, Don Bailey, his opinion about Prince's mental condition.
Bailey said he did not believe there was an issue that Prince could not proceed with the trial.
Prince then said he wanted to make a pretrial record, but was informed that it should have been made the day before. He then requested a continuance which was denied. Prince continued to want to put motions on the record.
The government's case lasted for almost nine days while Prince & Deaguero took five days.
Prince wanted to cross examine one of the government's witnesses, a bankruptcy trustee, but was told by Judge Folsom at a bench conference that he would not be allowed since he retained counsel on the bankruptcy case.
Fraud defense: My attorney did it
The government said that Prince had apparently adopted the position that it was not he who defrauded American Bank of Texas, but rather it was his corporate counsel, Taylor.
A previous attempt by Prince to not allow Taylor to testify regarding any communications between he and Taylor on the basis of attorney-client privilege was denied prior to the trial.
An email was obtained by the government in which Prince insists to another attorney that Taylor told him that real estate was being pledged to American Bank of Texas rather that the non-existent annuity contracts.
"He even bolstered his assertion with a fabricated email in which Nicole Taylor purportedly made that representation to him," Blake said.
According to Blake, Taylor left Prince's business in December 2008 after having discovered, sometime earlier, that her employer had committed fraud.
During the trial Prince blamed others for the allegations of fraud, money laundering and perjury.
Judge asked to consider Prince's inflated ego and reduce sentence
Following the jury's verdict, the defendant's standby attorney filed a motion, approved by Judge Folsom, to have Prince evaluated to see if he suffers from a narcissistic personality disorder.
Bailey said if Prince is found to have the disorder, it would not fit the current basis for an insanity or competency defense, but would show a diminished capacity that should be considered at sentencing.
Based upon observing the defendant during the trial, Bailey said that Prince appeared to be suffering from a personality disorder which showed that he was preoccupied with fantasies of unlimited success, power and brilliance; required excessive admiration; had a sense of entitlement; was arrogant and had a lack of empathy towards others, among other areas identifiable with a self-absorbed personality.
It didn't take long for Bailey to reach his conclusion that Prince needed a psychological study. He discussed his concerns with the government's prosecutor who agreed on November 30, 2010 - nine days before the trial ended - not to oppose the motion.
The study is expected to cost approximately $16,000.
New trial and attorney requested
A week after the trial, prince filed a motion on December 17 for judgment of acquittal and for a new trial.
The 14-page mistrial motion Judge Folsom will consider is based upon prosecutor misconduct; violation of the speedy trial act; multiple and duplicated indictment counts; failure to allow defendant to call witnesses in his defense, ineffective assistance of counsel; and trial court errors in the proceedings.
Amongst other concerns, Prince said during the trial Judge Folsom continued to make gestures, exhibited body language, and offered comments that prejudiced his right to a fair trial.
On December 23, 2010 Prince said he was replacing himself as counsel with Dallas bankruptcy attorney James E. Polk. Standby counsel Bailey was relieved of any further duties as Prince's attorney. | cc/2019-30/en_head_0013.json.gz/line10999 |
__label__wiki | 0.828065 | 0.828065 | Mission to America:
Five Islamic Sectarian Communities in North America
Yvonne Yazbeck Haddad and Jane Idleman Smith
Paper ISBN 13: 9780813012179 Details: 238 pages, 6x9 Subject(s): Middle East - Anthropology
"The first in-depth and objective analysis of some of the major uniquely American communities identifying themselves as . . . Islamic. Meticulous and objective."--Tamara Sonn, St. John Fisher College
"A major contribution.... The authors have brought their extensive knowledge and previous experience to this study to achieve a work of very high quality."--Barbara Aswad, Wayne State University
Islam in the United States has developed a fascinating and diverse range of interpretations. Based in large part on community documents and on interviews and correspondence with community members, this study is the first look at these sectarian movements in the hundred-year history of Muslim religious development in the United States.
Mainline Sunni and Shi'i response to each of the five groups examined has varied from wariness to condemnation. Of the groups--the Druze, the Ahmadiyya Community of North America, the Moorish Science Temple of America, the Ansar Allah Community, and the United Submitters International--two have sprung up among African-Americans, two are immigrant communities that have transplanted their faith to the United States, and one, whose Egyptian leader has proclained himself a Messenger of God, is a genuine North American Islamic interpretation.
This groundbreaking book provides important insights into religion in North America and into contemporary Muslim issues of interest to students and scholars. Not only does it raise fundamental religious questions (Who is a true believer? Who can rightfully interpret the faith? Who decides such issues?), it also documents events from the lives of members of sectarian groups and the concerns they face in U.S. communities.
Yvonne Yazbeck Haddad is professor of Islamic history at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. She is associate editor of the Encyclopedia of the Modern Islamic World, author of Contemporary Islam and the Challenge of History, and coeditor of The Muslims of America.
Jane Idleman Smith is professor of history of religions and vice-president and dean of academic affairs at Iliff School of Theology, Denver. She is the author of The Concept "Islam" in the History of Our'anic Exegesis and the editor of Women in Contemporary Muslim Society. The two are coauthors of The Islamic Understanding of Death and Resurrection.
Sample Chapter(s):
"Reveals the diversity inherent in a religion that most regard as united in belief and practice. By examining a number of these variations eithin North American Islam, not only do Haddad and Smith teach us of the complexity of Islam but they also reveal to us the contested nature of its longstanding tradition....a handy resource for courses in new religious movements."
--Religious Studies Review
Other YVONNE HADDAD Books
Christian-Muslim Encounters
Daughters of Abraham: Feminist Thought in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam
Fertile Bonds
Girls of the Factory
Islamic Societies in Practice, second edition
The Islamic Quest for Democracy, Pluralism, and Human Rights
The Many Faces of Islam
Women and War in Lebanon
Moderate and Radical Islamic Fundamentalism
Rural Labor Movements in Egypt and Their Impact on the State, 1961-1992
Two Worlds of Islam | cc/2019-30/en_head_0013.json.gz/line11005 |
__label__cc | 0.658233 | 0.341767 | American children are the most vaccinated in the world. The US government recommends 26 vaccine doses in the first year of life. I’ll say it again: that’s 26 vaccinations before the candles on the first birthday cake are blown out. Yet, 33 nations, all of whom administer fewer childhood vaccines, have better (i.e. lower) infant mortality rates than the United States. Even Communist Cuba has lower infant mortality than the USA.
So, two highly respected researchers did a scientific analysis of the question using a technique known as “linear regression analysis,” and they found a solid, statistically significant correlation between higher number of vaccine doses and higher rates of infant mortality. It was published in the highly reputable Human and Experimental Toxicology Journal, which is indexed by the National Library of Medicine.
Of the 10 nations with the lowest infant death rates, 7 of them have among the lowest childhood vaccination schedules in the world. For example, among developed nations, the ones with the lowest number of standard childhood vaccines, as ordained by government, are Japan and Sweden, and they rank 1 and 2, respectively, in having low infant mortality.
What does it mean? Does it mean that vaccinations are killing children? That is certainly what it looks like. I’m sure vaccination defenders would be quick to point out that statistics do not prove causation. They may not prove it, but they certainly do suggest it. But why are we even talking about a higher death rate among the more vaccinated? Vaccinations are supposed to prevent diseases, and even common childhood diseases, such as the measles, have a certain mortality. For instance, the United Nations says that in the year 2000 alone, approximately 733,000 children worldwide died of the measles. If vaccinations are effective, should not the more vaccinated have a markedly lower death rate by virtue of avoiding the ravages of deadly diseases? Isn't that the whole purpose of vaccinating?
Therefore, I believe the next step should be to compare death rates between vaccinated and unvaccinated children. And when I say unvaccinated children, I do not mean children who go unvaccinated because of poverty, neglect, and inadequate care. That would introduce a whole different variable. I am referring to children who go unvaccinated because their parents deem that it would be injurious to their health to vaccinate them, that is, they forego vaccination out of informed conviction.
So far, the medical establishment has refused to do such a study. But, the medical establishment has also long refused to do a study such as the one that was just done, and it, much to their dismay, did get published. So, to the researchers who did that study, Gary Goldman and Neil Miller, I urge you to next look at infant mortality rates and health status between vaccinated and unvaccinated children in developed countries- and again, where not vaccinating was an informed choice and not the product of adverse home circumstances.
Again I’ll say that I had only one child, a boy, and he never received any vaccinations. Today, he is a robust 37 year old man, and he has never had a needle stuck into him.
I deny the evidentiary basis for vaccinations (although, since they refuse to do double-blind, placebo-controlled studies for any vaccine, there really is no evidentiary basis), and I deny the whole theoretical and technical paradigm for vaccinations as well. And if any immunologist wants to debate it, I am available.
Elaine Magee, a registered dietician with WebMD.com, wrote an excellent article defending potatoes, and I applaud her for it. She got the idea from attending a nutrition seminar in which speaker after speaker maligned potatoes, disparaging the lowly spud against other vegetables, saying “vegetables are good- except for potatoes.” But worse than that, there have been moves afoot to ban potatoes from school lunch programs, as if they were a junk food contributing to the childhood obesity epidemic. If they are, it’s only because of the likes of French fries.
Ms. Magee points out that a single medium-size white potato has more Vitamin C, B3, B6, and magnesium than a whole head of iceberg lettuce. If you include the skin of the potato, it has almost as much fiber as the lettuce. As for calories, that medium potato delivers 124, which isn’t bad, versus 116 for the lettuce.
Let me point out a few more things in defense of potatoes. Potatoes are one of the highest dietary sources of lipoic acid, which is an important antioxidant and detoxicant. Besides halting free radical damage, lipoic acid, by virtue of its sulfur content, helps chelate heavy metals, such as lead and mercury, and excrete them from the body.
Are potatoes fattening? Experiments have been done putting people on potato diets for extended periods. Each and every time, the potato diet has proved to be slenderizing. Last year (2010) Chris Voigt, the Executive Director of the Washington Potato Commission, went on an all-potato diet for 60 days. He ate 20 potatoes a day, and without toppings, such as cheese or sour cream or bacon bits. That’s 1200 potatoes over two months, totaling 400 pounds of food. The result was: he lost 17 pounds.
But what about all that easily-digested potato starch turning to sugar? Doesn’t that cause diabetes? Let’s examine it. Type I Diabetes is an auto-immune disease that is certainly not caused by potatoes. Genetics are believed to be involved. Allergy to cow’s milk protein has been implicated as a triggering factor. Infections have also been suggested as triggers, and nutritional deficiencies, such as gross Vitamin D deficiency, may set it off. But again, it has nothing to do with potatoes.
Type II Diabetes is caused by insulin resistance, where the cell receptors to insulin just aren’t working. Insulin resistance is caused by obesity, and potatoes fight obesity- unless you fry them or top them with unhealthy fats. Insulin resistance has also been related to Vitamin D deficiency, chromium deficiency, and perhaps other deficiencies. However, no whole, unrefined, properly prepared vegetable, including potatoes, contributes to the development of insulin resistance or diabetes.
But, what if you are already diabetic? Couldn’t potatoes pose a problem then? There is a kernel of truth to that one. You do have to be careful about your entire food consumption once you become diabetic , but I would not eliminate potatoes even from the diet of a diabetic. For instance, a plain potato digests very quickly, but if you combine it with a wholesome fat such as avocado (which is a delicious combination) blood sugar spikes can be avoided. The important thing is to keep your eye on the big picture, and the big picture is that whole, natural, unrefined plant foods, including potatoes, support good health and good metabolism. If you don't want to eat white potatoes because they are white, then do as I do and buy the gold potatoes, which are available yearround. They taste great too.
I just received a mass e-mailing from a law firm about class action lawsuits against companies that make acid blockers, also known as proton pump inhibitors. There have been numerous birth defects in the children of women who took these drugs during pregnancy. These have involved the heart, the lungs, the limbs, the kidneys, and more. And among others taking these powerful acid blockers, the harms have included fractures, seizures, kidney problems, infections, stomach problems, bowel problems, and much more. What's really daunting is how widely these drugs are prescribed. Nexium (which is really just a tweaked form of Prilosec- a way to get around the patent expiration on the older drug) is currently the 3rd bestselling drug in the world. The only drugs generating higher sales are #1 Lipitor (a statin to lower cholesterol) and #2 Plavix (a very dangerous blood thinner). And the fact is that, as we speak, there are massive class action lawsuits against the makers of those drugs as well. What does this mean about the state of Modern Medicine? It means that Modern Medicine is engaged in dispensing very dangerous and harmful drugs and (with government collusion) selling them at such high prices that they can afford to absorb the burden of big financial settlements to victims and still make money. And where do doctors fit into this scheme? Doctors are merely the foot soldiers or pawns. They do as they're told and write the scripts. And there isn't much thinking involved. For instance, how many doctors who write prescriptions for Nexium are aware that most heartburn sufferers have less stomach acid than normal, healthy subjects? The awful reality about Nexium is that besides being inherently toxic with numerous adverse side effects that even when it succeeds at neutralizing stomach acid, it is doing a very bad thing with serious health-destroying consequences. How many doctors stop to think about the wisdom of destoying a person's stomach acid? Producing acidity is the most important thing that the stomach does. When you neutralize a person's stomach acid, you are neutralizing their whole stomach. They might as well not have one. Their ability to digest proteins suffers severely, and that impairs not just the muscles which require protein, but the immune system, the hormonal system, the digestive system, and much more. It cripples functioning and renewal throughout the body. But, it also makes the person extremely vulnerable to infection because one of the jobs of stomach acid is to sterilize the stomach. And when I say sterilize, I mean kill every living thing in it. You've been hearing about the latest E-coli outbreak in Europe from the cucumbers or the sprouts or whatever? Well, then pity the poor soul who gets exposed to it while taking Nexium. Hello glomerulonephritis.
So, what should you do about acid reflux? Well, there are any number of things you could try, but whatever you do, don't take acid blockers. Do not take the proton pump inhibitors such as Nexium, and do not take H2 antagonists such as Tagamet. Hey, if you want to take Regular Tums, I am not concerned about that because it's just calcium carbonate. But don't take the Dual Action Tums because it has an acid blocker added to the calcium.
To protect delicate tissues from the effects of acid reflux, you can take mastic gum. Another good substance for that purpose is deglycerated licorice. We offer the two combined in a product called Ceasefire, but you can find them both separetely, including online. Another thing that works well is peppermint, and we offer it as peppermint gum and peppermint mints. There are other home remedies that people swear by, that work for some but not others. But from the standpoint of addressing the cause, what appeals to me most is taking hydrochloric acid. That's right, if you increase the acid, the secreting stops, and the heartburn goes away. Remember what I said that most heartburn sufferers have too little stomach acid- not too much.
And then there are also all the lifestyle factors you can address. If you smoke, quit, because smoking causes acid reflux. If you drink alcohol, ditto, so cut it out. If you are overweight, drop that excess body fat because it causes acid reflux. And if you are used to stuffing yourself with food as a pastime, find another hobby because it isn't the acid that causes acid reflux: it is the pressure. And obviously, the more you fill your stomach- the more you stuff it- the more pressure there is going to be. So eat moderately. Eat to live; don't live to eat. Does eating spicy food contribute to the problem? Maybe a little, but I am more concerned about overeating than eating spices.
So what does Nexium really represent? The answer is: the crux of everything that is wrong in Medicine. Nexium is bad medicine pushed on millions.
It has been reported widely that watermelon may have an effect similar to the drug Viagra but without adverse side effects. Watermelon is high in the amino acid citrulline. The rinds are particularly high, but even the flesh contains 150 mgs of citrulline per 100 grams. Citrulline is a precursor to arginine, and arginine boosts nitric oxide, which is the main vaso-dilator in the human circulatory system.
Watermelon is truly an extraordinary food. First, it tastes sweeter than it is. The average watermelon has only 6 to 7 percent sugar by weight, which is less than grapefruit. But, most people find it tastes much sweeter. It’s almost like getting something for nothing. Second, red watermelon is very high in lycopene. You actually see the lycopene because it is the lycopene that makes the melon red. And lycopene, like citrulline, has been linked strongly to male sexual health. Third, watermelon is one of the highest dietary sources of glutathione, the sulfur-containing triple-amino acid that protects us from all kinds of free radicals and toxins.
What amuses me is how the mainstream sites, such as WebMD, have been disparaging the whole idea of better sex through watermelon. One doctor said that hoping watermelon will improve sex is like dropping a bottle in the Mississippi River at Minneapolis and hoping that it will have an impact in New Orleans. That is a very unfair and exaggerated analogy, and especially for people like me, because when I sit down to eat watermelon, I make a meal of it. We’re talking about some major flooding of my system with watermelon goodness. I really don’t know how much impact the citrulline model holds, but when you look at the entire phytonutrient content of watermelon, it is truly awesome. But, I understand why they have to disparage watermelon- because they don’t want men rethinking their need for Viagra, Cialis, and/or Levitra.
I am finding that the quality of watermelon this year is exceptionally good, and I think I know why. It’s because here in watermelon country (Texas) we are in the midst of a severe drought. Normally, they grow watermelons in Texas by rain alone, but this year they have had to irrigate. Our weather has not only been very dry but also very sunny. Non-stop sun. We haven’t had a cloudy day in months. And all that sunshine sweetens the watermelons like nothing else can.
Watermelon is probably the most popular food ever to spread out of Africa-unless you consider coffee a food.
Dr. Bruce Ames is one of my heroes. For many decades, he has been the head of the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at UC Berkeley. It’s unlikely that any single individual has produced more published research in the field of nutrition than Dr. Ames. And, he is still at the top of his profession at the age of 83.
His latest research was published in the June issue of the Journal of American Experimental Biology. It concerns the subtle effects of selenium deficiency. Selenium is very subject to deficiency because many soils in the world are lacking in it, and plants can grow perfectly well without it. You’ve heard about goiter belts resulting from iodine-depleted soils, and a similar situation exists with selenium.
What Dr. Ames discovered is that even modest, sub-clinical selenium deficiency retards the activity of at least 12 important seleno-proteins. These seleno-proteins have protective effects which are directly related to the prevention of age-related diseases, including heart disease, cancer, diabetes, and immunological condtions.
"The same set of age-related diseases and conditions, including cancer, heart disease, and immune dysfunction, are prospectively associated with modest selenium deficiency and also with widespread dysfunction of nonessential selenoproteins, suggesting that selenium deficiency could be a causal factor in many of the most common diseases of aging. Modest selenium deficiency is common in many parts of the world; optimal intake of selenium could significantly prevent future disease."
So far, selenium has been associated with preventing breast cancer, prostate cancer, colon cancer, and skin cancer. More research is underway as we speak, and I look forward to great progress in disease control through selenium nutriture in the years ahead.
I will finish by taking a look at brazil nuts. Many people, the world over, eat brazil nuts to obtain selenium, and I am one of them because I love the taste of them. Brazil nuts are the highest selenium food on this planet, and by far. Theoretically, you could incur selenium toxicity from eating too many brazil nuts I say “theoretically” because I have never heard of any documented, clinical case of selenium poisoning from eating brazil nuts, and I have searched for it. I got to thinking about it because of an episode of HOUSE in which the patient exhibiting bizarre symptoms turned out to have selenium toxicity from eating brazil nuts. But, that was fiction, and I wanted to know if there were any comparable real-life cases. I have searched the comprehensive medical database PubMed, and I have found nothing. If anyone knows of a documented clinical case of selenium poisoining from brazil nuts, please send me the information at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. . It's complicated because according to Cornel University food researcher Dr. Donald J. Lisk, unshelled brazil nuts contain 100 micrograms of selenium per nut (which could add up quickly if you started chowing down) while the more commonly available shelled brazil nuts have only 12 to 25 micrograms per nut (which is still a lot as foods go but with a wider margin of safety). I presume the difference relates to the locations from which the nuts are harvested. The US government says that the upper safe limit for selenium is 400 mcgs daily, although Dr. Lisk thinks it's quite a bit higher than that. And that may be why people have been known to eat a half-pound of brazil nuts at a sitting without incident. I don't do that, and I'm not recommending it. But, I will eat 3 or 4 brazil nuts at a sitting, and I do so often and without worry.
All The Fuss About Dr. Cynthia Kenyon
Opt Out Of The TSA Airport Scanners
Catching Fire: How Cooking Made Us Human
A Tale Of Two Doctors | cc/2019-30/en_head_0013.json.gz/line11007 |
__label__cc | 0.634611 | 0.365389 | The Role Of Vladimir Putin Questioned By George Soros
February 20, 2016 International Waradmin
Vladimir Putin has recently been welcomed by world leaders as an ally in the fight against ISIS, but I agree with hedge fund manager George Soros that the Russian President should not be trusted. I recently read an article by George Soros published by Project Syndicate explaining the risk leaders in Europe and the U.S. are taking in accepting Putin as an ally in the fight taking place in Syria. I am in agreement with Soros in his view that Putin is using the weakness of global leaders to push the world in a direction that helps his own country avoid a financial meltdown.
Forbes billionaire George Soros does not believe in Vladimir Putin as a leader looking to a long term strategy, but he feels the Russian President has seized upon a short term goal of destabilizing Europe for his own benefit. Putin has seen the opportunity the bombing in Syria has presented his country in its bid to avoid a financial collapse in Russia. Airstrikes in Syria by Russian bombers have targeted civilians in a way that has driven thousands from the major cities of the country and into European states. Although I agree with Soros that this was not the aim of Putin at the outset of his Syrian bombing campaign it has had this effect.
By driving thousands of refugees out of Syria and into Europe the already floundering economy of the continent has been placed under greater strain. The view of George Soros, which I agree with, is that Russia now sees the collapse of the European Union as imminent and is continuing its bombing campaign in a bid to achieve this event.
Being born in Europe and living in New York gives George Soros a unique perspective on the world, particularly the future of Europe and the U.S. George Soros has built a personal fortune of over $24 billion through the hedge fund he founded after leaving Europe as a refugee at the close of World War II, according to Forbes. A significant donor to the Democrat’s in the U.S. George Soros has been a critic of President Barrack Obama, and pledged his financial support to Hilary Clinton’s Presidential campaign in 2016.
My personal view is that George Soros is correct in his assumption that President Putin is seizing on the weakness of German Chancellor Angela Merkel and President Obama; the chance to instigate the collapse of the European Union will remove economic sanctions that are already affecting the Russian economy. Without the collapse of the European Union Russia will face a bleak winter in 2017 as the economy is forecast by George Soros to enter a recession.
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__label__wiki | 0.748578 | 0.748578 | Ground: Spratleys Meadow
Competition: Spartan South Midland League Division 1 (Level 10)
Programme: With Admission
Amersham Town 2
Derewenko 16’, 67’
Buckingham Athletic 1
Hodges 29’
After seeing 3 professional games in a row it was time to start the new year with a back to basics and the non-league, the real low non-league. My first choice was a 2nd attempt to get to the Copthall Stadium before Saracens or Barnet take it over and change it beyond recognition. However when some emergency works had to take place, it meant it was a no to Kentish Town, again. When looking for a back-up it did become clear that one of my new year resolutions was to see more of London and what better way than to take the Metropolitan Line right through the city and out to Amersham, one of it’s termini. Oh and Amersham were playing at home! Off we go.
Amersham is a market town and civil parish within Chiltern district in Buckinghamshire, 27 miles north west of London, in the Chiltern Hills. Amersham is split into two distinct areas: Old Amersham, set in the valley of the River Misbourne and Amersham-on-the-Hill, which grew rapidly around the railway station in the early part of the 20th century. The area of the town now known as Amersham on the Hill was referred to as Amersham Common until after the arrival of the Metropolitan Line in 1892. After this date growth of the new area of the town gradually accelerated, with much work being done by the architect John Kennard. It is now known locally as "Top Amersham","the Top Town" or "the New Town". Early trade at Amersham Market was in local grain, much of which was sold to London merchants. During the 18th century a key industry in the town was brewing. After a number of changes of hands during this time William Weller of High Wycombe purchased the brewery in 1775. He, and his heirs, expanded the business by buying a number of local public houses during the next 150 years. In addition to brewing, tanning, lace manufacture and brickmaking all had a prominent place in the manufacturing past of the town. During World War II, the Radiochemical Centre, a scientific research establishment, arrived in the town. This became Amersham International, then Amersham plc, and now, after a number of changes of ownership and name, is part of GE Healthcare.
The town’s local football team play around a mile away from the station at Spratleys Meadow. Located on a country lane leading out of the town towards Little Missenden, the ground is a fairly basic, but picturesque one. Being railed off on all sides, although you are only able to stand on 3 of them, the main two aspects of the ground are located down the sides. (Pic above) The Mike Gahagan Stand (or Graham Taylor Stand, both are named on either side!) allows a decent view of the pitch with some seats and a small standing area at the back. Across the way, behind the dugouts, is an old building that is falling down. This did used to have a tree growing inside of it but that has now gone but the old building does add a bit to the surroundings of the Buckinghamshire countryside. The clubhouse is also on site, an old barn style building that does a good pint and has friendly staff. So recommended so far!
The club currently reside in the Spartan South Midlands League 1st Division after spending all of their football history in the local leagues with not much success. Starting off in the Wycombe & District Combination League they then moved to the Spartan League in 1947, were founding members of the Hellenic League in 1953 (and they won the top flight of that league in 1963) before rejoning the Spartan League in 1972 which then became the Spartan South Midlands League in 1997. They were relegated from the SSML 1st Division in 2002 and were only promoted back after a restructure – where they haven’t looked like challenging for promotion at all. This season it was no surprise then to find themselves in another struggle and were going into this game in 2nd bottom (out of 22 teams) and needed to pull clear of the struggle (bottom side Sun Postal Sports are 7 points behind) to avoid playing such footballing legends as The 61 FC and Aston Clinton next season. Their opponents were also in that relegation struggle being only 1 place and 1 point higher than Amersham. Buckingham Athletic have also paddled around the local leagues in their history with their best achievement only reaching the 2nd Round of the FA Vase in 1998/99. With two teams in dire form and 30 hardcore fans ready, this would either be a classic or reality, a Level 10 struggle.
While the temperature was getting colder the match slowly plodded along with all you would expect from a Level 10 relegation clash. Amersham did create some early pressure and fired a shot wide after 4 minutes. Buckingham though did like the ball played up front quickly and looked to hit the home side by bypassing the midfield completely but their strike force lost the ball constantly. I always expect to see at least one goal at Level 10 and it arrived on 16 minutes when ironically, Amersham played a long ball forward which should have been dealt with easily by their #5, instead he completely missed his kick allowing Carl Derewenko to run through clean on goal and lift the ball over Buckingham goalie Jack Bridges to give Amersham the lead. An excellent finish that was worthy of much higher than Level 10. The away side though didn’t lose their heads and fired in a deserved equalizer just 13 minutes later. Some excellent play down the left hand side after some patience build up allowed a cross to come in which was only cleared to the edge of the area. Simon Hodges composed himself and fired in low under goalie Perry Cheadle to give the away side a route back into the game, much to the delight of their travelling fans.
For the rest of the game, it was sadly a Level 10 relegation battle. Both sides went for it but it became a battle that didn’t really fire past the point of average. What made it worse, was the cold starting to get really bad and so I spent the last 20 minutes moving constantly as it was more exciting than the game. By this time, Amersham had surprisingly taken the lead out of absolutely nothing. When the ball got to Derewenko on the edge of the area, nothing looked on. The final ball in this game had been woeful so I was expecting a misplaced pass. Instead he chipped the ball towards goal and it lofted over Bridges’s head and into the far corner. A fantastic finish, again. Buckingham looked stunned and proceeded to play the rest of the game getting near the penalty area only to lose the ball (and likewise for Amersham). The only chance they created was deep in injury time when a long ball over top found Buckingham’s #16 who ran onto it and hammered his shot off the bar. Had that gone in, it would have been a travesty. The #16 had come off the bench midway through the 2nd half and spent most of the game fouling off the ball and getting frustrated. He didn’t deserve a goal and to be honest, neither did Buckingham Athletic. 2-1 it finished.
While this SSML clash was better than the last one I saw at Cockfosters, I was disappointed with this game, and cold, so cold. Amersham is a really friendly club so I am tempted to head back in the future – although in the summer months! Both sides should have enough of a points gap to stay above Sun Postal Sports and play SSML 1st Division football next season. This game was an ok, but cold start to 2012. Here’s to the next 12 months!
Photos from Amersham Town vs Buckingham Athletic
- Match: 4/10 (wasn’t great)
- Value for money: 8/10 (excellent value for money)
- Ground: 6/10 (basic, but picturesque)
- Atmosphere: 3/10 (not really any)
- Food: N/A – They did do food, but had already ate in the town
- Programme: 6/10 (it was free – so can’t grumble too much)
- Referee: John Costelloe – 4/10 (didn’t look up for it) | cc/2019-30/en_head_0013.json.gz/line11019 |
__label__wiki | 0.531105 | 0.531105 | Susan Meissner
Susan Meissner is a multi-published author, speaker and writing workshop leader with a background in community journalism. Her novels include Stars Over Sunset Boulevard, Secrets of a Charmed Life (a 2015 Goodreads Choice award finalist) and A Fall of Marigolds, named by Booklist’s Top Ten women’s fiction titles for 2014. She is also RITA finalist and Christy Award winner. A California native, she attended Point Loma Nazarene University. Meissner is a pastor’s wife and a mother of four young adults. When she's not working on a novel, she writes small group curriculum for her San Diego church. Meissner is also a writing workshop volunteer for Words Alive, a San Diego non-profit dedicated to helping at-risk youth foster a love for reading and writing.
I’m reading British author Kate Atkinson’s A God in Ruins and am nearly finished. I loved her previous novel, Life After Life, which is the very cleverly told story of a woman named Ursula Todd whose life keeps beginning and ending, again and again, as if she keeps getting a do-over so that she can be in a certain place at a certain time during the hell of WW2 and assassinate Adolf Hitler. This one, A God in Ruins, is a multi-time period look at one of Ursula’s brothers, Teddy, but Kate says in her Author’s Note that this book is not really a sequel to Life After Life, but should rather be seen as a continuation of one of Ursula’s many restarted lives.
Like Ursula’s story, A God in Ruins is another intellectual and wildly artistic novel that tosses conventional (linear) storytelling out the window. This book is not your typical novel construct, where Something happens and then Something else happens, and on and on we go in chronological order until the book ends. The story is told in parts that are loosely laced together. The sections skip about in time and character point of view and there’s just enough variety to necessitate paying attention. This book isn’t for someone who wants to be fed a story, but rather one who wants to discover one.
Kate’s prose is delicious and her wordsmithing skills are stellar. She can do what few writers can do and get away with it: break the rules. I recommend A God in Ruins to anyone who wants to read something that is not the average tale, told in the average way.
Visit Susan Meissner's website.
Terri Blackstock
Terri Blackstock, author of If I Run, has sold over seven million books worldwide and is a New York Times bestselling author. She is the award-winning author of Intervention, Vicious Cycle, and Downfall, as well as such series as Cape Refuge, Newpointe 911, the SunCoast Chronicles, and the Restoration Series.
Recently I asked Blackstock about what she was reading. Her reply:
The book I'm reading right now is Upside: The New Science of Post-Traumatic Growth. I wish I could read fiction while I'm writing a book, but the truth is that while I'm writing, I mostly read nonfiction books for research. Right now I'm working on a series with two characters who have PTSD, so I'm reading a lot about that issue. Upside is a little different from the other PTSD books I've been reading, in that it looks at how certain people endure catastrophic trauma, yet come out happier, more fulfilled, more productive, more purposeful, more spiritual, and of more help to others. How does this work? Why is it that some are devastated and never recover from trauma, and others grow stronger? The author, Jim Rendon, digs into studies about this phenomenon, and passes along ways that others experiencing trauma might grow from the experience and rebuild their lives in more meaningful and positive ways. This isn't a book that stigmatizes those who can't quite get past the trauma. It simply offers help for them.
This is helpful in my series that begins with the book If I Run, because my lead character, Dylan Roberts, has been recently discharged from the Army after two deployments in Afghanistan and Iraq, which left him with PTSD. Because he's damaged goods, he can't get a job until he's hired as a private contractor to search for a female fugitive and bring her back. But the more he digs into the murder she's accused of committing, the more he doubts her guilt. Casey doesn't fit the profile of a killer. As he grows closer to finding her, he realizes they have something in common. Casey may be a victim of PTSD too. And her flight from prosecution may have deeper roots than her simply fearing arrest.
I'm hoping to bring these two people through healing and growth as their lives intersect in this series, so the book Upside is helping with that. I think it will also help anyone who's reeling from trauma.
Visit Terri Blackstock's website, Facebook page, and Twitter perch.
The Page 69 Test: If I Run.
Former trial attorney Phillip Margolin has been writing full-time since 1996. Most of his many novels have been New York Times bestsellers.
His new novel is Violent Crimes.
Recently I asked Margolin about what he was reading. His reply:
As I write this I am 200 pages into The Edge of Eternity, Ken Follett's 1000 plus page final entry in his "Century Trilogy." I zoomed through Fall of Giants and Winter of the World, also biggies. The trilogy tells the story of our last century through he eyes of families from America, Germany, England and Russia and touches on the key events - World Wars I and II, Vietnam, the Civil Rights movement, the rise and fall of Communism, etc. in a very entertaining way. I love to read books I know I could never write and the amount of research and sheer story telling ability is awesome.
I also read The Oxford Murders, a translation of a mystery set in Oxford that combines math and murder and I am Pilgrim by Terry Hayes which is simply the best thriller I have read in ages.
Visit Phillip Margolin's website and Facebook page.
The Page 69 Test: Violent Crimes.
My Book, The Movie: Violent Crimes.
Sally Hepworth
Sally Hepworth has lived and traveled around the world, spending extended periods in Singapore, the U.K., and Canada. While on maternity leave from her job in Human Resources, Hepworth finally fulfilled a lifelong dream to write, the result of which was Love Like the French, published in Germany in 2014. While pregnant with her second child, she wrote The Secrets of Midwives, published worldwide in English, as well as in France, Italy, Germany, the Czech Republic and Slovakia in 2015. A novel about three generations of midwives, The Secrets of Midwives asks readers what makes a mother and what role biology plays in the making and binding of a family.
The Secrets of Midwives has been labelled “enchanting” by The Herald Sun, “smart and engaging” by Publishers Weekly, and New York Times bestselling authors Liane Moriarty and Emily Giffin have praised Hepworth’s debut English language novel as “women’s fiction at its finest” and “totally absorbing.”
Hepworth's latest novel is The Things We Keep.
I’ve been on a psychological thriller binge lately. The book I’ve been recommending most is Pretty Baby by Mary Kubica. It’s dark, it’s twisty and you never know who to trust. A woman notices a young girl carrying a baby on a train station and becomes fixated on her. Eventually, she invites the girl and her baby back to her home—alienating her husband and her own daughter. Secrets buried in the past come to light explaining the woman’s fascination with the baby, and the story comes to a satisfying, if unlikely, conclusion. Kubica’s writing is accessible but smart, and I will be reading more from her.
I’ve also been reading through Diane Chamberlain’s backlist. It’s such a joy discovering an author when they have written so many books—such a list to choose from. The most recent was The Courage Tree, about a young girl with a kidney condition who goes missing at a girl scout camp. As the search party struggle to find her, it is a race against the clock to get the little girl her life saving medication. There was a secondary story that was also intriguing, and dark. This one had me flying through the pages desperate to know the ending. Once again, Diane Chamberlain doesn’t disappoint.
Visit Sally Hepworth's website, Facebook page, and Twitter perch.
The Page 69 Test: The Things We Keep.
My Book, The Movie: The Things We Keep.
Sara Blaedel
Sara Blædel’s latest novel to this the US is The Killing Forest.
Everything! Well, almost.
I have had a passionate relationship with crime fiction ever since I was a child and my mother told me stories; ever since I started reading Enid Blyton’s Famous Five, and ever since I found out that I was pretty good at imagining scary things. Nature equipped me with a terrible curiosity, a murderous fantasy world, empathy, and a desire to investigate human relationships. Especially, that is, when they go awry, or when there is more at stake than simply the color of wallpaper.
I read a lot of non-fiction, all the more when I am researching for my books. My protagonist, Louise Rick, is a police detective, and it is imperative to me that all the forensic details and procedurals I include are captured authentically and factually. As a storyteller, the best compliment I ever got came from a Detective Inspector in Chief who, during an interview on stage, in front of an audience, turned to me and said, “Sara, you would think that you actually work here.” Of course, that made me very happy.
I am addicted to beautiful cookbooks. Yes – I read them. Cover to cover. Not always because I am preparing to whip something up and looking for instructions, but just for the fun and wonder of it.
I also thoroughly enjoy reading novels driven by characters and human stories. These elements are super important to me whether the genre is crime or broader fiction. I love when the author digs deeply and tells a story that she/he is passionate about and thinks is important. And I love a good laugh as well. Thank you, Maria Semple and Jonathan Tropper.
What I don’t read: Romance and comics. Their absences are flaws on my bookshelf.
Visit Sara Blaedel's website.
Sofie Ryan
Sofie Ryan is a writer and mixed media artist who loves to repurpose things in her life and her art. She is the author of The Whole Cat and Caboodle and Buy a Whisker in the New York Times bestselling Second Chance Cat Mystery series.
Ryan's new book is A Whisker of Trouble, the latest Second Chance Cat Mystery.
Usually I have two books—or sometimes three or four—on the go. I’m not sure if that means I have a short attention span, or that I just don’t like not having a book nearby when I have a spare minute to read. Right now I’m reading The Whole She-Bang 2, a mystery anthology from the Toronto chapter of Sisters in Crime. There are stories from writers I was familiar with, as well as authors new to me. Some stories are darkly funny, others are unsettling. All of them are terrific. This is the second anthology from SinC Toronto. The third collection is scheduled for late this fall and I’ll definitely be buying a copy.
I’m also reading I Could Pee on This: And Other Poems by Cats. (A great gift for your favourite cat lover, in my opinion.) Every poem I’ve read in this collection has made me laugh. My favourite is, of course, the title poem. Author Francesco Marciuliano, who writes the comic strip, Sally Forth, has to be a cat person. He seems to understand their unique view of life and of us.
Visit Sofie Ryan's website.
The Page 69 Test: A Whisker of Trouble.
Marieke Nijkamp is a storyteller, dreamer, globe-trotter, geek. She holds degrees in philosophy, history, and medieval studies, and wants to grow up to be a time traveler.
Nijkamp's debut young adult novel is This Is Where It Ends.
I love young adult novels that push boundaries, with characters who are exciting, flawed, human. As such, I'm currently reading Laura Tims' wonderful Please Don't Tell, a dark YA thriller about a girl who believes she killed a boy to protect her sister, although she doesn't quite remember the details. The story kicks into gear when an anonymous blackmailer confronts her, and what follows is an unflinching, tense narrative about sisters, secrets, and how far we'll go to protect the ones we love.
Visit Marieke Nijkamp's website.
The Page 69 Test: This Is Where It Ends.
Lena Coakley
Lena Coakley is a young adult author living in Toronto. She is the author of the YA fantasies Witchlanders and Worlds of Ink and Shadow: A novel of the Brontës.
Recently I asked Coakley about what she was reading. Her reply:
I often have more than one book on the go at a time, and since I’m a writer for children and teens, it’s not unusual for me to be reading an adult novel, a middle grade and a YA. Generally these books will all have a fantasy or science fiction element, and this is true of the three I have on my bedside table this week.
Three Moments of an Explosion by China Miéville (short stories)
I love China Miéville. His novels Embassytown and Perdido Street Station are two of my favorites. This collection of short stories has a bit of horror, a bit of magical realism, and a lot of the inventiveness I’ve come to expect from this author. (One story is told in storyboards for a movie trailer.)
While I don’t love every story, some, like "The Dowager of Bees" and “In the Slopes,” are superb and make reading the entire collection more than worthwhile.
The Lie Tree by Frances Hardinge (middle grade)
The book is right up my alley as it touches on many themes and ideas that interest me: feminism, paleontology, the 18th-century craze for phrenology, the effects of Darwin’s ideas on Victorian society, and the ramifications of telling a lie. The plot centers on the murder of a Victorian fossil hunter who may or may not have faked an important find.
I’m enjoying The Lie Tree so far. However, I think my favorite Hardinge novel will always be A Face Like Glass, one of the strangest most imaginative books I’ve ever read for any age.
Bone Gap by Laura Ruby (YA)
If you read YA you have probably heard about this book as it just won the prestigious Michael L. Printz Award. It centers on the mysterious disappearance of a young woman and the guilt—warranted and unwarranted—of the people she left behind in the town of Bone Gap.
I think the Printz committee made the right choice. Ruby’s prose is dazzling and the fantasy elements are unique, surprising and dream-like. If you are a reader who thinks YA is only for teens, you are missing out. Authors like Ruby, MT Anderson and Martine Leavitt are giving us some of this decade’s best writing.
Visit Lena Coakley's website, and follow her at Facebook and Twitter.
The Page 69 Test: Worlds of Ink and Shadow.
Jonathan Moore is an attorney with the Honolulu firm of Kobayashi, Sugita & Goda. Before completing law school in New Orleans, he was an English teacher, the owner of Taiwan’s first Mexican restaurant, and an investigator for a criminal defense attorney in Washington D.C. His novels include Close Reach and Redheads, which was short-listed for the Bram Stoker Award.
