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Death of Blackpool's 'great champion' for the blind
Keith Gledhill passed away on October 7.
James Graves
Tributes have been paid following the death of a Blackpool businessman and charity volunteer.
Keith Gledhill MBE, 86, passed away at his home on October 7, only a few weeks after his wife Margaret passed away.
The businessman from Marton founded the cylinder manufacturing company Gledhill in 1972, along with his brother Houghton and was known for his work at N-Vision, Blackpool, Fylde and Wyre Society for the Blind.
A spokesman for N-Vision described him as “one of the greatest champions” the society has ever known.
The said: “It is with real sadness we report the death of Mr Gledhill, a little less than a month after the love of his life, his beloved wife Margaret, passed away. He was an honourable and thoroughly decent man.
“A leading public figure, for many years Keith was a guiding light of this charity and the man behind so many of the big name interviews granted to the Talking Newspaper, or, more specifically, him.
“Our thoughts are with this lovely couple’s family and wide circle of friends.”
Gordon Marsden, MP for Blackpool South said: “I am sad to hear the of deaths of Keith Gledhill and his wife Margaret , whom latterly he cared for with great devotion. I’ve known him for 20 years and although our politics were different we always got on. He often asked my views on Blackpool issues and Westminster and he was force for good through his charity work & entrepreneurship.
In 1972, Keith set up his business in the premises his father had previously used for manufacturing copper cylinders. As trading increased, they had to move their operation to a site next to Blackpool Airport, where the head office and stainless steel production centre is today. The company was acquired by Groupe Atlantic in 2015 but still uses the Gledhill name.
Letters - July 17, 2019
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Primary care gap: American medical students less likely to choose to pursue internal, family medicine
Victoria Knight Kaiser Health News
Only 41.5% of internal medicine positions were filled by U.S.-trained fourth-year students getting traditional medical degrees, the lowest share on record. Similar trends were seen this year in family medicine and pediatrics.
Despite hospital systems and health officials calling out the need for more primary care doctors, graduates of U.S. medical schools are becoming less likely to choose to specialize in one of those fields.
A record-high number of primary care positions was offered in the 2019 National Resident Matching Program — known to doctors as “the Match.” It determines what specialty a medical student will study after graduation. But this year, the percentage of primary care positions filled by fourth-year medical students was the lowest on record.
“I think part of it has to do with income,” said Mona Signer, the CEO of the Match. “Primary care specialties are not the highest paying.”
The three key primary care fields are internal medicine, family medicine and pediatrics. According to the 2019 Match report, 8,116 internal medicine positions were offered, the highest number on record and the most positions offered among any specialty, but only 41.5% were filled by seniors pursuing their M.D.s from U.S. medical schools. Similar trends were seen this year in family medicine and pediatrics.
In their final year of medical school, students apply and interview for residency programs in their chosen specialty. The Match, a nonprofit group, then assigns them a residency program based on how the applicant and the program ranked each other.
Since 2011, the percentage of U.S.-trained allopathic, or M.D., physicians who have matched into primary care positions has been on a decline, according to an analysis of historical Match data by Kaiser Health News.
But, over the same period, the percentage of U.S.-trained osteopathic and foreign-trained physicians matching into primary care roles has increased. 2019 marks the first year in which the percentage of osteopathic and foreign-trained doctors surpassed the percentage of U.S. trained medical doctors matching into primary care positions.
Medical colleges granting M.D. degrees graduate nearly three-quarters of U.S. students moving on to become doctors. The rest graduate from osteopathic schools, granting D.O. degrees. The five medical schools with the highest percentage of graduates who chose primary care are all osteopathic institutions, according to the latest U.S. News & World Report survey.
Beyond the standard medical curriculum, osteopathic students receive training in manipulative medicine, a hands-on technique focused on muscles and joints that can be used to diagnose and treat conditions. They are licensed by states and work side by side with M.D.s in physician practices and health systems.
Physicians who are trained at foreign medical schools, including both U.S. and non-U.S. citizens, also take unfilled primary care residency positions. In the 2019 match, 68.9% of foreign-trained physicians went into internal medicine, family medicine and pediatrics.
But, despite osteopathic graduates and foreign-trained medical doctors taking up these primary care spots, a looming primary care physician shortage is still expected.
The Association of American Medical Colleges predicts a shortage of between 21,100 and 55,200 primary care physicians by 2032. More doctors will be needed in the coming years to care for aging baby boomers, many of whom have multiple chronic conditions. The obesity rate is also increasing, which portends more people with chronic health problems.
KHN data correspondent Sydney Lupkin contributed to this report.
Kaiser Health News (KHN) is a nonprofit news service covering health issues. It is an editorially independent program of the Kaiser Family Foundation that is not affiliated with Kaiser Permanente.
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Impressed with everything
Tommy Miller on his arrival at Gigg Lane and looking forward to the new season
Speaking to Shakers Player on Thursday, new addition Tommy Miller spoke of how impressed he has been with the new Gigg Lane setup, and on quality players still looking to sign for clubs...
‘It’s strange that at this time of the season I have only just got myself into a club, but there is a lot of players out there that still haven’t got clubs. There seems to be more and more every year. I’ve spoken to a few clubs but wasn’t sure about it, then I went upto Scotland and trained with a club there.
I’ve done a pre-season with Middlesbrough to keep myself fit because I know the manager and coaches there. Then Kevin Blackwell phoned me and I was impressed with what he had to say. I came in for a week’s training, it was all done and dusted and I’ve signed, I’m delighted with it.
The gaffer told me of his plans for the club this year, there are a lot of things going on off the field after the problems of last year. There is an ambitious chairman here and he wants to improve the club as a whole and that includes on the pitch.
I know Trevor Carson from Sunderland and I know Tom Soares from Sheffield Wednesday but this is a whole new squad and it will be interesting to see how we go because there are some good players here.
The gaffer has put some pressure on me saying he wants me to get into double figures with goals. I used to do that quite regularly, but I still believe I can get goals. They don’t seem to come as freely as they used to but I still believe I can score goals, and hopefully this year I will do.
As you get older you don’t tend to get as forward as much as you used to, but I am as fit now as I have ever been, but you play with different players and sometimes they want to get into the box. With me having a bit more experience, the manager may want me to sit and guard everything else, that’s how it’s been the last couple of years.
I had a brief managerial spell (and lost to Bury) at Swindon last year, it was tough because we were both playing (with Darren Ward) as well. We had to do a lot of preparation for the game and then I was taking myself out of training to take the training. It was enjoyable but quite hard.
I’ve settled quickly here, there are some good players here at Bury. There are some good young lads and the gaffer has brought me in to give a little guidance here and there as well on the pitch. Hopefully I can do that and push them on as well as pushing the club on as well.’
or watch the complete interview over on Shakers Player
Watch a clip of the Tommy Miller video interview on YouTube (below)
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Firms need to adapt to technology to survive, says boss
Manufacturing in the West Midlands has a strong future as long as firms adopt the latest technology, according to Midland entrepreneur Richard Merrick.
Merrick and business partner Andrew Chevis, who acquired Walsall belt maker George Stuart in 2007, have recently made a series of improvements at the 20-year-old company which they believe will put them in good stead.
Many of them include the training of the 80 staff at the company but, after advice and support from the National B2B Centre and the Manufacturing Advisory Service at the University of Warwick, e-business practices such as computer management, data systems and an e-commerce website have all been implemented.
That, said Merrick, will give the company the edge over other firms in its field and is the way forward for other UK manufacturers.
“There were talented people working here who were very skilled but had few formal qualifications and the business had limited systems in place.
“We didn’t want to come in and change everything completely but we wanted to put necessary systems and training in place in order to make the firm stronger and better placed for a successful future.
“MAS were very helpful in looking at the management systems and giving us some independent advice.
“Then Steve Orriss came in with his team from the B2B Centre and provided us with excellent advice and recommendations on how we could utilise e-business more effectively in our operations.
“The technology we have implemented means we are much more robust. From the very basic data such as machine output or waste levels, we know exactly what is happening and now have staff that are trained to analyse that data and experiment with it.
“It means we are becoming much more efficient and cost-effective.
“So it’s not a case that any one piece of technology has changed the business completely but by implementing several e-business ideas, we have ensured that the firm has a stronger platform from which to be successful in the future.
“UK manufacturing has a future – but companies have to give themselves an edge of competition. And much of that comes down to ensuring you are making the very best of the technology at your disposal.”
Steve Orriss, of the National B2B Centre – the e-business centre of excellence for the West Midlands, said: “It is crucial for businesses from all disciplines to make the most of new technology.
“Those companies that fail to take advantage of modern, e-business practices could be left behind in this advancing, more competitive world.”
The National B2B Centre is part of Warwick Manufacturing Group at the University of Warwick and is funded by the European Regional Development Fund, Advantage West Midlands and the West Midlands Mobile and Wireless project.
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U.S. Did Not Raise North Korea Nuclear Issue As Linked To Prisoner Release: Obama
Nov. 10, 2014, 3:18 AM
U.S. President Barack Obama speaks during his meeting with Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott in Beijing
BEIJING (Reuters) - The United States did not raise North Korea's banned nuclear program and other broader issues, in connection with a U.S. visit to secure the release of two American prisoners in the reclusive state, U.S. President Barack Obama said on Monday.
The U.S. is ready to engage Pyongyang on its nuclear program if and when the North is ready to talk seriously about denuclearization, Obama said during a summit of Asia-Pacific nations.
A broader conflict with North Korea remains despite "small gestures" such as the release of the prisoners, he added, saying the release did not provide him with any new perspective on the strategy of Kim Jong Un, the country's leader.
Americans Kenneth Bae and Matthew Todd Miller landed on U.S. soil on Saturday, after the top-ranking U.S. intelligence officer traveled to North Korea to secure their release.
(Reporting by Matt Spetalnick and Michael Martina; Writing by Megha Rajagopalan; Editing by Clarence Fernandez)
More: Reuters World
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Home News One of the be...
One of the best soccer players on the planet appears to be open to a summer trade, but few clubs could afford his $280 million price tag
Alan Dawson, Business Insider US
Kylian Mbappe.
Photo by Dean Mouhtaropoulos/Getty Images
Kylian Mbappe used an awards ceremony as a platform to say he wants more responsibility, which may be with Paris Saint-Germain or “may be elsewhere.”
Mbappe is one of the best soccer players on the planet and is currently worth up to $280 million, according to recent valuations.
This means only the richest clubs in the sport will actually be able to afford his transfer fee.
Juventus, Manchester United, and Real Madrid have all been linked with the player in recent months.
Read more of Business Insider’s coverage for the 2018-2019 soccer season right here.
Visit Business Insider’s home page for more stories.
Kylian Mbappe appears to be open to a summer trade away from Paris Saint-Germain.
The 20-year-old has been headline news throughout the 2018-2019 soccer season. He’s scored goals that are like works of art, has shone even without Neymar in the team, and once scored four goals in 13 minutes.
His dribbling ability, counter attack play, and all-round pace have helped him tally 36 goals plus 12 assists in combined Ligue 1 and UEFA Champions League appearances, which is a strike rate of a goal scored or created once for every 61.6 minutes he has played.
To put that in perspective, Robert Lewandowski has scored or created a goal every 99 minutes at Bayern Munich and Cristiano Ronaldo has been responsible for a goal or assist once every 92 minutes at Juventus. The only player ahead of Mbappe is Lionel Messi, who scores or creates a goal every 55 minutes at FC Barcelona.
Read more: Antoine Griezmann is just one part of Barcelona’s $326 million transfer plan as it attempts to banish its Champions League humiliations for good
His extraordinary performance level was recognized at a Paris ceremony on Sunday, when he was given the Ligue 1 Player of the Year award.
And during his acceptance speech, Mbappe said he is seeking increased responsibility – even if means moving away from the club. “I feel it’s time to have more responsibility,” he said, according to the official Ligue 1 website. “I hope it may be Paris Saint-Germain, it will be with great pleasure, or it may be elsewhere for a new project.”
Mbappe with his Player of the Season trophy.
Photo by FRANCK FIFE/AFP/Getty Images
Mbappe is considered one of soccer’s best players and is currently the most valuable. The CIES Football Observatory, a sports think tank in Switzerland, believes he’s worth up to $280 million because of his young age, potential, and the fact he has three years left on his PSG contract.
Read more: The 15 most valuable teenage soccer players on the planet right now
This expensive pricetag means very few soccer clubs aside from Europe’s richest would consider bidding for Mbappe, should he be available to purchase this summer.
Juventus, Manchester United, and Real Madrid have all been linked with the player in recent months – but only time will tell if one of them will actually be able to afford him.
European Soccer 2018-2019
Lifestyle UK
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Where Are The Leeward Islands? Hurricane Irma Is Coming For The Island Chain
By Sarah Friedmann
AFP/AFP/Getty Images
Hurricane Irma is rapidly approaching the Leeward Islands, possibly reaching the island chain on late Tuesday night or early Wednesday morning. As widespread reports indicate that the islands will likely be the first to be affected by Irma, many are probably wondering where the Leeward Islands are located.
The Leeward Islands are a chain of islands at the northeast end of the Caribbean Sea. They form the northeast boundary between the sea and the Atlantic Ocean. The group of islands includes the following territories: the U.S. Virgin Islands, the British Virgin Islands, Anguilla, Saint Martin, Saint-Barthelemy, Saba, Sint Eustatius, Saint Kitts, Nevis, Barbuda, Antiqua, Redonda, Montserrat, and Guadeloupe.
The islands have linkages to the United States and several European countries, as some of them are territories or departments of these countries, while others are independent states. The Leeward Islands are named after their location in relation to the northern trade winds (the islands are located in what is known as the "lee" of the wind).
The National Hurricane Center (NHC) reports that Hurricane Irma will likely pass over the northern Leeward Islands on Tuesday night or Wednesday morning. The storm is categorized as a Category 4 hurricane and is expected to have maximum sustained winds of around 145 miles per hour.
Among the islands so far, a hurricane warning is in effect for Antigua, Barbuda, Anguilla, Montserrat, St Kitts and Nevis, Saba, Saint Martin, Saint-Barthalemny, the British Virgin Islands, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Guadeloupe is currently under a hurricane watch.
The National Hurricane center warns that the storm could have substantial effects on the islands, including severe weather conditions, dangerous waves, rising tides, and water accumulation.
As reported by the Jamaica Observer, the NHC believes that the impact of Irma could be felt for days across the islands, with hurricane conditions arriving first, followed by tropical storm conditions as Irma continues to move over the Leeward Islands.
The Center noted that Irma is expected to cause total rainfall accumulation of three to six inches across the Leeward Islands, with some areas in the northern Leeward islands receiving up to ten inches of rain.
The NHC also revealed that excessive rainfall and rising waters from Irma could cause very serious problems, noting,
These rainfall amounts may cause life-threatening flash floods and mudslides. Swells generated by Irma will affect the northern Leeward Islands during the next several days.
Hopefully, for the sake of the islands' residents, the impact of the storm will be minimal and the islands can weather the storm without much damage.
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Make your book cover interactive
Son of a Gun ( )
Author: Germain, Justin St.
Publication Date: Aug 2013
Publisher: Atlantic Books, Limited
Book Format: Ebook
List Price: Contact Supplier contact
In Tombstone, Arizona, September 2001, Debbie St. Germain is found dead in her trailer, apparently murdered by her fifth husband. For her twenty-year-old son, Justin, the tragedy marks the line that separates his world into before and after.
Long after his mother's death is solved, Justin still sleeps with a loaded rifle under his bed. Ultimately, he sets out into the desert landscape of his childhood in an attempt to make sense of the unfathomable. Justin's journey takes him...
Long after his mother's death is solved, Justin still sleeps with a loaded rifle under his bed. Ultimately, he sets out into the desert landscape of his childhood in an attempt to make sense of the unfathomable. Justin's journey takes him back to the ghost town of Wyatt Earp and the Gunfight at the O.K. Corral, to the trailers he and Debbie shared, to the string of stepfathers who were a constant presence in his life. He confronts people from his past and delves into the police records in an attempt to make sense of his mother's life and death. All the while he tries to be the type of man she would have wanted him to be.
Brutally honest and beautifully written, Son of a Gun is a brave, unexpected and unforgettable memoir.
Detailed Subjects: Family & Relationships / Parenting / Motherhood
Family & Relationships / Abuse / Domestic Partner Abuse
Biography & Autobiography / General
Red, White and Royal Blue
McQuiston, Casey
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Roger Goodell says PSI data collected as a deterrent
By Ben Volin Globe Staff,February 2, 2016, 5:06 p.m.
NFL commissioner Roger Goodell said on Tuesday that the league has not been keeping the PSI data it collected this season.(Ross D. Franklin/Associated Press/File 2015)
SAN FRANCISCO — All that data the NFL acquired this year to monitor the PSI of footballs? Apparently the league has no interest in sharing the results or determining whether the Patriots’ footballs deflated naturally.
Even though the NFL instituted new rules to test the PSI of footballs before, during, and after random games in the wake of the Patriots’ Deflategate scandal, and even though the NFL required officials to log all PSI data, commissioner Roger Goodell told the NFL Network Tuesday that the league didn’t collect the data to determine the effects of weather and temperature on ball inflation.
“What the league did this year was what we do with a lot of rules and policies designed to protect the integrity of the game, and that’s to create a deterrent effect,” Goodell said on “The Rich Eisen Show,” a day before heading out to San Francisco to partake in the Super Bowl 50 festivities.
“We do spot checks to prevent and make sure the clubs understand that we’re watching these issues. It wasn’t a research study. They simply were spot checks.”
Goodell docked the Patriots a first- and fourth-round pick, fined the team a total of $1 million, and attempted to suspend Tom Brady for four games for the Patriots’ alleged ball-deflation scheme in last year’s AFC Championship game. Brady and the NFL Players Association sued the NFL in federal court over the suspension, and the penalty was vacated, allowing Brady to play every game this season. The NFL immediately filed an appeal, and the two sides are due back in appeals court in March.
The Patriots’ footballs were discovered during halftime to be about 1 PSI below the legal limit of 12.5, but key NFL executives, most notably executive vice president Troy Vincent, acknowledged that they did not understand the Ideal Gas Law and the effects of cold weather on ball pressure until several days after the scandal had exploded.
Dozens of scientific experiments later concluded that eight of the Patriots’ 11 footballs were within the expected PSI range after accounting for the Ideal Gas Law, and the other three footballs were only a fraction under the expected limit. The Patriots staunchly maintained their innocence on a website they called “the Wells Report in Context.”
But the findings did not stop Goodell from punishing the Patriots and Brady and from the NFL instituting several new safeguards:
■ The NFL designated random games in which to test the football PSI at halftime and after the game. The kicking ball coordinator collected the footballs from both teams at halftime, was escorted to the locker room by the league’s security personnel, measured and recorded the PSI of all 24 footballs, removed the footballs from play, and introduced 24 backup footballs for the second half.
■ Before the game, the referee designated two members of the officiating crew to inspect the balls. The officials numbered the balls 1-12, and recorded all PSI data. Previously, the balls were not numbered, the data were not recorded, and only one member of the officiating crew inspected the footballs.
■ At the end of each randomly selected game, the kicking ball coordinator again inspected all game balls from each team and recorded the results. Recorded information was supposed to be reported back to the league office.
The NFL has declined to comment all season on how many games were randomly selected for this new ball-testing procedures, and what the results were. At least one Patriots game was selected — their Dec. 20 home game against the Titans.
On Tuesday, Goodell said there were no violations this season, but declined to provide further detail.
“We’re pleased that we haven’t had any violations,” he said, “and we continue the work, obviously, to consistently and importantly enforce the integrity of the game and the rules that are designed to protect it.”
Goodell also was asked if he has had any contact with Brady since they last met in court on Sept. 3.
“My first obligation . . . is to uphold the integrity of the game,” Goodell said. “That’s to uphold the rules of the game and make sure all 32 teams are operating under the same rules, all players are operating under the same rules.
“I have great admiration for Tom. I know him personally. Obviously I respect his playing ability — he’s an extraordinary player, a sure Hall of Famer, and I have nothing but admiration for him.
“But I have to make sure that we continue to do the things that are necessary to protect the integrity of the game and I will do that without compromise.”
Ben Volin can be reached at ben.volin@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter @BenVolin.
Zuma vs. Zuma: In name dispute, court finds in favor of Faneuil Hall Tex-Mex joint
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Sainsbury’s £8k boost for animal rescue charity
Sainsbury's Carrickfergus colleagues raised over �8,200 to support 7th Heaven Animal Rescue Trust. Pictured, from left, are Mark Higgins, Eddie Gowdy, store manager, Stephen McMurray, 7th Heaven Animal Rescue Trust, Anne Patterson and Heather McMurray. INCT 28-702-CON
Colleagues at Sainsbury’s Carrickfergus have raised over £8,200 to support the 7th Heaven Animal Rescue Trust.
The Newtownabbey-based charity received over £4,600 cash and pet food worth £3500 for its Pet Food Bank in a year-long partnership with the retailer.
The money raised will go towards completing a home for elderly cats that are unlikely to be adopted ensuring that they live the remainder of their days in comfort with the charity.
The pet food donations were used to help 489 animals including dogs, cats, rabbits, ferrets and feral cats.
Stephen McMurray from 7th Heaven Animal Rescue Trust, said: “We’re very touched by the generosity of Sainsbury’s Carrickfergus colleagues and especially their customers.
“Some of the money they’ve already raised has also been used to help our Project Wildcat Scheme. We provided 46 shelters last year, providing homes for 189 feral or community cats.
“We are delighted that there will be some funds now available to help with the refurbishment of our ‘oldies building’. The cats will be happy.
“The kindness of all their customers who donated the pet food has made a huge difference to us. Many animals throughout Northern Ireland, whose owners were in financial distress, have received help through the Pet Food Bank donations.”
Eddie Gowdy, manager of the maritime area-based store, praised all involved in the team effort.
He said: “It’s been fantastic to see the way everyone’s pulled together since we started working with 7th Heaven. We’ve enjoyed coming up with ways to support and volunteer for this very worthy cause and it’s great to think that we’re making a positive difference to so many people and animals.
Noting the Pet Food Bank will continue in the store, he added: “The scheme was set up in April 2014 and helps to support people who are struggling financially. This helps to encourage them to keep their beloved pets at home where they belong.”
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Will Anwar Ibrahim Finally Make It from Prison to Prime Minister?
In 2005 the Malaysian political leader Anwar Ibrahim visited the Cato Institute. In the photo at right, I’m giving him a copy of my book Libertarianism: A Primer, which he told me he had already read – in prison. What a thing for an author to hear! After becoming leader of the opposition People’s Justice Party, he was again imprisoned on trumped-up charges in 2015. He remains in prison today. But thanks to yesterday’s elections, it now seems that Anwar may soon not only be released from prison but be named prime minister.
It’s a complicated story. Anwar was a youth leader and rising star in UNMO, the party that has ruled Malaysia for six decades since independence. He became finance minister and deputy prime minister under Mahathir Mohamad, who became well known for his defense of “Asian values” against supposedly Western notions of democracy and human rights. But Anwar fell out with Mahathir over the Asian crisis and charges of corruption. In 1998 Anwar was removed from office and then jailed in a trial that was criticized around the world. Amnesty International said that his trial “exposed a pattern of political manipulation of key state institutions including the police, public prosecutor’s office and the judiciary.” He was released in 2004 but banned from participation in politics for five years. After his return to opposition politics, he again angered the ruling party and was sent back to prison. Throughout his travails he was smeared in state-dominated media as homosexual, pro-Israel, and pro-American, the usual sorts of charges that authoritarian governments make against their critics. It should be noted that Anwar is no saint, and he tried to turn some of the same charges back against his persecutors.
Meanwhile, Mahathir retired as the world’s longest-serving elected leader in 2003. He became a sharp critic of his UNMO successors, Abdullah Ahmad Badawi and later Najib Razak. This year, at age 92, he became the opposition candidate for prime minister. From jail Anwar supported him. This week Mahathir led his new party to victory and has just been sworn in as prime minister. He has promised to release Anwar from prison and make him prime minister within two years. Observers are hopeful that Anwar’s leadership would mean reform in Malaysia: an end to kleptocracy and corruption and perhaps an economy that is “inclusive, rules-based and competition-oriented with a large, well-funded social safety net,” much like Singapore. According to the Human Freedom Index, Malaysia could use improvement in all areas.
Last year I complained that President Trump was welcoming Anwar’s jailer, Najib Razak, to the White House. Now of course Anwar is joining forces with his original jailer. What a long strange trip it’s been. But hopefully it’s not over.
Mahathir Mohamad, Anwar Ibrahim, Malaysia
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Portraits from the 2014 Sundance Film Festival
At The Egyptian
A general view of the Egyptian Theater on Main Street - a principal venue for the 2014 Sundance Film Festival - on January 15, 2014 in Park City, Utah.
The 10-day festival mixes a showcase for independent fiction and non-fiction films with Hollywood celebrities, panels for rising filmmakers, music and parties. The festival, marking its 30th year, runs through January 26, 2014.
Credit: Michael Loccisano/Getty Images
Sundance Institute president and founder Robert Redford attends the Day One Press Conference at the Egyptian Theatre, at the opening of the 2014 Sundance Film Festival on January 16, 2014 in Park City, Utah.
"Our job and our role is to create a space and a platform to bring new voices and new ways of seeing the world using independent film to this place," Redford said. "That's it. We're not interested in the money, that's somebody else's issue."
Credit: Michael Loccisano/Getty Images for Sundance Film Festival
Actress Christina Hendricks attends the "God's Pocket" premiere at Eccles Center Theatre during the 2014 Sundance Film Festival on January 17, 2014 in Park City, Utah.
Director-actress Rose McGowan poses during the 2014 Sundance Film Festival at the Getty Images Portrait Studio at the Village At The Lift, January 17, 2014 in Park City, Utah.
Credit: Larry Busacca/Getty Images
"Whiplash"
Filmmaker Damien Chazelle and actors Melissa Benoist, Austin Stowell, and Miles Teller pose for a portrait during the 2014 Sundance Film Festival, January 17, 2014 in Park City, Utah. Their film, "Whiplash," one of the opening day premieres, is an intense drama about a young drummer in the pursuit of perfection in his craft.
Actress Keira Knightley attends the "Laggies" premiere at Eccles Center Theatre during the 2014 Sundance Film Festival on January 17, 2014 in Park City, Utah.
The actress plays Megan, a 28-year-old who feels directionless despite her graduate degree and stable, 12-year relationship.
Director Lynn Shelton had a great idea for how to market "Laggies": put video of Knightley dancing on YouTube.
Credit: Jason Merritt/Getty Images for Sundance Film Festival
Actress Teresa Palmer attends the "Laggies" premiere at Eccles Center Theatre during the 2014 Sundance Film Festival on January 17, 2014 in Park City, Utah.
Actress Chloe Moretz attends the "Laggies" premiere at Eccles Center Theatre during the 2014 Sundance Film Festival on January 17, 2014 in Park City, Utah.
Actor Danny Glover poses for a portrait during the 2014 Sundance Film Festival at the Getty Images Portrait Studio at the Village At The Lift on January 17, 2014 in Park City, Utah. Glover is co-producer of a new documentary by Goran Hugo Olsson, "The Black Power Mixtape 1967-1975."
Geetanjali Thapa
Actress Geetanjali Thapa poses for a portrait during the 2014 Sundance Film Festival at the WireImage Portrait Studio at the Village At The Lift on January 17, 2014 in Park City, Utah. Thapa is the star of the Indiana drama, "Liar's Dice," directed by Geetu Mohandas.
Actress Kristen Stewart attends the "Camp X-Ray" premiere at Eccles Center Theatre during the 2014 Sundance Film Festival on January 17, 2014 in Park City, Utah.
Stewart stars as a guard stationed at the controversial prison at the U.S. Navy base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Her character develops a relationship with a detainee.
"It's a movie about somebody who doesn't seem made up," Stewart told the Associated Press. "It felt really real to me … I haven't played too many parts that I feel like are really outside of myself. And it's quiet, and when something really quiet punches you in the stomach, that's what I like to do."
Lane Garrison
Actor Lane Garrison poses for a portrait during the 2014 Sundance Film Festival at the Getty Images Portrait Studio at the Village At The Lift on January 17, 2014 in Park City, Utah. Garrison co-stars with Kristen Stewart in "Camp X-Ray."
Actress Tara Holt attends the "Camp X-Ray" premiere at Eccles Center Theatre during the 2014 Sundance Film Festival on January 17, 2014 in Park City, Utah.
Actress Maggie Gyllenhaal attends the premiere of "Frank," at Eccles Center Theatre, during the 2014 Sundance Film Festival on January 17, 2014 in Park City, Utah.
Gyllenhaal stars with Michael Fassbender in the comedy from Irish director Lenny Abrahamson about a group of eccentric musicians.
Actor Aaron Paul attends the Chase Sapphire VIP Event at Chase Sapphire during the 2014 Sundance Film Festival on January 17, 2014 in Park City, Utah. Paul stars in "Hellion," about a teenager roped into a life of crime by his older brother.
Actress Eve Plumb (best known from TV's "The Brady Bunch") poses for a portrait during the 2014 Sundance Film Festival at the Getty Images Portrait Studio at the Village At The Lift on January 17, 2014 in Park City, Utah. Plumb stars in the revenge drama, "Blue Ruin."
Actor Jason Momoa poses for a portrait during the 2014 Sundance Film Festival at the Getty Images Portrait Studio at the Village At The Lift on January 17, 2014 in Park City, Utah.
Diane Kruger & Brit Marling
Actresses Diane Kruger (left) and Brit Marling pose for a portrait during the 2014 Sundance Film Festival at the WireImage Portrait Studio at the Village At The Lift on January 19, 2014 in Park City, Utah.
Credit: Photo by Larry Busacca/Getty Images
"Love Is Strange"
Actors John Lithgow, Alfred Molina, Marisa Tomei, Cheyenne Jackson and Darren Burrows pose for a portrait during the 2014 Sundance Film Festival at the Getty Images Portrait Studio at the Village At The Lift on January 18, 2014 in Park City, Utah.
In "Love Is Strange," Lithgow and Molina play longtime lovers who marry after 39 years together, only to face circumstances that drive them apart.
"I just knew this was going to work so wonderfully," Lithgow said. "I knew we were going to be a great old couple."
Actor George Takei poses for a portrait during the 2014 Sundance Film Festival at the Getty Images Portrait Studio at the Village At The Lift on January 18, 2014 in Park City, Utah. He is the subject of director Jennifer Kroot's documentary "To Be Takei," after the "Star Trek" actor and his activism.
Actress Astrid Berges-Frisbey ("I Origins") poses for a portrait during the 2014 Sundance Film Festival at the Getty Images Portrait Studio at the Village At The Lift on January 18, 2014 in Park City, Utah.
Actress Zoe Saldana attends the premiere of "Infinity Polar Bear" at the Eccles Center Theatre during the 2014 Sundance Film Festival on January 18, 2014 in Park City, Utah.
Actress Catherine Keener ("War Story") poses during the 2014 Sundance Film Festival at the Getty Images Portrait Studio at the Village At The Lift on January 18, 2014 in Park City, Utah.
Mona Fastvold
Filmmaker Mona Fastvold ("The Sleepwalker") poses during the 2014 Sundance Film Festival at the Getty Images Portrait Studio at the Village At The Lift on January 19, 2014 in Park City, Utah.
Steven Spielberg & Kate Capshaw
Director Steven Spielberg and Kate Capshaw attend the premiere of "Young Ones" at the Eccles Center Theatre during the 2014 Sundance Film Festival on January 18, 2014 in Park City, Utah.
Credit: Jason Merritt/Getty Images
"To Find a Monster"
From left: Producer Matthew Donaldson, co-producer Amelia Belle, actress Alanna Ubach and director Joshua Porter of "To Find a Monster" pose during the 2014 Sundance Film Festival at the Getty Images Portrait Studio at the Village At The Lift on January 18, 2014 in Park City, Utah.
Wyatt Russell
Actor Wyatt Russell ("Cold in July") poses during the 2014 Sundance Film Festival at the Getty Images Portrait Studio at the Village At The Lift on January 18, 2014 in Park City, Utah.
Actress Maika Monroe ("The Guest") poses during the 2014 Sundance Film Festival at the Getty Images Portrait Studio at the Village At The Lift on January 18, 2014 in Park City, Utah.
Actor Richard Kind ("Obvious Child") poses during the 2014 Sundance Film Festival at the Getty Images Portrait Studio at the Village At The Lift on January 18, 2014 in Park City, Utah.
Pierce Gagnon
Actor Pierce Gagnon ("Looper"), star of Zach Braff's new film, "Wish I Was Here," poses during the 2014 Sundance Film Festival at the Getty Images Portrait Studio at the Village At The Lift on January 18, 2014 in Park City, Utah.
Earl Lynn Nelson
Actor Earl Lynn Nelson ("Land Ho!") poses during the 2014 Sundance Film Festival at the WireImage Portrait Studio at the Village At The Lift on January 18, 2014 in Park City, Utah.
Gitte Witt
Actress Gitte Witt ("The Sleepwalker") poses during the 2014 Sundance Film Festival at the Getty Images Portrait Studio at the Village At The Lift on January 19, 2014 in Park City, Utah.
Actress Anna Kendrick ("Happy Christmas," "The Voices") poses during the 2014 Sundance Film Festival at the Getty Images Portrait Studio at the Village At The Lift on January 18, 2014 in Park City, Utah.
Actor Mark Ruffalo ("Infinitely Polar Bear") poses for a portrait during the 2014 Sundance Film Festival at the Getty Images Portrait Studio at the Village At The Lift on January 19, 2014 in Park City, Utah.
Meaghan Rath & Emmanuelle Chriqui
Actresses Meaghan Rath (left) and Emmanuelle Chriqui ("Three Night Stand") pose during the 2014 Slamdance Film Festival at the Getty Images Portrait Studio at the Village At The Lift on January 19, 2014 in Park City, Utah.
Actor Elijah Wood poses during the 2014 Sundance Film Festival at the Getty Images Portrait Studio at the Village At The Lift on January 19, 2014 in Park City, Utah.
Madisen Beaty
Actress Madisen Beaty ("Jamie Marks Is Dead") poses for a portrait during the 2014 Sundance Film Festival at the WireImage Portrait Studio at the Village At The Lift on January 19, 2014 in Park City, Utah.
Kodi Smit-McPhee
Actor Kodi Smit-McPhee ("Young Ones") poses for a portrait during the 2014 Sundance Film Festival at the Getty Images Portrait Studio at the Village At The Lift on January 19, 2014 in Park City, Utah.
Morgan Saylor
"Homeland" actress Morgan Saylor poses during the 2014 Sundance Film Festival at the WireImage Portrait Studio at the Village At The Lift on January 19, 2014 in Park City, Utah. Saylor stars in the film "Jamie Marks Is Dead."
Chaz Ebert
Chaz Ebert poses for a portrait during the 2014 Sundance Film Festival at the Getty Images Portrait Studio at the Village At The Lift on January 19, 2014 in Park City, Utah. "Life Itself," a new documentary based on the memoir of her husband, the late film critic Roger Ebert, bowed at the festival.
Actress Rinko Kikuchi ("Kumiko, the Treasure Hunter") poses during the 2014 Sundance Film Festival at the Getty Images Portrait Studio at the Village At The Lift on January 19, 2014 in Park City, Utah.
Actor Bill Hader poses for a portrait during the 2014 Sundance Film Festival at the Getty Images Portrait Studio at the Village At The Lift on January 19, 2014 in Park City, Utah. Hader co-stars with another "Saturday Night Live" alum, Kristen Wiig, in "The Skeleton Twins."
Duplass and Banks
PARK CITY, UT - JANUARY 21: Actors Mark Duplass and Elizabeth Banks pose for a portrait during the 2014 Sundance Film Festival at the Getty Images Portrait Studio at the Village At The Lift on January 21, 2014 in Park City, Utah.
Banks stars in "Little Accidents." Duplass is star of "The One I Love," and executive producer of "The Skeleton Twins."
Elisabeth Moss attends the premiere of her new film, "The One I Love," at The Marc Theatre during the 2014 Sundance Film Festival on January 21, 2014 in Park City, Utah.
Actress Rooney Mara attends the premiere of "The One I Love" at The Marc Theatre, during the 2014 Sundance Film Festival on January 21, 2014 in Park City, Utah.
Frederikke Dahl Hansen
Actress Frederikke Dahl Hansen ("Copenhagen") poses during the 2014 Sundance Film Festival at the Getty Images Portrait Studio at the Village At The Lift on January 21, 2014 in Park City, Utah.
Credit: Larry Busacca/Getty Images for Moncler Grenoble Collection
Actor Steve Coogan poses during the 2014 Sundance Film Festival, at the Getty Images Portrait Studio at the Village At The Lift on January 21, 2014 in Park City, Utah. Coogan stars in "The Trip to Italy" (a follow-up to his 2010 film, "The Trip"), in which semi-fictional versions of himself and Rob Brydon eat their ways across Italy.
Meredith Hagner
Actress Meredith Hagner, star of the comedy, "Hits," poses for a portrait during the 2014 Sundance Film Festival at the Getty Images Portrait Studio at the Village At The Lift on January 21, 2014 in Park City, Utah.
Musician Nick Cave, subject of the documentary "20,000 Days on Earth," poses during the 2014 Sundance Film Festival at the Getty Images Portrait Studio at the Village At The Lift on January 21, 2014 in Park City, Utah.
Actress Emily Browning ("God Help the Girl") poses during the 2014 Sundance Film Festival at the Getty Images Portrait Studio at the Village At The Lift on January 20, 2014 in Park City, Utah.
Actress Gabourey Sidibe, starring in Gregg Araki's "White Bird in a Blizzard," poses during the 2014 Sundance Film Festival, at the Getty Images Portrait Studio at the Village At The Lift on January 20, 2014 in Park City, Utah.
Selena Gomez ("Rudderless") poses for a portrait during the 2014 Sundance Film Festival at the Getty Images Portrait Studio at the Village At The Lift on January 20, 2014 in Park City, Utah.
Steenburgen and McDowell
Actress Mary Steenburgen poses with her son, writer-director Charlie McDowell, at the premiere of "Song One," at the Eccles Center Theatre during the 2014 Sundance Film Festival on January 20, 2014 in Park City, Utah.
Actress Anne Hathaway attends the premiere of "Song One," at the Eccles Center Theatre during the 2014 Sundance Film Festival on January 20, 2014 in Park City, Utah.
"The Raid 2"
In this digitally-retouched photo, actors Julie Estelle and Iko Uwais ("The Raid 2") pose during the 2014 Sundance Film Festival, at the Getty Images Portrait Studio at the Village At The Lift on January 22, 2014 in Park City, Utah.
Actress Elle Fanning ("Low Down," "Young Ones") poses during the 2014 Sundance Film Festival, at the Getty Images Portrait Studio at the Village At The Lift on January 20, 2014 in Park City, Utah.
Credit: Larry Busacca/Getty Image
Actress Shailene Woodley attends the "White Bird in a Blizzard" premiere during the 2014 Sundance Film Festival, at the Eccles Center Theatre on January 20, 2014 in Park City, Utah.
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Post-Show Conversation with The Boston Globe’s Meredith Goldstein
Join us after the show on Wednesday, September 20, 2017 for a post-show conversation with Love Letters columnist Meredith Goldstein for her take on dating in the modern age and across the multiverse!
Meredith Goldstein is an advice columnist and entertainment reporter for The Boston Globe. Her advice column, Love Letters, is a daily dispatch of wisdom for the lovelorn that has been running online and in t he paper for eight years. In 2018 she’ll release two books: Am I Doing It Wrong, a memoir about writing an advice column (Grand Central), and Chemistry Lessons (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt), a young adult novel about a young woman who tries to use science to manipulate her love life. Her first novel, The Singles (2012), was about a group of dateless guests at a wedding.
Wednesday, September 20, 2017 at 8:45 pm
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Exclusively for Texas Sports Nation subscribers
https://www.chron.com/sports/aggies/article/Texas-A-M-Boston-College-basketball-canceled-rain-13451683.php
Texas A&M, Boston College basketball canceled because of … rain?
By Brent Zwerneman, Houston Chronicle
Updated 12:31 pm CST, Saturday, December 8, 2018
PHOTOS: Top college football coaching candidates
Texas A&M head coach Billy Kennedy, center, talks with his team during the first half of a second-round game against North Carolina in the NCAA men's college basketball tournament in Charlotte, N.C., Sunday, March 18, 2018. (AP Photo/Gerry Broome)
>>>Here's a look at the top college football coaching candidates ...
Texas A&M head coach Billy Kennedy, center, talks with his team during the first half of a second-round game against North Carolina in the NCAA men's ... more
Photo: Gerry Broome, Associated Press
COLLEGE STATION – All the rain of the past 24 hours has impacted one of Texas A&M’s biggest nonconference basketball game of the season.
The Aggies and Boston College will not play at 5 p.m. Saturday in Reed Arena after the Eagles declined to play on the same day they travel.
“We are perplexed by this decision and disappointed for our student-athletes and fans,” A&M coach Billy Kennedy said in a statement.
Boston College was traveling by charter, and the plane’s pilot didn’t feel comfortable landing in College Station on Friday evening, even though other planes were landing at Easterwood Airport during that time, according to an A&M official.
ON HOUSTONCHRONICLE.COM: UH's Kelvin Sampson is still a Sooner in Stillwater
Had Boston College chosen to fly in on Saturday morning, the team would have still had hours of rest prior to the 5 p.m. tipoff on Saturday, the official said. A&M even offered to push the game back a couple of hours to 7 p.m., although the game is being broadcast by the SEC Network, the official added.
Boston College (6-2) insisted on moving the game to Sunday, however, which A&M was not prepared to do because of the logistics involved. The Aggies (3-4) are next scheduled to play on Dec. 15 against Oregon State in Portland, Ore., before returning home for a Dec. 19 game against Valparaiso.
The A&M women’s team will still play at 2 p.m. Saturday against Central Arkansas and tickets to the men’s game are still valid for that game, according to A&M.
In a statement on Saturday, Boston College pointed to "mechanical and logistical issues" concerning travel and said A&M wouldn't agree to a 9 p.m. Saturday game or playing any time Sunday.
"The safety and well-being of our student-athletes is paramount," Boston College athletic director Martin Jarmond said in a statement. "Under no circumstances will we put our student-athletes in harm's way."
Pearland player looks to land in NBA
Texas A&M RB Vernon Jackson to miss season with neck injury
Tweets from https://twitter.com/GregRajan/lists/houston-texas-colleges
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News . Feature Stories . Monstrously Engaged
Monstrously Engaged
Groman creatures slither into CIA poster series
Photo by Jerry Birchfield/CIA
When illustrator and CIA instructor James Groman ’86 was creating designer monsters for CIA’s annual recruitment posters, he reined in his estimable gifts for the grotesque and pulled out the winsome instead.
In the first of three “Groman Edition” posters for CIA, a hopeful-looking young student is flanked by a menagerie with almost Muppetlike appeal: A pachyderm with an underbite, a split-lipped guy with four eyes and a head sprouting mushrooms, and a pair of earnest aliens with trumpet snouts. And that’s just for starters.
“I tend to go pretty sinister,” Groman says, “but here I wanted them to be appealing.”
Mission accomplished. The other two posters depict a spaceship-flying alien doing a little online research on CIA, and a life drawing class in which the demurely draped model shows a lot of purple skin and snaky arms.
The posters went to guidance and art departments at high schools around the country this fall. They are the latest in an annual series spearheaded by Mark Inglis, CIA’s Vice President of Marketing + Communications.
“I first heard about James Groman several years ago from Dominic Scibilia, the former Chair of Illustration,” Inglis says.
“Dom first told me about him when James was working with Peter Jackson in New Zealand on The Hobbit, and designing the character sketches for the Orcs. Since that time, I’ve wanted to work with James and finally cornered him this past summer.”
Inglis was the creative director for the poster project, and loved the intensity that Groman poured into developing creatures, concepts and compositions for the posters.
“It’s interesting. The work of James Groman is rooted in the genre of horror and the grotesque, but when you look at the work itself, there is humanity and humor,” Inglis says.“ In person, James is a passion-ate and generous person who clearly loves what he does for a living. His work is technically fantastic, but it’s his creative vision that for me is so captivating and original.”
Groman is a student of creatures from way back. Growing up in Tiffin, Ohio, he loved learning about prehistoric creatures. He also watched all those old Saturday afternoon monster movies and drew in his sketchbook all the time.
“My mom used to joke that I’d watch anything and nothing scared me, and I think that’s because I knew so much about it. Dinosaurs didn’t scare me because I knew all about them,” he says.
The one exception was the old 60s-era TV series The Outer Limits. Groman found the strangeness of the tales unsettling in a way that Godzilla wasn’t. (Devotees of the series will notice that in his creature poster for CIA, Groman includes an homage to the Theton creature from the OL episode called “The Architects of Fear.”)
Groman graduated from CIA in 1986, where he was an Illustration major. He has great memories of learning at the hands of Scibilia and Gene Pawlowski. While today’s illustrators often set their sights on character design and concept drawing, the market back then was focused more on editorial work. Groman says his professors, who were steeped in advertising and editorial work themselves, didn’t quite know what to do with him and his sketchbooks full of creatures.
“I wanted to design movies, and I wanted to design characters for movies and animated shows, and toys,” he says. “My BFA was movie posters. I did six movie posters —only one of them was a real movie.
The others were ideas I came up with.”
He did not go on to build a career primarily on movies, but the universe met him more than halfway.
After graduating from CIA, Groman went to work for American Greetings, which had a new line of products called Those Characters from Cleveland. There, he worked on character design for lines including Care Bears, Mad Balls (and the extra-gross version, Mad Balls Head Poppers), and a line of action figures called Barnyard
Commandos, which he created and developed.
These days, he teaches two courses in Illustration, and has plenty of freelance jobs, which includes work for American Greetings, Hasbro Toys, and MGA Entertainment, famous for Bratz dolls.
Groman also works the entrepreneur side of his business. “I have a couple toys lines I’m putting out with Japanese companies,” he says. “I come up with the concepts, license them, do the sculptures. One of them out now is called BC Blasters. It’s about a time-travel accident—dinosaurs blend with military machines. I’m very excited about it.”
As a pro freelancer, Groman makes sure his studio is always busy. “I like to have more than one job at a time,” he says.
“I still send out emails to clients if I haven’t heard from them in a while. There’s so many [artists] out there. There are all kinds of free- lancers. I still have to make sure I’m out there.”
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Photo by Agência Brasil Fotografias (CC-license)
CMI Brief | 2017
A new conservative social movement? Latin America’s regional strategies to restrict abortion rights
Camila Gianella Malca, Rachel Sieder, Angelica Peñas, Marta Rodriguez de Assis Machado (2017)
Bergen: Chr. Michelsen Institute (CMI Brief vol. 16 no. 5) 4 p.
The legal strategies to keep or expand restrictions to safe and legal abortion
Despite increased evidence of international lobbying groups working to restrict sexual and reproductive health and rights policies at international bodies such as the United Nations, little is known about transnational networks working at local level to restrict abortion rights, how they work, and if it is possible to describe regional strategies developed to restrict abortion rights.
This brief highlights some of the main strategies deployed to restrict the right to safe and legal abortion in Latin America. Challenging beliefs that movements towards restriction of abortion rights are local in character, it argues that – similar to the movement for the decriminalization of abortion – country movements against women’s abortion rights are part of regional alliances, and there is a high level of exchange amongst organizations from different countries.
This brief is based on the results of the Centre on Law and Social Transformation’s project Abortion Rights Lawfare in Latin America financed by the Research Program on Latin America LATINAMERIKA of the Norwegian Research Council.
Abortion rights have long been highly controversial in Latin America. Civil society actors have adopted diverse legal and illegal, formal and informal strategies to engage legal institutions in order to further or halt policy reform and social change to advance or restrict abortion rights.
Resistance towards abortion in the region has been linked with religiosity. Historically Latin America has had a strong presence of the Catholic Church (about 40% of the world’s Roman Catholics live in the region), and Evangelical churches enjoy a rapidly growing presence. The prevailing official position of the Catholic Church is against abortion rights. The majority of Evangelical churches also oppose abortion. Indeed, in recent years in some countries (such as Brazil) conservative Evangelical churches have displaced the Catholic Church as leading actors in the opposition to abortion rights in the region.
However, despite widespread religiosity public opinion in the region does not favor the total banning of abortion. Countries with a total ban, like El Salvador and Nicaragua, however, do not follow this regional trend (see Graph 1).1 Different studies confirm that context and religious background influence people’s attitudes towards abortion: people living in countries where abortion is criminalized on all grounds, those who self-identify as Catholic or Evangelical, and those who say that religion is important in their lives, are less supportive of abortion rights.2 Studies also indicate that people in Latin America are more open to supporting abortion when they receive information about the women’s individual circumstances.3
Yet despite this evolution towards recognizing the need for decriminalization of abortion on some grounds, restrictions on access to safe and legal abortion in Latin America go well beyond what is prescribed by law. Although three of the five countries in the world that prohibit abortion under all circumstances are in Latin America (Chile, El Salvador and Nicaragua), it is also true that most of the countries in the region allow abortion under certain circumstances. Legal abortion upon request during the first 12 weeks of pregnancy is available in Cuba (since 1965), Mexico City (since 2007), and Uruguay (since 2012). Other countries allow abortion when the pregnancy constitutes a serious risk to the woman’s life or health (Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Guatemala, Honduras, Panama, Paraguay, and Peru), when the pregnancy is the result of sexual abuse (Argentina, Brazil, Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, and Panama), and when fetal malformations make life outside the womb impossible (Colombia and Panama; Brazil in the case of anencephaly).
However, despite some degree of recognition of legal grounds for abortion, women across Latin America face often insurmountable barriers when seeking safe and legal abortion services, contributing to the high prevalence of unsafe abortions in the region. According to the most recent estimates, at least 10% of all maternal deaths annually in the region are due to unsafe abortions. Every year 760,000 women are treated for complications from unsafe abortions.
To identify the strategies used by actors involved in the struggles around abortion rights, the project Abortion Rights Lawfare in Latin America built a database with abortion rights events collected by the team of scholars and country experts. The database contains information from the six case study countries: Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, El Salvador, Mexico and Peru. It includes information from January 1990–August 2016.
In total, 306 events were identified: 133 were events to restrict abortion rights and 159 to advance the recognition of abortion rights (the remaining 14 were considered critical contextual events, such as presidential elections). Analysis of this data reveals that despite some shared strategies between groups supporting and opposing rights to legal and safe abortion, some strategies are exclusive to one side of the abortion war. Importantly, constitutional reforms and requirements to force political candidates to share their position on abortion have been exclusively used to restrict abortion rights.
Litigation in local courts has been an important strategy for groups opposing abortion rights, especially in El Salvador and Peru where judicial decisions have allowed the continuation of the criminalization of abortion, and banned distribution of the morning-after pill.
Another salient feature is the political power enjoyed by actors opposing the right to safe and legal abortion. These groups have demonstrated their ability to stage debates and obtain reforms within the legislative bodies, including constitutional reforms. This capacity to influence the legislative and executive branches has allowed the region-wide approval of a day to commemorate the unborn, which is now used in many countries as a central day for anti-abortion rallies, demonstrating the powerful symbolic effects of this type of initiative.
Adoption of official Day of the Unborn Child
El Salvador (1993)
Guatemala (1999)
Nicaragua (2000)
Peru (2002)
Chile (2013)
Bills in the Congress: Mexico and Brazil.
Interestingly, social mobilization – including public demonstrations, collection of signatures and organization of campaigns – have been used both by groups in favor of advancing the expansion of abortion rights and those aiming to restrict these. Organizations also have shown a permanent interest in public opinion, participating in media debates and commissioning surveys.
Regarding changes over time, constitutional reforms in the 1990s included the rights of the unborn child as a strategy to block abortion rights. In recent years, groups opposing abortion rights have started to exert direct pressure over politicians during electoral campaigns. The data shows that in the last 10 years abortion rights have gained a saliency in political campaigns across the region, with conservative groups demanding that presidential candidates and those running for national and local legislatures publicly state their positions regarding abortion rights.
Another salient feature of the disputes is that they are not restricted only to bills addressing the right to abortion. Legal mobilization to restrict abortion rights has addressed other arenas to legally block or prevent the possibility of the expansion of abortion rights. This has been effected through bills and reforms of Children`s Codes to include the recognition of the unborn as a child, passing bills and legislation to ban stem cell research, euthanasia, or in- vitro fertilization, as well as by banning any reference to sexual and reproductive rights in national human rights plans.
Adoption of Children’s Code recognizing beginning of life since conception
Peru (1992 and 2000 )
Bolivia (1999)
Costa Rica (1998)
Our analysis has allowed us to identify different strategies used by the actors favoring the criminalization of abortion in Latin America, and to show the diffusion of strategies across the region. Country actors have used similar legal strategies to advance criminalization and/or to prevent the decriminalization of abortion. Our results indicate that the movement against abortion rights in Latin America is a regional movement with some level of coordination allowing actors involved to exchange experiences and knowhow. This can be seen in the development of similar strategies, such as acting in the same arenas (national human rights plans, reforms of Children’s Codes), but also through the use of similar legal arguments, including adopting human rights discourses and framings, sharing the same interpretation of international human rights treaties (such as the Inter-American Pact of Human Rights, International Convention of Children Rights), or by quoting and presenting the same scientific evidence to support their arguments.
Analysis of the strategies used by the actors opposed to abortion reveals the political power enjoyed by these actors, and in general the movement against the decriminalization of abortion in Latin America. The courts are not an unfamiliar arena for these actors, however, their political power allows the use of the legislative and executive branches as their main arenas of dispute. Conservative Evangelical leaders have taken advantage of the broader regional context of corroding public trust in political parties and low levels of confidence in democratic institutions in order to mobilize the votes of their followers in exchange for the parties’ backing for conservative positions. Although the conservative backlash against abortion rights is by no means hegemonic, the increasing coordination of regional strategies and the broader political and electoral context in many countries mean that the struggle to defend women’s sexual and reproductive rights has assumed a new urgency.
1. Corporación Latinobarómetro. Informe 2016. Buenos Aires: Corporación Latinobarómetro, 2016.
2. Minkenberg M. Religion and Pubic Policy: Institutional, Cultural, and Political Impact on the Shaping of Abortion Policies in Western Democracies. Comparative Political Studies 2002; 35: 221–47.
3. Yam E, Dries-Daffner I, García SG. Abortion opinion research in Latin America and the Caribbean: a review of the literature. Studies in Family Planning 2006; 37(4): 225–40.
Camila Gianella
camila.gianella@cmi.no
Journal Article | Mar 2019
Overcoming the Limits of Legal Opportunity Structures: LGBT Rights’ Divergent Paths in Costa Rica and Colombia
Bruce M. Wilson,Camila Gianella
Latin American Politics and Society.
Newspaper Op-Ed | Jan 2019
Det politiske spillet truer Amazonas
Camila Gianella,Samson Kleven
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Brazil's new president uses Twitter to announce privatization plan for air and seaports
Published Thu, Jan 3 2019 6:44 AM EST
David Reid@cnbcdavy
Right-wing nationalist Jair Bolsonaro was sworn in as Brazil's president on Tuesday, and immediately called on Congress to combat endemic corruption and promised to "work tirelessly so that Brazil reaches its destiny."
Two days into his presidency Bolsonaro has announced a privatization plan on Twitter.
Jair Bolsonaro, far-right lawmaker and presidential candidate for the Social Liberal Party (PSL), gives thumbs up to supporters during the second round of the presidential elections, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil on October 28, 2018.
CARL DE SOUZA | AFP | Getty Images
Brazil's freshly appointed president has taken to Twitter to announce plans to privatize 12 airports and 4 sea ports.
Right-wing nationalist Jair Bolsonaro was sworn in as Brazil's president on Tuesday, promising in his inauguration speech to "create a new virtuous cycle to open markets" and "carry out important structural reforms."
Bolsonaro's election campaign included promises to transition parts of Brazil's economy away from state-run enterprises to more private sector operations, and a tweet on Thursday appeared to underline a commitment to that ideology.
The president claimed that privatizing airports and ports would raise initial investments of 7 billion reais ($1.85 bn).
Prior to his inauguration, the new leader slammed Brazil's economy as being weighed down by "hundreds of bureaucratic governing bodies", claiming his government would aim to "untangle the mess."
It is forecast the state sell-off will gather pace with more than 250 billion reais worth of assets potentially set to go on the block.
The unemployment rate in Brazil declined to 11.6 percent in the three months to November of 2018 from 12.1 percent in the three months to August. It is the lowest jobless rate since the three months to July 2016, but still way above a record low of 6.2 percent in December of 2013.
Brazil recorded a government budget deficit equal to 7.8 percent of the country's Gross Domestic Product (gdp) in 2017 and reducing public debt is seen as another one of Bolsonaro's biggest challenges.
One key test will be whether the new president can gather enough political support to take on the reform of Brazil's hugely expensive state pension obligations.
The 63-year-old is Brazil's first far-right president since the country ended rule by military dictatorship in 1985. One in three of his cabinet are former army officers, many of who have openly praised the country's 1964-1985 military regime.
Brazil government
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Home > Shows > Travis Walton's Abduction & Connie's UFO Encounter
Travis Walton's Abduction & Connie's UFO Encounter
Date Saturday - June 8, 2019
Host Connie Willis
Guests Travis Walton
Travis Walton saw a UFO on November 5, 1975, in the mountains of northeastern Arizona and ran toward it. What followed is one of the most intriguing alien abduction cases ever recorded. Guest host Connie Willis (info) saw something in the skies over the Rocky Mountains about a month ago. She watched a beam of light extend from it and was unable to move anything but her eyes during the episode. Walton joined Connie for the entire program to discuss his story and compare notes, experiences, and theories.
Connie described seeing a beam of light shine through the surrounding trees, and turn on and off again as it lit up each tent at her camp site and the truck where she slept. The source of the light was dark, high up, and made no sound, she recalled, noting how she awoke to find herself laying on her back with fists balled under her chin. "I could not move my body... but I could move my eyes," Connie reported. She referenced alien abduction researcher Dr. David M. Jacobs who suggested if a person ever sees the light of a UFO, they've likely been taken.
"I really think that they actually do identify individuals to the point where if you had a sighting years before and you see it again, they know it's you," Walton said. He shared details from his case including what it felt like when he was aboard the craft. Walton remembered being in a small space and filled with fear because he could not breathe. There he saw a being who resembled a human which he believes was used to calm him down in order to get him under anesthesia after a blast of energy from the UFO scrambled his neural circuits.
Walton talked about how his abduction experience derailed his life and changed everything for him and his friends who witnessed what happened to him. Law enforcement thought they had killed me, he revealed. Walton admitted skeptics forced him to go public to defend his story. "I can't make it un-happen so the best I can do is try to make good things happen for other people as a result of it," he said.
travis-walton.com
Bumper music from Saturday June 08, 2019
Lynrd Skynyrd
In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida
Me and Bobby McGee
Have You Ever Seen the Rain?
