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A Masterclass in Kindness
News, Trident | November 13, 2018
By Past Fraternity President Phyllis Durbin Grissom, Southern Methodist
“I need your help for a dear friend. I feel pretty lost and helpless today, and I’m desperate for connections and expertise and generosity and anything else you might want to offer.”
It was a picture perfect spring day. I was in the grocery store checkout line. I was (NOT) minding my own business. I was mindlessly scrolling through Facebook. Renee’s plea appeared and I clicked on Continue Reading…
“I met a dear woman about 5-6 years ago at Super Target. Over the past however-many years, we’ve become friends. We’ve gotten to know each other’s families, we’ve prayed for each other in hard times, and she envelopes me in the most precious hugs every time I see her in the snack bar to get my Diet Coke.
My sweet friend, Ms. V, was diagnosed with breast cancer a few weeks ago… Ductal Carcinoma. It’s very treatable, and she’s only in Stage 1, but she doesn’t have health insurance and is putting two beautiful, hard-working kids through college. She’s the most “others first” person I’ve ever met, and although she has so little, she’s always thinking of ways to be a light in someone’s life.”
I paid for my groceries, loaded my car, climbed into the front seat and continued to read about Renee and Ms. V. Her friends urged her to set up a GoFundMe account and offered to donate. Certainly a GoFundMe account would be a part of the plan but I could tell that Renee had something else in mind. She was preparing to offer a masterclass in kindness with unforgettable lessons in self-sacrifice, generosity, modesty, purity, friendship and love. And I was about to learn something from her, again.
Renee and I don’t see each other regularly and we were not especially close friends when we were in college…she is a couple of years older than me and we each had our own friend groups. Yet her account of Ms. V’s struggle brought back vivid memories of the influence she had on my life. In 1990 I was elected to be the sophomore representative to the standards committee. Renee was the social development chairman so she was also a member of the standards committee. Each week we assembled in the library of the chapter house to visit with members who owed money and members who were struggling to make grades. From time to time we met with someone who needed a warning that her behavior was unbecoming of a member. This was an awakening for me. The sisters of Tri Delta were human, with flaws and weaknesses? How could they possibly deserve to be in this chapter? How was I going to achieve my goal of becoming a perfect Tri Delta when so many around me were falling short? Maybe this whole thing was a huge mistake?
But each week I watched Renee. She was a calm and compassionate leader. She was grounded in her faith and she showed love and concern to the sisters who needed to visit with us…no matter what their reason. In one memorable meeting we learned that a sister was facing a major challenge to her health and well-being. When I learned about some of the trouble she was in, I thought for certain that she would be kicked out of Tri Delta. But as the committee carefully deliberated about what we should do Renee said, “Let’s take her out for pizza and find out what is going on.” She invited me and another committee member to come along and to my amazement our shared dinner set a plan in motion that would connect our overwhelmed sister to the critical help she needed. Renee did not write her off, she invested her with kindness, compassion and love and it worked!
Reading Renee’s stories about Ms. V has been a little like watching an episode of the hit TV show “This is Us” where the past, the present all mix together and connect in unexpected ways. Renee has continued to share updates on Facebook and there have been both ups and downs in Ms. V’s journey. There was an unkind financial counselor who delivered news that Ms. V did not qualify for any assistance, there was a friend of Renee’s who knew about a clinic in Ms. V’s neighborhood and there was a doctor who embraced Ms. V and declared, “Get ready to live!” There was a cancelled surgery, a successful surgery and a promising prognosis.Renee was present for all these moments walking alongside Ms. V, crying with her, praying with her, taking selfies and making jokes to lighten the mood. The story of Ms. V’s and Renee’s journey is remarkable no doubt and Renee’s influence may have very well saved Ms. V’s life. For me it has been a powerful reminder of the lessons that our sisters can teach us even when we don’t know them or see them every day. These are the perpetual bonds of friendship…the bonds that ever increase and grow stronger.
P.S.: Since I wrote this, Renee has continued to inspire others even as she faces her own challenges. Stay tuned for more about Renee in a future issue of The Trident…I think Renee will inspire you too.
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Kathryn Erbe
Full / Real Name: Kathryn Elsbeth Erbe
Born: 05 July 1966 (53 years old)
Kathryn Erbe is an American actress best known for her starring role as Det. Alexandra Eames on the police procedural television series Law & Order: Criminal Intent, from 2001-2011.
Born in Newton, Massachusetts, Erbe is a veteran of both film and television and has been a working actress since she graduated from New York University in 1989.