Moore's latest novel is The Poison Artist.
Whenever I’m not writing a book of my own, I am usually reading at least one novel and one piece of nonfiction. At the moment, the novel is The Bone Clocks, by David Mitchell. One of the things I love most about a good book is the sense of trust that develops between the author and reader. The trust builds from the words themselves—that the author chose to include certain details; that the author always knows the right word; that the dialogue rings true every time—and that propels me into a story and keeps me reading, even when I have no idea where the story is going. I’m not far into The Bone Clocks, but I trust David Mitchell. I’ve reached that comfortable part of the process where he’s my guide, and I’ll go wherever he wants to take me.
When it comes a story like The Bone Clocks, a book that pushes past what is possible or what is expected, trust is an enormously important element. I can read Gabriel Garcia Marquez and feel entirely comfortable with stories and plots that would spin apart in a lesser writer’s hands, because I trust him at the most basic levels of the art: his words, his sentences, his dialogue. David Mitchell is very good, and the story he’s telling in The Bone Clocks is absolutely wild. But he’s clearly got it under control, and so rather than going into the book with apprehension that the thing is going to turn into a disaster, I’m just happily along for the ride.
My reading list is a little weirder on the nonfiction side. Right now I’m reading Practical Audiovisual Chinese, Volume I, which is put out by National Taiwan Normal University’s Mandarin Training Center. Actually, I’m reading it for the second time. I lived in Taiwan from 2001 to 2004, and worked through the first three volumes while I was there. My wife and I are having a son in April, and we thought it would be a fun experiment to speak some Chinese at home. So Maria gave me the textbooks for Christmas, and I’m trying to catch up to where I was in 2004. Our son is far enough along that he can hear my voice, so he’s been listening to my practice exercises as well. He kicks a lot when I say his Chinese name, and I take that as a sign that my pronunciation is improving.
I didn’t read nearly as much in 2015 as I would have liked. Mainly, that’s because I ended up writing two books last year—The Dark Room, which will be published in January 2017, and The Night Market, which comes out January 2018. But in between the two books, I did squeeze in some additional fiction. The best novel I read last year was Lou Berney’s The Long and Faraway Gone, which was just nominated for an Edgar Award. Berney’s book isn’t just a mystery, but is a meditation on loss and on the fundamental unknowability of the past. It tells the story of a private investigator from Las Vegas who was the sole survivor of a brutal theater robbery in the 1980’s, and weaves that with the tale of a nurse whose older sister disappeared at a carnival when she was a child. It’s a beautiful book, and the way Berney handles parallel stories, and traces back and forth between the past and present, is truly masterful. I also enjoyed The Whites, by Richard Price—another author who always manages to establish trust and credibility within the first two pages—and Make Me, by Lee Child, which I think is the best Jack Reacher novel yet.
Visit Jonathan Moore's website.
My Book, The Movie: The Poison Artist.
Suzanne Redfearn
Born and raised on the east coast, Suzanne Redfearn moved to California when she was fifteen. She currently lives in Laguna Beach with her husband, their two kids, a Cockapoo named Cooper, and a cat named Motley. They own a restaurant in town called Lumberyard. Prior to becoming an author, Redfearn was an architect specializing in residential and commercial design. When not writing, she enjoys doing anything and everything with her family—skiing, golf, tennis, surfing, playing board games, and watching reality TV. Redfearn is an avid baseball fan. Her team is the Angels. She can also be found in the bleachers watching her kids’ sports or prowling the streets with her husband checking out the culinary scene of Orange County.
Redfearn's new novel is No Ordinary Life.
Best book I’ve read recently: A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman—I adored this quirky wonderful novel about a grouchy old man with an oversized heart. It was so witty and insightful that I several times I found myself laughing while contemplating the meaning of life and death at the same time, truly a tribute to the genius of the author.
Currently reading: Fates and Furies by Lauren Groff—This book about a married couple whose lives are woven together by lies has gotten rave reviews. I have just started it, but already the cast of characters has pulled me in. I like the idea of the novel being written in two parts—the first half from one perspective and the second from another. I love any story that delves into the complexity of relationships, which this one promises to do.
Looking forward to reading: Don’t You Cry by Mary Kubica—Kubica has become one of my new favorites, her haunting psychological thrillers are complex and unpredictable. This new one about never being able to outrun your past sounds like it is going to be more of the same and I can’t wait until it is released in May.
Visit Suzanne Redfearn's website, Facebook page, and Twitter perch.
Coffee with a Canine: Suzanne Redfearn and Cooper.
My Book, The Movie: Hush Little Baby.
The Page 69 Test: Hush Little Baby.
The Page 69 Test: No Ordinary Life.
Phillip Depoy
Phillip DePoy is the director of the theatre program at Clayton State University and author of several novels, including The Drifter's Wheel, A Corpse's Nightmare, and December's Thorn.
DePoy's latest novel is A Prisoner in Malta, the first book in a new mystery series featuring Christopher Marlowe, Shakespeare's contemporary and Queen Elizabeth's man behind the throne.
I can’t read fiction when I’m working on one of my own books—it’s too confusing or, more often, intimidating. When I made the mistake of reading the first page of The Poisonwood Bible, it took me six weeks to recover. Six weeks of considering other careers--plumbing or fish-mongering. So I’m happily reading two non-fiction books at the same time right now. Brian Walker’s Hua Hu Ching: The Unknown Teachings of Lao Tzu, and Alain de Botton’s How Proust Can Change Your Life—the subtitle of which is “Not a Novel.”
The Hua Hu Ching is a sort of companion book to the Tao Te Ching, arguably the oldest philosophical book in the world. A very valuable idea I get from that book is the notion that I ought to try to link my individual mind with the universal mind. That’s exactly what I think happens when I write, when I’m in the middle of the process of writing: it’s no me writing at all, it’s something else.
The Proust book elucidates In Search of Lost Time (usually translated, of course, as Remembrance of Things Past). From that book I glean a certain understanding of the great beauty in taking a long time to examine everything. Opening a door is an opportunity to examine every conceivable aspect of a door knob—in Proust’s case, for fourteen pages. It’s the opposite of what I think I’m supposed to do as a writer, so that’s good for me to hear too.
Learn more about the book and author at Phillip DePoy's website.
The Page 69 Test: A Prisoner in Malta.
My Book, The Movie: A Prisoner in Malta.
Steve Kemper
Steve Kemper has been a freelance journalist for more than 30 years. His books include Code Name Ginger: the Story Behind Segway and Dean Kamen's Quest to Invent a New World and A Labyrinth of Kingdoms: 10,000 Miles Through Islamic Africa.
Kemper's most recent book is A Splendid Savage: The Restless Life of Frederick Russell Burnham.
I just finished Dispatches From Pluto: Lost and Found in the Mississippi Delta, by Richard Grant, a thoroughly enjoyable account of what happens when a British ex-pat journalist and his girlfriend move from New York City to a moldering mansion in a rural Delta burg called Pluto. As in the best such books, the cultural shocks are sometimes amusing, sometimes shocking, but always entertaining and revelatory. Some writers would have opted for snarky condescension about this peculiar place and its inhabitants, but Grant writes about his new home with humor, affection, a sharp eye, and wide-open curiosity, and he makes refreshingly direct explorations of the Delta’s troubled racial history.
I also recently finished Marilynne Robinson’s Lila, the third novel in her trilogy about a minister and his family in a small Iowa town named Gilead. That description may make you yawn, but Robinson finds deep currents of feeling, meaning, and American history in these ostensibly plain quiet lives. Her trilogy is one of the best things from the last decade of American fiction.
To remind myself of how powerful condensed language can be, I rotate favorite books of poetry through my nightstand. At the moment I’m meandering for the second or third time through Wendell Berry’s New Collected Poems. (His This Day: Collected & New Sabbath Poems, which I like even better, is also in regular rotation.) Like me, Berry is a Kentuckian, but he has stayed rooted, farming and writing in his home state for many decades. This time I’m skipping most of the polemical rants about environmental destruction and corporate greed (with me, he’s preaching to the converted), and savoring his ability to express, in clear language, his strong love of the land and its creatures. He has a gift for finding grace, beauty, and throbbing immortal evanescence in everything around him, as in “The Peace of Wild Things”:
When despair for the world grows in me
and I wake in the night at the least sound
in fear of what my life and my children’s lives may be,
I go and lie down where the wood drake
rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds.
I come into the peace of wild things
who do not tax their lives with forethought
of grief. I come into the presence of still water.
And I feel above me the day-blind stars
waiting with their light. For a time
I rest in the grace of the world, and am free.
Visit Steve Kemper's website.
The Page 99 Test: A Labyrinth of Kingdoms.
The Page 99 Test: A Splendid Savage.
Nicholas Searle
Nicholas Searle grew up in the southwest of England and studied languages at the University of Bath. He spent more years than he cares to remember in public service before deciding in 2011 to leave and begin writing fiction. He lives in the north of England.
Searle's debut novel is The Good Liar.
The Green Road by Anne Enright
It’s an embarrassment that I haven’t read this sooner as I love Anne Enright’s writing, but I have had so many books stacking up. Cool, crystal-clear prose and while we can sense where we’re heading (I’m between a third and half way through) we’ve no idea yet what lies at our destination. It’s written episodically through the main characters’ different points of view and Enright varies her voice accordingly. Very impressive.
Quiet: The power of introverts in a world that can’t stop talking by Susan Cain
This book says the things introverts already know but could never say themselves. Among other things it describes the myth of charismatic leadership, how extrovert behaviours have only relatively recently become the cultural norm, and how the risk-averse introverts failed to be heard by their less cautious extrovert counterparts before the financial crisis. There’s also a fascinating self-analysis section. Not entirely convincing but I’m again (this is a re-read) finding it a good read.
Unfaithful Music and Disappearing Ink by Elvis Costello
I’ve spent some time skimming for interesting snippets and dipping in, and preparing myself to dive into this long read – which will require a concentrated, single-focus effort. I love Costello’s music and he seems a fascinating guy. This autobiography confirms that. He’s erudite and thoughtful, if sometimes rather too hard on himself. The chronology of the book is all over the place but it works. This far from the standard rock autobiography; it’s a soul exposed, sometimes painfully.
Follow Nicholas Searle on Twitter.
The Page 69 Test: The Good Liar.
My Book, The Movie: The Good Liar.
Bethanie Murguia
Bethanie Deeney Murguia was raised in Western New York near the Grand Canyon of the East and many, many cows. After graduating Summa Cum Laude from the University of Rochester with a BA in psychology and fine art, she moved to New York City where she worked as an art director for Hearst Magazines. While in New York, Bethanie received her MFA in Illustration from the School of Visual Arts.
Murguia now lives in the Bay Area where she has worked for a variety of design and marketing firms. Her illustrations have appeared on packaging and in various children’s publications, including Ladybug and My Big Backyard. Since 2011, she has focused exclusively on writing and illustrating picture books. Her illustrations and books have been honored with numerous accolades, including Oppenheim Toy Portfolio Best Book Awards and Bank Street College Best Books of the Year. Her new book is Cockatoo, Too.
Recently I asked Murguia about what she was reading. Her reply:
There are currently two books on my nightstand. The first is The Adventures of Miss Petitfour, by Anne Michaels. What’s not to adore about a book in which the main character and her sixteen cats fly, ala Mary Poppins, with the aid of various tablecloths? My six year old and I are enjoying it together. It’s delightfully written, fun to read aloud, and we love Miss Petitfour’s antics.
The second is A Man Called Ove, by Fredrik Backman. I picked this one up from a tiny bookstore while on vacation. I’ve really enjoying getting to know the cast of characters, including curmudgeonly Ove. They’re all rendered with humor and compassion. Ove’s wife believes that in relationships, over time, you come to love people's familiar imperfections more than the things that initially attracted you. That’s exactly how I feel about these characters as I’m nearing the end of the book.
Visit Bethanie Deeney Murguia's website.
Kate Hilton
Kate Hilton is the author of The Hole in the Middle and Just Like Family (2017). She also co-authors a non-fiction blog, The Pen Pal Project. Before turning to fiction, Hilton worked in law, higher education, public relations and major gift fundraising. She has an English degree from McGill University and a Law degree from the University of Toronto. She is a working mother, a community volunteer, a voracious reader and a pretty decent cook. Hilton lives with her family in Toronto, where she is working on her third novel.
I read a fairly balanced diet of fiction and non-fiction, and I usually have one of each on the go at any given time.
On the fiction side, I’ve been on a historical novel binge lately. Delicious. I like my historicals to be meticulously researched, with elegant prose and a little romance.
My most recent read, Jennifer Robson’s Moonlight Over Paris, fit the bill admirably. I adored it. I’m a fan of Robson’s work, and I was waiting for this one to arrive so that I could gobble it down. There is something particularly irresistible about Paris in the 1920s, a time and place of immense creativity and rebirth. I cheered for the romantic leads, Helena and Sam - for their relationship with each other, but also for each character's development from a citizen of the pre-war world into an individual of the modern age. Robson handles these vast social transitions with the subtlety and care of a serious historian - which, of course, she is.
And now I am reading Renée Rosen’s White Collar Girl. I’ve only just started, but I’m already breathing the air of a 1950s newsroom in Chicago, and rooting for Jordan, the young female reporter who wants to make her mark in a male-dominated profession.
On the non-fiction side, I finally finished Andrew Solomon’s Far From The Tree. I say ‘finally’, not because it was a chore, but because this book is so rich and thought provoking that I had to take breaks in order to absorb the astonishing ideas contained within it. Solomon explores a seemingly diverse collection of ‘differences’ – among them dwarfism, autism, criminality, genius, and Down Syndrome – and explores what it means for a family to raise a child who falls into one of these categories. His findings are nothing short of revelatory – about the parent-child relationship, about what it means to have an identity, about the nature of love, and about what it is to be human. I mean it when I say that this is the most powerful piece of writing I’ve read in years.
Right now, I’m reading Gloria Steinem’s memoir, My Life On The Road. What a life! And how much we all owe to it! I first saw Steinem speak when I was an undergraduate, and I was captivated by her warmth, humor, wisdom, and most surprisingly (to a young and outraged activist), optimism. In this book, I can hear that voice, and it inspires me all over again. In her words: “Altogether I’ve seen enough change to have faith that more will come.”
Visit Kate Hilton's website, Facebook page, and Twitter perch.
Jennifer Longo
Jennifer Longo was a ballerina from ages eight to eighteen, until she eventually (reluctantly) admitted her talent for writing exceeded her talent for dance. The author of Six Feet Over It, she holds an MFA in Writing for Theater from Humboldt State University, where her obsessive love of Antarctica produced her thesis play about Antarctica’s Age of Exploration.
Longo's new novel is Up to This Pointe.
The Only Child by Guojing
China's 'One Child' policy has ended, and now a generation of only children has grown up. This gorgeous book tells a story in black and white images of one Only Child, left home alone one day, who ventures out into the wintery world to find her grandmother's house. She falls into peril and is rescued by a stag who takes her on a magical journey. It is a deeply emotional exploration of loneliness, bravery, imagination and love, based on the author's experience growing up with no siblings. This book is gorgeous, but tape a pack of tissues to the bow when you wrap it. The reader will need them.
The Art of Memoir by Mary Karr
I love memoir, and this book is written by the woman credited with starting the modern revived popularity of the form. Karr is the author of the intense memoirs The Liar's Club, Cherry, and Lit. This book describes her own memoir teaching methods (She's a Literature professor at Syracuse University) and those of her students (such as Cheryl Strayed and George Saunders) who have influenced her own writing. She presents techniques for mining memory and details for creating non-fiction narrative in a way that feels like an intimate conversation. It sparked my own memories and made me want to tell stories in a truer, more vivid and honest way. Each chapter is short, smart, and funny, and the end result is a book that reads like a fiction novel told from the point of view of a friend you're having drinks with in a quiet corner at a crowded party. I absolutely loved it.
Visit Jennifer Longo's website.
The Page 69 Test: Six Feet Over It.
My Book, The Movie: Six Feet Over It.
The Page 69 Test: Up to This Pointe.
Gigi Pandian
Gigi Pandian is the USA Today bestselling author of the Accidental Alchemist mysteries and the Jaya Jones Treasure Hunt mysteries. She spent her childhood being dragged around the world by her cultural anthropologist parents, and now lives in the San Francisco Bay Area. Pandian’s debut was awarded a Malice Domestic Grant, the follow-up won the Left Coast Crime Rose Award, and her locked-room mystery short fiction has been nominated for Agatha and Macavity awards.
Pandian’s latest novel is The Masquerading Magician, the second Accidental Alchemist mystery.
I was an avid mystery reader long before I became a writer. The majority of what I read still falls into the mystery genre, but lately a lot of my “mystery fix” has come from nonfiction. I thought I’d share two great nonfiction books and two great mysteries I’ve read recently:
The Golden Age of Murder by Martin Edwards
This is an engrossing history of the Detection Club, the private club of mystery novelists that began in England during the Golden Age of Detective Fiction. Edwards focuses most on three of the founding members, Agatha Christie, Dorothy L. Sayers, and Anthony Berkeley, all of whom had fascinating hidden lives. There are also stories about other club members, including my personal favorite Golden Age writer, John Dickson Carr. My copy of the book is now filled with notes in the margins about new-to-me classic mysteries I plan to seek out.
Pirate Hunters by Robert Kurson
Pirate Hunters is a nonfiction book that read like a thriller. I love treasure hunts that steeped in real history (which is why I created the Jaya Jones treasure hunt mystery series), and this is a real-life underwater treasure hunt for a pirate ship. The real life stakes are as high as in fiction: the ship they’re after would be only the second pirate ship every positively identified, the heroes crisscross the globe in search of clues, and less scrupulous competitors are hot on their heels.
The Fourth Door: The Houdini Murders by Paul Halter
French mystery novelist Paul Halter has been hailed as this generation’s John Dickson Carr—the master of locked-room “impossible crime” mysteries—and he’s quickly becoming one of my favorite authors. Many of Halters books are available in English, with more on the way. His American publisher, Locked Room International, specializes in translating locked-room mysteries into English. I don’t speak French well enough to enjoy books in French, so I’ve been devouring Halter’s books as they get translated into English. The appeal of this type of classic mystery is the baffling fair-play puzzle of a seemingly impossible crime that looks like it must have been committed through supernatural means—but there’s a brilliant explanation at the end. The Fourth Door is one of Halter’s most satisfying mysteries I’ve read, featuring a supposedly haunted room and a man who believes he’s the reincarnation of Harry Houdini.
A Ghoul’s Guide to Love and Murder by Victoria Laurie
Reading the tenth book in the Ghost Hunters mystery series was like sitting down with old friends. This lighthearted paranormal mystery series has been one of my favorites for years, and A Ghoul’s Guide to Love and Murder provides a great ending to the series.
Now that I’ve got my own book deadlines, I don’t have as much time to read as I used to, but I always curl up with a book before bed. After a cancer diagnosis a few years ago, I gave up finishing books I don’t love (life’s too short!), so I often find myself staying up way too late to read “just a few more pages” of a great book. These four books fell into that category. That’s what coffee is for, right?
Visit Gigi Pandian's website, Facebook page, and Twitter perch.
Chad Pearson
Reed Farrel Coleman
Abby Geni
Jason Gurley
Yona Zeldis McDonough | cc/2019-30/en_head_0013.json.gz/line11022 |
__label__wiki | 0.541452 | 0.541452 | Albuquerque Museum
Exhibition: A Past Rediscovered
Segesser II, Villasur battle tapestry on bison hide (detail),
New Mexico History Museum/Palace of the Governors, 11005.45
Exhibition: Courage and Compassion: Our Shared Story of the Japanese American World War II Experience
Evelyn Saeda (right) stands in a corn field near Albuquerque on August 30, 1942. She was the daughter of Japanese immigrants and the mother of Steve Togami, current president of the New Mexico Japanese American Citizens League.
Courtesy of the Togami family.
Exhibition: Works on Paper by Japanese Artists in the Collection
Chuzo Tamotzu, 1888 Amami Oshima Island, Japan–1975 Santa Fe, New Mexico
Self Portrait Cutting Hair, 1963
Sumi ink on paper
gift of Louise Tamotzu
Exhibition: Everyday People: The Photography of Clarence E. Redman
Through Summer 2019 (more information)
Clarence E. Redman
Sandra Tucker and Judy Sesock work with their satellite nose cone prototype project at Jackson Junior High School in 1960
2000 Mountain Road NW
send questions to abqmuseum@cabq.gov
www.cabq.gov/museum
9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesdays through Sundays.
The Museum is closed Mondays, Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year's Day.
Purchasing Tickets at The Albuquerque Museum
Tickets may be purchased from cashiers at the admissions desk of the Museum from 9:00am until one half-hour before closing. Tickets may be purchased at the admissions desk with cash, check or credit card. We accept Visa, MasterCard, American Express and Discover Card.
Purchasing Tickets Online
Online ticket sales are available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Online tickets for general admission do not expire and can be used on any day the Museum is open to the general public. You must have access to a PRINTER to print online tickets purchased at home. Please visit our website to purchase your online tickets. www.cabq.gov/museum/admissions.html
Children 12 and younger must be accompanied by an adult. There is no charge for children 3 and younger.
General Admission – New Mexico
Resident Senior (65 & older) — $2
Adult (19-64) — $3 Teen (13-18) — $3
Child (4-12) — $1
General Admission – out of State
Senior (65 & older) — $2
Adult (19-64) — $4
Teen (13-18) — $3
*Note that out-of-state admission charges are the same as for New Mexico State residents when tickets are purchased online.
Members of the Albuquerque Museum Foundation
Albuquerque Museum Foundation membership confers free general admission to the Museum and discounts to many special events. Members also receive a discount in the Gallery Store.
The Museum offers free admission to school groups. Fees are covered by funding through the Albuquerque Museum Foundation. To take advantage of this offer, please call and book your visit two weeks in advance with the Education Division of the Museum at 243-7255.
There are no discounts for community centers, senior centers, scout groups, summer recreation groups, church groups, group homes, large families, company groups, YMCAs, after-school groups, bus tours or the like.
If you are purchasing tickets online for a large group, please let the Museum know of your intended visit, particularly if you want to schedule a tour or have special needs.
Reciprocal Agreements with Other Institutions
Free admission to the Museum is offered to card-bearing members of the American Association of Museums and the New Mexico Association of Museums.
Free Times
General Museum admission is free for the following times:
2 p.m. to 5 p.m. every Saturday
9 a.m. to 1 p.m. every Sunday
9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on the first Wednesday of every month
5 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. on the third Thursday of every month
Free admission applies to general museum admission only. Fees for special exhibits and events still apply on free times.
Getting to the Museum:
The Albuquerque Museum is located at 2000 Mountain Road NW, at the intersection of Mountain Road and 19th Street, directly west of Tiguex Park. It's easy for them to reach us from the interstate, and there is plenty of available parking.
To reach the Albuquerque Museum from Interstate 40:Exit I-40 at the Rio Grande Blvd exit. At the bottom of the ramp, turn south. Continue to the stoplight at the intersection of Rio Grande Blvd. and Mountain Road; enter the left turn lane and turn left on to Mountain Road. Pass the first stop light on Mountain Road (San Felipe); at the second stop light (19th Street) turn right. The Albuquerque Museum is immediately to your right, set back from the road. Free parking is available on the grounds. Call 505-243-7255 if you require further assistance.
About the Museum:
We hope you will enjoy our unique position—in the heart of historic Old Town and just across the street from the New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Explora, the Children's Science Museum as well as our close proximity to many other memorable attractions.That is perhaps why we are an enjoyable experience for so many visitors each year: one-third of our guests are nonresidents.
There is great recognition and support for art in our community. It also means we are able to offer a wide range of attractions and programs with only modest charge to the public. If there is anything we can do to help you, please ask.
Ongoing Programs:
Free General Admission Days at The Albuquerque Museum
The first Wednesday of the month is a free general admission day.
General admission to the Museum is also free every Sunday morning from 9:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m
Saturday Family Art Workshops
1 – 2:30 p.m.
Fun for all ages. All supplies are provided. Free with Museum general admission.
Sculpture Garden Walking Tours – Docent-guided tours are offered Tuesday-Saturday at 10 a.m. during the months of April through November.
Old Town Walking Tours – Docent-guided tours are offered Tuesday-Sunday at 11 a.m. from mid-March to mid-December. Except as noted, all events are free with Museum admission
Don’t miss tours at Casa San Ysidro in the nearby Village of Corrales.
Casa San Ysidro is a Spanish Colonial home owned and operated by The Albuquerque Museum. Casa San Ysidro is closed to the public during December & January.
More at the Museum:
The Gallery Store: Need the perfect gift? Contact The Gallery Store at 505-242-0434 or by email at store@albuquerquemuseum.com to inquire about unique items, catalogs, books, jewelry and more.
Slate at the Museum: Soups, salads, entrees, and desserts, all made from scratch. Tuesday – Sunday: Breakfast & lunch from 10am to 2:30pm. Snacks, coffee drinks & pastries until 4pm. Call ahead, or take out: 505-243-2220.
For Persons With Disabilities
The Albuquerque Museum is an accessible museum. If you require special assistance to enjoy Museum activities, or to obtain this information in an alternative format, please contact The Albuquerque Museum at least 5 business days before the scheduled activity at 505-243-7255. The Relay New Mexico number is 1-800-659-8331.
Museum Rental:
The newly expanded Albuquerque Museum is the ideal place to hold a business, reunion or personal gathering. There are rental options for parties of all sizes.
Questions? Lucia Garcia can address specific rental information by appointment only.
To make an appointment contact Lucia at ldgarcia@cabq.gov or 505-243-7255.
A Past Rediscovered
Courage and Compassion: Our Shared Story of the Japanese American World War II Experience
June 1 - November 3, 2019
Works on Paper by Japanese Artists in the Collection
Through September 29, 2019
Everyday People: The Photography of Clarence E. Redman
Through Summer 2019
Sign Up for Our Free Weekly Email Newsletter! | cc/2019-30/en_head_0013.json.gz/line11037 |
__label__wiki | 0.557555 | 0.557555 | Published on Addameer (http://www.addameer.org)
Home > On World Press Freedom Day 2016, Occupation Forces Continue to Detain Palestinian Journalists
On World Press Freedom Day 2016, Occupation Forces Continue to Detain Palestinian Journalists
Ramallah- 03/05/2016 – On the occasion of World Freedom Press Freedom Day 2016, Addameer Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association confirms that the occupation forces continue to violate the rights of Palestinian journalists. Currently, there are approximately 20 Palestinian journalists in occupation prisons.
Palestinian journalists continue to face harassment, threats, arrests, and intimidation by occupation forces. For example, on 23 April 2016, occupation forces arrested journalist Omar Nazzal, a member of the General Secretariat of the Palestinian Journalists Syndicate, and president of the Democratic Journalists Union, while he was en route to participation in the European Federation of Journalists General Meeting. The Military Commander subsequently issued an administrative detention order against journalist Omar Nazzal on 02 May 2016.
Occupation forces also arrested journalist and human rights activist Hasan Safadi while he was crossing Al Karameh Bridge on Sunday (01/05/2016) where he was detained and then was transferred to Al Moskobiyyeh Interrogation Center. A hearing was held on 02/05/2016 at the Magistrate Court in Jerusalem, during which the judge decided to extend the detention period for seven additional days to allow for interrogation, to end on Sunday, 08/05/2016.
The occupation authorities carry out these practices in criminalizing the work of journalists in exposing the daily crimes of the occupation against Palestinians, despite international standards that guarantee the freedom of expression and the rights to free speech, as well as the internationally codified freedom to carry out their professions – in violation of article 23 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which guarantees each individual’s right to work in the freedom to choice their profession.
Addameer considers arresting and detaining journalists a crime that violates the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the Declaration on Human Rights Defenders, as well as article 19 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which states that every individual has the right to their own opinions as well as the freedom of expression, namely the “freedom to seek, receive and impart information and ideas of all kinds, regardless of frontiers, either orally, in writing or in print, in the form of art, or through any other media of his choice.” | cc/2019-30/en_head_0013.json.gz/line11038 |
__label__wiki | 0.591972 | 0.591972 | A Walk-Through Tutorial (Austerlitz 1805)
Board index Current games Napoleon's Campaigns
Austerlitz Campaign 1805 A Walk Through Tutorial
The purpose of this Walk-Through tutorial is to familiarize new players with concepts and game play mechanisms at work in Napoleon’s Campaigns. Since much of what occurs during the course of a game turn is hidden from players or not readily accessible, I’ll be pointing out what I believe are important aspects of game play that go largely unnoticed by first time players.
The Austerlitz campaign is a good scenario to use as a demonstration/tutorial of Napoleon’s Campaigns. The unit density is not overwhelming and the strategy (on both sides) is relatively straightforward. Although the two sides are roughly equal in overall numbers, this scenario features a French army at the height of its power. French units march faster, have better morale, and are led by Division and Corps-level officers with superb leadership ratings and extraordinary abilities. The two Coalition nations, Austria and Russia, are simply outmatched by Napoleon and his Grande Armee in 1805. For this reason, I will use the French side as the basis for this tutorial.
Victory Conditions
Let’s start by discussing the Victory Conditions in this scenario to get a better idea of what we need to do in order to win. Essentially, the game is won on points—whoever has the most at the end of the scenario is the winner. Winning the scenario on points is only a Minor Victory regardless of the difference between the two totals. Yes, winning by having 200 points more than your opponent is better than only having 100 points more than your opponent--but it is still only a Minor Victory. A Minor Victory is good, but it’s not the same as a Major Victory. Napoleon would never settle for a Minor Victory, neither should you.
There are three ways to win a Major Victory in this scenario; achieving an Automatic Victory by reaching a National Morale threshold of 200 or by achieving a Sudden Death victory by holding twelve (12) of the fourteen (14) Objective cities listed on the Ledger. (Press the F5 key to view this portion of the Ledger.) The third way to win a Major Victory is by causing your opponent’s morale to collapse by driving it below the Automatic Defeat threshold. In this scenario, Coalition forces have an Automatic Defeat threshold of 30 National Morale Points.
[CENTER][ATTACH]1768[/ATTACH][/CENTER]
The fourteen French Objective cities in this scenario (and the National Morale points gained or lost) are: Wien (15), Metz (10), Venezia (5), Munchen (5), Strasbourg (5), Milano (5), Prag (5), Mainz (3), Torino (3), Zurich (2), Ulm (3), Mantua (5), Brunn (3), and Olmutz (3). These are the values for the French player only. The Coalition player has the same Objective cities on his Ledger display but the value of these cities is different. What is means is that some cities may be more valuable to you (as a French player) than they are to your opponent.
As you can see on the French Ledger, you begin the scenario with a National Morale Level of 100. The Coalition player starts out with a National Morale level of 110—ten points higher than yours. The French want to reach a National Morale level of 200 points—a level that triggers an Automatic Victory. This means that we will need to gain 100 National Morale points either through combat (winning battles) or by capturing Objective cities.
There are eight (8) Objective cities that begin the game as Coalition possessions. Taken together these eight cities are worth forty-four (44) National Morale points. Therefore, assuming that the French player keeps all of the Objective cities that he starts with and captures all of the Coalition Objective cities, the most his National Morale is going to increase is 44 points for a National Morale total of 144. This is far short of the 200 NM points you need to trigger an Automatic Victory. The French will have to gain 56 National Morale points through combat—a very tall order in this scenario.
Now that we have a better idea of what we are aiming to achieve in this scenario, let’s take a look at the forces we have at our disposal. As you can see in this annotated view of the scenario set-up, the hard work of concentrating your forces has already been done. Napoleon stands poised to crush the Austrian army under General Mack at Ulm. Seven French Corps plus forces from three minor German allies (Bavaria, Baden, and Wurtemburg) are concentrated along the banks of the Rhine between Strasbourg and Mainz. Poor Mack doesn’t stand a chance.
Initially, the French player should be concerned with driving the Coalition National Morale below 100 as soon as possible. Remember, the break-even threshold for National Morale is 100.
* For every two NM above 100, a unit’s maximum cohesion total is increased by 1%. For every two NM below 100, a unit’s maximum cohesion total is reduced by 1%.
* For every two NM above 100, the amount of supplies produced by a supply source is increased by 1%. For every two NM below 100, the amount of supplies produced by a supply source is reduced by 1%.
* For every two NM above 100, the amount of money received is increased by 1%. For every two NM below 100, the amount of money received is reduced by 1%.
Since the Coalition starts out with a National Morale of 110, this translates into a 5% bonus in maximum cohesion, a 5% bonus in supply production, and 5% additional money. As the French player, you will want to eliminate these bonuses very early in the scenario. There’s no need to rush, however. This scenario “locks” the Austrians under General Mack in Ulm for the first turn of the game. Nine times out of ten, the Schulmeister Spy event will be triggered which locks the Austrians in Ulm for an additional turn. Basically, he’s stuck for at least two turns. This gives us plenty of time to get our forces positioned for a massive assault on Ulm.
Looking over the Corps of La Grande Armee, we see that Bernadotte (1st Corps), Marmont (2nd Corp), Ney (6th Corps), Murat (Cavalry Reserve Corps), Augereau (7th Corps) and Deroy’s Bavarian Army are all “Inactive”. This means that in addition to the movement and combat penalties assessed to Inactive Forces they will not be able to assume an Offensive or Assault Command Posture during the first turn.
Before you go any further in this tutorial, take a moment to change Deroy’s army affiliation. Notice when you left-click on Deroy’s Force marker, his troops are assessed a 24% command penalty. This is because his Bavarian Army is incorrectly affiliated with the Army of Italy. Left-click on the Detach Corps button located to the left of the Unit Panel. Once the Corps is detached, it can be immediately reattached to Napoleon’s Grande Armee headquarters. Do that now. Notice that the 24% command penalty is gone.
Okay, now that we’ve taken care of the Deroy affiliation problem , let’s continue. The French Army in this scenario is divided into two Army commands; Napoleon’s Grande Armee north of the Alps and Massena’s Army of Italy, south of the Alps. If you left-click on either one of these Army commands (Napoleon or Massena) you see that Corps attached to these Armies begin to flash red. This red flashing prompt lets you know that the Corps are part of the respective army and thus, eligible to receive bonuses and penalties based on the Army commander’s ratings and abilities.
Let’s look at Napoleon’s Grande Armee headquarters located in Strasbourg at the start of this scenario first. Each Army headquarters has two separate radii that effect subordinate Corps commands: the Attachment radius and the Command Radius. The Attachment Radius is the distance that a Corps can be attached (i.e., affiliated) to the Army. This distance is equal to twice the Army Commander’s Strategic Rating. Napoleon’s Strategic Rating in this scenario is six (6). This means that Corps can be attached to Napoleon’s Grande Armee HQ up to twelve (12) regions away. That’s quite a distance. A Corps that is located beyond the Attachment radius of its Army HQ is assessed an Out of Command Chain penalty (otherwise known as an OCC penalty).
The OCC Penalty
If a Force is neither a Corps (within the Attachment Radius of its parent Army) nor an Army, it is considered to be an Independent Force. (Units left behind to garrison cities and depots usually fall into this category.) An Independent Force by definition is one that exists outside the normal Army/Corp command hierarchy. Being ‘Out of Command’ causes the total number of Command Points generated by the Leaders in the Force to be halved.
For example, a 2-star Leader in a Corps that is within the Attachment Radius of its parent Army provides six (6) Command Points. This same Leader, if present in an Independent Force, would provide only three (3) Command Points.
The Command radius, on the other hand, is much shorter. The Command Radius for Army commanders is:
* The Command Radius of an Army commander with a Strategic Rating of 1 is limited to the region in which the Army HQ is located.
* The Command Radius of an Army commander with a Strategic Rating of 2 through 5 is limited to the region in which the Army HQ is located and all adjacent regions.
* The Command Radius of an Army commander with a Strategic Rating of 6 or greater is limited to the region in which the Army HQ is located and up to two (2) regions away.
The Command Radius is the distance at which an Army Commander is able to pass on bonuses to Corps commanders. These bonuses are based on the Army commander’s Strategic, Offensive, and Defensive Ratings as follows:
Command Point Bonus: Corps Commanders receive a number of Command Points equal to the Strategic Rating of the Army commander minus two (2). For example, if a Corps Commander was located within the Command Radius of an Army commanded by Napoleon (with a Strategic Rating of [6]), he would receive a bonus of four (4) Command Points (i.e. 6 − 2 = 4).
Strategic Rating Bonus: Eligible Corps Commanders receive a Strategic Rating bonus from their Army commander. The amount of bonus that Corps commanders receive is calculated individually and based on the Army commander’s Strategic Rating. Generally, the higher the Army commander’s Strategic Rating, the greater the bonus he is able to pass on to his Corps commanders (up to a maximum bonus of four [4]). Army commanders with a Strategic Rating of 1 or 2 have the potential of passing on a negative Strategic Rating bonus (up to a maximum bonus of negative two [-2]).
Offensive Rating Bonus: Eligible Corps Commanders receive an Offensive Rating bonus from their Army commander. The amount of bonus that Corps commanders receive is calculated individually and based on the Army commander’s Offensive Rating. Generally, the higher the Army commander’s Offensive Rating, the greater the bonus he is able to pass on to his Corps commanders (up to a maximum bonus of four [4]).
Defensive Rating Bonus: Eligible Corps Commanders receive a Defensive Rating bonus from their Army commander. The amount of bonus that Corps commanders receive is calculated individually and based on the Army commander’s Defensive Rating. Generally, the higher the Army commander’s Defensive Rating, the greater the bonus he is able to pass on to his Corps commanders (up to a maximum bonus of four [4]).
The bonuses that an Army commander gives to his Corps commanders is shown on a tool-tip. Army commander bonuses are never displayed on the first turn of the game or on the turn that a Corps is created or affiliated with an Army HQ. Allow a turn to be resolved before checking for Army bonuses in these cases.
Now that we understand the difference between Attachment radius and Command Radius, we should have a brief discussion about Command Points and Command Costs.
Essentially, each Corps or Independent Force commander is allowed to command a certain number of units before he becomes overwhelmed with all that responsibility. Having too many troops has an adverse effect on a commander’s ability to use them effectively. When this happens, a commander is penalized.
Each Leader in a Force provides Command Points (CPs) according to his rank. When multiple Leaders exist in a single Force, the Command Points they provide are cumulative and applied to the Force as a whole. (The overall Force commander is considered to be getting 'help' from other officers in his Force.)
Command Points Summary
* A 1-star Leader provides three (3) Command Points to units in his Force.
* A 2-star Leader provides six (6) Command Points to units in his Force.
* A 3 or 4-star Leader provides nine (9) Command Points to units in his Force.
Each unit is given a Command Cost which reflects the difficulties a Leader would have in ‘leading’ it efficiently (large formations are unwieldy). Each Force has a Command Cost equal to the cumulative number of Command Costs associated with its component units.
Command Cost Summary
* Artillery battery: one (1) CP
* Brigade, Regiment, Squadron: from one (1) to three (3) CPs
* Division: three (3) CPs
* Army HQ: three (3) CPs
Brigades, Regiments, and Squadrons have Command Costs based on the number of elements they contain, although these costs are sometimes elevated for overly large units. Increased Command Costs are also used to represent cultural differences in command and control methodologies between nationalities.
A 2-star Leader, for example, could command up to six (6) Command points worth of units without penalty. These units could consist of two (2) divisions of three points each, or one division and three artillery batteries, or any combination equaling six command points.
You are not prevented from giving a Leader excess units to command but you are penalized for doing so.
Each turn, Leaders have their CP allowances added together to produce a sum total of CPs that can be applied toward the command and control of the Force they belong to. A Leader does not have to be the commander of a Force in order for his CPs to be counted. Every Leader in the Force, whether he commands units or just happens to be there, is eligible to contribute Command Points up to an unmodified maximum of twelve (12) CPs per Force.
The twelve (12) CP per Force limitation may be raised by the following cumulative modifiers:
* +2 CPs: if a Signal support unit is present in the Force,
* +1 CP: if a Reconnaissance support unit is present in the Force,
* + (Variable) CPs: Leader Special Abilities
* (Strategic Rating of parent Army commander + [−2]) CPs: if Corps is within Army HQ Leader’s Command Radius
All of these modifiers are cumulative so you could, for example, have a Force with Leaders contributing twelve (12) CPs, a Signal unit providing two (2) CPs, and a Leader with a Level 2 ‘Gifted Commander’ Special Ability adding four (4) CPs for a grand total of eighteen (18) CPs.
But let's look at a real world example. St Cyr's Corps is attached to Massena's Army of Italy. It consists of 16 units as you see here and is assessed a 35% command penalty (the red 35%) on the Unit Panel ID line.
Okay. Why is St Cyr being assessed that penalty?
First, St Cyr is a 2-star leader so he generates six (6) Command points. His four Division cdrs (Lecchi, Reynier, Montrichard, and Valence) are all 1-star leaders that together add twelve (12) command points for a grand total of eighteen (18) command points for the Force. Remember though, Leaders can only generate a maximum of 12 CPs (unmodified) in a single Force.
Therefore, St Cyr and his division commanders are limited to twelve CPs. St Cyr, however, is a Gifted Commander. This adds two CPs for a total of 14. (St Cyr is also Quickly Angered. If he was an Army Cdr instead of a mere Corps cdr, the -4 CP penalty would apply.) He gets no bonus from Massena (the Army cdr) because this is the first turn of the scenario. Otherwise Massena would influence the amount of CPs St Cyr generates.