Hidden Facts About America / Open Lines
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Press Release June 2018
Cambridge Associates Promotes Christie Zarkovich to Head of Mission-Related Investing Research
Zarkovich Will Lead Global Team Identifying and Researching Impact, ESG and Mission-Related Investing Opportunities
Christie Zarkovich
BOSTON (June 11, 2018) – Christie Briscoe Zarkovich, an experienced institutional investor with deep ESG, impact and mission-related investing expertise, has been named Head of Mission-Related Investing (MRI) Research at Cambridge Associates, the global investment firm. She is based in the firm’s Arlington, Virginia office and reports to Noel O’Neill, Global Head of Investment Research.
Zarkovich joined Cambridge Associates in 2016 as a Managing Director, and has been focused on constructing investment portfolios with an impact and mission-related dimension for endowments, foundations and private clients.
The Head of MRI Research is a newly created role and reflects the increasing importance of impact investing among institutional investors. In the last five years client assets placed in ESG investments – those that integrate environmental, social and governance factors – have doubled to approximately $9.5 billion from $4 billion in 2012.
“ESG and impact investing are key components of many of our clients’ investment programs today, and the number of ESG investing opportunities has increased dramatically,” said O’Neill. “We are delighted that Christie is leading the next generation of our MRI research as the opportunity landscape continues to expand. Appointing someone as experienced in the field as Christie to lead ESG and impact research is a natural step for Cambridge Associates as the robustness of our MRI efforts and their importance to our clients continues to increase and expand.”
“It’s an extraordinary time in ESG and impact investing,” said Zarkovich. “Institutional investors are becoming increasingly interested and proactive in aligning their investment portfolios with the institution’s long-term goals and mission. As with any other asset class, extensive manager due diligence and access to talent and resources to uncover the best investment ideas is critical to delivering performance, but the range of opportunities where strong performance and impact are inextricably linked continues to grow.”
Cambridge Associates formally established its MRI practice in 2008 to stay ahead of the increasing demand from clients to invest in strategies that align with their overall missions and ESG priorities. The firm has 35 ESG- and MRI-focused investment professionals around the world serving firm’s core client segments, which include endowments, foundations, private clients and pensions. On average, Cambridge Associates conducts approximately 300 due diligence meetings a year with ESG- and MRI-related investment managers, with a proprietary database that includes over 1,000 MRI strategies that have been vetted for client portfolios over the last decade. Areas within MRI research include climate change and impact themes such as education, community development, health and wellness, social justice, and more.
Before joining Cambridge Associates, Zarkovich served as a Managing Director at Perella Weinberg Partners in Denver, where she was a member of the Investment Committee and helped manage $6 billion in foundation and endowment assets on a discretionary basis. She had previously been a senior member of the investment team at The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation and started her career at the New York Mercantile Exchange. She holds a Bachelor’s in Economics from The Colorado School of Mines and an MBA and MS Finance from the University of Denver. She is a CFA charterholder.
For an archive of in-depth insights and research from Cambridge Associates on the MRI landscape, please click here.
To learn more about Cambridge Associates’ MRI expertise or speak with Christie Zarkovich, please contact Katarina Wenk-Bodenmiller: katarina@sommerfield.com or 212-255-8386.
About Cambridge Associates
Cambridge Associates is a leading global investment firm. We aim to help endowments & foundations, pension plans, and private clients implement and manage custom investment portfolios that generate outperformance so they can maximize their impact on the world. Working alongside its early clients, among them leading university endowments, the firm pioneered the strategy of high-equity orientation and broad diversification, which since the 1980s has been a primary driver of performance for institutional investors. Cambridge Associates delivers a range of services, including outsourced CIO, non-discretionary portfolio management, and investment consulting.
Cambridge Associates maintains offices in Boston; Arlington, VA; Beijing; Dallas; London; Menlo Park, CA; New York; San Francisco; Singapore; Sydney; and Toronto. Cambridge Associates consists of five global investment consulting affiliates that are all under common ownership and control. For more information, please visit www.cambridgeassociates.com.
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Infrastructure Canada
Government of Canada announces President and Chief Executive Officer for the Canada Infrastructure Bank
From: Infrastructure Canada
The Government of Canada is making investments that will help create well-paying jobs and grow the middle class now, while building a strong foundation for a sustainable economic future. As part of the Government’s historic Investing in Canada infrastructure plan, the Canada Infrastructure Bank is an additional new and innovative tool that provincial, territorial, municipal, and Indigenous partners can use to build more infrastructure for their communities.
Ottawa, Ontario, May 24, 2018—The Government of Canada is making investments that will help create well-paying jobs and grow the middle class now, while building a strong foundation for a sustainable economic future. As part of the Government’s historic Investing in Canada infrastructure plan, the Canada Infrastructure Bank is an additional new and innovative tool that provincial, territorial, municipal, and Indigenous partners can use to build more infrastructure for their communities.
Today, the Honourable Amarjeet Sohi, Minister of Infrastructure and Communities, announced that Pierre Lavallée has been appointed as the first President and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Canada Infrastructure Bank. The board of directors for the Canada Infrastructure Bank had significant involvement in the selection process and Mr. Lavallée’s appointment followed an open, transparent, and merit-based selection process that attracted a range of talented and experienced candidates.
As President and CEO, Mr. Lavallée will provide overall business leadership, creating the Bank’s strategy, establishing investment policies and procedures, and building and attracting a highly skilled and motivated team. He will lead partnerships with domestic and global institutional investors, engage public sector proponents, and work to develop and execute innovative infrastructure financing transactions that will have transformative impacts for Canadians across the country.
Over the last six years, Mr. Lavallée has held various roles at Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB), most recently Senior Managing Director & Global Head of Investment Partnerships, where he led a team managing approximately $94 billion of assets. Prior to joining CPPIB, Mr. Lavallée was Executive Vice-President at Montreal-based Reitmans (Canada) Limited and a Partner with Bain & Co., where he worked for more than 18 years, including several years as Managing Partner for Canada. In addition, he has previous international trade experience working in Ottawa and Japan as a Trade Commissioner with the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade.
With this appointment, the Bank will continue to develop its capacity to engage with provinces, territories, municipalities, Indigenous, and private sector partners on infrastructure projects across Canada.
“I am proud to announce the appointment of Pierre Lavallée as the first President and CEO of the Canada Infrastructure Bank. Mr. Lavallée is a talented and highly qualified professional who will play a key role in setting the course and direction of the Bank as it makes investments in the transformational infrastructure projects that Canadians need. The Bank will help attract private sector investment to help public dollars go further and encourage innovation in helping communities advance their infrastructure priorities."
The Honourable Amarjeet Sohi, Minister of Infrastructure and Communities
“With the appointment of Mr. Lavallée, I am confident the Canada Infrastructure Bank will be able to deliver on its ambitious mandate to transform the way infrastructure is funded, planned and delivered in Canada. With a focus on strategic investments that will help improve the quality of life for Canadians, the Canada Infrastructure Bank will help deliver the transformative projects our communities need – from improvements to public transit systems and trade and transportation corridors to green infrastructure projects, including those that reduce greenhouse gas emissions, deliver clean air and safe water systems, and promote renewable power.”
The Honourable Bill Morneau, Minister of Finance
The Canada Infrastructure Bank will invest $35 billion from the federal government to build more infrastructure in communities across Canada.
As a Crown corporation, the Bank operates at arms-length from the government and works with provincial, territorial, municipal, and Indigenous partners to attract private investors to new revenue-generating infrastructure projects that are in the public interest.
Chief Executive Office Biography
Statement of Priorities and Accountabilities – Canada Infrastructure Bank
Governor in Council Appointments
Canada Infrastructure Bank
Government of Canada’s $180-billion+ Investing in Canada infrastructure plan
Brook Simpson
Office of the Minister of Infrastructure and Communities
Brook.Simpson@canada.ca
infc.media.infc@canada.ca
Twitter: @INFC_eng
Web: Infrastructure Canada
Search for related information by keyword: TR Transport | Infrastructure Canada | Ottawa | Infrastructure | general public | government | media | news releases | Hon. Amarjeet Sohi
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Tri Cascade Enters Co-Development Arrangement with Aetina Corporation: Tri Cascade has engaged with Microsoft A.I. Edge computing partner, Aetina Corporation. An NDA has been executed by both parties, which enables Tri Cascade and Aetina to co-develop the building of A.I. home automation products, supported by Microsoft technology. This is key to the establishment of A.I. IoT capability independently in the home as a local “in-house” operation vs. relying on data transmission from the home to the Cloud and back down to the home. Founded in Taiwan from 2012, Aetina is dedicated to high performance GPGPU and Jetson AI edge computing solutions for embedded applications, with its focus on the development and long term support of highly reputable GPU-accelerated computing products for wide range of image-critical applications in edge computing markets, including medical, defense & aerospace, factory automation, gaming, machine learning and surveillance.
AMD EPYC to Power Hostkey’s Virtualized and HPC Workloads: AMD and HOSTKEY, a leading cloud solutions company representing clients across Europe, Russia and North America, have released the AMD EPYC processor-based servers across HOSTKEY’s infrastructure. This new deployment of AMD EPYC CPUs offers differentiated features, core-count, connectivity and memory bandwidth to HOSTKEY customers running virtualized environments and high-performance computing workloads. The new HOSTKEY platform uses the 16-core AMD EPYC 7281 and 24-core EPYC 7401P processors delivered on Gigabyte platforms, which have support for up to 8-channels of RDIMM/LRDIMM DDR4 memory and 128 lanes of ultra-fast PCIe® Gen3 x4 connections to support increased user demand.
GDS Launches AWS Direct Connect in Shanghai and Shenzhen Data Centers: GDS Holdings Limited, a leading developer and operator of high-performance data centers in China, has announced the launch of Amazon Web Services Direct Connect in GDS’s Shanghai and Shenzhen data centers. Through AWS Direct Connect, customers can directly access AWS over a private, enterprise-grade network connection, which helps customers reduce data transfer costs, improve network security, and achieve consistent network performance. This deployment represents the first and only native points of connectivity to AWS Direct Connect available in Shanghai and Shenzhen, two of the most important markets in China.
Intel Broadcasts New Product Portfolio for Moving, Storing and Processing Data: Intel has unveiled a new portfolio of data-centric solutions consisting of 2nd-Generation Intel Xeon Scalable processors, Intel Optane DC memory and storage solutions, and software and platform technologies optimized to help its customers extract more value from their data. Intel’s latest data center solutions target a wide range of use cases within cloud computing, network infrastructure and intelligent edge applications, and support high-growth workloads, including AI and 5G. Building on more than 20 years of world-class data center platforms and deep customer collaboration, Intel’s data center solutions target server, network, storage, internet of things applications and workstations. The portfolio of products advances Intel’s data-centric strategy to pursue a massive $300 Billion USD data-driven market opportunity.
Sungard Availability Likely to Declare Bankruptcy: Sungard Availability Services Capital Inc. has announced that it is preparing a pre-arranged bankruptcy filing to reduce its nearly $1.3 Billion USD debt. The move could be the fastest restructuring on record. According to the Philadelphia Inquirer, Sungard expects to file for bankruptcy around May 1, and has promised its corporate customers to exit bankruptcy on a stronger footing. According to the press release from Sungard, through the restructuring process, Sungard AS will continue to operate in the normal course of business, including delivering the high levels of service its customers expect and making planned investments in its fully resilient production and recovery solutions portfolio, all delivered by the Company’s team of seasoned professionals.
Construction to Begin on Raxio’s Namanve Data Center in Uganda: Construction has finally begun on the long-awaited data center to be owned and operated by Raxio Data Centers, in the the Kampala Industrial and Business Park, Namanve, in Mukono District, within the capital city of Kampala, Uganda. Roko Construction is heading up the construction side of things. The project will cost $15 Million USD and will result in a Tier III facility, one which will be the first carrier-neutral co-location data center in the region.
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OLE HAILS NATURAL BORN STRIKERS KIKO & ALFIE
Ole Gunnar Solskjær has hailed the recent arrivals of Federico Macheda and Adam Le Fondre as ‘natural goal-scorers’ as the City manager secured his third and fourth signings of the summer this week.
Moving quickly in the transfer market to enforce his attacking philosophy on the Bluebirds 2014/15 Sky Bet Championship squad, the two front men joined Javi Guerra and Guido Burgstaller through the door at Cardiff City Stadium, with the City boss hinting that further movement could be possible in the coming weeks and months ahead.
, Ole said: “I think it’s important that we get the targets that we have signed and sealed. Both lads are proven goal-scorers, that’s their game and I think it’s great that we have got them in.cardiffcityfc.co.ukSpeaking exclusively to
“Of course it’s not just about getting as many strikers in as we can. Now that area is filled we can look at who we will lose in other areas of the pitch and who will stay. We have a strong squad filled with plenty of quality as we speak.
“There will be a bit of manoeuvring throughout the summer and some players will go, but in a league like the Championship, with the cup competitions as well, we’ll be playing up to fifty games and we’ll have to rotate between strikers. You can never have enough goal-scorers in a team.”
And there’s no doubting the credentials of Ole’s most recent recruits, with 22-year-old Federico Macheda, fondly nicknamed ‘Kiko’, a talent well-known to City’s Norwegian manager from his time at Manchester United.
“Kiko is a target man and is technically very gifted, but first and foremost, he’s a goal-scorer,” said Ole. “He’s got an instinct for goal and a fantastic talent that I’ve had the pleasure of working with when he was younger.
“He went through a tough period in his career when it didn’t really work out for him, but I’ve seen him through those times as well. It’s a great opportunity now for Kiko to establish himself in the first-team and get regular football.
<br> <br>
“He has a lot of experience for a man of his age. He’s 22-years-old, but has experience of being at many different clubs now because of the loan spells he had away from Old Trafford. For me, the most important thing is that Kiko knows the standards that I have here.
“I know what he’s capable of, as does he, but you can only reach that capability by believing in yourself, having someone else believe in you and working hard. He now knows his future is here, he’s settled and he knows me and what I will demand from him.”
They are demands that the City manager will similarly place on fellow front man Adam Le Fondre, a striker renowned for his goal-scoring impact at all levels throughout his career.
“He’s a natural goal-scorer, that’s what he’s about,” said Ole. “Having been a goal-scorer myself I can see a lot of similarities between myself and Adam. Perhaps he doesn’t want the tag, but like me he has been known to come on and score a lot of goals as a sub - of course like I did. You can see he’s a natural in front of goal.
<br> <br>
“Adam’s got to double figures in the Premier League, in the Championship and at any level he has played at really. Whatever level he plays at he’ll score. Having spoken to him it is clear that he is someone who wants to develop and improve and we’ll of course be working hard with all our strikers to ensure we have lots of players who can consistently put the ball in the net.
“Now it’s up to us to gel as a team and create chances for these players because that will be the key for us to challenge for promotion, it’s everyone’s main aim to get back to the Premier League.”
YOUTUBE, HERE.. WATCH TEASERS ON CARDIFF CITY PLAYERWATCH EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEWS WITH ALL FOUR OF CITY'S LATEST RECRUITS ON
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No. 2 seed Texas hosts first NCAA tournament game since 2010
After securing a No. 2 seed in the Bridgeport Regional, the Longhorns are hosting the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2010.
Texas earns No. 2 seed, lands in Connecticut’s region
By Tyler Horka - Updated on March 14, 2016 at 9:05 pm
The Longhorns got a dose of both good and bad news in the NCAA women’s basketball tournament bracket release Monday night.
Texas falls to Baylor again, enters tournament on sour note
By Tyler Horka - Updated on March 8, 2016 at 12:22 am
Texas entered its game against Baylor last Monday with a shot to share a regular season conference title with the Bear but lost decidedly in Waco.
Texas hopes that third time is charm against Baylor
By Tyler Horka - Updated on March 6, 2016 at 11:49 pm
Beating a team three times in the same season is a tall task, no matter the sport.
No. 6 Texas advances to Big 12 semifinal round with 66-50 win over Kansas
By Jasmine C. Johnson - Updated on March 6, 2016 at 2:45 pm
With a 1:13 remaining in the first quarter of the Big 12 Route 66 quarterfinals, Kansas took its first lead. Twenty-one seconds later, senior guard Celina Rodrigo knocked down a 3-pointer, giving Texas an 11-9 lead.
Texas tries to start anew in Big 12 Tournament
By Tyler Horka - Updated on March 4, 2016 at 1:01 am
The Longhorns let an opportunity slip away from them Monday night.
No. 6 Texas drops regular season finale in Waco
By Jasmine C. Johnson - Updated on March 1, 2016 at 12:50 am
Midway through the first quarter, Baylor junior guard Alexis Jones picked up her second foul.
Longhorns face Baylor with Big 12 championship at stake
By Tyler Horka - Updated on February 28, 2016 at 11:56 pm
Head coach Karen Aston said that her seniors would make sure they refocused after losing for the first time all season to Baylor on Jan. 17.
Sophomore provides spark in Senior Night victory
Sophomore guard Brooke McCarty tallied 16 points and tied a career high with 8 assists to help the Longhorns beat TCU 71-58 in their final home game of the season.
Senior class leaves legacy
By Jasmine C. Johnson - Updated on February 26, 2016 at 1:27 am
A win at Tennessee, a trip to the Sweet 16, at least a second place finish in Big 12 play, two engagements and over a dozen individual awards. Those are just a few items on the 2016 senior class’s resume.
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The ACM (Academy of Country Music) Award Nominees
by Randy Owen on February 21, 2019, 11:02am. EDT
To be expected, there were a few surprises yesterday with the announcement of the nominations for the Academy of Country Music (ACM) awards. But before getting to them and the major categories, a shout-out to the Canadian nominees.
High Valley is up for New Group or Duo, against LANCO and Runaway June. While I wish Brad and Curtis well and hope they win, I have a feeling LANCO will take it. The remarkable Lindsay Ell is nominated for New Female Artist, along with Danielle Bradbery, Ashley McBryde and Carly Pearce. Lindsay has a good chance at this one, considering not only her career, but also taking into account all the guest appearances she’s been making on other artists’ songs, including the current Brantley Gilbert hit, “What Happens in a Small Town.” But I wouldn’t be too surprised if Ashley or Carly win this one.
Canadians also have nominations in the Industry Awards, usually presented before the televised awards shows. Congratulations to: Boots & Hearts, nominated for Festival of the Year; Casino Rama in Orillia, Ont., for Casino of the Year (Large Capacity); and Toronto’s Budweiser Stage for Venue (Large Capacity).
Now, a look at some of the major categories:
-Jason Aldean (who’s won for the last four years), Luke Bryan (a previous winner in 2012 and 2014), Kenny Chesney (his first nomination since 2011 and another 4-time winner), Chris Stapleton and Keith Urban are nominated for Entertainer of the Year. Show host Reba McEntire commented on the lack of female representation saying, “It doesn’t make me very happy because we’ve got some very talented women out there who are out there working their butts off.” Indeed, Carrie Underwood was the last female nominee back in 2016 and Taylor Swift was last female winner way back in 2011;
-Dierks Bentley, Luke Combs, Thomas Rhett, Chris Stapleton and Keith Urban have Male Artist nods. Stapleton has won three out of the past four years and Thomas Rhett won in 2016. This is Luke’s first time as a finalist in this category. Surprisingly, Jason Aldean isn’t a finalist this year. He’s been nominated every year for the last nine years, winning three times (in 2012-2014);
-Female Artist nominees include Miranda Lambert, who’s won the last ten years in-a-row, Ashley McBryde (her first nomination), and previous nominees Maren Morris, Kacey Musgraves and Carrie Underwood. This may be the year Miranda’s rein ends;
-the Group category nominees are the same as last year…and the year before: Lady Antebellum, LANCO, Little Big Town, Midland and Old Dominion (with Old Dominion getting the trophy the past two years);
Notable: Chris Stapleton and Dan + Shay lead with six nominations each, while Kacey Musgraves has five; and it could be a big night for Dan + Shay – their huge hit “Tequila” is the only song nominated for Single, Song and Video of the Year.
The ACM awards will be televised on CBS on April 7 from Las Vegas.
Good luck to all the nominees!
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University of Memphis creating Institute of Public Service Reporting
The U of M is opening the Institute of Public Service Reporting to give students an on-campus to produce investigative and journalism opportunity.
University of Memphis creating Institute of Public Service Reporting The U of M is opening the Institute of Public Service Reporting to give students an on-campus to produce investigative and journalism opportunity. Check out this story on commercialappeal.com: https://memne.ws/2uGCBcc
Abigail Warren, Memphis Commercial Appeal Published 6:22 p.m. CT July 16, 2018 | Updated 7:02 p.m. CT July 16, 2018
Marc Perrusquia(Photo: Nikki Boertman / The Commercial Appeal)Buy Photo
The University of Memphis on Monday announced it is opening the Institute of Public Service Reporting on campus to produce independent investigative and enterprise reporting, and train students.
As the first step in the effort, the U of M recently hired award-winning investigative reporter Marc Perrusquia, who recently left The Commercial Appeal after a 29-year career.
The institute will be guided by an advisory board headed by Louis Graham, The CA's former executive editor, and Otis Sanford, a former managing editor at The CA and the U of M's Hardin Chair of Excellence in Economic and Managerial Journalism.
“The Institute of Public Service Reporting at the U of M will allow our students to gain valuable experience working under the direction of some of the most respected journalists in the city of Memphis," University of Memphis President M. David Rudd said in a news release.
The University of Memphis on Monday announced it is opening the Institute of Public Service Reporting. (Photo: Caroline Bauman/Chalkbeat-Tennessee)
The university said the institute plans to raise funds from foundations and the public to "eventually establish a small professional staff that will produce news stories and help train graduate assistants."
The institute will be housed in the Department of Journalism and Strategic Media, but the U of M noted it "will be a freestanding, multidisciplinary center where graduate students from a variety of disciplines will be able to gain writing and research experience."
The institute said it intends to collaborate with a new, nonprofit online newspaper, The Daily Memphian, and plans to forge other partnerships with media organizations in television, radio and podcasting.
Read or Share this story: https://memne.ws/2uGCBcc
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Image credits: © Audi.
Introduced in 1994, the Audi A4 was a compact executive vehicle built by the German automaker Audi that was the successor to the Audi 80. This vehicle holds the distinction of single-handedly reviving the Audi brand following its large sales slump two years prior. The A4 was available as a saloon/sedan or an estate/wagon. During the 2nd version the model was called the B6 and the 3rd generation was dubbed the B7. A Cabriolet version was also introduced, though it was not retained for the 4th generation which was called the B8. The A4 quickly became a favorite among luxury-car buyers thanks to its sleek look, well-appointed cabin, sharp handling and available Quattro all-wheel drive.
The interior featured a truly European ambience with its firm, comfortable seating, it also featured tight panel gaps, high-quality materials and gave a very supple ride and willing performance.
Internally, the first generation of the Audi A4 was known as the Typ 8D and was introduced in 1994 on the Volkswagen B5 platform which was shared with the fourth generation Volkswagen Passat. The platform featured a longitudinal engine and standard front-wheel drive though many enthusiasts preferred the optional Quattro four-wheel drive system. Originally the A4 was introduced as a four-door saloon/sedan, but the following year the Avant; Estate/wagon showed up the following year.
European customers could opt for a variety of engines that included between 1.6 and 2.8 liters, and a 1.9 L Diesel that was available with VW's new 'Pumpe Düse' technology that was capable of achieving a high power value of 110 PS. At the time, the Audi's 2.8 L V6 that was carried over from the original 80/90 was the only engine option that was available in North America until 1997.
The first model in the Volkswagen Group, the Audi A4 featured the new 1.8 L 20V motor with five valves per cylinder and was based on the unit Audi Sport had developed for their Supertouring race vehicle. Producing 150 PS, a turbocharged version had 155 ft/lb of torque. In 1996, this technology was added to the V6 family, beginning with the 2.8 L V6 30V which now produced 193 PS.
Based on the unit that Porsche had developed for their 964-generation 911, Audi introduced their new Tiptronic transmission on the B5 platform. Offering a choice of driving the vehicle as either a fully automatic operation or with a manual override of the gear ratios, the transmission was a conventional automatic gearbox with a torque converter.
In 1997 a revised B5 Audi A4 range was introduced at the Frankfurt Motor Show. Sales began in Europe in early 1998. Replacing the 2.8 L 12-valve was a newly introduced 2.8 L 30-valve engine. The range received an important addition, the 2.5 L V6 TDI diesel engine with 150 PS and standard Quattro and a six-speed gearbox, along with the new high-performance S4. New updates included new taillights, door handles, headlights, and other minor exterior and interior changes.
Halfway through the 1998 model year, the 1.8T engine was available outside of Europe and had its power output raised to 170 PS. The original KKK KO3 turbocharger was upgraded with a KO3s (sport) unit. The 30-valve unit that had been available in Europe for two years replaced the 12-valve V6 engine. An even higher performance RennSport model was introduced in 1999; the RS4 Avant which was available only in Avant body-style just like the RS2.
The Audi A4 introduced a hybrid version in 1997. Audi was the first European car manufacturer to put a hybrid vehicle into series production, the third generation Audi duo then based on the A4 Avant. Internally, the all new A4 model was dubbed the Typ 8E and was introduced in late 2000 and was now riding on the all new Volkswagen B6 platform.
The all-new styling of the Audi A4 was inspired on the C5; second generation Audi A6. The original 1.6 L base model didn't change, but most other petrol/gas engines received power upgrades or displacement increases. Now available in two additional versions, the 1.8 L 20-valve Turbo came with either 150 or 180 PS, this one came with a standard six-speed gearbox. The naturally aspirated 1.8 L straight-4 and 2.8 L V6 were replaced by 2.9 L and all-aluminum 3.0 L units. The most powerful of these was capable of 220 PS and 221 lb/ft of torque. Upgraded to 130 PS, the 1.9 TDI engine was now available with Quattro permanent four-wheel drive. The 2.5 V6 TDI high-end model was unveiled with 180 PS and standard Quattro. Halfway through 2001 the Avant was unveiled.
Audi upgraded power to the 1.8 Turbo engine for 2002 to163 and 190 PS. The 190 was designated by a red T with both available with Quattro and in the 2.5 TDI intermediate version to 163 PS. Fuel Stratified Injection was also available with a 2.0 engine. The S4 was reintroduced the following year and was now powered by a 344 PS 4.2 LV8 engine. An A4 Cabriolet convertible variant was also introduced and finally replaced the 80-based Audi Cabriolet that had been discontinued in 1998. The variant included an electro-hydraulic operated hood which could be lowered in less than 30 seconds and also incorporated some styling changes which found their way to the saloon version.
Generally regarded as being the best of its type in the entire world, a continuously variable transmission was developed by LuK, named multitronic which was the replacement of the Tiptronic on front-wheel drive models. This transmission was well praised due to its light weight and promptness in response. The use of this transmission was limited to models with a maximum of 229 lb/ft of torque.
The trunk was redesigned to remove the extension of the top edge with a smoother fold line, and the taillight assembly now forms part of the top line. Introduced in the North American market, an 'Ultra Sport package' named Ultra Sport came along shortly before the B6 was replaced by the B7. This package included aluminum interior trim and doors sills, front and rear spoilers, 'S line' steering wheel, side valence and 18-inch RS4 wheels.
In 2004 Audi introduced a very largely revised A4 with the internal designation of B7. The new range A4 continued to utilize the already existing Volkswagen B6 platform, a chassis derived from the outgoing B6, but featuring heavily revised steering settings, new engine ranges, suspension geometry, navigation systems and chassis electronics. The internal platform nomenclature used PL46 for both B6 and B7 chassis. Also unchanged from the B6 A4 were the Typ 8E and 8H internal designations.
Many additions were added to the engine lineup. FSI, or Fuel Stratified Injection was introduced in 2005 on the 2.0 TFSI and 3.2 V6 FSI petrol/gasoline engines along with other refinements, and increased power output to 200 and 255 PS. Both engines utilize a four-valve cylinder design. The earlier 5-valve design was not compatible with the FSI direct injection system. Combining Pumpe Düse, or PD, technology, the 2.0 TDI diesel engine with 16 valves for the first time, and the larger 2.5 TDI was increased to 3.0 L offering 204 PS Quattro permanent four-wheel drive remained available on most A4 models. The 5-speed manual transmission was finally deleted in favor of a 6-speed. Once again, multitronic transmission is available on front-wheel drive models. A 6-speed Tiptronic transmission is available on Quattro four-wheel drive models.
Audi reintroduced the ultra-high performance RS4 to the lineup, in addition to the higher-performance S4 which carried over the powertrain of the B6 S4. This was the first time on the saloon/sedan and Cabriolet body with a normally aspirated 4.2 V8 FSI engine. The 3rd generation Torsen T-3 quattro system used a ‘default' asymmetric 40:60 front-rear torque distribution.
Introduced in late 2005, a limited edition variant was dubbed 'DTM Edition' and was reintroduced in 2006 as a regular option. The 2.0T FSI engine was now engineered to 220 PS wit standard Quattro. In the same manner of the C6 Audi A6, the front grill assembly has changed to be a tall trapezoidal shape. Arriving later than the other two body variants, the B7 Cabriolet model was introduced. Sales began in February of 2006. The Cabriolet featured an entry-level 2.0 TDI version.
Offering many safety features, the Audi A4 featured side airbags, anti-lock brakes, Electronic Stabilization Programme and its available Quattro four-wheel drive. The Audi A4 also received the IIHS 'Top Safety Pick For 2007'. The A4 Avant with the diesel engine is considered to be the most reliable vehicle available on the market according to 2007 Swedish vehicle inspection data, with vehicle inspection rejection rate of 0.0% in 3 year old category. Face-lifted and rebadged, the B7 series became the SEAT Exeo in 2008 with styling changes to both the front and rear, and also incorporated interior trim from the A4 Cabriolet.
In August of 2007, Audi introduced photos, the first official photos of the B8 series A4. The vehicle was unveiled to the public at the September 2007 Frankfurt Motor Show. Available models were the Saloon/Sedan and the Avant (estate/wagon). The Avant debuted at the March 2008 Geneva Auto Show.
Built on a variant of the Audi Modular Longitudinal Platform, the B8 A4 was constructed on a platform which was also utilized in the Audi A5 coupe. Earlier A4 chassis were limited in wheelbase because of the relationship between the engine, front axle and transmission, and the MLP allows for a reduced front overhang. This resulted in a greater wheelbase length without he same increase in overall length. The center of gravity is now effectively redistributed rearwards, which now improved handling by effectively balancing vehicle mass in between the front and rear axles. The front:rear weight ratio of B8 A4 is approximately 55:45 depending on the body style and engine. Handling was also improved over earlier A4 platforms due to the relocation of the steering rack in front of the axle.
The length of the B8 A4 was also increased in length by 117 mm (4.6 in) over the earlier Audi B7 and gave room for additional seating legroom. The curb weight dropped around 10%, the trunk was increased to 17 cu ft. for the saloon version. With the rear seats folded down, the A4 Avant has a maximum capacity of 1,430 liters. Introduced in the China market in November 2008 was a long wheelbase version called the A4L. This model came with a 2.4 inch longer wheelbase and 2.0 inch longer length.
Standard on the A4 was the MMI system; Multi Media Interface, electronic park brake, LED daytime running lights and speed sensitive steering. Optional on the Audi A4 was Audi Side Assist, Audi Lane Assist, Advanced Key; keyless entry and start, adaptive cruise control, Bang & Olufsen sound system, navigation system with full MMI with 7 inch screen, adaptive headlights with cornering technology, Audi drive select and advanced parking system front and rear plus reversing camera.
In 2004, the Audi Sport A4 DTM was introduced and was entered into the Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters series. The DTM was a V8 engined silhouette racing car that resembled the A4. These vehicles are identified by Audi Sport R-series designations.
Today buyers can purchase an Audi A4 in convertible, sedan and wagon configurations. The wagon and A4 sedan are in their fourth generation which began in the 2009 model year. The newest A4 sedans and wagons feature more interior room, more high-tech gadgetry and improved driving dynamics. Since convertible A4's have not yet been produced on the four-generation current platform, the Audi continues to be sold in 3rd generation models.
By Jessica Donaldson
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Home Cricket Cricket history in quotes, part 20: “Gilligan promised to state our case...
Cricket history in quotes, part 20: “Gilligan promised to state our case when he returned to Lord’s”
Abhishek Mukherjee
Abhishek Mukherjee, cricketsoccer’s prolific writer, brings to you the words, verbal or written, almost never intended to be pathbreaking quotes in the history of cricket in this fascinating series…….
Full quote: “We felt as if a man so cricket-wise as Gilligan considered Indian cricket had reached a state in its development where it could challenge the world. Gilligan promised to state our case when he returned to Lord’s.”
By: Anthony de Mello, referring to a conversation at the Roshanara Club, Delhi, February 1927.
The early days of all-India cricket teams were significantly different from representative teams of other Commonwealth Nations in one aspect. While Australia, South Africa, West Indies, and New Zealand consisted mostly of British expatriates (or their descendants), the Indian team consisted entirely of local cricketers.
The British took cricket with them wherever they expanded to. The first reference of cricket in India was in 1721, by one Clement Downing. The Parsees of Bombay were the first Indians to take to cricket. They were also the first Indians to tour England, that too twice – in 1886 and 1888, albeit with disastrous results.
But the Parsees were not to be discouraged. They were the only side to beat the touring GF Vernon’s XI of 1889-90. They then took on the Europeans in a two-match contest in 1892-93 and won the series 1-0. These were the first Presidency Matches (the Parsees won the first edition).
In the same season, Lord Hawke brought a team stronger than Vernon’s (they won 13, drew 6, and lost 2 matches). Two matches from this tour, both against Parsees at Bombay Gymkhana, stand out. The tourists were bowled out for 73 and 93. ME Pavri took 6/36 in the second innings. In the second Dinshaw Writer took 4/16 and 8/40 but the Parsees lost by 7 runs.
With the Hindus joining in 1907-08 and the Muslims in 1912-13, the Bombay Quadrangular became the premier Indian tournament (a fifth team, The Rest, would be inducted in 1937-38).
But while cricket thrived in India (they were the only major country to host First-Class cricket during The Great War), matches against other nations were not common occurrences.
An all-India team did visit England in 1911, but they had a disappointing tour: they won 2, drew 2, and lost 10 First-Class matches. Even then, Palwankar Baloo impressed all, picking up 75 wickets at 20. As we know, Baloo’s struggles were not restricted to on-field hurdles: the journey from the receiving end of untouchability to a place in a representative national XI was no less than a fairy tale.
Also read: Cricket history in quotes, part 19: “I shall still bear this incident in mind against Armstrong”
But ICC (Imperial Cricket Conference at that time) were not keen on a third Test-playing nation before The Great War. It was only in 1926 that the Indians, the West Indians and the New Zealanders were invited to an ICC meeting.
ICC announced that its membership would be extended to “governing bodies of cricket in countries within the Empire to which cricket teams are sent, or which send teams to England”. Thus, these three teams joined England, Australia, and South Africa as ICC members.
Interestingly, the meeting was presided over by Lord Harris, the man who had once prevented Ranji from playing for England. A former Test captain, Harris was also one of the most inefficient governors in the history of Bombay, but had one tiny redeeming point: he had no problem with Indians playing cricket.
His reasoning, however, was not on the expected lines: “We can do indefinitely more work in their climate than they can, and they get fat and lazy as they rise in rank, whilst our civilian are as active as young men.” Being Trinidad-born as well, Harris’s enthusiasm towards inducting both India and West Indies cannot be ruled out.
The Test status, however, was yet to come. India did not even have a proper board at that stage. Despite the elevation in status and the occasional victory against touring sides, despite the illustrious career of Ranji and the advent of Duleep, Indian cricket was yet to earn respect outside the nation.
All that changed on a December morning at Bombay Gymkhana later that year.
Arthur Gilligan’s MCC were a strong side. They were undefeated in all 12 First-Class matches on the tour till then. Even here, against the Hindus, they put up 363.
CK Nayudu walked out at 67 for 2 to join the supremely talented but largely forgotten LP Jai; and mayhem followed. We shall only run through the highlights.
Nayudu went after the left-arm spin of Stuart Boyes first, hitting him on the roof of the pavilion, and then twice into the tents. He had also hit three fours by then. Then Ewart Astill dropped Nayudu and ended up paying for it dearly. He conceded the next four Nayudu sixes, the last two off consecutive balls.
Nayudu spared Maurice Tate by hitting only fours, but he hit a six off Bob Wyatt. In Wyatt’s next over he hit two consecutive balls on the roof of the Gymkhana and added two fours for good measure. The 11th six came off John Mercer.
Nayudu kept on hitting as wickets kept falling all around him. He scored 153 in 100 minutes that day with 13 fours and 11 sixes, the latter being a world record. Let alone the crowd (who were pouring in as the news spread like wildfire) and the opposition, even the umpires were forced to applaud his strokes.
That single innings changed Indian cricket like no other innings before or after. There might have been superior exhibitions of strokeplay, but few as impactful.
Gilligan was in awe of Nayudu: “I cannot find enough words to express my opinion of him. His polished display of batsmanship was one of the best I have ever seen.” No other praise was as significant, as this one innings pushed India towards Test cricket like none before.
Likewise, Wyatt: “The Indian batsman’s perfect poise, high back-lift and long, pendulum swing brought beauty to his strokes.”
But there was another innings as well, when an all-India side took on Gilligan’s men, again at Bombay Gymkhana. This time MCC scored 362 and had the Indians at 180/5 before a 53-year-old Sanskrit professor played an innings as contrasting to Nayudu’s as possible. Prof. DB Deodhar preferred the off-side that day, driving and cutting with panache, and carved out 148 in four hours to put the Indians in the lead.
Whatever doubt was there regarding India’s class even after Nayudu’s onslaught was cleared by Deodhar’s masterpiece.
Two months later, a group of four men met at the lawns of Roshanara Club, Delhi. Gilligan was the main speaker. In the audience was the Maharaja of Patiala, who had led the 1911 side. A major patron of Indian cricket of the era, Patiala had invited Gilligan’s men for the tour. Also present were Grant Govan, a Delhi-based businessman and founder of the Roshanara Club; and Anthony de Mello, an employee of Govan.
Gilligan admitted how impressed he was by the performance of the Indians. He promised to talk to MCC about a tour. He also requested the Indians to form a cricket board of their own.
The Indians met on November 22 that year. BCCI was founded in December 1928 at Roshanara Club, with Govan as first President and de Mello as Secretary.
By then India had established themselves as a superpower in another sport. Great Britain was the only side to have won a gold medal at field hockey in 1908 and 1920, the only two occasions when the sport was a part of the Olympics. That was challenged by India – still, a British territory, remember – at Amsterdam in 1928.
India did not merely win the matches. They annihilated every opposition (all European countries), scoring 29 goals and conceding none from five matches. Dhyan Chand alone scored 14 goals (the next best of 5 was shared by three men, two of whom were also Indians). Shortly after this, on a tour of Europe, Dhyan Chand alone scored 25 more goals.
Five months after BCCI was founded, Govan and de Mello represented India at ICC. They invited South Africa to tour India in 1929 and planned an England tour in 1931. Unfortunately, the former was called off, while the latter got pushed back by a year.
India eventually played their first Test in 1932 and did not do too badly, especially during the first half hour.
CK Nayudu
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Abhishek Mukherjee is the former Chief Editor at CricketCountry. A cricket historian and columnist, he can be followed on Twitter @ovshake42.
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Cricket history in quotes, part 21: "A lot of schoolboys who got into long trousers for the first time" | CricketSoccer December 1, 2018 at 5:29 am
Cricket history in quotes, part 32: "but you can't go on bowling like that all day, not in England" | CricketSoccer December 26, 2018 at 3:54 pm
[…] let us take things up from 1931, two years after the foundation of BCCI, when the administrators were in dire need of a person to lead the Indian cricket […]
Cricket history in quotes, part 37: "I never understood reasons for having Hindu, Parsi, Muslim and other communal Elevens" | CricketSoccer January 13, 2019 at 2:44 pm
[…] 1892-93, the Zoroastrian Gymkhana challenged Bombay Gymkhana to a two-match contest. The first match, at Bombay, was washed out after the first […]
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Prof. Shing-Chi CHEUNG and Prof. Pan HUI elected as ACM Distinguished Scientists
CSE faculty members Prof. Shing-Chi Cheung and Prof. Pan Hui are elected as ACM Distinguished Scientists.
They were included as one of the 45 Distinguished Members for their individual contributions to the field of computing. Their achievements are considered to have advanced the science, engineering and education of computer, and highlight the growing role of computing in the major technological advances shaping the society today.
The 2016 ACM Distinguished Members work at leading universities, corporations and research institutions around the world, including Austria, Brazil, Canada, China, Hong Kong, India, Italy, Korea, Japan, the Netherlands, Singapore, Spain, the United Kingdom, and the United States. These trailblazers have made contributions in a wide range of technical areas including computer science education, data privacy, security, computer networking, machine learning, distributed systems, multimedia computing, human-computer interaction, programming languages, mobile and wireless networks, database management, information retrieval, computational biology, molecular computing, and software engineering, among others.
The ACM Distinguished Member program recognizes up to 10 percent of ACM worldwide membership based on professional experience as well as significant achievements in the computing field.
Congratulations to Prof. Cheung and Prof. Hui!
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Federal Budget 2016: How it will change what you eat and drink
The Australian government skirted Jamie Oliver's call on Australia to "pull your finger out" and introduce a sugar tax in the next Budget, but at least the cider makers are happy. How will the Federal Budget change what you eat, or not?
Cheap cider for everyone
Schooner glasses are clinking around the country as low-strength cider looks set to become cheaper after the government extended the brewery refund scheme. From 1 July 2017, non-traditional cider and low strength fermented beverages will be able to claim back some of the excise they pay. It will cost the government $9 million, but many Australians will drink to the change.
No sugar tax, sorry Jamie
The government never addressed it, but talking heads and policy boffins discussed it after the United Kingdom confirmed in March it would introduce a levy on sugary drinks from 2018.
Britain’s Chancellor of the Exchequer, George Osborne announced the measure in the annual budget. “I am not prepared to look back at my time here in this parliament, doing this job and say to my children’s generation, ‘I’m sorry. We knew there was a problem with sugary drinks. We knew it caused disease but we ducked the difficult decisions’.”
In Australia, a similar move not only could have saved 1600 lives and raised $400 million a year for health initiatives, according to Australian research by the Obesity Policy Coalition and the University of Queensland’s School of Public Health, but Jamie Oliver begged Australia to do it (“Australia, pull your finger out”).
According to the study, a tax in Australia could lead to a 12.6 per cent reduction in consumption of sugary drinks, the largest contributors of added sugars in Australians’ diets.
The biggest consumers are among males aged 19 to 30 years, consuming up to 1.5 litres per day, while the top 10 per cent of consumers drink more than one litre a day (including diet drinks). In 2015 Australians bought around 1.1 billion litres of sugary drinks at a total cost of $2.2 billion, excluding those purchased at fast-food outlets, vending machines and convenience stores.
This tweak in the name of public health would have been a way to find a bit of revenue for the health system without fiddling around with the GST, and it might have lead to positive health outcomes. But according to the head of the peak canegrowers body, there are no plans for it in Australia.
You’ll be able to taste your food
Every year since 2013 the tax on cigarettes has increased by at least 12.5 per cent. Originally planned for four years of price hikes, the Government will continue the same increases for another four years.
The excise hike will mean that the about 69 per cent of the cost of a packet of cigarettes will consist of tax, just shy of the World Health Organisation’s recommendation of 70 per cent. The increase will bring in about $4.7 billion over the next four years. The offshoot? More people will live longer, put less pressure on our health services, and will be able to taste the food they eat.
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Indo-German Development Cooperation launches ‘Touring Exhibition’ at New Delhi
Indo-German Development Cooperation launches 'Touring Exhibition' at New Delhi
© DWIH New Delhi
New Delhi, 29 Nov’ 2018: On the occasion of the annual Indo-German Bilateral Negotiations and commemorating 60 years of successful Indo-German Development Cooperation, a “Touring Exhibition” was launched on 28th November 2018 at Hyatt Regency. The exhibition showcased historical landmarks of Indo-German Development Cooperation since past six decades. This exhibition will further travel to Bengaluru, Kochi and Chennai through 2019.
The touring exhibition was launched by Dr C.S. Mohapatra, Additional Secretary (EA), Ministry of Finance, Government of India and Dr Wolfram Klein, Head of South Asia Division, Federal Minister of Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ).
In her opening remarks Mrs. Christiane Hieronymus, Head of Economic Cooperation & Development, Embassy of the Federal Republic of Germany said, “I take great pleasure in welcoming you all to tonight’s launch event of our touring exhibition that recites tale of two close and trusted partners in development cooperation”.
Speaking at the launch Dr C.S. Mohapatra, Additional Secretary (EA), Ministry of Finance, Government of India said “It’s a brilliant idea to launch a touring exhibition travelling different cities and highlighting Indo-German Development Cooperation. I would like to congratulate everyone for contributing, not just for this fantastic launch but also on the successful bilateral negotiations”.
Dr Wolfram Klein, Head of India & South Asia division, Federal Minister of Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) said “I am very happy to be a part of this celebration between the two nations. It was a great learning experience for me working on various locations for the development. Today’s touring exhibition shows the long-standing relationship between both the countries. We will continue to work towards further strengthening the bilateral relations between these two nations.”
India and Germany look back on decades of successful bilateral relations. This touring exhibition maps the interesting snippets from the history of the achievements of this journey and, creates a space for nostalgia and discussions about the road ahead. Indo-German Development Cooperation laid the roots of its long-standing relationship in 1958.
The goal was to achieve sustainable global development and to foster a spirit of progressive partnership and trust. During the course, several milestones have been achieved such as the launch of IIT Madras in 1959, the launch and success of the Polio Immunisation Programme in 1996 and the Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojna in 2008 and setting up a 125-MW solar power plant in Sakri, Maharashtra, to name a few.
India is Germany’s biggest development partner with a proven track record of success. Now, the areas of focus are renewable energy and energy efficiency, sustainable urban development, environment protection and resource management. In course of these fruitful long-standing years of association, the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development and other implementing agencies have constantly developed their approach to work towards sustainable global development with India and to nurture a spirit of partnership and trust.
DWIH News 15
Supporter News 86
call for proposals 1
Indo-German Collaboation 1
opportunities 5
research funding 2
research grants 2
scholarships 1
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Sports Updates From The World
India-Australia One Day International
In a 5 match series, India lost the 4th ODI to Australia in Mohali on March 10, 2019. Australia with 359 for 6 wickets beat India by 4 wickets to level the series at 2-2. India had managed a score of 358 for 9 wickets. The fifth and final ODI will be played at New Delhi on March 13, 2019.
Sixteen Year Old Becomes Chess Grandmaster
Sixteen-year-old P. Iniyan of Tamil Nadu, became India's 61st Grandmaster after defeating Ukraine's 37-year-old Grandmaster Sergey Fedorchuk at the Noisiel Open chess tournament in France on March 5, 2019. Iniyan is a student of class XI of the Indian Public school in Erode, Tamil Nadu.
Viswanathan Anand is India’s first Chess Grandmaster
Guinness World Record in Yoga
More than 1011 yoga practitioners performed the Virabhadrasana or the Warrior II Pose for 3 minutes at the Sun Yat Sen Memorial Park in Hong Kong on February 24, 2019. This set a Guinness World Record in Yoga, first of its kind in the history of Hong Kong, beating the previous record of 387.
Roger Federer Claims 100th Career Title
Switzerland's Roger Federer claimed the 100th ATP title of his career by beating 20-year-old Greek Stefanos Tsitsipas 6-4, 6-4 in the final of the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships on March 2, 2019. He is is the second man to achieve the feat after America’s Jimmy Connors who has claimed 109 titles in his career.
Chris Gayle Reaches 500 Sixes in International Cricket
West Indies cricketer Chris Gayle is the first batsman ever to score 500 or more sixes in international cricket. In the 4th ODI against England in Grenada, Gayle scored 162 runs with 506 sixes in international cricket.
Sanath Jayasuriya Banned From Cricket for Two Years
The ex captain of Sri Lankan Cricket team. Sanath Jayasuriya has been banned for two years from all cricket-related activity by the ICC. After refusing to cooperate, he admitted to breaching two counts of the International Cricket Council’s anti-corruption code.
Gold for Deepak Singh at Makran Cup
The national boxing champion Deepak Singh claimed a gold in the Makran Cup in Chabahar, Iran. He defeated Iran's Jaafar Naseri in the 45-49 kg light fly category final on February 27, 2019.
Suresh Raina Scores 8000 Runs in T20
Suresh Raina became the first player to score 8000 runs in T20 cricket on February 25, 2019. He is also the second Indian player to have played 300 T20s after wicketkeeper MS Dhoni.
Sir Alastair Cook Knighted
Former England skipper Alastair Cook was officially knighted by the Queen for his services to cricket at an investiture ceremony in Buckingham Palace on February 26, 2019. The 34 year-old retired from Test cricket in September 2018. He is not only England's highest run-scorer in Test cricket, but also the first England cricketer to receive a knighthood since Sir Ian Botham in 2007.
Afghanistan Beats Australia's Record of Highest T20 Score
Afghanistan created a new record against Ireland in their second Twenty20 International at the Rajiv Gandhi International Cricket Stadium in Dehradun, Uttarakhand on 2 March 2019. They scored 278 for the loss of three wickets overtaking Australia's score of 263 for 3, making it the highest-ever total in T20s.
Saurabh Chaudhary wins Gold at ISSF Event
16 year-old Indian shooter Saurabh Chaudhary won the gold medal in the men's 10m air pistol event at the International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF) event on February 24, 2019. Not only did he break the world record but also secured India's third Olympic quota.
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Child receives severe injury from relative’s dogs by Caitlan Butler | July 1, 2019 at 8:35 p.m.
A two-year old child in Norphlet received severe injuries last week after being mauled by three dogs at a relative’s house.
Animal Control Officer Charles Hartsell was asleep last Thursday when he got a call around midnight from the Union County Sheriff’s Office to tell him about the child, who was by then in the emergency room.
The child sustained severe injuries to his abdomen and head, Hartsell said; he was airlifted to Arkansas Children’s Hospital Thursday night and has since started recovery.
The child was staying with his aunt and uncle in Norphlet when the attack occurred; it was a place the child stayed often. He was getting up from the couch, where he and his uncle were lying down, when the attack happened, according to the police report.
All three of the dogs managed to bite the child, the police report said, with the worst damage being dealt to his head and gut. The child’s uncle threw himself over the child to protect him from the dogs when he could not calm them down.
“He laid down on top of the boy to keep the dogs from attacking him more,” Hartsell said. “When his wife came to the door and saw it, she thought the dogs were attacking her husband because she couldn’t see the boy, he was laying on top of him. She hollered for their son to come in and she grabbed one of the dogs, he grabbed the other, and I guess the third one wasn’t doing much of anything. Put them up, called an ambulance and that’s what they’ve told me.”
After the attack, Hartsell allowed the family to keep the dogs overnight; they met at El Dorado Animal Hospital Friday morning at opening time. The dogs were checked to ensure they had current rabies vaccinations before being euthanized.
The child’s uncle received a citation for keeping dangerous and vicious dogs. Hartsell noted that the family’s dogs were well-loved; however, the pack mentality can make any dog aggressive, he said.
“You can’t undo the boy getting hurt. He’s hurt, so you have to stop it somewhere. You don’t want nothing else to happen,” Hartsell said. “Those dogs never slept a night outside; they weren’t mistreated; they weren’t on chains. They weren’t any of that. But when you get more than one dog, you get the pack mentality and I’m sure that’s part of it.”
At least one of the dogs had been aggressive recently. According to a UCSO police report, the day before the child was attacked, his aunt’s mother was also treated at the Medical Center of South Arkansas for bites to her forearm and other scratches, which she said came from one of her daughter’s dogs.
“They have a history,” Hartsell said of the dogs.
Hartsell said the dogs had also previously killed another dog at the Corner One Stop in Norphlet. An owner could not be found for the dog that was killed, so Hartsell could not cite the family then for animal cruelty, he said.
“People – they’re not responsible with these dogs and they don’t need these types of dogs if they’re not going to be responsible,” Hartsell said.
To report a dangerous, aggressive or loose animal, contact ACO Hartsell at 870-881-4162.
Caitlan Butler can be reached at 870-862-6611 or cbutler@eldoradonews.com.
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NH Safe Stations recognized at first responders breakfast
Natacha Davis stood before 300 first responders and told them how the caring she found at a fire station helped her to finally overcome her addiction
By Shawne Wickham
The New Hampshire Union Leader
NASHUA, N.H. — It’s the compassion that made the difference.
Natacha Davis stood before 300 people at a Valentine’s Day first responders breakfast and told them how the caring she found at a Nashua fire station last year helped her to finally overcome the substance use disorder she had struggled with for years.
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Organizers of the third annual benefit, sponsored by Harbor Homes and Keystone Hall, were hoping to raise $100,000 for the city’s Safe Stations program.
In an interview later, Davis, a 31-year-old Nashua native, told the Union Leader that she had gone to a fire station for help not long after the Safe Stations program began in November 2016. But she said, “I wasn’t ready at that time. I was scared.”
She was back in and out of rehab for a while after that, and finally reached a breaking point. “I don’t think anybody really realizes how painful substance use disorder is, physically, emotionally and mentally,” she said. “It takes a toll on you.”
It was her mother who convinced Davis to try Safe Stations again last April 5. She went to the East Hollis Street fire station, “and when I walked in there, they welcomed me with warm arms,” she said.
Firefighters on duty took her vital signs and information; EMTs from American Medical Response (AMR) checked her out and brought her to a mobile crisis center.
That kindness from strangers changed her life, she said. “It was a judgment-free zone,” she said. “That’s helped me push forward. They gave me that hope and showed me that they really care.”
That’s the kind of comments Chris Stawacz said firefighters and EMTs hear from Safe Stations participants all the time. Stawacz, the regional director of AMR, which provides ambulance services in Nashua and Manchester, was honored Thursday for his role in creating and supporting the program here.
Since Safe Stations began, he told the crowd, “More than 2,600 people from every city in New Hampshire and more than 150 towns have walked into a Nashua fire station seeking immediate, non-judgmental access to recovery services.”
“Think about that,” Stawacz said. “That’s a lot of people.”
After she sought help from Safe Stations, Davis spent a week at Harbor Homes’ respite center for medical detox and then went to a residential treatment program. She now participates in drug court and is a volunteer recovery coach at Revive Recovery Center.
She plans to pursue a career in the recovery field. “I feel like that’s my purpose,” she said.
Davis said she had her first taste of alcohol when she was 12; she started abusing Percocet in her mid-20s and was introduced to heroin a few years later. “It just took off from there,” she said.
What she now understands is that she used substances to numb the pain from trauma that began in childhood and continued into adulthood with an abusive partner. She was pregnant at 16 and was in the Youth Development Center when her oldest daughter was born.
Davis now has “three beautiful children,” she said — 14- and 11-year-old daughters and a 10-year-old son. “Honestly, I put my kids through a lot, emotionally,” she said.
But her kids and her mom have supported her through her struggles, she said. “My kids, they’re my rock,” she said. “They’re very proud of me. They tell me all the time.”
The way she was treated at Safe Stations helped her take the next steps, Davis said. “The fear of rejection is major,” she said. “People don’t understand that when you encounter somebody with a substance use disorder, the way you treat them determines which road they take.”
Recovery folks have a saying: “A sentence saves a life,” Davis said. “The way you speak to somebody that’s suffering from substance use disorder could either make them or break them,” she said.
“Going into a Safe Station and feeling not judged, feeling like they genuinely cared” she said, “made me feel comfortable, made me feel safe and made me feel like everything was going to be OK.”
Stawacz said fatal overdoses are down and people are getting help in Nashua thanks to the vision of the city’s leaders, the dedication of its public servants and the support of donors like those at the breakfast.
“We have not stopped the opioid epidemic,” he said. “What we have done is help bring an already close-knit group of talented and caring Nashuans even closer together for a common goal of saving lives, offering help, and improving the quality of life in our community.”
Beyond the Stigma, a series exploring solutions to the state’s addiction and mental health challenges, is sponsored by the New Hampshire Solutions Journalism Lab at the Nackey S. Loeb School of Communications and funded by the New Hampshire Charitable Foundation, Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center, NAMI New Hampshire, and private individuals.
Copyright 2019 The New Hampshire Union Leader
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https://www.fairfieldcitizenonline.com/business/technology/article/Report-FTC-approves-roughly-5B-fine-for-Facebook-14091913.php
FTC approves record $5B fine for Facebook
Barbara Ortutay, Ap Technology Writer
Updated 1:26 am EDT, Saturday, July 13, 2019
FILE - In this April 30, 2019, file photo, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg makes the keynote speech at F8, Facebook's developer conference in San Jose, Calif. A Wall Street Journal report says that the FTC has voted this week to approve a fine of about $5 billion for Facebook over privacy violations. The report Friday, July 12, 2019, cites an unnamed person familiar with the matter. less
FILE - In this April 30, 2019, file photo, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg makes the keynote speech at F8, Facebook's developer conference in San Jose, Calif. A Wall Street Journal report says that the FTC has ... more
Photo: Tony Avelar, AP
At $5 billion, the fine the U.S. Federal Trade Commission is about to levy on Facebook is by far the largest it's given to a technology company, easily eclipsing the second largest, $22 million for Google in 2012.
The long-expected punishment, which Facebook is well prepared for, is unlikely to make a dent in the social media giant's deep pockets. But it will also likely saddle the company with additional restrictions and another lengthy stretch of strict scrutiny.
Multiple news reports on Friday said the FTC has voted to fine Facebook for privacy violations and mishandling user data. Most of them cited an unnamed person familiar with the matter.
Facebook and the FTC declined to comment. The 3-2 vote broke along party lines, with Republicans in support and Democrats in opposition to the settlement, according to the reports.
The case now moves to the Justice Department's civil division for review. It's unclear how long the process would take, though it is likely to be approved. A Justice Department spokeswoman declined to comment on the Facebook matter.
For many companies, a $5 billion fine would be crippling. But Facebook is not most companies. It had nearly $56 billion in revenue last year. This year, analysts expect around $69 billion, according to Zacks. As a one-time expense, the company will also be able to exclude the amount from its adjusted earnings results —the profit figure that investors and financial analysts pay attention to.
"This closes a dark chapter and puts it in the rearview mirror with Cambridge Analytica," said Wedbush analyst Daniel Ives. "Investors still had lingering worries that the fine might not be approved. Now, the Street can breathe a little easier."
Facebook has earmarked $3 billion for a potential fine and said in April it was anticipating having to pay up to $5 billion.
But while Wall Street — and likely Facebook executives — may be breathing a little easier, the fine alone has not appeased Facebook critics, including privacy advocates and lawmakers.
"The reported $5 billion penalty is barely a tap on the wrist, not even a slap," said Senator Richard Blumenthal, a Democrat from Connecticut. "Such a financial punishment for a purposeful, blatant illegality is chump change for a company that makes tens of billions of dollars every year."
He and others questioned whether the FTC will force Facebook to make any meaningful changes to how it handles user data. This might include limits on what information it collects on people and how it targets ads to them. It's currently unclear what measures the settlement includes beyond the fine.
Privacy advocates have been calling on the FTC to come down on Facebook for a decade, but over that time the company's money, power and Washington influence has only increased.