She appeared in the feature film Speaking of Sex (2001) with Lara Flynn Boyle and Bill Murray. Erbe also gained notice in the 1999 box office hit Stir of Echoes opposite Kevin Bacon, and Dream with the Fishes (1997) with David Arquette.
Her additional film credits include Entropy, Kiss of Death, Mighty Ducks 2, Rich in Love and What About Bob?.
Her television credits include playing the infamous death row inmate Shirley Bellenger on the acclaimed HBO series Oz. She also appeared on Homicide: Life on the Street, the mini-series George Wallace, Showtime's original production of Naked City: Justice with a Bullet, Another World, and the television movie Breathing Lessons.
Before appearing in feature films, Erbe began her career on the stage. She is a member of the Steppenwolf Theater Company and has starred in many of their productions. She earned a Tony Award nomination in 1991 for her portrayal of Mary in Speed of Darkness.
She was formerly married to actor Terry Kinney from 1993-2006, with whom she has two children: daughter Maeve (born 1995) and son Carson Lincoln (born 2003).
Erbe currently resides in New York with her two children.
Television Roles
Billions - Season 1
Zenobia Manager
Blue Bloods - Season 6
Dr. Bennett
Elementary - Season 4
Nancy Davenport
Homicide: Life on the Street - Season 6
Rita Hale
Kiss Of Death - Season 1
Rosie Kilmartin
Law & Order: Criminal Intent - Season 1
Detective Alexandra Eames
Law & Order: Criminal Intent - Season 10
Law & Order: Special Victims Unit - Season 14
Lt. Alexandra Eames
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TLR Advocate April 2019
View/Download PDF
A Comprehensive Plan for Selecting Qualified, Nonpartisan Texas Judges
By Hugh Rice Kelly, TLR Senior General Counsel
TLR has long advocated changing the way we select judges in Texas in order to remove partisanship and provide stability in our judiciary. Rep. Brooks Landgraf (R- Odessa) has introduced House Joint Resolution 148 and HB 4504, establishing a judicial selection process that some are calling “The Texas Four Step” plan for our judiciary. It contains unique safeguards for the appointment of qualified men and women as judges on a nonpartisan basis, while preserving the people’s right to vote to retain or remove judges, based on their performance. This plan calls for the governor to nominate a person to a judicial vacancy (Step One), for a nonpartisan citizens board to rate that nominee as “unqualified,” “qualified” or “highly qualified,” (Step Two), and for the Texas Senate to confirm the appointment by a two-thirds majority (Step Three). The appointment is for a term of 12 years, with a nonpartisan, up- or down “retention” election in the fourth and eighth years of a judge’s term (Step Four).
The joint resolution provides for gubernatorial appointment of the judges to the Texas Supreme Court, Court of Criminal Appeals, courts of civil appeals and district courts in counties with a population determined by statute. Judges will be appointed when vacancies occur at the end of a judge’s term (including all judges currently sitting) or otherwise, such as in the case of death or resignation.
The Legislature is required to provide for the membership, terms and jurisdiction of one or more judicial appointment advisory boards to advise the Senate about an appointee’s qualifications to hold her appointed office. Members of this advisory board shall take the following oath: “I swear or affirm that I will perform my duties on this board without prejudice and without regard to partisan affiliation, and that my conclusions about the qualifications of a potential justice or judge will be based on the person’s academic credentials, substantive experience in the law, and reputation for competence, fairness, and integrity.”
The Judicial Appointments Advisory Board is an agency of the state composed of 11 members who are citizens of the U.S. and Texas and are at least 35 years old. The members will serve staggered six-year terms, with the terms of approximately one-third of the members expiring each year.
The board must: (1) review the academic credentials, substantive experience in the law, and reputation for competence, fairness and integrity of the persons appointed to the judiciary, (2) inform the Senate as to whether the appointee is “unqualified,” “qualified” or “highly qualified” to hold the office, and (3) advise the Senate in a timely manner, as prescribed in the statute.
We believe Rep. Landgraf’s suggestions deserve serious consideration and will be a platform for informed discussion about how we select judges in our state.
Taxpayer Protection in Attorney Contracting
By Lee Parsley, TLR General Counsel
Local governments must have discretion to hire outside attorneys when needed, and a contingent-fee arrangement may be appropriate in some cases. But the on-going recruitment of local governments by attorneys seeking contingent-fee arrangements is resulting in needless litigation that can be unfair to both taxpayers and defendants.
This litigation is happening across the state and across several different issues. The following are a few examples.
Construction Defect Lawsuits: A small group of lawyers in Texas solicit local governments (particularly school districts) for construction defect lawsuits against general contractors.