St Cyr is leading a force made up of 16 units (St Cyr leader unit, four infantry divisions, two horse artillery batteries, six artillery batteries, a Pontoon unit, a Sapper unit, and a supply wagon. This gives a total of 22 command points that St Cyr needs to generate.
* One St Cyr Leader unit at NO COST = 0
* Four (4) infantry Divisions at three CPs each = 12
* Eight artillery batteries at one CP each = 8
* One Pontoon and one Sapper at one CP each = 2
* One Supply Wagon at NO COST = 0
So.... 0 + 12 + 8 + 2 + 0 = 22
St Cyr has 14 Command Points to allocate but his Force contains 22 CPs worth of units. He has exceeded his allowance by eight (8) CPs and is assessed a 35% movement and combat penalty.
Actually, the penalty for exceeding a Commander's CP allowance is roughly 5% per CP over the allowance. In this case, the penalty should have been 40% (8 x 5%). The penalty is capped at 35%, however.
I say that the penalty is roughly 5% per CP because the actual formula for assessing command point penalties is: 100 − (100 x [CPs Generated/CPs Needed]). You are free to calculate this formula for yourself or just take my word for it that the penalty is roughly 5% per CP over the allowance.
For those of you interested in testing the formula, the equation applicable to a Force containing 21 command points worth of units but leaders with only 16 command points would be:
100 − (100 x [16/21]) = 23.8% (rounded to nearest % or 24%).
Okay, so we know how the command penalty is assessed—but what does it actually mean and what can we do about it?
Command penalties reduce the movement speed and combat values of each of the elements in a particular Force. Not only does St. Cyr’s Corps now move 35% slower than it would without the penalty, it is also 35% less efficient in combat. Now, I realize that there are many of you out there thinking, “35%, so what. I’ll just factor in that 35% reduction. If I had a 1000 man regiment before the penalty, I now have 650 men with the penalty.”
The problem with this thinking is that the penalty doesn’t work like that. It doesn’t represent a straight-forward 35% reduction in the strength of a Force as you might think. What the penalty actually does is reduce the Fire and Assault values of individual elements by the stated amount. Those of you that are used to playing war-games are familiar with having unit values reduced prior to resolving combat and so once again, you’re thinking this is no big deal.
Wrong again. Combat is resolved in Napoleon’s Campaigns differently from other war-game resolution sequences. The values themselves are NOT used in a comparative ratio formula to determine a result. Instead, Fire and Assault values are used to calculate the percentage change of scoring a hit on an enemy unit. So instead of having 650 men at full strength, you have 1,000 men with only 65% of their normal chance of scoring a hit.
Trust me. Mathematically, this is a big deal. The equation for resolving combat magnifies the effects that even little bonuses and penalties have. It absolutely rips the heart out of Forces that are assessed big penalties. Even Napoleon stands a better than 50-50 chance of losing a battle with a penalty of 35% around his neck.
The short answer to the Command penalty issue—Try to avoid them wherever possible.
There are several ways to avoid command penalties. One is to reduce the overall number of units in a Force by leaving them behind or giving them to someone else to command. Another is to add more Leaders to a Force as long as you’re not bumping into that artificial 12 CP ceiling. The best way, however, is to get creative and restructure your Force so that it fights more efficiently.
Using our poor over-worked St. Cyr as an example, let’s reduce his command penalty with a little restructuring magic and get him ready to pounce on Mantua on the very first game turn.
No wonder St. Cyr has a command penalty. In addition to four infantry divisions to worry about, he has two horse artillery and six foot artillery batteries running around loose. That would be a lot to keep up with on a parade ground back home, much less in combat.
Fortunately, this is one of the easier restructurings you’ll probably do. We only need to reduce the Command points being used from 22 to 14 (St Cyr’s CP allowance) in order to eliminate this penalty. We can do this any number of ways but since we have eight loose batteries of artillery, our problem is solved if we assign these artillery batteries to one or more of St Cyr’s division commanders.
As you see, at the outset, St. Cyr’s Corps consists of 16 units with a PWR rating of 271. This PWR rating is essentially the same thing as saying it has a combat efficiency of 271. Watch what happens on the Unit Panel when we start to restructure the Corps by placing all those artillery batteries inside Divisions units.
Personally, I think it’s a waste to assign horse artillery to infantry units. I realize this is just a personal preference of mine and that others may see it differently. Because Massena’s Army of Italy HQ is in the same region as St Cyr’s Corps, we can transfer the two horse artillery batteries to the Army of Italy HQ right away. (The Army of Italy has a cavalry division that can use these two batteries.)
To do this, simply select the horse artillery units by left-clicking on them and dragging them to the Armee d’Italie tab above the Unit Panel. Release your mouse to drop them into the Army d’Italie tab. You can do this by selecting and moving the two horse artillery batteries individually or by CTRL-left-clicking to make a multiple unit selection and dropping them collectively.
Once you have moved the two horse artillery batteries to Massena’s Army of Italy, you notice that St. Cyr’s Corps now has a PWR rating of 276 and a command penalty of only 30%. Notice that we actually decreased the number of units that St. Cyr’s Corps contains and yet its combat efficiency increased. Now let’s do the same thing with each of those six foot artillery batteries.
Left-click on Lecchi’s Division (it’s the unit counter just to right of St. Cyr on the Unit panel. Hold the CTRL key down and left-click on the 2nd Artillery Battery. As you can see in the image, a gold-colored border appears around the two units when they are selected and the Add Units button is now highlighted. This means that there is room inside Lecchi’s Division for this battery.
To combine the two units, left-click on the Add Units button. Notice that the artillery battery no longer appears on the Unit Panel. It has been moved inside Lecchi’s Division. Also notice that the Add Units button is no longer highlighted. St Cyr’s Corps now has a PWR rating of 295 and a command penalty of only 25%. We’re almost there.
Repeat the procedure for adding units for each of the five remaining foot artillery batteries. You are free to place them in any of St Cyr’s four infantry Divisions. Once you’ve finished, you’ll notice that St. Cyr’s Corps has a PWR rating of 394 (up from 271) and no command penalty. That’s pretty good for just spending a minute or two moving units around.
We actually gave away units to another command and still St. Cyr's PWR rating went up. This restructuring made St. Cyr's Corps a faster moving, more formidable force. Take a few more minutes to look over Massena's Army d'Italie Force. What can be done to improve upon its efficiency?
As a side note, there's a Restructuring tutorial posted separately on this forum that deals with the Austrian troops facing Massena in this scenario.
Having moved those artillery batteries and eliminated St. Cyr’s command penalty, it’s important to remember that small things sometimes have big consequences in this game. Because of the way combat is resolved, artillery batteries at the Division level only fire at enemy units that are engaging friendly elements belonging to their Division. Artillery batteries left at the Corps level are free to fire at anyone, usually enemy units that pose the biggest threat. For this reason, there’s ample motivation to keep at least a couple batteries outside of Divisional structures. One thing you don’t want to do is load up a single Division with all your artillery while making others do without. Spread the wealth.
You’ll notice that this tutorial has gone on for some time now barely talking about tactics or strategies with regard to this scenario. This is because there are a number of things to take into consideration before you start dropping troop markers all over the map and picking fights with the Austrians. I promise we will start looking at actual strategies very soon. In the meantime, one thing we very definitely need to look at is Leadership, especially with regard to Activation.
Napoleon’s Campaigns is an excellent simulation of how leadership and command actually works in the real world. Having spent a number of years in the US Army as a Private before working my way up to Sergeant, I can tell you from first hand experience how it feels to be the low man on the totem-pole.
In other words, some General somewhere makes a decision and it can take days, even weeks, before word filters down to Private Russell’s foxhole. Getting troops to go where you want them to go, even in peace time, is a little like herding cats. Mathematically, the equation would be something like:
[Serendipity] / [Murphy’s Law X Fog of War] = Present for Duty − [the 10% who didn’t get the word].
Leadership has its limitations. There are literally hundreds of historical Leader figures represented in game—everyone from Napoleon down to relatively unknown Brigade commanders. The design team looked at the resumes of each Leader and then evaluated their capacity and ability to exercise command. The result of this time consuming process was the creation of a hyper-detailed database giving Leaders individualized skills. Let’s take a moment to look closely at those skills and how they are applied during play.
No—I’m not referring to Roosevelt, Stalin, and Churchill. Every Leader (including spies, surgeons, engineers, etc.) has been given three ratings that correspond to his—or her in the case of Queen Marie-Louisa—real life leadership abilities. With regard to Leaders in Napoleon’s Campaigns, the “Big Three’ refers to a Leader’s Strategic Rating, Offensive Rating, and Defensive Rating.
Strategic Rating and Activation
A Leader’s Strategic Rating (SR) is used primarily to determine whether or not the Leader is considered ‘Active’ during the upcoming game turn. Each point of Strategic Rating increases a Leader’s chance of becoming Active by 16.6%. For example, a Leader with an SR of three (3) has a nearly 50-50 chance of becoming active. Napoleon, with his SR of six (6) in most scenarios, is almost always activated.
Activation Rule: Activation is determined by a simple computer-generated six-sided die roll (DR6). If the DR6 is equal to or less than the Leader’s SR, the Leader is considered Active during the upcoming game turn. If a Leader was Active during the previous game turn, one (+1) is added to his Strategic Rating (i.e. an SR of 4 becomes a 5). Therefore, a Leader who was active during the previous game turn has a better chance (equal to 16.6%) of becoming active in the current game turn.
Nothing is ever this certain in warfare, however. If the unmodified DR6 is a six (6), a second DR6 is made. If this second DR6 is also a six (6), the Leader is considered to have suffered a catastrophic command failure and is not ‘Activated’ during the upcoming game turn under any circumstances. This means that even though Napoleon has a Strategic Rating of six (6), there is always a slight chance he'll become InActive (about 5% on any given turn).
A Force that is Inactive because its commander failed his Activation Check is seriously penalized. Inactive Forces have a 35% penalty assessed on their movement speed and a 35% penalty assessed on their combat values if they engage (or are engaged) in combat in an enemy-controlled region. This means, in practical terms, that Inactive Forces should refrain from moving into enemy-controlled regions where there’s a chance of being attacked.
One thing to keep in mind regarding Activation is that every Leader is checked at the beginning of each turn. This can lead to instances in which a subordinate Division commander is Active while his Corps commander is Inactive. Here’s where you, as supreme commander of your faction, earn your pay. Faced with this situation; do you:
Option A: keep the Inactive Corps intact and allow all of its subordinate units suffer the penalties associated with being Inactive,
Option B: strip the Inactive Corps commander of Active Division commanders and let the Division commanders move on their own?
There are a couple of considerations that come into play. First, once you remove the Division Leaders from their Corps, each one instantly becomes an Independent Force. Independent Forces are subject to the Out of Command Penalty—a penalty that halves the number of Command Points (CPs) the Leader generates. This halving of Leader CPs prevents you from, in effect, creating a new Corps by combining only Active Division commanders into a new multi-Division Force.
Now there’s nothing to keep you from moving and attacking with each of the Active Divisions as separate Independent Forces. However, the Divisions will engage (or be engaged) in combat individually instead of in one collective formation. This creates a situation in which the Divisions are committed and exposed to combat in a ‘piece-meal’ fashion. (Remember that there can be a delay of several rounds before individual Forces engage in their first round of combat.)
Did I tell you this was a complex simulation to master? The Activation dilemma is just one of the reasons why you can’t approach this game casually.
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Strategic Rating and Attachment Radius
The Strategic Rating is further used to determine an Army commander’s Attachment Radius. The Attachment Radius is the range at which an Army commander may attach (i.e. affiliate) a Corps to his Army. The Attachment Radius for Army commanders is equal to twice (2x) their SR. For example; Napoleon, with an SR of six (6) in most scenarios, could attach Corps or Independent Forces as far away as twelve (12) regions. This, of course, is an extreme example. Most 3 or 4-star Leaders (and other mere mortals) have an Attachment Radius that covers considerably less territory.
The question of whether it’s better for a Corps to be part of an Army or act as an Independent Force is an easy one to answer. There’s simply no reason for a Corps NOT to be part of an Army. A Corps that moves outside the Attachment radius of its parent Army HQ is subject to an Out of Command penalty which halves the number of Command Points the Corps commander generates. This penalty is exactly the same as the penalty applied to Forces for being Independent—the downside remains the same. However, a Corps that is affiliated with an Army gains the full benefit of its Corps commander’s ability to generate Command Points as well as the abilities and bonuses it receives from the Army commander.
Offensive and Defensive Ratings
Offensive and Defensive Ratings are used to provide Fire bonuses to subordinates units. The effect that these bonuses have on combat calculations is substantial and you are well advised to pay close attention to these values—they can have a snow-ball effect.
First, Army commanders provide Offensive/Defensive Rating bonuses to Corps commanders that are part of their army (i.e. in their Chain of Command). The amount of bonus Corps commanders receive is variable but it is based on the Army commander’s Offensive/Defensive Ratings. The higher the Army commander’s rating, the greater chance that a bonus will be passed on. The potential bonus is also greater—up to a maximum increase of four (4).
Corps commanders provide an Offensive/Defensive Fire bonus based upon their Offensive/Defensive Ratings. This bonus is applied directly to the Offensive/Defensive Fire values of the units (elements) under their command. For each Offensive/Defensive Rating point, the Offensive/Defensive Fire value of their units (elements) is increased by 5%.
Example: An element of Austrian infantry (a typical two-battalion Austrian line infantry regiment) has an Offensive Fire value of ten (10). If the element is in a Corps belonging to a Corps commander with an Offensive Rating of three (3), the element’s Fire value is increased by 15% [3 x 5% = 15%]. If the Corps commander received a bonus of two (2) to his rating because of his Army commander’s Offensive Rating, the element’s Fire value would instead be increased by 25% [5 x 5% = 25%].
In addition to the Corp commander’s Offensive/Defensive Rating, elements also receive increases to their Fire values based upon their Division commander’s Offensive/Defensive Ratings. For each Offensive/Defensive Rating point belonging to the Division commander, the Offensive/Defensive Fire value of the units (elements) is increased by 3%. The Division commander’s bonus is cumulative with the Corps commander’s bonus.
Example: An element of French infantry (a typical two-battalion French line infantry regiment) has an Offensive Fire value of eleven (11). If the element is in a Corps belonging to a Corps commander with an Offensive Rating of six (6), the element’s Fire value is increased by 25% [6 x 5% = 30%]. If the Corps commander received a bonus of three (3) to his rating because of his Army commander’s Offensive Rating, the element’s Fire value would instead be increased by 45% [9 x 5% = 45%]. If the element’s Division commander had an Offensive Rating of four (4), the Fire value would be further increased by 12% [4 x 3% = 12%]. In total, the element would have its Fire value increased by 57% [45% + 12% = 57%]. Instead of a Fire value of eleven (11), the French element would have a modified Fire value of 17 [11 x 57% (rounded down) = 17].
As this diagram clearly illustrates, Offensive/Defensive Ratings have an enormous impact on combat. An element in Morand’s Division has its Fire and Assault values raised by nearly 60% in this leadership configuration. Wait… that’s not right. It’s not AN element in Morand’s Division—it’s EVERY element in Morand’s Division—it’s the entire Division. Other Divisions in Davout’s Corps would enjoy similar increases based upon their Division commanders’ individual Offensive ratings.
In fact, the single most important variable that gets factored into the combat resolution equation is leadership in the form of bonuses and abilities. The combat values of the elements themselves come in a poor second. For this reason, it is essential that you pay attention to the Leader’s ‘Big Three’ ratings. Having good leadership will win more battles for you than having the bigger Army.
Because Offensive and Defensive Ratings are passed down and calculated similarly, they have thus far been grouped together for purposes of discussion. It’s time to look at these two ratings separately from a tactical standpoint.
The Offensive Rating is used when a Force has assumed an Assault or Offensive Command Posture. The Defensive Rating is used when a Force has assumed a Defensive or Passive Command Posture. Most of the time Leaders have Offensive and Defensive ratings that are relatively close to one another, if not equal. If this is the case, from a bonus standpoint it makes little difference whether they are attacked—or are doing the attacking.
Some Leaders, however, have Offensive and Defensive Ratings that are different by more than just a few points. Russian General Peter Bagration, known to his men as “The Eagle”, is just one such General that comes to mind. In some scenarios, Bagration has a ‘big three’ rating of (3-2-5). What this means essentially is that Bagration is a far more effective leader when the units under his command remain defensive. Simply put, you are better off allowing Bagration to be attacked rather than letting him do the attacking—far better off.
Now this is not say that you can never use Leaders like Bagration as part of an overall strategic offensive. What is clear, however, is that rather than initiate combat with a Force under Bagration, you should engage in maneuver warfare. By this I mean, move and position Bagration in such a way so that his Force dominates the ‘battle space’ and compels the enemy into doing the attacking.
Although the disparity between Offensive and Defensive ratings is not as great, the Duke of Wellington (5-4-6) is another Leader who is better on the defense than he is on the offense. His strategy during the Waterloo campaign is a good example of dominating the battle space and forcing the opponent to attack on British terms. Wellington was able to make the best use of his men by remaining on the defensive. This is a lesson that you should remember and take to heart when playing the game.
Looking at the example of an element in Morand’s Division illustrated above, it’s easy to miss the real significance of the 57% increase in values. The increase doesn’t indicate that the unit is stronger, only that when it comes to Fire and Assault combat it has a 57% better chance of scoring a hit. As a practical matter then, increases that get applied to Fire values are extremely relevant in the context of First Fire.
In other words, when Fire combat is resolved, one side is picked to shoot first based on its Initiative rating. The side that shoots first gets to inflict casualty and cohesion damage before the enemy gets a chance to return fire. Obviously, the more damage that can be done to the enemy on this initial fire, the weaker the return fire will be. The dynamics of First Fire set the tone for the entire battle. Inflicting casualties first is a huge advantage that is magnified by any bonus which improves on the chance to score a hit.
Note: You will see losses referred to as Hits in both the game and the manual but this term is slightly misleading. When a unit is ‘hit’ in combat, the actual damage it suffers from that ‘hit’ may vary from between one (1) and three (3) losses depending on the type of enemy unit that scored the ‘hit’. Therefore, I will refer to physical damage done to units as step-losses rather than ‘hits’ to avoid confusion.
But before I start talking about scenario strategies, it’s important to take a look at how the combatants compare to each other. We know, of course, that French units are better than their Austrian and Russian counterparts. But how much better are they?
Let’s start by considering the plight of one Marcel Montagne—an impoverished peasant conscript caught up in the levee of 1805. Marcel is a Private in the 36th Regiment Infantrie de Ligne. He carries the standard Model 1777 .69 caliber smoothbore musket known as a ‘Charleville’. The Charleville was named after the Armory where these muskets were manufactured by the thousands. It’s a familiar firearm to Frenchmen. The musket is just over 5 feet in length, weighs around 10 pounds, and has an effective range of 100 yards. Private Montagne also carries a 15 inch tri-cornered socket bayonet in case he finds himself uncomfortably close to the enemy.
[LEFT][ATTACH]1792[/ATTACH][/LEFT]
Marcel has been with his unit only a few months and everything he has learned about soldiering he has picked up from fellow soldiers along the way. His chain of command starts with his Company commander, Captaine Silvane—a rather portly fellow with an outrageous moustache. Next in line is his Battalion commander, followed by his Regimental commander until it reaches Brigadier General Thiebault—the Brigade commander.
Thiebault’s Brigade is part of Brigadier General Louis de Saint-Hilaire’s Division, which itself is part of Marshal Jean Soult’s 4th Corps. Soult’s 4th Corps is part of Napoleon Bonaparte’s Grand Armee. For the next few years, every facet of Private Montagne’s life—what he eats, when (and where) he sleeps—will be decided by Napoleon and passed back down the chain of command until it finally reaches him.
It’s October 1st 1805 and at the moment, Soult’s Corps is located in fortress of Landau on the left bank of the Rhine River. If we left-click on Soult’s Corps, we can see St. Hilaire’s Division. If we left-click on Hilaire’s Division on the Unit Panel, we can see an infantry icon representing the 36th Ligne on the Element Display Panel.
[RIGHT][ATTACH]1793[/ATTACH][/RIGHT]
The 36th Regiment Infanterie de Ligne is typical of French line infantry regiments in 1805. Consisting of two battalions, the 36th Regiment has a maximum troop strength of 1,800 men. During the battle of Austerlitz, this unit, along with its sister regiments, is destined to retake the Pratzen Plateau at the crucial moment. The 36th will be hit hard at Pratzen, losing 220 Grenadiers out of 230. Poor Marcel will barely survive being struck by a Russian bullet early on in the battle. He will be sent to the rear to recuperate for several months, then later rejoin the 36th Ligne to take part in the Prussian campaign of 1806.
The 36th Regiment, a two-battalion regiment, has the following unmodified statistics:
The numbers and values assigned to these units are essentially meaningless without some basis for comparison. We can see right away however that the 36th Regiment can take 18 step-losses (either from attrition or combat) before it is eliminated, with each step of loss representing 100 men.
In addition to the two-battalion regiments like the 36th, there are three and four-battalion line infantry regiments in the 1805 and 1806 campaigns as well. The firepower values for these larger regiments show only a modest increase and you may wonder why this would be the case. This is due, in part, to the fact that no matter how large a unit is in terms of actual manpower, only a percentage of these men are able to employ their weaponry.
Larger units have a greater depth, however. Accordingly, their Assault values show a significant increase—a benefit derived from their increased mass. This increased mass also puts weight behind regimental melee attacks, causing a greater impact at the point of contact. In fire combat, larger units do little additional damage over smaller units; but when it comes to Assault combat, size does matter. An infantry regiment consisting of four battalions inflicts three times the physical damage on an opponent that a two-battalion regiment does.
Beginning with the typical Austrian regiment consisting of two battalions, we can immediately see some inherent disadvantages when the Austrian unit is compared to its French counterpart. In terms of firepower and Assault strength, the two opposing units are roughly matched. The real distinctions to be made lay in those intangible areas of Initiative, Discipline, and of course, Cohesion.
What this says at the outset is that Austrian infantry has the manpower and equipment to ‘give’ as good as it ‘gets’; but only if the men obey orders and hang around the battlefield long enough. In a combat lasting more than just a couple rounds, and certainly one that drags on to a second day, Austrian line infantry will be hard pressed to maintain itself in the firing line—but at least it will go down shooting.
Most of the Austrian infantry regiments that the French initially encounter during the Austerlitz campaign are not two battalion regiments; but the monstrous four (4) and five (5) battalion regiments of 3,700 and 4,500 men each. Fortunately for the French, the majority of these cumbersome regiments find themselves locked up in Ulm with Mack and subject to scenario restrictions which preclude them from being used effectively.
Russian Musketeer regiments are raised from peasant huts from all over Russia. The men are used to living in what others would call harsh conditions. As a result, these men make for hardy soldiers who, lacking initiative, follow orders out of habit. The surprising thing is that their assigned combat values aren’t that bad. They compare favorably to Austrian and Prussian infantry in all respects save for their Fire values.
The biggest advantage these Russian Musketeer regiments have is that there are a lot of them and that every bullet that gets fired at a musketeer is one that isn’t fired at something more valuable. Musketeer cohesion is not great but it is slightly above par with Germanic infantry on both sides of the lines. If these regiments are led by capable officers with good Offensive/Defensive Rating values, they will perform adequately.
The elite soldiers of Russia’s infantry arm are undoubtedly its Grenadiers. Having said this, Grenadier units are only moderately more effective than Musketeers. In terms of firepower, they are equivalent; and only slightly more effective in Assault combat. Initiative and Discipline are higher, as might be expected, but hardly up to the elite standards of France’s Old Guard units.
The most useful advantage to these elite soldiers is the additional ten (10) Cohesion points they are given. These additional points give Grenadiers a Cohesion that is marginally greater than the standard French infantry regiment. This means that Grenadiers can hold their own over multiple rounds of combat and makes them especially difficult to drive off the field—especially when given orders to ‘Hold At All Costs’. Combat with Grenadiers is usually bloody because neither side will break and run prematurely. Like Napoleon’s Old Guard units, Grenadiers would rather die than run away—this makes them exceedingly dangerous.
Keep in mind that my walk-through shows just one way to approach this scenario. I’m not claiming that my strategy is foolproof. Your results and your strategy will vary somewhat depending upon the weather. What I will do over the course of the scenario is explain my strategy and justify my decisions as best I can. I’ll leave it up to you to come up with strategies that better suit your command temperament.
The first turn of the scenario is crucial. Coalition forces are limited by scenario restrictions that ‘lock’ General Mack in Ulm so we’ll take advantage of this and use the turn to position our Corps. My opening move is designed to bypass Ulm and time the decisive blow so that it lands on a subsequent turn. I want to get between Mack and the oncoming Coalition forces hoping to link up with him. In order to do this, it is important to control the Augsburg junction at the start of turn 2.
Since Davout is “Active”, his Corps is able to reach Augsburg in five days. Once in Augsburg, Davout can either press the advance eastward toward Munchen or reinforce the assault on Ulm. Accordingly, Davout’s Corps should be given an Assault or Offensive Command posture that allows his troops to engage any Coalition forces moving through the region (in either direction).
Marmont and Bernadotte are both Inactive on the first turn. For this reason, these Corps are used to defend the area between Ansbach and Wurzburg. The depot at Rothenburg is a tempting target for Coalition forces early on. Two divisions from Bernadotte’s Corps should be detached in order to garrison the Wurzburg and Rothenburg depots. Deroy’s Bavarian Corps should detach a Division to protect Nuremburg and move the remaining units eastward to seize a foothold in Cham on the second turn. This move puts pressure on the Coalition to defend Regensburg when they should be sending every swinging musket elsewhere.
The Rhine river presents a major obstacle to Napoleon and the Corps in Strasbourg. On turn 1, these Forces are put in motion across the river in order to reach Ulm late in the second week. Augureau’s Corps is locked in place so he’ll remain behind to garrison the city while the rest of the Grande Armee begins its march. Soult’s Corps should cross the Rhine at Mainz with the goal of eventually reaching Stuttgart.
This leaves two Corps (Ney and Murat) to advance on Stuttgart, secure the depot and prepare to engage the Austrians on the next turn. Both of these Corps are Inactive so they cannot undertake offensive operations. That’s fine. They will hopefully Activate on the second turn and form the backbone of our Ulm assault. Murat’s Corps contains the Cavalry Reserve. Although I would prefer not to use my precious cavalry units in this manner, having them occupy the Stuttgart region puts them in position to intercept any Coalition cavalry units trying to disrupt our supply lines.
South of the Alps, Massena’s Army of Italy is used to support St.Cyr’s assault on Mantua. Because the Coalition is strongest in the south, if Mantua doesn’t fall on the first turn, the chances of taking it once Archduke Karl’s army arrives are slim. Combat will be bloody. Both sides are fairly matched and the French will be hard pressed. One division should be detached to capture the Coalition supplies in Trento while the remaining units join in the Mantua operation.
As expected, the assault on Mantua was exceedingly bloody. General Lecchi was among the first to fall. While French troops managed to take the fortress, Archduke Karl’s Austrians arrived on the scene to promptly force a withdrawal to Verona. Although casualties among St. Cyr’s Corps were heavy, French troops managed to inflict heavy damage on the Austrians as well.
Ouch. The results of this first battle are not encouraging. St Cyr men, particularly his cavalry were roughly handled by Austrian fire. The death of Lecchi at the outset of the battle is further evidence of how intense this fight was.
In the north, the French opening move went off as plan. Davout’s Corp reached the Augsburg region and is equally well disposed to advance on either Munchen, Regensburg, or Ulm. The remaining French Corps have reached positions on all sides of Ulm and are prepared to launch a decisive attack.
As predicted, the Schulmeister Spy event has ‘locked’ Mack in the city for another turn. This gives us the luxury of delaying our assault until turn 3 if necessary. The Schulmeister event is noted in the turn log. If you miss seeing it mentioned in the log, the appearence of Schulmeister in Ulm is another clue.
Thus far, the war north of the Alps has been won at the cost of shoe leather. Napoleon’s Grande Armee has been marching divided—this turn they will fight united. Mack’s Army in Ulm will be attacked by Ney, Soult, Lannes, and Marmont’s Corps backed up by Napoleon’s Grande Armee HQ and the Imperial Guard. Success in this attack is almost a foregone conclusion. The only question will be how many casualties these Corps will suffer before Ulm falls. I am prepared to accept relatively high casualties in this battle because I am interested in driving Coalition National Morale levels below 100 prior to the arrival of Russian forces in any great number. For this reason, I will rush this attack even though I could wait until Turn 3 when the odds would be better.
Davout’s Corp is going to press its luck by attempting to capture both Regensburg and Munich. The chances of success in this venture are merely fair but the operation will pin Coalition troops in this region and prevent any reinforcements from reaching Ulm. Bernadotte’s Corps is tasked with clearing the north bank of the Danube in the Ingolstadt region and blocking any cavalry raids from being mounted against the Bavarian depots. Likewise Murat’s Cavalry Reserve is ordered to move to Regensburg in support of Davout.
The strategy of sending Deroy’s Bavarian Corps into Cham is validated by the fact that Deroy is able to further strengthen Davout’s move on Regensburg. The other German allies, Baden and Wurtemburg have had little part in the operation so far. I have intentionally kept these troops out of harm’s way in an effort to deny the Coalition some easy Victory Points. Over the next few turns, these forces will be assigned to secure the French supply line against the Cossack raiders I know are on the way.
In the south, St Cyr’s Corp will be reinforced by Divisions from Massena’s Army of Italy. I am betting that the losses that Archduke Karl’s forces suffered previously will cause them to spend the turn consolidating. With luck, a renewed assault on Mantua may just take the city. It better work. I’m counting on superior French leadership to win the day in the south. If St Cyr’s Corps fails in taking the city this turn, the Army of Italy will be forced to go on the defensive for the remainder of the game.
Turn 2 Resolution
After a turn of very heavy fighting, both Ulm and Mantua have fallen. Casualties among French units have been moderately high but so far Napoleon has been lucky. The weather has remained favorable to swift operations. Mack’s army in Ulm has been utterly defeated and disbanded after suffering losses of nearly 50,000 men. Napoleon’s Grande Armee is consolidated in Ulm in the aftermath of the battle and this will make a general restructuring possible.
Part of what made the attack on Ulm so successful is the use of the Synchronized Movement command. This command allows Corps and HQs in the same region to time their movement so that their attacks are coordinated rather than executed piecemeal. As you can see from the Battle Report, Napoleon directed a six Corps simultaneous attack of over 170,000 men on Mack’s 90,000 Austrians. The result was devastating. Napoleon eliminated the Austrian threat in Bavaria in exchange for less than 15,000 men.
East of Ulm, Davout’s Corp and Delroy’s Bavarians captured Regensburg along with a depot full of supplies. Their move on Munchen has been halted by Russian troops that entered the city at the last moment. A quick look at some of Davout’s units shows that most have lost nearly a third of their cohesion. Davout's Corps hasn't been involved in much combat yet; these cohesion losses are due to movement.
Remember, Forces lose about 1 cohesion point per day simply by moving around. This is why you should let troops remain in place whenever possible. Not only will they not lose cohesion, they actually recover lost cohesion and will eventually regain their maximum allowance. In Davout's case, it might be worthwhile to allow them a turn to rest before attempting to drive the Russians out of Munchen.
South of the Alps, St. Cyr’s Corps captured Mantua and held the city in the face of repeated Austrian counterattacks. Though they hold the city, St. Cyr’s men are now besieged by Archduke Karl’s Austrians. The presence of red-shaded regions indicates that St. Cyr’s Corps is blocked by Austrian besiegers. Massena has moved behind the Adige River to regroup. The situation in the south has reached a stalemate. St. Cyr is not strong enough by himself to lift the siege and Archduke Karl’s force is not strong enough to retake the city.
At the end of the second turn, French National Morale has climbed to 121. This will increase their maximum cohesion by 10 points across the board. Austrian National Morale remains at 110 despite my efforts to reduce it below 100 early on. No matter. French losses number less than 45,000 in contrast to more than 110,000 casualties inflicted on the Austrians thus far.
As a side note, with the victory at Ulm has come the spoils. French forces have captured a variety of artillery pieces and supply wagons. Be careful that you do not combine these captured units into your Forces without first checking their mobility. Siege artillery is notoriously slow-moving. Putting one of those units into a Corps has the effect of slowing the entire Force. You'll wind up surprised that your Corps takes 30 days to enter an adjacent region.
Before moving on, let’s discuss a couple things that I have yet to touch on in any great detail. The first thing we should consider is the weather.
This scenario starts in early October. A late autumn start date means that the weather will soon be turning harsh (i.e. Mud and Snow). As we enter November and December, the chances of very harsh conditions (i.e. Frozen and Blizzard) increase dramatically. Essentially, weather does three things. It slows movement, increases movement attrition, and reduces the initial range at which combat takes place. All of these things are bad from the French perspective. We want to move fast, lose fewer men doing it, and engage the enemy at ranges that maximize the effectiveness of our artillery.
While there’s nothing we can do to change the weather, we can at least take steps to minimize the effects of attrition on our Forces. If you play with the Hardened Attrition option enabled, be prepared to lose a lot of men due to bad weather. Otherwise, the three things you can do to lessen the effects are: don’t move unless absolutely necessary, keep your men inside structures whenever possible, and keep at least two fully-loaded Supply Wagons with each of your Forces to absorb attrition hits.
The second thing we should look at is the issue of replacements. Replacement chits are created each turn from two sources; the production of conscript companies and the return of combat/attrition losses suffered in previous turns. The production of conscript companies is fixed according to the scenario. Certain regions produce conscripts and money. These are identified by a notation on the region’s tool-tip display. A portion of attrition and combat losses suffered in the field is also returned to the Replacement Pool. This represents, in part, injured soldiers returning to duty and stragglers rejoining their units. The number of conscript companies returned to the Replacement Pool is as follows:
* 33% of combat losses is returned to the Replacement Pool as conscript companies,
* 66% of attrition losses are returned to the Replacement Pool as conscript companies.
Strength points that are lost in combat as Prisoners of War are not returned to the Replacement Pool. They are gone for good. Therefore, there is a real value in taking POWs above the simple elimination of enemy units. This is one reason why the destruction of Mack’s army at Ulm is such a monumental event. Every Austrian that gets taken prisoner is out of the game for good.
This is also why the number of casualties you see listed on the Ledger (F5 key) may seem high during the late stages of the game. The casualty count may be reflecting strength points that have been eliminated, returned to the Replacement Pool, and been eliminated a second time.
The last thing to discuss before proceeding is Leadership special abilities. A number of Leaders have special abilities that effect game mechanics. These abilities are easy to overlook in the rush to move units around the map and engage in combat but they are extremely important. When it comes to special abilities it is sometimes difficult to determine exactly when and where they apply. Some abilities apply only to the elements of a particular unit, some apply only to a particular Force, and some can apply to every Force in a particular region.
Essentially, most abilities apply only if the Leader is in command of a Force (i.e. an Army HQ, Corps, or independent Force). Most abilities are not cumulative. In other words, if a Force contained three 1-star Leaders with the Brave special ability, the Force would only get the benefit of one Brave ability bonus. On the other hand, if a unit of Legere infantry possessing a Skirmisher ability was commanded by a Leader with the Skirmisher ability, the unit would get the Skirmisher ability bonus twice. This is because abilities given to units are cumulative with abilities given to Leaders. In most cases, determining special ability bonuses is a matter of common sense.
Thus far, Napoleon has had a fairly easy time brushing aside the Coalition forces arrayed against him north of the Alps. With the destruction of Mack’s Austrians in Ulm and Davout’s capture of the Regensburg depot, the first set of French objectives has been accomplished. Russian troops should start to make an appearance over the next couple turns along the Munchen—Linz—Wien axis. Napoleon’s goal will be to engage these Forces as they arrive, one after another, rather than allowing them to consolidate.
In the south, Massena and St. Cyr have played a tag-team game against Archduke Karl’s men and were extremely lucky to have broken into Mantua when they did. The difficulty of reinforcing French troops in northern Italy prevents these two from exploiting their gains. Holding on to Mantua is enough for right now as far as my long term strategy in the south is concerned.
Overall, I’m very pleased with the progress the French have made so far. We’ve fought and won two major battles and have blocked any attempts by Coalition cavalry to strike at our supply lines. Bavaria has been cleared of Austrian forces and we are well-positioned to further exploit our initial successes. All this has not come without cost, however. Corps belonging to Ney, Soult, and Lannes have borne the brunt of the fighting; and it shows. Many units in these Corps have suffered multiple step-losses and a severe loss of cohesion.
This turn I want to accomplish two main goals. First, I want to clear the major road network leading from Ulm to Regensburg by forcing the remnants of Mack’s army and the Memmingen garrison back toward Innsbruck. Augereau’s Corps, which has so far seen little action, will be given orders to engage the Austrian detachments in this area and sweep them eastward toward the Isar River. Corps belonging to Soult and Murat are ordered to Regensburg in order to reinforce Davout’s men. Davout and Deroy will remain stationary in Regensburg. These two Corps need to recover some measure of cohesion before proceeding toward Munchen. Unfortunately, this means that the Coalition has an opportunity to strengthen their Munchen defenses. Napoleon and the Imperial Guard Corps will remain in Ulm this turn in order to rest and recover.
Bernadotte’s Corp is tasked with defending a line from Regensburg, north along the Naab River, to Bayreuth. His Corps has been stripped of much of its strength for use in garrisoning the Bavarian depots in this area. Kellerman’s 1st Cavalry Division is ordered to march toward Pilsen. This move is intended to judge the strength of Coalition forces east of the Naab and take the Pilsen depot if possible. Although I foresee this being a secondary theatre of operations, I want to be on guard against a Coalition flanking maneuver north of the Danube.
The second thing I want to accomplish this turn is the lifting of the Mantua siege. I’m betting that once again Archduke Karl’s forces will be happy maintaining the siege in a Defensive posture. If I can coordinate a move by Massena over the Adige River with a sortie by St. Cyr from inside the fortress, I’m trusting that their combined strength may be enough to drive Karl back on Venezia.
Turn 3 Resolution.
Surprise! Surprise! It seems my crafty Coalition opponent has decided to make a major move on my supply lines by attempting a flanking maneuver north of the Danube. My decision to send Kellermann’s cavalry to Pilsen has revealed the presence of three formations of Russian troops marching toward Bayreuth. Bernadotte’s weakened Corps is going to have a fight on its hands very shortly I fear.
South of the Danube, Soult and Murat were unable to reach Davout who, along with Deroy’s Bavarians, is hunkered down in Regensburg. This tells me that the Coalition is attempting to hold onto the road network east of Ulm. Fortunately, Soult’s men were able to reach Augereau despite the opposition of units belonging to the Austrian Tyrolean Army led by Archduke Johann. This is good news. I was concerned the Johann’s Tyrolean Army would attempt to cross the Alps and link up with Karl’s men in an effort to retake Mantua. Now that they have been engaged north of the Alps, I can relax a bit. The Tyroleans are now in a very bad spot, having advanced between Augereau (and Soult) and Napoleon’s Corps in Ulm.
South of the Alps, my effort to lift the siege at Mantua has been successful. After fighting a major battle with Archduke Karl, Massena and St. Cyr have affected a link-up. As you can see from the battle report, both sides suffered heavy casualties (9,000 to 10,000).
The French, though they outnumbered the Austrians by nearly 40%, were lucky to win this battle judging by the number of units that fled the field. This indicates that Massena’s men have lost a significant amount of cohesion over the last few turns and are in desperate need of a rest.
Interestingly, Karl’s army was able to muster only 68,000 men and was forced to retreat northward to Verona. Karl’s retreat to the north is potentially fatal. My troops in Mantua are now able to reach Venezia more quickly than the Austrians. With so few men remaining in Karl’s army, I’m left with a decision as to whether it’s worth pushing my bone-tired Frenchman into making a move on Venezia.
The discovery of a Russian offensive north of the Danube has caused me to rethink certain assumptions I’ve been making regarding the defense of Munchen. I had originally held the opinion that the Coalition would throw everything it could into a defense of the city. Now it appears that at least two Russian Corps, and possibly as many as four, are taking part in this strategic counter-offensive in Bavaria. With this much Coalition strength positioned north of the Danube, I question how much is left to block my advance along the south bank. Orders have therefore gone out to Davout’s Corps to make an attack on Munchen.
To counter the Russian move, Napoleon along with Ney, Lannes, and the Imperial Guard, will march to Ansbach as a preparatory move against Munchen or the Russians west of the Naab River. Murat’s cavalry is given orders to hurry north to reinforce Bernadotte. With the weather about to turn harsh, it’s in my interests to engage the Coalition as far west as possible. Let the enemy burn up his cohesion points marching toward me rather than vice-versa. Moreover, the Russian offensive takes them farther from their sources of supply and allows my forces fight closer to mine.
In the south, St Cyr and Massena will spend the turn recovering cohesion and absorbing replacements. Karl has shown little aggressive intent and remains rooted to his position at Trevisa. As much as I would like to move on Venezia, French troops in Mantua are in no condition to conduct offensive action.
More information is becoming available about the Russian counter-offensive. The advance elements appear to be primarily Cossack and light cavalry units as expected. Their presence effectively screens the main weight of the attack from my view but all indications lead me to believe that the bulk of this attack is still east of the Naab.