"Privacy regulation in the U.S. is broken. While large after-the-fact fines matter, what is much more important is strong, clear rules to protect consumers," said Nuala O'Connor, president and CEO of the Center for Democracy and Technology. The CDT is pushing for federal online privacy legislation.
Some have called on the FTC to hold Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg personally liable for the privacy violations in some way, but based on the party line vote breakdown, experts said this is not likely.
Marc Rotenberg, president of the nonprofit online privacy advocacy group Electronic Privacy Information Center, said he was "confused" as to why the Democratic commissioners didn't support the settlement and said he suspects, without having seen the actual settlement, that this was due to the Zuckerberg liability question.
"But I thought that was misguided," he said, adding that EPIC instead supports more wholesale limits on how Facebook handles user privacy.
Since the Cambridge Analytica debacle erupted more than a year ago and prompted the FTC investigation, Facebook has vowed to do a better job corralling its users' data. That scandal revealed that a data mining firm affiliated with President Donald Trump's 2016 campaign improperly accessed private information from as many as 87 million Facebook users through a quiz app. At issue was whether Facebook violated a 2011 settlement with the FTC over user privacy.
Other leaky controls have also since come to light. Facebook acknowledged giving big tech companies like Amazon and Yahoo extensive access to users' personal data , in effect exempting them from its usual privacy rules. And it collected call and text logs from phones running Google's Android system in 2015.
Wall Street appeared unfazed at the prospect of the fine. Facebook's shares closed at $204.87 on Friday and added 24 cents after hours. The stock is up more than 50 percent since the beginning of the year. In fact, Facebook's market value has increased by $64 billion since its April earnings report when it announced how much it was expecting to be fined.
Rep. David Cicilline, a Democrat from Rhode Island, said in a statement that the fine gives Facebook "a Christmas present five months early. It's very disappointing that such an enormously powerful company that engaged in such serious misconduct is getting a slap on the wrist. This fine is a fraction of Facebook's annual revenue."
Cicilline leads the House Judiciary subcommittee on antitrust, which is pursuing a bipartisan investigation of the big tech companies' market dominance.
The fine, however, doesn't spell the end of Facebook's troubles. The company faces a slew of other investigations, both in the U.S. and overseas, that could carry their own fines and, more importantly possible limits to its data collection. This includes nearly a dozen by the Irish Data Protection Commissioner, which oversees privacy regulation in the European Union.
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Home / Family Tree Premium Articles / European Genealogy / Irish Genealogy / Books, Movies and Music About Ireland
Books, Movies and Music About Ireland
Family Tree Editors August 20, 2008 updated on August 18, 2017
Read a book, rent a film or pop in a CD to revel in your Irish roots.
If you’re not lucky enough to have an Irish pub or parade nearby, don’t fret. Read a book, rent a film, grab the remote or pop in a CD to revel in your roots.
44: Dublin Made Me by Peter Sheridan (Viking Press)—The brother of Oscar-winning director Jim Sheridan (In the Name of the Father) recalls growing up in an eccentric 1960s-Ireland family.
Tara Road by Maeve Binchy (Delacarte Press)—Irish divorce, e-mail, laptops and heroin addiction. A recent Oprah selection.
Charming Billy by Alice McDermott (Delta)—National Book Award-winner about a sensitive Irish-American who falls into alcoholism after his heart is broken by an Irish lass.
A Song for Mary: An Irish-American Memory by Dennis Smith (Warner Books)—Along the lines of Angela’s Ashes, but set in New York City.
Angela’s Ashes (1999)—Neither Emily Watson nor Robert Carlyle is Irish, and Rosie O’Donnell lost the race to play Frank McCourt’s mother.
Dancing at Lughnasa (1998)—Meryl Streep mastered a brogue in the movie version of the Tony Award-winning play about sisters living in dignified poverty in Ireland in the 1930s.
Waking Ned Devine (1998)—A whole village gets involved in a get-rich scheme when a resident dies before collecting his lottery winnings.
The General (1998)—Director John Boorman chronicles the notorious life of Dublin gangster Martin Cahill (Brendan Gleeson). Jon Voight co-stars.
The Butcher Boy (1997)—A disturbing Neil Jordan movie about a 12-year-old boy (Eamonn Owens) in 1960s Ireland who can’t control his rage.
The Boxer (1997)—Daniel Day-Lewis plays a former boxer and IRA man who tries to turn a Belfast gym into a demilitarized zone.
The Devil’s Own (1997)—Brad Pitt and Harrison Ford play IRA terrorist and Irish-American cop, respectively, whose crossed paths involve considerable violence.
The Van (1996)—Two Irishmen sell fish and chips out of a rundown van during the 1990 World Cup soccer tournament.
The Brothers McMullen (1995)—Ed Burns got on the Hollywood scoreboard with his story of three Irish-American brothers dealing with the curse of Catholic guilt.
Circle of Friends (1995)—Maeve Binchy’s tale of college life in 1950s Ireland stars Minnie Driver and Chris O’Donnell.
In the Name of the Father (1993)—Daniel Day-Lewis plays an Irishman falsely convicted of bombing a pub.
The Snapper (1993)—Colm Meaney is the head of an Irish household dealing with his teen daughter’s surprise pregnancy.
Far and Away (1992)—Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman star as Irish immigrants who eventually ride west in search of free land.
The Crying Game (1992)—Stephen Rea gets a giant screen surprise in an otherwise-serious movie about The Troubles.
The Commitments (1991)—A northern Dublin rock band turns to soul. You can’t get the tunes out of your head.
Ellis Island by the Irish Tenors (Music Matters)
Celtic Woman by various artists (Valley Entertainment)
Otherworld by Lunasa (Green Linnet)
Celtic Wedding by The Chieftains (BMG/RCA Victor)
Forty Years Of Irish Piping by Seamus Ennis (Green Linnet)
This entry was posted in Irish Genealogy and tagged book, books, film, ireland, movies, music, read, rent, revel. Bookmark the permalink.
Plotting Your Irish Roots: An Irish Counties Map
How to Search for Ancestors in Irish Catholic Church Records
Poor Law Unions Map of Ireland
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Select Language (en)
eso1707 — Photo Release
A Galaxy on the Edge
This colourful stripe of stars, gas, and dust is actually a spiral galaxy named NGC 1055. Captured here by ESO’s Very Large Telescope (VLT), this big galaxy is thought to be up to 15 percent larger in diameter than the Milky Way. NGC 1055 appears to lack the whirling arms characteristic of a spiral, as it is seen edge-on. However, it displays odd twists in its structure that were probably caused by an interaction with a large neighbouring galaxy.
Spiral galaxies throughout the Universe take on all manner of orientations with respect to Earth. We see some from above (as it were) or “face-on” — a good example of this being the whirlpool-shaped galaxy NGC 1232. Such orientations reveal a galaxy’s flowing arms and bright core in beautiful detail, but make it difficult to get any sense of a three-dimensional shape.
We see other galaxies, such as NGC 3521, at angles. While these tilted objects begin to reveal the three-dimensional structure within their spiral arms, fully understanding the overall shape of a spiral galaxy requires an edge-on view — such as this one of NGC 1055.
When seen edge-on, it is possible to get an overall view of how stars — both new patches of starbirth and older populations — are distributed throughout a galaxy, and the “heights” of the relatively flat disc and the star-loaded core become easier to measure. Material stretches away from the blinding brightness of the galactic plane itself, becoming more clearly observable against the darker background of the cosmos.
Such a perspective also allows astronomers to study the overall shape of a galaxy’s extended disc, and to study its properties. One example of this is warping, which is something we see in NGC 1055. The galaxy has regions of peculiar twisting and disarray in its disc, likely caused by interactions with the nearby galaxy Messier 77 (eso0319) [1]. This warping is visible here; NGC 1055’s disc is slightly bent and appears to wave across the core.
NGC 1055 is located approximately 55 million light-years away in the constellation of Cetus (The Sea Monster). This image was obtained using the FOcal Reducer and low dispersion Spectrograph 2 (FORS2) instrument mounted on Unit Telescope 1 (Antu) of the VLT, located at ESO’s Paranal Observatory in Chile. It hails from ESO’s Cosmic Gems programme, an outreach initiative that produces images of interesting, intriguing or visually attractive objects using ESO telescopes for the purposes of education and outreach.
[1] Messier 77, also known as NGC 1068, has a very brilliant central region powered by a supermassive black hole. It is one of the nearest examples of what astronomers call active galaxies.
ESO is the foremost intergovernmental astronomy organisation in Europe and the world’s most productive ground-based astronomical observatory by far. It is supported by 16 countries: Austria, Belgium, Brazil, the Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Finland, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom, along with the host state of Chile. ESO carries out an ambitious programme focused on the design, construction and operation of powerful ground-based observing facilities enabling astronomers to make important scientific discoveries. ESO also plays a leading role in promoting and organising cooperation in astronomical research. ESO operates three unique world-class observing sites in Chile: La Silla, Paranal and Chajnantor. At Paranal, ESO operates the Very Large Telescope, the world’s most advanced visible-light astronomical observatory and two survey telescopes. VISTA works in the infrared and is the world’s largest survey telescope and the VLT Survey Telescope is the largest telescope designed to exclusively survey the skies in visible light. ESO is a major partner in ALMA, the largest astronomical project in existence. And on Cerro Armazones, close to Paranal, ESO is building the 39-metre European Extremely Large Telescope, the E-ELT, which will become “the world’s biggest eye on the sky”.
Photos of the VLT
Other images taken with FORS
About the Release
Release No.: eso1707
Name: NGC 1055
Type: Milky Way : Galaxy : Type : Spiral
Facility: Very Large Telescope
Instruments: FORS2
PR Image eso1707a
The edge-on galaxy NGC 1055
PR Image eso1707b
The surroundings of the edge-on galaxy NGC 1055
PR Image eso1707c
The edge-on spiral galaxy NGC 1055 in the constellation of Cetus (The Sea Monster)
PR Video eso1707a
ESOcast 98 Light: A Galaxy On Edge (4K UHD)
PR Video eso1707b
Zooming in on the edge-on galaxy NGC 1055
PR Video eso1707c
Panning across a new image of NGC 1055
Press Releases on iau.org
Press Releases on spacetelescope.org
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Such Are The Dreams Of The Everyday Has-Been, Cont'd
Regular dude former senator McDreamy dropped by the University of New Hampshire football game on Saturday to scarf some brews and hang with the bro's, like all regular manly-men who no longer wear pink leather shorts always do.Hilarity ensued.
In video posted by the New Hampshire Democratic Party, as Brown walked through the sea of tailgaters, there were shouts of "F**k Jeanne Shaheen!" and "Elizabeth Warren sucks!" referring to the Democrat from Massachusetts who unseated Brown from his Senate seat in that state in 2012. The language became even more graphic at points, with one man shouting "F**k her right in the p***y" (00:04 in the video above), although it wasn't clear if he was referring to Shaheen or Warren. At 01:07 in the video, a man also appears to refer to Shaheen as a c**t.
I was struck by the similarity of this lovely by-play to another incident that occurred when McDreamy was on his way to getting his ass kicked around Massachusetts by Senator Professor Warren. Oh, right.
It's not the heat, Scotty. It's the misogyny.
Such Are The Dreams Of The Everyday Has-Been, Continued
Such Is The Wisdom Of The Everyday Has-Been, Bob Kerrey
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Lake Mead at Lowest Level Since 1950
Water levels in Lake Mead, the largest reservoir in the United States, stand at the lowest level in more than 50 years, according to published reports.
In August, the water elevation in Lake Mead stood at 1,087 feet above sea level. If the water level drops just 12 feet to 1,075 feet, a temporary distribution plan approved in 2007 by the seven states with claims to the river and by the federal Bureau of Reclamation will be invoked.
Under this distribution plan, water deliveries to Arizona and Nevada would be reduced. This could trigger significant curtailment efforts across the Southwest. California, which has first call on the Colorado River flows in the lower basin, would not be affected.
To avoid this situation, reservoir operators could release more water from Lake Powell in Utah, which is currently holding approximately 50 per cent more water than Lake Mead.
Terry Fulp, deputy regional director of the Bureau of Reclamation for the Lower Colorado Region says this is the first time ever that the bureau has judged a critical shortage to be remotely possible in the near future.
"We're approaching the magical line that would trigger shortage," Fulp told the New York Times. "We have the lowest 11-year average in the 100-year-plus record history of flows in the basin." Lake Mead was created by the damming of the Colorado River, a project completed in 1936. Lake Mead is named after Elwood Mead, the Bureau of Reclamation commissioner at the time.
Source: Alliance for Water Efficiency
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'Dream' stadium celebrates its first decade with pride
FRIDAY sees a 10-year milestone in Huddersfield.
On August 20, 1994, Huddersfield Town played their first game at the McAlpine stadium against Wycombe Wanderers. Wycombe won 1-0.
The idea of closing Town's old Leeds Road ground and building a new stadium was conceived in the late 1980s.
Health and safety disasters at other grounds prompted questions over the quality of the old Town ground and that of the Huddersfield Rugby League Club at Fartown, later to become The Giants.
The challenge of funding the project was huge, but doubters have been proved wrong.
Sir John Harman, chairman of Kirklees Stadium Development Ltd which runs the venue, said: "It seemed little more than a pipe dream. The vital ingredient was the commitment of the partners. It is rightly a source of local pride."
The partners were Town, Huddersfield Rugby League Club and Kirklees Council, which owned the derelict proposed site of Royds Mill.
They formed Kirklees Stadium Development Ltd and started to secure funding from businesses, Government grants and an ingenious redevelopment of the nearby old Leeds Road ground into a retail park.
Today, shops such as B&Q, Argos and Comet make the site a busy trading area.
Architects The Lobb Partnership were chosen to create the stadium's distinctive design - featuring the wonderful banana-shaped trusses - and Alfred McAlpine builders were commissioned to build the structure.
The firm bought the buildings' name rights and until recently it was known as the Alfred McAlpine Stadium.
But by the time the stadium officially opened on August 20, only the first phase of building was complete.
Only two of four planned stands were finished, giving a 15,200 capacity. However, four months later the 4,000 capacity South Stand was built at a cost of £1.5m.
The 30-bay Stadium Golf driving range opened a few months later.
The final step - creating the north stand - took a further four years and £11m.
The partners decided to incorporate the north stand with a leisure complex, housing a pool, health and fitness centre, dance studios, a business centre and the offices of Kirklees Leisure Services, later Kirklees Active Leisure.
Finally, the stadium had its 25,000 capacity and the north stand complex was opened in September 1998 by Prince Andrew.
Around the same time, the UCI Cinema opened its nine-screen complex next to the stadium.
Over the years, the stadium has witnessed the ups and downs of Town, the Giants, financial crises - and massive successes, including concerts by the likes of Bon Jovi and REM.
Sir John Harman said: "It is almost impossible to imagine the town without it."
The 10th anniversary marks the end of McAlpine name sponsorship and heralds the arrival of a new sponsor, Galpharm.
Pharmaceuticals firm Galpharm, owned by Graham Leslie, recently bought the naming rights.
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David Mamet to adapt The Force for James Mangold
Back in March it was announced that director James Mangold is set to follow up this year’s critically acclaimed superhero blockbuster Logan with an adaptation of Don Winslow’s latest novel The Force, and now Deadline is reporting that David Mamet (The Untouchables, Wag the Dog) is in talks to pen the script.
The official description for The Force, released in bookstores this week, reads:
Our ends know our beginnings, but the reverse isn’t true…
All Denny Malone wants is to be a good cop.
He is “the King of Manhattan North,” a, highly decorated NYPD detective sergeant and the real leader of “Da Force.” Malone and his crew are the smartest, the toughest, the quickest, the bravest, and the baddest, an elite special unit given unrestricted authority to wage war on gangs, drugs and guns. Every day and every night for the eighteen years he’s spent on the Job, Malone has served on the front lines, witnessing the hurt, the dead, the victims, the perps. He’s done whatever it takes to serve and protect in a city built by ambition and corruption, where no one is clean—including Malone himself.
What only a few know is that Denny Malone is dirty: he and his partners have stolen millions of dollars in drugs and cash in the wake of the biggest heroin bust in the city’s history. Now Malone is caught in a trap and being squeezed by the Feds, and he must walk the thin line between betraying his brothers and partners, the Job, his family, and the woman he loves, trying to survive, body and soul, while the city teeters on the brink of a racial conflagration that could destroy them all.
In addition to The Force, Winslow’s novel The Cartel is also heading to the big screen, with Ridley Scott attached to direct. Scott meanwhile is also serving as a producer on The Force through his Scott Free banner.
Filed Under: Gary Collinson, Movies, News Tagged With: David Mamet, James Mangold, The Force
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A Transforming Video Wall at HP’s HQ Is More Than Meets the Eye
By Alissa Walker 1 minute Read
It’s a wall! It’s a TV! It’s a new architectural installation that can transform from a stunning contemporary room divider to a large-screen digital theater! HP has just installed this genre-defying display in its Palo Alto headquarters, designed by New York-based Tronic. The hybrid sculpture/video wall was created to be a piece that “transcends technology and creates an experience that embraces the new,” Tronic co-founder Vivian Rosenthal tells FastCompany.com.
To create the shiny, blueberry-hued shells, Tronic created 60 feet of reinforced fiberglass panels, which were manufactured using computer numeric controlled (CNC) milling techniques.
The panels can be rotated in either direction, producing a singular architectural effect, or one continuous video wall, or a combination of the two.
The result is a symbolic nod to HP’s transition from the actual to the virtual–the “hardware” acknowledges the design of its computers and devices, while HP’s more intangible services and applications can be showcased on the syncopated video wall.
For visitors to HP, the wall also provides an ever-changing architectural element that creates a transition between the public lobby area and HP’s workspace. “The combination of sculpture and animation in the piece allows visitors’ perceptions to change as a function of time, use, and other external influences,” says Rosenthal.
You can read more about the piece, named Manifold, and view a video about its installation on Tronic’s site.
[Tronic]
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Home > Online Casinos > Introduction > Online Casino Software Explained
Online Casino Software Explained
The online casinos of today are a significant improvement on the early versions that first appeared on the web towards the end of the last century. They have evolved dramatically over a relatively short period of time, and the best casinos now provide a truly excellent online gaming experience.
Most of the improvements we’ve seen at online casinos are due to the software they use, as casino software is much more sophisticated than in the early days. The graphics and animation are certainly way better than they used to be, as are the sound effects and background music.
The software is generally a lot more user friendly too, with improved functionality and additional features.
You don’t really need to know about all the ins and outs of how the software works to enjoy playing at online casinos, but it doesn’t hurt to understand at least the basics.
We’ve covered these below, along with information on the different types of casino software and details of some of the major developers of online casino software.
Casino Software Basics
The most important thing you need know about online casino software is how it ensures that the games are fair. A common concern among people who play online, and those considering doing so, is that the games are “rigged” in the casino’s favor in some way.
This concern is largely unfounded, as casinos already have a fair advantage in the house edge so they’ll always make a profit without having to resort to cheating.
The software at online casinos uses what are known as random number generators (RNGs).
These are computer programs that are constantly producing random strings of numbers, with no discernible pattern, and the software communicates with them to produce outcomes such as which card is dealt next or what symbols appear following a spin on a slot machine.
The outcomes of the games are completely random as a result, and this ensures that the games are perfectly fair. You have as much of winning a hand of blackjack, or any bet you place, in an online casino as you do in a land based venue.
Random Number Generators
It’s also worth knowing that the majority of online casinos don’t develop their own software, but instead use third party providers.
This is a change from the very early days of the industry, when many operators used their own proprietary software. Some still do, but they are in the minority now.
As a result of this you will find the same games at several different online casinos. A number of the top places to play use software from a selection of developers, ensuring that there is a wide selection of games on offer.
This means players usually have plenty of choice wherever they play, and also that they aren’t necessarily limited to a single casino if they have a favorite game they enjoy playing.
Different Types of Casino Software
Casino software can be broadly divided into three categories – downloadable, instant play, and mobile. Many games are available in all three formats, meaning you can play them from a variety of different devices.
For the most part, the games all work in pretty much the same way regardless of format, but there are a few minor differences.
The downloadable software at most online casinos is only compatible with PCs running the Microsoft Windows operating system. You’ll find this type of software at a number of different places, and once you have downloaded it you will have full access to a wide selection of games. You just have to load it up, log in, and start playing.
Instant Play Software
Instant play software has become increasingly common at online casinos. It enables you to play games directly from your web browser, without having to download anything. This type of software typically uses Adobe Flash, which means it’s compatible with a wide range of devices and operating systems. Many instant play games can be accessed from smartphones and tablets.
In addition to the instant games that can be played from a mobile device, a number of online casinos also offer mobile apps that feature a range of games designed (or modified) specifically for mobile devices. You can download these apps to your phone or tablet from the appropriate app store, or direct from the relevant casino’s website.
Major Casino Software Providers
The following are some of the best known, and most widely used, casino software providers. A sizable percentage of all online casinos use software from one of these companies, and many of them use software from two or more of them.
Playtech is one of the most recognizable names in the online casino world. Their software is used by a large number of the top online casinos, and is particularly favored by the big gambling sites in the United Kingdom. They have developed a huge range of games in a variety of different categories, including table games, card games, video poker, and live dealer games.
This company is perhaps best known for its impressive selection of slot games, and in particular its games based on superheroes from Marvel Comics. Playtech also developed, and maintains, the popular online poker network iPoker.
Casinos Using Playtech Software
Popular Playtech Games
Roulette Pro
Microgaming was one of the very first companies involved with online gambling. In fact, they claim that they opened the very first online casino back in 1994. This claim is disputed by some, but there can be no dispute that the company is one of best known in the online gambling industry today.
In addition to developing hundreds of casino games in their time, Microgaming also operates an online poker network. They have won a number of prestigious industry awards, and they continue to offer new and exciting games to the casino market.
Casinos Using Microgaming Software
Sky Vegas
Popular Microgaming Games
Break Da Bank Again
Avalon II
Cyberstud Poker
Net Entertainment is a Swedish company, often referred to as NetEnt. Established as an online gaming company in 1996, it was set up by one of Scandinavia’s largest land based casino operators. It has grown to become one of the best known suppliers of casino software, winning several industry awards along the way.
NetEnt’s range of games is made up primarily of slots, although they also offer table games and live games. The company is famed for its innovation and unique features, and many NetEnt slot games are real favorites for players. The graphics used in their slots particularly stand out, and are easily among the very best around.
Casinos Using NetEnt Software
Jackpotjoy
Popular NetEnt Games
Jack & The Beanstalk
Real Time Gaming (RTG) is one of the biggest software providers for online casinos accepting customers from the United States. It was formed in Atlanta, Georgia, in 1998, and subsequently moved operations to Costa Rica.
RTG is best known for its range of slots, including some with progressive jackpots, although they also offer a variety of other games as well. The company provides downloadable games as well as instant play games, and a number of their games are also compatible with mobile devices.
Casinos Using RTG Software
Grand Parker
WinPalace
Planet 7
Uptown Aces
Club USA
Loco Panda
Popular RTG Games
Sevens and Stripes
Iris 3000
Mayan Queen
Aztecs Millions
International Gaming Technology
International Gaming Technology (IGT) is a bona fide giant in the gambling world, with a history dating back decades. The company has long been involved in the design and manufacture of gaming machines, including some of the most popular casino games of all time. It is estimated that they produce approximately half of all new slot machines in the United States.
IGT expanded into developing games for online casinos in the late 20th century, helped by its purchase of online gaming technology company WagerWorks. More recently IGT merged with GTECH, an Italian gaming equipment company.
Casinos Using IGT Software
Popular IGT Games
Da Vinci Diamonds
Siberian Storm
100 Pandas
MegaJackpots Cluedo
MegaJackpots Monopoly
For more information on these companies, and others, please see our dedicated section on online casino software providers. We cover all of the major casino software developers, with full details of the range of games they provide and the best places to play them.
Online Casino Software Developers
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Updated on : 16 March 2019, 11:44 PM IST
Use of technology may reduce judicial backlog: Legal luminaries
Mumbai: The continuously piling up backlog can be cleared with the help of technology and developing e-courts, said senior counsel Feroze Andhyarujina on Saturday. He said “artificial intelligence” can be used to reduce the highest pendency of cases in the country. Andhyarujina, however, said that such artificial intelligence can be used only in technical cases and not in cases which require a “human touch.” The senior advocate was speaking at a session organised to discuss the rising pendency rate of cases in Indian judiciary and what could be the probable solutions to the issue.
In his speech, Andhyarujina said, “One of the most essential thing that we must now have is e-courts. This is an age of technology and digitisation. Thus, we must develop e-courts.” “Such courts can be helpful in deciding technical cases like the ones under tax laws. But for cases like the criminal ones or the ones which require a humane approach, such artificial intelligence must not be used,” Andhyarujina said.
Andhyarujina further suggested to introduce a Human Resource (HR) department in the legal system. He said just like corporates, judiciary too must have a HR person, who can oversee all appointments “but this would not mean that judges won’t have any say in the appointments,” Andhyarujina clarified.
Similar was the opinion of Justice (retd.) BN Srikrishna of the Supreme Court. He emphasised on the need to have a systematic appointment plan. “When a person is appointed as a judge, the date of his retirement from the service is known to all. Thus, we know when a particular person will be retiring and so instead of waiting for his retirement, we must be ready with the name of his successor, much prior,” Justice Srikrishna said.
The former Supreme Court judge also stressed on the need to have a qualitative judges and lawyers. “I would be happy to see one day that all the judges in place, sitting in the court and not sleeping and carrying out their work,” Justice Srikrishna told a jam-packed auditorium at KC College. The event was also attended by former Bombay High Court judges – Justices Roshan Dalvi and J H Bhatia, who too suggested some probable solutions to bring down the piling backlog.
“Instead of adjourning a case and keeping it pending and going on to dispose old cases, the judges must first dispose of the new cases. This will ensure that no case becomes old and isn’t pending,” suggested Justice Dalvi. Justice Bhatia, in his speech stressed on out of court settlements. “Justice delayed is justice denied. I believe that instead of bringing every issue to the courts, citizens must first try to talk and settle the matter outside the court. They can even go for arbitration and other like forums,” Justice Bhatia suggested. The panellists also consisting of former chief information commissioner Shailesh Gandhi, further recommended setting up of parallel forums like tribunals or arbitration and redressal panels to solve the cases.
Feroze Andhyarujina
judicial backlog
Legal luminaries
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Opinion Undercover Economist
The Undercover Economist: How to give money away
Helping the poor in the most obvious way of all, through direct cash transfer, is starting to look attractive
What should the comfortably off of the world do to help the poor? We could build dams, railways and roads. We could fund education or public health. We could lower our tariffs and let them sell things to us. We could advise them on appropriate economic policies. (I know, I know.) Or we could leave them alone, on the grounds that our help may be doing more harm than good.
But here’s an alternative: why don’t we just give them money? For such a forehead-slappingly obvious plan, it’s received relatively little attention until the past few years. Until recently it has been hard to reach the very poor directly. Making sure that welfare payments go to all and only the right people is hard enough in the UK – it stands to reason that it will be a lot more difficult in Afghanistan.
So far we’ve settled for giving the money to the governments of poor countries instead, often with strings attached aimed at making sure the money is spent on good works. But those strings can be snipped. You may think you’re paying for a hospital, but if the health minister simply uses your aid money to build a hospital he would have built anyway, and steals the money from his own budget, you’re really just paying for his luxury apartment in Monaco.
Yet now we can simply stuff cash into the virtual pockets of the poor. Many very poor people have mobile phones, or access to phones. The government of India has embarked on a vast project to give everyone an ID number. GiveDirectly is a charity that passes donations straight to poor families in Kenya, using the well-established phone-banking system, M-Pesa.
But are direct cash transfers desirable? They may well be. The very deprivation that seems to make direct cash transfers challenging may actually simplify matters. To take the example of, say, Malawi: more than eight in 10 people there earn less than two dollars a day, even after adjusting for the lower cost of living in Malawi. If you give $50 to everyone in the country, and a few rich people are among those who benefit, what harm? And while reasonable people can argue about why poor people in Bristol or Barnsley are poor, there’s no doubt about why poor people in Malawi are poor: it’s because they live in Malawi. Given an extra dollar, the chance that they find some good use for the money seems high.
A number of studies have found that when poor entrepreneurs are given cash grants, they manage to achieve a high rate of return – a typical figure being 40 to 80 per cent a year. A new randomised trial has now been carried out in Uganda, which goes even further, giving cash to young rural people with no particular trade at all.
The study, now a working paper by Chris Blattman, Nathan Fiala and Sebastian Martinez, examined what happened when the Ugandan government handed out $10,000 to groups of young people, selected randomly. Per person, these grants were around twice the annual income of the young people in question. Blattman and his colleagues then looked at what happened over the subsequent four years, compared with the control group. Did they just spend the cash, or did they find a way to invest it?
The results were encouraging: these young people often set themselves up in a new, skilled trade such as carpentry or hairdressing. Earnings rose sharply. The returns were particularly high for young women relative to their cash-constrained comparison group. And as Blattman points out on his blog, this isn’t just about helping a few poor people: it’s about funding a process of industrial transformation, shifting from rural labouring to skilled crafts, one grant recipient at a time. Helping the poor in the most obvious way of all is starting to look attractive.
Tim Harford is the presenter of Radio 4’s “More or Less”.
Twitter @timharford.
To comment, email magazineletters@ft.com
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Undercover Economist
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Cannabis and parkinson's disease
By Moisés García Arencibia
Doctor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, he has worked mainly on the neuroprotective potential of cannabinoids. He is currently a Professor of Cell Biology at the University of La Laguna.
Parkinson's disease is the second most common neurodegenerative disease after Alzheimer's disease. There is currently no cure for the condition. Could cannabis be of use in protecting the brains of Parkinson's patients or alleviating their symptoms?
Parkinson's disease is a chronic degenerative disease of the central nervous system which mainly affects the areas of the brain that are responsible for controlling movement. It generally appears in people aged over 60 (although in the case of Young-Onset Parkinson's disease, it affects under-40s) and it is more common among men than in women.
Parkinson's disease is characterised by the death of the neurons in an area of the brain known as substantia nigra. These neurons are responsible for producing dopamine, one of the neurotransmitter molecules that are required for signals to travel properly through the brain. Depletion of dopamine alters signalling from the basal ganglia, the area in charge of controlling movement. As a result, the primary symptoms of the disease are motor symptoms. As well as the characteristic shaking commonly associated with the disease, other symptoms include stiffness, postural instability and bradykinesia (slowness in executing movements). In subsequent stages of the disease, sensory, sleep and emotional problems (depression or anxiety) can also appear, coupled with dementia in the latter phases.
In approximately 5% of cases, the disease is the result of the mutation of certain genes. However, in the great majority of patients, the cause is unknown, and is probably a combination of genetic predisposition and environmental factors.
At this time, there is no cure for the disease and medical intervention is limited to treating the symptoms. One of the main forms of treatment, levodopa (or L-DOPA), used to compensate for dopamine depletion, ceases to be effective after a few years and causes uncontrolled movements (dyskinesia) in patients. New compounds therefore need to be researched to protect against neuron death and/or relieve the symptoms of the disease.
Could cannabis be useful in treating Parkinson's disease? As early as the end of the nineteenth century, the use of cannabis for treating Parkinson's was first described in Europe in William Richard Gowers's "Manual of Diseases of the Nervous System" (Philadelphia, PA, USA: P. Blakiston's Son & Co; 1888). One hundred and thirty years on, let us now examine the scientific evidence.
The compounds of cannabis known as cannabinoids (of which over 100 have been described) act on our brain by binding with structures called the CB1 receptor (mainly found in neurons and responsible for the psychoactive effect of some of these cannabinoids) and the CB2 receptor (mainly found in glial cells and responsible inter alia for the inflammatory response). These receptors, together with the endogenous molecules that activate them (endocannabinoids) form part of the endocannabinoid system, an intercellular communication system found in our bodies.
Many cannabinoids have great neuroprotective potential. By binding with the CB1 receptor in neurons, they can protect them from a range of harmful stimuli. They also have an anti-inflammatory capacity, mediated by the glial CB2 receptor. Finally –though no less importantly– cannabinoids are important antioxidant compounds, protecting neurons from the damage of oxidative stress (a very important factor in Parkinson's disease) independently of the receptor, due to their molecular structure, or mediated by other non-cannabinoid receptors, such as the nuclear PPAR receptors which act as antioxidants. This has been demonstrated in numerous preclinical studies (in vitro and in laboratory animal models) for different diseases, including Alzheimer's disease, Huntington's disease, multiple sclerosis and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (motor neurone disease).
The area of the basal ganglia, which is affected in Parkinson's disease, has a high density of CB1 cannabinoid receptors. This makes sense, given that one of the functions of the endocannabinoid system is to control movement, generally by inhibiting it. Given the importance of the endocannabinoid system in this structure, there has been speculation on the potential that manipulating the system might have for Parkinson's disease. The endocannabinoid system has been found to be altered in Parkinson's disease, both in experimental animal models and in patients with the condition. Studies have described an increase in CB1 receptor in neurons from the basal ganglia, an increase in CB2 receptor in the glial cells responsible for inflammation and an increase in the level of endocannabinoids. This has been interpreted as the body's response to the damage caused by the disease. Some consider the endocannabinoid system to be the brain's innate defence mechanism.
Pharmacological studies on animal models have shown the neuroprotective potential of compounds with an antioxidant capacity, such as Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinol (Δ9-THC, the main psychoactive composite of cannabis), cannabidiol (CBD, the other most important cannabinoid, which has no psychoactive activity) and Δ9-tetrahydrocannabivarin (Δ9-THCV) and those with an anti-inflammatory capacity through the CB2 receptor (such as Δ9-THCV). Although activation of the CB1 receptor is a neuroprotective strategy used in other conditions, it is contraindicated in the case of Parkinson's disease, since it would exacerbate the motor symptoms by aggravating patients' immobility. There are data to show that blocking these CB1 receptors with the Δ9-THCV increases movement in animal models of Parkinson's disease.
Despite the large quantity of preclinical evidence that has been accumulated, none of the clinical research performed to date has shown positive results.
Observational studies seem to suggest that cannabis could improve motor symptoms. In some studies, patients who consumed cannabis reported experiencing improvements in some of the symptoms of the disease: tremor, bradykinesia, uncontrolled movements caused by treatment, problems with sleep and pain. In other studies, however, patients experienced no improvement in shaking after smoking a single dose of cannabis. In another study in which CBD was administered, patients reported improvements in some psychotic symptoms and in their sleep problems. Observational studies of this kind present numerous problems: the researchers cannot control the variables of the experiment; there is no control group with which to compare the effect; and measurements are indirect and based on the patient's own reports. Such studies therefore produce many variables which can confuse the result. Principal amongst these is the placebo effect. Aware that they are consuming cannabis, patients may report that they feel better precisely because they believe that cannabis consumption will make them feel better. Although this effect is not unimportant, it would be more desirable to see a "real" effect. This can be achieved by performing randomised double-blind clinical trials in which neither the patient nor the researcher knows whether the patient is taking the treatment or a control substance.
Unfortunately, few randomised double-blind clinical trials have been carried out with cannabis on people with Parkinson's. And in those trials that have been conducted, few patients have been recruited. The results from this small number of clinical trials have not been promising. In recent studies using both isolated Δ9-THC and a cannabis extract with Δ9-THC and CBD, no beneficial effects were observed in the motor symptoms, now were any benefits described in quality of life or sleep problems. In another study in which CBD was administered for six weeks, no effect was observed either on the motor symptoms or in neuroprotection, albeit there was an improvement in the patients' quality of life. Although they were performed on only a small numbers of patients, these studies seem to indicate that cannabis is not beneficial for treating the motor symptoms of the disease, though it might be helpful for treating secondary symptoms. Studies need to be carried out with a larger number of patients and with other types of compound whose effectiveness has been demonstrated in preclinical studies, such as Δ9-THCV. In many countries, this would require a change in the law, amending the current classification of cannabis as a drug of abuse to make it easier to use in research.
In light of these results, cannabis consumption does not appear to be the best strategy for treating Parkinson's disease, given its capacity to activate the CB1 receptor through compounds such as Δ9-THC and others. However, treatment with compounds that have a better pharmacological profile, such as Δ9-THCV combined with CBD, either in pure state or as a botanical extract from plants enriched with those compounds, might prove useful.
Cannabis, its components and their synthetic analogues and...
The recent discussions on the possible legalization of the use of Cannabis sativa, and not only...
Synthetic cannabinoids form a diverse group of substances. They were originally designed and...
Cannabinoids and Huntington's disease
Huntington's disease (HD) is a devastating neurodegenerative disease that begins with choreic...
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Nebraska Attorney General Seeks Execution Date for Cult Leader
LINCOLN, Neb. – The Nebraska attorney general's office asked the state Supreme Court Thursday to schedule an execution date for former cult leader Michael Ryan, who was condemned for the torture and slaying of a man in 1985 at Ryan's compound near Rulo.
The request followed an announcement earlier in the day by the Nebraska Department of Correctional Services that it has obtained a new supply of one of three drugs needed to carry out executions by lethal injection.
Ryan's execution would be the first in Nebraska since 1997 and its first by lethal injection. The state had previously executed prisoners using the electric chair, but the Nebraska Supreme Court ruled in 2008 that it was cruel and unusual punishment.
Lawmakers voted in 2009 to replace the electric chair with lethal injection but earlier this year, the scheduled execution of another inmate, Carey Dean Moore, was put on hold following questions whether the state's supply of sodium thiopental, which was obtained from an India-based drug company, was purchased legally. Moore was sentenced to death for the 1979 slaying of two cabbies in Omaha.
The Nebraska Supreme Court issued a stay while Moore and his attorney challenged the state's purchase of sodium thiopental from the Indian company Kayem Pharmaceutical Pvt. Ltd. The company no longer sells sodium thiopental because of its use in executions.
The U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency had been investigating whether several states properly registered with federal regulators before importing the sedative, which is no longer made in the United States and is in scarce supply elsewhere. Stockpiles of the drug were seized from several states, including Georgia, Alabama, Kentucky, South Carolina and Tennessee. The DEA declined to say whether Nebraska's supply was under investigation.
On Thursday, the Nebraska Department of Correctional Services announced it had received a new supply of sodium thiopental from a Swiss pharmaceutical company and that the state can resume executions.
"With the receipt of this chemical, NDCS stands ready to fulfill its statutory obligation with regard to capital punishment," Director Robert Houston said in a statement.
The announcement also said the department became licensed by the DEA to import the sedative.
In its request to the state Supreme Court, the Nebraska attorney general's office said no stays of execution have been issued by any federal court and that Ryan has no current litigation pending in federal courts.
"The state of Nebraska is presently prepared to conduct a constitutional execution and requests this court to order the enforcement of Ryan's sentence of death," the attorney general's office wrote in its request to the court.
Ryan was sentenced to die for the beating and slaying of James Thimm at Ryan's compound near Rulo, a town of about 200 people in the southeast corner of Nebraska.
Over three days, Thimm was beaten, sexually abused, shot, stomped and partially skinned while he was still alive. His fingertips had been shot off on one hand.
Ryan also was convicted in the beating death of a 5-year-old son of a cult member.
Corrections department spokeswoman Dawn-Renee Smith said there are currently 11 inmates on death row in Nebraska.
Mississippi state House candidate kills wife, self in murder-suicide, police say
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Motorsport | June 26, 2017
Perez and Ocon clash again in Baku
Sergio Perez and Esteban Ocon were once again at loggerheads as the Force India team-mates collided in Baku.
The duo were involved in another disagreement in Canada when Perez did not allow Ocon to pass and challenge for a podium place in Montreal.
They were running in P4 and P5 again when the two collided at Turn 2 following a Safety Car restart in Baku, an incident which Perez – who retired later in the race due to the damage caused – called "unacceptable".
"Between us, we ruined a great opportunity for the team," said Perez.
"Actually I feel that I couldn't have done anything to avoid the accident. I was next to the wall, and there was no room for me to go.
"It's a big shame, the way everything turned out, it was just over-aggressive. In all my career I've had teammates who have been hard but given enough room.
"What happened today is totally unacceptable for the team.
"I think the way he raced today wasn't right. I think he didn't have any logic."
A challenging day in the office for the team. Top job by the guys and girls in the garage all weekend and 8 points added to our tally. pic.twitter.com/gA8jj1ZnAw
— Sahara Force India (@ForceIndiaF1) June 25, 2017
Ocon, who recovered to P6, believes Perez hit him first.
"I'm happy with the performance and disappointed with the potential we had," said Ocon.
"Obviously it's never nice to have an incident like that in the race between me and Checo. I lost a lot of places, but still managed to get some points for the team.
"He touched me after Turn 1, and then I was on the inside for Turn 2, and we touched again. Unfortunately, it's racing and it happens sometimes.
"For sure we will discuss it and it should not happen in the future."
Experience the full coverage of the FIA Formula One season throughout 2017 on FOX Sports Play, where you can watch LIVE races from angles unlike any other, highlights, interviews, behind the scenes and many more. Don’t miss it!
Home Motorsport Perez and Ocon clash again in Baku
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Angry Fans Disgusted Over Addition Of Transgender Character Into Popular Videogame
Image credit: Kotaku.com
Beamdog, who’s developed the expansion pack for popular RPG game Baldur’s Gate has been subject to a lot of criticism and hatred from a section of the gaming community of late. This is due to the inclusion of a transgender woman and a powerful woman as characters in their recently released expansion pack, Siege of Dragonspear.
The expansion, which came out earlier this month, is now in the middle of a storm that throws light on the issues that still exist in what is a confined society that isn’t welcoming of things that aren’t ‘natural’ to them. It shows how videogames face the same issues that real people do if they try to be all inclusive and go against the set norms of the society.
Image: Baldur’s Gate
Interestingly, the expansion also takes a dig at the Gamergate movement, which is a movement notorious for its criticism of females in the videogame industry. The game features a line poking fun at the same and as a result, the line’s writer, Amber Scott, has been subject to a lot of hate from a section of the community. Her Twitter account is now filled with threats and hate comments, although some people also came out in support of her.
As a direct result of making the decision to include a trans woman as a character into its expansion, Baldur Gate’s Steam and GOG pages have become full of negative reviews. The reasons for the same might seem absurd to many. The negative reviews doesn’t discuss gameplay or other elements of the game but instead point out how the game features a female character called Safana, who they accuse of being ‘toned down’ from her sexually stimulating nature, by allowing her to have a more ‘complex personality.
Image: Beamdog
“Can the transgender character please be removed so my daughter [can play],” one commenter said on Steam. “I live in Turkey and our society frowns upon non-binary sexual relations and genders. Once, my daughter saw a transgender person (male to female) and asked me about the whole situation. It wasn’t easy to explain everything. She chuckled every time I tried to sound serious about the situation.”
Many of the reviews are also critical about the inclusion of a minor character named Mizhena. The reason is that the game portrays him as being raised as a boy but someone who later “came to understand I was truly a woman”. This has sparked widespread outrage and accusals about the game trying to be ‘politically correct’ and offering “LGBT tokenism’ among other things.
The GamerGate jab also didn’t go down well with many. The game has a line poking fun at the movement that reads “it’s all about ethics in heroic adventuring”, which is conveyed via an in-game character. This is in reference to a meme related to the movement which showed its apparent harassment of women.
Balgur’s Gate released way back in 1998 and remains one of the best RPGs ever made to date. It’s set in the Dungeons and Dragons universe. Beamdog came on board back in 2012 as it released an “Enhanced Edition” for the game. The Dragonspear expansion is around 30 hours long and was made recently for the game by the team.
The team is based out of Edmonton, Alberta, and doesn’t contain a large number of developers. The company was founded by former executives who worked in Bioware, another studio famous for its RPGs, most known of which are the Mass Effect and Dragon Age franchises.
Amber Scott, who is one of the developers working on the expansion, recently made a statement to Kotaku about how she took modern cultural changes into account while coming up with the expansion.
In the original there’s a lot of jokes at women’s expense. Or if not a lot, there’s a couple, like Safana was just a sex object in BG 1, and Jaheira was the nagging wife and that was played for comedy. We were able to say, ‘No, that’s not really the kind of story we want to make.’ In Siege of Dragonspear, Safana gets her own little storyline, she got a way better personality upgrade. If people don’t like that, then too bad.
Image: Baldur’s Gate.
This comment also saw a lot of people being critical of her. One Steam reviewer said:
Amber Scott felt that the original Baldur’s Gate was “too sexist.” So, she changed the entire dynamic of the original story. I don’t mind her adding gay and trans characters, but when you change the original charcters, that’s just not okay. And she did this consciously. Her quote, “If you don’t like it, too bad.”
Do not support this mentality. Keep the classics.
The critics also claim that the inclusion of a trans character into the game takes away from the original game’s lore. However, its sequel (Baldur’s Gate 2) featured a sequence which saw a male character briefly change into a female due to an ‘accident’ after drinking a potion. That didn’t cause any controversy however and the game’s NPCs mocked the man when it occurred in-game.
A game developer named Ed Greenwood, who’s worked on many D&D games and is the author of the Forgotten Realms novels had posted a note on Facebook regarding these developments earlier this month –
D&D has half-orcs, and half-dragons, and half-elves, and has magic items that specifically change gender, right there in the rules. Surely, if you can handle the basic notion of cross-species sex, having a full variety of gender roles should be something that doesn’t blow your mind.
If it’s not for you, that’s fine. I hate wearing certain shades of yellow. But I don’t scream and yell at someone I see wearing those shades of yellow, and call them names, and threaten things. My right to dislike yellow applies to me; it doesn’t extend to others.
Image: Siege of Dragonspear Expansion
Videogames and reality are intertwined and reflection of real world issues in-game doesn’t necessarily mean it’s due to an attempt at ‘political correctness’. In today’s day and age, it’s regressive to have such viewpoints and hopefully the majority of the community is saner. That what’s important and that’s what I’m personally confident about.
Baldur's Gate Beamdog
Debabrata Nath
I love to read books, play games and discover new things on the internet. The Last of Us is the best game ever. Oh, I also cover videogames.
More From: FRAGHERO
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Ecuadorian president warns of possible ‘CIA attack’ before elections
By RT
Global Research, January 06, 2013
Region: Latin America & Caribbean
Theme: Intelligence
Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa has said the CIA may try to kill him prior to upcoming elections. Citing reports of a plot to “destabilize the region,” Correa said the threats were “credible,” given the history of US involvement in Latin America.
Correa alluded to reports by Chilean journalist Patricio Mery Bell, who allegedly passed on information to the Ecuadorian government that President Correa’s life was “under threat” by a CIA plot.
“There are many cases of [the CIA] interfering” in Latin American affairs, Correa said during a campaign tour in the coastal province of Guayas. “These are credible [reports] because this has happened before in Latin America.”
Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa (Reuters / Stringer)
The head of the US diplomatic mission in Quito, Adam Nann, responded to Bell’s claims by saying that Washington “would never get involved” in Ecuador’s electoral process.
Although Correa conceded that he believed the statements of the US ambassador, he warned that agencies such as the CIA often follow their own agenda and maintain links with organizations representing the extreme right in the countries in which they operate.
Bell first voiced his concerns for the safety of President Correa three months ago when he released a report claiming the CIA sought to “destabilize” Ecuador. He said that the threat to Correa’s life would be at its height from January 15 and onwards, as Correa applies to run for another presidential term.
“We will have to be three times more vigilant with President Correa,” Bell said in an interview with publication El Ciudadano. Bell maintained that although he was not a staunch supporter of Correa, it was his duty as a Latin American citizen to warn of the alleged $88-million CIA plot to destabilize the Ecuadorian government.
The journalist believes that this money will be divided amongst extremist anarchist, leftist and hardline conservative groups, in the hopes of discrediting Correas.
Bell claimed in his report that the main motives behind the CIA plot were the closing of the US Manta military base, hailed as a victory for Ecuadorian national sovereignty, and the granting of asylum to WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange.
President Correa is often described as echoing the policies of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, especially in anti-US rhetoric. The 49-year-old economist has reduced poverty and increased stability and the overall standard of living in Ecuador during his presidency, winning popularity amongst the country’s poorest as well as the educated middle class.
Correa will run for reelection against six other candidates when campaigning begins on January 15. Ecuadorians will vote for the next president and vice president on Sunday, February 17.
The original source of this article is Russia Today
Copyright © RT, Russia Today, 2013
Articles by: RT
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https://www.greenwichtime.com/local/article/For-the-Record-5924720.php
Published 5:45 pm EST, Saturday, November 29, 2014
On Tuesday, December 9, Dr. Nathan Smith will talk about ìDinosaurs on Ice: Fossil Hunting in the Jurassic of Antarcticaî at the Bruce Museum in Greenwich Doors open at 6:30. The talk begins at 7.
For the latest events and activities in Greenwich, turn to For the Record. To have your event included, submit a description, date and time, and contact information. Photos are welcome. Drop me an email about your latest goings-on at bbind@scni.com.
-- Barbara Bind
Reindeer Festival, Santa's Workshop
Santa and four live reindeer are at McArdle's Florist and Garden Center, 48 Arch St., for the annual Greenwich Reindeer Festival and Santa's Workshop, which takes place through Wednesday, Dec. 24. This year, there will be a Name the Reindeer Contest, and Santa will draw the winning names on Dec. 7. The winners will receive prizes. Photos with Santa will be offered Monday through Friday, noon to 6 p.m.; Saturday, 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.; and Sunday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Santa will be at McArdle's until 4 p.m. on Christmas Eve. Throughout the event, all are welcome to view the reindeer; feedings are daily at 9 a.m. and 4 p.m. The reindeer will remain at McArdle's until Dec. 23. There will be a Kids in Crisis Giving Tree for donations. On Dec. 6 and 7, during the annual Greenwich Holiday Stroll Weekend, $5 from every photo package, as well as $5 from every wreath purchased, will be donated to Kids in Crisis. For more information, visit www.GreenwichReindeerFestival.com.
Christmas tree sale benefit at church
The annual Christmas tree and wreath sale at First Congregational Church of Greenwich, 108 Sound Beach Ave., is open Sundays from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., and Saturdays from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., through Dec. 21 -- or as long as trees last. Also for sale will be garland and kissing balls. All proceeds go to area charities, including Shelter for the Homeless, Inspirica, Den for Grieving Kids, Sexual Assault Crisis Center, Young Mariners Foundation and Meals on Wheels. For information, call 203-637-1791, ext. 24, or visit www.fccog.org.
Cos Cob Archers host open shoot
On Sunday, Nov. 30, the Cos Cob Archers will host its final open shoot for the year at 205 Bible St. Registration and shoots start at 8 a.m. Free for members; $5 for those under 16 accompanied by a paying adult; $10 for guests of members; $20 for nonmembers. Non-shooting adults $10; $50 maximum per family. Food is included. Guest bows/arrows are available for an additional $5. To attend, email Chris at thegr8outdoors76@yahoo.com. Open shoots will resume in the spring.
Advent workshop at Round Hill
Round Hill Community Church will host its annual Advent workshop on Sunday, Nov. 30, at 4 p.m. at the Round Hill Community House, 397 Round Hill Road. The event will feature decorating gingerbread houses. Children take their finished masterpieces home and each night, families can write down one thing they are grateful for that day and put the note in the gingerbread house. During the evening, participants can also create Advent wreaths to take home, enjoy a light supper and sing Christmas carols. The event is free. Reservations required at 203-869-1091 to ensure there are enough gingerbread houses. For more information on the workshop or other events, visit roundhillcommunitychurch.org.
Synagogue offering Hebrew classes
On Sundays at 9:30 a.m., and Thursdays at 8 p.m., Greenwich Reform Synagogue is offering free Hebrew lessons, both biblical and modern Hebrew, led by Rabbi Andrew Sklarz. For more information, contact GRS at 203-629-0018 or info@grs.org.
Baseball, softball clinic at YWCA
YWCA Greenwich, 259 East Putnam Ave., has started registration for its Baseball and Softball Preseason Clinic for girls and boys 8- to 12-years-old, which features the town's only indoor/outdoor pitching machine and batting cage system. The clinic will take place from 1 to 2 p.m. on Sundays, Dec. 7 through March 22. Registration is ongoing. The new pitching machine throws curves, sliders, change-ups, and fastballs up to 95 mph. The batting cage is 60 feet long by 18 feet wide. Balls, bats and helmets are available. The chief instructor is former St. Louis Cardinals pitcher Mike Parisi. The clinic will emphasize batting, defense, pitching and base running. In addition, the new batting cage/pitching machine is available for rental daily and on weekends for individuals, groups and teams. Private lessons available. To register and for more information, contact Kyle Wirtz at 203-869-6501, ext. 131 or via email at k.wirtz@ywcagreenwich.org.
YWCA basketball winter session
Registration is open for High Rise Basketball Academy Winter Session at YWCA Greenwich, which begins Saturday, Dec. 6 for girls in first through fourth grades and for boys in third through fifth grades. The High Rise In-House League is led by head coaches Drew Gladstone of DePaul University and Bobby Spezzano, former Greenwich High School basketball team captain. Focus will be on helping players grasp fundamentals and improve technique with on-court play, with a concentration on shooting, ball handling, dribbling, passing, footwork, defense, rebounding and setting screens. To register and for more information, contact Kyle Wirtz at 203-869-6501, ext. 131 or k.wirtz@ywcagreenwich.org.
Art Society to hold holiday exhibit
The Art Society of Old Greenwich will conduct its 2014 Holiday Art Show from Monday, Dec. 1 to Sunday, Dec. 28 at the YWCA of Greenwich's Gertrude White Gallery, 259 East Putnam Ave. On display and for sale will be works by ASOG member artists in a variety of media, many priced under $300. The public is invited to the opening reception on Friday, Dec. 5, from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m., and attendees will be asked to vote for their favorite artwork. The ASOG members' annual meeting will be held at this event. Refreshments will be served. For gallery hours, call the YWCA at 203-869-6501. Exhibitors in this show must be ASOG member artists; however, any artist can join the society and submit artworks during receiving hours, Saturday, Nov. 29, from 10 a.m. to noon. For more information, visit artsocietyofoldgreenwich.com.
Consultations for Medicare Part D
Appointments are being set up now for the Greenwich Commission on Aging's open enrollment period for Medicare Part D prescription drug plan, which will run through Sunday, Dec. 7, at the Senior Center, 299 Greenwich Ave., and Greenwich Library, 101 W. Putnam Ave. Medicare Part D cannot be changed after Dec. 7. For a free and confidential one-on-one consultation or more information, call 203-862-6710.
St. Catherine Players hold `Seussical' tryouts
Open auditions will be held for "Seussical" on Monday, Dec. 1, and Wednesday, Dec. 3, at 7:30 p.m. at St. Catherine of Siena Church in the Lucey Parish Hall, 4 Riverside Ave.
Children must be at least 8 years old or in third grade. Callbacks will be held Thursday, Dec. 4. This is the Broadway version of the show with mainly adult principals and an active ensemble of all ages. Come with a prepared song and sheet music for the accompanist. A group dance audition will be held each evening. In addition, bring a list of any rehearsal and production date conflicts (January through March) to write on audition sheet for the director. For more information, visit www.stcatherinesplayers.com and click on "Seussical Auditions."
Breast Cancer Alliance boutique
The Breast Cancer Alliance will hold its Holiday Gift Boutique fundraiser on Tuesday, Dec. 2, from 12 to 8 p.m. and Wednesday, Dec. 3, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. at Greenwich Country Club, 19 Doubling Road. More than 40 artisans, designers, and purveyors of crafted goods and provisions will showcase their wares including apparel for children and adults, jewelry, home and floral designs, whimsical paperie, monogrammed and vintage gifts, confections and more; 15 percent of sales benefit BCA. Lunch at the club is available on Dec. 2 from 12:30 to 2:30 p.m.; advanced reservations required at www.breastcanceralliance.org.
Town tree lighting ceremony
Greenwich's annual tree lighting ceremony will take place in front of Town Hall, 101 Field Point Rd., on Friday, Dec. 5, from 3:45 to 4:30 p.m. The event will feature a holiday message from the First Selectman, a visit from Santa, Mrs. Claus, Frosty and Rudolf, a mechanical polar bear, and reindeer rides. The Greenwich High School Chamber Singers will sing holiday songs, and there will be cider, hot chocolate, cookies and candy canes for attendees. For more information, call or stop by the Dept. of Parks and Recreation at the Town Hall, 203-618-7649 or visit www.greenwichct.org.
Holiday sing-along at Cos Cob Library
On Friday, Dec. 5, from 4 to 5 p.m., Cos Cob Library, 5 Sinawoy Road, will host a holiday sing-along with Judith Cullen Moloney, who has spent more than over 20 years teaching violin, viola and piano using the Suzuki method. Joining Moloney will be Greenwich Suzuki Academy students for this holiday event. For more information, call 203-622-6883.
Christmas on Round Hill
Christmas on Round Hill at the Round Hill Community House, 397 Round Hill Road, will be held on Friday, Dec. 5, and Saturday, Dec. 6. The weekend will launch with the Gala Preview Party, on Friday from 6 to 9 p.m., which will feature music, festive drinks and hors d'oeuvres and a photo booth with Santa props, along with holiday shopping. An old-fashioned Christmas fair will take place on Saturday, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. The day includes photos with Santa, visits with surprise holiday characters, rides on the Round Hill Express, crafts for children to make and take home, and holiday shopping. Magician Stephen Christopher and his animal friends will provide entertainment. Both events will feature "The Treasure Trove," a collection of treasures and collectibles, "Something Special" offering work handcrafted by women of the Round Hill Art Studio and "Fabulous Foods" with home-baked holiday delicacies, including traditional plum puddings and "Living Greens" with poinsettias and plants to decorate your home. Vendors will sell handmade jewelry, accessories, scarves, decorative pillows and children's clothing. Tickets for the Gala Preview Party start at $50. Admission is free on Saturday. For more information on Christmas on Round Hill or to purchase tickets to the party, call 203-869-1091 or visit roundhillcommunitychurch.org.
Children's event at Arts Council
On Saturday, Dec. 6, from 12 to 4 p.m. Greenwich Arts Council, 299 Greenwich Ave., will host a special children's event, "Meet the Minotaur; Explore the Labyrinth," an interactive installation in conjunction with Donald Axleroad's Retrospective Exhibition: "Ancient Myths, Modern Messages." The event, centered on Greek mythology, will feature a "live Minotaur" (in costume) and a 3-D labyrinth for children to navigate. For more information, call 203-862- 6750 or visit www.greenwichartscouncil.org.
Live nativity hosted by church
First United Methodist Church of Greenwich, 59 East Putnam Ave., is hosting a live nativity as part of the Greenwich Holiday Stroll, from noon to 4 p.m. on Saturday, Dec. 6, and Sunday, Dec. 7. The event is in partnership with the congregations of Second Congregational Church; Round Hill Community Church; Greenwich Baptist Church; St. Paul's Lutheran Church, Rye Brook; and First United Methodist Church of Stamford. For more information, call 203-629-9584.
Group to perform "Christmas Magic"
The Greenwich Choral Society will hold its Christmas concert, "Christmas Magic" on Saturday, Dec. 6. at 4 p.m. and Sunday, Dec. 7, at 2:30 and 5 p.m. at Christ Church Greenwich, 254 East Putnam Ave. The concert features John Rutter's "Magnificat," the song of Mary, along with Hubert Parry's "Blest Pair of Sirens," a setting of John Milton's ode, "At a Solemn Musick," describing the rapture of voice and verse. The Choral Society will be joined by full orchestra and mezzo-soprano soloist Kimberly Sogioka. The concert will feature traditional carols and audience participation. Tickets are $45, $38 and $28 (special prices for students). For tickets or more information, call 203-622-5136 or visit greenwichchoralsociety.org.
Water rescue demonstration at Point
On Sunday, Dec. 7, from 1:30 to 4 p.m., Greenwich Marine Police Officer Joe Turcsanyi, just back from training on frozen Lake Erie, will give a talk and demonstration with other officers at Greenwich Point on cold water rescue. The program will begin inside the Innis Arden Cottage at the park with a 30-minute talk about the challenges of water safety and rescues in winter. The officers will then go outside to demonstrate cold water rescue techniques in Long Island Sound. The public is invited to try out equipment such as throw ropes, hooks and the special suits that rescuers need. The program, organized by the Bruce Museum and Greenwich Shellfish Commission, is free and appropriate for all ages. For more information, contact Bruce Museum Seaside Center Manager Cynthia Ehlinger, at 203-413-6756 or cynthiae@brucemuseum.org.
Hanukkah show to feature magician
On Sunday, Dec. 7, from 3:30 to 5 p.m., JCC Greenwich and PJ Library will celebrate "The Magic of Hanukkah" with a special performance by magician and preschool teacher, The Great Zucchini, at Carmel Academy, 270 Lake Ave. The event will include a toy drive for new, unwrapped toys to benefit Chai Lifeline, whose mission is to restore the light of childhood to children and families facing pediatric illness; and craft tables run by the JCC Greenwich Teen Action Committee, where children and families will decorate lunch bags for Israel's largest food rescue network, which provides sandwich lunches for more than 70,000 hungry children daily. Tickets are $18 per person; $72 per immediate family of four or more. To make reservations and for more information, call 203-552-1818 or visit JCCGreenwich.org.
Abilis hosts free workshops for parents
On Monday, Dec. 8, from 7 to 9 p.m., Abilis will host a workshop, "Focus on Guardianship and Special Needs Trusts: Helping Your Child Live the Best Life Possible," at Greenwich Town Hall, 101 Field Point Rd., in the Cone Room. The session is part of a series of workshops for parents raising children who will need supports and services beyond high school. A panel presentation will be given by Anne I. Treimanis, special education attorney and Michael Beloff, special needs financial planner, who will give parents the tools to make informed decisions on choices around guardianship. Different types of trusts will be reviewed to guide planning for children's future interest. For more information and to RSVP, contact Jess Harrington at 203-531-1880, ext. 120 or via email at harrington@abilis.us.
St. Roch Church trip to Radio City Spectacular
On Tuesday, Dec. 9, St. Roch Church, 10 St. Roch Ave., is offering a bus trip to New York City to attend the Radio City Christmas Spectacular starring the Rockettes. Following the 11 a.m. performance will be a sit-down lunch at Brazil, Brazil on Restaurant Row in the Theatre District. The cost is $130. Depart St. Roch Church at 8:30 a.m. with an estimated return of 4:30 p.m. Open to all. For more information and reservations, call 203-869-4176.
Talk on fossil hunting in Antarctica at Bruce
On Tuesday, Dec. 9, Dr. Nathan Smith will lead a talk, "Dinosaurs on Ice: Fossil Hunting in the Jurassic of Antarctica," at the Bruce Museum, 1 Museum Dr. Smith, assistant professor in the Department of Biology at Howard University and a research associate at the Field Museum of Natural History, will discuss some of the fascinating discoveries from his National Science Foundation-funded fieldwork and research in the central Transantarctic Mountains of Antarctica. Doors open at 6:30 p.m. for a reception with light refreshments and open galleries, and the lecture begins at 7 p.m. Reservations are required by calling 203-413-6757. The lecture is free to museum members and students with identification; $15 for non-members. For more information, visit brucemuseum.org.
Free stroke education support group
On Wednesday, Dec. 10, from 4 to 5 p.m., Greenwich Hospital will hold its next stroke education support group, "Stress During the Holidays." Free sessions on stroke-related topics including prevention, nutrition, safety are geared to anyone at risk for a stroke, who has suffered a stroke or who has someone close who suffered a stroke. Health counseling and emotional support provided. The sessions are facilitated by a healthcare professional on the second Wednesday of each month and take place in the Pemberwick Conference Room, Greenwich Hospital, 5 Perryridge Rd. To register and for more information, call 203-863-4444.
Arts Council to feature collectors, authors
On Thursday, Dec. 11 at 7 p.m., Greenwich Arts Council, 299 Greenwich Ave., will host "An Evening with Art Collectors Reba and Dave Williams." The program features a talk by the Williams, who assembled the country's foremost collection of American prints of some 6,000 important works, which were recently gifted to the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. Tickets are $25; for reservations call 203-862-6750.
Open casting call for shepherds and angels
There will be an open casting call for shepherds and angels, 4-years-old and older, at 10 a.m. on Saturday, Dec. 13 for the Round Hill Community Church Christmas Pageant, which will be held Sunday, Dec. 14 at 10 a.m. If you know the perfect shepherd and/or angel, come to the Round Hill Community Church, 395 Round Hill Road in Greenwich . Pageant rehearsal will run until 12 p.m., and all participants will be provided with costumes. All pageant characters must be at Round Hill Community Church at 9 a.m. on Sunday, Dec. 14 for the performance. There will be a special coffee hour following the pageant, in the Church Parlor. All are welcome. For more information, contact the church office at 203-869-1091 or visit
roundhillcommunitychurch.org.
Bush-Holley House by candlelight
The Greenwich Historical Society will hold tours of the Bush-Holley House from 5 to 7 p.m. on Sunday, Dec. 14, featuring costumed interpreters, period holiday decorations and "candle" lighting throughout. Specially created tours for families and children will begin at the Vanderbilt Education Center, 39 Strickland Rd., and take roughly 45 minutes. This year, in keeping with the topic of WWI, the theme of the Historical Society's current exhibition, "Greenwich Faces the Great War, "candlelight tours of Bush-Holley House will focus on how the Holley family celebrated the holidays during the war years, including the meals they might have prepared. Along with the tour will be hot chocolate and seasonal treats, music, crafts and from 5 to 6 p.m., a visit from Santa Claus. Admission is free; reservations not required. For more information, call 203-869-6899, ext. 10 or visit www.greenwichhistory.org.
Free children's concert at library
The Greenwich Library's Ashforth Children's Concert Series, in partnership with the Greenwich Arts Council's Curiosity Concerts, will present a free family classical music concert, "The Many Faces of the String Quartet," featuring the Aizuri Quartet on Saturday, Dec. 20, at 11 a.m. at the Byram Shubert Library, 21 Mead Ave. The performance will explore the diverse sounds, moods and conversations an ensemble can produce, with selections from Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's String Quartet in D Major, K. 575, Leoš Janácek's String Quartet No. 1, "Kreutzer Sonata" and Claude Debussy's String Quartet in G Minor, Op. 10. The interactive concert is suitable for children of any age able to enjoy one hour of music. For more information, call Shelly Cryer, Curiosity Concerts, at 203-344-9265 or 917-403-2626. The concert is free; but reservations required at www.CuriosityConcerts.org.
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Students are allocated to one of 4 house teams named after famous Australian sports people.
Mockeridge - Russell Mockeridge was a Geelong racing cyclist. He was a Gold Medalist in the 1952 Helsinki Olympics
Redpath - Ian Redpath was from Geelong and a former Australian cricketer who played 66 tests and 5 one day Internationals for Australia between 1964 and 1976.
Opperman - Sir Hubert Opperman OBE was an Australian cyclist whose endurance cycling feats in the 1920's and 30's earned him international acclaim as one of the greatest Australian sportsmen.
Landy - John Landy was a Geelong Olympic athlete. He was the 2nd person to break the 4 minute mile and held the world record for the 1500 metre and mile race. He was
also the 26th Governor of Victoria.
The children love to compete for their teams, earning house points.
The team system also provides children with leadership opportunities as house leaders and when running events as part of the team process.
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Clip & Interview with Damien Molony about his new show Suspects
Suspects is a new procedural crime drama starting 10pm on Wednesday 12th Feb 2014 on Channel 5, starring Fay Ripley, Damien Molony and Clare-Hope Ashitey. Set in London, the show focuses on a team of three detectives and their distinctive approaches to the job of policing. Each of the ten episodes tells a self-contained crime story – starting with a news report about the crime. We then follow the team of detectives as they investigate the circumstances of the crime, forensicate the crime scene, collate and analyse the evidence, and interview their suspects – until they finally identify and charge the perpetrator.
To help promote the show, we’ve been passed an interview with one of it’s stars – Damien Molony – who’s probably best know for playing the vampire Hal in Being Human, and Detective Constable Albert Flight in Ripper Street.
Suspects starts 10pm on Wednesday 12th Feb 2014, only on Channel 5
Damien Molony
Who do you play in Suspects?
I play Detective Sergeant Jack Weston. He comes from a long line of police officers in Ireland, and has moved to London to join the police. He has very strong opinions about what’s right and wrong, and he’s very willing to cross certain boundaries, bend certain rules, if he believes that the end justifies the means.
What’s his relationship with the rest of the team?
Martha is his boss, and he is Charlie’s boss. He has to make sure he’s doing his own day-to-day job, as well as keeping an eye on the DCs, motivating his team, and then answering to Martha, making sure she’s up to speed with what’s happening. Jack has a responsibility to, sort of, coach Charlie and challenge her; to make her a better cop. He’s been tested and put through the wringer lots and lots of times by his superiors, when he was a DC and a PC, so he feels that that’s probably the best way to train someone. Charlie is very competent, so Jack is constantly impressed by her. But at the same time he’s looking out for her. As for his DI, Fay’s character, Martha, there is a lot of respect for her. He thinks she’s fantastic at what she does, but equally, if he thinks that she’s maybe missed something, maybe being too ‘by the book’, Jack isn’t afraid to say: ‘this needs to be done.’
How does that go down?
There have been a few times where Jack gets taken in and reprimanded for that. But you can’t really teach an old dog new tricks. Jack is too instinctive, and while he knows he’s not done the ‘right’ thing, getting in trouble with his superiors is not going to worry him too much if he’s the one who solves the case. Jack is emotional: his emotions often dictate his actions.
Did you speak to real police officers who behaved like that?
We spent a lot of time with police officers and detectives, both retired and still serving, researching the character and the world of the show. A lot of them spoke of the ‘red mist’. Police work these days, I gather, has lots of procedural elements to it. Lots of questions and paperwork and less time spent out on the beat. ‘Are you aware of what you’ve done?’ ‘This is why we’re taking you in, do you understand this?’ ‘Can you confirm your full name for me please, sir?’ But there are times, maybe, that during an arrest or a routine questioning where you get a slap in the face or a kick down below or something, and the ‘red mist’ comes down, and that’s it. All you want then is what the police call ‘the collar’. Getting the collar is always a great day.
Can you describe how the show is set up?
There is a very structured storyline – this is where the scene starts, this is where the scene ends; the scene must contain this information – but then, what happens when we’re filming the scene, is really up to the actors, the director and the cameraman, as the scene is being filmed, in the moment. That’s what will make it very exciting to watch, I think. It makes it very real.
What is that process like for the actors?
It’s exhilarating. It’s a very, very exciting way to work as an actor, because, you read the story, you read the story again, you read the story a third time, and then it’s like, ‘OK, let’s start shooting and we’ll see what happens’. That was daunting, maybe a little scary at the start. I remember the day we started shooting, there was just a sense of kind of nervous excitement from everyone. But two days in, two scenes in and then suddenly it’s like, ‘Give me the storyline – let’s go, let’s go!’ It was a huge rush of adrenaline. We were all absolutely shattered when we finished shooting!
What sort of research did you do and what did you take from it?
We did a few weeks of intense workshops with a retired Detective Chief Inspector. A lot of interview technique, learning a lot of police terminology and general day-to-day lingo, because to make it look and sound real, you want to be very, very specific. We then spent several nights with working detectives in boroughs across London, which was really exciting, because you see them work, but we also got to see them in a slightly more relaxed environment. We inundated them with questions, anything from ‘What do you keep in your desk?’ to ‘Why did you want to become a police officer in the first place?’ From an acting point of view, and from a character point of view, what interests me are ‘private moments’, when you think you’re alone at your desk but the camera is secretly filming – if Martha and Charlie are in the DI’s office talking, am I trying to stuff a croissant into my mouth, or going through my emails, or sending a cheeky text to an ex-girlfriend – that kind of thing. What does a DS do when he thinks he’s on his own?
Did the set feel like a real police station?
The sets themselves were incredible: it was a fully-functioning office, no fake walls, a hugely reduced camera and sound department, so it did feel very much like we were working as police officers, and being followed around by a documentary crew. Sometimes we didn’t even know where the cameras were. The phones were all connected, the photocopiers, printers – everything. There were evidence boards, CCTV cameras, different offices, Martha’s office, our desks. Then, within the desks were handcuffs, or my police notepad or my lanyard… or a bottle of whiskey, something I think every police officer has stashed away. If they’ve ever messed up and need to apologise to a superior, it’s very handy to have a spare bottle in a gift bag. Jack’s had to give out quite a few bottles in his time as peace offerings, I’d imagine.
Is the audience to understand that it’s faux documentary – as if we’re seeing a documentary that’s being made?
Obviously it’s a drama, but it’s shot in a documentary style, so it’s this fly-on-the-wall kind of thing. It’s as if this camera crew have been given access to a police department for however many months, and they follow ten cases from the 999 call up until the case is solved. As well as your everyday work relationships playing out on camera, there’s also a relationship between the character and the camera itself, because as the character you’re thinking, ‘Why is there a camera following me, when I’m chasing a thief down an alleyway?’ I was really keen to explore that relationship when starting the job. Being aware that a documentary crew are there, I think that will hopefully add another level of reality to it.
And has it changed how you think about the police, and policing?
Oh, massively. I did have a big respect for the police anyway, but watching them work and getting to understand the type of day that they have, only increases that respect. A bad day at work for me, I’ll come home, I’ve messed up: shock-horror, I mispronounced one word in the scene today, and that’s hell on earth for me. Whereas a bad day for a DS often involves horrific things, rescuing women from a cellar, telling a family their son’s been killed, awful stuff. They have a very difficult job, no doubt about it.
← Geektown Podcast Extra: Yonderland Interview with Ben Willbond
Game of Thrones Season 3 – On DVD & Blu-ray Now →
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Home A-Lists 20 Top-Salaried Research University Leaders
How do these figures compare to what biopharma CEOs or research institute leaders make? Check out GEN’s other lists to find out. [© 3desc - Fotolia.com]
20 Top-Salaried Research University Leaders
Alex Philippidis
Alex Philippidis Senior News Editor Genetic Engineering & Biotechnology News
Did your university president make the list?
For some who are interested in biotech research, their calling lies less with PCR and pipettes and more with managing the institutions that support that research. Raising funds, appointing new staff, overseeing research programs, and awarding scholarships, fellowships, and prizes are important duties. Yet, how much do they make for their efforts? Are they grossly overpaid or underpaid for what they do? And, how much do they make compared to what biopharma CEOs or research institute leaders make?
GEN wants you to be the judge. Below is a list of leaders of major research universities, ranked by their total compensation for the most recent year such figures were available.
#20. Francisco G. Cigarroa, M.D.
Chancellor, University of Texas System
$756,700 in FY 2011–20121
#19. James P. Clements, Ph.D.
President, West Virginia University
$775,000 in 2012–20132
#18. Mary Sue Coleman, Ph.D.
President, University of Michigan
#17. Drew Gilpin Faust, Ph.D.
President, Harvard University
$875,331 in FY 2010–2011
#16. Richard H. Brodhead, Ph.D.
President and Professor of English, Duke University
#15. Lee T. Todd, Jr., Ph.D.
President, 2001-20114, University of Kentucky
#14. Susan Hockfield, Ph.D.
President, 2004-20125, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
$1,006,969 in FY 2010–2011
#13. John L. Hennessy, Ph.D.
President, Stanford University
#12. James W. Wagner, Ph.D.
President, Emory University
$1,172,397 in FY ending Aug. 31, 2011
#11. Allen M. Spiegel, M.D.
Marilyn and Stanley M. Katz Dean, Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University
#10. Morton O. Schapiro, Ph.D.
President, Northwestern University
#9. Ronald J. Daniels, J.D.
President, Johns Hopkins University
#8. C. L. Max Nikias, Ph.D.
President, University of Southern California
#7. Amy Gutmann, Ph.D.
President, University of Pennsylvania
#6. Robert J. Zimmer, Ph.D.
President, University of Chicago
#5. Richard C. Levin, Ph.D.
President, Yale University
#4. Lee C. Bollinger, Ph.D.
President, Columbia University
#3. E. Gordon Gee, Ed.D.
President, Ohio State University
#2. Nicholas S. Zeppos, J.D.
Chancellor, Vanderbilt University
#1. Mark Stephen Wrighton, Ph.D.
Chancellor, Washington University in St. Louis
$2,268,837 in FY 2010–20116
1 Source: Higher Education Institution Administrative Accountability Report required of all state-funded universities and systems, and posted online at http://www.lbb.state.tx.us/Administrative_Accountability_Reports/General_Academics_Institutions.htm
2 Source: announcement by West Virginia University, May 18, 2012: http://wvutoday.wvu.edu/n/2012/05/18/hepc-approves-privately-funded-supplement-to-wvu-presidential-salary
3 Dr. Coleman’s total compensation package grew to more than $910,700 the following fiscal year, according to a Dec. 20, 2011 report in AnnArbor.com, based on a base salary of $585,783, plus $175,000 in deferred compensation, a $100,000 yearly retention bonus, more than $50,000 in annual retirement pay, and the use of a car and the university’s president’s house [http://www.annarbor.com/news/university-of-michigans-top-15-administrators-make-at-least-62m-this-year/].
The University of Michigan only discloses employee salaries through an online portal, http://hr.umich.edu/hrris/reports/standard.html#ASDR; its most recent figures were for 2010-2011.
For 2012-13, Dr. Coleman’s base salary rose to $603,357—a $17,600 (2.75%) raise she announced she would donate toward scholarships; see AnnArbor.com, Sept. 20, 2012: http://www.annarbor.com/news/university-of-michigan-president-mary-sue-coleman-donates-176k-raise-to-scholarship/
4 Succeeded by Eli Capilouto, D.M.D., Sc.D., M.P.H., on July 1, 2011. Dr. Todd retains a faculty position as professor of engineering.
5 Succeeded by L. Rafael Reif, Ph.D., on July 1, 2012. Dr. Hockfield retains a faculty position as professor of neuroscience.
6 Figure includes a one-time deferred compensation distribution totaling $1,142,223.09. Nearly all of that distribution ($1,138,000) was earned in prior years and reported on prior Form 990s as deferred compensation.
Compensation figures for U.S. private institutions are included within the Form 990 filed with the U.S. Internal Revenue Service and made public through Guidestar.org. Compensation figures for public university heads, whose institutions are exempt from filing Form 990s, were disclosed by sources that include the schools, public databases, and news reports not publicly challenged by the schools. FY denotes Fiscal Year, which ends June 30 unless otherwise specified. CY denotes Calendar Year.
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65 U.S. Biotech and Pharma Incubators
Top 10 Highest-Paid CEOs of Diagnostics Companies
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A Look At Nightclub Mayhem
May 07, 2003 | by Julia Vitullo-Martin
New Yorkers who think that the city has seen a lot of murders this year are right. Police department statistics(in pdf format) show that 151 people were murdered in the five boroughs between January 1 and April 13, up from 138 over the same period last year. This 9.4 percent year-to-date increase in murders parallels a 6.2 percent increase in rape. The city has had 561 reported rapes so far this year, up from 528 last year. Other major crimes have declined: felonious assault is down 9.8 percent through mid-April, and burglary and grand larceny auto are both down 15.2 percent. The rise in murder is particularly worrisome to analysts, however, because it is the one crime that everyone agrees to be recorded accurately.
MURDER UP
It has been a murderous few weeks. February 8 was the first night of a murder spree that killed four men (a fifth was wounded) in Brooklyn and Queens. Saying he had targeted Middle Easterners to avenge September 11, a Brooklyn man confessed and was indicted on multiple counts by a grand jury on April 11. On April 13, Dana Blake, a bouncer at Guernica on Avenue B, was stabbed to death after a melee involving smokers. A Guernica patron confessed, and has been charged. On April 24, Lyric Benson, a beautiful, 22-year-old aspiring actress, was shot to death in front of her apartment by her former fiancé as her mother, who had opened the door for her, looked on in horror. The fiancé then turned the gun on himself.
In the early morning of April 25, a rap star and his entourage got into a violent argument with a car full of apparent strangers following a traffic accident outside Centro-Fly, a hip-hop club at 45 West 21st Street. Rapper Freaky Zeeky was shot twice and run over by a car. His bodyguard was killed. "This has nothing to do with rap," a man who called himself a close friend toldthe New York Times. "Just two groups of men who got into trouble."
But the two groups of men got into trouble because they had driven to Chelsea to go clubbing.
NEW YORK'S TROUBLED NIGHTLIFE
Residents of Chelsea have complained for years about the proliferation of nightclubs in their neighborhood. Even as many notorious clubs have been shut down, the hip-hop clubs that have opened around the Flatiron Building have added new problems to the old. Certainly the mix of alcohol, drugs, and late-night partying is volatile, and few neighborhoods want drug- and alcohol-fueled youngsters roaming their streets.
The Bloomberg administration has continued the Giuliani administration's campaign against nightclub violations. After a 22-month drug investigation, the NYPD closed two clubson February 7-the Sound Factory, at 616-620 West 46th Street, and Exit, at 610 West 56th Street.
The police said both clubs had flourishing drug trades, particularly in Ecstasy (methylenedioxy methamphetamine or MDMA) and Special K (ketamine), but also in cocaine and marijuana.
Exit was re-opened March 21 by order of a judge, who reprimanded the police for wasting "tremendous resources" on a "less-than-productive probe." The police are very angry, according to the Daily News, the only paper to cover the reopening of the "drug-fueled dens."
But Exit's problems persist. On April 19, one of its patrons was arrested for harassing other patrons. It turned out that he was already facing charges for brutally beating an off-duty New York City police officer at a Jersey City karaoke bar in November. The cop was left paralyzed, according to the Daily News. Police said the arrested patron was strung out on Ecstasy, one of the drugs they had been able to buy so readily during their investigation.
Clubs like Exit that handle 10,000 patrons a weekend are bound to attract trouble, even when they are well run. They need sophisticated security, always a very limited, expensive commodity. Club owners recently asked the Bloomberg administration to allow them to hire off-duty cops, but were rebuffed. As former Tunnel and Limelight owner Peter Gatien once complainedto the New York Press, "The industry is singled out for a standard that no one can live up to. When you have an event at Madison Square Garden, you have 300 cops helping people. At nightclubs, they set roadblocks to ruin your business."
Yet the nightlife industry is crucial both to New York's image and its economy. A 1998 study by Audience Research & Analysis found that music and dance clubs contribute about $2.9 billion yearly to the city's economy, directly employing over 4,700 people. The number of clubgoers-24.3 million annually-exceeds the number of people going to Broadway acts, sports events, the Empire State Building, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art combined. Over a third of clubgoers are from outside New York, and 89 percent of them say that dancing or seeing a band was their main reason for coming to New York.
SMOKING BAN ADS FUEL
Because of the immense difficulties facing anyone trying to get a New York cabaret license, club sites often have multiple lives. Any site that comes with a cabaret license is disproportionately valuable. Thus Guernica, where bouncer Dana Blake was killed, is attempting a new life as a sedate, upscale club. But it is housed in the space that once held Save the Robots, a glamorous but infamous after-hours bar that didn't make it.
Guernica and the club scene in general had plenty of problems before Mayor Bloomberg's smoking ban. Now club and bar personnel are responsible for enforcing a smoking ban under the most trying of circumstances. Many of them don't really believe in it since the ban is causing them loads of trouble, costing them money in business and tips foregone. Income in bars has dropped by 20 percent since the ban went into effect on April 1, says the Economist.
Club owner David Rabin, president of New York Nightlife Association, toldCBS News that "We predicted all of it. We predicted worse, and I think worse is coming."
And now the ban has cost bouncer Dana Blake his life. The three siblings who were first charged with Dana Blake's murder toldpolice that their father was a famous gangster. He had directed a secretive cabal of businessmen involved in drug deals, gambling, extortions and contract killings in Chinatown. He cooperated with federal investigators after being indicted in 1995 for ordering three murders and conspiracy in a fourth. The Manhattan D.A. refused to prosecute the three siblings. One of their friends has since been arrested and charged.
RAPE KEEPS GOING UP
The city has averaged four reported rapes per day since January 1, about 9 percent more than last year. That's the bad news. But the city has also averaged four arrests per day, which is an increase over last year, although NYPD sex crimes chief Susan Morley has not specified by how much. Urged on by Morley and the NYPD, the City Council has submitted a resolution to the state legislature asking it to pass a bill extending or abolishing (Governor Pataki's preference) the 10-year statute of limitations on unsolved rape cases.
The NYPD says it has reviewed two-thirds of the 13,000 rape kits in its backlog, and has produced almost 1,000 DNA matches. Morley says they have matches back to the late 1980s-which will do no good unless the legislature extends the statute of limitations. Surely if ever an extension was needed it is this.
Julia Vitullo-Martin, a long-time editor and writer on urban affairs, is the former director of the Citizens Jury Project at the Vera Institute of Justice. She is now writing a book entitled The Conscience of the American Jury.
Mental Health Care For Released Inmates
April 17, 2003 | by Jonathan Rosenbloom
The city will for the first time provide mental health care for mentally ill inmates after they are released from jail, thanks to an agreement approved by New York County Supreme Court Justice Richard F. Braun on April 2, which comes after a lawsuit filed by mentally ill inmates themselves.
New York City jails yearly house 33,000 mentally ill pre-trial detainees, individuals not convicted or sentenced of a crime. The average stay in jail for these inmates is as long as 43 days.
While in jail, the city provides these inmates with mental health care and treatment. The care ranges from in-jail, outpatient treatment to placement in segregated mental health units or psychiatric wards. The inmates' treatment can include psychotropic medications and individual or group therapy.
Prior to the settlement, the inmates' care and treatment was terminated upon their release. Once released, the inmates were not provided with care, treatment, government assistance, housing referrals or other assistance to make the transition to society.
Instead, the released mentally ill inmates were taken by bus to Queens Plaza subway station between 2:00 and 6:00 am, given a buck, fifty and a roundtrip Metrocard.
In 1999, several of the inmates who were receiving mental health care during their confinement sued to stop this practice on their own behalf and all other mentally ill inmates.
The city fought the suit, using various legalistic arguments. It claimed that the inmates did not have legal standing in which to sue, since, it argued, even if the city was breaking the mental hygiene law, which required treatment and transition upon the inmates' release, only the state attorney general had the right to enforce that law. The city also claimed that the mental hygiene law applied to developmental centers, patients at psychiatric centers or patients at certain psychiatric inpatient services, but not to city jails.
In a curt decision on July 14, 2000, Justice Braun repudiated the city's arguments. Yes, he ruled, mentally ill inmates do have the authority to challenge the city's policy and enforce the mental hygiene law. And, he ruled, enforcing the mental hygiene law to prevent mental illness is a matter of "public concern" applicable to and enforceable by all, including those incarcerated.
The court ordered the city to continue to provide care to all inmates older than 18 suffering from a mental illness, if that inmate is unlikely to survive safely in the community without supervision, has a history of failing to comply with treatment, is unlikely to participate in the recommended treatment, may relapse, and would benefit from assisted outpatient treatment.
Justice Braun rejected the city's argument that the mental hygiene law did not apply to city jails. The state law, and city regulations, Justice Braun found, specifically provided for intervention and transitional services to released inmates at correctional facilities. The city appealed and the Appellate Division, First Department, the state's intermediate appellate court, upheld the decision.
This decision led to a settlement on January 8, 2003 between the parties, which the court approved on April 2nd.
Under the settlement, the city must provide discharge planning for inmates released from custody. Qualifying inmates are entitled to receive a wide range of mental health treatment and services upon release, including medication, referral to programs, substance abuse treatment and case management service. As part of the discharge planning, qualifying inmates also receive help in submitting applications for Medicaid, food stamps, social security, veteran's benefits and other public assistance benefits. The city has also stated that it would, "in most cases," release mentally ill inmates during daylight hours.
The settlement is valid for five years. During that time, two independent monitors, one chosen by counsel for the inmates and one by the city, will oversee the city's compliance. The monitors will report quarterly, develop performance goals and make recommendations.
Justice Braun's bold July, 2000 order should be recognized as the impetus for the settlement and for remedying a dangerous and compassionless policy of releasing mentally ill inmates in the middle of the night with no transitional assistance. The devastating effect the policy had on former inmates is difficult to ascertain, but, as Justice Braun noted in his order the former inmates were simply "return[ing] to the cycle of likely harm to themselves and/or others, through substance abuse, mental and physical health deterioration, homelessness, indigence, crime, re-arrest, and re-incarceration."
The injustice brought about by this policy has now been remedied though an 80-page settlement. The benefits will not only be felt by the individual former inmates, but also by society. Again, quoting Justice Braun's decision "[i]t is not only to the[ inmates'] benefit to provide them with a discharge plan but to that of all of us if such a plan can aid at least some of [the inmates] to become healthier and thus more productive members of society who are not harmful to themselves and/or others."
The case is: Brad H. v. City of New York, Index No. 117882/99 (Braun, J.) (N.Y.Cty.Sup.Ct.) (Attorneys: Christopher K. Tahbaz, Patricia G. Corley, Emily O'Neil Slater, Douglas Lasdon, Raymond H. Brescia, Heather Barr, John A. Gresham, John Beaglehole, Eileen Sullivan, Faune Devlin, Jeffrey K. Powell, for Brad H.; Michael A. Cardozo, Thomas C. Crane, Jeffrey S. Dantowitz, for NYC).
Jonathan Rosenbloom is the associate director of the Center for New York City Law at New York Law School
The 9/11 Killer; The Public Hearings On 9/11; Moynihan On Government Secrecy
April 04, 2003 | by Julia Vitullo-Martin
The 9/11 Killer
It was the kind of violent crime spree that many New Yorkers thought was a thing of the past: over seven weeks, in Brooklyn and Queens, four men were killed and another seriously wounded by a lone gunman. All the murdered men had been hard-working shopkeepers, holding down tough jobs on the night shift -- one at a laundry, another at a deli, two at small grocery stores. All were family men and immigrants -- from Russia, Guyana, India, and Yemen. Photos of grieving family members filled the newspapers, along with murky photos of the killer, wearing a baseball cap. The fact that the killer took little or no money simply added senselessness to the brutality of the crimes.
Now the police have a suspect, a 30-year-old Brooklyn man, Larme Price, who walked into the 77th Precinct station house in Brooklyn on a Friday night, offering to help find the killer. The following day Detective Tony Viggiani, a seasoned hostage negotiator, called him on his cell phone, asking for help. According to the New York Times, Price broke down, saying "I'm the guy you're looking for." Detective Viggiani kept talking while he and another detective jumped in a car and drove to the apartment on Eastern Parkway where Price's parents lived. Still on the phone, Price said that he had killed the four men in revenge for the World Trade Center attacks on September 11. He was looking for men of "Arabic descent." As it turns out, only one of the four was of Middle Eastern extraction.
This tragically nonsensical story seemed to deepen as his mother, Leatha Price, said her son had a history of drug abuse and mental health problems, exacerbated by September 11. The family's ongoing attempts to get him treatment were rebuffed repeatedly. On March 9, 2003, he had been seen and released by Woodhull Medical and Mental Health Center. On March 10, say police, he killed Albert Kotlyar, who had asked him to leave the Laundry King Superstore in Bedford-Stuyvesant since he was not doing any wash. Price told police he had been disrespected.
Price had eight prior arrests going back to 1989 for burglary, robbery, and assault. He has been charged with four counts of murder and two counts of attempted murder.
The Daily News pointed out that this is simply the latest in a long series of cases to raise questions about whether hospitals are properly handling dangerous, mentally ill people. Andrew Goldstein, for example, was shuffled through at least six mental health facilities before he pushed Kendra Webdale to her death in front of a subway train in 1999, the News recalled. Larry Hogue, the Wild Man of 96th Street, was finally institutionalized in 1997 after his one-man reign of terror on the Upper West Side.
When asked about Price, Roger Klingman, a spokesman for the state Office of Mental Health, said, "We are aware of the story, and we are looking into it."
HEARINGS ON TERRORISM BEGIN AT LAST
New Yorkers are finally getting their hearings. Nearly 19 months after the bombing of the World Trade Center, the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks began public hearings downtown on March 31. As the New York Times had pointed out on the first anniversary of 9/11, the government's failure to investigate was unprecedented for a disaster of this magnitude. A public inquiry into the sinking of the Titanic began the morning after the survivors arrived in New York City. "No inquiry remotely similar in scope, energy or transparency has examined the attacks of last Sept. 11," wrote the Times. "One year later, the public knows less about the circumstances of 2,801 deaths at the foot of Manhattan in broad daylight than people in 1912 knew within weeks about the Titanic, which sank in the middle of the ocean in the dead of night."
Similarly, the Warren Commission felt compelled to report its findings by the first anniversary of President Kennedy's assassination. Serious investigations were conducted into the military failure at Pearl Harbor in 1941, the explosion that destroyed the Challenger space shuttle, and airline disasters, such as the 1996 downing of the TWA Flight 800.
The Bush administration successfully blocked congressional hearings on 9/11 for six months, and repelled calls for a special commission of inquiry. While congressional hearings were eventually held behind closed doors, the promised public hearings were postponed time and again. Now they have begun at the Custom House, with public testimony that includes bitter but cogent censure of the government's ineptitude in the face of the many warnings it received that a violent attack was coming.
Mindy Kleinberg, for example, who lost her 39-year-old husband, asked, "Where was our government, its agencies, and institutions prior to and on the morning of September 11th?" She cited the cliché that intelligence agencies have to be right 100 percent of the time and the terrorists only have to get lucky once. But this is wrong on its face, she argued, because the 9/11 terrorists were not just lucky once: they were lucky over and over again. Her most startling accusation in her list of government blunders was that the Securities and Exchange Commission and American intelligence agencies failed to investigate the huge number of put options that were bought on American and United Airlines, the two airlines involved in the attacks, in the week before the attack. Speculators, who were gambling that in the short term the stock prices of both airlines would plummet, netted a profit of at least $5 million. The money remains unclaimed in the Chicago Exchange account. Why, she asks, were these aberrant trades not discovered prior to 9/11? Who placed these trades? Have they been investigated?
Mary Fetchet, another witness, lost her 24-year-old son Brad, who worked as an equity trader on the 89th floor of Tower 2. He called his father after the attack on tower one, shaken, but said that the Port Authority had told them to stay put in their office, "that the building is safe and secure." She notes that Rick Rescorla, Director of Security for Morgan Stanley told their employees to leave the building - to disregard the Port Authority's commands to evacuees to "return up to their offices." What were the failures, she asks, and who is accountable?
Brian Jenkins of the Rand Corporation argued that we have to "accept that we will live with some level of risk for years." Terrorists are planning further attacks, and the government cannot eliminate all sources of terrorist danger. But because intelligence is the first line of defense against terrorism, the New York Police Department in particular should be rebuilding its institutional intelligence capabilities. He argues that the rules put in place in the mid-1970s to correct the abuses of the 1960s impaired collection of intelligence by the early 1980s. By the 1990s, there was increased concern about terrorism, but police "collection capabilities remained low." Building more effective local intelligence-collection might be better than creating another federal entity since "local police know their territory" and local forces better reflect local populations.
Noting that New York had received only $11 million of the $556 million allocated for homeland security, Mayor Bloomberg urged that funds be distributed according to risk and threat analysis. If we distributed money for the military in the same way domestic security money has been allocated, said the mayor, "our troops in Iraq would have bows and arrows."
The commission was surprised by the low turnout of 60 or so people, which was far smaller than the 250 or more anticipated. But then the commission did not make it easy for people to come. Audience members were told to arrive at least 60 minutes before the start of the hearings, and that seating would be on a first-come, first-served basis. Members of the press, who were required to register three days in advance, were told to arrive at least 90 minutes early.
NEW YORK'S SENATOR MOYNIHAN DIES
Even as public hearings on terrorism finally began, New York's most relentless opponent of government secrecy, Daniel Patrick Moynihan, was buried in Arlington National Cemetery.
In Secrecy: The American Experience, he wrote that "government secrecy in its essence" produced its own pathology: "Departments and agencies hoard information, and the government becomes a kind of market. Secrets become organizational assets, never to be shared save in exchange for another organization's assets. Sometimes the exchange is in kind: I exchange my secret for your secret. Sometimes the exchange resembles barter: I trade my willingness to share certain secrets for your help in accomplishing my purposes. But whatever the coinage, the system costs can be enormous. In the void created by absent or withheld information, decisions are either made poorly or not made at all." This, of course, describes precisely the bureaucratic rivalries among the many agencies charged with protecting New York.
Police Misconduct Cases - Prosecuted By Civilians, But Still Judged By Police
March 26, 2003 | by Jonathan Rosenbloom
Fifty years after its creation, the Civilian Complaint Review Board has been granted the authority to perform independent investigations and prosecutions of civilian-alleged misconduct by police officers. A state court of appeals known as the Appellate Division, First Department has held that, for the first time, civilian complaints against police officers for misconduct may now be reviewed, investigated and prosecuted by an independent board comprised of civilians outside of the police department. The court, however, also ruled that the Office of Administrative Trials and Hearings, a distinct agency separate from the police department and the city's central independent tribunal, may not serve as the impartial adjudicator of the prosecutions. Instead, adjudication of police officer misconduct must continue to reside with the police department.
FIFTY YEARS IN THE MAKING
In 1953, the Civilian Complaint Review Board was created to be a place where people could file complaints of misconduct against New York City police officers. The original board had close ties to the police department, the very agency whose employees it was to investigate. For example, the board was comprised of three police department employees, deputy police commissioners, and based its investigations on reports prepared by the police department.
The original board did not independently investigate nor prosecute complaints of misconduct and had no actual authority to discipline any officers. It was solely empowered to review the police department investigatory reports and forward its findings and recommendations to the police department, which had the sole responsibility for prosecuting, adjudicating and determining the appropriate disciplinary action.
Since the board's creation, every attempt to dislodge the police department from investigating and prosecuting police officer misconduct complaints and to create an independent review process has been met by a lawsuit filed by the various police unions.
After several unsuccessful attempts, the board took its first step towards separating complaints of police officer misconduct from the police department in 1987, when six private (non-police) individuals were added to the twelve-member board.
The union unsuccessfully sued.
Six years later, the city council amended the New York City charter to make the board the city's first independent, police oversight agency, separating it from the police department and giving it the authority to investigate. The union again unsuccessfully sued. The new board was comprised entirely of non-police civilians, operating outside the police department with the authority to receive, investigate and recommend discipline to the police commissioner on complaints of force, abuse of authority, discourtesy and offensive language. But the board members could not themselves prosecute these cases.
ATTEMPT AT INDEPENDENT PROSECUTION AND IMPARTIAL REVIEW
Following the 1993 changes, the board, after making its investigation, was required to forward to the police department's internal disciplinary system any claim of misconduct it found "substantiated" for prosecution. The police department's internal system, not the board, then determined whether and how to prosecute the claims. The claims were also heard before the police department's internal Office of the Deputy Commissioner for Trials. That office would then recommend penalties to the police commissioner. The Civilian Complaint Review Board did not participate in the review process.
In January 2001 the mayor and police commissioner made two significant attempts to further remove police officer misconduct complaints from the police department's review. First, prosecution of misconduct complaints were removed from the police department and given to the board, which was now granted the authority to not only investigate disciplinary actions against police officers, but also to prosecute "substantiated" claims. Included in this authority was the board's power to obtain police officer's employment history and to negotiate pleas with officers charged with misconduct. Under the 2001 changes the board would no longer forward "substantiated" claims to the police department for prosecution. Rather, the board would prosecute formal charges against the officers.
Second, the new rules sought to remove the hearings and review of the prosecutions from inside the police department. The new rules required the board to bring the prosecutions of police officer misconduct before an impartial administrative judge at the Office of Administrative Trials and Hearings (OATH). The OATH judges were charged with making recommendations of discipline to the police commissioner. In April 2001 the police department and the board agreed that the board would start prosecuting cases before OATH after July 25, 2001.
UNIONS SUE
Prior to July 25th, several police unions sued the mayor, police commissioner, chair and director of the board, OATH and OATH's Chief Administrative Judge. The unions challenged both the board's expanded authority to independently prosecute officer disciplinary actions and the hearing of those actions before the impartial OATH tribunal. In a decision entered on October 15, 2001 Justice Leland G. DeGrasse upheld the new rules with one exception. Justice DeGrasse ruled that the board was properly authorized to prosecute complaints of police officer misconduct. Justice DeGrasse, however, ruled that police disciplinary hearings could not be heard before an impartial OATH judge, when those hearings may result in termination. State law, Justice DeGrasse stated, specifically required that only police department employees preside over disciplinary hearings where termination is a possibility.
On appeal, the First Department affirmed Justice DeGrasse's ruling as it pertained to the board. The board, the court held, may be granted the authority to perform independent prosecution of complaints of police officer misconduct; may obtain personnel records of officers under investigation; and may pursue plea bargains with police officers under investigation.
The court, however, altered Justice DeGrasse's ruling by holding that OATH could not serve as the impartial tribunal presiding over officer disciplinary hearings. State law, the court held, completely barred OATH from presiding over any police disciplinary hearings, which must be conducted by an individual who is employed by the police department.
GREATER EFFICIENCY, TRUST UNDER CIVILIAN CONTROL
The Civilian Complaint Review Board, then, has been granted the authority to perform independent investigations and prosecutions of civilian complaints claiming police officer misconduct. Impartial hearings of those complaints, however, must wait. The board's prosecution of police officer misconduct will be performed before a police department employee, who will recommend whether or not to discipline the officer.
It is important to note that the few cases that did process through the board and OATH prior to the court's 2003 decisions were processed more efficiently than those prosecuted by the police department. They also resulted in similar disciplinary actions. For example, in 2001 the board averaged 274 days to investigate complaints, while the police department averaged 558 days to prosecute substantiated claims. Similarly, in 2002 OATH was able to make recommendations on prosecutions within 77 days, while the police department averaged over 500 days. Moreover, the police department imposed discipline against an officer in over 75 percent of the cases where the board found the complaint to be "substantiated". The police department imposed OATH's recommended disciplinary action against an officer in 78 percent of the cases in 2002 and 98 percent in 2001.
While these statistics begin to express the increase in efficiency and accuracy that would be afforded civilian complaints if separated from the police department, they do not account for the improved relationship between the public and police department that would occur upon separating investigation, prosecution and adjudication of civilian complaints against police officers from the police department. The public's perception of the police department can only be enhanced by allowing an outside independent investigation and impartial review of police misconduct complaints. There is an obvious skepticism among the public, particularly in minority communities, that the police department does not give civilian complaints proper review and is incapable of disciplining its own. As the city's brief before Justice DeGrasse stated "[s]uch public perceptions corrode the relationship between the police and the community." The unions' continued attempts to thwart the creation of an independent investigation and impartial review of complaints of police officer misconduct creates another level of mistrust between police officers and the constituents they protect and serve.
The cases are: Lynch v. Giuliani, 2003 N.Y.App.Div. LEXIS 68 (1st Dep't); Lynch v. Giuliani, Index No. 111436/01 (N.Y.Cty.Sup.Ct.) (DeGrasse, J.) (Attorneys: Michael T. Murray, Richard A. Dienst, for Lynch; Michael D. Hess, Alan G. Krams, Scott Shorr, NYC). As of this writing, the judgment had not been entered, which would give the parties thirty days to appeal to the state's highest court.
The Anti-War Protest And The Police
March 05, 2003 | by Julia Vitullo-Martin
Capitol of capitalism that it is, New York will continue as a likely target of terrorism so long as it remains rich and powerful. But it is also the international center of media and communications, enterprises that depend on liberty of person and freedom of movement. It is the place to which those with a message come to get their views known and covered. Freedom is at the very core of New York and its success. Its police department historically has understood this, despite the pressures this often puts on police work.
So it may be that New York's officials were simply caught unaware in late January when an aggressive antiwar coalition (United for Peace & Justice) wanting to march up the East Side to the United Nations, asked for a permit, which the city denied. The city cited insufficient time and resources to prepare for a march that would pose "an unacceptable risk to public safety."
In early February U.S. District Court Judge Barbara Jones agreed, noting the federal government's orange (Level 2) terror alert and general post-9/11 security concerns. A protest rally would be permitted, but not a protest march.
But judicially upholding the denial of a permit for a protest march was unprecedented, according to Donna Lieberman, executive director of the New York City Civil Liberties Union. In their appeal of Judge Jones's decision before the U.S. Court of Appeals, 2nd Circuit, the New York Civil Liberties Union argued that "For decades people in New York City have paraded and marched through the public streets as a means of expressing and demonstrating their views on a wide variety of topics. Marching in the streets is a time-honored tradition in our country that lies at the core of the First Amendment."
The Court of Appeals upheld the city's denial of the permit, but sternly noted that its ruling applied to this one event only: "We do not imply that a prohibition against marching would be constitutional in circumstances other than those presented here. We caution that, while short notice, lack of detail, administrative convenience and costs are always relevant considerations, these factors are not talismanic justifications for the denial of parade permits. Likewise, simply offering an alternative of stationary demonstration may not completely serve the constitutional interest at issue."
The court is warning the city that in the future, as in the past, it will again be expected to handle demonstrations, even those that are belated, inconvenient, and costly.
A BAD TIME WAS HAD BY ALL
The demonstration was held on Saturday, February 15, and few have had anything good to say about the experience. The New York Police Department had approached the demonstration as if it were a military operation, thinking containment and control. Police first herded people towards the stage near Dag Hammarskjold Plaza at the northern part of the United Nations, then blocked them from exiting. They shut off access from the side streets, driving demonstrators north on Second and Third Avenues. Large numbers of people were forced to take streets whose exits turned out to be barricaded. The New York Times noted that part of the confusion stemmed from the NYPD moving the entrance to the rally northward as each block of First Avenue filled, progressing from 51st Street up to 74th Street. Many protestors felt hemmed in, ineffective, and scared -- some apprehensive of the surging crowds, others of the police, many unable to free themselves even to leave. The police strategy kept many protestors from protesting.
On the following Monday the protest's organizers ran a 7-minute videotape produced by the Independent Media Center showing questionable police behavior -- backing horses into demonstrators, shoving people into the metal barricades, spraying something toxic at penned-in demonstrators, using abusive language, and raising nightsticks against some who couldn't move. NYPD spokesman Michael O'Looney said the tape was "filled with special effects," and that it did not show whether cops had been provoked.
The NYPD said very few protesters were injured and few arrested -- roughly 275, which is regarded as low for an event of at least 100,000 people, and perhaps as many as 400,000, according to the organizers. The organizers also disagreed with NYPD estimates of arrests and put the number at 348.
Commentary has been almost universally negative. New York Times columnist Joyce Purnick noted, for example, that the "last time we looked, the right to assemble did not mean the right to be splintered into small clusters of people kept far from the action." Newsday's Jimmy Breslin attacked the NYPD's "disgraceful performance," of penning in "throngs of smiling people as if they were cattle. It wasn't the cops' idea to do it. All they did was carry out orders as poorly as possible."
WHAT LIES AHEAD
Do protest marches have inherent dangers to worry both marchers and officials? Absolutely yes, as anyone who has ever marched knows. Things can always go wrong in a crowd, even one made up of well-intentioned people. Something scary happens, the crowd surges, some get trapped against a barrier such as a plate glass window, people get hurt, sometimes very badly.
And a crowd isn't necessarily composed of good guys. Crowds are easily infiltrated by malevolent intruders -- whether FBI agents during the 1960s or terrorists today -- as well as by morons, such as the person who set off firecrackers on Feb. 15, alarming the police horses.
Worse, the world has changed since 9/11, and all political groups are going to have to adjust. The symbols that make for a vital protest, such as the UN or the Statute of Liberty, have been made virtually off limits by their new status as terror targets. The UN had been one of the targets in the 1993 terrorist plot to blow up five New York landmarks simultaneously. That plot was thwarted and several men convicted and imprisoned, but city officials would be irresponsible to disregard the UN's status as an international symbol.
Even such mundane matters as portable toilets can become a serious issue in these new times. Although the police refusal to permit them produced huge problems for the protest's organizers, few would deny that a Porto-San is a perfect hiding place for a bomb. Yet now the issue becomes: which of its repressive procedures will the police apply to future marches and parades?
Will the St. Patrick's parade, for example, suddenly find itself without toilets? Unlikely.
Indeed, the often-mentioned upcoming St. Patrick's Day parade has produced its humorous moments. Trying to distinguish the city's insistence that it had to deny a permit for a protest march from its insistence on issuing a permit for the St. Patrick's Day Parade, NYPD Assistant Chief Michael D. Esposito said that St. Patrick's and Puerto Rican Day marchers "step out in a timed manner and proceed at a set pace." Few New Yorkers outside the police department would cite these two parades as models of decorum.
As Donna Lieberman points out , the police department has a new policy of denying permits for political demonstrations of more than 1000 people even as it routinely permits raucous "traditional" parades. Does this make sense?
The February 15 anti-war march was a world event, held in great cities and small, but not New York. Yes, New York is New York, and therefore likely to get more aggressive protestors. And, yes, New York is a target of terrorists. But it is also an international symbol of freedom, and a city that has always triumphed over its enemies. If it forbids demonstrations and protesters as if it were just a normal city unaccustomed to dealing with world events, it will erode not only its preeminence as the world's capital city but its own sense of itself as a place that takes on all comers.
POLICE ASK FOR MORE SURVEILLANCE AUTHORITY
Meanwhile, even as the police department has been telling two federal judges that it cannot safely handle a protest march, it has been urging another federal judge, Charles S. Haight of Federal District Court in Manhattan, to expand its surveillance authority of political groups. Judge Haight agreed on Feb. 11 to modify a 1985 court order restricting surveillance, which the police department said hampered its ability to investigate terrorism. In early March, Judge Haight will announce modified rules, most likely permitting the police to operate much like the FBI. The department is asking to investigate political groups even without having evidence of criminal activity, and to share all information with other law enforcement agencies. While Judge Haight retained the three-member oversight board that investigates specific complaints of abusive police investigations, he de-fanged it.
"The Constitution's protections are unchanging," he wrote, "but the nature of public peril can change with dramatic speed, as recent events show."
POLICE AND IMMIGRATION SERVICE ACCUSE ONE ANOTHER
Yet somehow nothing is simple. It was revealed last month that of the five suspects in a brutal December 19 gang rape of a woman in Flushing Meadows-Corona Park in Queens, four were illegal aliens with criminal records. So why were they still enjoying the welcome of the U.S.? It turned out that messy relations between the New York Police Department and the federal Immigration & Naturalization Service may have been to blame.
A 1989 Koch administration order prohibited cops from informing the immigration service of an illegal alien's arrest. The rationale was that otherwise illegal aliens would not call in the police to deal in immigrant neighborhoods. But that rule was superseded by a 1996 federal law that encouraged police departments to inform the immigration agency of crimes committed by illegal aliens. Only illegal aliens convicted of felonies are to be deported -- but one of the four was indeed convicted of a felony and an police detective informed the Immigration, according to the mayor's coordinator of criminal justice. A congressional committee is holding hearings to investigate, among other matters, whether the Koch executive order that protects aliens and provides them emergency health care also inappropriately discourages the police from reporting crimes.
Do Welfare Workers Deserve Workplace Protection?
February 19, 2003 | by Do Welfare Workers Deserve Workplace Protection?
Are welfare recipients in New York City's work program protected from workplace discrimination?
"The next phase of welfare reform . . . should focus on . . . ensuring that those. . . who have already made the transition from welfare to work, stay employed or, better yet, move up the career ladder," Mayor Michael Bloomberg has said.
On February 5, 2003, the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, the federal appeals court, heard oral arguments in a case that could have a major effect on whether Bloomberg's idea becomes a reality. The case centers on whether individuals who are required to work in a government agency in order to receive their welfare benefits are entitled to protection against workplace discrimination. The decision will affect approximately 130,000 welfare recipients a year, who work in New York City agencies, and will determine what, if any, protections they have from being sexually harassed, racially discriminated against or subject to other workplace discrimination.
THE WORK EXPERIENCE PROGRAM
The federal and state governments require New York City to provide welfare to anyone who, according to the state law, is "unable to provide for himself." The city is also mandated to develop a system to place in a work program 50 percent of single parents and 90 percent of adults who are in two-parent families New York City's work program, Work Experience Program (WEP), requires welfare recipients to work at various city agencies in return for their welfare benefits. For every hour the participants work they earn the minimum wage, paid to them via their welfare benefit. Typical program positions are entry-level office assistants and painting and cleaning public property.
UNITED STATES V. CITY OF NEW YORK
The case that was argued on February 5 involved five women in the work program. They alleged that their supervisors sexually harassed them, discriminated against them or retaliated against them for complaining about the discrimination. The women sued under the federal Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits workplace discrimination when the discrimination involves those legally defined as an "employee" and "employer."
Several of the women also filed a separate suit in the state court. The primary difference in the state court cases was that the women claimed discrimination under the state and city anti-discrimination laws, instead of the federal statute.
On March 8, 2002, U.S. District Court Judge Robert C. Casey dismissed the federal case. Judge Casey decided that the women were not "employees" of New York City, even though they were paid for their work at the agencies and the agencies set their hours, schedule and where they would work. Because the women were not "hired" by the agencies and did not receive sick pay, health insurance, vacation time, life insurance and other benefits, Judge Casey ruled they were not "employees."
Several months later, New York County Supreme Court Justice Michael D. Stallman dismissed the state court case. Believing he was restricted by Judge Casey's decision, Justice Stallman ruled that Work Experience Program workers were not "employees" and therefore, were not entitled to protection under the state and city anti-discrimination laws. Justice Stallman stated, "WEP was intended to give public assistance recipients work experience and to provide the public with some useful service as a condition of continued receipt of public assistance. Nothing in the program either creates an employment relationship or was intended to create an employment relationship."
Welfare recipients' sole recourse for alleged harassment or discrimination was not to file a lawsuit, but rather, Justice Stallman concluded, to file a grievance with the city Human Resources Administration.
On May 3, 2002, the women appealed Judge Casey's decision in the federal case to the federal appellate court and on September 19, 2002, the women filed a notice of appeal to appeal the state case.
WHY THE CASE IS IMPORTANT
The decision as to whether Work Experience Program participants are entitled to protections under the anti-discrimination laws will have substantial implications for the 130,000 individuals a year who participate in the program.
The mayor has noted that "since requiring people to work is the best way to help them move to self-sufficiency, everyone who can work should work if they want to receive public assistance."
Achieving "self-sufficiency" can only be attained if work and the workplace foster non-discriminatory practices and protect workers. It is unlikely that the program will lead to "self-sufficiency" or economic independence for anyone who is subjected to groping, howling, cat-calling, or racial or religious slurs.
Justice Stallman noted that program participants, like all city employees, could file a disciplinary grievance with the Human Resources Administration. The city's grievance procedures are focused on disciplining the individual charged with committing the harassment or discrimination and addressing their continued employment with the city. The grievance procedures do not allow for compensation or other relief to the victim of the harassment. In contrast, the anti-discrimination laws are designed to compensate victims for the pain, suffering and mental anguish they suffer from being harassed or discriminated against in the workplace.
People should not be subjected to the embarrassment, fear or other injury inflicted by discriminatory practices simply by seeking welfare benefits. Providing the protections of the anti-discrimination laws will, in theory, deter future discrimination.
Finally, the decision sets a peculiar precedent for supervisors. Essentially, supervisors can treat equal positions differently. Although supervisors do not have carte blanche to discriminate against Work Experience Program workers, they do at least theoretically risk much less by discriminating against these workers than against other city "employees."
The federal appeals court must now decide whether the Work Experience Program provides a serious point of transition from welfare to work, with the protections that other city workers have.
The District Attorney vs. the Police
February 06, 2003 | by Julia Vitullo-Martin
The narrator of the NBC crime drama Law & Order has it right every Wednesday evening when he says, "In the criminal justice system the people are represented by two separate yet equally important groups-the police who investigate crime and the district attorneys who prosecute the offenders." Now these two separate yet equally important groups are virtually at war with one another over the Central Park Jogger case.
When in January, 2002, imprisoned murderer and serial rapist Matias Reyes confessed to a corrections officer that he and he alone had assaulted and raped the jogger on April 19, 1989, he launched the two agencies on separate missions to find out what really happened that night. Yet each agency's search for the truth has been hampered by its parallel search for self-vindication.
And while the two agencies may theoretically be equally important in the justice system, the D.A.'s office can outmaneuver the police department when it chooses, relegating detectives to secondary importance or even excluding them altogether. The Manhattan D.A.'s office has done this repeatedly since it reopened the jogger investigation some time in the winter of 2002. (Like so many important details, the precise date has not been given publicly.)
The district attorney's office has maintained command of both the investigation and the distribution of information to the media, with the result that the New York Times in particular has often published early, sympathetic interpretations of the office's austerely phrased, seemingly neutral legal documents.
The district attorney's 58-page filing in state Supreme Court on Dec. 5, 2002-known as the Ryan Affirmation after Assistant District Attorney Nancy Ryan who signed it-recommended that the court vacate all convictions of the five defendants. The specific legal issue in the defendants' motions was: Does the newly discovered evidence create a probability that, if the new evidence been received at trial, it would have resulted in a verdict more favorable to the defendants on one or more charges? The yes conclusion was nearly incontestable. But almost everything else about the case remains in dispute.
The January 27 release of a report by a three-man panel appointed by Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly is a not completely successful attempt by the Police Department to put forward a different analysis.
THE POLICE PANEL'S SCENARIO
The panel attacks Reyes's claim that he acted alone, pointing out that many commentators have assumed only two possibilities-that either Reyes acted alone or that the defendants did. Instead, it says, "Our examination of the facts leads us to suggest that there is an alternative theory of the attack upon the jogger, that both the defendants and Reyes assaulted her, perhaps successively."
The panel suggests that the defendants might have "abandoned the jogger after mauling her in the hit-and-run style typical of their rampage." Reyes might have followed them, attacking her brutally. The "vicious outrages inflicted upon the jogger" would have been more characteristic of Reyes than of the defendants, says the panel. Indeed, the "defendants' lesser role would in fact be consistent with their confessions."