Davout’s attack on Munchen was only partially successful. The attack kicked off under muddy conditions and failed to develop the momentum needed to dislodge the Coalition defenders. After suffering nearly 10,000 casualties, the Coalition force withdrew into the city. A significant number of Coalition units were routed in the battle leading me to conclude that their cohesion levels are low.
Johann’s Tyrolean Army remained in place this turn. With Napoleon now moving to the north to engage the Russian counter-offensive, Johann represents a threat to the road network near Ulm. Whether this force will be able to remain in this position once its supplies run out is an open question.
French National Morale: 119
Coalition National Morale: 110
French Victory Points: 348
Coalition Victory Points: 168
The more I look at the Russian counter-offensive in Bavaria, the more I see this attack as either a feint or very ill-considered. If Bernadotte was ever really threatened in his position along the Naab, that time has passed.
Murat’s cavalry is under orders to sweep Coalition cavalry back over the river and it appears as if he will face nothing more than a few motley Cossacks. Just in case I'm wrong, the Wurtemburger contingent has taken up position in Wurzburg as an additional measure of security for our depot.
Having concluded that the Russian attack is probably not going to amount to much, Napoleon and the three Corps with him have been ordered to march on Regensburg. Davout and Soult will renew the attack on Munchen this turn. Having come close to capturing the city last turn, I’m of the opinion that one more push will do the trick.
Marmont and Augereau will attempt to drive Johann’s Tyroleans back on Innsbruck. Once this threat to our supply lines is removed, the road network to Regensburg will be free of Coalition interference. This is a necessary preliminary to my attack along the Danube toward Wien.
Overall, I am pleased with the general direction the campaign is taking. Although casualties have been high, I have taken steps to maximize the absorption of replacement steps. The pace of the advance has been somewhat disappointing but with every passing day the Coalition seems to be getting increasingly weaker.
If the Coalition counter-offensive into Bavaria fails to materialize, it will mean a disastrous retreat through inhospitable terrain in harsh weather. In short, I would rather be fighting them in Bavaria than on the doorstep of Wien. The longer the Coalition persists in hanging around the Naab, the better as far as I’m concerned.
As expected, Munchen fell to a combined assault by Soult and Davout. With the capture of Munchen, the Coalition is left with no depots west of Salzburg and Prag. It appears that the Russian drive into Bavaria has gone into reverse. Fortunately, Napoleon’s main body of troops shifted to Regensburg in anticipation of this eventuality. A few Russian cavalry units remain in the vicinity of Wurzburg but they are being shadowed by Murat and represent little threat to the city.
My strategy over the last few turns has been to block the Russian counter-offensive while simultaneously prepping for a rapid advance toward Wien. Now that the offensive has been blocked and Munchen has fallen, Napoleon’s main body is poised to conduct an advance along the Regensburg—Linz—Wien axis. Coalition casualties have been so high, a credible defense of the capital will be practically impossible. Bad weather now becomes the Coalition’s strongest ally.
In a surprising move, Archduke Karl crossed the Adige River in an effort to isolate the French forces in Mantua. In doing this, he has placed a fortified city along with a very powerful body of French troops directly astride his supply line back to Venezia. This is a risky gambit. My impression is that Karl intends to move on Milano before turning back to face Massena and St. Cyr. If it works, Karl will be hailed as a brilliant strategist. At the moment, I'm of the opinion that this move will ultimately allow Massena to bag his entire army. Time will tell.
The game has finally reached a point where Coalition National Morale is starting to deteriorate. The loss of Munchen has precipitated a general downward trend that will be difficult to turn around. In addition to the loss of the city, two Coalition officers (Werneck, a 2-star and Kerpen, a 1-star) were killed in action.
One of the things I’ve failed to mention thus far is the ability of Leaders to earn battlefield promotions. If a Leader distinguishes himself on the field of glory he sometimes becomes eligible for promotion. In order to become eligible, a Leader must earn a minimum of four (4) Seniority points and occupy a slot in the command hierarchy that allows room for advancement.
Early in this campaign, Brigadier General Louis-Gabriel Suchet, an infantry Division commander in Marshall Lanne’s 5th Corps, earned himself a promotion on account of his participation in the battles around Ulm.
Once you have moved Suchet’s Division so that it is an Independent Force, the Promote Leader button becomes highlighted. Hold your mouse over the Promotion Leader button to view the tool-tip information regarding this potential promotion.
As you can see, promoting Suchet would bypass Brigadier General Oudinot. In this case, you are required to lose 1 National Morale point and 20 victory points—not an inconsequential sum. Think carefully. Do you really need another 2-star General?
My answer is usually yes. Promoting a 1-star General to a 2-star General rank increases the number of Command Points he generates from three (3) to six (6). In addition, once Suchet becomes a 2-star General he is eligible to command a Corps, rather than just a Division.
Left-click the Promote Leader button to promote Suchet. The promotion does not take place until the following turn.
Shown here on the following turn, you’ll notice that Suchet now has a 2-star icon on his Unit Detail panel. A message in the Message Log will indicate that the promotion has taken place and that the prerequisite cost in National Morale and Victory Points has been paid.
It is important to be aware of Promotion messages when they appear on the Message Log. You must decide whether or not to promote a Leader on the turn the promotion opportunity is made available. If you do not promote him on the turn he becomes eligible, you lose the ability to promote him on subsequent turns.
After the heavy fighting over the last couple weeks, French forces could do with a rest and a few turns of gathering replacements. Unfortunately, with bad weather on the horizon, I need to hustle the French troops into Wien as quickly as possible. This operation requires a none-too-subtle advance straight up the middle, from Regensburg to Wien along the south bank of the Danube. This is muscle work. Napoleon needs to bull his way over two minor rivers and through the fortress of Linz. Coalition forces know this and the Linz bottleneck is a perfect place to mount a defense. It reminds me of El Alamein in World War Two, when the British made use of the Quatarra Depression before Alexandria. Coalition troops will be thick as thieves in this region if I don’t reach it before they do. The aborted Russian offensive into Bavaria is in reverse, I’m sure of that much. Now it’s a race to see who will beat who to Wien.
This turn will be used as an organizational turn. I’ve assembled the Grande Armee HQ, Ney, Lannes, Deroy, the Imperial Guard and Murat’s cavalry in Regensburg. All of these units are in relatively good shape and have ample supplies on hand for a sustained operation. Davout and Soult’s Corps will stay at Munich for the next few turns. These two Corps have suffered significant losses and require a good deal of rest.
The remaining French forces, Augereau’s Corps in particular, will attempt to secure the road network between Ulm and Regensburg. A massive four wagon supply train is moving from Mainz to Regensburg. Once in Regensburg it will be in position to support the drive on Wien.
In the South, Archduke Karl’s move across the Adige has left his army isolated and vulnerable. Karl is a decent commander so I can only suspect that he is up to something that I’m not aware of as yet. As it stands now, he is nicely cornered between St Cyr’s Corps east of Milano and Massena’s men in the Mantua citadel. This turn, French forces in Italy will remain on the defensive and hope that Karl’s army does the same. The last time I battled Karl, a significant number of French units broke during combat. This tells me that cohesion levels need to be raised before initiating any further offensive action in the South.
Not much happened this turn other than both sides are repositioning for the upcoming battle along the approaches to Wien. In the south, a detachment of French infantry captured the depot at Trento further isolating Karl’s army in Bergamo.
Post any comments and questions you have about this in the comment-thread: http://www.ageod-forum.com/showthread.php?t=7492
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__label__cc | 0.647654 | 0.352346 | FBAR Reporting for Foreign Annuities, Life Insurance and Trusts
June 4, 2014 By Asher Rubinstein, Esq.
We remind readers that FinCEN Form 114 (formerly TD 90-22.1), the Report of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts (the “FBAR”), for calendar year 2013, is due by June 30, 2014. The FBAR must be filed electronically.
As we advised previously, in 2011, the U.S. Treasury Department issued revised regulations regarding the FBAR. The FBAR filing now applies to foreign annuity policies and foreign life insurance policies that are owned by U.S. taxpayers, and to some beneficiaries of foreign trusts. If you are subject to the FBAR filing requirement, the 2013 FBAR is due by June 30, 2014.
The FBAR is required to be filed by a U.S. person who has a financial interest in, or signature or other authority over, any foreign financial account (including bank, securities or other types of financial accounts), if the aggregate value of the financial account(s) exceeds $10,000 at any time during the calendar year.
1. Foreign Annuity Policies
The 2011 FBAR regulations extend the FBAR requirement to foreign annuity policies that have a cash surrender value and are owned by U.S. persons. Under the new regulations, such annuity policies are considered a “foreign financial account”, reportable via the FBAR by the policy owner, which is usually the U.S. client. Such annuities are reportable even if they are deferred annuities and there are no present annuity payments.
2. Foreign Life Insurance
A foreign life insurance policy is now reportable as a “foreign financial account” if the insurance policy is owned by a U.S. person and the policy has a cash surrender value. The reporting requirement applies to the policy owner, if he/she is a U.S. person. It does not apply if the policy is owned by a foreign trust rather than a U.S. client. (Note, however, that a client who is a beneficiary of a foreign trust may still be subject to the FBAR, see 3 below.)
3. Foreign Trusts
The 2011 FBAR regulations extend the FBAR requirement to some U.S. beneficiaries of foreign trusts, such as foreign insurance trusts. The new regulations apply to U.S. beneficiaries of a foreign trust who have a reportable financial interest in the trust. A U.S. person has a reportable financial interest if the U.S. person had more than a fifty percent (50%) present beneficial interest in a trust’s assets or if the U.S. person received more than fifty percent of the current income of the trust. The beneficial interest in the assets of the trust must be a “present” beneficial interest for the FBAR to apply. A beneficiary of a purely discretionary trust, i.e., where trust distributions are made solely in the discretion of a trustee does not have a “present” interest. However, with respect to the trust income, a beneficiary who receives more than fifty percent of trust’s “current” (i.e., annual) income has a financial interest that is reportable on the FBAR.
Under prior FBAR regulations, there was ambiguity as to whether a discretionary trust beneficiary was subject to the FBAR. Beneficiaries of a foreign discretionary trust may only receive distributions at the discretion of the foreign trustee. The new rules clarify that only a present beneficial interest gives rise to the FBAR and only beneficiaries who receive more than fifty percent of a trust’s current income are subject to the FBAR.
4. Additional Important Points
• Even if the annuity policy or insurance policy was cancelled in 2013, and the trust account closed during 2013, if they existed at any point during 2013, an FBAR is required.
• The requirement to file the FBAR exists irrespective of whether you filed IRS Form 8938, Statement of Specified Foreign Financial Assets. This is yet another IRS form to report foreign assets, including foreign annuity policies, foreign life insurance policies, and interests in foreign trust. We’ve written about IRS Form 8938, here. Form 8938 is due with your annual tax return.
• The June 30, 2014 deadline is the deadline for receipt of the FBAR by the Treasury Department.
• Even if you have an extension for filing your tax returns, the 2013 FBAR is still due by June 30, 2014. There are no extensions for the FBAR deadline.
• The FBAR is now required to be filed electronically.
It is crucial to preserve the integrity of your offshore planning and to maintain its tax compliance by abiding by all IRS rules and regulations. Please contact us for more information.
If You Have Foreign Assets, IRS Form 8938 Is Due April 15, 2014
April 9, 2014 By Asher Rubinstein, Esq.
Readers are reminded that IRS Form 8938, Statement of Specified Foreign Financial Assets, is due with their 1040 tax returns by April 15, 2014. IRS Form 8938 was first introduced for tax year 2011, and is yet another IRS form to report ownership of foreign assets. In many cases, Form 8938 is due even if the same foreign assets are reported on different IRS forms, such as Form 3520 for foreign trusts, Form 5471 for foreign corporations, and the FBAR form (Report of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts, FinCEN Form 114) for foreign financial accounts. If a taxpayer obtains an extension for submission of Form 1040, then Form 8938 should be submitted when the Form 1040 is submitted on extension.
The following are examples of foreign assets that are subject to reporting on Form 8938:
foreign bank and brokerage accounts;
stock of foreign corporations and interests in foreign LLCs and partnerships;
interests in a foreign entity such as a trust or foundation;
ownership of foreign financial instruments, such as bonds and promissory notes;
ownership of foreign investment instruments and contracts issued by a foreign entity, including foreign annuity policies and insurance policies;
interests in a foreign investment fund, hedge fund, mutual fund and private equity fund.
FATCA (the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act) is coming into effect internationally and foreign financial institutions (FFIs) will soon begin to report to the IRS regarding US owners of foreign assets. Thus, it is imperative to file Form 8938 before the IRS first learns of the asset from an FFI.
We can assist in determining whether you are subject to Form 8938, and can answer your questions regarding US tax compliance for foeign assets. Contact us for a confidential consultation.
For our prior guidance on IRS Form 8938, please read our article here.
For a helpful comparison between Form 8938 and the FBAR, please click here.
2013 Year End Notes, Part 3: Offshore Considerations
December 13, 2013 By Asher Rubinstein, Esq.
During 2013, the IRS and U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) continued to successfully attack offshore banking “secrecy”. The IRS’ success against UBS and other banks eroded Swiss banking secrecy, effectively ending “going offshore” to hide money from the IRS. Going offshore for asset protection from civil creditors, however, is still viable and effective, but must be tax-compliant.Continue Reading
FBAR Form is Due June 30, 2013 to Report Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts
May 22, 2013 By Asher Rubinstein, Esq.
We remind readers that the 2012 Report of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts (the “FBAR”), Form T.D. 90-22.1, is due by June 30, 2013.
The FBAR is required to be filed by a U.S. person who has a financial interest in, or signature or other authority over, any foreign financial account if the aggregate value of the financial account(s) exceeds $10,000 at any time during the calendar year.
If you participated in the 2009, 2011 or 2012 IRS Offshore Voluntary Disclosure Program (OVDI or OVDP), you still must file an FBAR if you had a foreign financial account subject to the reporting threshold at any time during 2012. Having participated in the voluntary disclosure program, you must ensure ongoing tax compliance regarding foreign assets.
The FBAR applies whether or not you participated in a voluntary disclosure. If you have an interest in a foreign financial account (whether as owner, co-owner, signatory or power of authority), foreign mutual fund, foreign annuity policy, foreign life insurance policy or have a beneficial interest in a foreign trust, you may have an FBAR reporting requirement.
Please note the following additional points:
A new FBAR form was introduced by the IRS in January 2012. Even though the new FBAR form is substantively similar to the prior version, you should use the new form.
Recently enacted Treasury Regulations now include foreign annuities and foreign life insurance policies owned by U.S. persons which have a cash surrender value, foreign mutual funds and foreign trusts as reportable via the FBAR. Please see our article here. Contact us if you have any questions about whether you are subject to the new FBAR rules.
The requirement to file the FBAR exists irrespective of whether you filed new IRS Form 8938, Statement of Foreign Financial Assets. We have written about new Form 8938 here. Call us if you have any questions about new Form 8938.
The June 30, 2013 deadline is the deadline for receipt of the FBAR by the Treasury Department (unlike IRS Forms which must be postmarked by, e.g., April 15).
Even if you have an extension for filing your tax returns, the 2012 FBAR is still due by June 30, 2013. There are no extensions for the FBAR deadline.
Even if you closed a foreign account during 2012, an FBAR may still be due if your interest in the account (or annuity policy, mutual fund, etc.) existed at any time during 2012.
We can advise you regarding whether you are required to file an FBAR, and we can prepare the FBAR for you. In light of the June 30, 2013 deadline, please contact us immediately.
Advantages Of Having An Offshore Annuity
There are many advantages to purchasing an annuity from a foreign annuity company. One advantage of a foreign annuity is the asset protection it provides. Once funds are sent to the annuity company, those funds are not subject to U.S. jurisdiction. This means that funds held in the foreign annuity will be inaccessible to a U.S. court and to U.S. creditors seeking to enforce a judgment. The process of reaching the assets in the foreign jurisdiction is extremely difficult. Various foreign jurisdictions do not recognize judgments issued by U.S. courts. Moreover, various foreign jurisdictions statutorily exempt annuity policies from attachment or restraint. Thus, creditors are deterred and assets are protected by the foreign annuity.
Secondly, the foreign annuity company, having no U.S. shareholders, is exempt from tax on capital appreciation of U.S. investments and is also exempt from tax on all non-U.S. income. In other words, accruals on the funds within the annuity policy can be tax-free.
A third advantage of an offshore annuity is investment flexibility and diversification. Foreign annuities have access to investments not available to U.S. investors. By purchasing an offshore annuity, a U.S. investor broadens his or her investment portfolio and is exposed to earnings previously unavailable. Furthermore, the purchaser of a foreign annuity may determine the annuity terms which best fit his or her needs, such as whether annuity payments should be deferred until retirement (thus prolonging tax-free accruals).
Lastly, the purchase of an offshore annuity is neither taxable nor reportable to the I.R.S., unlike the opening of an offshore bank account. Moreover, the earnings generated by an offshore annuity are not reportable to the I.R.S. Clearly, purchasing a foreign annuity has many benefits: asset protection, investment diversification, and tax minimization.
FBAR Disclosure Applies to Foreign Annuity Policies, Foreign Life Insurance Policies and Foreign Trusts; Deadline is June 30, 2012
June 19, 2012 By Asher Rubinstein, Esq.
This is a reminder that the Report of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts (“FBAR”), T.D. 90-22.1, for calendar year 2011, is due by June 30, 2012.
As discussed previously << http://www.assetlawyer.com/wordpress/?p=955>>, the U.S. Treasury Department in 2011 issued revised regulations regarding the FBAR. The FBAR filing now applies to foreign annuity policies and foreign life insurance policies that are owned by U.S. taxpayers, and to some beneficiaries of foreign trusts. If you are subject to the FBAR filing requirement, the 2011 FBAR is due by June 30, 2012.
As discussed previously, the U.S. Treasury Department in 2011 issued revised regulations regarding the FBAR. The FBAR filing now applies to foreign annuity policies and foreign life insurance policies that are owned by U.S. taxpayers, and to some beneficiaries of foreign trusts. If you are subject to the FBAR filing requirement, the 2011 FBAR is due by June 30, 2012.
Foreign Annuity Policies
The 2011 FBAR regulations extend the FBAR requirement to foreign annuity policies that have a cash surrender value and are owned by U.S. persons. Under the new regulations, such annuity policies are considered a “foreign financial account”, reportable via the FBAR by the policy owner. Such annuities are reportable even if they are deferred annuities and there are no present annuity payments.
Foreign Life Insurance
A foreign life insurance policy is now reportable as a “foreign financial account” if the insurance policy is owned by a U.S. person and the policy has a cash surrender value. The reporting requirement applies to the policy owner, if he/she is a U.S. person.
Foreign Trusts
Foreign trusts also give rise to filing IRS Forms 3520 and 3520-A as well as new IRS Form 8938.
Please also note the following with respect to the FBAR requirement:
Even if the annuity policy or insurance policy was cancelled in 2011, and the trust account closed during 2011, if they existed at any point during 2011, an FBAR is required.
The requirement to file the FBAR exists irrespective of whether you filed new IRS Form 8938, Statement of Foreign Financial Assets. Please see our discussion regarding new Form 8938.
Ownership of investment instruments and contracts issued by a foreign entity, including foreign annuity contracts and insurance policies, are reportable on Form 8938 as well as on the FBAR.
A new FBAR form was issued in January 2012. Even though the new FBAR form is substantially similar to the prior version, you should use the new form.
It is crucial to preserve the integrity of your offshore planning and to maintain its tax compliance by abiding by all IRS rules and regulations.
Do You Have Foreign Assets?
March 29, 2012 By Asher Rubinstein, Esq.
NEW IRS FORM 8938 REQUIRES DISCLOSURE BY APRIL 17, 2012
Over the last few years, the U.S. government has enacted a series of laws and regulations designed to create greater transparency of assets held overseas by U.S. taxpayers. In order to track and tax those foreign assets, the IRS has created Form 8938, Statement of Specific Foreign Financial Assets, a new form which requires taxpayers who own certain specified foreign assets to disclose these assets annually to the IRS. Many taxpayers who own such specified foreign assets are now required to file Form 8938, or risk being penalized by the IRS. The requirement to file new Form 8938 is already effective. The form is due by April 17, 2012, along with your Form 1040, for calendar year 2011.
The new form is broad in its coverage of foreign assets that require disclosure. Foreign assets required to be reported include:
foreign bank and brokerage accounts (which are already reportable on Form TD 90-22.1, Report of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts, known as the “FBAR”);
stock of foreign corporations and interests in foreign limited liability companies (LLCs), partnerships and other entities, whether publicly traded or privately held;
interests in foreign Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs) (but interests in Passive Foreign Investment Companies [PFICs] that are reported on IRS Form 8621 need not be repeated on new Form 8938);
ownership of investment instruments and contracts issued by a foreign entity, including foreign annuity contracts and insurance policies (also already subject to FBAR disclosure);
interests in a foreign investment fund, hedge fund, mutual fund and private equity fund (but note the PFIC exemption above);
Note that even though certain foreign assets may not be reportable on new Form 8938, these assets may still be reportable on other IRS forms and on the FBAR. Note also that even though an asset is already reportable on, e.g., the FBAR, it may be reportable on Form 8938 as well, notwithstanding the resulting redundancy. It is also important to note that even if a foreign asset is not reportable if directly owned (e.g., real estate or bullion), if such asset is owned by a foreign entity, a U.S. taxpayer’s interest on the foreign entity is reportable.
Form 8938 requires details of the foreign assets, along with their values. Form 8938 is required if the total value of all foreign assets exceeds certain predefined threshold amounts, depending on the taxpayer’s residency during the tax year. In general, reporting is required for assets valued in excess of $50,000 for a single U.S. taxpayer and $100,000 for a married couple filing jointly, living in the U.S. If the U.S. taxpayer lives abroad, he or she must report any assets in excess of $200,000 for a single taxpayer and $400,000 for a married couple filing jointly. Financial accounts, and the assets in those accounts, held at a foreign branch of a U.S. financial institution or a U.S. branch of a foreign financial institution are not subject to reporting on Form 8938.
If a taxpayer has reported the foreign assets on another IRS form (e.g., Form 3520 for foreign trusts, Form 5471 for foreign corporations, etc.), he or she need not report these assets on Form 8938, but must still complete Part IV of Form 8938 and specify on which other tax form the assets were reported. The amounts reported on the other IRS forms will count towards the aggregate threshold amount for Form 8938. Therefore, if the amounts reported by the taxpayer on the other IRS forms meet the Form 8938 threshold amount, then any other foreign assets not reported on the other forms must be disclosed on Form 8938.
There are numerous IRS penalties associated with a failure to report foreign assets, as well as potential fines and criminal prosecution. Taxpayers who own foreign assets and are unsure whether they must file new Form 8938 should seek guidance from an experienced offshore tax compliance attorney.
Additional Important Points
The disclosure requirements for Form 8938 are already effective. While FATCA regulations are coming into effect over time, this new Form 8938 is due this year, i.e., with your 2011 tax return, due April 17, 2012, or later if you receive an extension.
Form 8938 is an informational return, whereby ownership interests in foreign assets are reported. However, Form 8938 does not assess tax on foreign income. Income from foreign assets is reported on other forms such as Form 1040, Form 8621, etc. The U.S. Internal Revenue Code assesses income from all sources world wide. Income includes interest, capital gains, dividends, royalties, etc., from all foreign sources.
Any interest in social security, social insurance or other similar foreign government program need not be reported on Form 8938.
However, an interest in a foreign pension plan or foreign retirement account requires reporting.
A mere signatory authority (e.g., power of attorney, co-signatory) over a foreign account does not require disclosure via Form 8938. However, the FBAR form is still required for a power of attorney or co-signatory authority.
Taxpayers filing Form 8938 may still be required to file an FBAR in addition.
Form 8938 requires the reporting of the value of foreign assets. Many cases, e.g., ownership of a fraction of a foreign entity or investment fund, may require complex valuation and obtaining financial information from foreign sources.
With respect to beneficiaries of foreign trusts, whereas such beneficiaries are required to file an FBAR if they have a “present” beneficial interest (defined as the right to receive a mandatory distribution, or actual receipt of 50% of trust income or assets), Form 8938 is required if the trust beneficiary receives a distribution that, together with other specified foreign assets, meets the Form 8938 specified threshold (e.g., $50,000 for a single taxpayer; see supra). If the foreign trust is a discretionary trust and the U.S. taxpayer does not receive a distribution (or receives a distribution that, when combined with his/her other specified foreign assets, does not exceed his/her reporting threshold), the value of his/her interest in the trust is zero and therefore not subject to reporting.
For the time being (until the IRS issues additional regulations), Form 8938 reporting requirements apply only to U.S. individuals. U.S. corporations and other entities are not required to report ownership or interest in foreign assets on Form 8938. (Note, however, that the FBAR does apply to entities like corporations).
Form 8938 applies to various components of offshore asset protection structures (e.g., foreign trusts). However, the offshore asset protection is still intact, because Form 8938 is for IRS reporting purposes only and does not impact the integrity of a foreign asset protection structure. This form merely makes an already reportable offshore entity or asset more transparent to the government. As we have long counseled, foreign asset protection structures do not rely on secrecy and give no expectation of tax secrecy. However, vis-a-vis private civil creditors, tax complaint offshore strategies still offer concrete asset protection.
Taxpayers who own or have interests in specified foreign financial assets may have to report the existence and value of those assets on new IRS Form 8938, or face penalties. We have long assisted clients with the many compliance and disclosure requirements for offshore assets. We can assist in determining whether you are subject to new Form 8938, and can answer any other questions you have regarding U.S. tax compliance for foreign assets.
Asher Rubinstein's article on End-of-Year Tax and Estate Planning published on Forbes.com
November 12, 2010 By Asher Rubinstein, Esq.
Asher Rubinstein’s article on End-of-Year Tax and Estate Planning published on Forbes.com | cc/2019-30/en_head_0013.json.gz/line11041 |
__label__cc | 0.71993 | 0.28007 | 2019 Tax Season: IRS Reporting Requirements for Offshore Assets; Deadline is April 15, 2019. New Rules for Controlled Foreign Corporations Create New Tax Burdens
February 28, 2019 By Asher Rubinstein, Esq.
Tax season is again upon us. We remind readers that ownership of offshore assets (including a wide group of disparate assets, such as bank accounts, business interests, rental real estate, insurance policies, mutual funds, foreign corporations, foreign trusts) are subject to significant IRS reporting requirements. In addition, the new tax law changes passed by Congress at the end of 2017 now allow the IRS to reach, and tax, certain types of foreign companies that previously were not within IRS reach. It is important to understand and abide by the numerous, and complex, reporting requirements for foreign assets.
1.“Check the Box” on IRS Form 1040, Schedule B
If you owned or had authority over a foreign financial account (including a bank account, securities account, brokerage account, etc.) at any time during 2018, you must “check the box” on your IRS Form 1040, Schedule B, Part III, Line 7a.
If your foreign account(s) were valued at more than $10,000 in the aggregate, you must also “check the box” on line 7a regarding the FBAR form, FinCEN 114 (see item 4, below). On line 7b, you must enter the country or countries where the foreign account is located. The 2018 FBAR form is due on the same day that your tax return is due: April 15, 2019.
Even if you closed a foreign financial account during 2018, you must still “check the box” if the account was open during any part of 2018. If you received a distribution from, or were the grantor of, or a transferor to, a foreign trust or foreign foundation, you must “check the box” on Line 8 and also file IRS Form 3520.
2. Report Foreign Income
In addition to “checking the box” on IRS Form 1040, Schedule B, U.S. taxpayers must report all foreign income (including interest, capital gains, dividends, pension distributions, rent, royalties) earned during 2018. If you held investments in foreign mutual funds or hedge funds, you may be required to file additional tax forms applicable to “PFICs” (Passive Foreign Investment Companies) for tax year 2018 (e.g., IRS Form 8621).
In many cases, if the foreign income was taxed in a foreign country, whether by withholding at the source or by filing a foreign income tax return, you may be able to get a credit on your U.S. income tax return for foreign taxes that you paid. Even so, all foreign income should still be declared on your U.S. income tax return, even if U.S. tax due is minimized or eliminated due to foreign tax credits, foreign residency credits or other tax treaty benefits. Likewise, even if foreign rental income was offset by foreign real estate costs, you must still report the rental income and take the credits.
3. IRS Form 8938
IRS Form 8938, Statement of Specified Foreign Financial Assets, is yet another IRS form to report foreign bank, brokerage accounts and other foreign financial assets (including interests in offshore trusts and corporations, bonds, foreign mutual funds, foreign annuity and insurance policies). This form is due even though you may have already reported the very same foreign assets on a different IRS form and/or on the FBAR form (discussed below). IRS Form 8938 is due with your annual tax return (Monday, April 15, 2019, unless you obtain an extension).
4. The FBAR – also due April 15, 2019
The 2018 FBAR, Report of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts (FinCEN Form 114), is due on the same day as your 2018 income tax return (Form 1040): April 15, 2019. The FBAR must be filed by U.S. taxpayers who had beneficial ownership of, or signature or other authority over, foreign financial accounts, including bank and securities accounts, if the aggregate value of such accounts exceeded $10,000 at any time during 2018. The FBAR also applies to foreign insurance policies, annuity policies, retirement plans and other financial products. Recent authority also extends the FBAR to on-line gambling/gaming accounts. If you owned Bitcoin or other virtual currencies in a foreign account or foreign exchange, you must declare the account. If you participated in the IRS Offshore Voluntary Disclosure Program (OVDP), Streamlined procedures or submitted FBARs for past years, you should ensure ongoing compliance by timely submitting the 2018 FBAR. If the accounts existed at any point during 2018, then the FBAR must be submitted by April 15, 2019. The FBAR must be filed electronically on FinCEN’s website. An extension to file the FBAR is available. The extended due date is the same as one’s extended income tax deadline (October 15, 2019).
5. Additional Forms for Entities (Foreign Trusts, Foreign Corporations, etc.)
If you had an interest in a foreign entity such as a foreign trust or foreign foundation, and/or during 2018 you received assets from the foreign entity, then you may also be required to file IRS Forms 3520 and 3520A. Please contact us for a copy of our memo about this issue. If you had an interest in a foreign corporation, and the foreign corporation is deemed to be a “Controlled Foreign Corporation” (CFC), then IRS Form 5471 is also due. These forms are usually due with your income tax return (IRS Form 1040, due April 15, 2019), but note that the due date for Form 3520A could be sooner (by March 15, 2019).
As part of the tax law changes that Congress passed at the very end of 2017, the U.S. tax rules for CFCs became more complex, and the reach of the IRS to foreign companies and foreign income has become more expansive. The new law imposes traps whereby interests in foreign companies that were previously not subject to U.S. taxation are now taxed. If you have interests in foreign companies, you must be sure that your interests are compliant with the new laws and IRS regulations.
6. Strategic Concerns
Although the IRS Offshore Voluntary Disclosure Program (OVDP) ended in 2018, taxpayers with non-compliant offshore assets still have the opportunity to come forward and become compliant, provided that the IRS does not already have their information (e.g., from a foreign bank, treaty request, FATCA, audit, etc.). For taxpayers whose facts may be considered by the IRS to be “willful” (e.g., intentional non-reporting, use of tax haven jurisdictions, use of foreign entities such as trusts or corporations), pre-emptive disclosure is still possible, with lower penalties than would apply if the IRS otherwise discovers the assets.
For taxpayers whose facts are non-willful or more benign, the IRS Streamlined Procedures continue to be available, with a limited look-back period and lower (or no) penalties. If there was no tax loss to the IRS from the foreign assets, then the Delinquent Informational Return Procedures may allow for zero penalties.
If you are still grappling with bringing your foreign asset into U.S. compliance but have not yet filed FBARs, submitted a Streamlined application, or consulted with a tax compliance attorney, or you are undecided as to whether or not to make a disclosure, you may want to consider requesting an extension for your 2018 tax returns and FBAR, until October 15, 2019.
You may request an extension for filing your income tax return by filing IRS Form 4868. Note that this is an extension to file the tax return, not pay tax due. You still must pay your tax liability by April 15, 2019, even though you have until October 15, 2019 to file your 2018 tax return and FBAR. You must formulate your offshore disclosure strategy prior to reporting to the Government the existence of foreign assets via the FBAR, Form 8938, etc.
Owning foreign assets is legal and proper, but all IRS reporting rules and regulations must be met to avoid expensive penalties. In addition, the recent changes in U.S. tax law creates a potential trap for U.S. taxpayers with ownership interests in certain foreign corporations.
If you have any questions or would like our assistance in formulating an offshore disclosure strategy or in preparing the 2018 FBAR or other IRS filings, please contact us.
It’s Tax Time Again – an Overview of the New Tax Law Changes
January 21, 2019 By Asher Rubinstein, Esq.
For U.S. based taxpayers, the due date for the 2018 federal income tax return (IRS Form 1040) is April 17, 2019. The IRS will begin to accept tax returns on January 29, 2019. For the 2018 income tax return, following the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) passed in December of 2017, taxpayers will experience the most significant changes to U.S. tax law since 1986.
Here are some of the more important tax changes that may be relevant to our readers and clients:
The top rate has dropped from 39.6% to 37.1%, and takes effect at $600,000 of taxable income for married couples (rather than $480,000). For single taxpayers, the top rate takes effect at $500,000 (rather than $427,000).
The standard deduction is now $24,000 per married couple and $12,000 for single taxpayers. Last year (for the 2017 income tax return), it was $13,000 and $6,500, respectively. This simplifies filing for many people, but eliminates the specific deductions for mortgage interest and charitable donations. This will affect purchases of homes, obtaining a mortgage and making charitable donations.
Of significant concern to our clients in states such as New York, New Jersey and Connecticut, Congress put a limit on deductions for state and local taxes (“SALT”). Previously, these deductions were unlimited (although restricted under the Alternative Minimum Tax, AMT). Under the new law, beginning for tax year 2018, taxpayers can only deduct up to $10,000 per tax return for SALT (i.e., a single filer has a $10,000 limit to the deduction, and a married couple filing jointly has the same $10,000 limit as the single filer).
We have been monitoring attempts to overcome this new law and preserve greater SALT deductions. Some local governments in 2018 attempted to convert local property taxes to charitable contributions which may then be deductible. The IRS has already indicated its opposition to such strategies. Some municipalities (e.g., Scarsdale, New York) have abandoned such attempts.
The estate and gift tax threshold has doubled to $11.2 million per individual and $22.4 million for a married couple. However, this increased threshold is currently set to lapse in 2025 and revert to prior exemption amounts (unless Congress acts to extend or make permanent these exemption thresholds).
The doubling of the estate tax exemption is a significant and rare opportunity to protect more assets from the reach of the estate tax and to instead pass on to one’s heirs. This opportunity, coupled with the IRS’ withdrawal of proposed anti-discounting rules, warrants consideration of family limited partnerships and leveraged gifting, dynasty trusts and other strategies to preserve assets and transfer wealth for your beneficiaries.
For divorce and separation agreements signed after 2018, alimony payments will no longer be tax deductible, and recipients of alimony will not have to report the alimony payments as income.
Pass-through business entities (including LLCs, S-Corps and partnerships) may now enjoy a deduction of 20% of net income, but subject to many new rules. For instance, the deduction is phased-out for taxpayers with more than $157,000 of income for single filers ($315,000 for joint filers) and does not apply to lawyers, doctors, accountants, consultants, investment advisors and owners of service businesses. The new rules are complex. Contact us for assistance.
Despite campaign promises to the contrary, the 3.8% surtax on net investment income (the so-called “Obamacare Tax”) was not repealed. This tax takes effect at $250,000 of adjusted gross income (AGI) for married taxpayers and $200,000 for single filers. As a result, taxpayers would owe 23.8% rather than 20% on long-term capital gains and dividends.
Other tax changes occurred for corporations and foreign income. We can help explain these (and other) new tax law changes, how they may impact your specific situation, and how to legally minimize your taxes. Contact us for a consultation.
FBAR and U.S. Tax Reporting: Compliance Requirements for Foreign Assets, a Webinar Presented by Asher Rubinstein on February 6, 2019
I am pleased to announce that, along with two esteemed colleagues, I will be presenting a webinar on February 6, 2019 at 1pm EST. I will be discussing U.S. reporting requirements for offshore assets, how to come into compliance if you haven’t reported these assets, and what the government might do if you fail to report foreign assets and are discovered. I will also be discussing recent IRS enforcement initiatives for non-reporting of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies. This webinar will also explore how to make a disclosure of offshore assets to the IRS now that the IRS Offshore Voluntary Disclosure Program (OVDP) has ended, as well as additional compliance opportunities, including the IRS Streamlined Disclosure Procedures and the IRS Delinquent Informational Return Procedures.
The panel will review these and other priority issues:
Explaining the value of not waiting until the IRS shows up on one’s doorstep to fix offshore filing issues
What is the statute of limitations on IRS assessment when taxpayers fail to meet their obligations to report their offshore assets?
What are the requirements for the delinquent international information return submission procedures and the delinquent FBAR submission procedures? When does a taxpayer qualify for these procedures?
In what ways can the Streamlined Procedures (SDOP/SFOP) and other available programs benefit taxpayers?
What are the best practices to implement in determining how these voluntary disclosure programs can work for particular clients?
How should tax advisers best navigate the disclosure program requirements?
Additional information may be found at the Strafford website, here.
IRS Focus on Foreign Trusts: Are You Compliant?
August 22, 2018 By Asher Rubinstein, Esq.
The IRS recently announced various targets of investigation and enforcement in the business and international realms.
We would like to highlight one of the IRS’ target areas: tax and reporting compliance for foreign trusts. IRS issues arise for U.S. taxpayers who are named as beneficiaries of foreign trusts; for example, trusts created by foreign relatives who name their U.S. family members as beneficiaries. Compliance issues also arise for U.S. taxpayers who create foreign trusts, including American expats who form trusts for estate planning, as well as U.S. taxpayers who form offshore asset protection trusts.
The IRS announcement specifies “examinations and penalties” regarding IRS Forms 3520 and 3520-A, including “when the forms are received late or are incomplete”. Form 3520 is required to be filed by U.S. beneficiaries who receive distributions from foreign trusts, as well as U.S. grantors who settle foreign trusts or contribute assets to foreign trusts. Form 3520-A is required to be filed by a foreign trustee; however, if a foreign trustee does not file the form with the IRS, often a U.S. taxpayer will be deemed the “responsible party” who is obligated to file this form.
In addition, U.S. beneficiaries of foreign trusts and U.S. grantors of foreign trusts may be obligated to file the “FBAR” form, FinCEN Form 114. Grantors and beneficiaries may also be required to file IRS Form 8938.
The penalties for non-filing can be severe. For “willful” non-filing of the FBAR alone, the penalties can be 50% of the value of the trust’s foreign account that was not reported, plus the penalties for non-filing of Forms 3520 and 8938.
However, there are opportunities to self-correct such failures, provided that the IRS has not already initiated an audit or investigation. If the failure was merely the non-filing of an informational return (such as the FBAR, 8938 or 3520), with no tax loss to the IRS, the cure may be filing the returns with a carefully drafted explanation of non-willfulness and/or reasonable cause. An experienced offshore attorney can assist in drafting this statement. If there is also tax loss to the IRS (e.g., undeclared trust income, undeclared receipt of funds from a trust), then the situation is more complex and likely requires amending tax returns to declare additional income. In such a case, one should consider the IRS Offshore Voluntary Disclosure Program (“OVDP”) which is coming to an end on September 28, 2018, or the Streamlined Offshore Procedures. Again, an experienced offshore attorney can assist you in coming into IRS compliance.
The attorneys are Gallet Dreyer & Berkey have years of experience in foreign trust issues and IRS reporting. Please contact us to discuss your foreign trust issues.
Please also read the following related articles on the issue of foreign trusts and IRS reporting:
IRS Reporting Requirements for Offshore Trusts
2018 Tax Season Primer: IRS Reporting Requirements for Offshore Assets and the 2017 FBAR due April 17, 2018
Final Weeks for the IRS Offshore Voluntary Disclosure Program (OVDP)
The IRS Offshore Voluntary Disclosure Program (OVDP) is closing on September 28, 2018, mere weeks away.
For taxpayers who own foreign assets that are not in IRS compliance, the ending of the OVDP presents a final opportunity to become IRS compliant, avoid criminal charges and much higher penalties if discovered by the IRS.
Readers considering making a voluntary disclosure of offshore assets to the IRS should be aware that the impending closure of the OVDP imposes a significant timing constraint during these final weeks of the OVDP. For instance, there is currently a rush of people to get into the OVDP before it closes, which has resulted in delays in approvals from the IRS. In addition, there is usually a need for information from foreign sources (such as financial statements and income information), which can also take time. Finally, because of the work involved in preparing an OVDP submission, and coordination with other parties (one’s CPA, for instance, along with foreign banks), OVDP applications should be addressed immediately. A last-minute attempt to enter the OVDP just before the closure date of September 28 is not practical nor advisable.