The untitled report is signed at the end by the two outside lawyers-Michael Armstrong and Jules Martin-and by the deputy police commissioner for legal matters, Stephen Hammerman. Kelly's hope in appointing the panel, according to the New York Times, was that the presence of distinguished outsiders would ensure a thorough investigation not hobbled by institutional self-protection. Armstrong, a former Queens district attorney and federal prosecutor, is a partner in the firm of Kronish Lieb Weiner & Hellman. In the early 1970s, he was chief counsel to the Knapp Commission, whose investigation of police corruption had been instigated by Frank Serpico's well-known charges. Martin, a police officer for 29 years who retired in 1997 as chief of the department's Housing Bureau, is now an assistant vice president at New York University.
The panel says the district attorney's office excluded the police from its investigation last year, refusing to give detectives access to interviews with Reyes-even after the fact-and refusing to follow up on leads the police regarded as promising. Even though the D.A.'s office spent hours interviewing Reyes, police were allowed only to view one videotaped interview and to listen to one brief audio recording of another interview. And since no hearing was held on the defendants' motion to vacate, no cross-examination of Reyes under oath was ever conducted in public. Nor were the interviews ever released. The panel also complains that inmates who claimed to have been told of the assaults by Reyes were never interviewed by anyone.
Even if the district attorney had legitimate reasons for excluding the police from interviews, what possible reason could the office have for not taping all communication with Reyes and making those tapes available to the NYPD? How could the search for truth be furthered by withholding the interviews? And why not interview the inmates who claimed Reyes had given them accounts of the assault? The Ryan Affirmation seeks to give Reyes substantial credence, saying, "Information Reyes has provided about himself and his history has consistently proven to be reliable and accurate, both about matters related to the case and matters with no direct connection to it. Reyes has also been candid, even with respect to aspects of his history that might cast doubt on his credibility."
REYES'S CLAIM OF ACTING ALONE
Media reports have asserted that forensic evidence confirmed Reyes's claim of acting alone, but this is not true. Much of the forensic evidence was contaminated in the intervening years-sloppy handling of evidence being yet another local scandal-and the intact evidence was inconclusive. Meanwhile, members of the jogger's medical team had come forward to say that her wounds were inconsistent with a single assailant. The Ryan Affirmation ignored their testimony.
The only evidence that Reyes acted alone is his own testimony, which makes his credibility important. (He was not given a polygraph examination. "Perhaps," says the panel, "he is thought to be too unstable to allow for a meaningful test.") All professional assessments of him over the years-including by his own attorney-have doubted his honesty and stability.
Nonetheless, the district accepts Reyes's startlingly unlikely assertion that he was moved to come forward because of his "positive experiences" in prison, where he was treated "decently despite the nature of his criminal history." He also said he felt guilty on seeing the jogger defendant Kharey Wise, a fellow inmate in the Auburn Correctional Facility, knowing that he had committed the crime for which Wise was imprisoned.
The panel offers a more convincing motivation than altruism for Reyes's confession: He received a favorable prison assignment. Saying that he was afraid of Wise, Reyes demanded and received a transfer back to his previous facility, the Clinton Assessment Programs Prepared Unit, from which he had been expelled in 2001 for fighting. The unit mainly houses notorious or famous inmates who might be targets for inmate abuse. It has only 260 beds and one of the lowest inmate/correction officer ratios in the system. Reyes had spent nine of his thirteen years in prison at unit and knew well its relative pleasantness and safety. Now he is back there. Said the panel, "By claiming that he had committed the crime for which others were convicted and served time, he put himself in the position of needing protection from the defendants or their friends in prison."
D.A.'S OFFICE DENIES POLICE PANEL'S THEORY
In hearings before the City Council on January 29, Manhattan Chief Assistant District Attorney James Kindler denied there was any evidence to support the panel's alternative theory that the five original defendants participated in the attack on the jogger. Said Kindler: "The theory that Reyes may have come along later, it is a theory, there is no evidence to support it."
Kindler denied that the district attorney had withheld information from the police or other officials. But even as he was speaking his former colleague, Linda Fairstein, who had headed the Sex Crimes Unit during the prosecution of the case, submitted a written statement saying the D.A.'s office had refused to interview her. Outspoken in her anger, Fairstein said recently to NY1: "The untested word of a psychopathic murderer who raped four other women, killed one in the presence of her . . . children and raped his mother--he now says he did this alone and that's untested in a court of law?"
The debate about whether Reyes did it alone or not continued after the City Council hearings with yet another piece by the New York Times presenting newly released inside information-what it calls "a little-noted documentary record" of the first moments of the attack. A crime scene detective had measured and photographed the drag marks left by the jogger's body--marks consistent with a single attacker, according to unnamed prosecutors.
POLICE PANEL REVEALS POLICE INCOMPETENCE
The Police Department panel seems oddly oblivious to the level of police incompetence exposed by its recommendations. It recommends improved accountability and control of evidence, for example, noting that the Manhattan Chief of Detectives had taken home the only copies of Polaroid pictures of the jogger, thereby forcing the prosecutor to question the suspects without them. Not very reassuringly the panel says this does not "appear to be a systemic problem and is unlikely to recur."
The panel recommends better forensic management, noting that the pants of one defendant were put on the precinct floor while being photographed. The Ryan Affirmation essentially says that most of the forensic evidence was lost or contaminated over the years. The police panel says this is unlikely to happen today because of NYPD reforms in 1995.
Most shocking, however, are the panel's casual comments about the failure of the police and prosecutors to follow up on a vicious rape two days before the jogger rape. "There has been some criticism directed at the department," it notes, "for the failure to connect the April 17, 1989 rape to the April 19, 1989 attack on the jogger. Reyes was identified as a possible suspect in the April 17, 1989 rape, and was later arrested, in August, 1989, for another rape and murder to which he ultimately pleaded guilty. If, at the time, it had occurred to either the police or the prosecutors that the April 19 rape might have been committed by the same individual that had raped someone on April 17, it would have been simple to compare the DNA recovered from the jogger against that of the defendant they now had in custody. But, the police and the District Attorney's office had a set of confessions and were satisfied that the defendants perpetrated the attack on the jogger. They had no cause to search for links to other cases until DNA tests in November, 1989, indicated that the semen from the jogger did not match any of the defendants. Today's case review methods would substantially increase the probability of identifying cases with seemingly very few similarities."
In other words, because the police and the D.A. "were satisfied" with the confessions from the defendants they had no cause to search for links to any other cases. What is horribly clear today is that neither the police nor the district attorney was paying serious attention to any other cases, even as brutal rapes in the Central Park area continued.
Without saying a critical word about the police or the D.A.'s office-both equally culpable in these investigations-the Ryan Affirmation exposes a pattern of bureaucratic indifference by listing some of Reyes's known rapes followed by the notation "marked closed." These cases were not marked closed because they were solved-they were marked closed because the investigators decided not to pursue them in the summer of 1989 even as Reyes roamed the streets raping and murdering. (And these were not the only rapes disregarded by investigators. The woman who was raped and thrown down an elevator shaft in Harlem the same week as the Central Park assault was shamefully ignored.)
On June 11, 1989, Reyes raped, stabbed and tried to drown a 24-year-old woman in her apartment on 116th Street. On June 14 he raped and stabbed to death a pregnant woman in her apartment at 97th and Madison while her three children were locked in the next room. On July 19 he raped and robbed a 20-year-old woman in her apartment on 95th Street and Madison, also cutting her eyes. On July 27, 1989, he robbed and tried to rape a woman in the hallway of a building on 95th and Lexington but was stopped by neighbors. On August 5 he raped and robbed a 24-year-old woman in her apartment on 91st Street-and was captured by her neighbors. That is how his crime spree ended-by New Yorkers capturing him, not by police work or district attorney investigation.
January 22, 2003 | by Jerome Chou
For the best conservative, feel-good take on crime in New York, check out City Journal, published quarterly by the think-tank The Manhattan Institute. The Spring and Summer issues paint a sunny picture of New York's progression from the Dark Ages (pre-1995) to Triumph (the Present). The writers attribute our safe streets and safe prisons to essentially the same paradigm shift in management -- decentralizing, giving more opportunity and responsibility to local command, and providing detailed statistics on criminal activity to help local officials.
Whether you're reading for confirmation of your worldview or to find an infuriating strawman, City Journal is a valuable resource.
Jerome Sounds Off:
Steve Schwalb is one happy businessman. The CEO of Federal Prison Industries watched his company bring in $540 million in revenue last year. His workers, prisoners serving sentences in 94 federal prisons, earn 23 cents to $1.15 an hour making electronic parts, clothes, and furniture.
The future looks even better. The federal prison population is expected to reach 200,000 by the year 2006; Schwalb will employ 30,000 of these inmates. Mirroring the shifts that have transformed the low-wage job market on the outside, FPI workers have begun performing data entry and other service-oriented tasks. Now Congress has proposed that FPI be allowed to expand beyond government contracts to offer their services to private companies.
Supporters of the proposed bill, the Prison Industries Reform Act, say that jobs lost to overseas sweatshops can be snatched back by prison labor and that these jobs will in turn help lower high recidivism rates. But you can hear these politicians and their business backers rubbing their hands: a growing, cheap workforce -- behind bars! Even ignoring the irony of undercutting sweatshop wages, the supposed benefit of lowered recidivism is a crock. Will the "work experience" gained from a $1 an hour data-entry job go very far on the outside? And what happens when companies start to replace their workers (say, for instance, unionized workers making a decent salary with benefits) with inmate-power? At this rate, it's only a matter of time before someone suggests that inner city public school kids devote one period a day to stuffing envelopes.
Jerome Chou is a freelance writer. He works part-time interviewing recently released ex-offenders about their re-entry into society. Â
Civilian Complaint Review Boards
January 12, 2003 | by {ga=ggstaff}
It has been a winter of reckoning for the NYPD. Last December, Justin Volpe pleaded guilty to sodomizing Abner Louima. A second trial in the Louima case is drawing to a close in Brooklyn, while in Albany a jury debates the sentence for the officers charged with the murder of Amadou Diallo.
Whatever the fates of these individual officers may be, the larger question remains: How do you police the police? For decades, the NYPD relied on an internal review process run by police officials and investigators. Responding to public pressure, the City Council in 1993 established the Civilian Complaint Review Board (CCRB), the first police oversight agency in NYC to be independent of the NYPD.
In addition to reviewing police policies, the CCRB's main task is to respond to complaints. More than 100 investigators interview complainants, witnesses, and police officers; subpoena evidence from the police department; and submit reports to a thirteen-member board. These members (all appointed by the Mayor) are empowered to recommend punishment to the Commissioner, who makes final decisions in each case. The board itself cannot mete out any punishment.
You'd be hard pressed to find a more beleaguered city agency than the CCRB, or one with a more difficult mission. In its first five years, the review board received more than 25,000 complaints of police misconduct. To investigate these charges, CCRB staff must contend not only with the infamous "blue wall of silence," but also with opposition from the Commissioner's Office and City Hall.
Since the Diallo and Louima incidents, the Mayor and Commissioner Safir have publicly softened their stance, and an increased budget ($7.4 million in 1999, up more than $2 million from 1998) has allowed the CCRB to bolster its staff. But recent reports from the NYCLU highlight the agency's shortcomings: since 1996, only about 1 in 4 cases of misconduct substantiated by the CCRB resulted in punishment, and no record exists for exactly what punishment was handed down.
Across the country, civilian review boards have struggled to establish a strong watchdog presence. In New York's current political climate, that may simply be too much to ask.
Gotham Gazette reporter Jerome Chou on the inner workings of the CCRB, and why as an oversight mechanism, it's doomed to mediocrity.
Is there police brutality in your neighborhood?
Total Respondents
(From data collected in NYC during the 1997 mayoral elections period by Columbia University's School of International and Public Affairs. See their report "Racial and Ethnic and Urban/Suburban Differences in Public Opinion and Policy Priorities: Crime, Drugs, and Justice"
http://sipa.columbia.edu/CURP/resources/reports/racialdiff/tables.html
THE BOARD:
CCRB homepage - Contains bare bones information about the agency and instructions on filing a complaint form (including an online version), though little else. More useful are the extremely informative semiannual reports (since 1998) and transcripts from monthly board meetings.
COMPLAINANTS:
Mayor Giuliani - At this September 1997 press conference, even as he announced additional funding and personnel for CCRB, the Mayor reiterated his support for internal review only.
"Five Years of Civilian Review: A Mandate Unfulfilled," New York Civil Liberties Union - Tracking the CCRB's performance from 1993-1998, this report calls for a CCRB legal unit to prosecute police officers and for the Police Commissioner to disclose exactly what punishment officers receive for misconduct.
"Shielded from Justice: Police Brutality and Accountability in the United States of America," Human Rights Watch - Their 1998 report includes profiles on police oversight in NYC and around the country. Their findings? The grass isn't greener anywhere else.
41 Shots - This anti-police brutality advocacy site offers a helpful explanation of the CCRB, with a healthy dose of editorializing.
Old Issues Are New Again: Parole, Central Park Jogger Case, Rape
November 01, 2002 | by Julia Vitullo-Martin
The first criminal justice issue of the New York gubernatorial campaign came up in the final few weeks -- parole of violent felons. But this isn't the usual substantive discussion of parole, a topic Governor George Pataki mastered long ago. On the contrary, this is about high-level corruption and bribes. Building on analyses by Wayne Barrett and Jesse Goldstein in the Village Voice, Tom Golisano, the Independence candidate for governor, began broadcasting a 30-second advertisement statewide charging the Pataki administration with selling paroles to an armed robber and a major drug kingpin in exchange for campaign contributions. Pataki parole board chairman Brian Travis, who is still on the job, was named as an unindicted co-conspirator by a federal prosecutor.
Selling Paroles?
According to Barrett and Goldstein, Pataki fundraiser and Korean community leader Yung Soo Yoo had approached three families before the 1994 election, saying he could help get their sons, all convicted violent felons, out of prison if they contributed to the Pataki campaign. One man was indeed released on parole two years after his family donated.
Nonetheless, the New York Times concluded that saying Pataki's administration "got caught selling paroles" stretched the truth.
No one was convicted of selling paroles, says the Times, although three State Parole Board officials were convicted of lying to federal investigators and Pataki fund-raiser Yoo was convicted of obstruction of justice. A jury deadlocked on whether he had promised paroles for contributions.
Meanwhile, Patrick Donahue, the finance director of Friends of Pataki, was also named an unindicted co-conspirator for helping bring Yoo into the campaign, collecting contributions from him, and meeting with the families who had been promised early release.
All very distressing stuff, particularly given Pataki's aggressive substantive record on parole. Pataki had pushed a sentencing reform act through the legislature in 1995, eliminating the parole board hearing for repeat violent felons. (Inmates can still apply for a 15 percent reduction in sentence for good behavior.) After a bitter fight with Assembly Democrats, he got the ban on parole extended to first-time violent felons, under what's called Jenna's Law, in August 1998. He has been arguing ever since to abolish parole for all felons, and to implement "truth-in-sentencing," by which a judge would mandate a specific number of years to be served rather than a potential range. Truth-in-sentencing would retain minimum sentences while eliminating the false maximum sentences that had once lulled victims into thinking their assailants would be away for a long time.
The old system of indeterminate sentences didn't really have a maximum term, though one was pronounced by the judge. Someone sentenced to, say, 15-25 years, seldom actually served 25 years. Instead, after serving two-thirds of the so-called maximum sentence the prisoner became automatically entitled to parole. This entitlement applied to everyone, including violent felons who had committed terrible crimes. The only exception was for those who behaved very badly in prison, which some of the more vicious inmates did indeed do, thereby imprisoning themselves further. Robert Chambers, for example, who killed Jennifer Levin in Central Park in August 1986, was recently denied parole, as he has been before, because of his drug abuse and violence in prison. He will finish his 5-15-year manslaughter sentence this winter and be released free of any parole supervision -- yet another problem of the old system. Chambers and a few others aside, most prisoners have been released early, well before reaching their maximum terms.
Seeking More Time
The Central Park jogger case is both 13 years old and brand new, summarized the Times, noting that prosecutors had been granted six more weeks to conclude their investigations of what happened the night of April 19, 1989.
Given the confession (and DNA corroboration) of serial rapist Matias Reyes, attorneys representing the Harlem teenagers who had been convicted of the Central Park jogger assault argued before State Supreme Court Justice Charles Tejada that the convictions should be vacated immediately. Manhattan Assistant District Attorney Peter Casolaro, however, asked for more time to review 15,000 pages of court transcripts, interview people, and follow up leads and information given by Reyes. Judge Tejada set December 5 as the new deadline for the prosecutor's report.
While no one knows for sure what will be in the prosecutor's report, the Times, again displaying its amazing access to the D.A.'s office, says that investigators have so far come up "with almost nothing to back the original findings of guilt and with quite a bit that undermines them." Manhattan D.A. Robert Morgenthau has arranged for additional DNA tests that may yet corroborate the original confessions, but he calls the tests a "long shot."
Declaring Another Rape
Adding yet another horrible detail to the case, Matias Reyes told investigators that he had committed a similar rape in Central Park two days earlier, and that he assaulted both women by himself. The earlier rape had never been discussed publicly by either the police department and prosecutors, nor had it been divulged to defense lawyers. After being hospitalized for two days, the victim immediately left New York. No one was ever prosecuted for the rape, and the police department seems to have pretty much shelved any investigation. According to the Times, even the homicide detectives handling the Central Park jogger case did not know about the earlier rape, which had been handled by the Sex Crimes Unit. When Reyes went on to rape and murder a pregnant woman three months later, he carried out the prediction of one defense lawyer during trial that the real attacker was still unknown and would be out committing more rapes and possibly even murder.
The crucial question now is whether Reyes's contention that he acted alone should be believed? Michael Daly of the Daily News dug out a 1991 report on Reyes by psychologist Dr. N.G. Berrill, who concluded that Reyes engaged in "grandiose fantasies." Reyes "indicated that while he does not believe he possesses magic powers he would like to become a 'superhero one day like Ice Man,'" wrote Berrill, who went on to describe Reyes as an "infantile, impulsive individual ... prone to viewing the world in a peculiar fashion ... marked by 'monsters, blood, dead animals.'" He is "demanding, particularly with his need for respect and attention."
Concluded Daly: "Reyes would later say that he finally revealed his secret because he had found God, but the report shows he had been talking about finding God for at least 11 years. More likely, the 31-year-old Reyes realized that even after all this time, his secret accorded him power to match his fantasies."
A New Report From Jogger's Medical Team
Members of the medical team that first treated the jogger told the Daily News that her injuries were not consistent with Reyes's account that he acted alone and beat her with a tree limb and a rock. "The wounds that caused the blood loss, the ones that almost killed her, were administered by some sharp-edged weapon of some kind. Not by a blunt object," said one doctor. "A sharp-edged object will not produce the same abraded edges." A second doctor agreed, adding that more than one person was involved: "She had extensive injuries all over her body. There was not a part of her body that wasn't traumatized."
Increasing Numbers Of Rapes
Rape is the only violent crime in New York that has been on the rise this year, according to NYPD statistics. It is now up a little more than six percent over last year, with 1,570 rapes reported through October 6, 2002, compared with 1,478 rapes in the same period last year.
This year began with an increase in rape; 261 first-degree rapes were reported from January 1 to March 11, up from 238 in the same period last year. In March the NYPD attributed the increase to a rise in acquaintance rape, which jumped 18 percent. Stranger rape fell eight percent. (Nationally, acquaintance rape tends to be as much as 80 percent of all rapes.) While not yet providing the acquaintance/stranger breakdown for the year-to-date data, the NYPD nonetheless argues that the numbers reflected increased reporting rather than an increase in actual rapes.
They may be right, but some of the hardest-hit precincts are also ones with a history of antagonism with the NYPD. The 43, for example, where Amadou Diallo was killed, had 46 rapes up to October of last year and 58 rapes this year to date. The neighboring 44 had 41 last year and 67 this year. Perhaps more women are reporting rape, but perhaps something else is going on.
Two Heinous Crimes Unresolved
October 01, 2002 | by Julia Vitullo-Martin
As former police officer Charles Schwarz heads back to prison to start his five-year sentence for perjury, New Yorkers have come to realize they may never know who besides imprisoned former cop Justin Volpe participated in the vicious August 1997 torture and sodomy of Abner Louima. And even as Schwarz and his lawyers were working out a plea arrangement in federal court that permitted him to avoid admitting guilt in the Louima assault, New Yorkers were learning that yet another heinous crime--the 1989 rape of a jogger in Central Park--had been committed by a man who had gone untried and unpunished.
Thus two of the most publicized violent crimes in recent New York City history are joined in parallel scenarios that may never be fully understood or satisfactorily resolved. In both cases the savagery of the assault left the victim unable to provide key information--even as both cases refocused the definition of brutality to some previously incomprehensible level.
SCHWARZ CAN NO LONGER PROCLAIM HIS INNOCENCE
The saga of Charles Schwarz's drive to be found innocent in court ended when he signed a sentencing agreement a few minutes after 8:00 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 21 -- less than two days before his fourth trial was scheduled to begin in Federal District Court in Brooklyn. A jury had been chosen the previous day, and the stage was fully set for the next trial to be played out in the same courtroom where a previous jury had found him guilty in July of one count of perjury. When that jury deadlocked on another perjury charge and on two civil rights charges the interim U.S. Attorney, Alan Vinegrad, immediately announced that he would retry Schwarz.
That was clearly going to be a difficult undertaking. The July jury's partial verdict signaled that they thought he was guilty of something, but couldn't agree on what. The jury foreman later said that 11 jurors had voted to convict on all charges, but that one hold-out "irrational" juror had forced them to convict on the perjury charge only. And as defense counsel Ronald Fischetti noted during September's plea negotiations, all he needed to do in the next trial was convince one juror to doubt Schwarz's guilt -- something he had just succeeded in doing.
Vinegrad had little reason to believe he would be able to come up with better evidence or more convincing witnesses for the new jury, made up of 9 whites, 3 blacks, and 1 Hispanic. His threat of a fourth trial was meant to coerce Schwarz into an acceptable plea bargain. Did he succeed? Had Schwarz been convicted on all charges, he could have received a sentence of up to 15 years. But that almost surely wasn't going to happen, even with a couple of judicial rulings that went against the defense. (The judge ruled, for example, that were Schwarz to testify he could be questioned on the perjury conviction.)
What the sentencing agreement did for the prosecution was eliminate a trial -- and its potential loss -- while securing Schwarz's agreement to the highest possible sentence (5 years imprisonment plus 3 years supervision) for the one perjury conviction. Did Vinegrad go this route because he feared that Judge Reena Raggi, who sternly presided over the third trial, would not impose the highest sentence? No one is saying.
What Vinegrad did get in the plea bargain was a most unusual agreement from Schwarz that he would not continue to proclaim his innocence publicly. Much of the case had been played out in the press, with Fischetti regularly outflanking Vinegrad. Schwarz repeatedly announced his innocence, even dismissing his July perjury conviction as a "small, technical charge." (For this he earned a harsh reprimand from Judge Raggi.)
Schwarz, his wife, and his lawyers are now forbidden under the sentencing agreement from making any statements "relating in any way to the sexual or other assaults of Abner Louima." If they abide by this prosecutors will recommend to prison authorities that Schwarz get a 13-month reduction in his sentence--cutting his sentence to just under 4 years. On the other hand, the prosecutors are also bound not to discuss Schwarz's guilt, making the agreement less of a victory for Vinegrad, who seems to believe in Schwarz's guilt to the core of his being.
Plus there's an obvious problem of enforceability, as Robert Levy, a criminal defense attorney, points out--particularly over the long term. "Usually you condition a plea on something like staying away from a neighbor or not returning to a specific place," says Levy. The Free Charles Schwarz web site has been dismantled and de-listed by the Patrolmen's Benevolent Association, but what happens if some time in the future a Schwarz lawyer goes on a talk show and says Schwarz is innocent? Or, for that matter, a prosecutor goes on a talk show and says he's guilty?
The truth is that Vinegrad never got what he really wanted from Schwarz: an admission of guilt. No remorse from Schwarz, no apology, no public acceptance of his crimes, and no implication of anyone else. Had Schwarz pled guilty, he would have set in motion a whole series of criminal procedures against anyone, mostly his fellow cops, who would thereby be shown to have lied. As it is, the guilt or innocence of Schwarz and his fellow cops will likely never be known, and will be an "ongoing open wound," notes Levy.
IMPRISONED RAPIST-MURDERER ANNOUNCES HIS GUILT IN CENTRAL PARK RAPE
Matias Reyes, a man serving 33 years to life for raping three women and murdering a pregnant woman just two months after the April 19, 1989, Central Park jogger assault, told the Inspector General's office in January that he alone assaulted the jogger. A DNA test confirmed the rape. In February, Reyes was interviewed by the Manhattan D.A.'s office, which then began a quiet review of the case. According to a stunning piece by Jim Dwyer in the New York Times, investigators for the D.A. paid visits to two of the five young black and Hispanic men convicted of the assault in 1990. While "many officials still believe that justice was done" in the case, writes Dwyer, the results of the "visits have shaken veteran law enforcement officials' confidence in the original convictions." After all, these boys came to symbolize what political scientist John DiIulio called "superpredators," a new breed of unredeemable children, "remorseless and morally impoverished" juveniles. Was it possible that their convictions were wrong?
Lawyers for the five young men, who were then teenagers (four of the five were under 16), are asking the court to vacate the guilty verdicts or order a new trial. Reyes' testimony is compelling because the police never had any witnesses. The victim herself, a 28-year-old investment banker, had been so brutally beaten that she lost three-quarters of her blood and was in a coma for 12 days. Amnesia prevented her from identifying her attackers.
Nor did the police have any forensic evidence linking the assault to the teenagers, whose confessions were the only damning evidence. Three were convicted as juveniles of rape and assault, and sentenced to 5 to 10 years. One was convicted of attempted murder, rape and sodomy, and sentenced to 5 to 10 years. The fifth, who was 16, was convicted of assault and sexual abuse, and sentenced to 5 to 15 years.
There is no doubt that Reyes raped the jogger, but many other details are unclear or unproven -- the most important being whether he was alone. In a notarized statement given to defense lawyers on August 23, Reyes wrote, in an oddly Victorian way, "I was drawn by her appearance and I just had to have her." He had seen her from the park's entrance at 102nd Street, and had picked up a tree branch. "A short distance later, I hit her over the head with the tree branch. She fell down and I dragged her into a bushy area ... I took off her clothing ... I grabbed her again and brought her down, covered her face and continued to beat her with a rock and/or possibly other articles. I left and exited the park," he concluded, in startlingly cop-like fashion. Nearly all the details in his account were reported in previous newspaper coverage.
Reyes says he has come forward because of a religious conversion in prison. He may indeed have found God. But one of his former attorneys, Richard Siracusa, told Newsday that he is a classic psychopath who is "fully capable of doing what he's confessed to. I don't think it's made up, but you never know: Guys like that -- they can't separate fact from fancy."
Siracusa, who represented Reyes in 1989 when he was charged with three rapes as well as a rape-murder, took over for a court-appointed attorney who had been relieved, according to Newsday, after Reyes tried to attack him. Reyes then punched Siracusa in the face when he was sentenced by the court.
The police have been criticized for not connecting Reyes with the Central Park jogger at the time. But lawyer Barry Scheck, head of the Innocence Project, told Newsday that the computerized database that now automatically matches samples of DNA did not exist in 1989. Today the database could detect a match between the DNA found on the victim and her attacker--but not then.
Police and prosecutors have always known that at least one rapist had not been caught because they had unidentified DNA from semen left in the victim's sock. That DNA has now been proved to be from Reyes. But what the DNA doesn't say is whether others raped the jogger without ejaculating, not unusual for rapists, say the police. Nor does it say whether anyone else beat her or held her down.
April 19, 1989, was a terrible night in Central Park with dozens of people assaulted and robbed by roving gangs. At least some of the five convicted teenagers participated in these assaults. Whether they or anyone else also participated in the far more savage assault of the young investment banker is not known, and may never be known.
This case will provoke an intense scrutiny of criminal justice procedures, including the questioning of suspects. Would the Central Park jogger case have gone differently if New York followed London procedures of videotaping all interrogations? For that matter, would the Louima case have gone differently if the NYPD had videotaped the interrogations of the 70th precinct's police officers, each of whom was a potential suspect?
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Anti-jam technology: Demystifying the CRPA
April 12, 2017 - By Michael Jones
Controlled reception pattern antennas (CRPAs, pronounced “serpers”), adaptive antennas, null-steering antennas, beamforming antennas…
You’ve probably heard of at least one of those terms in any discussion around GPS anti-jam technology for defense.
Because they are all terms that describe essentially the same thing: a specialized antenna that helps protect GPS receivers from interference and jamming.
But what exactly are they? Where did they come from? How do they work? What comes next? Read on and find out.
Let’s go back to the Cold War era, at a time when Soviet and Western states were continuously battling for electronic warfare (EW) superiority. In the early to mid-Cold War, radar jamming was the name of the game. Soviet aircraft, such as the TU-16 Badger and its derivatives, carried a range of EW equipment, including some very high-power jammers designed to interfere with radar systems.
Fast forward to the latter years of the Cold War, and we reach the era when the U.S. was busy developing the exciting new GPS system. The Department of Defense (DoD) wanted to ensure that a robust and accurate global navigation system was available to the military, and so the Navigation System with Timing and Ranging (NAVSTAR) launched its first satellite in 1978, eventually becoming the fully operational GPS system by 1993.
Magnificent and ground-breaking though it was, it was recognized very early on that GPS relied on very low-power satellite transmissions, and would be vulnerable if someone tried to interfere with it. Given the prevalence of high-power jamming during the still-ongoing Cold War, there was concern that, if an adversary knew about GPS, they could easily render it useless in a given operational area.
And so it was that the CRPA came to the rescue.
Enter the CRPA
Once again, this GPS anti-jam technology finds its roots in the Cold War, and specifically in radar technology, where engineers developed clever ways to ensure their radars could continue to operate in the presence of jamming. Sidelobe cancellation (SLC) was a well-established technique in the radar community, where a received jamming signal could be “cancelled” by combining the outputs of more than one antenna in the right way.
So, it didn’t take long to adapt this radar anti-jam technology to the problem of GPS protection, and the CRPA was born. At this point I must declare a modicum of national pride, as the earliest operational GPS anti-jam unit that I know of was British. The Plessey PA 9800 GPS Anti Jam Unit was built at Roke Manor in 1984, and tested in the U.S. at the Yuma Proving Ground, Arizona, in 1985.
This pioneering technology could defeat up to three simultaneous jammers in the shown configuration, but was modular in construction, allowing further channels to be added for handling higher numbers of jammers. And all of this in 1984, in the UK, for a U.S. military navigation system that wasn’t even fully operational yet. Incredible.
From then until the present day, CRPAs have seen continual interest and development as the technology of choice to protect GPS from jamming. So how do they work?
Theory of operation
A CRPA is attractive, because it doesn’t require you to make any changes to the GPS receiver itself: It simply replaces the existing antenna. CRPAs are generally larger than typical GPS antennas, because they contain a number of antenna elements, and some associated electronics to do the clever stuff.
There’s nothing magical or mystical about the basics of CRPAs: It’s just standard theory from your favorite textbook on adaptive signal processing. But, as ever, the devil is in the detail — how to make them work well in practice is more involved. And as the technology is generally export-controlled, I shall leave out the important in-depth details.
CRPAs work by exploiting spatial diversity; that is, making use of the fact that the desired satellite signals, and the unwanted jamming signals, generally arrive from different directions. In simple terms, you create a spatial filter, one that removes signals that arrive from particular directions, whilst letting through signals from other directions. To achieve this, rather than use a single antenna, we use an array of antenna elements.
Let’s think in simple and intuitive terms about how this works. Take a look at Figure 3. Here we have a primary antenna P, and some auxiliary antennas A1, A2, and so on. A signal arriving from the direction shown impinges on antenna A2, and slightly later it arrives at A1, and later still it arrives at P. For the sake of argument, if the signal is a simple sine wave, you will then find that the output from each antenna is that same sine wave, but with a different phase shift depending on the spatial arrangement of the antennas.
Now, let’s consider what we call the “weights,” which are labeled as w1, w2 and so on. Each of the weights, in this case, is simply a phase shift that we can define. By careful choice of weights, we could choose to make each of the antenna outputs align perfectly in phase, and then, when we sum all the outputs together as shown, we end up with a bigger version of the input signal.
This is what we would like to achieve if the signal was a satellite. We “steer” maximum overall antenna gain towards that satellite. This is typically what is meant when we refer to “beamforming;” It means steering maximum antenna gain towards a satellite.
Conversely, we could also choose the weights to have the opposite effect: to minimize or completely cancel out the signal. This, of course, is what we would like to do if the signal was a jammer, and is referred to as “nulling” or “null-steering.”
Figure 3. Adaptive antenna basics.How do we determine what those weights should be? Well, this is where your standard theory in adaptive signal processing comes in. Let’s say the objective is to minimize the jamming power out of the antenna. We can write the output power of the adaptive antenna as:
The average output power can be found by taking expectations:
Taking the minimum and rearranging this leads to the well-known Wiener equation:
This Wiener equation is the one to remember. It says that the optimum weights can be found by taking the inverse of the data covariance matrix, and multiplying it by the vector of cross correlations between the primary and auxiliary antennas. As in any adaptive signal processing problem, a simple way to solve the Weiner equation and get the weights might be to use your favorite gradient descent algorithm, such as least mean squares (LMS):
However, a solution using this approach does have its problems, for reasons beyond the scope of this article. The mathematics of beamforming are also bit more involved, so I’ll leave that out here.
Rather than the grossly simplified diagram used here, most decent CRPAs also use a more complex architecture based on space-time adaptive processing (STAP) or space-frequency adaptive processing (SFAP). This generally allows much higher levels of jammer cancellation against a wider range of threats.
To finish off this whirlwind section on CRPA basics, let’s see what some example antenna gain patterns might look like. In the figures below, the blue line represents the direction of arrival of a GNSS satellite signal, whilst the red lines indicate the direction of arrival of a jammer. In the first diagram we have a single jamming signal: the antenna gain pattern is a nice hemisphere, as we would generally like, but there is a nice deep null in the direction of the jammer. Moving on to the next diagram, we can see the effect of having three simultaneous jammers on the same CRPA: again we have nice deep nulls in the direction of each jammer, but we are starting to lose more of the sky, and we may start to lose the odd satellite as a consequence. Finally, we have an example of beamforming on a single satellite, whilst nulling out a jamming source.
Again, it’s beyond the scope of this article, but the layout of the antenna elements plays an enormously important part in the performance and behavior of the CRPA.
Figure 4. Illustrative beam patterns of a CRPA antenna in the presence of jamming.
Operational Anti-Jam Units
With some images courtesy of my friends at Raytheon, let’s look at a few examples of deployed military CRPA hardware over the years.
The GAS-1 system entered service in the U.S. in 1997, as a replacement for the earlier AE-1 (1990 to 1996). The CRPA is composed of two parts: the antenna array, which is a seven-element layout, and the antenna electronics as a separate box. The GAS-1 was incredibly successful and became the de facto standard anti-jam technology, fitted to air and sea platforms around the world. Even today, 20 years after its launch, it continues to be fitted to many platforms.
Figure 5. GAS-1 CRPA. (Credit: Raytheon)
By the late 1990s and early 2000s, the Navigation Warfare (NAVWAR) program was in full swing, and the military was looking for enhanced protection against evolving jamming threats. The U.S. initiated a program called Advanced Digital Antenna Production (ADAP). The ADAP product, launched in 2006, was a direct form-fit replacement for the analog GAS-1 system, and introduced a number of advanced features. Most notably, the ADAP simultaneously protects both the L1 and L2 frequency bands, and utilizes STAP processing to achieve high levels of wideband jammer cancellation.
Figure 6. ADAP Digital CRPA.
In parallel with the ADAP development, the Digital Antenna Control Unit (DACU) was different in a number of ways. Firstly, it was a true beamforming solution, allowing simultaneous antenna beams to be steered toward satellites, whilst simultaneously nulling out jammers.
Secondly, it was tightly integrated with the GPS receiver, with the GPS receiver hardware located in the same unit.
Thirdly, the DACU was able to perform a number of other advanced functions, such as direction-finding of interference sources. Interestingly, the DACU was used to help locate the source of the interference at the notorious Newark airport jamming incident in 2009.
Figure 7. DACU Beamforming CRPA.
By the mid-2000s, CRPA electronics were pretty mature and well-understood. The electronics had been miniaturized, and pretty much everything was put onto a single chip. But the physical size of the antennas persisted as a problem for some platforms requiring low size, weight and power (SWAP).
The Landshield, launched in 2014, was a step-change in CRPA technology. Not just because it was a small and fully self-contained unit (about the size of a hockey puck), but because it was the world’s first CRPA to include true anti-spoofing capability.
Figure 8. Landshield Advanced CRPA with Anti-Spoof Technology.
Blurring the lines between military and civilian
Going back a few years, the military was heavily focused on CRPAs and anti-jam techniques in general. Military GPS receivers had been developed and deployed, and the question was how they could retrofit robustness to them. At the same time, the commercial world was heavily focused on mass-market GPS receivers — reducing cost, increasing performance — with little care about jamming.
If you’d talked to me five or six years ago, I would have said the military sector is 20 years ahead of the commercial sector in anti-jam technology, and the commercial sector is 20 years ahead of the military sector in receiver technology.
This assertion holds far less true these days; the lines of separation are much more blurred. The military is learning from the commercial world, embracing COTS, and developing new GNSS receivers. Conversely, civilian applications are now much more concerned with jamming, leading to the adoption of low-cost CRPAs in non-military applications.
The future of the CRPA
Where will CRPA technology go from here? We’ve already seen that the latest generation of CRPAs now performs anti-spoofing, as well as anti-jamming. But there is plenty more to see yet.
Although the core technology behind CRPAs is now mature, the trend for the future will be about “doing more with less.” CRPA technology will become more of a multi-function system. Military platforms need to cut down on the number of separate systems they install, and so CRPAs are likely to become multi-functional, performing situational awareness and signals intelligence.
As antenna technology progresses, we will likely see protected navigation solutions utilizing the same hardware as communication systems and radar systems, providing CESM and RESM functions, and being part of an integrated electronic warfare suite. And conformal antennas will see a resurgence of interest for complex and space-constrained platforms.
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This article is tagged with anti-jam, CRPA, defense, GNSS antenna, GPS antenna, jamming, military and posted in Defense, Opinions
About the Author: GPS World Staff
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Mark McGrath Just Wants to Make Yacht Rock
Sugar Ray’s lead singer talks the band’s surprise new album, nineties nostalgia, and why he’ll never ditch the highlights.
Gabriella Paiella
Kevin Estrada
With so many nineties trends storming back into the zeitgeist—tiny sunglasses, low-rise jeans, Newt Gingrich—maybe we should have seen another Sugar Ray album coming. But we didn’t. And, to be fair, neither did lead singer Mark McGrath.
The album, out July 26th, is called Little Yachty as a nod to the rapper Lil Yachty and a signal that Sugar Ray has fully pivoted into yacht rock. The road to its release began when McGrath was shooting a fake studio session for the intro reel of Celebrity Big Brother. But guitarist Rodney Sheppard came prepared with a new song idea—and by the time McGrath reentered society after a month in the Big Brother house, Sheppard informed him that, much to his surprise, BMG was interested in giving them a record deal. Little Yachty is both Sugar Ray’s first album in ten years and their first release since losing two original members of the band, who were around for the “Fly” and “Every Morning” days.
McGrath has a sense of humor, both about the forthcoming album—which he’s just happy to have had an opportunity to make—and his old persona. “If there's a bigger douche look in the nineties than the highlights, I don't know,” he says. “And I'm responsible for it.”
GQ spoke to McGrath about embracing a new genre, his passion for self-deprecation, and, of course, his hair.
GQ: The album’s title references both fact that it sounds like yacht rock and the rapper Lil Yachty. I actually looked it up and realized he was born the same year you guys had your first hit. Has he said anything to you about it?
Mark McGrath: I wanted to be the first to let him know that this was happening. And I was hoping he would be cool with it and had a sense of humor. Hopefully he would get a kick out of that. And he hit me back on Twitter and said, "Oh, bro, you guys are legends and if we can ever jam, I'd love to jam with you guys some day." So I'm so happy to get his co-sign on it because if it bummed him out, that would have bummed me out.
This is your first album in 10 years and the first album since you lost two long-time members of the band. Did you and guitarist Rodney Sheppard ever think you'd break up for good or stop recording under the Sugar Ray name?
The original band was together for 23 years, and two of the guys left to pursue other vocations. Neither one plays music professionally anymore. So I can't make someone stay in the band, you know?
We were limping towards the end there, so it was nice to write a record that wasn't really looked at as being a commodity or a product, simply writing a record for fun. And that's where I kind of found the joy of songwriting again. And I think, Rodney, I'll speak on behalf of him, he did too. Rodney's written some of the most iconic guitar riffs of the nineties. The “Fly” riff, the “Every Morning” riff, the “Someday” riff, these are riffs you hear right away and you know them.
I mean, I'm going to piss some people off, but it's like hearing “Sweet Child O’ Mine”: When you hear Fly's riff—“do, do, do, do, do”—that riff is so iconic. And as long as Rodney's still part of the team we were going to be in good shape.
Sugar Ray started out as a hard rock punk band in the beginning. You transitioned to nu metal. Then you went mainstream pop and now you're all the way to yacht rock. That's a pretty wild trajectory. How’d you end up landing here?
You get better as musicians. When we started out, I loved the Beatles. I loved the Beach Boys and I loved Christopher Cross. I also loved Black Flag, Circle Jerks, and Sex Pistols. Now, when you can't really play music and you can't sing, you're going to gravitate to one sort of genre more than another one. You're not going to do five-part Eagles harmonies when you can't do them, you know?
We spread our wings a little bit on the song “Fly,” no pun intended. And we came up with a song that really worked. And, careful what you ask for, now we have this song that exploded across multiple genres and was one of the biggest songs of the nineties and we were lucky to follow up on subsequent albums. And 14:59 was a record that was bigger than Floored and nobody counted on that. We didn't ourselves. That's why I named it 14:59, as a tribute to Andy Warhol's “everybody gets their 15 minutes of fame someday.”
As a 51-year-old man, father of two, I have no interest in going backwards and playing down tunes, rad rock, or anything of that nature. I've kind of been there and done that. And it's just kind of organic to where we are now, this record that we produced. And we also want to make a record for our fans of Sugar Ray that like the music.
Let's go back to what you said about the 14:59 album and poking fun at yourself, because I was reading this 1999 Rolling Stone interview, and I realized that you've always been kind of self-deprecating and bitingly realistic. How did you develop that attitude?
I've always kind of led with that. It's a defense mechanism or an offensive mechanism, if you will. You've got to disarm people. And I love music. I pride myself on being a three-time Rock & Roll Jeopardy! champion. I'm a historian of music. So the fact that Mark McGrath, some douchebag from Newport Beach, ever got a chance to play in the big leagues and have number one songs and have platinum records and open for the Rolling Stones, I mean, that irony and that impossibility is not lost on me.
It bothers my bandmates and it bothers other people around me, that I kind of put it down so much, but I just think we got so lucky. But at the end of the day, it's also about results. We did sell 10 million records. We did have two number one songs. We did write four top-10 songs. And I'm very proud of that. You can never take away that accomplishment. I don't think I'd be so self-deprecating at this point in our career if those things never happened because we wouldn't have a career. So it's easy to sort of lead with that, but I've always been that way because I know how lucky we have been.
I want to hit you with a few questions about the nineties revival that's been happening. First: what’s the most surprising nineties trend that you have seen come back?
The most surprising thing about looking back is we all look back at it with rose-tinted sunglasses. I obviously lived in the nineties. I had my peak of my career in the nineties, and I don't think it was all that great when we were living in the nineties, you know what I mean? When you look back at it, you look back at it like you might look at a girlfriend or an ex-boyfriend. You only remember the good things. And there were so many great things in the nineties. The kids today, they mine all the great things.
The baggy clothes are coming back. I never thought those gigantic jeans would come back, but you look at Justin Bieber today and he's wearing these giant jeans. So that was an unfortunate trend.
And listen, the highlights. I was a card-carrying member of the highlight club and a torch-bearer and a flag-planter of that club. But at the time, these things didn't seem as great. I don't know if it's I'm just too close to it or not, but it's interesting to see it all come back. And I know the stink of the decade goes away.
When I was growing up in the eighties we looked back at the sixties and we were wearing paisley and all that stuff. So it's fun to see it come around again.
Yeah, and I think the rule is if you wore it the first time around, you're not supposed to do it the next time around.
I think you're right about that. I never stopped wearing the highlights because my hair's gray now. I think I'm going to be the exception to the rule on that. And I took a lot of shit for 20 years for having highlights.
Can you share your highlight routine with us?
It used to be highlights back in the nineties, but now my hair would be like Anderson Cooper gray. So there's a certain thing I do now where I do this like semi-permanent dye and then we go to some blond. It's more of a blond dye, less highlights now. You just kind of dye it all over a little bit. It's still a work in progress. And then the gray starts kind of coming back in again. So you don't want to completely go newscaster copper. There's a way you got to work around it and sort of make it look sort of organic.
So you’re still riding for the highlights but do you have any looks from the nineties that you really regret? Or any trends that you hope just say buried?
I don't think anything was that lame in the nineties, ironically, except highlights, which I apologize for. If there's a bigger douche look in the nineties than the highlights, I don't know. And I'm responsible for it.
You're doing these nineties nostalgia tours. You're going on tour for this album. Do you find that there are any new, younger fans who are just discovering your music for the first time? Or are most of the people from the first time around?
There are a lot of younger faces out there, a lot of them are with their parents, but I see them at meet-and-greets. And they're like, "Yeah you're kind of the last era, the last decade with that traditional band set up." Kids don't even want to learn to play guitar anymore because it takes time. You got to sit down. It's frustrating. There's sort of a zen quality to it. You got to learn it. You can't just do it immediately, like today's generation wants everything done immediately with no work and a little bit of a sense of entitlement. I know I sound like a curmudgeon, but am I wrong?
You've been on a lot of reality TV [Ed. note: along with Celebrity Big Brother, McGrath has appeared on The Celebrity Apprentice, Celebrity Wife Swap, and Pussycat Dolls Present: The Search for the Next Doll.] in your day. What are some of your favorites to watch?
I watched the OG Real World when it debuted on MTV, I think in 1991. So I was hooked back then. And ever since then, the Bachelor, Bachelorette. That's the one thing my wife and I can agree on. But I get dark in my reality shows. I like watching Lockup and the prison shows and all that stuff.
My last question is, what are your hopes for this album?
My hopes for this album and the way it's going to change my life are probably going to be the same as yours.
It's not going to change your life. Hopefully it does well. My hopes for the record are already met. We made a record and it's coming out. So it's done. I know that sounds a bit of maybe a defeatist, but certainly coming from that day where we sold millions of records … we got to make another record on a major label. You know what I mean? I never thought that was going to happen again for Sugar Ray. Never in a million years.
This interview has been edited and condensed.
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Finalist for the 2014 National Book Award in Poetry
People want to be poets for reasons that have little to do with language.
It’s the life of the poet that they want.
Even the glow of loneliness and humiliation.
To walk in the gutter with a bottle of wine.
Some people’s lives are more poetic than a poem,
and Francis is certainly one of these.
I know, because he walked beside me for that short time
whether you believe it or not.
—from “Outremer”
Fanny Howe’s poetry is known for its lyricism, fragmentation, experimentation, religious engagement, and commitment to social justice. In Second Childhood, the observing poet is an impersonal figure who accompanies Howe in her encounters with chance and mystery. She is not one age or the other, in one time or another. She writes, “The first question in the Catechism is: / What was humanity born for? / To be happy is the correct answer.”
“One of the boldest lyric poets in the United States.”—The Philadelphia Inquirer
“We cannot do without Fanny Howe.”—The Nation
The new poetry collection by Fanny Howe, whose “body of work seems larger, stranger, and more permanent with each new book she publishes.”—Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize citation
Credit: Lynn Christoffers
Fanny Howe is the author of more than thirty works of poetry and prose, including Love and I, The Needle's Eye, Come and See, and The Winter Sun. Her most recent poetry collection, Second Childhood, was a finalist for the National Book Award, and her fiction has been honored as a finalist for the Man Booker International Prize. She lives in New England.
http://www.fannyhowe.com/
"The mystery of faith, the question of an afterlife, the joys and sorrows of motherhood and grandmotherhood—all are explored in this new volume by one of America's most dazzling poets."—O, The Oprah Magazine
“The real triumph of [Howe’s] art . . . offers glimpses of the unseeable, shards of the unsayable, between the slats of the words, between meanings.”—The New York Times Book Review
“Fanny Howe's sixteenth book of poetry, Second Childhood, is a spiritual meditation in human terms.”—National Book Award Judges' Citation
“Between the bookends of childhood and the promise of ‘meaning in the end,’ the world of the poem seeks delight in seeing through what Howe calls ‘gauze of a crystal kind. . . .’”—World Literature Today, Editor’s Pick
Percival Everett
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Rodrigues announces funding for anti-gang programs in Fall River
Herald News Staff
BOSTON — Gov. Charlie Baker, Lt. Gov. Karyn Polito, and Secretary of Public Safety Thomas Turco announced the 2019 Sen. Charles E. Shannon Jr. Community Safety Initiative Grant Awards. The Shannon program is aimed at reducing gang violence across the commonwealth.
The city of Fall River will receive a Shannon Community Safety Initiative Grant Award for $420,636. As part of his efforts to support public safety in Fall River, Sen. Michael J. Rodrigues, D-Westport, pushed to have this funding included in the fiscal 2019 budget.
“The Shannon Community Safety Initiative’s programs are a vital component of our community’s public safety, which is always a priority,” Rodrigues said. “I am gratified to be able to support the efforts of Police Chief Dupere and the city of Fall River’s Youth Services Coordinator Christian McCloskey, in encouraging Fall River’s youth to reject gang violence, and in keeping the city safe.”
Between the Shannon Grant and the $960,200 in Public Safety Staffing Grants that Rodrigues announced in December, the city of Fall River has received over $1.38 million in public safety grants so far in fiscal 2019.
Per the Office of Grants and Research, the Shannon Community Safety Initiative is a multi-pronged approach to address a community’s gang and youth violence problem using five strategy areas: social intervention, suppression, opportunity provision, organizational change and community mobilization. The initiative was started in 2006.
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Home> Publications & Directories> Perspectives on History> Issues> October 2018> Features> To Chart a Course
To Chart a Course
Helping Middle Schoolers Broaden Their Vision of History
Lisa Gilbert | Oct 1, 2018
“I wouldn’t care if it was a fantasy universe,” one of my eighth graders explained. “But they said it was Rome. So I think they have more responsibility that way.”
My students were critically evaluating the trailer for the video game Ryse: Son of Rome, debating whether portrayals of the ancient world in popular media mattered or if it was all “just a game.” They were animated as they critiqued the ways “civilized” Roman characters wore shining metal armor compared to enemy characters, whose clothing was made of fur and bone. As we talked, I wondered: My students were enjoying our discussion, but did they understand that what we were doing had a legitimate place in serious history education?
With the help of #twitterstorians, Gilbert revised her chart, designed to help middle schoolers comprehend the field of history. This version is a work in progress; further revisions could continue to help represent history's complexity. Courtesy Lisa Gilbert
My approach to teaching history is rooted in a different professional path from that of many secondary school teachers. Nearly a decade in history museums had propelled me into a doctorate in social studies curriculum and instruction. As I moved through my program, I realized that this public history background made me particularly aware of how people found value in the ways they interacted with history in spaces beyond school—experiences like visiting historic sites, watching films set in historical time periods, and sharing family stories. Whereas most efforts at improving secondary history instruction focused on helping students mimic the work of academic historians, I realized that K–12 students also needed to learn how to engage the historical claims they will encounter in many parts of their lives.
Students’ responses made it clear they were starting to perceive history in many places beyond the classroom.
After graduating, I found myself teaching at an independent school dedicated to a classical education aimed at imbuing students with “a desire to lift up the world with beauty and intellect.” As the eighth-grade ancient history survey curriculum moved toward a unit on Greco-Roman history, I paused. In our current cultural context, I felt it would be irresponsible to teach such a unit without reference to the ways emboldened white supremacist movements frequently draw on Greco-Roman imagery.
This point seemed particularly relevant for this school’s students, who are required to take two years of Latin and two years of Greek as a foundation for a deep engagement with classical literature. For these students especially, it seemed essential that they know how to articulate the value they found in classics in a way that explicitly rejected the field’s co-optation by white supremacists. Therefore, to fulfill the school’s mission, we could not content ourselves with staying safely in the past (as it were). We needed to talk directly about the reception of this history and the ways it is often activated for contemporary political aims.
With this in mind, I searched for materials that would be appropriate for my eighth-grade classroom. While academic publications represented a daunting reading level, the efforts historians had been making to communicate their research in the public sphere offered a more accessible set of texts. So we opened the unit with Rebecca Futo Kennedy’s “We Condone It by Our Silence: Confronting Classics’ Complicity in White Supremacy,” which prompted a discussion of academe and how students might evaluate the colleges to which they would one day consider applying. Then we paired Sarah E. Bond’s essay “Why We Need to Start Seeing the Classical World in Color” with coverage of its reception in Inside Higher Education, a duo that gave us a chance to learn more about contemporary outrage campaigns targeting professors who investigate the types of race and gender issues my students regularly found so compelling.
To add to our examination of representation started by the Ryse: Son of Rome trailer, we used Ben Davis’s “The New White Nationalism’s Sloppy Use of Art History, Decoded,” as well as Mary Beard’s public response to critiques of the BBC video showing an ancient Roman family with many skin tones. Overall, my goal was to help them understand the broader context of historical scholarship, how knowledge is produced, and how scholars debate with one another. Throughout, I hoped they would learn that history is an ongoing investigation rather than a recitation of unquestioned facts.
I wanted my students to articulate the value they found in classics in a way that rejected the field’s co-optation by white supremacists.
As we worked our way through these articles, I could sense that students were somewhat confused by this focus on contemporary scholarship and received history. Both cultural expectations and their educational experiences elsewhere contributed to their shared, unconscious assumption that “studying history” meant “memorizing a historical narrative.” While we hadn’t abandoned the traditional textbook entirely, it was a little disorienting for them to see the things they enjoyed out of school, like musicals and video games, suddenly appear in their classroom. I knew I needed to make my pedagogical reasoning explicit—we were likely seeing the very field of history differently.
So one morning I drew a chart that helped explain how I conceived of the field. My hope was to show how ideas about past events flow through the mediation of academic and public history to become beliefs that persist in our common historical memory. I also wanted students to understand that the questions of historical memory—which I identified as “Where do we think we come from? Who do we think we are?”—were fundamentally political questions. I drew a picture that was simplified but reasonably accurate. Then, because I regularly use Twitter as a way to make my teaching more transparent to parents (many of whom follow my account), I tweeted an image of the chart shortly before class started.
In the next few days, I was astounded to see how far the tweet traveled. I frankly did not anticipate the interest my chart would garner, even meriting a volunteer translation into Spanish. Many responded with generous insights on further items that might be included, something that made me reflect on how collegial and supportive the history community on Twitter can be. Over winter break, I sifted through the many excellent suggestions #Twitterstorians had given me and revised the chart.
I then re-introduced the chart to my students. I asked them to compile lists of the ways history appeared in their lives. Their responses made it clear that they were starting to perceive history in many places beyond the classroom. They reasoned through portrayals they had seen in movies such as the recent release Dunkirk and reconsidered online debates they had participated in on sites like Reddit.
I needed to make my reasoning explicit—my students and I were likely seeing the very field of history differently.
Most strikingly, though, they recounted family stories of relatives who witnessed revolutions and fled their home countries as refugees; as they put their family’s story in the context of history, they seemed sensitized to a disconnect between popular portrayals and historical experiences.
But it was family stories that came through the strongest. A Jewish student who had relatives who were murdered in concentration camps reflected, “In media, Jews are background characters who never fight back. The resistance fighters are very important to history and aren’t commonly shown or talked about. Real Jews who lived in ghettos were rebellious, and many died trying to bring food to their communities or stand up to authorities.”
These personal connections matter. At the end of the year, it makes little difference to me whether my students will have memorized a series of dates and names, or whether they will be able to recount a textbook-driven historical narrative. What they need to learn by heart is something different. In a time when we can look up facts so easily online, recalling the information that appears readily beneath our searching fingertips is of little importance. Instead, as history teachers we can endeavor to dedicate our students’ history education to developing the critical thinking skills needed to sort through landslides of information in a way that is consistent with the values that reside in their hearts.
Lisa Gilbert has taught in K–12 schools, universities, and museums in the United States and abroad. She holds a doctorate in curriculum and instruction focused on social studies education from Saint Louis University. She currently works as an adjunct instructor for the College of Education at the University of Missouri–Columbia.
Tags: Features Resources for K-12 Educators K-16 Education
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I am forced to admit that even though I had traveled a long distance to place Bowen Tyler's manuscript in the hands of his father, I was still a trifle skeptical as to its sincerity, since I could not but recall that it had not been many years since Bowen had been one of the most notorious practical jokers of his alma mater. The truth was that as I sat in the Tyler library at Santa Monica I commenced to feel a trifle foolish and to wish that I had merely forwarded the manuscript by express instead of bearing it personally, for I confess that I do not enjoy being laughed at. I have a well-developed sense of humor—when the joke is not on me.
Mr. Tyler, Sr., was expected almost hourly. The last steamer in from Honolulu had brought information of the date of the expected sailing of his yacht Toreador, which was now twenty-four hours overdue. Mr. Tyler's assistant secretary, who had been left at home, assured me that there was no doubt but that the Toreador had sailed as promised, since he knew his employer well enough to be positive that nothing short of an act of God would prevent his doing what he had planned to do. I was also aware of the fact that the sending apparatus of the Toreador's wireless equipment was sealed, and that it would only be used in event of dire necessity. There was, therefore, nothing to do but wait, and we waited.
We discussed the manuscript and hazarded guesses concerning it and the strange events it narrated. The torpedoing of the liner upon which Bowen J. Tyler, Jr., had taken passage for France to join the American Ambulance was a well-known fact, and I had further substantiated by wire to the New York office of the owners, that a Miss La Rue had been booked for passage. Further, neither she nor Bowen had been mentioned among the list of survivors; nor had the body of either of them been recovered.
Their rescue by the English tug was entirely probable; the capture of the enemy U-33 by the tug's crew was not beyond the range of possibility; and their adventures during the perilous cruise which the treachery and deceit of Benson extended until they found themselves in the waters of the far South Pacific with depleted stores and poisoned water-casks, while bordering upon the fantastic, appeared logical enough as narrated, event by event, in the manuscript.
Caprona has always been considered a more or less mythical land, though it is vouched for by an eminent navigator of the eighteenth century; but Bowen's narrative made it seem very real, however many miles of trackless ocean lay between us and it. Yes, the narrative had us guessing. We were agreed that it was most improbable; but neither of us could say that anything which it contained was beyond the range of possibility. The weird flora and fauna of Caspak were as possible under the thick, warm atmospheric conditions of the super-heated crater as they were in the Mesozoic era under almost exactly similar conditions, which were then probably world-wide. The assistant secretary had heard of Caproni and his discoveries, but admitted that he never had taken much stock in the one nor the other. We were agreed that the one statement most difficult of explanation was that which reported the entire absence of human young among the various tribes with which Tyler had had intercourse. This was the one irreconcilable statement of the manuscript. A world of adults! It was impossible.
We speculated upon the probable fate of Bradley and his party of English sailors. Tyler had found the graves of two of them; how many more might have perished! And Miss La Rue—could a young girl long have survived the horrors of Caspak after having been separated from all of her own kind? The assistant secretary wondered if Nobs still was with her, and then we both smiled at this tacit acceptance of the truth of the whole uncanny tale:
"I suppose I'm a fool," remarked the assistant secretary; "but by George, I can't help believing it, and I can see that girl now, with the big Airedale at her side protecting her from the terrors of a million years ago. I can visualize the entire scene—the apelike Grimaldi men huddled in their filthy caves; the huge pterodactyls soaring through the heavy air upon their bat-like wings; the mighty dinosaurs moving their clumsy hulks beneath the dark shadows of preglacial forests—the dragons which we considered myths until science taught us that they were the true recollections of the first man, handed down through countless ages by word of mouth from father to son out of the unrecorded dawn of humanity."
"It is stupendous—if true," I replied. "And to think that possibly they are still there—Tyler and Miss La Rue—surrounded by hideous dangers, and that possibly Bradley still lives, and some of his party! I can't help hoping all the time that Bowen and the girl have found the others; the last Bowen knew of them, there were six left, all told—the mate Bradley, the engineer Olson, and Wilson, Whitely, Brady and Sinclair. There might be some hope for them if they could join forces; but separated, I'm afraid they couldn't last long."
"If only they hadn't let the German prisoners capture the U-33! Bowen should have had better judgment than to have trusted them at all. The chances are von Schoenvorts succeeded in getting safely back to Kiel and is strutting around with an Iron Cross this very minute. With a large supply of oil from the wells they discovered in Caspak, with plenty of water and ample provisions, there is no reason why they couldn't have negotiated the submerged tunnel beneath the barrier cliffs and made good their escape."
"I don't like 'em," said the assistant secretary; "but sometimes you got to hand it to 'em."
"Yes," I growled, "and there's nothing I'd enjoy more than handing it to them!" And then the telephone-bell rang.
The assistant secretary answered, and as I watched him, I saw his jaw drop and his face go white. "My God!" he exclaimed as he hung up the receiver as one in a trance. "It can't be!"
"What?" I asked.
"Mr. Tyler is dead," he answered in a dull voice. "He died at sea, suddenly, yesterday."
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X-Men Franchise Poised for Shake-Up as Fox’s Marvel Heroes Migrate to Disney
March 20, 2019 6:15am by Borys Kit, Aaron Couch
'Dark Phoenix' will be the first X-Men movie marketed by Disney. | Doane Gregory/Twentieth Century Fox
Unless Kevin Feige has a completed script waiting in his desk drawer, the newly arriving heroes from the Disney-Fox merger are unlikely to hit screens until at least 2021, if not later.
On Tuesday morning, Ryan Reynolds tweeted a photo of his R-rated character Deadpool on a school bus, sporting Mickey Mouse ears.
"Feels like the first day of ‘Pool,'" Reynolds captioned the photo. Less than 18 hours later, Deadpool officially joined the Disney family, along with his fellow mutants in the X-Men and superheroes in the Fantastic Four teams, as part of Disney's acquisition of 21st Century Fox.
Marvel Studios has built an empire using characters that were once considered B-list, because many of its A-players had been licensed out to other studios, including Fox.
Now for the first time, the studio's cinematic universe will have access to classic characters that were once key pillars to the publishing division. Fantastic Four is the comic that launched Marvel, while X-Men was the best-selling and most influential comic title for over two decades.
The injection of new characters comes as Avengers: Endgame will presumably be the swan song for some of the characters who have turned from heroes largely unknown outside of comic book circles to the faces of billion-dollar franchises, such as Chris Evans' Captain America and Robert Downey Jr.'s Iron Man.
Reynolds' Deadpool is expected to be the only iteration of the X-Men to make the jump to Disney, with Disney CEO Bob Iger having confirmed multiple times that a popular, R-rated version of the character could exist at the studio.
But before it reboots the X-Men, Disney is inheriting two projects from Fox. Dark Phoenix (June 7) will be the first X-Men movie marketed by the studio and comes from longtime X-Men producer Simon Kinberg, making his directorial debut.
The fate of the other film, writer-director Josh Boone's New Mutants, remains in the hands of Disney execs, who will decide its future after seeing it. New Mutants still has an Aug. 2 release date, but is said to be troubled. The idea of reshoots has been brought up, although the film could ultimately end up on a streaming platform, such as Disney+ or Hulu rather than a theatrical release.
Charting a path forward for the X-Men isn't the only challenge faced by the integration. The X-Men films date back to 2000's X-Men, and there are producer deals that will need to be looked at and either untangled or bought out, say sources. Lauren Shuler Donner, who championed the 2000 film and has been a producer on all Fox's mutant-centric movies, is said to have a deal that calls for her to receive an executive producer credit on any X-Men movie whether or not she is actively involved. Kinberg may have a similar deal.
Marvel Studios has not publicly revealed any plans for integrating members of the X-Men and Fantastic Four into its cinematic universe, though Marvel Studios head Kevin Feige is said to have met with several members of the X-Men old guard in recent months. Fargo showrunner Noah Hawley, who was hired to write a Doctor Doom movie in 2017, earlier this month confirmed he's spoken to Feige about the script centering on the Fantastic Four villain, though Hawley downplayed how serious those discussions were.
Though the Marvel projects will be under the purview of Feige, who has worked on Marvel properties since 2000's X-Men, genre-based special effect-laden extravaganzas will still be made at Fox. In early January, Fox greenlit its last batch of pre-Disney acquisition movies that are now beginning to go into production and will be overseen by Disney brass on some level. Fear Street, based on the R.L. Stine books, began shooting a couple of weeks ago. Free Guy, which stars Reynolds as a man who realizes he's living in a video game movie, has Shawn Levy set to direct and begins shooting next month.
Mouse Guard, based on the Boom! Studios comic series, is a motion-capture franchise starter being produced by Matt Reeves beginning in May. Steven Spielberg’s take on West Side Story is to begin shooting this summer while Death on the Nile, the follow-up to Murder on the Orient Express, is prepping for a late September start with Kenneth Branagh back as detective Hercule Poirot and Gal Gadot and Armie Hammer on the suspects list.
Marvel has just one movie officially dated and titled for after Endgame — July's Spider-Man: Far From Home, a co-production with Sony Pictures. While Disney's release schedule does contain the highest volume of untitled Marvel movies yet (two in 2020, three in 2021), it remains unclear when an X-Men or Fantastic Four movie could make it onto the calendar. Marvel is expected to shoot Black Widow and The Eternals this year, with kung fu hero Shang-Chi likely to bring up the rear. Also in development are sequels to Black Panther, Doctor Strange and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3. Unless Feige has a completed script waiting in his desk drawer, any of the newly arrived heroes are unlikely to hit screens at least until 2021, if not later.
CGR Cinemas' First ICE Theater in the U.S. To Open at Regal's L.A. Live
'The Handmaid's Tale' Makeup Designer on "Raw and Real" Approach to Visual Trajectory of June
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Home News Breaking News Choice Hotels Canada Kicks Off Third-Annual Book to Build Campaign
Choice Hotels Canada Kicks Off Third-Annual Book to Build Campaign
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TORONTO — Choice Hotels Canada is kicking off its third-annual Book to Build campaign with fundraising efforts beginning this week. The campaign raised more than $115,000 last year and this year, the goal has been increased to $145,000, with 100 per cent of the proceeds going to Habitat for Humanity Canada.
Starting May 10, guests at any of the 150 participating properties will have a portion of their room proceeds donated to help families in need of affordable housing. The campaign runs until May 26.
“We make it a priority to give back to the community and it’s very important to us as a company,” says Brian Leon, president, Choice Hotels Canada. “Working with Habitat for Humanity allows us to build homes alongside families in need of housing and we’re thrilled to be bringing back this initiative for a third year.”
Funds are being raised in a variety of ways throughout the month, with many Choice properties working on fundraising within their own communities. Members of the Choice Privileges loyalty program are also able to get involved by donating their points.
“Affordable home ownership provides families with strong foundations to build better opportunities for themselves,” says Mark Rodgers, Habitat for Humanity Canada‘s president and CEO. “Each year, this campaign continues to grow and thanks to the efforts of Choice Hotels Canada and all those involved, we’re able to continue to help even more families in communities across the country.” To date, the Book to Build campaign has raised $219,000, with a goal of raising $500,000 over the next three years.
Book-to-Build campaign
Brian Leon
Choice Hotels Canada
Choice Privileges
Habitat for Humanity Canada
Previous articleFour Seasons Hotel Vancouver Dedicates New Mural to its Community
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Shaping the Guest Experience with CRM
kostuch - July 4, 2019
Customer Relationship Management (CRM) often brings to mind processes and software. And though that’s a large part of it, today CRM is...
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PREVIEW: THE TRIANGLE NORTH CAROLINA 2014-2015 JAZZ SEASON by Larry Reni Thomas
(Published: August 01, 2014)
The busy, expanding, thoroughly-satisfying jazz scene in what is called the "Triangle" area of the Piedmont section of North Carolina just keeps getting better and better. Who needs the New York or the D.C. jazz scene when everybody seems to be coming this way' The area can boast of several venues that present jazz like, C. Grace's, Irregardless Café, Brasa's, Sullivan's and Bia in Raleigh; The Beyu, The Carolina Theatre, Motorco Music Hall, Blue Note Grill, Durham Jazz Workshop and the Hayti Heritage Center in Durham; and Piola's, Weaver Street, The Station, The Second Wind and The Arts Center in Chapel Hill/Carrboro. The scene is also enhanced by the music presented by the three main universities in the area: Duke University in Durham (Duke Performances, www.dukeperformances.duke.edu), North Carolina State University (Center Stage, www.ncsu.edu/centerstage) and The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC-CH) (Carolina Performing Arts, www.carolinaperformingarts.org).
In addition, other area colleges and universities present live jazz and have outstanding jazz studies program and jazz ensembles. North Carolina Central University (NCCU) in Durham has nationally-acclaimed, award-winning jazz ensembles, under the direction of saxophonist, Dr. Ira Wiggins. They have performed at The White House twice and at The Montreux Jazz Festival in Switzerland. Durham resident saxophonist Branford Marsalis was recently an artist-in-residence at NCCU, and vocalist Nnnena Freelon, who also lives in Durham, has been featured at several of NCCU jazz events.
A good sign that the Triangle jazz scene is growing is the very pleasant emergence of organizations dedicated to jazz: The Art of Cool Project in Durham, The North Carolina Jazz Listening Group, Time and Tide Productions and The Triangle Jazz Society, which has been around since 2005. In April 2014, The Art Of Cool Project presented an excellent two day concert affair that was a tremendous success that featured a host of all-star musicians, including Hubert Laws, The Clayton Brothers, Nnenna Freelon, Christian Scott, Bilal and others. The local music lovers are still talking about it and can hardly wait for the 2015 edition of The Art Of Cool Festival to come around.
The area is also fortunate enough to have two 24-hour jazz radio stations, NCCU' s WNCU-FM, Durham (which will be celebrating its 20th anniversary in 2015), and Shaw University's WSHA-FM, Raleigh, and WFSS-FM, in nearby Fayetteville, at Fayetteville State University. Other radio stations, such as WCOM-FM, Chapel Hill-Carrboro's community station, Duke University's WXDU-FM, and UNC-CH's WXYC-FM, also program jazz music. WXYC-FM , WNCU-FM and WSHA-FM have all held jazz concerts this past year.
This robust, contagious wonderful jazz activity makes for a jazz scene that is just as hip as any scene in the nation, or the world for that matter. Where else, can you hear radio stations playing the music day and night, experience live jazz in the clubs, colleges and the universities, and have an abundance of jazz studies programs in almost all of the area's institutions of higher learning, including high schools' Jazz heaven maybe. This Triangle jazz community is enjoying jazz heaven very well. It also knows its jazz music and all will smile and be highly pleased with the upcoming, splendid, variety-packed 2014-15 jazz music season.
The fall jazz season gets started when The Pat Metheny Unity Group , comes to the area, August 9, at The Carolina Theatre, Durham. On August 22, The Rebirth Brass Band and Dumpstaphunk performs at UNC-CH' s Memorial Hall. There are two concerts to choose from on September 5: Hot Sardines at Talley Student Union on North Carolina State University's campus and an event called The Campbell Brothers Play John Coltrane's A Love Supreme at The Hayti Heritage Center in Durham, North Carolina. Next up, The Fifth Annual Hillsborough Jazz Festival on September 13, featuring trumpeter Tom Browne (who lives in the Triangle) and others, will take place in that Orange County town. On September 16, the Senegalese superstar Youssour N' Dour and his dynamic band will be featured at Memorial Hall, UNC-CH. Four days later, September 20, The Fourth Annual Apex Jazz Festival, in suburban Apex, outside of Raleigh, is scheduled to take place, with groups that include Jamrock Reggae Band and The Will McBride Group.
On October 8, 2014, Jazz At Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis, is scheduled to perform, at Memorial Hall, UNC-Chapel Hill. This group's appearance in the area is fast becoming an annual almost always sold-out event. On October 18, a program called The Bad Plus Play Ornette Coleman's Science Fiction, is slated to take place at Baldwin Auditorium, on Duke University's East Campus. The same night, the San Francisco Jazz Collective will be performing twice (5 pm and 8 pm) at Titmus Theatre, on North Carolina State University's campus.
November jazz concerts include what should be one of the highlights of the season with a much-anticipated event on November 6, with pianist Allen Toussaint and The Preservation Hall Jazz Band, appearing at The Carolina Theatre, Durham, North Carolina. The sultry, excellent vocalist Dianne Reeves returns to the area on November 16, to perform at Memorial Hall, on UNC-CH's campus. Another fine vocalist and composer, Brazil's pride and joy, Milton Nascimento, is also scheduled to be on the same stage in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, on November 22, 2014.
The Carolina Performing Arts's "Jazz For The Holidays" withThe North Carolina Jazz Repertory Orchestra at Memorial Hall, UNC-CH, is slated for December 8, 2014. Three days later, on December 11, The Brad Mehldau Trio, will be presented by Duke Performances, at Baldwin Auditorium.
The spring season of jazz programing in the Triangle should start the new year of 2015 off with a righteous bang. It begins, January 30--31, with The Branford Marsalis Quartet , at Reynolds Industrial Theater, Duke University. On February 13, vocalist extraordinaire Kurt Elling returns to the area to perform at Reynolds on Duke University's campus. Irving Mayfield and the New Orleans Jazz Orchestra comes to town on February 15 to entertain at Memorial Hall on UNC-CH's campus. Jazz fans will have two superb gigs to choose from on February 20: the boss drummer Brian Blade and The Fellowship Band in Chapel Hill and the seasoned pianist Jason Moran and Bandwagon, along with the dance ensemble Ronald K. Brown/Evidence, who are scheduled to be at Reynolds Theatre (Duke University) that night and the next one (February 21) as well. Six days later, another event that should draw a packed house, will feature the venerable, award-winning, innovative reedman, Anthony Braxton and his quintet.
On March 20 and 21, the exciting violinist, Detroit native, Regina Carter and her group makes a return appearance in the area when she graces the stage at Titmus Theatre on the campus of North Carolina State University, Raleigh, North Carolina Finally. the queen herself, the one and only , the wonderful gifted vocalist Cassandra Wilson is slated to be at The Carolina Theatre in Durham, North Carolina, April 14. 2015. This is sure to be a sell-out! Advice: Get your tickets early!
Whew! What a fine, fruitful, uplifting jazz season 2014-15 looks to be in the Triangle area of North Carolina and one that will get better and better as time goes by. We've gone full circle. Jazz musicians used to leave the state. Now there coming back to the place where Trane, Monk Max, Nina and Percy were born. The music is alive and well in North Carolina and the proof is in the pudding. Viva the Carolina jazz connection!
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Previous Story The Magnificent Seven: Imaging Resource’s Camera of the Year Awards
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Dispute between Humans of New York photographer and DKNY ends with $25K donation to photographer’s charity
blog charity dkny donna karan facebook hony humans of new york photo blog photographer tumblr
by Dan Havlik
posted Monday, February 25, 2013 at 2:48 PM EDT
A dispute between a photographer who runs a popular photo blog and a major fashion designer seems to have ended amicably with a big donation by the designer to the photographer's charity.
Brandon Stanton who runs Humans of New York, a blog that features his street portraits of New Yorkers, was incensed that DKNY, the clothing label started by designer Donna Karan, appeared to have used dozens of his images in a storefront in Bangkok, Thailand without his permission. DKNY had initially approached Stanton about purchasing 300 of his photos to hang in store windows "around the world." The company offered Stanon $15,000 for the images, a figure the photographer thought was too low and initially turned down.
Not long after, a fan of Stanton's sent him an image showing his photos in the window of a DKNY store in Bangkok. Stanton shared the news about the dispute on the popular Humans of New York Facebook page, which has over 562,000 "likes."
"These photos were used without my knowledge, and without compensation," Stanton wrote. "I don't want any money. But please SHARE this post if you think that DKNY should donate $100,000 on my behalf to the YMCA in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn. That donation would sure help a lot of deserving kids go to summer camp."
Well, apparently DKNY saw Stanton's post and admitted it had made a mistake, offering to donate $25,000 to the YMCA in the following status update on its Facebook page:
"Since its founding in 1989, DKNY has been inspired by and incorporated authentic New York into its imagery. For our Spring 2013 store window visuals we decided to celebrate the city that is in our name by showcasing 'Only in NYC' images. We have immense respect for Brandon Stanton aka Humans of New York and approached him to work with us on this visual program. He declined to participate in the project. For the Spring 2013 windows program, we licensed and paid for photos from established photography service providers. However, it appears that inadvertently the store in Bangkok used an internal mock up containing some of Mr. Stanton's images that was intended to merely show the direction of the spring visual program. We apologize for this error and are working to ensure that only the approved artwork is used. DKNY has always supported the arts and we deeply regret this mistake. Accordingly, we are making a charitable donation of $25,000 to the YMCA in Bedford-Stuyvesant Brooklyn in Mr. Stanton's name."
While it's less than the $100,000 Stanton was asking for, he says he's satisfied with the donation.
"$25k will help a lot of kids at the YMCA," Stanton wrote. "I know a lot of you would like to have seen the full $100k, but we are going to take them at their word that it was a mistake, and be happy that this one had a happy ending."
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News By Lyz Hoffman | Thu Mar 12, 2015 | 12:00am
Salary Shootout at the County Corral
Supervisors Yowl Over Pay Raise Hypocrisy
Salud Carbajal
In a rare episode of heavy-duty dais drama, County Supervisors Salud Carbajal and Steve Lavagnino criticized Supervisor Peter Adam on Tuesday for accepting a pay raise that he had spent months bashing.
In December, the supervisors voted 4-1, with Adam against, to award themselves a $9,964 raise. The 12 percent hike was added to their $84,200 salary, which had been frozen since 2006. The decision to bump their own pay — which many supervisors said was “awkward” — came after county staff found Santa Barbara’s supes were making 30 percent less than their counterparts in comparable counties.
Steve Lavagnino
Tuesday’s meeting featured the findings of a six-person committee assembled to analyze how the board could go about giving themselves raises in the years to come. In its research, the committee found that had the supervisors received cost-of-living raises between 2007 and 2014, the combined increase over those years would have been greater than their recent pay boost. It also found that the supes make less than the average department head ($167,200) and assistant department head ($128,360); the average county employee, not counting those who work in public safety, earns $65,400.
After meeting four times, the committee on Tuesday suggested various ways for how the supervisors could deal with future increases — including revisiting salaries every three years and comparing them to what electeds in similar counties make — but the board voted 3-1 (Supervisor Doreen Farr was absent) to limit future pay hikes to 0-3 percent, based on inflation.
Adam, again the lone vote against the move, took the findings in the opposite direction, insisting that the board not only doesn’t need a raise but could also use a pay cut. “I think that we should evaluate ourselves much more on the fiscal health of the county and whether or not we’re taking care of our infrastructure needs when we evaluate what our job performance is,” he said. “I would give us a D.”
But Adam’s remarks didn’t fly with Lavagnino, who called him out for taking the raise he has been so outspoken against. “You have to give the money back,” he said. “I don’t see how you can ethically say, ‘I’m fighting for this, and we should take a pay cut, and we don’t deserve a raise,’ and get all the accolades that go along with that,” Lavagnino complained. “At the same time, in the dark of night, you get to cash the same check that we are, and we’re taking the heat for it.”
Peter Adam
Carbajal agreed, pointing to a decision he “didn’t brag about” to impose a furlough on himself in 2008 after the board levied furloughs on county workers. During that period, Carbajal had a cumulative $2,600 taken out of his paycheck. “It’s one thing to kick up a lot of dust,” Carbajal said to Adam. “But to have the audacity to not return that money? It’s abhorrent to have such contradiction and to be such a hypocrite. We have to have integrity in the decisions that we make. It’s not just about grandstanding.”
Adam, visibly flustered, said it wasn’t “inconsistent” to take the raise. “I’m not going to give it back — that’s ridiculous,” he said. “You guys don’t define morality. If we were at the ranch, I’d have a short phrase for you.”
Adam insisted that he has made significantly less than his colleagues. Auditor-Controller Bob Geis said Adam claimed lower pay because he opted out of the county’s employer-sponsored medical plan, but that all supervisors earn the same base pay. If Adam wanted to return his raise to the county, Geis said, he would have to take the same steps that Carbajal did in 2008.
The $9,964 raise is being covered by General Fund dollars, Geis said. Any future inflation-based raises of 0-3 percent would also come out of that pot.
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Migration for Development in Africa (MIDA)
Migration and Development ›
Many parts of the African continent are currently affected by a shortage of qualified human resources. Large-scale departures of executives and university graduates have contributed to this shortage.
Thousands of African professionals such as medical doctors, nurses, accountants, engineers, managers, teachers, etc. leave Africa each year. The main reason for their departure has been to improve their living conditions, either by pursuing studies or by seeking better-paying jobs. Others depart fleeing from insecurity and/or unstable political and socio-economic conditions.
The resulting brain drain heightens the dependency of African economies by compelling them to resort to costly foreign expertise in many areas, which in turn creates a widening vicious circle.
What is MIDA?
"Migration for Development in Africa" (MIDA) is a capacity-building programme, which helps to mobilize competencies acquired by African nationals abroad for the benefit of Africa's development.
Based on its long experience in the Return of Qualified African Nationals (RQAN), IOM has launched this new programme to strengthen its capacity building efforts in assisting African countries to benefit from the investment they have made in their nationals. Many African nationals in the diaspora are applying their qualifications and skills in developed countries in Europe and North America. Such qualifications and skills should be brought back into the mainstream of development of the African continent. Through its mobility-based approach, MIDA aims at helping African nationals to directly contribute to the development of their countries of origin.
The Organization for the African Unity (OAU) endorsed the MIDA programme at the 74th Ordinary Session of the Council of Ministers and the 37th Ordinary Session of the Assembly of Heads of State and Government of the OAU that took place from 5 to 7 July 2001 and from 9 to 11 July 2001 respectively, in Lusaka, Zambia.
IOM's Role
The OAU requested "IOM, in partnership with the OAU, the African Development Bank (ADB), the international community and funding organizations and other stakeholders, to strengthen their activities in the continent by promoting specific development projects in areas predisposed to international migration". It also called on IOM "to continue to help African countries to encourage and facilitate the return of their qualified expatriate nationals and promote the initiated Migration for Development in Africa (MIDA)."
IOM in cooperation with African sub-regional bodies such as the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), the Southern African Development Community (SADC), the East African Community (EAC), and the Maghreb Arab Union (UMA) is developing partnerships aimed at reinforcing the links between migration and development in Africa.
The overall objective of the MIDA programme is to assist in strengthening the institutional capacities of African governments to manage and realise their development goals through the transfer of relevant skills, financial and other resources of Africans in the diaspora for use in development programmes in Africa.
A copy of the MIDA strategic plan can be downloaded here; a version in French is also available.
MIDA-FINNSOM Health
Mobilizing the diaspora for the rehabilitation and development of regional health sectors in Somaliland and Puntland (Somalia).
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The UN Security Council and the Responsibility to Protect: Policy, Process, and Practice
Publications en Français
March 1, 2011 by Christoph Mikulaschek and Hans Winkler
Download PDF of this publication
The International Peace Institute (IPI) and the Diplomatic Academy Vienna have put together the first comprehensive analysis of the role of the UN Security Council in the ongoing process of implementing the responsibility to protect (RtoP). This most recent journal issue prepared by IPI and the Diplomatic Academy Vienna features contributions by senior policymakers and experts who participated in a conference co-hosted by the government of Austria, IPI, the Diplomatic Academy of Vienna, and the National Defence Academy in Vienna.
Contributions by Gareth Evans, Edward C. Luck, Susan Rice, Terje Rød-Larsen, Michael Spindelegger, and others in this publication provide an in-depth analysis of the policy, process, and practice of the UN Security Council in protecting populations from genocide, war crimes, ethnic cleansing, and crimes against humanity. The launch of this collection of essays occurs shortly after the adoption of Security Council Resolution 1970(2011) on February 26, 2011 on the situation in Libya, which recalls the responsibility of the government to protect its population and thus echoes paragraphs 138 and 139 of the 2005 World Summit Outcome Document on RtoP.
This collection of essays demonstrates that the Security Council’s role in implementing the responsibility to protect is not limited to taking collective action against mass atrocities (pillar three of RtoP). The publication shows that the Council can also make important contributions to encouraging and helping states exercise their responsibility to protect populations from genocide, war crimes, ethnic cleansing, and crimes against humanity (pillar two of of RtoP). By mandating UN peace operations to support security and justice sector reforms, the Security Council fosters national protection capabilities in states emerging from conflict, which typically face a high risk of relapse into mass violence. When the Security Council mandates peace operations to support the disarmament, demobilization, and reintegration of former combatants it also strengthens the fabric of a postconflict society. By pursuing early engagement and preventive diplomacy the Security Council can encourage governments to address concerns and to mitigate risks before mass atrocities materialize.
The Security Council’s multifaceted contributions to the implementation of the responsibility to protect complement the important roles of the General Assembly, the Human Rights Council, the Peacebuilding Commission, the Secretary-General, and other UN organs. The contributions of the Security Council to the implementation of the responsibility to protect have to occur within the scope of the authority granted to the Security Council by the UN Charter.
The publication was prepared by Christoph Mikulaschek, Senior Policy Analyst at IPI, and Hans Winkler, the director of the Diplomatic Academy of Vienna, which publishes the Favorita Paper journal.
Contributions to the Favorita Paper:
Preface, Michael Häupl
Foreword, Michael Spindelegger
Introduction, Hans Winkler
Welcoming remarks, Terje Rød-Larsen
The United Nations Security Council and the Responsibility to Protect: Policy, Process, and Practice. Report from the 39th International Peace Institute Vienna Seminar on Peacemaking and Peacekeeping, Christoph Mikulaschek
Keynote Address, Susan E. Rice
Address, Michael Spindelegger
Taking Stock and Looking Ahead – Implementing the Responsibility to Protect, Edward C. Luck
The Responsibility to Protect: Consolidating the Norm, Gareth Evans
Remarks on Early Engagement and Preventive Diplomacy by the UN Security Council, Thomas Mayr-Harting
Peacemaking in Burundi – A Case Study of Regional Diplomacy Backed by International Peacekeeping and Peacebuilding, Adonia Ayebare
The Responsibility to Protect and Protection of Civilians: The Human Rights Story, Mona Rishmawi
MONUC and Civilian Protection in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Alan Doss
MONUC as a Case Study in Multidimensional Peacekeeping in Complex Emergencies, Patrick Cammaert
MINURCAT’s Role in Supporting Chad in Attaining the Objectives of the Responsibility to Protect, Rima Salah
From the 39th Vienna Seminar, held on June 14-16, 2009:
Background Paper, Edward C. Luck
You can order a hard copy of the Favorita Paper on the website of the Diplomatic Academy of Vienna.
You may also be interested in IPI’s recent publication on a related topic: The United Nations Security Council and Civil War: First Insights from a New Dataset by James Cockayne, Christoph Mikulaschek, and Chris Perry (September 2010)
Responsibility to Protect, UN Security Council
Christoph Mikulaschek
Read more articles →
Hans Winkler
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Deadline looms for decision on petition to overturn background checks on gun sales
Kai Porter
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M.- Thursday is the deadline for Secretary of State Maggie Toulouse Oliver to either approve or deny a petition request that is aimed at overturning a controversial gun control law.
The legislature passed Senate Bill 8, requiring background checks on nearly all gun sales in New Mexico, and it was signed into law by Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham.
On March 11, Republicans delivered their petition to the Secretary of State's Office. From delivery, the secretary of state has ten days to make a determination on whether the petition is acceptable.
If approved, Republicans would have until July 2020 to gather signatures from 10 percent of registered voters in 25 of New Mexico's 33 counties.
Proponents of Senate Bill 8 say it will close a loophole that allows many private gun sales without background checks against a federal database of prohibited buyers.
Opponents say the law is unenforceable and goes against the Second Amendment.
Twenty-five of the 33 counties in New Mexico have made a stance against new gun control measures.
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Hallmark's New Mother's Day Ads Remind Us To 'Go Beyond Love'
Grab the tissues, this one's a doozy.
In a new series of Mother's Day ads, Hallmark asked people to describe the love and gratitude they have for their mothers. Little did the participants know, their moms were listening in to their conversations the entire time. Each video captures a mom's reaction to her children's touching words.
Created for the brand's "Put Your Heart to Paper" campaign, the series includes eight videos where the interviewer asks people to describe how much they love their moms without using the phrases "I love you" and "thank you."
“I feel like with her actions every day she teaches me what it means to love someone,” one daughter says about her mother in the video above. The other daughter describes her mother as her soulmate: “People always talk about ‘Oh there’s soulmates in the world’ and I don’t know if I believe in all that stuff but if there were soulmates I know she’s my soulmate. I’ve never yet met somebody that I connect with and love and care about and think about more than my mom."
In another video, Hallmark sat down with Alana and her mom Lisa, who raised Alana as a single mother. When asked to describe her mom without using the word "love," Alana said, “If I didn’t have my mom, I think I would be lost. I think she’s a bit of my guiding light, especially right now becoming a new mom. You mean everything to me.”
Lisa was touched by the her daughter's words, saying, “I think that most moms -- rarely do we know the impact we’ve made on our children."
Watch the rest of the videos from the campaign here.
H/T AdWeek
Follow HuffPostWomen's board Mother's Day on Pinterest.
What These Powerful Women Would Have Told Their 22-Year-Old Selves
Alanna Vagianos
Women's Reporter, HuffPost
Mother's Day Women Hallmark
Whether you're a new graduate eager to take the job world by storm or a seasoned adult embarking on a career change, navigating a successful path can be a daunting task. Just take it from some of the most powerful and influential women in the workforce. In LinkedIn's<a href="http://blog.linkedin.com/2014/05/20/if-i-were-22-80-influencers-share-lessons-from-their-youth/" target="_blank"> "If I Were 22" series</a>, some of business' biggest heavy-hitters shared the wisdom they've gained from years of hard work, success and a few mistakes. How did <a href="http://blog.linkedin.com/2014/05/20/if-i-were-22-80-influencers-share-lessons-from-their-youth/" target="_blank">nearly 90 percent of influencers polled</a> end up "doing something they never imagined?" Some of our favorite advice from women, listed below, may have had something to do with it.
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06/21/2016 05:02 pm ET
More Americans Give To Charity Than Vote
The U.S. lags behind most other developed nations when it comes to voting.
By Eleanor Goldberg
Genaro Molina via Getty Images
Election clerk Valerie Acosta waits for voters at the Kenter Canyon Elementary Charter School Auditorium.
When it comes to performing their civic duty, Americans are more inclined to give charity than cast their ballots at the polls.
During the most recent presidential election, 53.6 percent of Americans voted, according to the Pew Research Center. That same year, 59.7 percent gave to charity, a Philanthropy Panel Study concluded.
Donors have continued to give at record rates, while voting patterns remain fairly consistent.
Last year, Americans shattered their previous giving record by donating $373.25 billion. Of the varying sources analyzed, individuals gave the most, according to Giving USA.
Voting rates, however, have remained within a 9-percentage point range since the 1980s.
When Bill Clinton was reelected, voter turnout was 48 percent. When Barack Obama won in 2008, the rate rose to 57 percent.
Bill Clark via Getty Images
Voters wait in line to cast their ballots at the Bell Multicultural High School in the Mt. Pleasant neighborhood in Washington.
The U.S. lags behind most of its peers when it comes to voter turnouts. It came in at 31 among 34 countries in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, according to Pew.
So why does the comparison even matter? It may have to do with the extent to which people feel they can affect change.
"Giving is more direct, more tangible,” Patrick M. Rooney, associate dean for academic affairs and research at the Indiana University Lilly Family School of Philanthropy, told The Huffington Post via email. “Voting is an important role in our democratic system, but there are lots of gaps between what any one politician promises and what he or she can deliver.”
When it comes to charity, Americans outpace pretty much everyone else.
Americans are about twice as generous in their private giving as their "cousins" in Britain and Canada. They're up to 20 times as charitable as the residents of some other developed nations, according to Philanthropy Roundtable.
And the percentages surrounding charity are much more varied than those related to voting.
In 1995, for example, 68.5 percent of surveyed households reported donating money, according to the Independent Sector's Giving and Volunteering report released the following year. Five years later, 89 percent of households said they donated to causes.
While it remains too soon to predict how the turnout will fare during the general election in November, Rooney anticipates voter turnout may be “less than normal” due to the lackluster feelings surrounding both candidates. But he “absolutely” believes giving levels will continue to rise.
“Philanthropy transcends time, borders, and politics,” Rooney added. “Philanthropy is a core American value and will remain one regardless of political or business cycles.”
Eleanor Goldberg
Business Reporter, HuffPost
Charity Voter Turnout Charity America Voter Turnout 2016
U. S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton waits to speak as she is introduced at Singapore Management University, Saturday, Nov. 17, 2012, in Singapore.
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A Biography in Four Voices
The long and remarkable life of Dr. William Edward Burghardt (W.E.B) Du Bois (1868-1963) offers unique insights into an eventful century in African American history. Born three years after the end of the Civil War, Du Bois witnessed the imposition of Jim Crow, its defeat by the Civil Rights Movement and the triumph of African independence struggles.
Du Bois was the consummate scholar-activist whose path-breaking works remain among the most significant and articulate ever produced on the subject of race. His contributions and legacy have been so far-reaching, that this, his first film biography, required the collaboration of four prominent African American writers. Wesley Brown, Thulani Davis, Toni Cade Bambara and Amiri Baraka narrate successive periods of Du Bois' life and discuss its impact on their work.
Official Selection at the Toronto International Film Festival. Official Selection at the San Francisco International Film Festival.
Louis Massiah
Social Sciences > History - Modern
Social Sciences > Human Rights
Documentaries > Historical Perspectives
Zavi
A great “biography in four voices” masterfully narrated by two black women (Toni Cade Bambara & Thulani Davis and two black men (Wesley Brown & Amiri Baraka) !
Kansas City Public Library•4 months ago
Excellent and thorough look at the life of Dr. DuBois. I was a child of 12 when Dr DuBois died in 1963, too young to make sense of his Pan-Africanism at the time. This film puts his amazing life into the context of the liberation struggles of black people, at home here in the U.S. and in our ...Read more
Excellent and thorough look at the life of Dr. DuBois. I was a child of 12 when Dr DuBois died in 1963, too young to make sense of his Pan-Africanism at the time. This film puts his amazing life into the context of the liberation struggles of black people, at home here in the U.S. and in our ancestral home in Africa.
Metropolitan Library System•4 months ago
This was a great documentary. Dr. DuBois' granddaughter was my professor in undergrad and like her grandfather were part of the reason why I went on to earn a doctorate in my own right.
Khaleelah
Yale University•5 months ago
Amazing documentary!
A. Philip Randolph: For Jobs and Freedom - The Father of the Modern Civil Rights Movement
Ask most people who led the 1963 March on Washington and they'll probably tell you Martin Luther King, Jr. But the real force behind the event was the man many call the pre-eminent black labor leader of the century and the father of the modern civil rights movement: A. Philip…
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr: A Historical Perspective - An Authorized Biography of a Civil Rights Hero
Xenon Pictures
He was the conscience of the struggle for civil rights--and one of its many heroic martyrs. this documentary offers a one-of-a-kind examination of Dr. King's extraordinary life. Using rare and largely unseen film footage and photographs, this film (endorsed by the King Foundation) explores how Dr. King's ideas, beliefs and…
In Remembrance of Martin
Personal comments from family, friends, and advisors fill this remarkable documentary honoring Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Coretta Scott King joins the Reverend Ralph Abernathy, Julian Bond, Jimmy Carter, the Reverend Jesse Jackson, Senator Edward Kennedy, John Lewis, Bishop Desmond Tutu, and Andrew Young, who recall Dr. King's career and…
Julian Bond - Reflections from the Frontlines of the Civil Rights Movement
Heritage Film Project
Julian Bond: Reflections from the Frontlines of the Civil Rights Movement is a portrait of social activist and former Georgia legislator in which Julian Bond approaches the Civil Rights Movement from a personal perspective. "Bond's father was the first African-American president of Pennsylvania's Lincoln University, and the family hosted black…
Early Civil Rights: Washington or Du Bois?
Episode 22 of America in the Gilded Age and Progressive Era
Discover how African Americans fought racism and violence in the early 20th century. Study the system of white supremacy called Jim Crow, and its economic, social, and political oppression. Review significant civil rights activism and legal victories that laid the groundwork for the civil rights movement of the 1950s and…
The Rise and Fall of the Brown Buffalo - Oscar Zeta Acosta: From Latino Activist to Dr. Gonzo
This genre-defying film introduces the radical Chicano lawyer, author and counter-cultural icon, Oscar Zeta Acosta. Acosta was the basis for Dr. Gonzo in "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas," written by his friend, the Hunter S. Thompson. Channeling the psychedelic 60's and the irreverence of "Gonzo" journalism, THE RISE AND…
Maya Angelou: And Still I Rise - Biography of an Influential Civil Rights Activist and Poet
Distinctly referred to as "a redwood tree, with deep roots in American culture," Dr. Maya Angelou (April 4, 1928-May 28, 2014) led a prolific life. As a singer, dancer, activist, poet and writer, she inspired generations with lyrical modern African-American thought that pushed boundaries. Best known for her autobiography I…
Estuary Press
Dream Deferred was filmed and produced by Harvey Richards for Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) for its southern voter registration drive in the spring of 1964, just before the famous 1964 Mississippi Freedom Summer. It is the second film Richards made in collaboration with Amzie Moore, a local Mississippi civil…
Promises Betrayed (1865 - 1896)
Episode 1 of The Rise and Fall of Jim Crow
How did Jim Crow begin? As Reconstruction ended, African Americans' efforts to assert their constitutional rights began to be repressed at every turn, betraying the promises of Emancipation. Southern whites were embolden by the North's withdrawal of support for Black access to land, civil and economic rights, and due process…
We'll Never Turn Back
WE'LL NEVER TURN BACK was filmed in Mississippi in 1963 during the dangerous voter registration drives of that era. Amzie Moore, a Mississippi NAACP activist, escorted the film maker through rural Mississippi interviewing share croppers and activists in the voter registration campaign. Appearing in the film are Student Non-Violent Coordinating…
The Barber of Birmingham - Foot Soldier of the Civil Rights Movement
Video Project
In Academy Award nominated The Barber of Birmingham, 85 year-old barber and life-long civil rights activist James Armstrong looks back on the early days of the civil rights movement and links those struggles with a previously unimaginable dream -- the election of the first African-American president. Armstrong was the proud…
Freedom Bound
Freedom Bound tells the story of the Student Non Violent Coordinating Committee's voter registration campaign in Mississippi in 1963. Amzie Moore, an NAACP leader in Cleveland, Mississippi, led Richards through the Mississippi delta voter registration campaign, setting up interviews with share croppers, student activists, students and others in the struggle…
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Latin for “by familial stocks.” Distribution of an estate equally among the members of a group of descendants having a particular degree of kinship (as children), with the issue (that is, the offspring) of a deceased member of that group representing the deceased member, taking the deceased member’s share, and dividing it equally among themselves. For example, if a decedent had three children, one of whom had already died leaving issue, the estate would be divided into thirds, with each living child receiving a one-third share, and the issue (children) of the deceased child dividing a one-third share equally amongst themselves.
A person who manages the legal affairs of a decedent in probate. If the decedent had a will, then the personal representative is known as the Executor (if the Executor is female, Executrix). If the decedent did not have a will and the assets are being distributed according to laws of intestacy, then the personal representative is known as the Administrator (if the Administrator is a female, Administratrix).
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Land and all the things that are attached to it. Anything that is not real property is personal property. A house is real property, but a dining room set is not.
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Also known as residue of the estate. Portion of the estate left after bequests of specific items of property are made.
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The person or persons named in a will to receive any residue left in an estate after the bequests of specific items are made.
Refers to the up front payment a client gives a lawyer to accept a case. The client is paying to “retain” the lawyer’s services.
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A legal document that may be changed or cancelled that allows you to maintain control of your assets. It is used to avoid probate and for estate planning purposes.
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In a joint-tenancy, the property automatically goes to the co-owner if one of the co-owners dies. A co-owner in a joint tenancy cannot give away his or her share of the property.
Self-proving will
A will accompanied by a sworn statement from witnesses and signed before a notary public.
Spendthrift trust
A trust designed to keep money out of the hands of creditors, often established to protect someone who is incapable of managing his or her financial affairs.
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The entitlement of one spouse to inherit property from the other spouse. The right varies from state to state.
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In many states and in the majority of probate matters, the amount an attorney can charge for his or her services is specified by law as a percentage of the gross value of the estate.
Anything other than real estate or money, including furniture, cars, jewelry, etc.
A type of joint ownership that allows a person to sell his share or leave it in a will without the consent of the other owners. If a person dies without a will, his share goes to his heirs, not to the other owners.
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Having a legal will.
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Ownership of property.
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A bank account in your name for which you name a beneficiary. Upon the death of the named holder of the account the money transfers automatically to the beneficiary.
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A legal document that directs distribution of assets upon death.
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Behind the soaring housing prices in state-level poverty-stricken counties: a 30percent rise after two years of school starts
2018-11-03 21:05:12 category:Society
This phenomenon occurred in Longhui County, Shaoyang County, Hunan, a national poverty county. According to public information, Longhui County, with a total population of 128,000, is located in the southwest of central Hunan Province. It is a poverty-stricken county at the national level and a special and difficult area in Wulingshan area. In 2014, there were 221 831 poor people and 209 poor villages in Lika County, and 192 behind them, ranking first and third respectively in Hunan Province. At present, there are more than 120 villages and about 80 thousand people in the county have not yet been lifted out of poverty.
In March this year, departments such as the Hunan Development and Reform Commission held accountable the principal party and government leaders in three counties, Longhui County and other counties, who had not been able to tackle poverty effectively. In May, Ma Jianqiang, Secretary of the Longhui county Party committee, was removed from office.
Unexpectedly, in such a poverty-alleviation task is still very arduous at the national level poverty-stricken county, due to the idle land for many years has not been disposed of in time, coupled with reducing land supply, improving the volume rate, preferential purchase of home entrance, undocumented construction, market chaos and other factors, in recent years, Longhui County housing prices have soared. It has aroused social concern.
According to the person in charge of Longhui County Real Estate Bureau, the average price of commercial housing in Longhui County in 2016 was about 3500 yuan per square metre. At present, the average price of commercial housing has exceeded 4500 yuan per square metre, an increase of 30%. Its commodity housing price has leapt to the first or second level in eight counties and one city of Shaoyang City, ranking in the forefront of county-level cities in Hunan Province.
The real estate market in the county has been chaotically led by individual developers. The house price has risen so high. Its really hard to buy a house on the income level of the people in poor counties. But in order for children to read books in the county, they have to buy a house. Speaking of housing prices, Mr. Liu, a taxi driver in Longhui County town, revealed his helpless face.
Correspondingly, the income level of urban and rural residents is low. Longhui Countys statistical bulletin on national economic and social development in 2017 shows that the per capita disposable income of residents in Longhui County increased by 12.8% compared with the same period, but it is still only 13055 yuan.
After more than 20 years of land idle, comeback
And suspicious meeting minutes
It started 23 years ago.
On August 9, 1995, the Longhui County Peoples Government and Sichuan Blueprint Enterprise Group Company (hereinafter referred to as Sichuan Blueprint) signed the Contract for Cooperation and Contract for the Transfer of Property Rights. The two sides agreed to jointly develop the Longhui County Garden Farm and transfer 418 teams of the original mining bureau to Sichuan Blueprint. On September 24, 1997, the Land Administration Bureau of Longhui County and the Hunan (Longhui) Investment Company of Lanben Group (hereinafter referred to as Longhui Blueprint, which was registered and established by Sichuan Lanben Enterprise Group Company in Longhui) signed the Contract for the Transfer of the Right to Use State-owned Land. Sichuan Lanben won 418 teams of the original Mining Bureau for a total price of 900,000 yuan. The plot of 134460 square meters (201.69 mu) is equivalent to 4462.25 yuan per mu. The eighteenth Treaty of the contract stipulates that if Party B (Longhui Blueprint) fails to invest in construction in accordance with the contract or for two consecutive years, Party A (Longhui County Land Bureau) has the right to recover the right to use the land free of charge.
Since then, Longhuis blueprint has not been developed according to the contract.
According to the source, due to the shortage of funds, Longhui Blueprint later transferred part of the ownership of the land to others. Until 2011, Longhui blueprint put forward the application for developing the land to the county government department. Zhou Weichen, then County governor, believed that according to the Land Management Law and the Urban Real Estate Management Law, to acquire the right to use land for real estate development by way of transfer, land must be exploited according to the land use contract and the time limit for starting construction... If the land is not developed in two years, the land use right can be recovered free of charge, requiring the land department to recover the land for a new bidding.
From the policy point of view, the states disposal measures for idle land have a long history. After the adoption of the Measures for Disposal of Unused Land by the 6th Ministerial Meeting of the Ministry of Land and Resources on April 26, 1999, the 1st Ministerial Meeting of the Ministry of Land and Resources was revised on May 22, 2012. The measures are clear in terms of investigation and identification, disposal and utilization, prevention and supervision, and legal liability of idle land.
Sources also revealed that in early 2017, Zhou Pengfei, a Longhui businessman, found the person in charge of Longhui Blueprint through an intermediary, and conceded the plot at a price significantly lower than the market price. At this time, the land price of the same lot has reached about 2000000 yuan per mu, which is about 500 times that of the land sold 20 years ago.
In response to the above part of the situation, China Real Estate News reporter sent a short message to Fan Zhihai, director of the Land Bureau of Longhui County, for confirmation, but no reply was received. However, the change information of the national enterprise credit information publicity system shows that on January 24, 2017, the registered capital of Longhui Blueprint has changed from 6 million yuan to 20 million yuan, and the legal representative has changed from Dai Xiaojun to Zhou Pengfei.
According to the summary of the county magistrates office meeting on land for the project of Pengyang Xicheng Capital, No. 23, [2017], it is stated that: The land has not been fully exploited and utilized because of the change of circumstances. Because of the continuous change of contract, the economic pilot area was adjusted from three lands to one land, and the city at that time. The inadequate planning and imperfect infrastructure led to the failure to fulfil the agreement of attracting 100 million yuan of investment. The meeting decided: Referring to the practice of our county in dealing with such legacy problems, this land is not considered as idle land. We agree to continue the development of this land by the obligee according to the original ownership, and to sign a new development agreement.
According to sources, the county government has not yet signed a new development agreement with Longhui Blueprint, and the West City Capital Project has become a scale.
Capricious volume ratio adjustment
From requiring land to be retrieved and re-bidding, to the change of legal representative, the obligee agreed to continue the development according to the original ownership, which is interesting. On the basis of qualitative analysis of the legitimacy of the land ownership of 418 teams of the original Mining Bureau obtained from Longhui Blueprint, the county magistrates office meeting also identified the land planning conditions.
The meeting held that the planning conditions approved by the county government in 1996 and confirmed by the County Planning Bureau in 2010 had exceeded the statutory time limit and were no longer valid. Planning conditions should be re-issued according to the control plan. According to the countys practice of dealing with similar legacy problems and the basis for approval of the original planning use of the project, the original use of the land was identified as residential land, and the volume ratio was determined to be 1.5 according to the basic volume ratio. It is also pointed out that the main technical and economic indicators, such as volume ratio, building density and green space ratio, are determined according to the approval opinions of the fourth meeting of the county planning committee in 2017, involving the adjustment of the original land use planning conditions, and the land transfer fee and related taxes and fees shall be paid in accordance with the provisions.
However, to the puzzle of the outside world, the record of the land real property certificate displayed in the Sales Department of the West City Capital Project shows that the volume ratio of the plot was increased from 1.58 to 2.2 on January 22, 2018. And the previous county office meeting identified the volume ratio of 1.5, and a far cry from it.
Was it the fourth meeting of the county planning committee in 2017 that the volume ratio of the project was re-approved, or was the volume ratio of the project adjusted many times for what reason?
To this end, on October 22, a reporter from China Real Estate News rushed to Longhui County Planning Bureau to interview Liao Zhou, the head of the technical pipeline unit of the bureau. He said that Longhui Countys new projects, as long as they do not have a significant impact on the surrounding areas, can apply for adjustment of the volume rate.
After the county planning committee meets and agrees and the project site publicity passes, it can be approved to increase the volume rate. To increase the floor area ratio is to pay the land transfer fee and increase the local revenue. Liao Zhou said.
Liaos statement was also confirmed in Dongcheng No.1 Project in the county. Records of land real property certificates displayed in the Sales Department of Dongcheng No. 1 project also show that the volume ratio of the land has been increased from 1.95 to 3.0 after approval in 2018.
In fact, there is a strict management system for the adjustment of floor area ratio. According to Article 5 of the Measures for the Management of the Volume Rate of Construction Land, which was implemented by the Ministry of Housing and Construction on March 1, 2012, any unit or individual shall abide by the volume rate indicators determined by the regulatory detailed planning approved by law, and shall not adjust at will, nor shall the volume rate be adjusted in the form of minutes of government meetings instead of the prescribed procedures. Article 7 of this method also clarifies the adjustable situation of the volume ratio: because of the changes in land development conditions caused by the revision of urban and rural planning, and because of the construction needs of urban and rural infrastructure, public service facilities and public safety facilities, the size of the land transferred or allocated and the related construction conditions have changed, the state and provinces, and the provinces, respectively. The relevant policies and regulations of the autonomous region and municipality directly under the central government are changed, and other conditions stipulated by laws and regulations.
In addition, this method also puts forward requirements for the adjustment procedure of floor area ratio. The competent urban and rural planning authorities should solicit the opinions of stakeholders in the planning area through local main media and on-site publicity. They should publish the volume rate adjustment procedures and the responsible departments in all links on the office sites and government websites.
Amazing speed of accreditation
There are not only many doubts about land use and volume ratio adjustment, but also the illegal construction of the project, which has been criticized locally.
The reporter of China Real Estate Daily verified from the relevant departments of the local government that the projects of Xicheng Capital were successively granted Construction Land Planning License, Construction Project Planning License and Construction Project Construction License on January 26, February 2 and February 5, 2018 respectively. On February 9, four days after obtaining the Construction Permit for Construction Engineering, the project obtained the Pre-sale Permit for Commercial Housing.
According to He Jinqi, deputy director of Longhui County Real Estate Bureau, the commercial residences in Longhui County are generally two floors underground and 30-32 floors above ground. The precondition for pre-sale permission is that the aforementioned documents are complete, the construction image progress or the investment amount reached more than half, the underground floor is calculated by two floors above ground and the above-ground building is one. It can be approved only if it reaches 12 or more levels (half of the 32 level or 16 levels).
From approval of construction to pre-sale permission, 16-storey tall buildings were built in about four days, which is almost impossible in Longhui. It can explain the fact that the project started construction illegally and illegally. To the same confusion of a local government official who did not want to be named, it took only 14 days for the project to work overtime on weekends, from obtaining the Construction Land Planning License to obtaining the pre-sale permit for commercial housing, creating a Myth of Long Hui.
There is an unconfirmed claim that after the report of undocumented construction, the relevant county departments of the project have speeded up the completion of the relevant procedures. After that, these procedures and the speed of certification became the capital of the related personnel of the project.
It is these projects that violate laws and regulations so blatantly that they disrupt the real estate market in Longhui. However, it is said that some projects or the interests of local government personnel are mixed in them, and it is not easy for them to be investigated and dealt with locally. The foregoing brother Liu said with emotion.
Before the start of school, volume and price skyrocketed.
Strange Longhui property market
Some of the chaos in the Longhui property market, the local people are in the eyes, hate in the heart. At the same time, a reality that can not be ignored is that in recent years, housing prices in Longhui have risen sharply and the public has a larger opinion.
The data of Longhui County Real Estate Bureau show that the average price of commercial housing in Longhui County is about 3500 yuan/square metre and 3900 yuan/square metre in 2016 and 2017 respectively. At present, the average price of commercial housing in Longhui County has exceeded 4500 yuan/square metre, with an increase of 30%. The commodity housing price of this county has jumped to the first or second level in one city of eight counties in Shaoyang City, ranking in the forefront of county-level cities in Hunan Province.
Statistical bulletin also shows that in 2017 the countys real estate development investment 850 million yuan, an increase of 15.3% over the previous year. Commercial housing sales area of 307 thousand and 900 square meters, an increase of 18.9%.
Based on the analysis of local government officials, industry insiders and real estate consultants, it is concluded that the main reason for the soaring housing prices in Longhui in recent years is that the county has reduced land supply, coupled with the inadequate disposal of idle land, which has led to the occurrence of long-term land hoarding, as well as the boost of preferential home buyersenrollment policy and market chaos. Because of.
Land price. Last December, Longhui County took a commercial and residential plot of land in the south of the city, which was about 3.6 million yuan per mu. The equivalent floor price reached 1,538 yuan per square meter.
Education. On June 4 this year, Longhui County Education Bureau issued the Announcement on Enrollment of Compulsory Education in Urban Areas in 2018, which classifies the enrollment sources of compulsory education in urban areas into five categories according to batches, among which the first three are the first three. The premise is the purchase of households, the fourth category, the fifth category is for renters. This is generally interpreted by the local people as that if ordinary people can not afford to buy a house in the county town, it will be difficult to read books in the county town public schools, which further aggravates the housing panic.
Longhui County real estate network online signature residential transactions trend map shows that in June, July and August this year, the countys residential transactions were about 500 sets, 600 sets, 600 sets, to September after the start of school, turnover cut to more than 200 sets. The average price of residential transactions in July this year rose rapidly from about 4300 yuan per square metre in June to about 4800 yuan per square metre, and fell back to about 4500 yuan per square metre in August and September.
Longhui County residential transaction trend chart
In terms of market order, since October 2016 and September 2017, Longhui County has deployed the work of rectifying and standardizing the real estate market successively, the rectification of the real estate market has achieved certain results, but the chaotic phenomena such as oversell, hesitate to sell and market speculation are still incessant.
Take Dongcheng one project as an example, its No. 11 building was granted a pre-sale permit in September 30th. But when China Real Estate News reporters visited the project sales department as house-keepers on October 22, their pre-sale license for building 11 was not publicized on the spot. Property consultant said that the 11 building of the project is still in store and will not open until November.
It is noteworthy that, with the occurrence of various chaos behind the soaring house prices, the risk of the local property market is also gradually emerging, and some of the buildings have been unable to deliver normally.
In Longhui County, a reporter from China Real Estate News found that the Dihao Chengwan project located near the north side of Fangda Park was unable to receive housing normally due to inadequate supporting facilities. The relevant departments of the county have been stationed in the project to set up a working group. The Zijin Tower, which is located at the intersection of Donghuan Road and Taohong Road and adjacent to the Sales Department of Dongcheng No. 1 Project, has not yet been demolished due to the tight capital chain. Although there are potential safety hazards in the two projects, some owners have already checked in.
County Working Group has been stationed in the office of the emperor Cheng Bay project.
The construction tower has not yet been demolished, but some of the households have lived in Zijin mansion.
Behind the soaring housing prices, the chaos of the real estate market in Longhui County, a poverty-stricken county at the national level, may be just a microcosm of the real estate market in the cities of the fifth and sixth tiers. However, the degree of insanity and negative typicality exposed by it are shocking and need to be highly valued by higher government departments. Source: China real estate report editor: Huang Jia _NNB6466
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Rockets from Gaza shatter short-lived calm
By Marcy Oster October 31, 2011 7:50 pm
JERUSALEM (JTA) – Rockets fired from Gaza began pounding southern Israel again, one day after a weekend barrage which left one Israeli civilian dead.
The Iron Dome missile defense system successfully intercepted at least one long-range Grad rocket fired at Beersheba Monday evening. Seven rockets fired from Gaza landed in the Beersheba area, according to reports. Rockets were also fired at Sderot, including one intercepted by Iron Dome and one that landed in the city. Earlier on Monday afternoon, a rocket landed in Ashkelon, shattering a cease fire that had begun at midnight.
School for Tuesday was cancelled in Beersheba, Ashkelon and Ashdod.
"There is no cease-fire, no negotiations and the IDF continues its operations," Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told Likud Party lawmakers before the start of the opening meeting of the winter Knesset session earlier on Monday afternoon. "Anytime someone disrupts the peace in the South, our response will be severe, just as it was on Saturday, and I’m telling you, even more severe."
The latest attacks follow a weekend in which at least 39 rockets and mortars were fired from Gaza at Israel. The barrage, for which Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility, appeared to be sparked by an Israeli airstrike Saturday that thwarted an attempt by a terrorist cell preparing to fire long-range rockets from southern Gaza into Israel. The Israeli military reported that it was the same terrorist cell that was responsible for rockets fired on Israel last week
Several long-range Grad missiles hit in and near cities throughout southern Israel, including Ashdod, Ashkelon, Gan Yavne and Beersheba. A school and a private home were damaged in the attacks, and several cars were burned. Some 200,000 children stayed home from school, and several colleges and Ben-Gurion University did not open for the start of the new academic year on Sunday as scheduled.
An Ashkelon resident and father of four, Moshe Ami, 56, died from injuries sustained when he was hit by shrapnel Saturday as he ran to a shelter from his car. He died in the hospital from stomach wounds several hours after the attack.
At least 10 Islamic Jihad terrorists have been killed in the Israeli strikes.
Editor's Column Opinion
Donald Trump and the perils of loving Israel just a little too much
Biden calls Israel’s occupation a ‘real’ and ‘significant’ problem
By Marcy Oster July 14, 2019 11:51 am
Israel’s new education minister under fire for supporting gay conversion therapy
By Marcy Oster July 14, 2019 9:49 am
DC suburb will screen anti-Israel film narrated by Roger Waters
By Ron Kampeas July 12, 2019 4:19 pm
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Ketchikan student wins full-ride Gates Scholarship
Posted by Leila Kheiry | May 2, 2014
Martina May Brown won the Gates scholarship, which pays for up to 10 years of higher education.