There are strategic considerations as well. For instance, the OVDP is only open to taxpayers who are not already under IRS audit or investigation. A “pre-clearance” requests is the normal way to inquire whether a taxpayer is already under IRS scrutiny. Because it is now taking weeks for the IRS to respond to the “pre-clearance” request, one question to consider is whether you should skip the “pre-clearance” process and proceed to the submission of background information to the IRS. If a taxpayer skips the pre-clearance request and submits information to the IRS, that person has just given the IRS incriminating information that could be used in a criminal tax fraud case or an assessment of civil penalties.
While the OVDP is closing, the “Streamlined” Procedures remain open for taxpayers who are able to certify, under penalties of perjury, that their offshore non-compliance was non-willful. While a taxpayer may believe that he or she is non-willful, the IRS may disagree. Thus, it is important to discuss one’s background facts with an attorney experienced in offshore tax issues who can help in assessing willfulness.
If you have undeclared foreign assets, now is the time to consult with an attorney about how to bring these assets into IRS compliance. After September 28, 2018, the risks and costs will increase substantially. Contact us for a consultation about your offshore issues.
Please also see the following related articles:
An Opportunity is Soon Closing to Voluntarily Disclose Offshore Assets to the IRS
Foreign Accounts: the Best Way Toward US Tax Compliance, and Assessing Eligibility for the Streamlined Disclosure Program
Regarding Foreign Accounts, Are You Willful? Or, Should You Apply for the Streamlined Disclosure Procedures?
A Current Assessment of the IRS Streamlined Offshore Procedures
Client Testimonial on Our OVDP Work
We have been working with a client who had foreign assets that we brought into IRS compliance. We helped the client with complicated tax issues involving foreign income, foreign assets, foreign corporations and domestic divorce. This week, we learned that all issues were answered to the IRS’ satisfaction and the three-year ordeal is heading toward closure. When I advised the client that the matter was almost over, he sent me the following email (and allowed us to post it):
Dear Asher,
I cannot tell you how happy I am to hear the news. I want to truly thank you, Ken and Shane for all of the excellent counsel you have provided through this ordeal. If I can ever serve as a recommendation for a potential client, it will be my great pleasure to do so. You were all patient, professional, and caring through this very frightening process. Thank you for navigating me through this very frightening event.
We are very pleased to have assisted these clients. They are now in IRS compliance, are very relieved and can move forward with their lives.
The IRS Offshore Voluntary Disclosure Program closes on September 28, 2018. There is still a window to come into compliance before the OVDP closes in six months. Please contact us to discuss your offshore issues.
March 15, 2018 By Asher Rubinstein, Esq. and David Milner
The IRS Offshore Voluntary Disclosure Program (OVDP) has been an opportunity for U.S. taxpayers who failed to report foreign income and assets to become compliant, pay back taxes, lower their potential penalties and avoid criminal prosecution. The OVDP has been in effect in various incarnations since 2009, coinciding with U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) offensive against foreign banks, bankers and U.S. taxpayers who committed tax fraud, and the implementation of FATCA (the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act). Thus, while the government went after wrongdoers, it also encouraged voluntary compliance via the OVDP, with the reward of leniency and lower penalties. The IRS announced in March that the OVDP will close on September 28, 2018.
If readers have foreign assets and are not in IRS compliance, now is the time to address the issue. Soon, it will be more difficult, and probably more expensive, to become compliant. A few items to keep in mind:
The IRS “Streamlined Compliance Procedures” will continue to be an option for those taxpayers whose non-compliance was non-willful, i.e., unintentional. Taxpayers have to certify their non-willfulness under penalties of perjury. The standards of non-willfulness are high.
The OVDP submission must be completed and submitted by September 28, 2018. This means that the taxpayer must go through the steps of obtaining pre-preclearance and preliminary acceptance by the Criminal Investigations (CI) Division of the IRS, obtain all relevant foreign financial statements from foreign sources, plus amend as many as eight years of income tax returns – – all by September 28, 2018.
Penalties inside the OVDP (27.5% of the highest aggregate value of the foreign assets) are almost certainly higher than penalties if discovered by the IRS. Penalties outside the OVDP include as much as a 50% penalty for failure to file the FBAR (Report of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts), penalties for failure to file IRS Form 8938, penalties for substantial understatement of tax, civil and criminal tax fraud penalties, as well as criminal prosecution.
Taxpayers who avoid the OVDP and its 27.5% penalty and merely file amended tax returns (known as a “quiet disclosure”) will be specifically targeted by the IRS for additional penalties.
The OVDP presents an opportunity to bring unreported offshore assets into IRS compliance and avoid more onerous penalties and costs. This opportunity will end on September 28, 2018. In light of FATCA, cooperation by foreign banks, IRS summonses, subpoenas and information sharing agreements with foreign governments, continued non-compliance is very risky and inadvisable. Please contact us to discuss US reporting options for offshore assets.
Coinbase to Provide Client Information to the IRS, Audits to Follow; Take Pre-Emptive Action to Come Into Compliance and Avoid IRS Penalties
Coinbase, the largest public digital currency exchange, is the target of an IRS summons that seeks information on Coinbase customers who may not have properly reported their profits from trading virtual currencies such as Bitcoin. We last wrote about Coinbase and the IRS sparring in court, here. On February 23, Coinbase informed clients that it will be revealing client information to the IRS within twenty one days. The information to be provided will include client names, taxpayer identification numbers and Coinbase currency transactions. The IRS will utilize this information to begin audits.
As we’ve written, the IRS offensive against digital currency non-reporting is similar to the way the IRS has pursued foreign banks to uncover “secret” foreign accounts that had not been properly reported to the IRS. The efforts of the IRS and U.S. Department of Justice eventually led to the death of bank secrecy.
If you have or had an account at Coinbase, and you may not be in IRS compliance regarding your digital currency transactions, now is the time to take pre-emptive action. We can advise you on how to come into IRS compliance. Coming into compliance sooner will avoid significant penalties, fees and prosecution. Once the IRS begins an audit or investigation, pre-emptive action may not be as successful.
Please contact us to discuss IRS compliance for Bitcoin and other virtual currencies.
Please see our earlier articles on virtual currencies and tax compliance:
Now Is The Time To Confirm Your Bitcoin Is Tax Compliant
Currency is Virtual, but Real Time is Ticking for Voluntary Disclosure of Virtual Currency
IRS Advances Against Bitcoin Tax Evasion
We are once again immersed in the annual tax season and we remind readers that foreign assets are subject to important U.S. government reporting requirements.
“Check the Box” on IRS Form 1040, Schedule B
If you owned or had authority over a foreign financial account (including a bank account, securities account, brokerage account, etc.) at any time during 2017, you must “check the box” on your IRS Form 1040, Schedule B, Part III, Line 7. If your foreign account(s) were valued at more than $10,000 in the aggregate, you must also “check the box” on line 7 regarding the FBAR form, FinCEN 114 (see item 4, below). Even if you closed an account during 2017, you must still “check the box” if the account was open during any part of 2017. If you received a distribution from, or were the grantor of, or a transferor to, a foreign trust or foreign foundation, you must “check the box” on Line 8 and also file IRS Form 3520.
Report Foreign Income
In addition to “checking the box” on IRS Form 1040, Schedule B, U.S. taxpayers must report all foreign income (including interest, capital gains, dividends, pension distributions, rent, royalties) realized during 2017. If you held investments in foreign mutual funds or hedge funds, you may be required to file additional tax forms applicable to “PFICs” (Passive Foreign Investment Companies) for tax year 2017 (e.g., IRS Form 8621). In many cases, if foreign income was taxed in a foreign country, you may be able to get a credit for foreign taxes paid. Even so, all foreign income should still be declared on your U.S. income tax return, even if U.S. tax due is minimized or eliminated due to foreign tax credits, foreign residency credits or other tax treaty benefits.
IRS Form 8938, Statement of Specified Foreign Financial Assets, is yet another IRS form to report foreign bank, brokerage accounts and other foreign financial assets (including interests in offshore trusts and corporations, bonds, foreign mutual funds, foreign annuity and insurance policies). This form is due even though you may have already reported the very same foreign assets on a different IRS form or on the FBAR (discussed below). IRS Form 8938 is due with your annual tax return (April 17, 2018, unless you obtain an extension).
The FBAR – due April 17, 2018
The 2017 FBAR, Report of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts (FinCEN Form 114), is due on the same day as your 2017 income tax return (Form 1040): April 17, 2018, as FinCEN recently announced. The FBAR must be filed by U.S. taxpayers who had beneficial ownership of, or signature or other authority over, foreign financial accounts, including bank and securities accounts, if the aggregate value of such accounts exceeded $10,000 at any time during 2017. The FBAR also applies to foreign insurance policies, annuity policies, retirement plans and other financial products. Recent authority also extends the FBAR to on-line gambling/gaming accounts. If you owned Bitcoin or other virtual currencies in a foreign account or foreign exchange, you must declare the account. If you participated in the IRS Offshore Voluntary Disclosure Program (OVDP), Streamlined procedures or submitted retroactive FBARs, you should ensure ongoing compliance by timely submitting the 2017 FBAR. If the accounts existed at any point during 2017, then the FBAR must be submitted by April 17, 2018. Note that the FBAR is now known as FinCEN Form 114, and must be filed electronically on FinCEN’s website. An automatic extension to file the FBAR is available. The extended due date is the same as one’s extended income tax deadline (October 15, 2018).
If you had an interest in a foreign entity such as a foreign trust or foreign foundation, and/or during 2017 you received assets from the foreign entity, then you may also be required to file IRS Forms 3520 and 3520A. Please contact us for a copy of our memorandum about this issue. If you had an interest in a foreign corporation, and the foreign corporation is deemed to be a “Controlled Foreign Corporation” (CFC), then IRS Form 5471 is also due. These forms are usually due with your income tax return (IRS Form 1040, due April 17, 2018), but note that the due date for Form 3520A could be sooner (by March 15, 2018).
Strategic Concerns
If you have not yet filed an application for the OVDP or submitted a Streamlined application, or if your application is pending at the IRS, or you are undecided as to whether or not to make a disclosure, you may want to consider requesting an extension for your 2017 tax returns and FBAR.
You may request an extension for filing your income tax return by filing IRS Form 4868. Note that this is an extension to file the tax return, not pay tax due. You still must pay your tax liability by April 17, 2018, even though you have until October 15, 2018 to file your tax return and FBAR for 2017. This means that your voluntary disclosure strategy needs to be formulated prior to reporting to the Government the existence of foreign assets via the FBAR, Form 8938, etc.
Please take care that your offshore assets are U.S. tax compliant by abiding by the multiple reporting and tax requirements. Penalties for non-compliance can be severe, with additional penalties imposed by U.S. law simply because these are foreign assets. If you have any questions or would like our assistance in formulating a disclosure strategy or in preparing the 2017 FBAR, please feel free to contact us. | cc/2019-30/en_head_0013.json.gz/line11042 |
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Home > News > After the Charbonneau Commission
After the Charbonneau Commission
The Charbonneau Commission allowed for the Voluntary Reimbursement Program (hereinafter the “Program”) to be created. This Program was established under the Act to ensure mainly the recovery of amounts improperly paid as a result of fraud or fraudulent tactics in connection with public contracts (hereinafter the “Act”).
Since November 2nd, 2015, under this Program, it is possible for:
“every natural person and every enterprise to reimburse certain amounts improperly paid by a public body in the course of the tendering, awarding or management of a public contract entered into after 1 October 1996 in relation to which there may have been fraud or fraudulent tactics”[1].
Individuals and enterprises can avail themselves of the Program without admission of liability or fault. However, if an individual or an enterprise indicates that it intends to avail themselves of the Program, it is more than likely to create a certain doubt about said individual or enterprise.
In order to insure that the Program runs smoothly, there will be a two-year suspension of court proceedings against the individuals and enterprises that could be subject to prosecution by public bodies under the provisions of the Act, until November 2nd, 2017.
The targeted enterprises have until November 1st, 2016 to file a notice of intent with the Program Director, accompanied by a check which corresponds to 2% of the value of the proposal.
The Program Director is a former judge of the Superior Court whose main functions are the following:
To receive the reimbursement proposals under the Program
To analyze the reimbursement proposals with the assistance of a team
To make recommendations to the Minister of Justice
To assist the parties to assess their positions and reach an agreement that is mutually satisfactory.
The Program provides a provision allowing for the possibility of convening a conciliation session following the rejection of proposals and counter-proposals, which can give parties a real boost.
On the one hand, this regulation may be advantageous for an individual or enterprise because, if there is an agreement at the end of the Program process, it is possible for the individual or enterprise to obtain a release that constitutes a transaction for all public contracts that have been awarded since 1996. This makes it no longer possible to take civil action if there is an agreement in relation to public contracts for this specific period. If there is no agreement, the Act allows to take an action for elements going as far back as 1996.
On the other hand, the public bodies will certainly go through all contracts with a fine tooth comb with individuals and enterprises who wish to avail themselves of the Program, even if availing themselves is without admission of liability or fault. In doing so, the public bodies will thus be better prepared to accept or reject proposals.
Finally, the Program provides a provision for situations in which a release was obtained on the basis of false or knowingly incomplete disclosures. In such cases, the release would be without effect.
The Act was adopted after the Charbonneau Commission and the Program appears to be a good compromise for the public bodies who want to recover certain amounts and for the enterprises and individuals who want to avoid prosecution. However, for the moment, it is not possible to say whether the Program will experience much success given its confidential nature.
[1] Art. 1 of the Voluntary Reimbursement Program
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__label__cc | 0.601631 | 0.398369 | A View On Cities > Hong Kong > Hong Kong Attractions > Hong Kong Park Loading...
Man Mo Temple
Star Ferry
> Hong Kong Park
Statue Square
Bank of China Tower
HSBC Bank HQ
Wong Tai Sin Temple
Avenue of Stars
Nathan Road
Lippo Centre
Legislative Council Building
Zoological & Botanical Gardens
Two IFC
Old Bank of China Building
Mongkok
Hong Kong Park
Nearby sights
In the middle of the Central section of Hong Kong, Hong Kong Park features 8 hectares (almost 20 acres) of park-like beauty, designed to be both a leisure and educational experience for the residents of Hong Kong and for visitors as well.
The park is a fine example of modern design and facilities blending with natural landscape. Water features like waterfalls, streams, and ponds are an important part of the park's natural beauty.
The park occupies the upper area of the former garrison area known as Victoria Barracks. The idea for the park arose in 1979 and it was finally completed in 1991. Hong Kong Park cost $398 million to build and was a joint development project between the former Urban Council and the former Royal Hong Kong Jockey Club.
Hong Kong Park isn't just an open green air where you can enjoy roaming through the trees and flowers. There are several attractions in the park.
Start with the aviary. This is the largest in Hong Kong and is of the "walk-through" variety, with birds flying freely throughout the complex. An elevated walkway even allows you to explore the tree canopies. The stainless steel mesh building is, in itself, a sight to behold.
The 1,400 square meter conservatory is one of the largest in Southeast Asia. It's divided into three sections: the Display Plant House, the Dry Plant House, and the Humid Plant House. A range of climatic conditions are simulated so that visitors can experience everything from a tropical rain forest environment to an arid desert.
The air-conditioned Sports Centre can accommodate a number of different athletic events and the Squash Centre features 18 air-conditioned squash courts. This Hong Kong Park facility is the site of many national and international tournaments.
The 250-square-metre Children's Playground is a huge hit with the little ones. It features 6 levels of play with a soft floor for extra comfort and a closed circuit television system to ensure the safety of the children.
Olympic Square, reminiscent of an ancient Greek amphitheater, seats 880 people
Olympic Square seen from
the Viewing Tower
and is the site of many concerts, plays, promotional events, sports, and a variety of different kinds of entertainment spectacles.
Also check out the Flagstaff House of Tea Ware, a division of the Hong Kong Museum of Art, as well as the Hong Kong Visual Arts Centre.
No doubt you'll get hungry or thirsty while exploring Hong Kong Park. No problem. The park has three refreshment areas including one sit-down, inside restaurant. There are also two smaller eateries (in the squash centre and tea ware museum) and a few kiosks for a quick bite to eat.
Next: Statue Square
Admiralty (Island line)
Cotton Tree Drive, Central
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__label__wiki | 0.802697 | 0.802697 | « Nightshoot – Saturday 21st March
Eastbourne Launches Airbourne Photograph Competition »
RAF REPRINTS TREASURES
The Royal Air Force Museum and the RAF’s Air Historical Branch are opening their treasured archives to a commercial reproduction service in order to make them more accessible to the public. The service will be formally launched at the Museum on Wednesday 11th March 2009.The RAF Museum and the Air Historical Branch, part of the RAF’s Centre for Air Power Studies, have teamed up with specialist printer Military Library Research Service, to provide an on-demand printing service of rarely-seen archive material held in the Museum and RAF collections.
The Museum’s collections consist of documents and reports, many of a strategic and intelligence nature, such as estimates of German strength in 1940; analyses of key operations and technical manuals.
Each document is painstakingly scanned, checked and, only where necessary, retouched for legibility by MLRS experts. They are printed using the latest in publishing technology.
These unique documents were formerly available only to research visitors on site at the Museum in Hendon, North London. They are used by students, archivists, enthusiasts and researchers from backgrounds as diverse as military academies and family historians. Not only is it a burden on the researcher with opening hours limited to the office day, but many of the popular documents are becoming increasingly fragile through frequent request.
The documents are chosen between MLRS Books and the Museum curator to identify the most popular and interesting titles. A proportion of the revenue from the publishing of Museum holdings is returned to the Museum to help fund vital conservation and cataloguing work
For over sixty years, the RAF’s Air Historical Branch has been producing detailed analytical studies of RAF operations and policy. Many of these studies were originally classified and those relating to the Second World War have been widely used by both official and academic historians to underpin their own work. Under the aegis of the RAF Centre for Air Power Studies [RAF CAPS] and in partnership with MLRS, these studies will now be made available to scholars and the wider public for the very first time. Eventually they will cover nearly every campaign that the RAF undertook in the course of the Second World War. Specialist monographs on weaponry, radar and specialist areas such as maintenance and logistics will also be covered. The campaign ‘narratives’ as they are known will also have new introductions written by the Head of the Air Historical Branch and Co-Director of RAF CAPS, Sebastian Cox, who said,
“By making these high quality studies available we believe we are fulfilling the Centre for Air Power Studies remit to foster a deeper understanding of air power.”
Managing Director of MLRS Books, David Westwood, is delighted to have forged the links with the Royal Air Force archives. He said,
“Many important documents will be available to the general public for the first time in a coherent collection. Anyone can now order a book to read at their leisure and to use as a basis for further research.”
The collection currently consists of an inaugural 60 documents but more are being selected and scanned at a rate of up to 30 per quarter.
Selected editions will be available from the Museum shops and website www.rafmuseumshop.com.
The full collection can be viewed and ordered from www.mlrsbooks.co.uk
Tags: 2009, Museum, News, RAF | cc/2019-30/en_head_0013.json.gz/line11045 |
__label__cc | 0.668652 | 0.331348 | KAW Jubilee Sympisia in Gothenburg: Metabolism – The Foundation of LIfe
Information och anmälan
När och var?
The Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation (KAW) was formed in 1917 and today it is one of the largest providers of private research funding in Europe. The 100-year anniversary will be celebrated with jubilee symposia in six different university cites, including Gothenburg.
The theme of the jubilee symposium in Gothenburg is ”Metabolism – The Foundation of Life” and it will be held on September 28, 2017, at the Conference Center Wallenberg, Medicinareberget. The symposium is organized by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, in co-operation with the University of Gothenburg and Chalmers University of Technology.
The jubilee symposium is open to the public.
Detailed information, programs and abstracts can be found at the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences’ website. Registration is mandatory and is done at the KAW website: http://www.kva.se/en/kalendarium/metabolism-the-foundation-of-life
Six lectures
The symposium is divided into six lectures, where prominent Swedish and international researchers will contribute to the discussion of several different topics within the broader field of metabolism. Each lecture will discuss one subject, and they will be introduced with a shorter lecture followed by a main lecture. The head speakers are:
Dame Frances Ashcroft, professor, Department of Physiology, Anatomy and Genetics, University of Oxford
Christina Smolke, professor, Department of Bioengineering, Stanford University
Ruth Ley, director, Max Planck Institute for Developmental Biology, Tübingen
Sir Doug Turnbull, Professor, Mitochondrial Research Group, Newcastle University
Sekar Kathiresan, doctor, Center for Genomic Medicine Massachusetts General Hospital
Bruce M. Spiegelman, professor, Spiegelman Lab, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Harvard University
A further six researchers will introduce each subject with a shorter lecture. During the day, Peter Wallenberg Jr, Chairman of the Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation, Göran Sandberg, executive member of the Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation, Eva Wiberg, Vice-Chancellor of the University of Gothenburg, Stefan Bengtsson, President of Chalmers University of Technology and Göran K. Hansson, Secretary General of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, will also participate.
About The Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation
The Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation annually allocates approximately SEK 1.7 billion to basic research in science, technology and medicine. The jubilee symposia are organized by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences on behalf of the Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation, together with the host universities. The jubilee symposia deal with six different themes and will be attended by researchers from all over the world.
Read more about the 100th anniversary and the various symposia on the Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation’s website: http://kaw.wallenberg.org/en/foundation/100-years-support-excellent-swedish-research-and-education | cc/2019-30/en_head_0013.json.gz/line11046 |
__label__wiki | 0.757661 | 0.757661 | Zimbabwe to introduce Islamic banking
Zimbabwe is set to introduce Islamic banking, which has certain rules on profits and excess, as it seeks to attract its Muslim community, which says it wants to contribute to the country's economic revival.
Talks between the central bank, the Finance ministry and the Islamic community have started, with an official from the Muslim community, Ashirai Mawere saying their members are eager to boost the southern African country's economy through Islamic funds.
This comes as international Islamic finance sector is expected to be worth $2,6 trillion in four years.
More than 50 countries, including the United States of America, the United Kingdom, France, Japan, Singapore, Saudi Arabia, Germany, China and Malaysia have recognised Islamic banking and finance.
Mawere said Islamic banking will, among other things, help ease liquidity challenges in the country and boost Zimbabwe's status in the world of financial services.
A majority of people in Zimbabwe's Muslim community, estimated to be 1% of the country's 12 million population, do not use banks and are prone to robberies.
Islamic banking is based on the principles of Islamic law (Sharia).
Two basic principles behind such a banking system are the sharing of profit and loss and it prohibits the collection of interest, which is not permitted under Islamic law.
Once set up, the bank will not be exclusive and will be open to all irrespective of religion and caste.
"Muslims have a traceable record in the development of health and general science, education, sports, literature and economics and we need to participate in all this success," Mawere said.
Market experts believe that in order to tap the immense investment potential of the oil-rich Middle East, it was in Zimbabwe's interest to introduce Islamic banking.
Major international corporate banks such as Citigroup, HSBC, Deutsche Bank and Standard Chartered have Islamic banking windows.
Innocent Mugore an independent economist said it will provide the opportunity to bring a large section of the Muslim population into the mainstream.
"And if Zimbabwe were to introduce the system, the concept is likely to boost the economy of the country as well as the entire southern African region," he said.
Zimbabwe will for the first time host Orischart Islamic Expo to be held in Harare, between November Wednesday and Sunday.
Terrence Mhlope, one of the event organisers, said the Expo will firmly establish its position as a pre-eminent platform for leaders in the Islamic finance and investments industry in Zimbabwe to engage in discussions that provide a deeper insight into what the future holds for the Islamic banking and finance industry on the continent.
Mhlope noted that a key outcome of the discussions at last year's Islamic Finance Forum event was that Zimbabwe is becoming an increasingly attractive destination for investments that are Sharia compliant.
"Africa has now been re-positioned as the third fastest growing region in the world, after the Middle East and Asia.
"Over the last decade, trade between African countries and the rest of the world has grown significantly, with economic linkages with, the Middle East, in particular, strengthening further," he said.
The Islamic Expo comes after Sheikh Mohammed bin Saud bin Saqr Al Qasimi, Crown Prince of Ras Al Khaimah visited Zimbabwe early this year and explored possible investment opportunities in mining, engineering and agriculture.
(The Africa Report / 06 Nov 2013)
Labels: Islamic banking, Zimbabwe
Turning the key in Islamic finance is mind over matter
The buzz that has gathered around Sharia-compliant finance — following Dubai’s plan to establish itself as the capital of the Islamic economy, and the UK’s announcement of a sovereign sukuk and extension of its task force to develop the sector — denotes not only a growth industry offering opportunity, but also the prospect of reformist change.
Inadvertently, though, it reminds us that many of the associated themes have remained unhelpfully unchanged. A certain status quo prevails in the calls for improved transparency, governance and standardisation across the industry and its competing centres and regions; similarly in the uncertainties and arguments about the scholastic dimension of what is otherwise a conversation between governments and markets, and comparative regimes.
The relevance of religion and academia brings a whole set of question marks into the discussion, and the need to pursue answers by the sharing of ideas with some degree of common objective.
As suggested last week, that dispersed dialogue remains very fragmented, not least in the varying voices from the Gulf and from its main rival and potential partner, Malaysia. It naturally appears that compromises have to be found.
Sometimes it takes a relative outsider to the main fray spontaneously to identify the friction and a means to resolve it, as was noticeably the case in London when governor of the central bank of Nigeria Sanusi Lamido Sanusi suggested from the podium: “I don’t think harmonisation is about a ‘one-size-fits-all’ policy. I think there are structures in place that have broken down some of the barriers that are mostly communication- and understanding-based. The conversation has to move [on]; we must get out of this mindset.”
It was a telling contribution, to the effect that, to hit its moving target, the Islamic finance sector needs to be customer-oriented, market-driven, and realistic. “As long as we accept a need for pragmatism and balanced rules,” he proposed, “we’ll find a way forward”.
Whether that kind of invocation can break circles of confusion and impasse depends on those who are really the leading insiders — the key players in the contest, from the Gulf and Malaysia especially — to agree on its validity. Time will tell.
Meanwhile, amidst all the noise attending the key debates, and the repetitive sound bites of those marketing for business, there are other nuggets of wisdom available among the printed declarations of sources in the know.
These observations, inevitably often couched in the regular speech patterns of those in positions of responsibility, can serve usefully to inform the paths ahead, if they can be sifted from the public relations agendas. Drilling down into the literature from the UK’s summit late last month unveils insights of that sort.
One example actually resonates beyond the confines of Islamic finance, even of broader ethical or socially-responsible finance, into not only conventional finance but what could be called conventional economics.
Economic reality
As president of the Islamic Development Bank Mohammad Ali Al Madani noted, “There has been growing realisation among policymakers as well as the general public that many of the past and present financial crises have their origins in excessive debt and the resultant de-link of finance from economic reality.”
Unfortunately, not only does much of the current rebound in the global economy seem to rely on the resumption of escalating household borrowing and consumption, but a substantial weight of policy advice seems to suggest that exercising such leverage in both monetary and fiscal terms is integral to growth and well-being.
That would seem to miscast the basis of prosperity as being in, succinctly, the “quantity of demand” rather than “quality of supply”, but also reflects the legacy of indebtedness already accumulated, that needs to be indulged and ever so gently worked out globally to avoid further disaster.
Another worthwhile note is that, from an investment perspective, again there is a potential commonality between Sharia-compliance and non-compliance, in terms of expectations. Realistically, Islamic institutions are not only in a competitive marketplace for funds in relation to depositors but also in delivering wealth creation to investors.
As author Nigel Gibson says, research indicates that, provided it is deemed compliant, few customers from Muslim countries “admit to having been influenced by the structure of a product or service”, but instead require, specifically in respect of insurance vehicles, “a decent return”. It is, arguably, probably as well to accept that notion.
Likewise, governor of the central bank of Malaysia Zeti Akhtar Aziz has been quoted as finding Islamic finance growing so much as a sustainable form of funding precisely because of its competitiveness.
Whether that claim can be borne out across the board may depend on the ability of the dealmakers to streamline the process of documentation and generally accepted Sharia board approval.
The latest signs are, as for the sector as a whole, that the spirit among practitioners and prevailing authorities is comparatively willing.
Labels: Islamic finance
Turning the key in Islamic finance is mind over ma... | cc/2019-30/en_head_0013.json.gz/line11047 |
__label__cc | 0.62991 | 0.37009 | 81F ~ 91F Showers To Cloudy View Weather Detail
OYO hotel market out of Asia into Britain for the first time
OYO the surprise move constitutes a great threat to the Whitbread's Premier Inn, because in the past few years, Premier Inn has always been the dominant force in the UK hotel market.
OYO is India's rapid development of the hybrid OTA hotel companies, it is expanding the market, and plans for the next 18 months in the UK 10 cities to open the hotel property.
According to Reuters, OYO will use the franchise and the marketing strategy, is expected to sign 300 independent hotels.
The expansion plan is the first time that OYO in the center of the southeast Asia region (in India, China, Malaysia and Nepal) business outside the expansion of the business.
OYO in London in the UK will be the first to open four hotel property, its in Manchester, Birmingham, Glasgow and Edinburgh have opened the hotel plan.By 2020, OYO planned to use the initial investment of $53 million (40 million pounds) employs 100 people, providing more than 5000 rooms.
OYO consolidator early is a guest room, but it soon became a hotel operator with the traditional light assets of similar enterprises.Its claim to be the world's largest digital hotel chain, and to be slightly different with the traditional hotel chain business model.
Founder and CEO of OYO Ritesh Agarwal said: "in recent years, the UK has been one of the most popular international tourist destination, and last year's global visitors number more than 19 million people.The vigorous development of the international and domestic tourism situation and economic industry to promote, in the UK for OYO offers opportunities for the development of billions of dollars.We are happy to be able to offer guests around Britain OYO economy, accessibility and quality of life experience and through technical and operational expertise to provide support to the monomer hoteliers, helping them to focus on customer experience, thus creating more sustainable income."
Threat to Premier Inn
Whitbread's Premier Inn is the main operators, the economy hotel market so OYO move to have certain threat.Private equity-backed hotel group, as well as the solid foundation of large hotel chains such as intercontinental hotels group, will surely pay close attention to the expansion of business process.
Bernstein, a senior analyst Richard Clarke said in report offers investors "OYO brand aimed at economic hotel market, aims to open 300 budget hotel, which would make it become the third largest economy hotel brand, to become the Premier Inn new competitors.It is important to note that for the Whitbread, management, the description of the structural opportunities in Britain, is to win the share of independent hotels, and OYO will provide another choice for independent hotels."
What is OYO mode?
Clarke said OYO is a "hybrid OTA/brand network".OYO runs a called "OYO Rooms" online market, although the market is the hotel in the independent hotels, but OYO design will provide standard services, and have their own loyalty programs.
Since then, the company has entered the field of franchising, some hotels will have the right to property management OYO brand.
So far, OYO from softbank corp and hanting hotel chain group of investors so as to obtain funds at $446 million.
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Copyright © 2010 Bestel Hotel Xiamen, All rights reserved. | cc/2019-30/en_head_0013.json.gz/line11052 |
__label__wiki | 0.895814 | 0.895814 | Personalities on the Plate
How Animals Grieve
BARBARA J. KING is emerita professor of anthropology at the College of William and Mary and a freelance science writer. The author of six books including How Animals Grieve, Personalities on the Plate: The Lives and Minds of Animals We Eat, and Evolving God: A Provocative View on the Origins of Religion, she focuses on animal emotion and cognition, the ethics of our relating with animals, and the evolution of culture, language, and religion. Her work has appeared in Scientific American, NPR, Aeon, and Undark. Barbara is a frequent media guest on radio and TV shows, and has enjoyed doing science outreach at places like the 92nd St Y and the National Academy of Sciences’ Science & Entertainment Exchange “science speed dating” night.
Follow Barbara on Twitter
PHOTO CREDIT: STEPHEN SALPUKAS/COLLEGE OF WILLIAM & MARY | DOWNLOAD LARGE IMAGE
More About Barbara
Barbara J. King is emerita professor at the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia, where she taught biological anthropology for 28 years, and now is a full-time freelance science writer and speaker. Barbara’s primary focus is how the science of animal thinking and feeling can be used to understand and advocate for wild, companion, and farmed animals. She is also keenly interested in, and writes and speaks about, the evolution of religion. In this work, Barbara suggest that the building blocks of what later became human religiosity are visible in the behavior of some nonhuman animals and early human ancestors.
Barbara’s newest book, published in 2017, is Personalities on the Plate: The Lives and Minds of Animals We Eat. Her previous book How Animals Grieve from 2013 has been translated or is being translated into Japanese, Portuguese, French (winning a book prize), Hebrew, Turkish, and Polish. For six years (fall 2011 through spring 2018) she contributed weekly to National Public Radio’s 13.7 Cosmos and Culture blog, and her work has also appeared in Scientific American, Aeon, and Undark magazines. She writes regularly about books for the TLS and the Washington Post, and is a frequent guest on media shows that have included the Diane Rehm radio show and National Geographic TV. She enjoys doing science outreach at places like the 92nd St. Y and the National Academy of Sciences’ Science and Entertainment Exchange “science speed dating” night.
Barbara is active on Twitter @bjkingape where she discusses science, animals, books, and now and then, photographs of her (numerous) rescued cats.
Selected Awards & Recognition
Selected by National Academy of Sciences’ “Science and Entertainment Exchange” program to participate in “science speed dating night,” Brooklyn, New York
Book prize, France, Le chagrin des animaux: Prix 30 Million d’Amis “Essai” (for translation of How Animals Grieve)
Scientific American article ‘When Animals Mourn’ chosen for Best American Science and Nature Writing 2014 (ed. Deborah Blum, October 2014 publication)
Named Chancellor Professor of Anthropology, College of William and Mary (through retirement in 2015, when the designation shifted to Emerita Professor of Anthropology)
Evolving God named ‘Top Ten Religion Book of 2007,’ American Library Association
Guggenheim Fellowship (Guggenheim Foundation)
Selected by The Teaching Company to create and teach 12-lecture course “Primate Roots of Human Behavior” (released December 2001) and 24-lecture course “Biological Anthropology” (November 2002)
Named University Professor for Teaching Excellence, William and Mary
Outstanding Faculty Award, State Council for Higher Education, Virginia
Weatherhead Predoctoral Fellowship, School of American Research (9 months’ residence in support of dissertation-writing)
National Science Foundation doctoral dissertation improvement award, $10,000, for research on learning in wild baboons, Amboseli National Park, Kenya
Copyright © 2019 Barbara J. King. All rights reserved. Website by AuthorsOnTheWeb | cc/2019-30/en_head_0013.json.gz/line11055 |
__label__cc | 0.642681 | 0.357319 | 旅美科技协会北卡分会讲座：Taking the Road Less Traveled – My Journey as a Life Sciences Entrepreneur
讲座人: Giles Shih, PhD and MBA, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, BioResource International
讲座人简介：Dr. Giles Shih has been managing BRI’s business development efforts since its inception in November 1999. Dr. Shih served as a consultant for venture capital firms with investments in the biotechnology industry prior to co-founding BRI with his father Dr. Jason Shih.
Under Giles’ leadership, BRI has achieved significant growth and profitability, resulting in accolades including Inc. Magazine’s 500 Fastest Growing Companies Award, Triangle Business Journal’s Fast 50 Award, Asian American Business Fast 50 Award, and the Pinnacle Award from the Greater Raleigh Chamber of Commerce, as well as the Center for Economic Development NC Companies to Watch.
Giles serves on the Board of Directors of the CED, a North Carolina-based entrepreneur support organization, the Board of Directors of the North Carolina Biosciences Organization, and the Board of Directors of the North Carolina Agricultural and Life Science Research Foundation.
Upon receiving his undergraduate degree at Cornell University, Giles went on to complete his graduate training at North Carolina State University (MS in Microbiology) and Emory University (Ph.D. in Microbiology and Molecular Genetics), followed by an MBA from the Fuqua School of Business at Duke University. | cc/2019-30/en_head_0013.json.gz/line11061 |
__label__wiki | 0.924047 | 0.924047 | Dallas, 1948-1952: Hillbilly & Western swing on the Talent/Star Talent label
Jun 6, 2011 | Record labels
One of the most prolific Southwestern labels of the postwar era in Texas was Dallas’ Talent/Star Talent Records, owned and operated by Jesse Erickson. In number of actual, documented releases in its hillbilly serie (700), it may indeed have been the most prolific. Erickson’s 80-odd issues over a roughly four year period beginning in 1948 appear to be the most by a Texan hillbilly label until Starday came along in 1953.
Of course, volume doesn’t necessarily correspond with quality, but many of Talent’s – it became Star Talent about halfway through his life – releases were classics of postwar country music, like Hoyle Nix’s “Big Ball’s In Cowtown”, Slim Willet’s “Tool Pusher On A Rotary Rig” and Riley Crabtree’s “Shackles And Chains”. And many more were prime examples of the changing musical climate of the region, when Western swing was slowly displaced to straightforward Honky tonk.
The label was also unusual in the way it evolved from a strictly local label (Buddy Walker issues) to far-flung markets like New Orleans (Ray Rogers), Arkansas (Buster Doss) or Memphis (Freddie Burns).
It’s yet to be established exactly when Erickson began recording Talent sessions, but the birth of the label seems to have coincided with the musicians’ union recording ban (the Petrillo ban), on January 1rst, 1948. Erickson drew talent from the lively local scene which revolved around the Lone Star Jamboree (later Big D Jamboree), held every Saturday at Ed McLemore’s. Involved was disc jockey Al Turner. Among Jamboree’s early stars were Riley Crabtree and a youngster, Buddy Walker, at the same time salesman for Erickson’s record shop, and the first to sign for Talent – he had the first 6 releases on the label.
Talent’s inaugural release, Buddy Walker’s “Bordertown Fiesta”, became a regional hit. Recorded at the Seller’s studio, it included a nebulous house band made up of Jamboree house band regulars: lead guitar player Buster White (later Leon Rhodes), Tex Melton (later Jimmy Kelley) on steel guitar, and fiddler Ted Hodges (later Billy Jack Saucier). The obscure female pianist Aline McManus also played on several early sessions. Back to Walker. A smooth (though indeniably country) and appealing singer, typically with his first B side, the strong “We Lived A Lie”.
Gene O’Quin (his story can be found in its entirety on the site), was probably still short of 16 when he made “Next Sunday Darling Is My Birthday” (Talent 708). Alongside his longtime buddy Boots Borquin, he was already a a seasoned club and stage performer, as his poignant et assured vocal attests. Both were regulars of the Jamboree, but O’Quin would have his second disc ,backed by the Jamboree house band and credited to him alone: a forgettable “Pennies for Papa” coupled with Hank Williams’ “The Blues Come Around” (Talent 741). Soon after, O’Quin would hitchike to California and sign for Hometown Jamboree and Capitol Records.
Erickson’s first move outside of North Texas was bandleader Hoyle Nix, a fiddler whose West Texas Cowboys based out of Big Spring. Nix rose to regional stardom amid the West Texas oil boom. He took a page from his idol Bob Wills’ book when he, as Wills had done often, revamped an old folk standard as “A Big Ball’s In Cowtown” (Talent 709). The song not only became Nix’s signature tune (he re-recorded it in 1959 for the Caprock label, of Big Spring), but also by far the biggest hit of Talent/Star talent, selling 10.000 copies in the Dallas area alone, and remaining in print long after most of Erickson’s early reissues were deleted. It was also a hit for the neo-Western Swing outfit Asleep At The Wheel in the 1980’s.
Alton “Tex” Melton was an early regular steel guitarist of the Big D Jamboree. He was the steel player on a number of early Talent sessions, but also a singer/songwriter (without steel), on his line fine bluesy issue “It Won’t Do Baby” (Talent 714). He seems to have dropped out of sight afterwards.
Aline McManus, whom about nearly nothing is known, was a session pianist and had a lone issue, “Television Love” (Talent 722, vocal Jack Padgett). The song has nothing to do with television however, but is a fine bopper with twin fiddles and probably George McCoy on steel. Vocalist Jack Padgett (who had previously recorded for his own Echo label) came originally from Oklahoma, and relocated in Fort Worth, Tx. when he was approached by Jesse Erickson.
His “Boogie Woogie Gal” (Talent 729) is one of three he had on the label. Afterwards, relocated in Odessa, he wrote “Cowtown” for Tex Ritter, then switched to Four Star.
Cowboy Dixon is a real mystery, and we only have his music, the solitary fine “Everything’s Gonna Be Changed” (Talent 733); otherwise we are clueless!
The Seven Rowe Brothers were from Oklahoma, and had spent several postwar years in California when they settled in Dallas. Fronted by vocalist and sometimes fiddler Jack Rowe, they were shortly to begin a long association with Al Dexter. The Rowes at this time included Earl and Lightnin’ on fiddles, Luke on guitar, and A.D. on bass, usually augmented by various steel guitar players, lead guitarists and drummer Freddie Cantu. “Polk County Two Step” (Talent 732) is derived from the Bob Wills’ tune “Faded Love”. The Rowes continued to perform professionnally through the 1990s, though death and ill-health had decimated the act.
Buster Doss
Johnny Mathis, from Maud, Texas, was one of the most important artists to have gotten their start on Talent. Ex-steel guitar player with Riley Crabtree’s band, he cut “Before You Call” (Dave Lander’s current hit) at a Crabtree session. Mathis soon became a solo performer on the Jamboree where he met future partner Jimmy Fautheree. They both recorded solo before teaming up with “If You Don’t Somebody Else Will” in 1954. Their relationship was on and off again for years and in the late ‘50s Mathis began a distinguished solo career per Pappy Daily’s D records, recording some excellent honky-tonk records under the name Country Johnny Mathis (to distinguish him from the pop star).