For the first time in at least ten years, a Ketchikan high school student has won the prestigious Gates Millennium Scholarship. The scholarship pays full tuition for up to ten years of higher education. Kayhi’s Martina May Brown is one of 1,000 winners from around the US. She was chosen from more than 50,000 applicants.
https://www.krbd.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/01Gates2.mp3
Martina May Brown, who goes by “May,” has wanted to go to University of Portland for three years.
“I actually had no idea how I was gonna pay for University of Portland, but I did make a plan B in case that didn’t work out,” Brown said. “And that was to go to [University of Alaska] Fairbanks.”
Portland costs more than $50,000 a year to attend. Brown wanted to go there so badly that she applied for 60 different scholarships. The Gates Scholarship is probably the toughest one to get, because it pays for everything for your entire higher education career.
“They’re looking for kids that without this money, they’re not gonna be able to afford school,” said Kayhi counselor Bob McClory. “They’re looking for the kids that are most deserving but least able to make it happen financially.”
The Gates Program is also looking for students from ethnic minorities. There are a certain number of spots for Asian, African American, Native American, and Hispanic applicants. Those requirements are just the beginning of the application process. Applicants also have to answer seven in-depth, 1,000-word essays.
“The questions that dealt with my family, those were hard to answer,” Brown said. “Having to talk about family and all the things we went through…It was like looking back and thinking, ‘Wow, I can’t believe we went through all that.'”
Brown spent hours and hours last fall answering these questions and refining them over and over. She had help from McClory and a professional writer in Hawaii. There was one question that Brown struggled to answer.
“They wanted to know more about my culture and stuff and I didn’t really understand what that meant,” she said. “I asked my mom and she didn’t really have a good answer to that either. Culture? This is who we are. I just found that question very difficult.”
Brown’s mother is Filipino and her father is American. She grew up in the Philippines for the first seven years of her life. Brown struggled to write about parts of her background, which she didn’t want to talk about for this story. But her dedication to the application didn’t falter.
“I’ve never seen anybody work so aggressively and so committedly toward a scholarship application,” McClory said.
Brown’s parents didn’t go to college. And they didn’t expect her to go to college either.
“I was like, ‘Mom I want to college,'” Brown remembers. “And she was like, ‘What?'”
But Brown says the Gates application actually helped ease her parents into the possibility of college. The more they saw her working on the application, the more they got used to the idea. Brown submitted the application in January. In April, a packet from the Gates Program arrived in the mail. She opened it and…
“Oh my God,” Brown recalls her reaction. “And then I just sat there and I was like wow. And tears just started coming out of my eyes. My parents were like, ‘May, what’s wrong?’ And then my mom was like, ‘My baby’s going to college!'”
It’s official. Brown is moving to Portland in the fall. She’ll study nursing there, and is thinking about eventually becoming a nurse practitioner or going into healthcare management. Her thoughts about the big move echo many other 17-year-olds’.
“I’m really excited to make my own decisions,” she said. “I’m not ready to grow up, but on the other hand I want to grow up,”
Brown is one of three Alaska students to win the Gates Scholarship this year. The other two are from Chevak, a town of about 800 in Western Alaska.
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The Border and the Buffalo Chapter XII
Written by John R. Cook
Category: The Border and the Buffalo
A Pen Sketch Of Sol. Rees, As Taken From The Man's Lips By The Author, Who First Met Him In The Panhandle Of Texas, In 1876.
Illustration: Wayne Solomon Rees
"I was born in Delaware County, Indiana, on the 21st day of October, 1847. I enlisted in Co. E., 147th Indiana Regiment, March 5th, 1865. But as that greatest of modern wars was near its close, I did not even see the big end of the last of it. I came to Kansas in 1866, stopping for a time in the old Delaware Indian Reserve, southwest of Fort Leavenworth. From among the Delawares I went out to northwest Kansas, in 1872, and took up a claim on the Prairie Dog, in Decatur county. I trapped, and hunted buffalo, until the Indians stole my stock, when I had to quit hunting long enough to get even, and a little ahead, of the red-skins. In summer-time I would put in my time improving my homestead; in winter, hunting and trapping. But when Kansas passed her drastic "hunting law," concerning the buffalo-hide hunters, I drifted to the Panhandle of Texas, in 1876 (after taking in the Philadelphia Centennial); for the next three and one-half years you have had a pretty good trail of me."
Illustration: Sol Rees
To digress for the moment. This Sol. Rees was one of the Government scouts and guides in what is known as the "Dull Knife War" of 1878. Dull Knife was chief of a large band of northern Cheyenne warlike Indians.
Congress had passed an act moving all of the troublesome Indians from the so-called Cheyenne country north to the Indian Territory. Dull Knife and his band were taken to the Indian Territory, to near Fort Reno, on the North Fork of the Canadian river. Totally dissatisfied with the conditions as had been represented to him by the United States commissioners, he asked for, and was granted, a council. Robert Bent, a son of old Col. Bent, was a half-breed southern Cheyenne, and was the interpreter.
After the council was in sitting, Dull Knife arose and cited his wrongs. It has been said no more eloquence has ever come from the lips of an Indian orator. He said in brief: "I am going back to where my children were born; where my father and mother are buried according to Indian rites; where my forefathers followed the chase; where the snow-waters from the mountains run clear toward the white man's sea; yes, where the speckled trout leaps the swift-running waters. You people have _lied_ to us. Here your streams run slow and sluggish; the water is not good; our children sicken and die. My young warriors have been out for nearly two moons, and find no buffalo; you said there were plenty; they find only the skeletons; the white hunters have killed them for their hides. Take us back to the land of our fathers. I am done."
At this, Little Robe, head chief of the southern Cheyennes, knocked him down with a loaded quirt-handle. After regaining his feet, he shook the dust from his blanket, then, folding it around himself, walked out of the council lodge and said: "_I am going_;" and go he did.
Robert Bent said: "Little Robe, you have made a mistake." That same night his band was surrounded at their camp, by what effective troops there were at the fort; but, regardless of that, the band slipped past the cordon, Dull Knife at their lead, and for 800 miles, he whipped, eluded, and out-strategied the U. S. Army, and left a bloody trail of murder and rapine equal in atrocity to any in the annals of Indian warfare.
The author was on Gageby creek, in the Panhandle of Texas, twelve miles from Fort Elliott, sleeping soundly at midnight, when a runner came from Major Bankhead, in command, requesting me to report to him at once. And for two months I was in the saddle, but never north of the Arkansas river. I had lost track of Rees, early in the spring before the outbreak. Nor did I see or hear from him until the spring of 1907, only to find that he too had served as scout and guide on the Dull Knife raid. I here copy two official documents, now in Rees's possession, given him at that time.
OFFICE ACTING ASST. QUARTERMASTER, U. S. A., FORT WALLACE, KANSAS, NOV. 4, 1878.
Sol. Rees, Citizen Scout, has this day presented to me a certificate, given him by Major Mock, Fourth U. S. Cavalry, for thirty-nine days' service as scout and guide, at $5 per day, amounting to one hundred and ninety-five dollars. This certificate I have forwarded to Department Headquarters, asking authority and funds to pay Rees's claim. On a favorable reply and funds being furnished, I will pay the claim.
GEORGE M. LOVE, _1st Lieut. 16th Inf., Acting Asst. Q. M._
OFFICE ACTING ASST. Q. M., U. S. A., FORT WALLACE, KANSAS, NOV. 26, 1878.
_Mr. Sol. Rees, Slab City, Kan._—SIR: Enclosed please find my check, No. 59, on First National Bank of Leavenworth, Kansas, for $195, in payment for your services as scout and guide, in October and November, 1878, and for which you signed Receipt Rolls, on your being discharged. On this coming to hand, please acknowledge receipt.
I am, sir, very respectfully,
GEORGE M. LOVE, _1st Lieut. 16th Inf., Acting A. Q. M._
The author now gives Rees's experiences and his observations as to the part he took in it. This is as he dictated it to the author:
I was in Kirwin, Kansas, when I heard of the runaways. It was on the 29th day of September, and anticipating the route they would follow to the Platte river, on account of water, I made a night ride, and got home just at daylight. I met settlers the next morning, and they told me the Indians had camped that night on the Prairie Dog, nine miles above my home. I saddled up and struck that way. When I got about five miles, I met a party of homeseekers, who were bringing in a wounded man toward my place. I went on, and after a while I found the Indians had gone to the Sappa. I then went to Oberlin, found the people badly excited, and there I organized a party.
Poorly armed as they were, I started on the trail. We went from there to Jake Kieffer's ranch. There the wounded began to come in, and the people that got away from the Indians. Here we reorganized and I was elected captain. Then we took the trail of the Indians, and just as we got up the divide, we saw three Indians rise up out of a draw,—man, woman, and boy about sixteen years old. We headed them off to keep them from joining the main band, and drove them to the timber on the Sappa. Here we separated into three parties, one to go above, another below, and the other to scare them out of the brush. The party I was with, when we came to the brush, did not want to go in close. So I saw it was up to me alone. I saw a squaw going up a little divide. I shot twice at her. Then I saw the buck slide down off of a bank and run into the brush, a patch of willows. I got on my horse and rode toward the willows. He rose up and shot at me. I was not more than twenty steps from him. I had been leaning over on the right side of my horse, at the time he shot. I wished to expose as little of my body as possible. I rose up and shot at him. We took shot about for five shots, when in trying to work the cylinder of my revolver, the last cartridge had slipped back, and the cylinder would not work. The warrior had fired his last shot, but I did not know it at the time.
I then went back to a man named Ingalls, and got a Colt's repeating rifle. When I came back to where I had left the Indian, he was gone. He had crossed the Sappa on a drift; and I can't, for the life of me, see how he could have done it. I dismounted and followed over, and found he was soon to be a good Injun. Taking out my knife, he signed to me, "not to scalp him until he was dead," but I had no time to spare; for there was much to do—it seemed to be a busy time of the year. So I took his scalp. I opened his shirt and found four bullet-holes in his chest, that you could cover with the palm of your hand.
Illustration: Sol. Rees's Fight With Indian
After this we started back down the creek, and had gone only a short distance when we met Major Mock, with five companies of the Fourth U. S. Cavalry and two companies of the Nineteenth Infantry. The troops were all angry. Col. Lewis had been killed the day before. Here is where I met our old friend Hi. Bickerdyke. As soon as I met him, he said: "Major, here is my old friend Sol. Rees, one of the hottest Indian trailers I ever met. I have been with him in Texas in tight places."
The major said, "Glad to see you, Rees. Will you go with us as scout and guide at $5 per day and rations, until this thing is ended? I understand you are an old northern Kansas buffalo hunter, and know the country well." I said: "Yes, Major, I'll go; but not so much for the five dollars as to have this thing settled, once for all, so that we settlers can develop our homes in peace." We struck the trail on a divide. "Take the lead, Rees, everyone will follow you," he said. We followed the trail down on the Beaver; and there we got into a mess. We found where the Indians had butchered four men. They had been digging potatoes and had been literally hacked to pieces by the hoes they were using in their work. They were the old-fashioned, heavy "nigger" hoes, as they had been called in slavery days. Evidently, this had been done by squaws and small boys, for all of the moccasin-tracks indicated it. The hogpen had been opened, so that the hogs could eat the bodies. We did not have time to give the unfortunates decent burial, so the major ordered the soldiers to build a strong rail pen around the mutilated bodies, and we passed on rapidly, fearing the devils would do even worse; and the idea now was to crowd them.
From here the trail went up a divide. I said to Hi. Bickerdyke, "You take the left, I'll take the right, and Amos will lead the command up the divide." I had gone about a mile when I saw something moving toward a jut in the draw. I rode fast, and when I got up close instead of going around, as is usual in such cases, I rode straight to the object. It proved to be a white girl about sixteen years old. She was nude, her neck and shoulders were lacerated with quirt (whip) marks. She was badly frightened and threw up her hands in an appealing way. I said: "Poor girl! Have they shot you?"
She answered: "No; but I suffer so with pain and fright."
She was of foreign origin. It was hard for me to understand her, she talked so brokenly. All the humane characteristics I ever possessed came to the front, and I guess I shed tears. The sight of that poor helpless girl so angered me that I then promised myself that as long as there was a war-path Indian, I would camp on his trail. When she saw me approaching her she sat down in the grass.
I said: "Poor child; what can I do for you? Where are your people?" She understood me, and said she wanted something to cover her body. I dismounted, unsaddled my horse, and tossed her my top saddle-blanket. I turned my back, and she arose, wrapped the blanket around her body, and walked toward me and said: "A string." Turning toward her, I cut about four feet from the end of my lariat. Unwinding the strands, I tied one around her waist; then, folding the top of the blanket over her head and shoulders, I cut holes in under where it should fit around her neck. I ran one of the strands through and tied it so as to keep the blanket from falling down over her shoulders. I then got her on behind me and started for the troops. When I got up on the divide I was nearly two miles behind the command. It had halted upon noticing my approach from the rear. I rode up, and turned the girl over to Major Mock. The major got George Shoemaker to take her back, in hopes of finding her people, or some women to care for her.
That night we went on to the Republican river, about six miles below the forks. The Indians camped about three miles above, on a little stream sometimes called Deer creek. That night Major Mock wanted to know of me if I could find a cowboy who would carry a dispatch to Ogalalla, Nebraska. I told him I would try. I started at once to hunt one, and had gone but a little way until I met Bill Street. I asked him if he could get through to Ogalalla?
He said, "Yes."
"Well, come on to camp." I introduced him to Major Mock, and said: "Here is your man."
The major handed him the dispatch, saying, "Hurry to Ogalalla."
The next morning we went up the river and struck their last night's camp. And for a natural, fortified camp, they surely had it. I believe they expected to be attacked here. They had not been gone long, for there were live coals from the willow-brush fires, which was evidence that we were not far behind them. They struck for the breaks of the North Fork of the Republican. Across the divide, and coming up on the breaks to the north, we could see the Indians, and they us, at the same time. The Indians started to run. Mock started to a creek straight ahead, on the Frenchman's Fork of the Republican, to camp for noon.
I asked, "Major, are you not going to chase those Indians now, and stop these horrible murders of the helpless settlers?"
He said: "No, Rees, the men and horses are worn out, and must have a little rest and food."
We went to the creek, camped, but did not unsaddle. Ate a cold lunch, mounted, and took the trail, which was now easily followed. Packs were dropped; worn-out ponies left on the trail; and many garments carried from settlers' homes. Among others was a wedding dress that had been worn by Annie Pangle, who had been married in my house to a man named Bayliss. I passed on at the head of the command, and saw that Dull Knife and his band were running for their lives.
The famous Amos Chapman and I were now riding together, when we saw a pack ahead of us that looked peculiar. I dismounted to look at it. _It was a live Indian._ Pulling out my six-shooter I would have killed him, but Amos said: "Don't, Sol; here comes the major on a run; let's wait until he comes up." Amos was a good sign-talker, and tried to talk to him; but he was stoical and silent.
I put my 45 to his ear and said: "Ame, it's signs or death." He seemed to realize what would come, and sign-talk he did, a-plenty. He said he was tired out, and could not keep up, and his people had left him, not having time to stop and make a travois to take him along. Having lost so much time here, the Indians got out of sight. When the wagons came up this played-out warrior was loaded onto one, and hauled for two days, when some of the soldiers, who loved their dead Colonel Lewis, sent him to the "happy hunting-grounds" by the bullet route; and Major Mock never did find out who did it.
From where we loaded this warrior the trail was still easily followed.
About dusk the Major rode ahead again, and asked me, "How far is it to Ogalalla?"
I told him, "Six or seven miles northwest."
"Pull for there; for I have just got to have supplies."
We headed that way, and traveled to the South Platte, arriving there in the fore part of the night.
Here we remained until about 2 P. M. next day, waiting for supplies to come from Sidney. Mock thought that the Indians would pass near Ogalalla. But a telegram reached him from Fort Leavenworth, stating that Major Thornburg would soon be on the ground, with fresh troops and horses, and for him to follow Thornburg's trail. Information having been received by Thornburg that the Indians had crossed the Union Pacific Railroad, six miles east of Ogalalla, instead of west of there, as Mock had supposed they would, having killed a cowboy near where they crossed. We then followed the military road to the crossing of the North Platte. Here we found Thornburg's supply train quicksanded. Here our quartermaster, Lieutenant Wood [whom the author well knew], broke "red tape." Taking all the supplies we needed and the best of Thornburg's mules, we moved on north, and never did see him or his command of fresh troops.
In moving north we came to a small creek and found Thornburg's trail; also Dull Knife's trail. We followed them to the head of the creek. From there Thornburg turned west.
But we scouts were satisfied that an Indian ruse had been played. Riding on ahead, north, I struck a trail where some were afoot. This was evidently the squaw and pappoose trail. About twenty miles farther the trail gave out. By twos and fours they scattered like quails, having agreed on some meeting-place farther on toward their northern home; the warriors doing the same with Thornburg, when he, too, found himself without a trail. He started a dispatch across to Mock; the bearer was wounded and lost his horse. But we got the dispatch. The Indians got his horse, leaving his saddle. The dispatch was lying about twenty feet from the saddle. It seemed to me the soldier thought the dispatch might be found by some of Mock's scouts. The message called upon Mock to send him some practical scouts, as he had lost the warrior trail.
Mock could not get one of us to go. We all three thought we were pretty fair trailers and knew what Dull Knife was up to. He wanted to make us lose all the time possible, so that he and his band could concentrate many miles away toward the North Star, while we were picking up the broken threads of his trail. And he did it. Amos and Hi. reasoned the case with Mock, and I assented to all the two scouts said. So no trailers went to Thornburg.
Dull Knife and his band were finally surrounded near Fort Robinson, Nebraska; cut their way out; escaped to near Fort Keogh, Montana, where they were recaptured, and finally settled down to farming. Dull Knife died in 1885, at the age of 78 years.
While Mock, Hi., Amos and I were talking about the ruse Dull Knife had played Thornburg, a courier arrived from Fort Sidney, with a dispatch, ordering Mock's command to Sidney on the U. P. R. R. near South Platte. We lay over there a few days, and started back to the Indian Territory, with another band of disarmed northern Cheyennes, whose chief's name I do not now recall. But Dull Knife will forever ring in my ears.
There were about 300 of these Indians, men, women and children. We took a course for Wallace, Kansas. We crossed a trackless, unsettled region at the time; no roads or trails, except, at times, the evidences of the old buffalo trails, until we struck the head of Chief creek, a branch of the Republican. During the night's camp there came a heavy snow-storm; no timber, no brush or wind-breaks, and nothing but buffalo-chips to cook with. The next morning the major asked me if I could take him to timber by noon. I told him I could, but doubted if his command and wards could make it.
He asked me about the route. "For three miles to the Republican, it was good; but from there to Dead Willow over the sand-hills it was the devil's own route."
Arriving at Dead Willow we stayed three or four days, I forget which. During this time Lieutenant Wood had a bridge built, and a route laid out for crossing the Arickaree. Then we went a southeast course to the South Republican, one day's march.
Next morning Major Mock asked me if I could get a dispatch to Fort Wallace that day? I told him I could if I had a good mount. He said, "Take your pick from the command." I took Harry Coon's mule. The reason for that was I had noticed him on the entire trip. He was a careful stepper; never stumbled. Harry never used spurs or quirt on him. So I started with the message, leading my own saddle-horse. This message was urgent, and was addressed to the commanding officer at Fort Leavenworth. I got to Wallace just at sundown, and handed the message to the commanding officer at the fort.
He asked, "Where did you leave the command?"
I said, "On the Republican."
He seemed amazed. "Orderly, take this man's stock to the corral, and see they are well cared for." He invited me to his quarters. The next morning, the poor faithful mule could not walk out of the corral. I pitied him; but I had to deliver that message.
I stayed at Wallace during the four days it took the command to arrive. Here I was discharged, at my own request, as I wanted to go home. The officers all said, "Why not go on to the Indian Territory, as it amounts to $5 a day going and coming."
I said: "No; I told you before, it was not the five dollars a day I was after. It was the protection of settlers, and the love of adventure. This thing of herding Indians with no guns in their hands makes me feel cheap. But Amos and Hi. live down there, and that is all right."
After returning to my home on the Prairie Dog, I remained there, putting on improvements, until the fall of 1880. Now here on this creek, where you just had your swim, is forty-five miles to the Smoky, south, where our old friend Smoky Hill Thompson used to live; and ninety miles north is the Platte, where our leader in the Casa Amarilla battle, Hank Campbell, lived.
I liked this location and decided to keep it as my future home. But, like yourself, I am of a restless disposition. So I rented out my farm and went to New Mexico, and was gone three years. I was in business in Raton.
One day Jim Carson, a son of Kit, came into my place and said: "Mr. Rees, my mother is coming down from Taos to visit some of her Mexican friends. She has heard of you, and would be glad to see you."
You know Raton is the old Willow Springs you used to know before the Santa Fe was built down through Dick Hooten's pass, in the Raton Mountains. Well, just across the arroyo is a little Mexican hamlet, say 300 yards from Raton proper. At the time I speak of, I met the Spanish widow of the famous Kit Carson, the grand old scout, guide, and interpreter. [He was the man who piloted John C. Frémont to the Pacific Coast.] She was one of the best-preserved old ladies I ever saw, sixty-three years of age; she could talk both English and Spanish fluently, and was a perfect sign-talker. After nearly an hour's talk, she said she would like to stay there if she only had money enough to buy her a washtub, board, and some soap. (Poor soul! profligate Jim had squandered her last dollar!) I looked at her, and in silence I asked myself, "What has Kit Carson done for humanity?" I went across the arroyo and bought two washtubs, and boards, a box of soap, and several other articles. I think the bill amounted to twenty-odd dollars. I hired some Mexicans to take them to her. I had a log house with two rooms built for her. When told it was hers, she said: "Oh, I can never earn money enough to pay for this." I said: "Mrs. Carson, Kit has paid for this, through me, for what he has done to open up the West to settlers."
She moved in. In less than two months she had twelve washtubs busy; elderly Mexican women at work; all quiet and orderly; twenty-five cents apiece for washing a common woolen shirt; and every day all were as busy as could be. In three months she sent for me, and insisted that I should tell her how much money I had paid out for her. "I want to pay it and then tell you how grateful I feel toward you." I saw her meaning, for she _was a lady_. I put the price at a sum far under what I knew it had cost me. She opened a chest and handed me the money, saying: "Mr. Rees, only for you, I do not know what I should have done. I shall always feel so grateful."
Did she? Was she?
I was taken down with mountain fever. The second day I became delirious, and finally unconscious.
What did Mother Carson do? She sent four strong Mexicans to my room; came herself with them. A soft mattress was placed on a door for a litter, and I was carried to her house, placed on her own bed, and for five days and nights that angel of mercy, this simple, dignified widow of Kit's, nursed me back to life. And when consciousness was restored, she was lying across the foot of the bed, not having taken off her moccasins during that long vigil.
There is a beauty-spot picked out in the "Kingdom Come" for such noble, high-minded women.
And now, John, I guess I have told you about all there is to say. You see me now far different from what you knew me in the old days. Three years ago I had a stroke of paralysis. That accounts for my indistinct articulation, and you are one of the very few that I would talk to about the past. For, you know, you and I have gone through places that it seems incredible to this day and generation.
Yet _you_ know the Story of the Plains, especially the old Southwest as we knew it for years.
Reader, there is something more to be said. I found this man Rees at the town of Jennings, five miles down the Prairie Dog from his ranch. He is now a broken-down man in body, but has ample means. He is to-day less than sixty years of age; but he has been a man of iron. He has dared and done what the average man of to-day would shrink from. But here in the quiet of his home, where he is surrounded with the luxuries of life, he pines for buffalo-meat. He may not have a tablet of fame; yet he has a lovable wife, two interesting daughters, and three boys: John Rees, twenty-one years old, a manly man; his son Ray, a polite little fellow of twelve; and his prattling baby-boy, Wayne Solomon Rees, three years, who will some day emulate his father, and he is to-day the youngest child of an ex-soldier of the grand old Union army. His honest, open countenance, as shown in his picture in this chapter, could not help but excite the admiration of mankind.
The author congratulates himself that he has lived to see the day that he could trot this little tot on his knees, in the quiet of the Rees home, and while dancing him would think of the days that his father did deeds that were noble and courageous.
Reader, go into the quiet of this home, as I have done. Hear the girls play up-to-date music on a fine piano, that an indulgent father has purchased them. Look into John Rees's room and see the trophy of a Comanche warrior's beaded buckskin jacket that his father brought home from Texas ten years before John was born. Look at the painting on the wall of that ever-to-be-mysterious massacre.
The first night that I slept with John Rees and awoke in the morning at chicken-crow, I lay there thinking, while John was peacefully sleeping. My memory carried me back to days when his father, with a fortitude and courage born of heroes, saved the lives of eighteen men from a horrible death. Yet Mr. Seton says we were the dregs of the border towns.
I wish to speak of Georgia Rees: Her father loves the jingle of "Marching Through Georgia," the old war-song from "Atlanta to the Sea;" and as Georgia plays this inspiring song at her father's request, Sol. keeps time to the music, by thumping his cane on the floor. And that is why the author thinks he named the baby-girl Georgia.
Source: The Border and the Buffalo by John R. Cook Available at Project Gutenberg
Kansas Since The Civil War
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Justice Department Sides Against Harvard In Racial Discrimination Lawsuit
By Merrit Kennedy • Aug 30, 2018
Harvard University is facing legal action over its admissions policies, and the U.S. Department of Justice is supporting the lawsuit's plaintiffs.
Darren McCollester / Getty Images
Originally published on August 30, 2018 8:19 pm
The U.S. Department of Justice is throwing its support behind an anti-affirmative action group that is suing Harvard University over alleged racial discrimination in its admissions policies.
In a document filed in federal court on Thursday, the Justice Department said it is siding with Students for Fair Admissions in its request for a trial, currently scheduled to begin in mid-October.
The Justice Department said in a press release that Harvard has "failed to show that it does not unlawfully discriminate against Asian Americans."
Harvard has filed a motion for summary judgment in its favor, which if approved by a judge would mean the case would not be tried. It argues that the lawsuit is baseless.
In a statement, Harvard said it was "deeply disappointed" that the Justice Department has taken the plaintiff's side, "recycling the same misleading and hollow arguments that prove nothing more than the emptiness of the case against Harvard."
"Harvard does not discriminate against applicants from any group, and will continue to vigorously defend the legal right of every college and university to consider race as one factor among many in college admissions, which the Supreme Court has consistently upheld for more than 40 years," the university added.
This lawsuit dates back to 2014, and alleges that Harvard is in violation of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act, which prohibits racial discrimination in programs that receive federal funding. In its court filing Thursday, the Justice Department says Harvard receives "millions of taxpayer dollars every year."
The Justice Department says Harvard's admissions office uses a "personal rating" for applicants. It says in the court filing that the "vague and elusory" scoring system of "subjective" factors could be biased against Asian-Americans. According to the Justice Department, "it scores Asian-American applicants lower on the personal rating than white applicants."
"The Justice Department has determined that Harvard — while using race to make admissions decisions for more than 45 years — has never seriously considered alternative, race-neutral ways to compile a diverse student body, which it is required to do so under existing law," the department said in the press release.
As NPR's Bill Chappell has reported, the plaintiffs argue that the proportion of Asian-Americans admitted to Harvard would be higher if the decision was only based on academics:
"Citing a 2013 analysis by Harvard's Office of Institutional Research, the SFFA said in a federal court filing on Friday that if academics were the only criterion, Asian-American students would have made up more than 43 percent of students who were admitted, rather than the actual 18.7 percent.
"Even if other criteria — such as legacy students, athletic recruiting and extracurricular and personal attributes — are included, the plaintiffs say, the number of Asian-Americans at Harvard would still have risen to more than 26 percent."
Harvard has said that a complete review of its data "does not discriminate against applicants from any group, including Asian-Americans, whose rate of admission has grown 29 percent over the last decade," as Chappell noted.
Also on Thursday, a group of more than 500 social scientists and scholars filed a court document that defends Harvard's admissions policies.
They argue that the plaintiffs are pushing for too narrow a metric of academic achievement (focusing on grades and standardized test scores) to determine admissions. They say it is Harvard's decision — and not the decision of the plaintiffs — "to decide what qualities it values among its many academically qualified applicants."
"Research-based evidence demonstrates that the criteria Plaintiff would have this Court require Harvard to rely on are themselves infected with biases and stereotypes," the social scientists say.
The Justice Department has signaled its interest in this fight before.
Last year, it opened its own probe into the role of race in the Harvard admissions process in a move that could still result in a separate lawsuit.
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Partner, Kraus & Zuchlewski LLP
pz@kzlaw.net
Pearl Zuchlewski is a partner in Kraus & Zuchlewski LLP where she primarily represents individual employees.
Fordham University Law School
Pearl is a former Chair of the New York State Bar Association (“NYSBA”) Labor and Employment Law Section and presently serves on the Section’s Executive Committee. She also is a Section representative to the NYSBA House of Delegates. In addition, she is a member of the American Bar Association (“ABA”) Labor and Employment Law Section’s Employee Rights and Responsibilities Committee, the National Employment Lawyers Association and the Association of the Bar in the City of New York (“ABCNY”). As a former member of the ABCNY's Labor and Employment Law Committee, she participated in the drafting of the Model Rules for the Arbitration of Employment Disputes.
Adjunct professor at St. John’s University School of Law
Member of the advisory boards of the New York University Law School Center for Labor and Employment, the Hofstra Law School, CPR Employment Disputes Committee and the New York City Chapter of the Labor and Employment Relations Association
Member of the Public Investors Arbitration Bar Association
Pearl serves on advisory boards of the Center for Labor and Employment Law at NYU School of Law, the International Institute for Conflict Prevention and Resolution and New York City’s Labor and Employment Relations Association. She has been recognized for several years as among the Best Lawyers in New York and in SuperLawyers.
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Should I Write A Spec Script?
Should I write a spec script? (bios below)
Okay, we all get it by now – unless you’re filthy rich already, writers can’t write just to write anymore. There are bills to pay and expenses to be met. So if you want to write and carry on writing, you have to write to SELL.
So why not aim big? Why write the $1m movie when you can write the $100m movie instead? Spec scripts are still a great way to kick start a career in a fully vibrant industry.
So do you invest your time and efforts into your hard to sell passion project or take a chance on the ‘one in a million’ high concept big budget blockbuster that the studios are crying out for every summer?
This panel full of experienced industry folk who’ve been there and seen it all will tell you exactly what you can realistically expect in return for a spec script in 2010.
OLLIE MADDEN - VP Production | Warner Bros. UK
Ollie Madden started his career at Graham Broadbent and Damian Jones's company, Dragon Pictures. He later became an Acquisitions Executive at Atom Films, the world's largest short film distribution company. In 2001 Madden moved on to be a Director of Production and Development at Miramax Films, where he worked for three years and was involved with such films as DIRTY PRETTY THINGS, BRIDE AND PREJUDICE and PROOF.
In late 2004, Madden joined Intermedia Films as Head of UK Production and Development, where he worked on THE HUNTING PARTY and produced comedy MAGICIANS for Universal. Working closely with Scott Kroopf, Intermedia's President of Production, he was involved in the expansion of the UK development slate as well as acting as a production executive on all films shot in the UK and Europe.
In 2007 Madden joined Warner Bros. as their UK based VP of Production where he's been involved with SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE and Guy Ritchie's SHERLOCK HOLMES.
NIK BOWER - Investment Director
Nik trained as a barrister and worked in the City as a lawyer and a banker before joining Ingenious Media in 2005. As head of the film team at Ingenious, Nik is responsible for sourcing evaluating and negotiating investments in television and theatrical feature film production.
Over the past 12 years, Ingenious has backed scores of films, including SHAUN OF THE DEAD, NIGHT AT THE MUSEUM, CHILDREN OF MEN, HAIRSPRAY, VERA DRAKE, STREETDANCE 3D and the highest-grossing film of all time, AVATAR.
DANIEL MARTIN ECKHART - Screenwriter
Daniel is a scriptwriter with a passion for thrillers, cop stories and all things dark and twisted. Before hitting his scriptwriting stride, he played around in the army, protected the Pope in the Vatican, got shot at for the UN in Beirut, narrowly avoided a kidnapping in Tehran and escaped the war in Baghdad. During his classical actor training in New York, the passion for scriptwriting took centre stage - and it's been there ever since.
Working with some of Germany's best networks, producers, directors and actors, he's been busy creating top-rated TV movies. His work has been Grimme-Prize nominated (Germany's top TV honor). Daniel has also worked on action and thriller TV shows, creating bibles and writing episodes.
More recently Daniel has been focusing on adaptations. He adapted THE COFFEE TRADER by David Liss, a high-budget period film currently in financing stages. His latest adaptation is BROTHER GRIMM by Craig Russell - the film will have its prime-time premiere on the main German network exactly during the London Screenwriters' Festival. Daniel may ask you all to keep your fingers crossed - because if the ratings fly, it'll mean the beginning of several more to come.
KATE HARWOOD - Controller Series and Serials | BBC Drama
Kate Harwood graduated from Birmingham University with a degree in Drama. She joined the BBC Drama Serials Department in 1990 where she worked on many productions first as a script editor (BAFTA winner HOLDING ON), then as a producer (CLOSE RELATIONS, BAFTA winner CHARLES II – THE POWER AND THE PASSION, DAVID COPPERFIELD) and executive producer (DANIEL DERONDA, CRIME AND PUNISHMENT).
In March 2005, Kate became Executive Producer of EASTENDERS and took the show to a position where it won a BAFTA and two National TV Awards. Kate has since been appointed Controller Series and Serials Drama Production. Under this title, she has been responsible for recent dramas such as CRIMINAL JUSTICE 2, FIVE DAUGHTERS, FIVE DAYS 2 and LUTHER.
JONATHAN NEWMAN - Screenwriter / Director
Writer/Director Jonathan Newman has been described as one of the UK's 'most exciting filmmakers' to emerge in recent years, and was recently longlisted for the Hospital Club's top 100 media hotlist, chosen by industry peers around the country.
2010 sees the release of two feature films shot back to back, both written and directed by Newman and produced by partner Deepak Nayar (BEND IT LIKE BECKHAM, BUENA VISTA SOCIAL CLUB).
SWINGING WITH THE FINKELS shot in 2009, tells the story of a bored couple who decide to spice up their marriage by swinging. It stars Martin Freeman (LOVE ACTUALLY), singer/actress Mandy Moore (CHASING LIBERTY) comedy legend and father of 'Ben', Jerry Stiller... Jonathan (WEEKEND AT BERNIE’S) Silverman and Angus Deayton. The film was based on Newman's award winning short film of the same name.
Almost immediately after, Jonathan shot the feature film FOSTER, a magical and heartwarming family film starring Emmy Award winning actress Toni Collette (THE 6th SENSE) , Ioan Gruffudd (FANTASTIC FOUR), Richard E Grant (WITHNAIL & I) and Oscar winner Hayley Mills (POLLYANNA, THE PARENT TRAP). The film was also based on his award winning short film which screened on both HBO and BBC and earned Newman a BBC new filmmaker nomination.
Jonathan's short film FATHER’S DAY, made for the 2010 Ford Mustang, won grand prize in a worldwide competition held by ad agency JWT and Filmaka. JWT subsequently hired Jonathan to shoot a 6 part documentary series in Japan on the art of drifting for the reveal of the new Ford Mustang.
British born, Newman spent his formative years in LA before returning to the UK. He earned his MA in Film Production from the Northern Film School and currently resides in London.
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Women stir up the zeal of women at the ALDE Congress in Budapest
By Nick Thorne | Thu 3rd December 2015 - 11:40 am
On Friday 20 November the Liberal Democrats International Office organised a roundtable discussion on promoting women in politics at the 2015 Congress of the Alliance of Liberal and Democrats for Europe (ALDE), sharing success stories from across Europe.
International Research Officer Nick Thorne tells us more about the event here.
“The most important thing women have to do is to stir up the zeal of women themselves.” Kicking off the discussion with this inspiring quote from John Stuart Mill, Baroness Sal Brinton set the tone for what was to be a dynamic debate. Women are 51% of the population, but in the UK, they make up just 29% of MPs. Frighteningly, this is higher than the European average of 25.5% and it is not much better than the average of 23.2% in Sub-Saharan Africa.
While there have been incremental improvements over the past decades, progress remains frustratingly slow, and at the current rate, gender equality in the House of Commons will not be achieved until the year 2085. The aim of this discussion was share experiences among political parties across Europe, to share strategies and learn from each other to promote women more effectively, with the long-term goal of accelerating our movement towards gender parity in politics. If we can harness new and innovative approaches to advance gender equality used in other European countries, we may not need to wait until 2085 for women to be fully represented in governments across the continent.
Chaired by Baroness Sal Brinton, President of the Liberal Democrats, the discussion began with speeches from Dina Durakovic, International Officer for the Bosnian Nasa Stranka party; Lousewies van der Laan, outgoing Vice President of ALDE and former MEP for the Dutch D66 party; Gunilla Hjelm, President of the Swedish Centre Party’s women’s organisation; and Petra Stienen, a Senator for D66 in the Netherlands, followed by an open discussion.
This event was coordinated by the Liberal Democrats International Office as part of our project with Nasa Stranka, working promote women in politics in Bosnia, and was organised in conjunction with the Swedish Centre Party and Dutch D66. The ALDE Congress presented a unique opportunity to bring together leading women in political parties across Europe, and the participants in the discussion included representatives from the Danish Radikale Venstre, German FDP, Swedish People’s Party of Finland, Latvian Attistibai party, Irish Fianna Fail, Belgian Open VLD, and the ALDE Gender Equality Network.
The discussion brought out a fascinating range of perspectives. Nasa Stranka has launched ‘Initiative 50%’, an ambitious programme to ensure that women make up 50% of all candidates in the local election in 2016 and national elections in 2018. At the municipal level, an impressive 46% of elected Nasa Stranka councillors are female, thanks to the implementation of a female quota.
Petra Stienen argued that gender equality is not just important for women, but also for men. She strives to be a role-model for both women and men. “A lot of men are put off politics because they think it’s too testosterone-fuelled and macho”, she said.
Lousewies van der Laan alluded to a scientific analysis conducted by the Austrian NEOS party, on why women are often dissuaded from going into politics. The findings were often very simple: for example, for women with children, starting meetings at 8pm in the evening puts them off getting involved. Other political parties would do well to follow suit in investigating this issue.
A wide variety of strategies to overcome the barriers facing women in politics were discussed. Gunilla Hjelm suggested establishing women’s organisations and support networks; Karin Riis Jorgensen of the Danish Venstre party advocated mentorship for female candidates; Anna Jungner Nordgren from the Swedish People’s Party argued that providing affordable day care is crucial; Flo Clucas, President of the ALDE Gender Equality Network, proposed that governments could enforce female quotas by fining or suspending the lists of parties which do not comply.
While there was agreement on many issues, there was a healthy debate on the question of female quotas. Sissel Kvist from the Danish Radikale Venstre party argued that quotas do not work and are a short-term fix which may succeed in getting women on to party lists, but do not get women elected. Dina Durakovic and Sal Brinton took the opposing view, claiming that affirmative action was the only way effect real change, and that the lack of progress in the UK is indicative of this. Catherine Bearder, MEP for the Liberal Democrats, suggested that ‘targets’ could be a more appealing word than ‘quotas’ to promote the strategy.
With contributions flying from all corners of the room, the discussion showed no sign of stopping and the commitment of those ALDE member parties to tackling gender inequality in politics was evident. However, the battle is not over, and all agreed that the outcomes of the discussion must feed into follow-up events and inform strategies to put them into practice across the ALDE network. Watch this space!
* Nick Thorne is International Programme Development and Research Officer for the Liberal Democrats
Read more by Nick Thorne or more about ALDE congress or sal brinton.
This entry was posted in Op-eds.
Representative Delegates? How we should view the role of Liberal Democrat MPs
Labour MPs find out that bullying is a thing
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Ep. 45: The Canada Conspiracy
Liberty Chronicles Podcast – 22 min 22 sec – Mar 13, 2018 – Episode 46 of 106
Abram D. Smith is a forgotten figure in American history. But in September 1838, a circle of revolutionaries elected him to be President of Canada.
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Ep. 44: Make America Young Again
Ep. 46: The Most Important Election Ever
Abram D. Smith is a forgotten figure in American history. Smith was born in either Lowville or Cambridge, upstate New York, in 1811, just before the post-war boom years of rapid social and economic change. As a young man, he experienced and contributed to a wave of nationalistic romanticism, enraptured with the wonders of American republicanism and democracy. He was in these regards fairly unremarkable, and yet in September 1838, probably in some Ohio forest, surrounded by blazing torchlight, a circle of revolutionary conspirators called the Brother Hunters elected Abram D. Smith—Mr. Average American—to be President of the Republic of Canada.
Further Readings/References:
“Abram D. Smith: Nullification,” on Classics of Liberty
Bonthius, Andrew. “The Patriot War of 1837-1838: Locofocoism With a Gun?” Labour/Le Travail 52 (Fall 2003), 9-43.
Dunley, Ruth. “A.D. Smith: Knight-Errant of Radical Democracy,” (PhD Diss.). The University of Ottowa. 2008.
Kinchen, Oscar. The Rise and Fall of the Patriot Hunters. New York: Bookman Associates. 1956.
James Gemmel, “Two Years in Van Dieman’s Land”
Benjamin Wait, Letters from Van Dieman’s Land
Music by Kai Engel
Anthony Comegna: Abram D. Smith is a forgotten figure in American history. Smith was born in either Lowville or Cambridge, Upstate New York, in 1811, just before the post-war boom years of rapid social and economic change. As a young man, he experienced and contributed to a wave of nationalistic romanticism, enraptured with the wonders of American republicanism and democracy. [00:00:30] He was in these regards fairly unremarkable and yet, in September 1838, probably in some Ohio forest, surrounded by blazing torchlight, a circle of revolutionary conspirators called the Brother Hunters elected Abram D. Smith, Mr. Average American, to be president of the Republic of Canada.
Welcome to Liberty Chronicles, a project of Libertarianism.org. I’m Anthony Comegna.
[00:01:00] Politically, Smith was a Loco-Foco, a radical anti-privilege supporter of universal equal rights. In their two-year existence as a third-party in New York, the Locofocos successfully became a powerful and influential force within the National Democratic Party. The romantic, passionate and thoroughly American radicalism of the Locofocos was especially [00:01:30] captivating to youths like Smith.
His romantic Loco-Foco love affair with republicanism stitched together a long series of important moments in libertarian history. He and many others took the ideas of William Leggett, Theodore Sedgwick, William Cullen Bryant, a young Walt Whitman, the painter Thomas Cole and other young Americans. He took them nationwide, creating the first libertarian movement in the process.
The budding, young American movement was steeped in what literary [00:02:00] scholars Andrew Lawson calls Loco-Foco Romanticism. Loco Romantics combined the German idealism of Hegel, Fichte and Herder with the American context of a wild democratic frontier in human history. To Loco Romantics, the spirit of liberty pervaded and defined American life, and the United States was destined to lead the forces of liberty into the future. Abram D. Smith always fancied himself one such soldier of history.
[00:02:30] While training for his law degree, Smith displayed this kind of jubilant republicanism by celebrating Independence Day in legendary style. With an adequate supply of food, liquor and firearms, the young man rode to an isolated island in an Upstate New York lake one 3rd of July. Alone with his thoughts and the sky, Smith drank the night away, rising at dawn on the 4th, he fired his holiday salute and continued drinking for several hours.
He then delivered a reading of the Declaration [00:03:00] of Independence, engaged in some general carousing, many alcoholic salutations to revolutionary heroes and a well-deserved and day-long nap in his boat. His was the sort of liberty that has made early America a now mythical place of coonskin caps, jugs of whiskey and a lack of constituted authority as far as the eye could see.
In 1836 or 1837, Smith took his romantic radicalism to the old northwest. The Smiths settled in Ohio, and [00:03:30] Abram threw himself into Democratic politics. He was elected city councilman from Cleveland’s first ward in 1837 and, that summer, delivered speeches from the local courthouse of the ultra Loco-Foco kind in the words of a local paper.
Smith transplanted Leggett’s New York Locofocoism to Cleveland, preaching the radical message to Ohio workingmen. By day, Smith practiced law and attended to his municipal duties, performing respectable middle class work in a bustling [00:04:00] western city. By night, however, he studied the secret codes and hand signals of the Brother Hunters, a vast secret revolutionary society with local branches stretched across the northern border.
Under cover of darkness, Smith escaped his perfectly normal life and stole away to the forests. There, he and his Brother Hunters breathe new life into the revolutionary heritage that so captivated their imaginations. They plotted to violently [00:04:30] overthrow the British Imperial Government in Canada, and the man they chose to lead them as their president, Abram D. Smith, was suddenly anything but average. He was president of the Republic of Canada.
Strung across the northern border in the late 1830s, there was a loose network of Locofoco-minded revolutionaries calling themselves Patriots. Like Smith and his Brother Hunters, most Patriot groups met in secret and solitude, spinning their conspiratorial [00:05:00] webs to fulfill America’s place in history.
From Maine to Ohio, as many as 200,000 Patriots engaged in military drills and preparedness, passed Loco-Foco meeting resolutions condemning British imperialism in Canada and the evils of aristocratical government. They even established newspapers and a bank of issue to fund their cause. The notes would be paid back once Canada was revolutionized. They laid lasting and intense political social networks, and [00:05:30] some even crossed the border to join Canadian forces in ill-fated rebellion.
The rebellions in British Canada came out of the long-term transformation of the economy and the exploitative nature of British Imperial Forces. Inspired by Jacksonian Democracy, especially Loco-Foco radicalism, Republican-minded Canadians protested the legally privileged land monopoly regime in Upper Canada.
Imperial law relegated the choices and the largest tracts of land [00:06:00] to a privileged clique of aristocrats, the so-called Family Compact. The Compact was a small, intimately connected group of leading administrators, office holders and landlords. The members high up in the chain spawned a series of their own local Compacts made up of sheriffs, judges, militiamen and appointed officers. Top to bottom then, a relatively small and centralized clique of Canadians determined the entire colony’s destinies.
The Canadians wanted to sever the colonial relationship [00:06:30] altogether, including very real legal ties to England’s aristocratic, feudal, corporatist past. Their American allies hoped to banish the British Lion from the continent forever and, perhaps, finally welcome Upper and Lower Canada into the great Republican family.
The Canadian rebels, led by William Lyon Mackenzie and Dr. Charles Duncombe, were terribly disorganized and few in number. The homegrown rebellion collapsed in 1837 after a series of British [00:07:00] victories, but the revolution continued. Mackenzie fled to New York, where he dabbled in Loco-Foco social circles and tried to influence American politics to help the cause of Canadian republicanism.
For their own part, the American Patriots and Hunters ramped up recruitment, drilling and planning, all in secret, coordinated with coded letters sent privately through the Patriot presses all across the border zone. The Patriot-Hunter groups became full-blown secret societies, [00:07:30] complete with initiation rituals, oaths of secrecy and members like Smith, who was also a Free Mason.
Speaker 2: Obligations of Three Hunters Degrees, including the Patriot Mason Degree.
The Snowshoe Degree has five points. The first point is you do solemnly swear in the presence of Almighty God and this lodge [00:08:00] of Hunters that you will not give the secrets of this degree or any secret that may come to my knowledge in the body of this lodge to any person to whom they do not justly and lawfully belong; that I will not write, print, stain, stamp, hue, cut, carve, mark, indent or engrave the same upon anything whereby the secrets of this degree may be unlawfully obtained.
Second point, you do further swear that you will not [00:08:30] give the secrets of a brother Hunter when given to you in charge as such to any person to whom they do not just and lawfully belong.
Third point, you do further swear that you will aid the cause of liberty, equality and fraternity whenever you can do the same without injury to yourself or family.
Fourth point, you do further swear that you will give a brother Hunter timely notice of approaching danger when the same shall come to your knowledge, provided you can do the [00:09:00] same without injury to yourself and family.
Fifth point, that you will attend the lodge when summoned if within three miles and you can do the same without injury to yourself and family, so help you God.
Second Degree, Beaver of Castor Degree, you do solemnly swear in the presence of Almighty God and this lodge of Beavers that you will not give the secrets of this degree to a Snowshoe or any person to whom they do not just and lawfully belong, [00:09:30] so help you God.
Third Degree, [Sheosor 00:09:33] or Grand Hunter Degree, you do solemnly promise and swear in the presence of Almighty God and this lodge of Grand Hunters that you will not give the secrets of this degree to a Beaver or a Snowshoe or any person to whom they do not just and lawfully belong. You do further swear that whatever monies may come into your hands for the Patriot cause, you will apply the same to that purpose, so help you God.
Fourth [00:10:00] Degree or Patriot Mason Degree, you do solemnly promise and swear that you will not give the secrets of this degree to a Grand Hunter, a Beaver or Snowshoe or any person to whom they do not just and lawfully belong, so help you God.
Anthony Comegna: Patriot-Hunters on the American border invaded Canada, only to be defeated at the Battle of the Windmill just outside Prescott, Ontario, in November 1838. 200 American [00:10:30] Patriots battled British Imperial troops for several days and, by the end, a hundred and fifty-seven were taken prisoner, one hundred forty were court martialed, eleven executed, and sixty transported to Van Diemen’s Land.
Loaded on board the Marquis of Hastings, a rotted, barely seaworthy prison hulk, 230 felons suffered scurvy in a four-months-long journey, as horrible as any in the entire history of Britain’s convict labor system. Thirty of these [00:11:00] prisoners died in transit. Their bodies cast overboard to be eaten by sharks and forgotten by time.
The survivors were consigned to the brutal prison labor regime of British Australia. There, they continued the intellectual and social cooperation began in the Loco networks of North America. The convicted Patriot stories quickly became the stuff of legend among sympathizers at home.
Speaker 2: Letters from Van Diemen’s [00:11:30] Land, written during four years imprisonment for political offenses committed in Upper Canada by Benjamin Wait, 1843.
I would answer the questions so frequently asked of what did Canada complain and then proceed.
Canada complained of the absence of all security for life and property, of taxation without representation, of the destruction of the liberty of the press, of packed injuries, of a judiciary bribed by an [00:12:00] entirely dependent upon the Crown of the profligate waste of the public revenues amongst swarms of foreign officials, of an illegal distribution of the public lands among herds of foreign stockjobbers to the injury and degradation of the industrious agriculturalists and immigrant, of education for the rich and none for the poor, of a dominant government established church, of an annihilation of the colonial constitution, of a total want of responsibility in the government [00:12:30] party; in a word, of the existence of an arbitrary, arrogant, vindictive and fraudulent oligarchy, which is now happily exchanged for a more liberal and responsible experiment.
The predilections of my youth were for the law and political life. Therefore, my studies and my attentions were directed there, too, until excessive ambition to progress and sedentary habits ruined my health when I was forced to sit down short of the consummation of my hopes.
[00:13:00] I domesticated, married and was dragged from the felicity of retirement only by the repeated aggressions and unhallowed practices of the despotic lieutenant governor, Sir Francis Bond Head. I had held myself fully devoted to whatever measures were announced by our firm representatives at Toronto. I attended carefully to all the developments of intrigue and deception practiced by the government and detected by the indefatigable McKenzi and his able associates, and felt myself by honor and inclination, [00:13:30] pledged to an early participation in the outbreak, for I was fully convinced it was the only means left to us to break the bonds of tyranny.
At the first intimation of the rising near Toronto, I armed and left my home at York on the Grand River without a regret, all ardency to mingle in the strife for freedom and proceeded towards to a known point of concentration. Indeed, it was highly necessarily for me to be on the move, or at least on the qui vive, for my well-known radical principles [00:14:00] rendered me unsafe at home.
While the circumstance of the absence of my wife and child on a visit at my father’s, 60 miles distant, was to my high tory neighbors, proof sufficient of a premeditated arrangement. My limits will not permit me to go into a detail, and will, therefore, merely add that I arrived in the London District just in time to witness the unhappy dispersion when it became necessarily for everyone to shift for himself.
I therefore retraced my steps, which had to be done [00:14:30] with the utmost care and vigilance. I traveled mostly by night and finally arrived on the frontiers despite the thousand dangers that beset me. After having been twice intercepted, once by Indians, whose chief, a particular friend, let me go, having been attracted by a red rose, the badge of loyalty, which I had providentially picked up and pinned on my cap, and once by a band of drunken volunteer guards from whom, by a daring maneuver, I made a happy escape.
On [00:15:00] Christmas eve, gallantly assisted by patriotic ladies, I launched an old canoe upon the Niagara and crossed to the Land of Freedom from whence I soon found my way to Navy Island where I partook a cheerful Christmas dinner beneath the banner of the sister stars.
At the evacuation of the place, I proceeded with melee as far as Conneaut, Ohio, where, by the virulence of three seated inward inflammations caused by continued exposure, I lay for several weeks, but one remove from the grave.
[00:15:30] From Conneaut, I returned by stage to Schlosser where I happily found my wife and child, who received me almost as one from the dead. In the meantime, Sir George Arthur displaced Sir Francis in Upper Canada and, soon after, the Earl of Durham arrived as governor general of the Canadas.
Consequently, 26, all Canadians, daring fellows ready to be sacrificed in the field or on the scaffold penetrated, doubly armed, without hope of return, to the heart [00:16:00] of the enemy’s country, surrounded on the every side by the regular infantry, lancers, volunteers and Indians, where a few Americans came to us, on a secret mission, the object of which I am not yet at liberty to detail, to which, however, let it suffice that I declare there was nothing in the slightest degree dishonorable or disreputable attached, notwithstanding subsequent surmise and evil report.
After a trifling successful eruption upon a company of insulting orange lancer, [00:16:30] et cetera, far outnumbering us, whom we took, detained a short time, then dismissed, our little band retreated and dispersed when a part were captured and sent with 20 or more of the innocent inhabitants to a jail where we were all separately indicted for high treason by having appeared armed with swords, spears, muskets, bayonets, rifles, pistols and other offensive weapons against the peace of Her Majesty Victoria, by the grace of God, Queen of Great Britain [00:17:00] and Ireland, with intent to do her some grievous harm.
On this indictment, the gallant Colonel Morrow, for whose apprehension, a reward of £250 was paid, was hastily tried, found guilt and murdered on the scaffold with but a few days granted in which to arrange his worldly affairs. He died like a man, honored and mourned, a glorious murder in the cause of truth and the rights of man.
Here, I ought to consider this long introduction as closed, [00:17:30] and the request of my friends briefly complied with. Yet, I must add that the captured innocent citizens were acquitted, and sixteen of the participators sentenced to death upon the gallow. Thirteen of them, however, received an immediate commutation, while three, Messrs. Chandler, McLeod, and myself, with Beemer, who was soon after added were reserved for positive execution, but subsequent particulars will be found at full detail in Mrs. Wait’s letters and my own, which I wrote [00:18:00] from Van Diemen’s Land.
Anthony Comegna: American Loco-Foco filibusters connected the struggling Canada with a wider attempt to rid the world of British aristocracy. Escapees like Benjamin Wait and James Gammell recorded their experiences for Loco-Foco readers in cities like New York. Levi Slamm’s Daily Plebeian regularly published letters from Van Diemen’s Land alongside advocacy for other young American crusades.
At this early stage, most [00:18:30] Locofocos decidedly favored peace as the best means to their end, and they rejected the use of force. The Van Buren administration entirely disavowed the filibustering radicals, trying to avoid a war with Great Britain. Many Locofocos reacted by arguing that friendly relations with Great Britain positively helped Queen Victoria add jewels to her crown.
The violent and destructive counterrevolutionary backlash against Canadian rebels and their sympathizers added to their case. [00:19:00] Loyalists destroyed property and terrorized radicals, prompting 25,000 refugees, including Thomas Edison’s parents, to flee Canada for the United States. Loco-Foco young Americans like John L. O’Sullivan and Levi Slamm welcomed them with open arms.
Abram D. Smith, the president of the Republic of Canada, apparently avoided conflict, transportation and execution, though the impact of his election must have weighed on his spirit [00:19:30] for rest of his days.
Patriots like Smith fought for Loco-Foco anti-monopoly principles. They fought against the world’s most powerful government of the day, the global icon of the money power, the preeminent monarchical, aristocratic corporation mongering organization on the globe, imperial Britain.
Throughout the 1830s, American Locofocos and Canadian radicals exchanged ideas and fused their movements together. [00:20:00] Their Patriot war was consistent with a powerful strain of Loco thinking. It was part of the Loco-Foco political movement, an attempt at Republican revolution.
When seen in this light, it becomes a single battle in the ongoing war between Loco-Foco young Americans and the remnants of corporate feudalism in America. When the rebellion collapsed, Canadian reformers shifted toward national union as a way of reforming imperial policy. Americans, [00:20:30] once again, turned their militant gazes homeward, toward their own remaining aristocracies.
The great irony for militaristic Locofocos was that their activities violated their own theory of social conflict. By empowering the state or using violence to advance the cause of self-government, they only widened and deepened those conflicts. Abram D. Smith and other unrepentant filibustering Locofocos failed to hear this word of advice offered by James Gammell, another [00:21:00] one of the escaped convict laborers who served time with Benjamin Wait in Van Diemen’s Land.
Gammell, unlike Smith, actually experienced war and revolution first hand, not vicariously through some meaningless election to a pretender’s office. After escaping British slavery, Gammell wrote of his motivations and experiences. He was youthful and anxious to make his Republican visions for Canada into reality, but, soon, he found that a few armed [00:21:30] and active people could not truly change a whole society. Even bottom-up organized acts of violence tend to produce more top-down tyranny, more statism, less individual freedom.
The warriors of liberty should not wield the weapons of power, and Gammell advised his fellow Loco filibusters to hang it up and focus on peaceful, intellectual and social change. James Gammell’s horrific experience in [00:22:00] Van Diemen’s Land beat the romanticism out of him, but too few have listened to his hard-earned lesson.
Liberty Chronicles is a project of Libertarianism.org, is produced by Tess Terrible. If you’ve enjoyed this episode of Liberty Chronicles, please rate, review and subscribe to us on iTunes. For more information on Liberty Chronicles, visit Libertarianism.org.
Anthony Comegna
Anthony Comegna received his M.A. (2012) and Ph.D. (2016) in history from the University of Pittsburgh, where he specialized in early American, intellectual, and Atlantic history. His dissertation, “The Dupes of Hope Forever:” The Loco-Foco or Equal Rights Movement, 1820s-1870s, revives the submerged and forgotten legacy of locofocoism. Anthony has taught undergraduate courses in American history and Western Civilization. He produces regular historical content for Libertarianism.org and is the writer/host of Liberty Chronicles. He currently works at the Institute for Humane Studies as the Academic Programs Design Manager.
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How KFC gets the L&D balance right
by John Hilton29 Jan 2016
For KFC, it’s essential to look at how to get structured learning that’s right for an individual, said Rob Phipps, Chief People Officer of KFC.