Johnny Bee, born Balducci, was a fine singer, with a deep, resonant baritone. He had a tendency to sound like Ernest Tubb, and the best track by him is “Hang-over Blues” (Talent 744).
from the Tony Biggs collection
Snuffy Smith, an ex-bass player, had worked in Southern California, before relocating in Hobbs, New Mexico. He had recruited champion fiddler Tex Atchison and future Pee Wee King’s drummer Sticks McDonald (who billed himself as the “Krupa of Western Swing”). He later formed the Snuff Dippers, and cut “Let Your Conscience Be Your Guide” (Star-Talent 753 – the first issued under the modified name). By the late ‘50s Smith had joined Bob Wills as bus driver, bassist and sometimes singer.
Riley Crabtree (his entire story is to be found in this site) was one of the most prolific Texas country singers of the postwar years. He had a regional hit with “Shackles and Chains”, before signing with Columbia in 1950. Obviously influenced by Jimmie Rodgers, he cut eight of his sides. A regular on the Jamboree, he then went to Ekko (1955 – Eddie Cochran on guitar), and continued to record for small labels throughout the ‘50s ans early ‘60s.
Hank Harral is best remembered today as the owner of Caprock records in the late ‘50s, where he issued his classic “Tank Town Boogie”. Born 1913, he made his debut as the Happy Yodeler on Amarillo’s KGRS in 1928. He worked here and there as bandleader and DJ, and recorded for Star Talent “Tank Town Boogie” and “Dream Band Boogie” (Star Talent 760).
Freddie Burns was a popular Memphis country dance and radio band that numbered a young fiddler Sonny James (absent from the Star Talent sides). The fiddler then was Speedy McNatt, who sings with Burns on the excellent “Juke Box Boogie”, coupled with the equally fine “Two Piano Boogie” (Star Talent 762), with the blind pianist Ray Martin. The Freddie Burns’ band, the Ranch Hands, are not known to have recorded again.
Burns Brothers/Sunny Burns. From Jackson, Ms., Sunny (not the Starday artist Sonny Burns), Slim and Pee Wee, recorded, for unclear reasons for Star-Talent in Dallas (3 singles). They played straightforward country with western swing overtones. They chose strong material, “I Can Sleep Again At Night” (Star-Talent 765) and “Agreed To Disagree” (769). They served later as training band for future rockabilly Joe Clay.
Slim Willet. Erickson was astute enough to sign as many singing deejays as he could, a practice guaranteeing his releases would get air play. Born Winston Moore in 1919 (his full story is also featured in this site), he was a popular DJ in Abilene. He had ambition . His debut single, “Tool Pusher On A Rotary Rig” and “I’m Going Strong” (Star Talent 770) were uptempos. Later Willet would go to Four Star after his “Don’t Let The Stars Get In Your Eyes” became an unlikely major hit in 1952. Over the next years, Willet recorded prolifically (Winston, Edmoral) before his death in 1966.
Wayne Walker. Not to be confused with the Hoyle Nix guitar player, nor the singer-songwriter from Shreveport, he was a Houston singer. He was moderately successful as a songwriter (R.D. Hendon, Jerry Jericho) and his lone Star-Talent issue (“Who’s Kiddin’ Who” – 776) is one of the rarest of the label.
Notes from Krazy Kat’s CD “Playboy Boogie”. Thanks to Al Turner for label scans.
a previous issue to Talent | cc/2019-30/en_head_0013.json.gz/line11062 |
__label__wiki | 0.710036 | 0.710036 | Stark Reality*
*Aaron, IOU $1,000,000. Put it on my tab.
In his most recent ESPN column, Jayson Stark discussed the possible merits of sending Mike Hampton from the Rockies to the Braves, and boldly predicted, "He can't be any worse in Atlanta than he was this year," which is like predicting that James Coburn will make fewer movies in 2003 than he did last year.
Stark mentions several factors that may help Hampton, including the effect of his home park: The Ted, instead of The Rock.
Just this past year alone, 54 percent more runs were scored at Coors (991) than at Turner (642). So if Hampton's ERA merely makes that mathematical drop, according to scale, he'd go from 6.15 to 3.98.
Stark's problem is not that he fails to recognize the significance of things like park factors, it's that he fails to appropriately comprehend and use them. What he says is true, but misleading. Yes, there were 54% fewer runs scored at Turner Field than at Coors Field, but this does not account for the facts that the Braves offense, outside of the Brothers Jones, was abysmal, and the Rockies was actually somewhat decent. Or that the Braves pitching staff was excellent and that the Rockies pitchers sucked rocks. And the assumption that Hampton's ERA will drop by the same amount doesn't account for the fact that he'll still have to make something like 15-17 starts in parks other than Atlanta's.
To compensate for these sorts of issues, people like Baseball Prospectus develop things called Park Factors that account for all of the variations and attempt to isolate the average effect that a particular park has on offense in a particular year, or in a 3- or 5-year span. As best as I can tell, The Ted had a park factor of 986 last year, and Coors Field had a factor of 1125 (1000 = no effect). So then, if you assume that Hampton's Home ERA (5.68) will exactly follow this trajectory, you only get a difference of
5.68*(986/1125)=4.98
Well Jayson, that's not too bad. You were only off by A WHOLE RUN!
And this doesn't even address what he did on the road last year (6.44 ERA). Even if his road ERA comes back to around league average after he works out some bad mechanical habits, that still leaves him with a net ERA ~4.75. Doesn't sound like $6,000,000 worth of pitcher to me, but I guess it's better than $12,000,000.
A few weeks ago, after the NL Cy Young Award was announced, Stark wrote this column about Curt Schilling, and his supposed slights in the CYA voting in recent years. The original headline (for which, I realize, Stark is not responsible) said something about Schilling's chances for the Hall of Fame being hurt by his lack of Cy Young support in the last few years. My immediate reaction was, "No, Schilling's HoF chances are being hurt by his lack of being consistently great over the course of his career." To Stark's credit, I discovered when I read the article that he had no intention of implying that Schilling should be considered for Cooperstown, not without at least three more years like the ones he's had for the Diamondbacks in 2001 and 2002, which is unlikely. What he did say was,
"Before Schilling came along, how many pitchers do you think had ever had seasons in which they won 20 games, finished at least 16 games over .500 and piled up more than 290 strikeouts -- without getting a Cy Young out of the deal? Uh, how about zero -- at least not since 1956, when the Cy Young came into existence."
This simply isn't true. A search for pitchers who won more than 19 games, with a winning% over .800 (I had to pick a number, as Aaron Haspel doesn't have a "Games over .500" criterion yet.) and more than 290 strikeouts reveals that in fact Randy Johnson did exactly that, going 20-4, with 292 K's in 1997, and lost the Cy to Roger Clemens, who led the league in everything that year.
Schilling is only the fourth National League right-hander in the last 60 years to win 22 games or more in two straight seasons. You've heard of the others -- Ferguson Jenkins, Juan Marichal and Robin Roberts.
Well, yes, this statement is true, but it has some inherent flaws. First of all, wins have a lot more to do with run support, bullpen help and opportunity than they do with great pitching. A quick search for 22+ game winners since 1942 at Godofthemachine.com reveals that such immortals as Clyde Wright and Bob Porterfield have won 22 games in a season at one time. Not such a stringent criterion, is it? Secondly, Stark's decision to narrow it down to only the Senior Circuit makes the feat seem something more than it is. If he had included the AL in his survey, you could add Mike Cuellar, Catfish Hunter, Bob Lemon, Mickey Lolich, Denny McClain, Jim Palmer, Wilbur Wood('71-'73) and Hal Newhouser ('44-'46). Still sounds like a pretty exclusive list, just not as snooty as it once may have been, given that the club membership has just tripled.
Despite his reputation as a workhorse, Schilling has had trouble staying helathy over the course of his career, and of course he has had some tough luck, like his 1998 season in which he led the NL with 300 strikeouts, 268.7 innings, and didn't even rank in the top 7 in Cy Young voting, due to his 15-14 record on an abysmal Phillies team. But mostly Schilling's career has been hurt (if you can call making $10 million/year "hurt") by his lack of health. Despite pitching in the majors since 1988, Schilling only has about 2400 IP, and 155 wins, about 10 or 11 full years' worth. And that lack of pitching time has hurt his Cooperstown chances mors than any bad luck has. On the other hand though, if he hadn't had some of those injuries, he might not have learned some of the physical and mental disciplines that have made him the great pitcher he has been for these last few years. And we'll never know anyway.
Finally, one last nit-pick on poor Jayson: In his article about the Giants hiring of Felipe Alou, he makes this statement:
Not with Barry Bonds on the premises. Not when you're talking about a team so loaded with veteran players that all the Giants' rookie position players combined got fewer at-bats this season than Tsuyoshi Shinjo. Not when your talking about a team whose key players come from hometowns as diverse as Villa Clara, Cuba and Los Altos Hills, Calif. [bold added]
Now, I know that this is "just" grammar, but to make the mistake of writing "your" when he should be writing "you're", especially when he just got it right in the previous sentence, is really annoying, at least for me. Nobody who's being well-paid to write for an organization as huge as ESPN should be making such a mistake, and if he does, his editor ought to catch it.
OK, that's enough Stark Reality for now. Happy Thanksgiving!
Posted by Travis M. Nelson at 11/27/2002 0 comments
Simon Says Swing at Everything
I once heard someone, I believe a politician from Ohio, saying that he loved watching Jim Thome hit (a sentiment that the Boy of Summer echoes), and that one measurement of his greatness is the fact that he puts the ball in play less often than anyone else in the majors. It made sense to me, given Thome's swing-from-the-heels, grip-and-rip style, but I decided to check on this. Surely enough, Thome only put 253 balls in play in 613 plate appearances, for a 41.2% In-Play%, which led the AL, (I think that Adam Dunn and/or Mark Bellhorn might have him in the NL). But here's the interesting part: Near the opposite end of the scale is Randall Simon, putting the horsehide in play at a 65.8% clip. Two 1B/DH types, totally different approaches at the plate.
A friend wrote to me today to alert me to Simon's trade yesterday, sadly, to his favorite team, the Pirates. My friend, whom we'll call "Tim", wrote:
I'm not sure if you've heard, but the Pirates traded for Randall Simon yesterday, giving up a bunch of minor leaguers. Littlefield hasn't done a bad job, but he's starting to concern me, especially when he makes a comment like the following:
"It's hard to give up good young players when we have a lack of AAA and AA prospects, but as head of baseball operations, I have to make sure we address our needs at the major-league level," Littlefield said.
Excuse me, but isn't the Oakland A's [franchise] successful because they have a great minor league system that can replace guys who leave for FA when they get too expensive?
Yes, of course, Tim, you should be concerned. The Pirates do have a dearth of quality players, at both the major league and minor league levels, but what else is new? Given the fact that they're not really in danger of winning anything anytime soon, they ought to be focusing on developing prospects instead of trading them away for so-so players who are soon eligible for arbitration. Randall Simon only managed to muster 8 (eight!) unintentional walks in 506 plate appearances last year, which means that he purposely walked only 1.5% of the time! Or, to put this in perspective, you were more likely to see Joe Randa go yard than you were to see Simon go to first without hitting the ball or being put there intentionally.
OK, so what have we established?
1) Jim Thome doesn't appear to like running to first base.
2) Stephen Hawking walks more often than Randall Simon.
But is this really a problem? Well, of course it is, but how much of a problem? Simon swings at everything, but incredibly, he hardly ever misses! His 30 K's last year made him the toughest guy to KO in the AL last year. He's only 27, which means he's not likely to get much better, but he shouldn't start any kind of serious decline until 31 or 32, you'd hope, so you can pencil him in for a ~.295/20HR/85RBI season for each of the next few years. In other words, he'll be one of the worst hitting firstbasemen in the NL, now that Rico Brogna's retired. That is, unless David Littlefield suddenly becomes David Copperfield and magically teaches Simon to walk ~50-70 times/year. The Pirates already have Kevin Young under contract to play 1B, who's admittedly an even worse hitter than Randall Simon, but Simon is not enough of an improvement to justify a $7-8 mil/yr platoon. The combination of these two may hit .300/.350/.500, given their respective strengths, but that will still only bring their status up to "mediocre" and they'll have burned a roster spot. They ought to just bide their time with Young for another year, and spend the extra funds scouting minor league free agents who might put up similar numbers.
The Pirates traded Adrian Burnside, 25, who was 6-9 with a 4.55 ERA at Double-A Altoona last season, which means that he is not a prospect in any real sense of the word. As long as the two PTBNLs they send are of similar ilk, it's not a terrible trade, unless the Pirates go and sign Simon to a multi-year contract for more than, say, a million per. But now that Simon's got the ".300 hitter" label, that will never happen.
Things To Do In Philly If You're Stupid
On 23 October 1999, Norm McDonald hosted Saturday Night Live, which is not such a tremendous accomplishment when taken out of context, as hundreds of people have done the same over the years. What made it of particular interest is perhaps best explained by Norm himself, with his monologue:
"When the people here asked me to do the show, I've got to say, I felt kind of weird. I don't know if you remember this, but I used to actually be on this show. I used to do the "Weekend Update" news routine, you remember that? That's where I did the make-believe news jokes. That was me, you know? So then, a year and a half ago, I had sort of a disagreement with the management at NBC. I wanted to keep my job. Right? And they felt the exact opposite. They fired me because they said that I wasn't funny. Now, with most jobs, I could have had a hell of a lawsuit on my hands for that, but see, this is a comedy show. So, they got me. But, now, this is the weird part, it's only a year and a half later, and now, they ask me to host the show. So I wondered, how did I go from being not funny enough to be even allowed in the building, to being so funny that I'm now hosting the show? How did I suddenly get so goddamn funny?! It was inexplicable to me, because, let's face it, a year and a half is not enough time for a dude to learn how to be funny! Then it occurred to me, I haven't gotten funnier, the show has gotten really bad! So, yeah, I'm funny compared to, you know, what you'll see later.
Okay, so let's recap.
The bad news is: I'm still not funny.
The good news is: The show blows!"
Now, obviously, this is all tongue-in-cheek.
The real reason for his firing is not that Norm was ever not-funny, and the show didn't particularly blow any more than it ever did, especially when you have the Joe Piscopo Era for comparison. The real reason is that they wanted him off the show because of his constantly swearing on live TV and the fact that they thought he couldn't do anything well other than read the fake news. But, when given a chance to blossom on another show, suddenly Norm's phone is ringing off the hook.
Similarly (you were wondering where this was going, weren't you?) there are people like Tuffy Rhodes, Alex Cabrera and Roberto Petagine, who go from being so "not-funny" (in baseball terms, "not-hitty") that they're not even offered a job in MLB, to being so funny (read: kicking ass in Japanese, Mexican, Korean, Timbuktu League) that they're suddenly wanted back on the show, or, more accurately, back in The Show. Peter Gammons reports that Petagine suddenly has a whole boatload of suitors for a major league firstbaseman's job, after coming close to leading Japan's Central League in a bunch of offensive categories. Obviously, these guys weren't ever all that bad, and the quality of the Japanese Leagues is not so far below that of MLB, and nobody "learns" to hit in two years. These guys just needed a shot.
Which means that there are probably dozens of guys out there somewhere who can and would hit just like David Bell, for less than a tenth of what Bell will reap over the next four years. If there's anything to be learned in this era of free agency and high-priced mediocrity, it's "Don't sign a 30-something mediocrity coming off a career year to a long-term contract." But the Phillies can't be bothered with things like "research" and "fiscal responsibility". They want to be able to point to David Bell, or Heathcliff Slocumb, or Gregg Jeffries, or Danny Tartabull, or Mike Jackson, and say to the City of Brotherly Boo, "See? We tried! We signed a free-agent, and look where it got us! Why should we bother? It's the Market's fault!" Without acknowledging that they help to skew the market by paying for mediocrities like David Bell.
I want to like the Phillies. I do. Really. But then they go and sign David Bell for four years at ~$17 million, and I am instantly reminded of why I have such a hard time rooting for them, at least consistently. John Perricone, over at OBM, has compared Bell to Edgardo Alfonzo, another free-agent 3B looking for a job, and has shown how remarkably similar their counting stats and such were. I would submit (and I think John would agree) that Fonzie was actually the better player last year, when he was healthy.
John is upset that Bell spurned SanFran for Philly, and particularly that Larry Bowa is attributed as the main reason that Bell split, which is like your wife telling you that she's leaving you for Jake LaMotta. However, this potentially opens up the Giants to go get Alfonzo, or any of the other half-dozen third basemen on the market right now who are better than Bell. David Pinto correctly points out that Bell had the third most WinShares on the Giants last year, and accurately predicts that Felipe Alou will have his hands full trying tor eplace the production of Bell and Jeff Kent, but fails to mention that there was a STEEP drop-off after SuperMan and BatMan. According to Baseball Prospectus, Bell was only about the 15th or 20th best 3B in the majors last year, by EQa, depending on how many plate appearances you want to use as a qualifier. The Phils are not "breaking the bank" by today's standards, but $4.25 mil/year is a lot for essentially a league-average 3B. It's also a lot because it might not have cost much more to get Alfonzo, given his injuries last year, and they already have Placido Polanco, who should never play daily on a good team, but who is a serviceable backup and could play a few weeks if The Fonz goes down again. Too late now.
The so-called experts and insiders who are comparing Bell to Scott Rolen and lamentig the dropoff in expected production are totally right. And completely missing the point. Rolen is moot. He wasn't an option, so the comparison is worthless. The real comparison should be between Bell and Alfonzo, or Robin Ventura, or Phil Nevin, or Mark Loretta, or Todd Zeile. None of these guys is perfect, or they'd already be signed, but a lot of them will hit better than Bell over the next four years. Or at least until Chase Utley is ready.
Rainy Joe Morgan Chat Day Woman #12 & 35(sorry Mike)
Every once in a while, an idea comes along that is so brilliant in its simplicity, a creation so ingenious in its blatancy, that you kick yourself for not having thought of it first yourself.
The Bag-Clip.
Air Bags.
Edible Underwear.
OK, so the jury's still out on airbags.
My ranting colleague, Mike Carminati, had one such idea: Joe Morgan Chat Day. Throughout the baseball season, every week, ESPN hosts an Internet chat session with the Best Secondbaseman In History (apologies to Rogers Hornsby, Jackie Robinson, and Roberto Alomar), which is a great honor for anyone whose question gets answered by Joe. However, he also happens also to be, arguably, the Worst Baseball Analyst In History, which means that....
A) Rarely do you even get the question you asked answered appropriately, if at all. This is a sign of both politicians and idiots. I'll let you make the call. Example:
Clint (Danbury, CT): You were one of baseballs best alltime hitters. What young pitcher today do you think that you would have the most problems hitting against?
: Probably, being left-handed, Randy Johnson. Other than him I can't think of anyone who could be that difficult…
What other baseball commentator can be asked to name a "young pitcher," respond with [39-year old] "Randy Johnson," and be allowed to keep his job? Of course, Joe's pushing 60 himself, so maybe The Old Unit seems young to him.
2) When he does answer your question, more often than not, he's wrong. Especially about statistics. Example:
Denis (Dover, NH): How valuable is a great base stealer to a ballclub? Statistically, a player needs to be around 70% successful not to hurt his club, but what about the effects on the opposing pitcher? …
: Stats can't be used to measure the effect of a base stealer because he changes the defense and the pitching patterns. A great base stealer should steal 80 percent or more, I think. Seventy percent is a good number, but that's not how you measure his effect. You measure the intangibles of what he brings to an offense.
Ahh, the old "measurement of the intangibles". My favorite. Right up there with the old "definition of 'God', including two examples".
Mike's happening upon the idea of a weekly proof that Joe Morgan is something less than Albert Einstein, or at least Eddie Epstein, is, as they say in France, a great blessing. Because Joe really proves this himself every week in these chat sessions, and Mike's job is simply to point the instances out. It's a sportswriter's (or a blogger's) dream! If Mike were, say, Rush Limbaugh, it would be like Al Gore going on the radio or TV every week, addressing the Nation, and making an ass out of himself by recounting conversations with people he's never met and memories of places he's never been! What? Oh, he did that? Well, there you go!
And I must kick myself because now the man who provides fodder for baseball bloggers' troughs as though he somewhere has a storage silo labeled "Stupid Things To Say On Internet Today", the man who sometimes says things so asinine that you have to ask yourself whether Morgan and Carminati have some sorta scam going to keep Mike's Baseball Rants in business, the man who, in spite of decades worth of research and evidence to the contrary, still thinks that wins/losses, and Runs/RBI are THE definitive statistics for measuring baseball players, this man of such staunch, ridiculous and unsupportable convictions, is taken. He is off the market. Sure, I can make fun of him sometimes. I can call him funny names and draw attentiontion to dumb things he says and writes (Stupid Morgan Tricks, anyone?), but by and large, I cannot make a regular practice out of this without being labeled a copycat, a fake or a RedSox Fan.
So I must find other material, an original source for my musings, preferably one who makes sufficiently egregious errors that I will have a somewhat steady flow of quotes to pick apart. Thankfully, there are enough bad sportswriters out there that you could probably wrap all of your Christmas (Hannukah, Kwanzaa, Whatever) gifts in a week's worth of their columns and have enough left over to line the hampster cage. I, however, have chosen someone whom I actually think a rather decent writer: Jayson Stark. Mr. Stark writes a column for ESPN and acts as an anchor on Baseball Tonight sometimes. If you've read my blog for any length of time, you know that I've taken issue with things Stark has written in the past. And if you haven't been reading, well, a pox on you! But now I will try to make a more or less regular occurrence of such writings, if only to establish some semblance of consistency in your feeble, aimless, woebegone life. And also so I won't have to peruse every stinkin' baseball writer's columns to find something to gripe about every week.
As I mentioned, I actually think that Stark is a decent baseball writer, so my posts likely will not be as harsh as Mike's often are, but Jayson does have some shortcomings. One of these is his use of statistics, not that he doesn't take seriously the work done by Bill James, Rob Neyer, Baseball Prospectus and the like. His use of stats ranges from inaccuracy to blowing certain, nitpicky coincidences completely out of proportion. In addition, Stark, just like everyone else from Philadelphia, shows a Philadelphia bias, which sometimes gets him into journalistic trouble. Or at least it will by the time I'm through with him, since I don't really like Philly, especially its fans, players and writers, with a few exceptions. His Philly bias is not a terrible vice, though, as everyone has some bias, and hey, at least he's not Bill Conlin.
I doubt that I will ever have the kind of material from Jayson that Mike gets from Joe Morgan, but like dentists with any kind of integrity, Mike and I will both labor on in the hopes that someday, somehow, our efforts will eventually lead the people who keep us in business to stop doing the things that keep us in business,and that we will be forced to find someone else on whom to pick. (Get it? "Pick"? Dentists? Oh, never mind.) So, I will begin (next week) by reviewing some of Stark's recent work, and commenting on its shortcomings as well as lauding its accomplishments. And then I will make attempts to do the same at least once a week with his columns. And we'll just see how it goes.
Now I hafta be able to come up with clever names for the posts...Any ideas?
I HAVE ARRIVED!
I have had, on occasions throughout my life, Brushes With Greatness (both real and imagined), or at least acknowledgement, a few times.
- When I was about eight or ten, I went to Yankee Stadium for the first time with the Lodi Boys&Girls Club. We sat in the bleachers, got sunburn, and watched the Toronto Blue Jays beat my favorite team. When I got back, I told my mom how I had seen Ron Guidry, my favorite pitcher, warming up in the bullpen, how he had acknowledged me and even shook my hand! My mom was so proud! I must now admit, for the first time in public, that this story was a total fabrication. Well, not the part about going to the Stadium, or the Yankees losing to the Blow Jays. But all that stuff about Louisiana Lightning was total bull, made up just for the attention. (Mom, if you're reading, I'm sorry.) Actually, I did that sorta fishing-for-attention thing a lot when I was younger, but it's been a lot better lately. Ever since that pep-talk Marlon Brando gave me, after I provided him with some acting tips during the filming of On the Waterfront, I haven't felt that I had to do that as much. Neat guy, that Marlon.
- When I was about 15, I met Lou Piniella in Nordstrom, at the Garden State Plaza. Honest. My mom was even there this time. I got his autograph. Really!
- When I was about 12, I saw Mark Collins, then a cornerback for the NY Giants, in a McDonald's in Hasbrouck Heights, NJ. Had no idea who he was, just knew he was someone famous and it wouldn't hurt to get his autograph. (Does McDonald's really need a restaurant locator on its website?)
- As a senior in high school, I was featured twice in 1993 in articles in the Bergen Record, a paper I delivered for three years as a child, and the paper for whom Bob Klapisch writes, when he's not writing for ESPN. (Alas, Bob and I have never met.) I was Scholar of the Week on 23 February 1993 and I was the most prominently featured of several students in an article on college financial aid (read:smart, poor kids) that appeared on 30 June 1993.
- In college, I got a letter to the editor of the Brown & White, Lehigh's student newspaper, published in reposnse to a column written about school prayer. The writer of the column called me about it and we have since become friends. We even played poker at my house last night. Then, a few weeks later, my picture appeared in the Brown & White. Actually, a member of the Harlem Globetrotters dunking a basketball at Stabler Arena appeared, but I was in the audience right behind him, with two friends.
- On 11 September 1999, I was featured on ESPN's SportsCenter. OK, not really. But I was in the left field stands at Yankee Stadium, right where Nomaaah's second homer landed, during a BoSawx blowout . The ball ricocheted off my right hand (the one day I forget my glove...), spraining my index finger, and hit some lady five rows back in the neck before some fat guy with no shirt finally came out of the scrum with it. But if you slow the tape of the highlight down, you can just make me out.
Not catching the ball.
- In this past year alone, I have received emails from such sages as ESPN's Rob Neyer and The Sporting News' Ken Rosenthal, who was thisclose to publishing one of my questions in his mailbag section in TSN. I think he changed his mind when he realized that my name wasn't really Cleveland Millhous Fitzgerald, the nickname I was using on my Hotmail account for a while.
- In September, I got a Letter To the Editor of Sports Illustrated published, as I discussed a while back, but cannot crosslink you to it because Blogger's got PMS or something right now, and she ate all my archives. Sorry. But it's in this issue:
- But now I have really arrived. I received a reply email from Clay Davenport. That's right, the Clay Davenport, of Baseball Prospectus and the Davenport Translations, which do a better job of evaluating players' performances, abilities, and potential than any other I know. Just ask the other nine guys in my Yahoo! Fantasy League, who got their butts kicked over the course of the last year.
I thought it was cool when I met a physics prof at Lehigh who had written a textbook, but this is much cooler. I had written to Prospectus to ask about their fielding stats, as these are excellently done and easy to use, if not to understand exactly how they come up with them, but you cannot find players ranked by such information anywhere on their website. You can do player searches, by name, for lots of players, including those who aren't even active, and their fielding stats are available there, but again, no rankings. I didn't really expect a reply at all, much less one from The-Man-His-Self.
Clay's (we're on a first-name basis now...) reply said, essentially, that these are coming, but that the guys are all working hard to get next year's Prospectus done ASAP, and so I hafta wait. But it was worth it. Hey, I'd never met a man who had a Translation named after him before.
Now if I can just get King James to return my calls...
Keeping Up With the Perricones, Carminatis, Gleemans, Pintos...
It looks like my priorities have been all out of whack for the last several days: Spending time with my wife and good friends, going to church, buying groceries...instead of doing what's really important: Writing yet another slant on the current baseball news. Frankly, I haven't had much to say about a lot of the stuff that's happened. But some of it's worth discussing.
The Headaches for Headaches Trade I discussed last week turned out to be a Headaches for Headache and money for Tim Spooneybarger (a headache to write, in itself!) and a PTBNL . Nothing's really changed from what I wrote, except that Atlanta may be a more attractive option for Hampton than Florida, what with their eleven consecutive division titles and all, and the Bravos won't hafta pay but about $35 million of the $80+ mil owed to His Gopherball-ness. Not a bad deal. If he doesn't keep sucking. Mike Carminati does a good job of hashing out all the creative accounting involved in the deal.
El Dusto was named as the Cubbies' new field manager, to nobody's surprise except maybe Osama Bin Laden, who has evidently been under a pile of rocks until very recently. Serves him right. Many are not sure Dusty has what it takes to take a young, talented team that needs a chance to develop and make it a contender, but then he's never really tried, so we can't knock him just yet. But soon. Don't you worry, soon. Christian over at the Cub Reporter has some good analysis of Dusty's future.
Bob Melvin was named the new manager of the Seattle Mariners, who seem to do a better job of not leaking these types of decisions too soon than the Cubs do. All I know about Bob Melvin is that
A) He has three first names. This is not such a terrible thing as you might think. Heck, so do I!
2) He spent the last few years as the bench coach for possibly the worst tactical manager to win a World Series in recent memory
iii) He was once a fourth-string catcher for the Yankees, and was needlessly placed on the DL with something called a "strained neck" in order to make room for someone important coming back from a rehab assignment.
This tells me two things, and only two things, about his prospects as a manager of the Mariners:
He probably knows less about in-game strategery than Bob Brenly, which is bad. And he may know some good roster-shuffling tricks. Hopefully this is not his greatest asset.
Felipe Alou was named manager of the SF Giants, also not much of a surprise. This is an interesting choice, too, because like Dusty Baker, Felipe Alou is being asked to do something he's never had to do before: He must take a predominantly veteran team that is already a contender, and make it a champion. He's already 67, which isn't as bad as some would have you think, but since he's from the Dominican Republic, that probably means that he's really about 207, which is not so good. John Perricone has a seriously thorough breakdown of what Alou might do based on (what else?) what he's done in the past. Good stuff.
Cory Lidle was traded to the Blue jays for two prospects no one but their parents have ever heard of. This is a good trade for both teams, potentially. Billy Beane makes his living dumping replaceable, thirtysomething pitchers making $5 million on other teams. The fact that he got two prospects in return is just gravy. Beane must have a stash of league-average innings-munching starters (Gil Heredia, Tom Candiotti, Mike Oquist) in his linen closet. Right between the sage hand towels and the utility infielders with plate discipline. With the three great, young pitchers the A's already have, and the possibility of another one developing in Aaron Harang, the A's didn't need Lidle, not at that price. What surprises me about it is that JP Riccardi, a former pupil of Beane's and now the GM of the Blue Jays, was on the other end of the deal. He should know better.
New Links...
I have added a few new links, one new blog, on the left, and two non-blogs on the right.
The one on the left is Bronx banter, a brandy-spankin' new blog by Alex Belth, a New York native who will keep you up on some of the things going on there. Alex seems to be just learning about how to set up his blog, but the writing is quite good. I suggest (if he ever reads my stuff) that he find a different template before he makes too many modifications to the existing one. Mike Carminati and Misha Berkowitz (whom Alex replaces on my page) both use that one already. Just a suggestion.
It's pretty mean and vindictive, but then, I don't watch Todd Hundley play every day, and I'm not exacxtly Mr. Nice Writer myself all the time, so who am I to preach? Hundley has hit near or below the Mendoza Line four of the last five years, so maybe it's past-time for the Cubs to cut their losses. The fake interview part is pretty funny.
The other is for a book I have not read, but hey, if Rob neyer says it's good, then it's good. besides, the site itself has lots of stuff worth reading. Go check out
ESPN.com is reporting the following headline:
On the table: Hampton, Johnson in six-player deal
Unfortunately, the headline doesn't tell you who the teams are; you have to read the article for that. Since there has been talk of the Yankees trading for Mike Hampton, my first thought was "Nick Johnson?" and then I nearly soiled myself, as the thought of my favorite team trading away a young, cheap firstbaseman (whom last year's BaseballProspectus said could turn out to be a cross between John Olerud and Barry Bonds) for a 30+ year old pitcher who sucks AND is owed more money than we have in Fort Knox did not sit well with me, to say the least. Thankfully, the story indicated that Charles, not Nick, was the Johnson involved in the deal, and that the Marlins, not the Yankees, were the other team. What a relief. Now I don't have to change my shorts for a few more days!
That being said, the deal would probably be good for almost all parties involved, though it sounds like Hampton won't let it go through anyway.
The Rockies would get:
Charles Johnson - a once-great defensive and pretty good offensive catcher who still has some power, when healthy. Coors Field should only boost his overall stats.
Preston Wilson- Average defensive OF with speed and power, whose main weaknesses (walks & strikeouts) should both be helped by Coors.
Vic Darensbourg and Pablo Ozuna - Replaceable relief pitcher and utility IF, respectively.
The Marlins would get:
Mike Hampton - Once-pretty good pitcher whose change-up and ground ball tendencies and the denser atmosphere of Miami should bring his pitching back to resembling Kenny Rogers in no time (instead of pitching like Fred Rogers, as he has done the last two years) . No wait, the other Kenny Rogers. Which is better than a poke in the eye with a sharp stick.
Juan Pierre - The only player who stands to really be hurt by the trade. Pierre's fast, VERY fast..but that's about it. He's only average defensively, and doesn't hit well enough to justify a full-time job. Without the Coors effect, it will show a lot more. Anyone looking for evidence that stolen bases don't lead to runs need look no further than Juan Pierre's Career Home/Road splits:
AB R H RBI BB HBP SB CS AVG OBP SLG
Home 703 129 234 54 44 11 50 18 .333 .381 .391
Road 706 95 200 56 41 9 50 17 .283 .330 .351
He has nearly identical plate appearances, steals and caught-stealings (~748, 50 and 18, respectively), but got on base 39 more times at home than on the road in that span and somehow, mysteriously, managed to score 34 more runs. Who'da thunkit? And this year's split was even worse. At home, he was Luis Castillo, without the "patience." On the road he was Rey Ordonez. In bad year. With a broken arm. Swinging a lead bat. OK, tungsten. The only difference is that Pierre could occasionally steal second before the next guy in the lineup killed a rally, and Ordonez pretty much has to stay put unless Trachsel bunts him over. This trade would essentially kill Pierre's career, or at least his career as a starter and a chance at another multimillion dollar contract.
Essentially, the trade would boil down to the two 1993 expansion teams exchanging headaches (unproductive players tied to cumbersome contracts), which could work out for one or both teams. If it doesn't, though, neither team is really much worse off than they were before, so why not do it? Oh, yeah, because Mike Hampton wants to go to a winning team.
"They're pretty much in the same situation we're in," Hampton said. "They've been in a cycle where they've been trading good players and going young. If I am going to be traded, I wanted to go to a team that could win right away."
Yeah, Mike, have you ever heard the old adage,
"Pitchers who have the worst ERA in the National League two years running can't be choosers"?
What right should Mike Hampton have to make a request to go to a contender? This is like a convict refusing to be released on probation unless he's guaranteed a free room at the Hilton. Get a grip, Mike. Not just on your curveball.
Nothing To Do With Baseball...but I Can't Help It
I heard on the Imus in the Morning Show on my way to work today that some people got together and did a tribute album for Johnny Cash, one of the great Country/Western singer-songwriters of all time, which is great, you would think. But you'd be wrong. Because I also heard that some bozo named Keb-Mo covered Folsom Prison Blues on the album, but called the producer and refused to sing the lyric:
"But I shot a man in Reno, just to watch him die."
So producer Marty Stuart, who himself ought to be taken out and shot in Reno*, told Keb Mo that he could change it!
Excuse me?! Change one of the greatest lines in the history of recorded country music?! How exactly is that a "tribute" to the songwriter?
"Hi, Mr. Brown, James Brown? Yes, this is Joe Schmoe. No, the other one. Listen, I'm working on a tribute album for you...well, you're welcome...but I'm not sure I can sing the lyric "I Feel Good." You see, I don't want to offend people who might be kinda depressed. Wait, stop yelling. I was hoping to change it to "I Feel About as Well As Can Be Expected, Given the Circumstances." I haven't figured out how I'm gonna get it to rhyme yet but...Mr. Brown? Mr. Brown? Hello?"
He apparently changed the lyric to:
"They said I shot a man down in Reno, but that was just a lie."
Which RUINS THE ENTIRE DAMN SONG! It doesn't make any sense with that line changed! The song is about a BAD guy, who wants to get on the train he can hear from the prison, but he can't, because he's paying his debt to society. It's NOT about someone who's been framed, because if it was, the contrast supplied by the word 'but' at the beginning of the line in the original song ("...my momma told me, 'Son, / Always be a good boy; don't ever play with guns./ BUT I shot a man...") wouldn't be appropriate. And the line in the next verse (I know I had it comin', I know I can't be free.) wouldn't make any sense! If you listen to Cash explaining his thinking as he wrote the song (available on the Willie Nelson/Johnny Cash VH1 Storytellers album) he says that he was trying to think of the most evil reason someone could have for killing another person. Keb Mo is an idiot.
Can somebody please remind me which of the Constitutional Ammendments tells us that Americans have the Right To Never Be Offended by Anything, Ever, Including Things They Don't Understand Because They're Morons? I must have been sick the day we covered that one in history class.
(*In the ear, with a water pistol...just kinda grazing it...but shot, nonetheless!)
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) Barry Bonds, on the eve of the announcement of his unanimous selsection as the 2002 NL MVP, his fifth Award, made it clear that he is still not satisfied. He wants to be liked, to have the love of the fans and press, just as Wayne Gretzky, Michael Jordan and Joe Montana did in their respective sports.
"I wish I was liked as much as them for the accomplishments I have. I wish I had the same respect as them. People really admire their accomplishments,'' Bonds said from the American All-Star tour of Japan.
Bonds' abrasive personality and flagrant self-centeredness have led many fans and sportswriters to shun him, in spite of his great accomplishments between the foul lines.
"I wish [my media reputation] could be erased,'' he said, "I'm a business-type player. I want to give the fans their money's worth.''
In a related story, pop stars David Bowie and Michael Jackson held a press conference at the Neverland Ranch to state that they also would like their reputations with fans and media to be "erased". While wearing the matching pastel uniforms of deceased Beatles John Lennon and George Harrison, accented by matching polyester feather boas, Jackson and Bowie confirmed that they wish to be thought of as "less bizarre" and/or "less gay."
(File Photos)
Say It Ain't So, Eddie...
Speaking (albeit briefly) of Shoeless Joe, I have wondered for some time about another of the permanently banned Chicago Black Sox players, who seems to me to have surprisingly little acclaim as a pitcher, though (I think) if not for the Black Sox Scandal, he might have made the Hall of Fame: Eddie Cicotte. If you saw the movie Eight Men Out (based on the book of the same title by Eliot Asinof), Cicotte was the ace knuckleballer played by David Strathairn, who happens to be one of my favorite actors.
In the movie, Cicotte is cheated out of a $10,000 bonus he had been promised if he won 30 games that year. He won 29, even though he had missed three weeks in August simply because White Sox owner Charlie Comiskey had Cicotte benched "to save him for the [World] Series." He could easily have won at least one of his four starts during that span, but was not given the chance, because Comiskey was such a cheap bastard. (And to think, just five years ago, Steve Avery was purposely given a sufficient number of starts to kick in a $3.9 million option for the following year with the BoSox, despite having an ERA over 6.00 at the time!)
This slight, I suppose, Cicotte felt was justification for taking part in throwing the Series against the Cincinatti Reds. (Not "Redlegs", the moniker used in the movie. The term "Red" did not develop negative, Communistic connotations and subsequent taboos until later, and the Reds did not use the name Redlegs until McCarthyism was at its height in the early 1950's, I believe.) However he rationalized it to himself, the evidence is there that he took money from gamblers, took part in fixing the Series, and took his own name from the running for Cooperstown (though it didn't exist at the time...the HoF, not the town). His career similarity scores include four members of the Hall: Stan Covelski, Chief Bender, Jack Chesbro and Dazzy Vance. Carl Mays, also with very similar career numbers to Cicotte, might have made it to Baseball Immortality as well, if he hadn't first achieved Baseball Infamy as the Only Man Ever to Kill A Player With A Pitch.
But consider the following, about what was and what might have been for Edward Victor Cicotte:
What Was: Cicotte's 208 career wins place him 88th on the career list, ahead of HoFers Bob Lemon, Rube Marquard and Hal Newhouser.]
What Might Have Been: Cicotte only pitched 14 years, having been expelled from baseball after the 1920 season when he was only 36. If he'd gotten to pitch another four or five years (not uncommon for a knuckleballer), he should easily have had 250-270 wins, putting him in league with Jim Palmer, Bob Feller and Carl Hubbell. The fact that Cicotte's "shine ball" would have been legally grandfathered under the new rules would have only prolonged his career.
What Was: Cicotte's career 2.38 ERA places him 24th on the all-time list, in the same neighborhood as Eddie Plank and Chief Bender, both Hall of famers.
What Might Have Been: Well, with four or five more years of pitching, his ERA likely would have risen a bit, but even if he finished around 2.70 or 2.80, he'd have still been in pretty good HoF company (Whitey Ford, Sandy Koufax, Chesbro).
What Was: Cicotte's career .583 winning percentage is better than Cooperstown members Ted Lyons, Jim Bunning, Dons Drysdale and Sutton, Burleigh Grimes, and Eppa Rixey, just to name a few.
What Might Have Been: Eh, probably about the same, maybe a slight drop, but still very good. Over the course of his career, the teams Cicotte played on had a .570 W%, slightly below his own.
What Was: Eddie Cicotte, according to the increasingly useful and wonderful fount of searchable knowledge over at , was one of only SIX 20th century pitchers to win at least 200 games, have an ERA under 2.50, pitch at least 3000 innings, and win over 58% of his decisions. The other five?
Walter "Big Train" Johnson
Christy "Big Six" Matthewson
Charles "Chief" Bender
"Gettysburg" Eddie Plank
Mordecai Peter Centennial "Three-Finger" Brown (my favorite baseball name)
Wow. Or, as they say in France: Holy Schnikies.
What Might Have Been: Do we really need to ask what might have been?! Isn't what actually happened good enough? Look at that list again! Five Hall of Famers. OK, so Bender's kinda marginal, but the rest are all top-notch Cooperstown cronies.
So what's the point of all this? Before people start sending me piles of flaming hatemail with lots of mis-spellings, I am NOT advocating for Eddie Cicotte's enshrinement in the Hall of Fame. Obviously, I cannot do so in good conscience, especially after rallying against Pete Rose's candidacy as vehemently as I have. I am simply trying to spread awareness that Charlie Hustle and Shoeless Joe are not the only great players kept out of Cooperstown because of their alleged dealings with gamblers.
On the other hand, hatemail may be better than no mail, so flame away!
Rose Wrap-Up
In the continuing saga of the blogger community's Pete Rose discussions, David Levens, of Elephants in Oakland, wrote this piece, published on Only Baseball Matters, which I think does a pretty good job of covering all the bases on the argument. I recall when I read it that I felt that it was an article that someone on either side of the issue could read and feel like their side won, which either means that David is a good writer or that he's an aspiring politician. This, however, certainly does not end the discussion. Mike of Mike's Baseball Rants wrote this short play (read: long post) about the issue, on which he must have spent an inordinate amount of time, so if you haven't read it yet, you might want to. On the other hand, it's about 28 pages long, so don't say I didn't warn you. Personally, I don't think it's Mike's best work, so if you want a better example of how insightful and clever he can be, while slightly more pithy, read his weekly Joe Morgan roasts.
John Dowd, the chief investigator in the Rose case, sent this letter to the NY Times, which shows us that, if nothing else, at least Dowd's opinion on the subject hasn't changed. He mentions in the letter that no one who's been put on the permanently inelligible list has ever been taken off. Therefore, it would be extremely difficult to justify taking someone like Pete Rose off the list, for two more reasons than before: First, Rose's innocence is still very much in question. Opinions are like anuses: everybody's got one, and they're all different. Nobody has really definitively made an argument one way or the other. Second, if you do let Rose off the permanently inelligible list, then what? Then you've got Shoeless Joe Jackson supporters holding nightly candlelight vigils outside the commisioners house, taking out ads in major periodicals, appearing on Letterman and the Today Show, sticking fliers under your windshield wipers at the supermarket, accosting your children and brainwashing them to believe that Western Culture is Evil....oh, wait, that's something else. But anyway, it would suck. It would compromise the whole system.
Tomorrow: The Best Pitcher You've Never Known
John Perricone has correctly pointed out that I was wrong to parrot John Dowd's assertion that nobody on baseball's permanently inelligible list has ever been reinstated. The list of those who have been expelled is quite long in fact, with 27 people other than the Eight Men Out crew, including Steve "Seventh Time's the Charm" Howe, Mickey Mantle, Willie Mays, George Steinbrenner, and almost anyone who ever owned the Philadelphie Phillies, to name a few. Eight of these have been reinstated, but it is safe to say that no one who has been banned in connection with throwing a game, fixing a game or betting on games this century has ever been reinstated. I hope.
So Far, So Good...
Well, the BBWAA has managed not to royally screw up any of the 2002 season awards yet. They've named:
- Tony LaRussa and Mike Sciocia Managers of the Year, in the NL and AL, respectively. You could have guessed this one, given the Cardinals' success in the face of tremendous adversity and the Angels' success in the face of...well, being the Angels. During the Cardinals' NLCS loss to the Giants, LaRussa proved almost unquestionably that if he ever was a genious, he isn't any longer, but the playoffs aren't considered in the evaluation, so he won the Award anyway, his fourth.
- Jason Jennings and Eric Hinske the NL and AL Rookies of the Year, both deservingly so. Jason Jennings managed to win nine games at Coors Field and another seven on the road, toughing it out to a 9-4 record at home despite a 5.65 ERA. If he doesn't get the RoY award, he ought to at least get a Medal of Honor. No, not the one from Congress.
- Barry Zito the AL Cy Young Award winner, after going 23-5, 2.75, becoming the first AL pitcher not named Clemens or Martinez to win it since 1996. He paced in the Junior Circuit in starts and wins, was third in ERA and Strikeouts, and fifth in innings and walks allowed, but he made up for the walks by allowing only a .218 opponent batting average, fourth in the AL. Frankly Pedro Martinez was better in almost every respect when he pitched, but injuries and selfishness prevented him from racking up a fourth CYA. Five extra starts, 30+ inninings pitched and three wins are kinda hard to ignore when you're making this decision. A good choice, if I do say so myself.
And, in a surprising development, the BBWAA "made it anonymous" and picked:
- Randy Johnson as the NL Cy Young winner. This is no real surprise, except that he got all 32 first place votes. I figured at least some idiot would ignore the last three weeks of the season and pick Curt Schilling as #1, but alas, no one did. This is The Big Unit's fifth Cy Young, and fourth in a row, joining him with Roger Clemens and Greg Maddux as the only other member in those respective clubs. This, however, does not begin to describe how dominant El Rando has been over the last decade or so.
With the noted exception of missing most of 1996 with a back injury, RJ has essentially kicked ass at an almost unfathomable pace since 1992.
*He hes been the quintissential workhorse: Pitching 200+ innings and/or among the top 10 in the league in innings pitched every year. He has also led his league in IP and shutouts twice, Starts and Complete Games three times each.
*He has been the quintissential power pitcher: Pacing the Majors in strikeouts every year since 1992, except 1997, when The Rocket beat him by one measley K. Oh, but it took Roger fifty-one more innings to get that one. He led the majors in Strikeouts/9 IP every healthy year since 1992 (10 of 11 years), and he was second in the AL in 1991, with 13 fewer than Clemens, who pitched 70 more innings that year.
*He has piled up the wins, but not as quickly as you might think. Amazingly enough though, this is the first time in Johnson's career that he has ever led a league in wins. At the age of 39, he was by far the oldest first-time Major league leader in wins in the history of baseball.
While searching BaseballReference.com's database to verify this, I found that most of the first-time ML leaders in wins were right around 30 or 31, and that occasionally there was a 33 or 35 year old, but no one older than 36, until Johnson. This is mostly a confluence of circumstances, much like John Smoltz's success as a closer or Keanu Reeves' success as an 'actor': A pitcher who is very good at a somewhat old age, with great run support, while having been surrounded by pitchers on other teams who pitched better and/or got better run support than he did for the first 15 years of his career. I don't usually place too much stock in such things, as it makes it too easy to establish an argument that a player is/is not more wonderful/fantastic/smarter/faster/taller/a better cook than anyone ever has been before. For example, if you go to GodoftheMachine.com (a new link on your right that I meant to add a month ago and forgot about) and search for pitchers who threw less than 200 innings ina season and won more than 19 games, you'd find one: Bob Grim. Most of you are saying, "Who the hell is Bob Grim?" and you're right to question. He's nobody. A flash-in-the-pan who never won as many games or pitched as many innings again as he did in his rookie year, 1954.
The point of all this is: Friends, not only do we have the pleasure of being able to go to the park and see any of at least four different future Hall of Famers, two of whom can make pretty convincing arguments for themselves as the greatest pitchers of all time, but we now have pitchers who can give us that pleasure for longer than we are accustomed to seeing such excellence. Everyone keeps waiting for the other cleat to drop with RJ, and it just never does. He's fourth on the career strikeout list, and could end up in second or third place, depending on how long Roger Clemens hangs on.
It's unlikely that he'll derail the Ryan Express, as he'd hafta strikeout 300 batters/year until the end of the 2009 season. In other words, there's no room for him to slow down, if he wants that record. But he could possibly get to 300 wins, with continued success at pitching and run support, though he'd need almost 20 W's/year for the next four years or more, and I doubt that he'll still be pitching at 45. So let's enjoy him while we can.
Which Founding Father Are You?
I took this test the first time, trying to be as diplomatic as possible, and it turned out that the Founding Father I Most Resembled was John J. Perricone. So I took it again, being more honest, and it turns out that I am a total jerk. Who'dathunkit?
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Which Founding Father Are You? I to... | cc/2019-30/en_head_0013.json.gz/line11063 |
__label__cc | 0.668009 | 0.331991 | AskBoA?
Supporters & Friends
High-tech firm to build new centre
FAST-growing Anthony Best Dynamics has submitted plans to demolish the old Countrywide Farmers retail store in Melksham to develop a new manufacturing centre.
The high-tech company plans to knock down the former retail store, which closed in May last year, in July to make way for its new facility.
Matthew Hubbard, AB Dynamics’ chief technology officer, said: “The Melksham manufacturing centre will provide a state-of-the-art facility to help us continue to expand our operations.
“Melksham and Bradford on Avon have a rich automotive history and we plan to continue this into the future.
“The local area has excellent transport links and a suitably trained employee base that fits our requirements.
“It is a significant investment for us and we believe it will also have a positive impact on the local economy, as it will bring additional skilled technical jobs into Melksham.”
AB Dynamics supplies integrated test systems to 25 of the leading manufacturers in the global automotive industry.
The company exports 98 per cent of its manufacturing around the world and has grown from 40 employees in 2012 to over 190 today.
The company last year opened a new £9 million headquarters in Middleton Drive, Bradford on Avon, and has four other satellite sites.
It plans to build a new engineering design centre in Bradford on Avon that will open in the summer of 2020 in addition to the new Melksham manufacturing centre.
The company has already gained approval from Wiltshire Council to demolish the old Countrywide Farmers store.
It is now applying to build the new manufacturing centre, which it hopes will become operational by early 2021.
The company said: “The planning process is under way. A considerable amount of work is required to bring the site up to the standard we aspire to.”
Some of the company’s staff will relocate to the new facility once it is built but AB Dynamics expects to recruit more technicians and engineers to work there.
For over 30 years AB Dynamics have been supplying testing technology and know-how to the world’s automotive industry.
Formed by Anthony Best in 1982 the company has grown to become a world leader in the supply of robots for the development of driverless vehicles.
Under the leadership of its chief executive Dr James Routh, the company became AB Dynamics Plc in 2013.
This is Wiltshire
Solstice reveller, 44, arrested for URINATING at Stonehenge celebrations last night
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__label__wiki | 0.613795 | 0.613795 | What we learned: Shoe Dog by Phil Knight
From listening when your team tells you your idea is awful, to bending the rules when required, Nike Founder Phil Knight's memoir Shoe Dog is full of great advice
People 1 Feb 2019
Shoe Dog by Phil Knight (£9.99, Simon & Schuster Ltd), is out now
Phil ‘Buck’ Knight grew his company from a small import business to one of the most recognisable brands in the world, but he didn’t do it without learning a thing or two along the way. In his memoir, Shoe Dog, he tracks the growth of the sporting-goods giant, detailing all the pitfalls, blunders and triumphs that are part and parcel of building an empire. Here are the lessons we learnt from the Oregonian multibillionaire.
1. Don’t stop
During high school and university, Knight was a proficient middle-distance track runner, and early on in his book, he shares a piece of advice that applies as much to running as succeeding in business: ‘Keep going, don’t stop. No matter what, just keep going’. In fact he sets such store by this advice, he calls it ‘possibly the only piece of advice you should ever give’. It also surely had a part in inspiring the brand’s famous motto, that would go on to adorn billboards, T-shirts and shoe boxes across the planet: Just Do It.
2. Do your homework
In his first foray into sporting goods, Knight began importing running shoes from the Onitsuka Tiger Company in Japan. This was in 1962, and aside from the existing vast cultural differences between the US and Japan, the war was still a very raw memory. This meant doing business on the far side of the Pacific was a potential minefield. Luckily on his first visit to Japan, Knight was introduced to some former American GIs who had started their own business in Japan. They schooled him on how the Japanese did business, what to expect, and what to avoid, including being a brash, loud and cocky American. This advice would prove to be invaluable in the coming years.
3. Bend the rules (but don’t shout about it)
With his import company Blue Ribbon struggling to stay afloat, and the complications of doing business across an ocean in the 1960s starting to take their toll, Knight resorted to what could fairly be described as some light industrial espionage. He had ‘a man on the inside’ at Onitsuka, who would keep track of things for him from the Japanese end, and warn him of upcoming changes of heart from the unpredictable management. It’s not as unusual as it sounds. Knight describes that using ‘spies’ was fairly commonplace at the time in Japanese business, even insisting that there were ‘spy schools’ where individuals could learn the skills required to fulfil such a role. Where Knight slipped up however, was in sending a company-wide memo proudly detailing his shrewd tactics. The memo contained the fateful words ‘I have hired a spy’ and was one he would live to regret… you’ll have to read the book to find out why.
4. Be loyal (but only up to a point)
After a long and ever more fraught business relationship with Onitsuka, Knight began to move into manufacturing and importing his own shoes in the late 1960s. He describes examining a new contract to import shoes from another company, which did not breach his existing contract with Onitsuka, but certainly ‘violated the spirit of the agreement’. However, Onitsuka had recently threatened to switch its distributor in the United States if Knight refused to sell it a controlling stake in his company (otherwise known as a hostile takeover). So all bets were off and, as Knight puts it, he ‘signed the heck’ out of the new contract with the new company.
5. Innovate and sacrifice
A key figure in the story of Nike and Knight’s life as a whole, is his former track coach and 49% partner in the company, Bill Bowerman. An inspirational figure and mentor to many top runners, Bowerman’s devotion to running, and particularly running shoes, was unsurpassed. During the early development stages of Nike’s training shoes, Bowerman experimented with different combinations of rubbers and plastics to make a better sole, creating them himself in a cement mixer, inhaling noxious fumes and permanently damaging his health in the process. He would go on to develop the company’s groundbreaking grip by pouring liquid rubber into his long-suffering wife’s waffle iron.
6. Listen to your team
Under pressure to come up with a brand name for his burgeoning shoe company, Knight asked his 50-strong team to come up with the best names they could think of. Knight himself came up with the brand name Dimension Six, which everyone in the company, without fail, informed him was completely awful. His stubbornness almost meant that he settled for this peculiar moniker despite their protestations, but with the deadline looming, Jeff Johnson – one of the company’s earliest employees – had the name ‘Nike’ come to him in a dream. Nike: the goddess of victory and a short, memorable brand name that alongside the “swoosh” would change the face of sports branding forever.
7. Stand out
When establishing the Nike brand, Knight knew it was essential for his shoes to stand out from the crowd – specifically the brand’s long-established rival Adidas. In those days, training-shoe boxes only came in white or blue, so Knight chose a colour as far away from that as possible: neon orange. The rest, as they say, is shoe history.
Shoe Dog by Phil Knight (£9.99, Simon & Schuster Ltd), out now
Five minutes with… Nuno Goncalves
The executive head chef at Quaglino's on must-have ingredients, London eating and the art of being humble
Food and Drink 8 Jul 2019
Five minutes with… Kim Woodward
The executive head chef at 100 Wardour St on Gordon Ramsay, the best seafood in London and the simple ingredient she couldn’t live without | cc/2019-30/en_head_0013.json.gz/line11066 |
__label__wiki | 0.652708 | 0.652708 | Social responsibility of media organisations
By adminApril 22, 2019Australian Politics, Media
There is a regulatory agency called the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC)1, which is an administrative tribunal that regulates and supervises broadcasting and telecommunications in the public interest. In the first decade of this century, this organisation had been considering revoking or relaxing the rule on ‘prohibited programming content’ that includes ‘broadcasting false or misleading news’. The CRTC withdrew the plan when a legislative committee determined that the rule does not run counter to the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, which guarantees press freedoms2. Despite the fact that the rule had never been invoked, there was some unfounded suspicion that the reason it was not revoked was because of the public outcry over the idea that Sun TV3 was going to be an eventual Canadian version of the US’s Fox News. Indeed, some wags called the Sun TV proposal ‘Fox News North’2. Canada dodged a bullet, and Sun TV went bust in 20153.
There have also been rumours for a decade or so, stating that Fox News is banned in Canada because of this truth in journalism legislation, but that is not the case. The CRTC regulations only apply to Canadian broadcasters using Canadian airwaves. The regulations do not apply to Fox News which is a non-Canadian entity transmitting via satellite and cable, and is not broadcast to the public. Murdoch was denied permission to establish Fox News Canada in 2003 due to Canadian laws regarding foreign ownership of print and broadcast media, but did allow him to include it in cable and satellite services4.
In response to the disgusting behaviour of the Murdoch media in the phone-hacking scandal in the UK, the then Gillard Labor government instituted the Independent Media Inquiry, headed by Raymond Finkelstein QC, former judge of the Federal Court. To assist in the preparation of the report, Professor of Journalism, Matthew Ricketson was appointed6. The terms of reference comprised the following:
The effectiveness of the current media codes of practice in Australia, particularly in light of technological change that is leading to the migration of print media to digital and online platforms.
The impact of this technological change on the business model that has supported the investment by traditional media organisations in quality journalism and the production of news, and how such activities can be supported, and diversity enhanced, in the changed media environment.
Ways of substantially strengthening the independence and effectiveness of the Australian Press Council, including in relation to online publications, and with particular reference to the handling of complaints.
Any related issues pertaining to the ability of the media to operate according to regulations and codes of practice, and in the public interest6.
The report recommended that a News Media Council be established to set journalistic standards for the news media in consultation with industry, and handle complaints made by the public when those standards are breached. The News Media Council should chart trends in the industry, and particularly to see whether there will be a serious decline in the production of quality journalism. The report found that an area requiring especially careful monitoring is the adequacy of news services in regional areas6.
Matthew Ricketson wrote an article for the ABC in 2012, which argued that the most persuasive argument for the need to reform regulation of the news media was in fact the reporting of the Independent Media Inquiry itself by the mainstream news media. He stated that they have under-reported much of what was presented to the Inquiry and either misreported the Inquiry’s findings or ignored larger parts of the report altogether. On the other hand, some of the smaller news sites such as Crikey and New Matilda and some bloggers reported the Inquiry accurately and in detail6.
I’ll just stick with newspapers for the purposes of the remainder of this article, otherwise it would become too long. It almost goes without saying that some of the most strident criticism of the Inquiry’s report appeared in Murdoch’s Australian, which published three editorials and 12 opinion pieces criticising it (three other opinion pieces were not critical). Unsurprisingly, one of the opinion pieces ludicrously likened the proposed News Media Council to the Reich Press Chamber in Hitler’s Germany, and Mark Day, the Australian’s media writer described the Inquiry’s report as an ‘academic wank’. The major print media companies News Limited, Fairfax and West Australian Newspapers maintained that if they were printing rubbish then people would simply stop reading. Ricketson opined that if it was that simple, then newspapers must be printing a lot more rubbish now, as overall circulation per head of population has been steadily declining for decades. In addition, the Inquiry demonstrated that the great bulk of the revenue of newspapers comes from advertising rather than circulation, so keeping advertisers happy is more important to newspaper executives than keeping their readers happy6.
Newspapers are regulated by the Australian Press Council and have been since 1976, and at the Inquiry, its then chair and two past chairs lamented that the council does not work properly. The problems were that the council relies on the industry for its funding and reducing funding has been used as a threat to control the council, and the then chair suggested that to adequately fulfil the charter, double the level of funding would be required. Press council adjudications of complaints are supposed to be published prominently in newspapers. However, while most are published, they are buried, and some are not published at all6.
While it is important for a democracy to have media which are free from state interference, it is necessary to realise that the media have a responsibility as a ‘social actor’ and need to act in a responsible fashion7. The Press Council, which is a self-regulatory mechanism, as it currently stands, does not work as it should. That is clearly demonstrated by the behaviour of News Limited media, and to a lesser extent other corporate media. News Limited have a propensity for lying, such that reports which are supposed to be news items, are often slanted to favour the Coalition government either by misleading, or simply lying, mostly by omission8,9,10,11. Misleading the public in this way should be made illegal, as it is in broadcast media in Canada. In addition, in Australia, when an article or news item is shown to be inaccurate or in error, often the apology or correction is buried several pages back in the newspaper12. To prevent newspapers getting away with doing so, corrections should be in the same font on the same page of the newspaper as the original article. This should not be optional, but should be mandatory. This would soon make journalists or others check their facts.
https://crtc.gc.ca/eng/home-accueil.htm
https://www.yesmagazine.org/people-power/a-law-against-lying-on-the-news
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sun_News_Network
https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/canadian-fox/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raymond_Finkelstein
http://www.canberra.edu.au/research/faculty-research-centres/nmrc/research/report-of-the-independent-inquiry-into-the-media
https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000191624
http://www.blotreport.com/australian-politics/liars-for-newscorp/
http://www.blotreport.com/australian-politics/how-murdoch-ruperters-operate-15/
https://mumbrella.com.au/herald-issues-correction-over-getup-claims-575883
Shooting the messenger
The criminal behaviour of Barnaby Joyce
These people get to vote
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Michael Peters on Shooting the messenger
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John on Freedom to discriminate
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© 2019 THE BLOT REPORT. All Rights Reserved. | cc/2019-30/en_head_0013.json.gz/line11076 |
__label__wiki | 0.591131 | 0.591131 | Doris Day Becomes Radioactive
The three stages in the life of a Netflix subscriber:
1. Wow, look at all of these great movies I've always wanted to see! I think I'll rent all of them!
2. Hmm, I didn't get a chance to see this when it came out last summer. Now I can finally watch it.
3. Well, there's nothing I really want to watch. I guess I'll just pick something at random and see if it's any good.
We have, unfortunately, been mired at stage 3 for quite some time. Thus it was that, after working our way through all of the classic Gene Kelly and Fred Astaire musicals, we found ourselves watching Doris Day in My Dream is Yours. It's an insipid and derivative musical comedy, and hardly worth your time, except, early in the movie, when Doris Day goes nuclear.
Mindset List, Faculty Version
This week Beloit College posted their annual Mindset List -- it's designed to provide a guide to the cultural experiences of this year's new college students, and incidentally to highlight the widening divide between those students and their aging professors. I was ahead of the curve -- I was already out of touch with my students when I started my first faculty job at age 30.
This year, I decided to return the favor and provide a humorous list of my own experiences on campus in the late 70s and early 80s. Inside Higher Ed ran it as an opinion piece this week, and you can read it here.
Our Eclipse Experience
We watched yesterday's eclipse from home. Totality was only a little over one minute, but you can't beat the fun of seeing a total eclipse from your own front yard.
Here we are banging on drums and trash cans to drive away the dragon eating the sun:
Some people have described a total solar eclipse as a life-changing experience. I won't go that far. Raising a child is a life-changing experience -- a total eclipse, not as much. But it was an amazing spectacle. We managed to see the shadow snakes wiggling up our street just prior to totality. The thing I found most impressive was the suddenness of the darkness -- after half an hour of gradual dimming, totality was like turning off a light bulb. The solar chromosphere (I think) was visible as a red band at the edge of the moon, although some of my kids thought it looked more purple than red. And what about our chickens?
Eclipse Myths
There are some absurd myths about today's eclipse circulating on the internet. One claim is that your pets will stare at the sun and go blind. This is ridiculous -- animals just don't do that. However, watch out if you own chickens. During eclipses they tend to spontaneously combust.
Are Scientific Conferences Obsolete?
Many of you have seen this iconic photo, which hangs in physics departments all over the world:
It's the Solvay Conference of 1927, the formative era for quantum mechanics, when giants walked the Earth: Einstein, Heisenberg, Schrodinger, Curie. I've often wondered what it must have been like to be one of the two or three people in the photo that no one has ever heard of. At least you'd get your photo on lots of physics department walls.
Recently, I attended a physics conference myself, TeVPA 2017, hosted by Ohio State University. The conference covered the overlap between particle physics and astrophysics -- my main interest was dark matter. But the conference itself was something of a Rip Van Winkle experience for me. I've stepped down as department chair after 13+ years (hurray!), so I am just now getting back onto the conference circuit. And I've noticed one tremendous difference between the conferences of my youth and the one I just attended.
Let me first take a step back and talk about a quiet revolution in the way that physicists do their work. It's something that most people aren't even aware of, but it's had a profound effect on the way that physics gets conducted.
Norse Mythology
Lately I've been reading a collection of Norse myths to my youngest child. Setting aside for the moment the fact that the Norse myth makers clearly stole all of their best material from J.R.R. Tolkien, I've been struck by the fact that compared to the classical Greek/Roman myths, the Norse myths are very, very weird.
At the beginning of the Norse universe, the heat from the land of fire melts some of the ice in the land of frost, producing an enormous giant, Ymir, and an enormous cow, Authumbla. Did I hear that correctly -- a primordial cow? But the zaniest part involves the occupants of the world tree, Yggsdrasil. There's an eagle perched at the top of the tree, looking out for trouble, and serpent under one of the roots, gnawing away at it. Nothing wrong with that -- it sounds appropriately dark and moody, as Norse mythology should be. But running up and down the tree is a squirrel named Ratatoskr, who carries insulting messages back and forth between the eagle and the serpent. A mythological squirrel? whose only job is to trade insults? I think the reason my daughter enjoys these stories so much is that they sound like something a 7-year-old would make up.
A Grand Unified Theory of Bureaucracy
Today marks my final day as the chair of my department - I am stepping down after 13 years, 7 months in office. (Longer than Franklin Roosevelt was President, if you're keeping score, but not quite as long as the reign of Queen Elizabeth).
I've learned quite a bit during this time about the way that organizations function, and I wanted to share one insight. Humans are particularly good at picking out signals from noise. Academics are even better, and academic scientists base their entire careers on this ability. But sometimes that's all there is -- just noise and nothing more.
The Physics Problem that Isaac Newton Couldn't Solve
I spent the year before graduate school doing research at the Institute of Astronomy in Cambridge. While I was there, Martin Rees (later Sir Martin, and now Lord Rees) gave a talk to the new graduate students on the best way to choose a Ph.D. dissertation topic. I remember him saying, "Don't choose a problem that Poincare couldn't solve. Choose a problem that Poincare never heard of."
But let me dial up the challenge even more. There's a physics problem so difficult, so intractable, that even Isaac Newton, undoubtedly the greatest physicist who ever lived, couldn't solve it. And it's defied everyone else's attempts ever since then.
Star Trek Dentistry
Upon reaching a Certain Age, your teeth begin to disintegrate -- something to look forward to, kids! Thus it was that I found myself sitting my dentist's office last week, waiting for a new tooth. What I hadn't realized is that dentistry has, over the past decade, entered the era of Star Trek.
If You Miss Next Month's Eclipse...
In just one more month, the city of Nashville will host part of the Great American Eclipse. I can already feel the excitement building, along with the email inquiries about housing in the area. If you're planning to drive somewhere to view the eclipse, book your hotel early and drive to your viewing destination well in advance. The traffic leading up to the eclipse is going to look like a hurricane evacuation in reverse.
But what if you miss the eclipse? Suppose it's overcast that day, or your car breaks down on the way? No need to despair -- there's another eclipse across the middle of the US only seven years later, in April of 2024.
The Next AI Frontier: Teaching Computers to Lie
I got into a minor kerfuffle over at Steve Hsu's blog when I commented on this post about AlphaGo, the neural net program that has blown away all of the human competition in the game of Go. I said that I would be more impressed when computers mastered Diplomacy, a comment which was immediately challenged by someone else. But as impressed as I am with AlphaGo, I stand by that comment.
When I was a kid back in the 60s, the local science museum had a computer that played tic-tac-toe. (The local fair had a pigeon that played tic-tac-toe, but maybe that's a topic for another day). I have no idea how the computer worked -- maybe an analog circuit of some sort? The London science museum at one point had a tic-tac-toe computer constructed from Tinkertoys and string. As primitive as these sound, I think you can draw a straight (but very steep!) line from tic-tac-toe to the computer that "solved" checkers, and then to IBM's Deep Blue (which conquered chess), and finally to AlphaGo. These games (tic-tac-toe, checkers, chess, Go) are all deterministic with perfect information, in which the players alternate taking turns, choosing from a finite number of moves. (To be fair, there is a qualitative leap between the earlier "brute force" programs, which relied on simply increasing the number of moves scanned by the computer, and AlphaGo, in which the computer actually "learns" to play better, and in which it's impossible for the programmers to determine why the computer chose a particular move.)
Diplomacy is a very different animal. For those of you not familiar with the game, it's a contest of almost pure negotiation, requiring the ability to form alliances, offer bribes, bluff, lie, and backstab your way to the top. It requires a very different, more "human" set of skills than chess or Go. Computer scientists are already working in that direction, particularly with the game of poker.
I myself wrote two chess programs back in the 1970s, one in high school (in BASIC), and the second in college (in Fortran, the One True Programming Language). Both of my programs were, in one sense, more advanced than Deep Blue. They cheated.
Fr. Georges Lemaitre and Cosmology
If you'd like to see my talk on Fr. Georges Lemaitre and his contributions to cosmology, there is a video posted here. You'll find me about half-way down on the right-hand side. The other talks were also very interesting and definitely worth your attention.
The Smartest Person Who Ever Lived
Who was the greatest genius in human history? Einstein? Newton? Mark Zuckerberg? (Hint: not Mark Zuckerberg). My vote goes to someone who probably died about 3000 years ago on the shores of the Eastern Mediterranean.
The Mystery of Cosmic Lithium
When most people think of lithium, they probably think of antidepressants, or possibly lithium batteries. But to a cosmologist, lithium is the misshapen puzzle piece -- the one that won't quite fit, no matter how hard you push it.
What does lithium mean to you?
Most of the elements were produced in the nuclear furnaces of stars or supernovae, but a handful were made in the first few minutes of the universe, when it was incredibly hot (billions of degrees) and dense. These big bang elements include helium, deuterium (a form of hydrogen with an extra neutron) and one isotope of lithium. Our theory, called "big bang nucleosynthesis," gives beautiful agreement with the observed helium and deuterium abundances, but it fails miserably for lithium -- the theory predicts about three times as much lithium from the big bang as we actually observe.
So what's going on here? As one of my high-school teachers used to say, "half-right equals all wrong." But the fact that big bang nucleosynthesis works so well for helium and deuterium suggests that maybe it just needs a few tweaks, instead of wholesale reworking. Roughly speaking, there are three likely alternatives:
Physics in the Year 2116
Last year Physics Today ran an essay competition called "Physics in 2116." The idea was to write a science article that might appear in Physics Today 100 years from now. Motivated largely by the enormous prize money, I entered the competition but, alas, mine was not among the winning entries. As the article itself is not really suitable as either a science fiction story or a nonfiction article, I am presenting it here for your amusement. Be sure to read the footnotes.
Lies, Damned Lies, and Astronomy Photos
I'm sure you've all see beautiful images like this NASA photo of the Crab Nebula:
Who you gonna believe, me, or your own eyes?
Just imagine if you looked at the Crab Nebula through a powerful telescope -- you'd see something that looked... nothing at all like this. That's because the colors in astronomy photos are almost never the "true" colors that you would see with the naked eye. They're "false color" photographs, with different colors assigned to different wavelengths of light or (in this case) to images derived from different telescopes.
When I first realized that false color photos were the standard in astronomy, I was dismayed. What else had NASA been fibbing about? The Moon landings? But NASA hasn't been lying at all, and there's no reason to get upset about false color photos. And here's the reason why: your own eyes give you a false-color picture of reality.
Germany's Famous Science Museum
I spent last week in Munich -- my first visit to Germany in 30 years. At this point, I am supposed to insert the obligatory paragraph expressing shock and surprise at how much everything had changed. But frankly, Germany didn't seem all that different from the last time I was there. Societies have a lot more cultural inertia than we realize.
My personal high point of the trip was a visit to the famous Deutsches Museum, the top German museum of science and technology. It's the largest science museum in the world, and a true monument to Teutonic thoroughness: why include just a few slide rules in your computing exhibit, when you can display one of every type of slide rule ever made?
The high level of the exhibits is remarkable, especially compared to U.S. science museums, which have largely been dumbed down to the level of children's museums in the course of my lifetime. The Deutsches Museum tilts heavily toward physics and engineering -- we skipped the exhibits on machine tools and metallurgy. But I learned quite a few fun things in the course of my visit:
Despite the fact that the wheel was known in ancient times, the wheelbarrow was not invented in the West until the Middle Ages.
It's possible to slice a torus (i.e,. a donut) along a Mobius-strip-shaped cut, so that the torus gets cut all of the way through but doesn't fall into two pieces (that's really hard to explain in words, but the museum had a nice model to demonstrate).
Germans apparently have a much longer attention span than Americans -- all of the push buttons on the exhibits required you to hold them down much longer than would be the case for an American museum. Several times I thought an exhibit was broken, only to discover that I had not depressed the button long enough.
First Conference of the Society of Catholic Scientists
The new Society of Catholic Scientists held its inaugural conference last weekend in Chicago -- you can read all about it at the Forbes website here. I thought the conference was enormously fun. It's a sad fact that most of us in academic science end up funneled into narrower and narrower specializations, until we end up talking almost entirely to other people in our own field. In Chicago I got to meet a Penn paleontologist who digs up dinosaur fossils in Western China, an MIT linguist studying the birth of human speech (who also loves science fiction!), and a Harvard astrochemist examining the possibilities for life on other planets.
My own talk was on Georges Lemaitre, the Catholic priest who pulled together various observational and theoretical threads in the 1920s to develop the the Big Bang model. Modern cosmology had many fathers, but only one Father.
A New Email Low
I've hit a new low -- Vanderbilt's spam filter blocked a message I sent to myself. It says that I might not be the person I claim to be. I guess that's true.
Galileo and Dark Matter
I was drafted recently to give a talk about Galileo, a subject on which I am no expert. So I relied heavily on Rocky Kolb's book, Blind Watchers of the Sky (I wrote my very first physics paper with Rocky back in 1981, back when we were both, uh, about 12 years old), and on Michael Flynn's brilliant, if somewhat irreverent (coming from me, the latter is higher praise than the former), The Great Ptolemaic Smackdown.
When doing scientific research, you quickly come to realize that progress in science consists of thousands of blind alleys (for you), punctuated by the occasional breakthrough (for someone else). In the textbooks, all of the blind alleys get airbrushed away (who has time to study incorrect theories?), leading to the erroneous impression that science has been been one long march to the Truth. But it never happens that way.
For example, one of Galileo's main arguments for the Copernican model was his theory of the tides. He noticed that as the Earth moves around the Sun, the surface is moving faster at midnight than at noon, since in the former case the motion around the sun is in the same direction as the rotation of the Earth, and vice-versa at midnight.
So Galileo claimed that the water would bunch up at noon and spread out at midnight, leading to a low tide at midnight and high tide at noon (or maybe the other way around?) A couple of problems here: there are two high tides and two low tides a day, not one, and they occur at different times of the day, not just noon and midnight. Galileo's theory was completely wrong, which is why you've never heard of it (except for you, Michael...) But (and this is the weird part), I drew a diagram exactly like this one for my cosmology class a few weeks ago. Why?
Science Fiction Set In Your Home Town
If you grew up in New York or Los Angeles, you'll find no dearth of science fiction set in your home town, with familiar locales and landmarks. The same thing applies if you were born in Trantor, Diaspar, or Coruscant. But if, like me, you come from the Midwest, you won't see a lot of local color in the science fiction you read.
I grew up in St. Louis, so I was delighted to encounter The Jericho Iteration, by Allen Steele. Steele's novel is a science fiction conspiracy thriller set in a St. Louis devastated by an earthquake on the New Madrid fault. I enjoyed recognizing the numerous local landmarks in the novel, although I didn't actually like the story itself. But that's beside the point -- the important thing is that St. Louis has a science fiction novel to call its own.
I should also mention that the near-future dystopian film Escape from New York was filmed in St. Louis, despite being set in New York. Apparently New York was insufficiently run down to serve the filmmakers, so they came to St. Louis instead. Now that's something for a native St. Louisan like me to be proud of.
What about my adopted home of Nashville?
Texas Talk on Science and Science Fiction
I'm giving the physics colloquium at Texas A&M tomorrow (Thursday, Mar. 9) on science and science fiction. Details are here.
What if Robert E. Lee had Tactical Nuclear Weapons at Gettsyburg?
The Confederacy would have won the battle, but the battlefield park probably wouldn't be such a nice place to visit these days.
The genre of "alternate history" explores fictional paths that history might have taken. Is it a branch of science fiction? I have no idea. Certainly time-travel alterations to the historical timeline and parallel universes fall squarely under the science fiction heading, but straight alternate history is often placed in a category all its own.
I enjoy alternate history, although it tends to follow just a few well-worn themes: What if the South had won the Civil War? What if Hitler had won World War II? What if the South had won the Civil War? What if Hitler had won World War II?... So I was eager to read Harry Turtledove's new novel, Bombs Away, which examines the consequences of Harry Truman deciding to use nuclear weapons to wrap up the Korean War. This historical era (the early Cold War) is one that I find particularly fascinating, and I've enjoyed Turtledove's work in the past -- he's built an impressive career in the field of alternate history.
When a Physicist Needs to Consult an Economist
As a physicist, I never expected to turn to the results of economics to advance my research. And I never have. But the death this past week of Kenneth Arrrow, a Nobel-Prize winning economist, reminded me of one occasion on which I had to invoke Arrow's work in my role as department chair to settle a dispute. Or rather, to show that it could never be settled. Arrow proved some mathematical results concerning elections that are so bizarre and so disturbing that it's difficult to believe them -- and these results are still largely unknown to most people.
Is Technology Taking Us Back to a Victorian Lifestyle?
Imagine making a telephone call in the early 20th century: you'd just tell the operator the name of the person you wanted to reach, and the operator would connect you. This all changed with the development of automatic switching. It was progress of a sort -- no need to go through a human operator. Instead, you had to memorize a host of phone numbers and dial up (or later, punch in) the number you wanted. But now smart phones have taken us full circle. Just like our forebears, you can simply speak the name of the person you want to talk to (or, at worst, pull up a name on your screen), and the phone does the rest. Telephone numbers (and the need to remember them) are going the way of the buggy whip.
A Most Peculiar Holiday
Almost all physics departments host a weekly colloquium, at which an outside speaker presents a talk on a current research topic -- it's traditional to take the speaker out to dinner afterwards. When I began my first appointment as a junior faculty member (at Ohio State), this task often fell to the single faculty members -- our schedules were more open, and we were grateful for the free meals and the company.
One Tuesday evening, a group of five of us (all guys) took the speaker out to a local restaurant, only to discover that they didn't have a free table. This was a bit odd for a Tuesday night, but we simply went to our second-choice restaurant, only to discover that it was full as well. Finally, one of us realized that it was Valentine's Day! That's right, none of us, including the speaker, had remembered that Feb. 14 was of any significance. (This story has a happy ending -- we found a Chinese restaurant with available seating).
Confessions of a Cowboy Cosmologist
We recently watched The Magnificent Seven (the original, not the remake). It's a good movie, even if Yul Brynner, with his bald head and vaguely Eastern European accent, sometimes gives the impression that he wandered in by mistake from an adjacent movie set.
Which way to The King and I?
There's an odd similarity between the closing of the western frontier and my own research field of cosmology. In the early 1980s cosmology was the crazy no-holds-barred Wild West of science. Cosmologists knew that the Big Bang theory was correct: the universe started out incredibly hot and dense and then expanded and cooled to form the space we inhabit today. But there was so much that we didn’t know. What was the universe made of? Would it expand forever, or collapse back down and crush us all into an atomic soup? Where did all of the galaxies come from? We didn’t even know how fast the universe was expanding: the two groups measuring the expansion rate kept getting answers that differed by a factor of two! But life on the lawless frontier was great fun for theoretical physicists like me. With so little data to go on, we were free to speculate endlessly -- no theory was too outlandish to publish. We roamed the scientific landscape like cowboys, drifting from one new idea to the next. And theories sprouted like tumbleweeds, only to blow away when the next hot idea came along.
But then the experimentalists came to town and started fencing us in. First came the astonishing discoveries by astronomers mapping out the expansion of the universe on the largest scales. These investigators used distant supernovae, so far away that the light from these cosmic explosions took billions of years to reach us. These supernovae allowed the scientists to peer back in time and measure the expansion rate of the universe billions of years ago. And they made a shocking discovery: the expansion of the universe isn’t slowing down under the force of gravity; instead, it’s speeding up! Next came the precision measurements of the radiation left over from the early stages of the Big Bang. This radiation contains tiny ripples that encode information about the universe: its age, how much matter it contains, and what kind of matter it’s made of.
Life Under a Double Star
You've all seen the iconic image: Luke Skywalker on Tatooine, gazing into the sky at two suns. That's George Lucas's way of whacking us over the head with a two-by-four -- "Toto, I've a feeling we're not in Tunisia anymore."
Could life actually exist on a planet orbiting a binary star? Ivan Shevchenko has recently made an extraordinary claim -- he argues, in this paper, that life is actually more likely to develop around binary stars than around a single star like our Sun. In Shevchenko's view, we are the weird ones, while life on planets like Tatooine should be common.