In particular, a big challenge is that KFC have employees from many different walks of life, added Phipps.
“Different people approach things in different ways, so if we were to create a program that was one-size fits all – it wouldn’t work,” he told L&D Professional.
“We have very high standards around food management, but at the same time we give people flexibility to learn in a way that’s best for them.”
In particular, Phipps said that e-learning is very important to KFC, and the company has been through several different approaches over the last seven or so years to get it right.
However, Phipps emphasises that e-learning by itself is not a solution.
“Nothing can take away from sitting down with somebody in our environment and being coached on the job,” he said.
Phipps said it’s handy to use technology to make learning more interactive, but that KFC will always need humans involved.
Moreover, one of the biggest challenges which KFC is facing on the L&D front is grappling with technology, said Phipps. Namely, the problem is that it’s moving too fast.
“Do you hold on and skip a step? Or do you stay with the times and it costs a lot of money in investment, time, change and all those sorts of things,” he said.
“Certainly where technology sits for us is an ongoing question.
“It needs to be something that’s flexible and can be consumed in different ways.”
Indeed, Phipps added that having a teacher-led program that gets cascaded down by itself has become a thing of the past.
Further, to help KFC gets its messages of high standards across all the restaurants, it needs to be engaging, Phipps said.
“You can make a difference and you can have a bit of fun along the way as well,” he added.
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A Taste of Home Town
User Account Registration
Apartment Guide
JC News
Children & Kid Friendly
Laurel, MS (39440)
Mostly sunny. High 94F. Winds SW at 5 to 10 mph..
Partly cloudy. Low 74F. Winds light and variable.
Murder in Ellisville?
By Mark Thornton
Body found on bridge, fleeing suspect jailed
An Ellisville man was found dead on a bridge Friday afternoon and another Ellisville man is in custody after leading law enforcement on a chase in the victim’s pickup late Sunday afternoon.
Michael Tyson, 47, was pronounced dead at the scene after being found on a closed-down bridge on Ellisville-Tuckers Crossing Road, less than 100 feet from the Ellisville city limits. The body has been sent to the crime lab in Jackson for an autopsy, according to a Facebook post by the Jones County Sheriff’s Department.
On Sunday afternoon, a deputy reportedly spotted the victim’s red Toyota pickup on Interstate 59 and attempted to pull it over, but the driver didn’t stop. Laurel police then joined the chase after he exited into the city, then broke off when the chase continued down Luther Hill Road into the county.
Stephen McLaurin, 53, was taken into custody by the JCSD on Currie Road after a 20-minute chase, sources with knowledge of the chase said. He was booked into the Jones County Adult Detention Center at 6:31 p.m. and charged with felony fleeing and felony taking of a motor vehicle, according to jail records.
The pickup was also seized and taken to the JCSD Training Center for investigators to search for clues. Capt. Tonya Madison and Sgt. J.D. Carter were seen escorting the vehicle there as it was hauled in by a wrecker.
Investigators were likely going to look for evidence before questioning McLaurin about Tyson’s death and how he came into possession of the victim’s truck. As of Monday morning, no charges related to the death had been added to McLaurin’s listing on the jail’s website. McLaurin’s Facebook page shows that he is from Collins and lives in Ellisville.
Tyson’s Facebook page shows that he went to West Jones High School and was living in Ellisville. His last post that can be seen by the general public was made on April 24, showing a photo of a motorcycle he’d reported stolen.
His body was found on top of the bridge, on the right side of the southbound lane. There were questions about why the body wasn’t dumped in the creek below and if the perpetrator wanted the body to be found. It also was not known if Tyson was killed on the bridge or if his body was taken there. It was believed that he had been dead for several hours before being discovered. Residents from around the area didn’t report hearing anything out of the ordinary, but there were reports that a red truck was seen in the area.
At least seven yellow markers were placed behind and beside the body. Those markers are usually used to show where spent shell casings were found at crime scenes. But sources with knowledge of the investigation say it wasn’t known if the victim was shot, but it did appear that he had been beaten.
Other sources who didn’t want to be identified said that young people had been coming to the bridge and shooting at turtles and snakes in the creek below, so that could account for all of the shell casings that were marked.
The JCSD posted that it will release more information as it becomes available.
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Girl with a Pearl Earring Essay
The novel Girl with a Pearl Earring should definitely be included on the Novel Ideas book club reading list. Elyshia Hickey reveals why this fascinating, historical and romantic story will appeal to an adolescent audience, as it explores the theme of sensual awakening. Set in 17th century Delft, Chevalier’s novel explores the deep but forbidden love between a young maid and her master. The author’s clever combination of an intriguing story, remarkable characters and descriptive language allowed her to explore the themes of forbidden love, predators and sexual desires.
For hundreds of years people have wondered who is the girl in the portrait Girl with a Pearl Earring, painted by a Dutch artist …show more content…
He was portrayed as a sleazy predator of young women. Pieter was presented as a solid, hard-working young man. Young readers could easily relate to these main characters and recognise their traits in people around them.
Chevalier style of writing was descriptive rather than emotional. She used very detailed, literal descriptions: “…the brushes arranged on the top of the cupboard, one of the cupboard’s drawers left ajar, the palette knife balanced on the easels ledge, a chair moved a little from its place by the door”. This language painted images in the reader’s mind, just as Vermeer painted on his canvas. They say a picture paints a thousand words, but in this story a thousand words painted the picture. This made it easy for young readers to visualise the characters and scenes. The author’s use of figurative language prompted empathy in the reader, for example, “I was like a dog licking its wounds to clean them, but making it worse”. However, the emotions of the characters were mostly left for the reader to infer.
The theme of young love is timeless. Young adult readers will relate to Griet’s search for true love and her sadness at having to settle for second best. Understanding what is socially unacceptable is sometimes a tough lesson to learn, especially when it involves forbidden love. For thousands of years, young women have been victims of unwanted sexual advances. Even these days, young women are the
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TURKEY'S ANSWER TO 'THE VIRGIN SUICIDES'
We were all haunted and mesmerised back in 1999 by Sofia Coppola’s ‘The Virgin Suicides’. The film took us to a time, a place and a series of events that, while shocking, we always knew was a work of fiction. Well today, sometimes such events aren’t a work of fantasy. They’re a very real possibility and a reality faced everyday in certain parts of the world. The Oscar-nominated film ‘Mustang’ is its own ‘The Virgin Suicides’ set today, in a remote northern Turkish village.
On the last day of school, five teenage sisters head to the beach with some male classmates to do what kids do best - play, frolic and enjoy their youth. When their antics are misconstrued as provocative and lewd behaviour by a neighbour, the sisters’ grandmother and overbearing uncle turn their home into a prison. The girls spend their days training for marriage and struggle to hold onto their youth, spirit and independence while still conforming to their cultural duties.
'MUSTANG' TRAILER
This is director Deniz Gamze Ergüven’s first feature film; she also co-wrote the screenplay along with Alice Winocour. Her first horse out of the gate is sensational - ranging between laughter and downright rage against the injustices portrayed on screen. Four of the five young ladies Ergüven has assembled are fellow first-timers, adding to the impetuousness and innocence of the girls they’re portraying. Each actress is striking and effortless and can provoke an audience's laughter or tears at will.
While obviously the story is harrowing at times, it’s also inspiring and it leads to some serious thought provocation.
While obviously the story is harrowing at times, it’s also inspiring and it leads to some serious thought provocation. With each of the five sisters being so close in age, the film almost plays out like a "choose your own adventure", with each possible outcome offered and explored to see who came survive such human cruelty and sexual inequality.
Beautiful in every sense of the word, ‘Mustang’ has earned each and every one of its accolades, and there’s surely only more to come from this gang of newcomers.
CAST: Günes Sensoy
Doga Zeynep Doguslu
Tugba Sunguroglu
DIRECTOR: Deniz Gamze Ergüven
MustangFilmUS
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Home › Blog › Blog › A Father’s Day Gift for the Election Season
A Father’s Day Gift for the Election Season
H. John Lyke Blog 6 0
It’s Father’s Day on June 19, a date also celebrated by Americans of African descent for that day in 1865 when news of the Emancipation Proclamation reached their ancestors enslaved in Texas. Juneteenth, as it’s called, is a kind of Independence Day or Freedom Day for anyone paying attention. The Emancipation Proclamation, as we should all remember, was issued January 1, 1863, virtually two and a half years earlier, but who’s counting? Certainly not the white slaveholders in the South, who had been counting on winning the Civil War (fought primarily over their right to own people, so they wouldn’t have to work themselves). But that war was won by the anti-slavery North a little more than a month before, on May 9, 1865. And by June 19, the news had finally spread to Texas, where Black people were still in chains. Hence, Juneteenth, Freedom Day.
I tell you this piece of history today because these dates, so important to our legacy as a “free country,” have been superseded by Mother’s Day and Father’s Day, Sunday holidays that fall near them if not on them, when we honor our parents for loving us and raising us, but not our ancestors who loved freedom and fought for it for all of us. Who could object without alienating Mom and Dad? It’s a dilemma for sure.
But we have a suggestion to combine your love for Dad with your love for the preservation of our democratic republic, where in this election season, we are clearly still fighting with each other over the idea of liberty and justice for all. Have we got the perfect Father’s Day gift for Dad? Yes, we absolutely do! It’s a psychologically based book Kathryn Robyn and I passionately wrote together, called: Political Straight Talk: A Prescription for Mending Our Broken System of Government. It’s not specifically about slavery or the Civil War, but it is about the vision of this country in contrast to the one we have. What kind of country are we that we keep electing politicians who are not clear about what We the People means or whether all human beings are created equal or what being endowed with inalienable rights should look like? Our book is an inquiry into our psychological health and character as Americans. I am pretty sure you’ve never read anything like it.
It would not only be the consummate gift for Dad, but also for Mom and all your friends for any occasion. Think of it as a presidential campaign gift, great reading in preparation for the political conventions coming this summer!
I know it’s our book, but we only wrote it because it was a book we wanted to read. And no one else had written it! You can believe me when I say this is a book worthy of reading. In fact, it’s a book worthy of putting in your library to refer to as the political parties start throwing things at each other. Seriously, though, the reason it’s unique is that through the use of psychological principles, we explain not only why our government is not functioning optimally, but barely functioning at all. We severely criticize our politicians for the self-serving manner in which they serve themselves, their political parties, and those overstuffed corporations that put them in office in the first place; this all being done at the expense of serving We the People, which our Constitution states that every elected official should serve.
We talk about what everyone knows: how the rich are getting richer, the poor are getting poorer, and the middle class are getting squeezed. And we talk about what not everyone knows: how over many election cycles, Congress and the presidency have prevented the free-flow of expression, resulting in violent outbursts in the streets and special-interest groups perverting the democratic process. Obviously, this can’t continue indefinitely, so what can we do to stem the tide?
Has Benjamin Franklin’s experiment in democracy failed? Has his fear that the Founding Fathers’ promises will cease to stand come to pass? We see the erosion of our government happening before our eyes as political parties fail to come together into one ethical legislative body, refusing to put aside their selfish interests for the good of the country.
Together, Kathryn and I trace the history of American politics and talk at length about the psychological means we all use to protect our egos from imagined injury and what we need to do with ourselves to protect our country from withdrawn, defensive, and destructive political thinking. We thoroughly discuss the psychological reasons for our current political debacle and provide specific recommendations for fixing the broken system that threatens our freedoms and opportunities.
We offer a unique twist in demonstrating how mentally ill thinking exists on a continuum from logical and well-reasoned, “normal” thinking, with the emotions recognized and understood and well-managed, to illogical, delusional, and/or hallucinatory “abnormal” psychotic ideation, where feelings are so mixed up and yet denied that paranoia and selfishness are mistaken for reason.
Specifically, in chapter 12’s “If Stages of Personal Development Apply Equally to National Development Is Despair Imminent?” we discuss how the development of a nation’s character is not unlike the process an individual goes through in the development of character and self. We argue that psychological similarities exist between a broken system of government and a person who feels broken in mind and spirit; the metaphor applies to the politician as well as the electorate.
For example, quasi-Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump displays a political style that has historically been seen as abhorrent in the field of politics—rude; disrespectful of colleagues, opponents, citizens of this country and the world at large; disinterested in precedent, scientific and news facts, strategic agreements with allies; and uninformed on how the government operates—as opposed to the kind of deportment we expect from a statesperson or national leader. He frequently makes statements that appear almost delusional, where his thought processes appear so grandiose and unrealistic that what he’s saying borders on the absurd. He is very likely an example of the difference between someone who is insane and someone who is being exploitative, narcissistic, and self-serving, which is evident in how he is able to control such non-presidential behavior at will. In other words, if he believes his crude, boorish, and provocative behavior serves his political needs at any given time, he acts accordingly. In sharp contrast, he will flip flop and speak in more rational terms, contradicting himself completely from what he said earlier, if this restrained appearance will get him more mileage.
In our view, Donald Trump’s presentation violates not only the cardinal principles that leadership in the world’s most powerful nation should stand upon, but also those that should guide any human being with character. Kathryn and I describe those principles as the simple truths of life: integrity, empathy, compassion, and other-centeredness, or service. These are the values that children were once raised with, that indeed our Founding Fathers built into the Constitution from their “Four Foundations of Freedom.” If every generation asserts that these truisms have become more relative and less constant in each succeeding younger generation, we all seem to agree that they are barely existent in the character of many politicians. However, in Trump’s case, his character flaws are so blatant and his character so inaccessible, that this in itself disqualifies him from being president of the United States. That’s because his political reality—at least what he has promised the American voter through reality distortions and outright untruths—is absolutely impossible to construct. And if it were, none of us would want it. How he makes the unachievable believable is exploitative at best if not simply dishonest, and undesirable and grossly misleading at worst.
In a nutshell, Political Straight Talk is timely. Kathryn and I feel this book is a must-read if you want to understand what we need to do to save our republic as a democracy and hold our heads high in this increasingly chaotic and disparate economy. And whether you and the dads in your life are in agreement politically or not, this book will open the conversation between you with a civil and stimulating discussion.
We invite you join the national conversation we think is necessary by clicking ORDER A COPY NOW. You will also find free preview categories for all four of my books at the online bookstore when you go to that page.
6 Responses to A Father’s Day Gift for the Election Season
Janice Wetzel
Love the book. Well done, both of you. This is a great blog touting it. It’s a great read for the election season, or any other time of year.
H. John Lyke
In reply to Janice Wetzel. 2016/06/08
Thank you Janice. Both Kathryn Robyn, my coauthor, and I are so appreciative that you enjoyed reading “Political Straight Talk.” We so enjoyed writing it because by doing so it clarified in our own minds why our system of government is so broken and what we need to do to rectify the situation. The old saying, “Knowledge is power,” couldn’t be more true in this instance; that’s because we no longer feel so impotent in not knowing what we need to do to fix the mess we find our government in. That’s because we now understand the psychological reasons why and how our government has become so broken.By knowing that, we now know what we must do to mend our system of government so that our political representatives are now able to responds to the needs of all Americans and not just to the wants and desires of the rich and powerful.
H. John Lyke, Coauthor
Kathryn Robyn
Thanks for you support! Spread the word!!
That is, YOUR support. 🙂
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West Side Story Program
Opera Programs
Go inside this production of West Side Story with engaging articles, notes from the director, a complete plot synopsis, artist bios, and more.
A Message from the Director
“Two households, both alike in dignity…” Thus begins Shakespeare’s tale of Romeo and Juliet, in which we see “ancient grudge break to new mutiny.” When Arthur Laurents first conceived a modern, musical version of the play, he imagined a rivalry between Catholic and Jewish communities on the Lower East Side; only later did he and his collaborators move the story uptown, pitting a gang of “native” New Yorkers against those more recently arrived.
Although America is a country of immigrants, we continue to struggle with issues around immigration and migration, which makes West Side Story an important tale for today. (As Sondheim’s lyric neatly put it, “Nobody knows in America / Puerto Rico’s in America.”) The creators of West Side Story, although well-intentioned, didn’t get everything right; later critics have pointed out lapses into stereotype. (This is true in so many “period pieces” that we put on the stage today, and as always, I look forward to the opportunity to engage in a dialogue about some of the thorny issues presented by the piece, both with my colleagues and with our audience members.)
Lapses aside, by putting the tragic cost of two warring tribes center stage, the authors made an important statement about the human tendency to organize ourselves into factions. Especially with the rise of social media, we have all become more tribal in our outlook. I think the story of two warring “tribes” challenges all of us to look at how we define and marginalize “the other.” Perhaps we find it easy to engage with people of different cultural backgrounds. But what about differences in education? Religion? Resources? Politics?
Leonard Bernstein scrawled “an out and out plea for racial tolerance” across the first page of his copy of Romeo and Juliet. As we approach this piece in 2019, in the midst of a world immigration and refugee crisis, I hope we can make that plea reverberate in a new way. I also hope we can challenge ourselves to think broadly about ways in which we arbitrarily dismiss the experiences and opinions of those who are not like us.
— Francesca Zambello
From The General Director & Chairman
Welcome to Lyric! Whether you’re a first-timer or a regular visitor at the Lyric Opera House, we’re thrilled that you’ve joined us for West Side Story, a musical-theater masterpiece.
It was hugely gratifying to all of us at Lyric to witness the reaction of our audiences when it was announced that we would be producing West Side Story this season. From emails, letters, phone calls, and subsequently the conversations we’ve had with patrons throughout the season, we’ve felt tremendous excitement. It’s been clear from the start that this show has created a special connection with people everywhere. In so many cases, that connection has been lifelong; whether seeing the show on stage or on film, it remains unforgettable.
The story the show tells is sadly very relevant and topical today, particularly in cities like ours. In writing West Side Story, Leonard Bernstein, Stephen Sondheim, and Arthur Laurents made a very powerful statement. How devastatingly they bring out the absolute futility of the prejudice and conflict revealed by the passionate young men and women who populate this modern-day Romeo and Juliet. The hope that “there’s a place for us” is so deeply moving, with Sondheim’s simple, beautiful text complementing Bernstein’s exquisite music.
And there is so much else to enjoy here – the incomparable melodies, the dancing, the romance. We’re excited to bring it all to you with a thrilling young cast full of “triple-threat” performers. Everyone onstage has the talent to make something totally memorable of these wonderful characters. As the idealistic lovers, Tony and Maria, you’ll see and hear two bright stars of musical theater: Corey Cott, a familiar face on Broadway, and Mikaela Bennett, who portrayed Maria last year for the BBC Proms in London. The other principals – Amanda Castro (Anita), Brett Thiele (Riff), and Manuel Stark Santos (Bernardo) – are spectacular dancers who will bring tremendous brilliance and electricity to Jerome Robbins’s dances.
Francesca Zambello has directed some extraordinary productions here, including American works (Porgy and Bess, Show Boat). Francesca’s staging of West Side Story, which has already triumphed at Houston Grand Opera, the Glimmerglass Festival, Lyric Opera of Kansas City, and Atlanta Opera, is truly astonishing in its dramatic impact. With a formidably gifted production team and the brilliant James Lowe – who led Lyric’s wonderful Oklahoma! – again on the podium, West Side Story will thrill and exhilarate you, when it isn’t breaking your heart.
Anthony Freud
General Director, President & CEO
The Women’s Board Endowed Chair
David T. Ormesher
West Side Story_Program
View Full Screen Download PDF Learn more about West Side Story
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200162 PTE. J. E. WALLBANK. L.N.LAN.R. 201027 PTE. C. ROWETT. L.N.LAN.R.
13880 PTE. A. BAINES. L.N.LAN.R.
By Ron Crowe On March 12, 2017 · 1 Comment
Abraham Baines, son of Abraham and Emma Jane Baines (nee Reynolds) was born in Preston on the 23rd January 1891. His parents had married in St. Thomas` Church in Preston on the 5th June 1881 and he was one of seven children, five of whom survived; Sarah (1882), Henry (1884-1884), Henry (1885), Emma (1888), Elizabeth (1893-1893) and Elizabeth (1894).
The Baines family lived at 94 Haydock Street in Preston in 1901 where his father was a joiner by trade. Abraham received his education at English Martyrs Roman Catholic School starting there on the 1st October 1896 with the record indicating that he left on the 31st January 1900. By 1901 Emma Jane Baines together with sons` Abraham and Henry and her three daughters, Sarah, Emma and Elizabeth had moved into her mother`s home at 20 Richard Street in Preston. Abraham`s father was not listed as being present at the time but further investigation suggests that Abraham seems to have been a frequent visitor to court, this resulting over a period of time in various convictions for petty larceny etc. It seems that he spent a number of months in and out of prison as a result of his activities which probably explains why his wife Emma Jane and the children moved in with her mother Sarah Reynolds.
The 1911 Census shows Abraham, his brother Henry and youngest sister Elizabeth living with their mother at 12 Richard Street. His mother was working as a cotton winder while Abraham had found work as a French polisher for a furniture maker, Henry was a general labourer for Preston Corporation and Elizabeth was a `tenter` working in a mill. Abraham`s father was still not present with the family. A few months after the 1911 Census was recorded Abraham married Mary Amelia Dewhurst at the English Martyrs R.C. Church on the 12th August 1911 and then in 1913 their first child, a son, John was born.
Abraham enlisted into the Loyal North Lancashire Regiment on the 2nd September 1914 at Preston. He was issued with the service number 13880 and posted to the 8th Battalion LNL. The Medical Officer measured his height as five feet five and a half inches and his weight at 119 lbs. He had brown eyes and brown hair. He confirmed his occupation as a French Polisher and that he had served his time at Fisher`s in Preston.
He embarked for France on the 25th September 1915 which was a couple of weeks after the main body of the Battalion had sailed, the Battalion coming under the Command of 74th Brigade of 25th Division. A month later on the 26th October 1915 the Battalion was transferred into the 7th Brigade of the same Division.
Abraham suffered a brief period of sickness early in 1916 when he was evacuated to a field ambulance on the 17th February with `myalgia`, re-joining the Battalion on the 28th February. A few months later Abraham would receive the news that his wife had given birth to the couples` second child, a daughter Mary Agnes was born on the 25th June 1916.
The 25th Division had spent most of June 1916 in training to the west of St. Pol, but towards the end of the month it moved south to join the Fourth Army. When the Battle of the Somme opened on the 1st July the Division was around Warloy, some four miles behind the front line in the Fourth Army Reserve. On the 2nd July the 7th Brigade was transferred to the X. Corps and moved on to Aveluy Wood where it was held in corps reserve. Then on the following night the whole Brigade moved up to the front to relieve the 14th Brigade in the trenches, the 8th Battalion LNL forming the brigade reserve in dug-outs at Crucifix Corner. They remained in this area until about 2pm on the afternoon of the 7th July, orders were then received for the Battalion to move from Crucifix Corner up to the front line, “A” and “B” Companies were the first to go up, while “D” moved into the trenches near Campbell Post in the support line in front of Aveluy village, and “C” Company was placed at the disposal of the O.C. 3rd Worcestershire Regiment. “A”, “B” and “C” Companies were later moved into the trenches at the Leipzig Salient, captured that morning by the Wiltshire Regiment. By 8.30pm “D” Company had also been sent to the Salient and the defence of this position was then taken over from the Worcestershire Regiment. By all accounts it was no easy position to hold but as the evening and night wore on, no attack transpired, just desultory shelling and sniping and in the early morning of the 8th July the Battalion was relieved. In that brief period the Battalion casualties had amounted to 2 Officers killed; Second Lieutenants T. White and P. Walsh, 5 other ranks killed or died of wounds, 34 men wounded and 2 men reported missing.
Sadly, Abraham Baines was one of the 34 men wounded having sustained shrapnel wounds to his left leg. He was removed to a field ambulance and then later admitted to hospital at Wimereux but by the 9th July he was on his way to hospital in England via the Hospital Ship St. David. After arriving in England Abraham was transported up to a hospital in Birmingham.
Abraham`s wife was informed at some point and she made the journey to Birmingham to see him, sadly, Abraham finally succumbed to his wounds on the 27th September 1916, a note in his papers confirms that Mary Amelia was with him when he passed away. His official cause of death was registered as `shrapnel wound of leg` with the secondary cause of death stated as `septicaemia`.
His body was returned to his home town of Preston and he was later laid to rest in Preston (New Hall Lane) Cemetery.
After the war Mary Amelia Baines took receipt of her husband`s 1915 Star, British War and Victory Medals and would also have received his Memorial Plaque and Scroll in recognition of his sacrifice.
Abraham`s name is also remembered on the Preston Roll of Honour in the Harris Museum and Library in Preston.
The original submission form to have Abraham remembered on the Harris Museum Roll of Honour
Regiment/Service: The Loyal North Lancashire Regiment, ‘B Coy’ 8th Bn.
Cemetery: PRESTON (NEW HALL LANE) CEMETERY
Ron Crowe
Ron has had an interest in WW1 for most of his adult life, reading many books and accounts of the war. He has visited most of the western front on several occasions and visited the various museums, including the Verdun battlefield. He volunteered for the St Marys project at MoL, and having enjoyed the experience felt he would like to do more. These lost stories of old soldiers needs to be brought back to life both for relatives to see what their great grandfathers did, and the modern young generation to see the sacrifices made by them for them
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201567 LCPL. J. W. GARSTANG. L.N.LAN.R. - June 20, 2017
202155 PTE. J. WEST. L.N.LAN.R. - May 25, 2017
Tagged with: baines preston • died of wounds at home • died of wounds from the somme • harris museum roll of honour • mortally wounded somme • PRESTON (NEW HALL LANE) CEMETERY • preston soldiers ww1
One Response to 13880 PTE. A. BAINES. L.N.LAN.R.
Michael Baines says:
Thanks for the entry, its given some information not previously known on my family tree, its a very sad story but typical of many others all over the country
Is it possible to post a picture of Abraham to complete the story?
Mike Baines (Great Grandson of Abraham)
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70 PTE. J. PARKINSON. L.N.LAN.R. 25413 PTE. E. A. BARKER. L.N.LAN.R.
36097 PTE. W. BARKER. L.N.LAN.R.
By Bill Brierley On June 15, 2015 · Leave a Comment
William Barker was born on 6 February 1889, in Much Hoole. His parents were George Barker (b. 1856), a market gardener, originally from Manchester, and Matilda Atkinson (b. 1859), originally from Markby in Lincolnshire. George and Matilda were married in Much Hoole in 1883 and had 7 children: Ellen (b. 1884), Ernest (b. 1886), William, Fred (b. 1891), Allan (b. 1894), Georgina (b. 1896) and Elizabeth (b. 1900). It appears most of the family continued to live in Much Hoole, but I have been unable as yet to find them in the 1911 Census. However, from his service records we know that in 1916, William was living on Liverpool Road, Much Hoole, with his wife Alice Ann (née Rhodes, b. 1892 in Much Hoole, married 1913) and their son George (b. 1915). William was a farm labourer.
He enlisted at Seaforth on 31 March 1916 and was called into service on 30 June 1916, initially with the King’s Liverpool Regiment (service number 16/35692). He was 5’4” tall, weighed 130lbs and had a chest of 39”. He began service in the BEF on 15th January 1917, but 5 days later was posted to 8th Bn L.N.LAN.R.
He was among the four small drafts of men who arrived in the Battalion in January 1917, totalling of one officer and 147 other ranks, based initially in France near St Omer. Much of the Spring was spent in training and/or hard labour. In March, for example, the Battalion was called on to supply working parties for road-making, cable-burying and constructing shelters and bomb-proof dugouts in view of the offensive which was expected to open shortly. In April and May they were moved around various locations on the French-Belgian border, ending up in May near Wulverghem where they made ready to play their part in the approaching battle for the Messines-Wytschaete Ridge.
The tactical objective of the attack at Messines was to capture the German defences on the ridge, which ran from Ploegsteert (Plugstreet) Wood in the south, through Messines and Wytschaete to Mt. Sorrel, to deprive the German 4th Army of the high ground south of Ypres. The ridge commanded the British defences and back areas further north, from which the British intended to conduct the “Northern Operation”, to advance to Passchendaele Ridge, then capture the Belgian coast up to the Dutch frontier.
By midnight on 6 June the Battalion was in its assembly position and at 3.10am on 7th June 1917, following the explosion of several mines and under cover of an intensive bombardment, the attack was launched. The initial objectives were soon captured and shortly afterwards the whole Division was able to advance quickly capturing the Ridge and penetrating 6,000 yards into the enemy’s position. The Battalion remained occupying and defending the newly occupied territory until withdrawn on the 11-12 June. During the operation, the Battalion lost 36 men killed, 4 officers and 98 other ranks wounded and 7 missing. Among the missing was William Barker. He was 28 years old.
William’s brother was 25413 PTE. E. A. BARKER. L.N.LAN.R., killed in action on 28th April 1917 – Matilda (their mother) had lost her husband in 1913, then she lost two sons within 6 weeks of each other in 1917.
His brother Allan served in the Lancashire Fusiliers. He signed up in December 1915, served briefly in France in May/June 1916 but was then sent home suffering from chronic nephritis, exacerbated by his service abroad. He was discharged as medically unfit on 24 July 1916.
It’s quite likely that the other brother, Fred, would also have served but I have no records.
Regiment/Service: The Loyal North Lancashire Regiment, “A” Coy. 8th Bn.
Panel Reference: Panel 41 and 43.
Memorial: YPRES (MENIN GATE) MEMORIAL
Bill Brierley
Before taking early retirement in 2007 and returning to his native Lancashire in 2009, Bill Brierley was head of the School of Languages and Area Studies at the University of Portsmouth.Bill has researched his own family history and has developed a further interest in World War 1 especially as it impacted on the villages of Lostock Hall and Bamber Bridge, where his family originates from.Bill has also displayed his work at Lostock Hall library and contributed to other displays at Leyland Library and South Ribble Museum.
Latest posts by Bill Brierley (see all)
201200 PTE. T. ALMOND. L.N.LAN.R. - November 23, 2018
3745 PTE. W. NELSON. L.N.LAN.R. - November 23, 2018
23580 PTE. J. H. SHARPLES. L.N.LAN.R. - November 23, 2018
Tagged with: barker surname • hoole soldiers ww1 • YPRES (MENIN GATE) MEMORIAL
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London Stock Exchange sees increase in retail IPO activity
Seven retail IPOs raise £2.1 billion so far this year
Jim McCarthy, CEO, Poundland opens London trading today
Strongest first three months of the year for overall IPO activity since 2007
Return of private-equity backed companies to the market
London Stock Exchange has welcomed seven new retail companies to its markets, raising £2.1 billion, in the first few months of the year - a clear sign that investor appetite for retail companies is strong.
The market has seen a diverse range of retail companies come to London, from well known domestic brands such as Poundland, Boohoo.com, Pets At Home, McColls and AO World, as well as international companies such as the Russian hypermarket chain, Lenta and the Indian online fashion retailer, Koovs.
The boost in retail listings this year has helped raise overall IPO activity to pre-2007 levels. Notably, the IPO market is providing viable exit opportunities for private equity and venture capital firms, with six private equity-backed listings on London’s markets year to date.
Five retail Main Market IPOs raise £1.78 billion & two retail AIM IPOs raise £322 million
70 retail companies currently listed on our markets – 23 AIM & 47 Main Market
Six private equity-backed IPOs to date in 2014
Alastair Walmsley, Head of Primary Markets, London Stock Exchange Group, said:
“The surge in retail IPO activity over the last few months can be attributed in part to a reawakening of investor appetite for equity. 2014 looks set to be a strong year for London’s equity market, with a healthy number of UK and international companies seeing the opportunity offered by our markets as a platform for their future growth. The strength of our pipeline underlines the power of equity to enable companies to achieve their strategic ambitions and we look forward to welcoming more high quality and well known businesses to our markets in the coming months.”
Alexandra Ritterman +44 (0)20 7797 1222
London Stock Exchange Group (LSE.L) is a diversified international exchange Group that sits at the heart of the world's financial community. The Group can trace its history back to 1801.
The Group operates a broad range of international equity, bond and derivatives markets, including London Stock Exchange; Borsa Italiana; MTS, Europe's leading fixed income market; and the pan-European equities platform, Turquoise. Through its markets, the Group offers international business, and investors, unrivalled access to Europe's capital markets. Post trade and risk management services are a significant and growing part of the Group’s business operations. LSEG operates CC&G, the Rome headquartered CCP and Monte Titoli, the significant European settlement business, selected as a first wave T2S participant. The Group is also a majority owner of leading multi-asset global CCP, LCH.Clearnet.
The Group offers its customers an extensive range of real-time and reference data products, including Sedol, UnaVista, Proquote and RNS. FTSE calculates thousands of unique indices that measure and benchmark markets and asset classes in more than 80 countries around the world.
London Stock Exchange Group is also a leading developer of high performance trading platforms and capital markets software. In addition to the Group’s own markets, over 30 other organisations and exchanges around the world use the Group’s MillenniumIT trading, surveillance and post trade technology.
Headquartered in London, United Kingdom with significant operations in Italy, France, North America and Sri Lanka, the Group employs approximately 2,800 people.
Further information on London Stock Exchange Group can be found at: www.lseg.com
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ME62401 MERIT 1:24 SPAD S.XIII
TR02888 1:48 A-37A Dragonfly
The Cessna A-37 Dragonfly were developed from the T-37 trainer for the military action in Vietnam.A series of new components such as one GAU-2B/A 7.62mm minigun,two drop tanks on the wing tips,three weapon stations under each…
HAS09846 1:48 Kyushu J7W2 Interceptor Fighter Shindenkai "Jet Version" incl Resin Parts
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GWH4822 1:48 Great Wall Hobby F-15E STRIKE EAGLE DUAL-ROLES FIGHTER
ME64802 MERIT 1:48 US Navy Elco 80' Motor Patrol Torpedo Boat, Early Type
- Precise 1/48 Scale Model Kit
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HB86514 HOBBY BOSS 1:350 USS Guam CB-2
USS Guam (CB-2) was an Alaska-class large cruiser which served with the United States Navy during the end of World War II. She was the second and last ship of her class to be completed. The ship was the second vessel of the US…
HB86506 HOBBY BOSS 1:350 French Navy Dunkerque Battleship
Dunkerque started in December 1931 and completed in April 1937. After its defeat in World War II France, the United Kingdom in order to prevent the French fleet was the Axis use, to attack the French fleet. July 1940 in Algeria,…
TR05336 TRUMPETER 1:350 HMS Abercrombie Monitor
ABERCROMBIE was an upgraded version of elder sister ship ROBERTS. The original main gun turret was spare from FURIOUS, fitted with two 15 inch guns type Mark I*/N. Other improvements included larger living space, more artillery…
TR05324 TRUMPETER 1:350 Battleship HMS Queen Elizabeth 1943
HMS Queen Elizabeth was the name ship of the Queen Elizabeth class of battleships. She was the most powerful battleship in the British fleet when completed, and continued to provide valuable service with the Royal Navy during the…
SE73515 + SE73516 1:350 AFVCLUB US NAVY TYPE 2 LSTs LST-1 CLASS incl extra Vehicle set
Hong Model H-5001 1:35 ZSU-23-4/M3 Soviet Self-Propelled Anti-Aircraft Gun
HB83833 1:35 US GMC CCKW-352
The GMC CCKW is a 2.5 ton 6X6 U.S. Army cargo truck that saw service in World War II and the Korean War, often referred to as a "Deuce and a Half" or "Jimmy". The CCKW came in many variants, based on the open or closed cab, and…
TR01046 1:35 M270/A1 Multiple Launch Rocket System - Germany
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Celebrate the 10-Year Anniversary Of One Of Rock and Roll's Most Overlooked Albums
By Sam Brounstein
On Monday, Reddit’s front page featured a thread celebrating the 10-year anniversary of De-Loused in the Comatorium, the seminal album from this millennium's most pre-eminent progressive rock and roll act, The Mars Volta.
The band is now split up, their genetic strain largely forgotten in popular music, and progressive rock — the would-be genre of a sound that no specific genre could tame, is as dead as disco. In spite of the specter of death that envelops everything in and around De-Loused in the Comatorium, life persists in the obsessive love it continues to engender in the listeners who care to dig its macabre tomb.
The Mars Volta is the brain child of Omar Rodriguez-Lopez and Cedric Bixler-Zavala, childhood friends from Houston, TX. Together, they half of a well-regarded punk outfit called At The Drive-In before they decided their musical ambitions were far greater than what their current confines could contain. The result was TMV, Cedric contributed the singing and lyrics, Omar the rest of the music and lead guitar, and nearly a dozen instrumental virtuosos.
De-Loused in the Comatorium, their first album proper,is a concept of sorts: it is about “Cerpin Taxt”, a suicidal addict who goes comatose from an overdose of morphine and rat poison, only to wake up and successfully end his own life jumping from a highway overpass. The psychedelic nightmares during his weeklong coma are the major focal point, and it is based on a true story of the bandmates’ friend Julio Venegas.
Legendary producer Rick Rubin caught wind of The Mars Volta and insisted he take the chair on the other side of the glass. The result of his collaboration is the sound of an album and a band possessed. Omar and his phalanx of distorted electric guitars scream bloody murder over pummeling bass and drum fills, pounding keyboards, and host of horns and synthesizer noises. Cedric wails soprano, (this combination provoked some to call them "a Mexican Led Zeppelin") about demonic possession, visceral imagery, and a host of other funereal matters. Together The Mars Volta demonstrate collective musicianship as tight as any orchestra worth its coat tails, and, to make matters even more difficult, they do it over a countless multitude of tracks and oddball time signatures to boot.
When it isn’t firing on all cylinders, as is the wont of De-Loused, it intentionally meanders in ominous ambience movements, tinged acid rock, and punk to build anticipation. Songs like the opening “Son et Lumiere” and “Televators” quietly build imminent doom in a vines of thorny beauty. The former track, its title a reference to a church that gets “painted” with light, is like a Panic! At the Disco song pleading for an exorcism. The latter track “Televators” could bring you to tears.
Televators from Jake Guttormsson on Vimeo.
Once the band gets going, it is a noise completely unbeholden to comparison. Yes, there is existential screaming and cacophony, but, make no mistake, this is not emo, or worse, scream-o, it is The Mars Volta. It is epic, mercurial, and rife with ambitions currently dead in rock and roll. The tracks “Cicatriz ESP” and “Roulette Dares (This is the Haunt of)” power their way through punk refrains, take left turns in into Latin, Jazz, Trip Hop, and Ambient Shoegaze. Then they explode open with Allman Brothers-esque hard rock instrumental interludes. Just when the song seems lost in a dark wood, far from its origin, it lands back on its refrain with a vengeance. A track is not just a track on De-loused, it is a mutated serpent eating its own tail, it is an Ouroboros.
Publications like Rolling Stone, Maxim, and the A.V. club gave De-loused top honors for all of its merits. Critics from the New York Times and the L.A. Times felt mired by the weird lyrics and cacophony. Pitchfork, the new old guard of rock and roll, thumbed its giant nose at this Freshman album of The Mars Volta, and all five of their following studio albums, up until their forgone conclusion early this year. During that time, The Mars Volta, butterfly that it was, could only rival the commercial success and radio play of its former caterpillar, At The Drive In.
Yet for each album there was more new territory to breach, a new aural spirit to summon, and an updated quixotic mission. Omar Rodriguez Lopez, the self-proclaimed “benevolent dictator” of The Mars Volta, never faltered in his fearless leadership into the instrumentally unknown, despite his prolific solo career, until he decided he was as finished with TMV as he was with ATDI. Now, his new band, Bosnian Rainbows is churning out fresh material, and he is also molding a career as a filmmaker out of Brooklyn, N.Y., just like me. If I see him out on the circuit, I won’t know whether to hug him for giving my teen years a permanent inspiration, or beat him up for taking it away from my current self.
Either way, I recall the lyrics Cedric wrote to close “Take The Veil Cerpin Taxt” the last 12 of the 63-minute trip down the Comatorium: “Who brought me here, forsaken deprived and wrought with fear? Who turned it off, the last thing I remember now? Who brought me here?” For what it's worth, droves of fans who occupied their wild concerts, tried in vain to play their incredibly difficult songs on YouTube or in Guitar Hero, celebrated their much deserved Grammy, or just popped on some big, expensive earphones late at night to drink in the sound probably wondered that to themselves as well. Was it Cedric and Omar? Was it a part of ourselves, begging for musical catharsis? Or was it the ghost of Cerpin Taxt?
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Mai El-Sadany
Mai El-Sadany is a law student at the Georgetown University Law Center, with an intent to focus on international and human rights law in the context of Middle East politics. She is a graduate of Stanford University and formerly worked as a research assistant in Washington, DC.
Egypt Democracy Under Muslim Brotherhood Proving to Be Messy and Chaotic
By Mai El-Sadany
In an unexpected and unprecedented move last Sunday, Egyptian President Mohamed Morsy issued an executive decree calling for the reinstatement of the People’s Assembly. The parliamentary body had been disbanded by the Supreme Council of the Armed…
Egypt Presidential Election Results: Muslim Brotherhood Candidate Morsi Wins
Egyptians headed to the polls last Saturday in a two-day run-off election to determine their next freely elected president. But this election has not come without its fair share of controversy. On Friday, Egypt's military rulers consolidated power…
Egypt Presidential Election Results: LIVE
On Wednesday, Egyptians will head to the polls to vote for their president in Egypt's Presidential Election, the first in their modern history. The importance of the moment cannot be overstated. After suffering under an iron clad dictatorship for…
New Clues in the Murder of Shaima Alawadi Highlight Tragic Prevalence of Domestic Violence and Racism In Muslim America
As police investigations into the brutal death of Iraqi-American Shaima Alawadi continue, a number of clues have surfaced that suggest that the killing may not necessarily have been a hate crime. While the daughter of Alawadi claimed to have found a…
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Election 2015: Slow start but strong finish for Grits
The momentum of the Liberal Party’s campaign was not immediately apparent to local volunteers working for Dan Ruimy.
Oct. 20, 2015 7:00 a.m.
David Buydens worked for 11 weeks on the campaign, the longest election in Canadian history, and admitted the local Liberals didn’t hit the ground running.
“It started slow, we were way behind anybody else,” he said. “Mike Murray and the NDP already had their signs up, but we hadn’t even got our signs.
“It was four weeks before we were going to vote, then the signs finally showed up.”
Despite the slow start, he said the local Liberals were part of a national effort that exceeded all expectations.
“The whole country was wondering, was it going to be a minority – we never dreamed of a majority,” he said.
“We were planning for a minority, and where we would store the signs for the next election, in 18 months or whenever it came around.”
On election night, the volunteers talked at the campaign headquarters, ate cupcakes with red sprinkles, and watched election coverage from Ottawa.
“I said ,‘Dan, you’re going to be sitting in one of those seats,’” said Buydens. “It’s amazing. I get very emotional about this. It’s very neat.”
Alex Pope, a former council and provincial Green Party candidate, is a member of the local Liberal electoral district association and saw Ruimy as electable.
A positive message of change was the key, he said.
“I knew it was possible for Dan to do well,” he said. “He worked really, really hard.
“There’s a lot of people who walk into his book shop and got to know him. People who have talked to him one-on-one are very impressed.”
Campaign manager Nicole Nouch said scandals like the Mike Duffy trial apparently hurt Harper, and convinced people who had formerly voted Conservative to support another party.
“They wanted to vote for something that was positive, and upbeat. And that’s what Dan and I tried to do in this riding too – try to make sure we don’t throw anybody under the bus, but just be strong on our own,” she said. “And Dan’s done an amazing job.”
Ruimy said he spoke with a lot of people during his election run.
“We’ve run a grassroots campaign of talking to people, one constituent at a time, half an hour here, and half an hour there. We listen to what they’re saying.”
In his victory speech, Prime Minister Elect Justin Trudeau said “This is what positive politics can do.”
Ruimy echoed that on election night.
“Where we were as a country before – divided, distrust, hate – that’s not who we are. And I think that this shows, that’s not who we want to be,” he said. “I think we’ve stood up and spoken.”
Concerns over cleaning apartment dryer vents
Strategic voting had limited effect: pollster
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Murray returns as school board chair
Susan Carr new vice-chair for Maple Ridge-Pitt Meadows.
Susan Carr.
Mike Murray was returned as chair of the Maple Ridge-Pitt Meadows school board on Wednesday.
Susan Carr will be the board’s new vice-chair, as Eleanor Palis did not stand for re-election after holding the position for six years.
The school board’s seven trustees must select a new board chair and vice-chair each December for the coming year, the trustees themselves voting for their leaders.
Both Murray and Carr were nominated, and ran unopposed for their positions.
“It’s a great role to have – I’m looking forward to it,” said Carr of her new position. “It’s an honour.”
She has been on the board since 2008.
The big issue on the agenda in 2016 for the board is its coming budget, she said.
“We have to see what we’re going to get from the province.”
There should be relief in sight. With the district growing by more than 400 students this year, and provincial funding based on a per-pupil formula, trustees should be able to expect belt tightening to be relaxed. The formula provides more than $8,000 per student, and more for students with special needs.
The board has been dealing with budget cuts in recent years.
In April, the board passed a budget that eliminated all regular busing beginning in September 2016, to save $650,000 per year, and ended all leases of smart phones and tablets to save another $150,000. Trustees had to address a shortfall in provincial funding of $1.68 million, and the Education Ministry asked the board to find administrative savings of $720,000.
Those cuts came after the board had slashed $8 million and 70 positions from the prior two budgets.
But Carr said there is no guarantee the district will get additional funding from the province, despite having higher enrolment. She noted that 41 of 60 school districts have increased school populations, and are all asking the Education Ministry to provide more funding.
“Does the ministry have the money to do that,” is the question, said Carr.
The ministry is auditing enrolment figures now, said Murray.
He said the past year has seen Superintendent Sylvia Russell complete her first year as the head of the organization, and the board has been pleased with the job she has done.
The district added elementary summer school programming, which was a success, and completed its facilities plan.
That plan will help to justify a new school in the Albion area, and Murray said that will be a main focus in 2016.
He noted some school boards have students as non-voting members, and adding a student voice will be another new initiative.
As vice-chair, Carr can step in for Murray, and also works with the chair and senior management team in preparing agendas for the board.
She said she doesn’t have her eye on Murray’s job as chair.
“Mike does such a good job of it – I don’t know that I could ever fill his shoes.”
Premier bans political interference in records
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How many Unicorns do you have in your pocket?
16 May, 2017 by NewsMDirector
Not long ago when we thought of Unicorns we would imagine magical creatures from fairy tales but not anymore, that all changed in 2017. Now when we hear the word, we picture start-ups valued at over 1 billion dollars and which haven´t floated on the stock market yet. Something that was impossible decades ago!
It was Aileen Lee, founder of Cowboy Ventures, who gave name to a new kind of company that was conquering the markets with a breakthrough business model, and in some cases even illegal to current standards. She coined the name in a post on TechCrunch titled “ Welcome to the Unicorn Club: Learning from Billion-Dollar Start-ups”.
At MDirector we want to provide you with up to date information about the companies that are constantly making headlines. And that is why we have created two great infographics under the title “Unicorn companies”, from data published by The CrunchBase Unicorn Leaderboard.
All of the graphics that you see in this post you can take and use on your own website. Don’t worry! We will explain how to do it at the end of this post.
A crazy future
A taxi service that doesn’t own its own fleet of vehicles? A hotel business that doesn’t own any rooms of its own? A company that offers trips to Mars? These companies once seemed crazy but now investors all over the world are fighting to be part of them. Have we all gone mad? Maybe not. Unicorn companies are different and they play by different rules.
No longer does the expression “That’s the way its always been done” hold true. Unicorns have turned everything upside down causing disruptions that even include having to overcome current legal barriers. These are companies that challenge all modern conventions.
They are ahead of the game regarding technological innovations, something that was unthinkable just a short time ago.
As some would say, they are “bloody” young.
And of course the fundamental data: They have exceeded the one billion dollar valuation mark.
China and United States occupy the Top 10, obviously
The ranking of Unicorn Companies can change at the speed of light and this offers the possibility that new candidates can suddenly emerge and become the new jewel in the crown.
According to the latest up to date valuations on which our infographics are based, the top 10 companies that sweep the board are from The United States and China. Interestingly there are 5 from each country, which is understandable when you consider the following:
Silicon valley is the mecca for technological innovations, and of course, it’s a place where the people have a lot of money. Some of these companies, which we are going to talk about below, manage millions of dollars with the same skill and ease that Messi and Ronaldo dodge defenders.
China is the new emerging power mainly because of the sheer size and population of the country along with a domestic market that would please any of our companies.
The current top 10 unicorn companies are made up of the following brands:
Uber. It is a transport company without vehicles. Despite its legal problems in many countries, Uber´s transportation system that is based on an app remains at the forefront of the most valuable companies. It has created a variety of services like renting a car with a driver to offering competition to delivery services.
ANT Financial Services Group. If you still think that Alibaba is the tale of the 40 thieves, you are behind the times. Alipay is the payment platform of the Chinese ecommerce giant, which is now going global and is bigger than Amazon and eBay combined.
Xiaomi. A mobile company that has the most popular smartphone in China, and who are now attempting to conquer the world by expanding their products.
Didi Chuxing. The Chinese Uber, it allows you to rent vehicles and taxis through the use of an app. It came about from the merger of two rival companies, Didi Dache and Kuaidi Dache, and supported by two of China´s major ecommerce companies: Tencent and Alibaba.
AirBnb. A hotel chain with no rooms. The acronym of Airbed and breakfast hides a giant that offers accommodation in almost every country in the world. In fact, it has more rooms that the main hotel chains combined and all without owning any property. Something the industry is scratching its head over, wondering how they did it.
Palantir. Founded in 2004 by 4 former founders of PayPal after selling it to eBay, it focuses on analysing Big Data. The company, headed by Peter Theil who is the only person in Silicon Valley to support Trump and Alex Karp, has a number of intelligence agencies and governments among its main clients.
Snapchat. Photos that disappear after 10 seconds? Images that only last for 24 hours? I can’t find out how many followers my friends have? That’s Snapchat, the social network that the over 40´s just don’t understand.
Lufax. It is one of the main peer-to-peer lending platforms in China. The platform’s business model is based on applying a percentage to every loan that is made between investors and borrowers.
Meitun-Dianping. The Chinese Groupon. Offering group discounts and coupons from businesses that use this platform in order to generate more clients, although they give away 50% of their income for the privilege.
WeWork. Don’t have an office? No problem. The phenomenon of co-working has created thousands of initiatives that share workspace. One of those is WeWork and it’s booming. It has offices in over 54 cities in the United States, Israel and Europe, and the best thing is, that it offers more than 100 services to an enormous community of entrepreneurs, freelancers and start-ups.
Where are the unicorns?
Aren’t there any unicorns in Africa or Latin America? Unfortunately, a difficult combination of elements is needed to be able to set up unicorns: technological development + lots of money. That is why; we find most of the unicorn companies, of the 200 analysed, spread out over just 3 continents:
North America: The country with the most unicorns is the United States due to their impressive collection of 109 unicorn start-ups which is 55% of total. Canada in comparison has only 1.
Asia: 45 unicorn companies are Chinese, which means 23% of total. Then you can find 9 in India (5%), 3 in Singapore (1%), 2 in Korea (1%), 1 in Japan and 1 in Taiwan.
Europe: The old world refuses to die! We are third on the list of start-ups driven by the British with 8 (4%), the Germans with 5 (3%), and the Swedish with 2 (1%). There are also a rash of countries with 1, like Holland, Russia, France, Switzerland and Luxemburg. Even though it looks like a mistake, there are still no unicorns in Spain.
Unicorns are digital
A common error is to think that Start-ups that are valued at more than a billion dollars are only focused around the field of technology. It is true though that the 3 main sectors are:
Software: 21% of unicorns
Consumer Internet: 21%
E-commerce: 15%
However, we can find more companies like these in and around most traditional industries. A good example would be the Fintech phenomenon, which is brining a new reality to the old banking system and it has 11% of total unicorn companies working in the finance services sector. Another example would be the health industry with 8% of total companies.
As you can see from the infographic, you can find unicorn companies in many other sectors, such as:
Entertainment (5%).
Real estate (3%).
Automotive (2%).
Education (2%).
Advertising (2%).
Transport (1%)
Manufacturing (0,5%).
Energy (0,5%).
Without money there wouldn’t be any unicorns. It is essential to know who is behind these companies and who are bailing out the start-ups that are losing money in order to keep them afloat. Why do they do it? The end result is basically to get a big piece of the cake to share in the coming years.
The main 10 capital risk companies that bet on unicorn companies are:
Sequoia Capital: Cisco Systems, Oracle, Apple, YouTube, Yahoo. Google. And now AirBnb and DropBox. The companies that Sequoia Capital bet on seem to work. It is thought that neither Silicon Valley nor the world as we know it would have existed without the intervention of Sequoia who have invested in a total of 39 unicorn companies.
SV Angel: Is the second largest capital risk company in terms of companies that they have invested in which stands at 30. They have supported companies like Facebook, Foursquare, Square, Twitter, Zynga and Groupon. In 2011 they launched StartFund, a joint venture with DST to make direct investments in companies associated with Y Combinator, one of the main seed accelerators in the world.
Accel Partners: Etsy, Facebook, Groupon, Veritas, ComScore, Baidu o Brightcove are just some of the 28 unicorn companies that they have invested in out of the 200 analysed. They have offices in Palo Alto, New York, London, India and China.
Goldman Sachs: Founded in 1869, is one of the biggest investment banks in the world. It has invested in 27 unicorn start-ups; most notably among them are Facebook, Spotify, Square and WeWork.
T. Rowe Price: With 27 unicorns, is the fifth largest capital venture firm in terms of investees. Among its investments are Glassdoor, Airbnb, WeWork, SurveyMonkey, Dropbox, Eventbrite, Evernote, Zynga and Twitter.
Kleiner Perkins Caufields & Byers: They are one of the most popular investment companies out there. Some of the companies that they invest in are: AOL, Amazon.com, Citrix, Compaq, Electronic Arts, Google, Intuit, Netscape, Sun Microsytems, Symantec, Verisign, and Zynga. In total, they have invested in 26 Unicorns.
Andreessen Horowitz: Founded in 2009 by Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz is one of the most high profile firms and participate in 26 unicorn companies. Their investments have helped improve companies such as Dollar Shave Club, Bluebox, Box, Fab, Oculus, Airbnb, Lytro, Jawbone, Belly and Foursquare.
DST Global: It started out as Digital Sky Technologies (DST) but has since become Mail.ru. It is the corporation that owns VKontakte, the Russian Facebook. They have also invested in 25 Unicorn companies as well as others such as Facebook, Zynga, Twitter, FlipKart, Spotify, Zocdoc, Groupon, Xiaomi, Olacabs and Alibaba.
Tiger Global Management: Also known as “The Tiger Fund”. Its investments have helped a total of 23 unicorn companies like Zynga, LetsBuy.com, Glassdoor, Razorpay, Airbnb, Delhivery, Meitu and SurveyMonkey.
Wellington Management: Has invested in 22 start-ups that are considered unicorns and has a presence in almost every sector as well as global venture capital markets. Its investments include The Trade Desk, CytomX Theraputics, Apigee, Datalogix, SensAble Technologies, Airbnb, Allena Pharmaceuticals, Warby Parker and Pinterest.
Unicorn companies by year of foundation
Unicorns are young, but not as young as you might imagine, as you can see from our graphic. A little over a quarter of the 200 companies, 55, are less than 5 years old and 13 of them are well established.
It seems that the best years to found unicorn companies are gone. The best years were actually between 2006 and 2012, right in the middle of the global crisis. Maybe that situation was what helped these types of companies to appear, because they questioned absolutely everything in a moment when everything seemed to be lost.
The number of unicorns founded during these years were:
2006: 17.
2007: 27, the record number.
Check out the information in the following infographics:
List of unicorn companies by country and value:
Did you like this post? Are you surprised by what you have learnt about Unicorns? Share this infographic on your website.
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The arrival of a Heatwave in France results in departments getting heat alerts
June 26, 2019 Purvesh JainNews
Health advice regarding the air-conditioning was issued by the experts as the temperature began to shoot, with 5 departments by now on heat alert.
On the arrival of the heatwave in France, Meteo France issued its 1st high-temperature weather arrival for 5 departments before the peak of the heatwave.
On Monday, Meteo France stated in its early bulletin that the temperatures in Paris over the night have shrunk no lesser than 20 degree Celsius.
By noon on Monday, the temperature will strike 34 degree Celsius in parts of the Var & Allier. The temperature is expected to be between 30 and 34 degree Celsius across most of France on Monday. Weather forecasters told that Pays de la Loire, Manche, and Brittany will be avoiding the highest degree of temperatures.
After a hot evening, with predicted temperatures no lower than 23 degree Celsius in Paris, 24 degree Celsius in Lyon, and 29 degree Celsius in Menton, the warmth will rise rapidly on Tuesday, approaching 36 degree Celsius in Strasbourg & 37 degree Celsius in Nancy. Across France, the temperature is expected to average between 30 and 35 degree Celsius.
Across most of the country, the mercury is anticipated to reach 40 degree Celsius on Wednesday will Friday.
On Thursday, as well as, on Friday, the average temperature throughout the day in 30 cities of France used to calculate the indicator thermique national will surpass 28 degree Celsius for the first time since the deadly 2003 heatwave. In that year, the average temperature throughout the day was more than 28 degree Celsius for a whole week.
The good news is that the weather forecasters are expecting the peak of the heatwave to last for just 2 days, with reasonable cool air heading from the west into the country. There has been a soar in the sales of air-conditioning and fans unites as much as 400 percent in some parts of France.
Brittany, France, Heatwave in France, Lyon, Manche, Menton, Paris, Pays de la Loire, Thermique
Announcement regarding funding for the Community & national-based cannabis public education & awareness initiatives by the Health Canada
Changing of name and Hiring of new Chief Financial Officer and Chief Executive Officer announced by Midatech Pharma US, Inc.
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A member of the Bank of England’s rate-setting committee has fuelled speculation that interest rates could rise as soon as November. Gertjan Vlieghe put forward the arguments for a rise in rates “as early as in the coming months” in a speech to economists in London.
We look at what could happen to homeowners if rates do rise. If you are look for advice we suggest giving Jon Brazenell of MSB Financial Services/The Mortgage Selection Bureau a call on 01789266855 or email jonbrazenell@mortgagesb.co.uk
What would a rate rise mean for homeowners?
It would mean higher monthly bills for millions of people with variable rate and base rate tracker mortgages.
If and when it happens, it would be the first rise in borrowing costs for a decade –many of these people have never seen their monthly repayments increase.
Those on fixed-rate mortgage deals would be protected from any increase, but only until the end of their deal’s fixed term.
How much higher
The cost of an interest hike will vary per household, depending on the terms of the mortgage, how long it is taken out for, and other factors.
The average UK standard variable mortgage rate (SVR) is 4.6%, according to financial data provider Moneyfacts. Someone on that rate with a £200,000 outstanding mortgage balance and 25 years remaining would pay £28.72 a month extra (a payment of £1,151.77, up from £1,123.05) if the rate goes up by 0.25%, assuming it is on a repayment basis.
If there were a series of rate increases, and the rate was to go up by a total of one percentage point (ie, four lots of 0.25%), the extra cost would be £117.10 a month, or more than £1,400 a year.
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