Gilligan's Island: Time-Shifting your Children's Popular Culture
A bit off the topic of this blog, but I have an article at National Review Online about raising children in the current cultural milieu; you can read it here. Neither my background in science nor in science fiction qualifies me to write the article; it's based on my experience in raising six children.
Television Science Fiction Trivia Question
Lost in Space premiered when I was six, which is probably the optimal viewing age for that show. (Talking vegetables, anyone?) So naturally I was hooked. I was a bit too young for Star Trek when it appeared the following year, but, like many others, I became a fan of the show after it went into syndication -- it remains my favorite television SF series.
So here's today's trivia question: one of the main actors from Lost in Space and one from the original Star Trek appeared together as regulars in a later science fiction television series. Which one was it?
The answer is Babylon 5 (1994-98). Bill Mumy (danger, Will Robinson) appeared as a sort of acolyte for the main character from one of the alien races, while Walter (nuclear wessels) Koenig played a rather sinister telepath. The latter was a much more interesting role than Koenig's character on Star Trek. (And just where, exactly, did Koenig get his Russian accent? He was constantly pronouncing his v's as w's -- "wodka" instead of "vodka" -- while a real Russian would do just the opposite. And don't get me started on the name "Chekhov." When I later studied Russian literature, I could never take that particular writer seriously).
Babylon 5, unusually for television at the time, had a long-term story arc, although unlike many SF shows, the writers appear to have planned ahead and did not end up writing themselves into an unresolvable corner (see, e.g., Lost). The final resolution of the story arc seemed a bit too abrupt, and the last of the five seasons felt very much tacked-on (it was tacked-on -- there was doubt whether the show would be renewed for a final season), but all in all it's an excellent series -- my second-favorite SF television show.
Bonus: June Lockhart, who played Will Robinson's mother, also appeared in a single episode of Babylon 5. And there were several other shows employing actors from both Star Trek and Lost in Space. One was The Twilight Zone, which featured quite a few actors from both series, but then again, everyone and his brother appeared on that show. And another was Bonanza, which featured, at various times, Leonard Nimoy, James Doohan, and DeForest Kelley from Star Trek and the actors who portrayed Zachary Smith and Will Robinson's father from Lost in Space. Now that's just weird.
A Relic of the Big Bang (Not)
Helium is the only element produced in large quantities in the early universe. About 25% of the "ordinary" matter in the universe is in the form of helium, and it was almost all produced when the universe was only a few minutes old and very, very hot (about a billion degrees).
So does this mean that when you buy a helium balloon at the grocery story, you're holding a bit of the Big Bang right in your hands? Unfortunately, no. The helium for our balloons doesn't come from the early universe at all -- it comes from Texas.
Vera Rubin and Dark Matter
Somewhat lost amid all of the publicity over the deaths of Carrie Fisher and Debbie Reynolds was the death, on Christmas day, of Vera Rubin. Vera was one of the most influential cosmologists of her generation, and a legitimate contender for the Nobel Prize. I only met her once, at a conference at Irvine in the early 1990s. (Tom Hanks was there as well -- evidently he was thinking of making a movie about cosmologists but decided we were too boring. A wise decision).
The Physics Problem that Isaac Newton Couldn't Sol...
First Conference of the Society of Catholic Scient...
What if Robert E. Lee had Tactical Nuclear Weapons...
Is Technology Taking Us Back to a Victorian Lifest...
Gilligan's Island: Time-Shifting your Children's ... | cc/2019-30/en_head_0013.json.gz/line11079 |
__label__cc | 0.610101 | 0.389899 | Fayemi Pays Outstanding Salaries And Allowances To Fayose’s Appointees
Posted By: Justina Otio
The Ekiti State Governor, Kayode Fayemi has paid the outstanding salaries and allowances of members of the State Civil Service Commission and House of Assembly Service Commission who were appointed by former governor Ayodele Fayose.
Fayemi had made the gesture on Friday, presenting cheques for their outstanding remuneration and also thanked them for their service to the state. The governor had been represented by Biodun Omoleye, his chief of staff.
Tunji Odeyemi, the former chairman of the House of Assembly Service Commission, had spoken on behalf of the beneficiaries and said that the governor surprised them by keeping them in office when he was elected governor of the state.
“We are most delighted for an avenue like this. I must confess that this opportunity we are having today is very uncommon. When a new governor or government comes on board, what they usually do is to remove members of commissions and boards appointed by their predecessor not minding the laws establishing those commissions,” Mr. Odeyemi said.
“But you have magnanimously retained us and now paying our outstanding salaries. As far as Ekiti is concerned, from 1999 to date, the opportunity we are having like this has not been very common. We are grateful to His Excellency for this.”
2FayemiFayose | cc/2019-30/en_head_0013.json.gz/line11083 |
__label__wiki | 0.988914 | 0.988914 | Why are game developers so angry with G2A's marketplace?
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Image credit: Matthew Lloyd/Bloomberg via Getty Images
UK competition watchdog slams Three and O2 merger
It wants the European Commission to block the deal.
Nick Summers, @nisummers
04.11.16 in Business
Matthew Lloyd/Bloomberg via Getty Images
The UK's competition watchdog has called on the European Commission to block a proposed acquisition of Telefonica UK, which runs O2, by Hutchison Whampoa, the company behind Three UK, unless both companies agree to a series of strong concessions. In a letter, Alex Chisholm, CEO for the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), says he will only approve if Hutchison Whampoa agrees to sell Three or O2 after the acquisition. Such a move is the only way, he argues, to retain adequate competition in the UK mobile industry. If this isn't possible, Chisholm suggests breaking off one of the networks and facilitating smaller sell-offs.
"Absent such structural remedies, the only option available to the Commission is prohibition."
Hutchison Whampoa announced its intention to buy Telefonica's O2 business in March 2015. A combined subscriber base would make both more competitive with their two British rivals, Vodafone and EE. Seven months later, the CMA asked the European Commission if it could lead the investigation into its potential market impact. The concern is that, with three major carriers rather than four, the acquisition will reduce competition in the UK and lead to higher prices. The CMA argued that its experience investigating telecoms mergers made it ideal for the job.
The European Commission refused the offer and pressed ahead with its own research. No assessment has been published publicly, however today's letter from the CMA references a "statement of objections" that was sent by the Commission to Hutchison Whampoa in February. A closed-door hearing was then held in early March, with Three UK and a bunch of its rivals, including Sky, Virgin Media, Vodafone and BT, in attendance.
A couple of weeks later, reports emerged that Hutchison had proposed its own concessions. These included selling 30 percent of its network capacity. It could be sold to the highest bidder or in fragments to companies interested in managing their own infrastructure. In addition, it promised to sell back the 50 percent stake it currently has in Tesco Mobile, a virtual mobile network operator run by the popular supermarket.
The European Commission has until May 19th to decide whether these concessions go far enough. Clearly, the CMA doesn't think so. The fast-approaching deadline is why it's come forward today and urged the Commission to demand more from Hutchison Whampoa. "The proposed remedies are materially deficient as they will not lead to the creation of a fourth mobile network operator (MNO) capable of competing effectively and in the long-term with the remaining three MNOs," Chisholm says.
Hutchison Whampoa is "very disappointed" with the CMA's letter, claiming it has "no legitimate status" in the Commission's investigation. In a statement, the company says the CMA has put forward an "entirely one-sided argument" which doesn't address its own proposals. "The divestiture of Three or O2 to a new MNO to gain approval of the merger is a red herring," it said. "There is no taker for such a remedy. It would also undermine the whole economic rationale of the merger and reinforce the spectrum inferiority and capacity constraints of both companies."
Tom Mockridge, CEO of Virgin Media, has also criticised the CMA. It believes the BT and EE merger , which the CMA approved "without remedies," has created a company with an unfair amount of spectrum. That's why it's now so hard for regulators to create a fourth mobile network operator in the UK. "A combined O2/Three would provide a counter balance to the strength of BT/EE, offering an alternative source of capacity to other providers who will drive competition in their own right."
Source: Competition & Markets Authority
In this article: business, cma, competitionmarketsauthority, culture, europeancommission, hutchisonwhampoa, mobile, o2, telefonica, telefonicauk, three, threeuk
By Nick Summers @nisummers
Nick Summers is a senior reporter, editor and photographer at Engadget. He studied multimedia journalism at Bournemouth University and holds an NCTJ certificate. Nick previously worked at The Next Web and FE Week, an education-focused newspaper in the UK. | cc/2019-30/en_head_0013.json.gz/line11093 |
__label__cc | 0.693437 | 0.306563 | "Back in the day" one of the best local high school rivalries was between the girls' basketball teams of St. Ben's and Villa. The former, the Academy of the Benedictine Sisters, the latter that of the Sisters of St. Joseph. All games were attended by quite a few sisters and there were years when sisters were also the coaches. The first games I followed were held at Cauley Memorial Auditorium on E. 4th St. in the early 1960s, when 400-500 would attend the local recreational league's championship between the two.
Many of today's community members were players on those teams and in the 1970s and 80s I was part of that rivalry myself when the games were played in front of many more than just 400 fans.
The year SBA closed (1988) their team won the District X title in their division and went far into the state playoffs, almost making it to the state championship game. Their best showing ever.
Flash forward to the present. Today many of us still support and attend girls' basketball games during March Madness. We all follow Villa's team. This year's is a great one as they have advanced to the state championship game in the AA playoffs. It will be played tomorrow on the campus of Penn State University. Today's players include daughters and nieces of both SBA and VMA alumnae--who cheer together in the stands for "their" team.
This will be the 5th appearance of the Villa Victors in the state championship game. Four runner-up trophies are on display at the school. Maybe this time they'll come home with the championship trophy.
Photo courtesy of the Erie Times News.
Not only does she organize the March Art Show, run our "Chapter 57" gift shop, but she still finds time to produce her own art. Here is a beautiful piece by Margaret Ann Pilewski, OSB.
A Lamb-like Month
Faith:March-April
Lenten Visitors--cont'd
The poet Kilian
Spring Break Times Two
March "Fourth"
March 1st Events | cc/2019-30/en_head_0013.json.gz/line11094 |
__label__wiki | 0.853169 | 0.853169 | Bayern Munich Home
FC Cologne
By Raphael Honigstein
Pep Guardiola retains Bayern Munich's faith despite recent difficulties
Who hasn't felt like throwing in the towel and walking away from it all after suffering huge disappointment in their professional life?
The Bayern Munich manager was precisely there -- at the end of the line -- when his team lost the biggest Champions League game of his reign in calamitous fashion. It was a game that simply couldn't be lost and the manager was experienced enough to pick up on the murmurs of discontent that followed inside the dressing room and at board level as predictably as the blue knight beating the red one at Munich's glockenspiel carillon in the city's main square.
He'd made the wrong substitutions, they said. His team's attacking play, based on slow build-up and positional switches in the final third, was too slow and easy to defend against. His opponent on the night, a novice at that level, had outsmarted him.
Off the record, players complained about his tactics. They loved him as a coach and as a man but weren't quite sure he really brought out the best of them. Neither were his superiors. The Bayern coach looked around and decided that, one year before his contract at the Allianz Arena was due to expire, he didn't need it anymore. He would be off.
It took late-night interventions from Uli Hoeness and Karl-Heinz Rummenigge to sway the manager's mind. They talked him into staying around for another year and promised to bolster the squad according to his wishes.
The manager's name, by the way, was Jupp Heynckes, and the scenario played out in 2012 after Bayern were beaten in the Champions League final by Chelsea.
Pep Guardiola is experiencing a difficult time but his Bayern Munich bosses retain faith in him.
Modern football is drenched in nostalgia but it has no memory. None of the TV pundits, journalists and social media commentators who eulogise Heynckes' "more direct" side that won the treble in 2013 seem to recall that team passing Juventus to death, Barcelona-style, in the quarterfinal of the same year or Bayern choking on their own possession stats in the final "at home" vs. Chelsea 12 months earlier. You won't hear of the discontent that was prevalent within the club at the time either.
It doesn't fit with the current story of Pep Guardiola destroying Heynckes' treble winners, so it can't have happened. What also hasn't happened, because it can't have happened, was Bayern beating sides like Roma (7-1), Porto (6-1), Man City (3-1) and Shakhtar Donetsk (7-0) under Guardiola, playing attacking football of a quality and refinement that had never been seen in Munich in the modern era.
In those games and in far too many Bundesliga matches to recount, it became abundantly clear that Guardiola was indeed doing the job he had been hired to do, which was to establish Bayern among the very elite in European football and mould them into a side who would approach each Champions League campaign as favourites.
None of that matters as a Bayern ravaged by injury and low on energy will try to knock out Barcelona despite not quite believing that there is a realistic chance of doing so, given their 3-0 deficit from the first leg.
Leg 2Aggregate: 3 - 5
Lineups and Stats
However, it matters insofar as what will happen next. Bayern -- both the players and the board -- do remember life before Guardiola.
And they've since seen him work, every day since July 2013, on the training ground. It's not a slight on Heynckes to say that Guardiola's training sessions at Sabener Strasse, just underneath the offices of the club's most important men, are considered to be in a class of their own. While at other clubs, players will take you aside and tell you all about the coach's flaws, members of the Bayern squad become even more effusive about his work off the record.
To underline their commitment to the manager, Bayern will publicly reiterate just how much they value him this week, regardless of the outcome of the second leg. Guardiola must avoid a heavy defeat to stop negative vibes dominating the agenda well into the summer, but the annoyance with which the rumours about his defection to Manchester City have been greeted within the corridors of power show the club have no intention of letting him go.
If the story that emanated from Doha was designed to unsettle the Guardiola-Bayern relationship -- as some at Sabener Strasse suspect -- it has failed its objective. If, on the other hand, it was planted to ascertain the extent of Bayern's trust in the man in charge, it has done its job.
Guardiola, for his part, didn't look entirely convincing when he insisted that there was nothing at all in the Manchester City link. If the story was not fabricated entirely by an interested third party -- a possibility that cannot be discounted if you consider its curious timing between two Champions League semis against Barcelona and the way it was put into wider circulation without running it by either club or Guardiola's people first -- it's still quite conceivable that somebody, somewhere is indeed discussing the ballpark figures of a future deal, to provide a least a theoretical exit route.
It's what agents and agents who work with other agents do, often as a matter of course. Bayern do not believe Guardiola is seriously contemplating to leave them behind just yet, however. The planning of next season's squad has already begun, with the coach's input.
MORE FROM RAPHAEL HONIGSTEIN
- Bayern recover pride but questions remain
- Guardiola retains faith at Bayern Munich
- Bayern Munich look like a team with no future
- History means nothing for Bayern vs. Barca
- Dortmund make Bayern Munich lose control
- Klopp is leaving Dortmund at the right time
- Lahm says he is hungry for even more success
He joked on Friday that he will talk about extending his contract beyond 2016 when the journalists are "on holiday" in the summer, but the club will need a sign one way or the other well before, in order to accurately gauge how far his wishes can and should be accommodated going forward.
As much as they would like to provide him with the tools for one possibly final push next season, they have to keep an eye on what's good for the team in the mid-term, "post-Pep." Big, complicated subjects like the provision of medical treatment and the team's fitness levels, which is one of the very few areas where the club and some players are not entirely sure about his methods, will be much easier to resolve if Guardiola commits to more than his last season in charge.
Unlike mission -- almost -- impossible on Tuesday night, it's all down to Guardiola as to how this one will play out.
Raphael Honigstein is ESPN FC's German football expert and a regular guest on ESPN FC TV. He also writes for the Guardian. Twitter: @honigstein. | cc/2019-30/en_head_0013.json.gz/line11095 |
__label__wiki | 0.890165 | 0.890165 | Ethiosports
Promoting Ethiopia in Sport & Tourism
US-Ethiopia
Ethiopia expands major airport, plans new hub to meet growth
Airports Aviation
Markos Berhanu
By Aaron Maasho
Addis Ababa – Ethiopia will complete expansion work on the capital’s airport in 2018 to triple the number of passengers it handles from 7 million a year now and will soon pick a site for a new hub to deal with 10 times the number in future, a senior official said.
Bole International Airport, on the edge of Addis Ababa, is home to Ethiopian Airlines , the state-owned national carrier that is ranked the largest by revenue in Africa.
Less than a decade ago, the airport handled 1 million passengers a year but that rose to 7 million in 2014. Officials expect it to climb by 18 percent a year in the next few years.
“We did not expect this growth to happen in eight years. That is why we are undertaking an expansion of the airport that will serve us for the next 15 years, with a capacity about 20 million passengers a year,” Hailu Gebremariam, Ethiopian Airports Enterprise project manager for Bole, told Reuters.
Expansion work began in September at the airport, where passengers can face long queues at peak travel and transit times. China Communication Construction Company is carrying out the work at a cost of $300 million, set for completion by 2018.
Ethiopia, with one of the fastest growing economies in Africa, was now looking at sites for a new international airport to serve up to 70 million a year, Hailu said.
By comparison, Dubai International Airport handled 70.5 million passengers in 2014, the world’s biggest for passenger traffic, ahead of London’s Heathrow with 68.1 million.
“We have whittled down potential sites from eight to three, all of which are within 60 to 70 km (37 to 44 miles) from Addis Ababa,” Hailu said, adding the site would be picked within six months although construction might take eight years after that as designs, financing and related issues were finalised.
“Once approved, the construction is only a question of four or five years,” he said.
An official said the cost of such an airport could be $2.5 billion to $3 billion.
Ethiopian Airlines has been rapidly expanding its fleet. It now has 77 aircraft, with 44 more on order.
The International Air Transport Association (IATA), an industry body, ranks the airline Africa’s biggest by revenue and profit. As well as capturing transit passengers, the airline aims to draw more visitors to see Ethiopia’s mountain scenery and ancient churches, castles and other monuments.
Tags: Addis Ababa, Airports, Ethiopia, Ethiopian Airlines, Ethiopian Airports Enterprise, Latest News
Ivory Coast move up Fifa rankings
Edris looking to regain his Cinque Mulini Title
https://www.facebook.com/EthiopiaSports
Ethiopian Premier League
1 Mekelle Kenema 30 18 5 7 45 24 +21 59
2 Sidama Bunna 30 17 7 6 45 29 +16 58
3 Fasil Ketema 30 15 12 3 49 17 +32 57
4 Kedus Giorgis 29 12 10 7 28 18 +10 46
5 Jimma Kenema 30 12 10 8 33 36 -3 46
6 Awassa Kenema 30 12 8 10 42 31 +11 44
7 Welayta Dicha 30 10 11 9 34 27 +7 41
8 Bahardar 30 10 11 9 27 31 -4 41
9 Ethiopia Bunna 30 10 9 11 27 23 +4 39
10 Welwalo Adigra… 29 9 10 10 16 21 -5 37
11 Adama Kenema 30 8 11 11 28 28 +0 35
12 Dire Dawa Kenema 30 9 8 13 29 34 -5 35
13 Shire Endaselassie 30 7 13 10 29 39 -10 34
14 Mekelakeya 30 8 8 14 37 57 -20 32
15 Debub Police 30 7 8 15 34 41 -7 29
16 Dedebit 30 4 1 25 21 68 -47 13
Copyright © 2019 Ethiosports | cc/2019-30/en_head_0013.json.gz/line11096 |
__label__wiki | 0.649699 | 0.649699 | Volume 16 No.10
Compassion requires more courage than war
Katharina Weiss
Israeli Defence Force commander General Dan Halutz was asked about his feelings when he was pilot of a plane dropping bombs on people in Gaza in 2002. His reply that he felt ‘a light bump to the plane…and that’s all’ sounds incredible and yet it may be true—how else can any human being bear bombing a family sitting peacefully in their house, or killing innocent people sitting on a bus? To fight wars we have to deny our own and others’ humanity. In fact, compassion takes more courage than war: it means respecting, and acting according to, the basic human rights that form the foundation of our civilisation.
Acknowledging the preciousness of human life is something that all authentic spiritual traditions have in common. Similarly, love, compassion and non-violence are at the heart of religions such as Christianity, Islam and Judaism. And yet, for centuries wars have been fought in the name of God/Allah and ‘goodness’. However, it’s not in rhetoric that a true spiritual person is revealed, but through their actions and their motivation. The truth is that if government and religious leaders were really interested in supporting ‘goodness’ or ‘God’, they would seek out means of reconciliation and be willing to compromise narrow short-term gains for world-wide long-term benefits.
Hezbollah captures two Israeli soldiers and more than 400 Lebanese civilians die as a result. Where is the ‘good’ in either of these actions? Even their motivation is highly questionable. The Israeli government itself doesn’t seem to believe in the efficacy of its response: its own military analysts question whether the bombing is actually having an impact on Hezbollah’s capabilities. How can organisations such as Hezbollah and the US and Israeli governments (and they are by no means the only ones), still claim to represent, or fight for, God in defense of actions that involve the killing and displacement of hundreds of people, and the destruction of their social infrastructure?
George Bush’s reference to an ‘axis of evil’, implying his own ‘goodness’ by comparison, and his claim to defend ‘Christian values’, seems ludicrous in the face of his blocking United Nations and European efforts to promote a ceasefire in Lebanon in order to protect innocent people’s lives. When a government protects the ‘interests’ (access to cheap petrol for example) of its own people by letting civilians in another country die, its claim on ‘goodness’ rings hollow. The division of nations into ‘good vs evil’ is not a useful concept in a world of complex societies.
Michael Gawenda wrote recently in the Sydney Morning Herald and The Age that the Bush Administration is not interested in ‘diplomatic compromises’ that have never ‘achieved long-term peace in the region’. Is destroying Beirut really going to achieve long-term peace? A deep transformation would be required for this peace to be possible; a complete and utter change in perception that would take enormous courage—a courage that I can’t envisage George Bush, Ehud Olmert, Hezbollah leaders, or for that matter John Howard, finding in the near future: to see the world through the eyes of compassion, rather than those of fear and economic greed.
The Dalai Lama has said ‘my religion is kindness’. This may sound a little vague or insipid, but true compassion and non-violence take a lot of courage. People might need to sacrifice some comfort (such as cheap petrol) and see the reality of other people’s humanity and suffering. As Nobel Peace Prize-winner Aung San Suu Kyi says, ‘it is not power that corrupts, but fear’. For all their supposedly ‘religious’ rhetoric, Hezbollah and George Bush alike lack the courage and dignity of someone like Aung San Suu Kyi or the Dalai Lama, whose fight and whose people have been conveniently forgotten by the world. Is it that war makes for a better spectacle? ‘Give them bread and circuses’: are we really so easily satisfied?
The path of non-violence may not be as overtly spectacular, but who can forget the fall of the Berlin Wall in November 1989, when masses of people left the DDR, and others peacefully congregated at the internal border checkpoints until the East German government had no choice but to open the borders? If political and religious leaders would honestly reflect on recent attempts to create peace through war, or terrorism, they would have to acknowledge their failure—as events in Iraq, Afghanistan and Iran are demonstrating.
On the other hand, an attitude of compassion, based on a genuine desire to understand each other’s needs, would encourage dialogue. This could build the foundation for genuine long-term peace—and would certainly have more convincing claims on ‘goodness’. What is ‘evil’ is the ignorance underlying acts of war and terror, leading to fear and anger, leading to endless cycles of retribution.
Who will have the courage to break this cycle? | cc/2019-30/en_head_0013.json.gz/line11098 |
__label__cc | 0.524831 | 0.475169 | Omar Naber for Slovenia again!
The national Slovenian final EMA has been a big arranged show with a magnificent stage and a big audience. This proofs that Slovenia could arrange the ESC very well. Out of eight entries of high quality the winner of the night was Omar Naber! He has been the Slovenian representative in Kiev 2005 with “Stop” and achieved a 12th place in the semi final. So Omar is the first of the 2017 candidates who has already been on the ESC stage in Kiev, so he has the best experiences. Now he is back with a bombastic ballad, which has a bit 90’s style though.
There have been several juries all over the country who favourized Omar Naber “On My Way”. The later on added televotes by the Slovenian public wanted BQL with “Heart Of Gold” to win. At the end it did not reach for BQL to overtake Omar.
It was great to see that Toni Cetinksi (Croatia 1994 “Nek ti bude ljubav sva” 16th place) gave a special performance of his ESC entry, which was well received by the audience, unfortunately it was only a short version of 1:30 minutes. After that Toni performed his new single “Laku Noc”. Jamala also had a great stage appearance, it was her first appearance in a national final so far since her victory 2016. ManuElla has been performing her new song “Salvation” – in the opening she has been singing her 2016 entry “Red and Blue” in a special version. | cc/2019-30/en_head_0013.json.gz/line11099 |
__label__cc | 0.700269 | 0.299731 | Tag Archives: Chuck Russell
Episode 72. Sleeper Hit: A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984), A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy’s Revenge, and A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors (1987)
Freddy Krueger may be the man of our dreams but what about his creator, the studio that sustained him, his victims and the 1980s? Andrea and Alex dive into their nightmares and beyond to explore the lasting effects of one of horror’s most beloved franchises.
Class of 2019 T-shirts are available now at Twisted Ts!
Salem Horror Fest – Tickets to our live show on October 5th are on sale now!
A Nightmare on Elm Street. Dir. Wes Craven, 1984.
A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy’s Revenge. Dir. Jack Sholder, 1985.
A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors. Dir. Chuck Russell, 1987.
Never Sleep Again: The Elm Street Legacy. The four hour documentary that delves into the nooks and crannies of the Elm Street franchise.
The Faculty of Horror: Filmmaker Spotlight. Dreamweaver: Wes Craven (1939-2015). Our mini-episode on Wes Craven.
“Fairy Tales for the Apocalypse”: Wes Craven on the Horror Film. A 1985 interview with Craven on the state of horror films in America.
Wes Craven: Thinking Through Horror. A retrospective piece on Craven’s career after his passing.
The Monstrous Years: Teens, Slasher Films, and the Family. Pat Gill’s article on how the slasher film can be read as a reflection of the broken home.
How Did A Bunch Of Mythical Monsters Become Queer Icons? A look at the importance of reclaiming monsters.
The Singular Joy of the Dumb, Fun Slasher Movie Threequel. Wired’s look at the 1980s Horror Threequel cycle.
Uncover: The Village. CBC Podcast’s in-depth series on the Bruce McArthur case.
Robin Wood on the Horror Film: Collected Essays and Reviews. The collected horror-based writings of film critic Robin Wood.
The Legal Industry for Kidnapping Teens. Vice’s look at the Troubled Teen Industry.
Episode 72. Sleeper Hit: A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984), A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy's Revenge, and A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors (1987) [ 1:48:57 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (31436)
Tagged A Nightmare on Elm St, Chuck Russell, Dream Warriors, Freddy Krueger, Freddy's Revenge, Jack Sholder, Wes Craven | cc/2019-30/en_head_0013.json.gz/line11101 |
__label__cc | 0.725362 | 0.274638 | FOUR speaks to Dr. Juerg Steffen, the CEO of the Henley & Partners Group, about the ins and outs of residence and citizenship planning – and how Henley & Partners became the global leaders in this field.
Can you tell us a bit about your background, and how you got into your current role?
My background is in private banking, with more than 25 years’ experience in this area. I hold a PhD degree in Law and have served as a director of leading private banks in Switzerland and Austria. After joining Henley & Partners, I built up the South East Asia region and worked as Group Chief Operating Officer for a number of years. Now I am delighted to step into my new role as the firm’s CEO.
What exactly are the services that Henley & Partners offers, for those that don’t know about the company?
We broadly offer two services.
We are the industry leader in residence and citizenship planning, providing our clients with an A–Z service that includes real estate acquisition and property management.
Alongside our private client business, we are also the preeminent advisor to sovereign states as regards the design and operational development of investment migration programs. Our government advisory practice has raised more than USD 8 billion in foreign direct investment for countries around the world.
Because we have been involved in the design, set-up, and operation of the world’s most successful residence and citizenship programs, we understand the application processes for different programs on a very deep level — including the stringent due diligence procedures. For all these reasons, we are extremely well positioned to serve those interested in residence- and citizenship-by-investment, and to advise any sovereign state considering adding an investment migration option to its foreign direct investment strategy.
What do you think has led to the increase in high-net-worth individuals (HNWIs) in recent years?
There are an estimated 18.2 million high-net-worth individuals on the planet, and their collective wealth now sits at over USD 70 trillion. These remarkable numbers are expected to grow continually over the coming years. There are a number of potential reasons for this increase, including the fact that HNWIs are now found all over the world, whereas previously, wealth was concentrated in western markets and in countries of so-called ‘old money’. The rise of emerging markets in the Far East and Middle East, as well as in South America, has created a new class of HNWIs and led to a global increase in wealth.
How and why does this affect wealth migration?
The majority of millionaires relocate via dual citizenship, work transfers, spousal and family visas, as they have always done. However, the emergence of residence- and citizenship-by-investment programs over the past decade is having a growing impact on global wealth migration trends. Investment migration differs from other forms of migration in that individuals are required to make a significant economic contribution to the host country before they are admitted, as a sort of upfront demonstration of their commitment to the country’s prosperity and wellbeing. In exchange for this extraordinary contribution, individuals obtain either residence or citizenship rights in that country, as the case may be.
Because these programs represent such a clear ‘win–win’ both for the countries administering them and for the individuals participating in them, their popularity is growing dramatically, and we expect this to continue.
What are the effects of investment migration?
Offering citizenship in return for investment is mutually beneficial for both successful applicants and the destination countries they choose. The inflows of funds from citizenship programs are considerable, and the macroeconomic implications for most sectors can be extensive. For receiving countries, wealth migration is a sustainable form of foreign direct investment. Just like traditional foreign direct investment, wealth migration increases the value of the receiving state, bringing in capital to both the public sector — in the form of donations to the government, tax payments, or treasury bond investments — and the private sector — in the form of investments in businesses, start-ups, or real estate.
For HNWIs, a second or third passport grants holders the right to travel, trade, and settle in an expanded set of countries and regions, as well as access to all the benefits enjoyed by other citizens of the state in question (education, health care, voting rights, and so on). It also eliminates a great deal of the inconvenience and waiting time surrounding visa applications and passport renewal or replacement processes. Finally, and perhaps most importantly, an additional passport can quite literally save a person’s life in times of political unrest, civil war, and terrorism, or in other delicate political situations.
Where do you see most of the HNWIs moving from and migrating to? – And why?
For the third year running, Australia has been the most attractive migration destination for high-net-worth individuals: about 10,000 millionaires migrated there last year, mostly from China, India, and the UK. Experts have proposed a range of reasons for this, including lifestyle opportunities, political stability, proximity to Asian business markets, and relative safety for women.
After Australia, the US, Canada, and the UAE continue to attract significant numbers of HNWIs, while Malta, Cyprus, Portugal, and Spain are also seen as highly appealing destinations for wealthy individuals in search of increased freedom and mobility.
How great is the number of individuals who gain citizenship in a country through financial investment, but do not reside there? And how does this affect global wealth trends?
The specific details about where HNWIs choose to reside and for how long is not information that is publicly available. However, it is safe to assume that beneficiaries of citizenship-by-investment are global citizens who often have multiple places of residence and do not see themselves as being tied to a single jurisdiction. It is also important to remember that the number of residence-by-investment programs far outstrips the number of citizenship-by-investment programs.
What’s next or what do you predict for future wealth trends?
Global citizenship is now an indispensable asset for wealthy individuals seeking to grow their business and increase opportunities for their family in today’s entirely globalized economy. In 2018, more than a third of global ultra-high-net-worth individuals hold an alternative passport, and another 29% are planning to obtain one.
In general, we anticipate that overall demand for a second passport among wealthy individuals will continue to increase in 2019. More specifically, countries with residence- and citizenship-by-investment programs now account for about one in five wealthy individual migrations, and the ever-growing popularity of these programs indicates that they will continue to shape overall wealth migration trends.
We also believe this demand will be met by increased supply. Sovereign states around the world are seeing the strategic value of investment migration over and above a non-debt baring liquidity injection. Many sovereign states understand that investment migration programs act as a remarkably successful FDI marketing platform that can attract capital and skills to an economy, thereby creating opportunity for all citizens.
Want to know more? Head to Henley & Partners’ website to read up further about their services. | cc/2019-30/en_head_0013.json.gz/line11106 |
__label__wiki | 0.92393 | 0.92393 | Tom Wolfe, the essayist, journalist and author of bestselling books including The Electric
Kool-Aid Acid Test and Bonfire of the Vanities, has died in New York at the age of 88.
Wolfe died in a Manhattan hospital on Monday, his agent confirmed on Tuesday. He had been hospitalised with an infection.
With his literary flair and habit of placing himself as a character in his nonfiction writing, Wolfe was regarded as one of the pioneers of New Journalism. Works like the 1965 essay collection The Kandy-Kolored Tangerine-Flake Streamline Baby, 1968’s The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test – a firsthand account of the growing hippy movement, particularly novelist Ken Kesey’s experiments with psychedelic drugs – and 1979’s The Right Stuff – an account of the pilots who would become America’s first astronauts – established Wolfe as the face of a new style of reportage that could be read for pleasure. He even helped define the term New Journalism – with his publication of a 1973 essay collection of the same name, which placed his own writing alongside the likes of Truman Capote, Joan Didion, Gay Talese and Hunter S Thompson.
"He was an incredible writer," Talese told the Associated Press. "And you couldn’t imitate him. When people tried it was a disaster. They should have gotten a job at a butcher’s shop."
His gleeful use of punctuation and italics, along with entertaining asides and neologisms that often quickly cemented themselves into the English lexicon, helped Wolfe stand out from other journalists. Pursuing colourful tales of excess and status-seeking with a ruthless eye and freewheeling energy, Wolfe championed what he called "saturation reporting", where a journalist shadows and observes a subject over a long period of time. "Nothing fuels the imagination more than real facts do," Wolfe said in a 1999 interview. "As the saying goes, ‘You can’t make this stuff up.’"/
Philip Kaufman, who wrote and directed the screen version of The Right Stuff, told: "We’ve lost a great American writer. I spent about five years making the film and trying to listen to Tom’s voice, getting that rambunctious, amazing, energetic quality that he had in his journalism. [But] it was beyond that."
Kaufman said Wolfe was one of the first to see a private screening and immediately wanted to see the film all over again. "He particularly loved the idea of Sam Shepard, as the Chuck Yeager character, on horseback, riding across the high desert and, in a sense, carrying the spirit of the west," he said.
Wolfe’s iconic sartorial style was almost as famous as his writing: he almost always sported a three-piece white, bespoke suit (he had around 40), a look that he once described as "Neo-pretentious". The get-up, reminiscent of a southern gentleman, disarmed people, he claimed – it made him look like "a man from Mars, the man who didn’t know anything and was eager to know."
Born in Virginia in 1930, Wolfe went straight into reportage out of university, beginning at the Springfield Union in Massachusetts. He later left for Washington, then New York, arriving there in 1962 to work for The New York Herald Tribune. He’d never leave, making a home there with his wife Sheila Berger, the former art director of Harper’s Bazaar, and their two children, until his death.
Jonathan Galassi, Wolfe’s editor at his New York publisher Farrar, Strauss, and Giroux in the 1980s and 1990s, a prolific period for the author, called him a reporter-as-mythologizer.
"His characters were all outsized, himself included ... [but] penetrating Tom’s gentlemanly reserve was not something anyone I knew ever managed," he told.
Of Wolfe’s fashion, Galassi added: "Not only his suits but even his socks were bespoke – I always assumed in silent homage to that other ‘disrespecter’ of pomposities, Mark Twain. I always imagined he got dressed to write, because everything he did was a performance."
After the success of The Kandy-Kolored Tangerine-Flake Streamline Baby in 1965, Wolfe built a career writing about popular culture, politics and American life, particularly how money and prosperity had shaped the country since the second world war. The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test, regarded by many as the definitive book about the roots and growth of the hippy movement, placed him in the public consciousness as somewhat of an authority on psychedelics – though, he later told the Observer in a 2008 interview that he had never used LSD, despite some gentle encouragement from Kesey ("I thought hard about it for about six seconds," he claimed).
Taking on what he called "the big challenge" – the novel – Bonfire of the Vanities was published in 1987, to huge commercial success. A satirical portrait of greed and money in 1980s New York, the novel followed bond trader Sherman McCoy’s journey from Wall Street to a court in the Bronx, after hitting a black man with his car. His second novel, A Man in Full was also a bestseller, but his success attracted critics; in the New York Review of Books the author Norman Mailer wrote: "Extraordinarily good writing forces one to contemplate the uncomfortable possibility that Tom Wolfe might yet be seen as our best writer. How grateful one can feel then for his failures and his final inability to be great — his absence of truly large compass. There may even be an endemic inability to look into the depth of his characters with more than a consummate journalist’s eye."
However, Wolfe was well-known for giving as good as he got, engaging in public battle with his most passionate literary critics – namely, Mailer, John Updike, John Irving and Noam Chomsky, who he dubbed "Noam Charisma". In a 2000 essay titled My Three Stooges, Wolfe took on Mailer, Updike and Irving, writing, "It must gall them a bit that everyone — even them — is talking about me, and nobody is talking about them."/
He also had his fans. "He knows everything," author Kurt Vonnegut once wrote of Wolfe. "... I wish he had headed the Warren Commission. We might then have caught a glimpse of our nation."
Eventually the author of 17 books – 13 works of nonfiction and four novels – Wolfe wrote well into his eighties, publishing his last book in 2016: The Kingdom of Speech, a controversial critique of Charles Darwin and Chomsky.
"John Maynard Keynes said the people who are successful are the people with animal spirits who refuse to acknowledge the risks they are taking in the same way that the healthy young man ignores the possibility of death," Wolfe told the Observer in 2008, when asked about his work ethic. "I’m not a young man, and I do have a pulse, but when it comes to mortality, mostly I choose to ignore the subject."
ilustración de edward kinsella
Publicado por Falcón en 23:45 | cc/2019-30/en_head_0013.json.gz/line11111 |
__label__wiki | 0.771617 | 0.771617 | Don’t pick on the scientist
One of the things we’ve been surprised to learn is the growing trend for holding scientists accountable for predicting natural events, particularly earthquakes.
It is well known that it is impossible to predict earthquakes, yet a growing number of scientists and technicians have come under attack in recent years for their handling of this sensitive subject. It seems that our culture of blame and persistent need for answers has extended even to the scientific community who have always been the first to admit that predicting earthquakes is beyond their reach, and will remain so for some time.
In a move that has stunned the geological community, following on from the large earthquake in L’Aquila in Italy last year, seven scientists are under investigation for manslaughter. In the six months leading up to the earthquake, a series of smaller seismic movements were detected in the surrounding area, including one earthquake measuring 4.0 magnitude on March 30th, a mere seven days before the big quake struck. On March 31st, Italy’s Civil Protection Agency held a meeting with the Major Risks Committee, to assess the risk of a major earthquake. At the time, the committee concluded that there was ‘no reason to suppose a sequence of small earthquakes could be the prelude to a strong event’ and that ‘a major earthquake in the area is unlikely but cannot be ruled out’.
At a press conference afterwards, government official Bernardo De Bernardinis, deputy technical head of the Civil Protection Agency told reporters that ‘the scientific community tells us there is no danger, because there is an ongoing discharge of energy. The situation looks favourable’. Mr Bernardinis is now under investigation. Was his statement an inappropriate statement to make to the general public? Residents of L’Aquila think so – thirty of them filed an official complaint saying that they themselves and many victims were planning to leave their homes due to ongoing tremors but had changed their minds after the committee’s statements.
To make matters worse, or certainly more shrouded in controversy, at the same time, a month before the quake, Giampaolo Giuliani, a technician and researcher at the Laboratori dell’Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare at Gran Sasso, said he had predicted the quake using a methodology not recognised or endorsed by the scientific community that measured radon gas emissions. Having recorded ominously high levels of the gas he drove around the town in a van with loudspeakers telling people to evacuate their homes. His prediction was snubbed and he was subsequently accused of being alarmist and “an imbecile who enjoyed spreading false news” by Bertolaso, the head of Civil Protection.
This trend for prosecution has fueled a fierce debate within the scientific community, with scientists saying they merely provide information and should not be held accountable for what is done with that information – that task is up to government officials and policy makers. Over 5000 scientists from around the world have signed a letter to Berlusconi urging him to focus on earthquake preparation, rather than holding scientists responsible for something they cannot do – predict earthquakes.
We met with another eminent scientist, Dimitri Papanikoloaou, who was Secretary of State for the Ministry of the Interior for two years. Similarly, he had been accused of ignoring two separate warnings of an earthquake.
Back in 1995, Panagyotis Varotsos, a professor at the University of Athens used his controversial VAN method, in which an impending earthquake is forecast from a characteristic electrical signal in the ground. Varatsos claims he has predicted the last three earthquakes in Greece using VAN but the scientific community remains skeptical, pointing out that the technique has not been properly peer-reviewed and the physics behind the prediction remains unclear.
Dimitri told us more about his background, his focus of study and his on-going battle for geology and geo-science to play a bigger role in politics in such a seismically active country.
It seems that technological progress may be the key to changing how governments perceive and respond to scientific knowledge. Governments want solutions, and often easy ones, which the science doesn’t necessarily accommodate. It maybe with the back up of technological advances that scientific arguments will be better heard.
In this second short film he talks profoundly about the implications of scientists’ role in the era of accountability.
Dr Dimitris Papanikolaou | cc/2019-30/en_head_0013.json.gz/line11113 |
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