Texas has a 10-year statute of repose for construction defect cases, meaning there is a 10-year window during which a lawsuit can be filed. The law firms use their “experts” to evaluate the facilities. If any construction or design defects are found, the lawyers file a lawsuit to recover the cost of repairs, charging a percentage fee that is contingent on success in the lawsuit.
Unsurprisingly, the plaintiff lawyers’ experts always determine there are numerous significant defects that are harmful to the health and safety of people using the facilities and that will cost millions of dollars to repair. Typically, the general contractor has never been notified about any of the alleged defects, not given the opportunity to repair legitimate problems.
The general contractor responds by adding every subcontractor who worked on the job as a third-party defendant, creating a massive lawsuit involving dozens of insured defendants. As such, the plaintiff law firm has created a large pot of money from which to extract a settlement that will be used to pay the costs of litigation and legal fees. Whatever remains of the recovery is paid to the local government. The result is that many contractors and subcontractors no longer bid on government construction work, and when they do bid, they build a “lawsuit premium” into the cost.
Environmental Lawsuits: Texas law allows both the state of Texas and local governments to enforce environmental laws and seek remediation of contaminated property. Any time environmental damage is found, the state or local government can obtain an injunction to prevent further pollution and can recover damages for past pollution, as well as penalties of up to $25,000 per day for the wrongful conduct that led to the pollution. Additionally, the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) can work with the property owner to clean the site and prevent further pollution instead of seeking damages or penalties. This remediation does not waive either the states or local government’s right to seek penalties.
Some Texas attorneys file penalty-only lawsuits on behalf of local governments against property owners who have worked successfully with TCEQ to remediate a polluted site. The attorneys promise no-cost, contingent-fee litigation to the governmental entity. As a consequence, a property owner can fully cooperate with TCEQ and still face a lawyer-inspired lawsuit and substantial liability.
Opioids: When the opioid crisis came to the forefront, plaintiff attorneys began contacting virtually every county attorney in Texas, pitching “no risk” contingent-fee litigation that would put revenue in the coffers of the local governments. Many Texas counties signed on, apparently agreeing to varying contingent fee rates despite having similar lawsuits.
Governments are impacted by opioid addiction because Medicaid is often forced to pay for emergency services for people suffering the ill effects of an addiction. Medicaid funds belong to the state and federal government, so it makes sense for the state of Texas to pursue opioid litigation on behalf of itself and all political subdivisions, like it did in the tobacco lawsuits. Knowing the Texas attorney general was unlikely to sign contingent fee agreements with private attorneys to pursue this litigation, plaintiff lawyers elected to pursue local governments instead, arguing they are entitled to be reimbursed for things like police calls for opioid-related events. Plaintiff lawyers in Texas- working with plaintiff lawyers all over the country- are hoping to create a critical mass of litigation that will result in a multi-billion—dollar settlement (again, similar to the tobacco settlement), which they will share with the government entities they recruited as clients.
Local government entities must have the freedom to contract with outside attorneys, but that process cannot remain entirely unchecked as it is today. When the state of Texas contracts with an outside attorney on a contingent-fee basis, it must follow statutory procedures in the contracting process. Those procedures and contract terms help ensure the state keeps more of the legal awards it is entitled to and safeguards against unscrupulous lawyers taking advantage of government legal contracts to file meritless lawsuits, extort settlements and receive high fees. Those safeguards should apply to local government entities as well. Senate Bill 28 and House Bill 2826 are TLR priorities, and address this issue by doing the following:
Require local governments to hire the most qualified attorneys, as they are required to do with architects and engineers.
Require local governments to inform the public of the reason for retaining contingent-fee lawyers.
Governing body must, before an open meeting, publish information about hiring the contingent-fee lawyer, including justifying the need for the lawyer.
At an open meeting, the governing body must make certain findings and disclose the nature of any pre-existing relationship between the lawyer and the governing body and its members.
The state cannot agree to pay a percentage contingent fee to outside attorneys. Instead, it can agree to an hourly-based contingent fee. Local government contingent-fee contracts must comply with provisions applicable to the state of Texas (Government Code Chapter 2254), including that fees must be calculated using the Lodestar method.
The contract must be sent to the attorney general (not comptroller) for review.
Attorney general may refuse to approve a contract if the local government did not comply with the contracting requirements or if the contract usurps the attorney general’s right to represent the state.
A contract is void if entered into without complying with these requirements.
Additional Bills TLR is Supporting
By Mary Tipps, TLR Executive Director
In addition to working on its own agenda items, TLR will engage with legislators and allies to pass a number of other important bills this session.
Judicial Compensation. Ensuring Texas has a qualified and independent judiciary is critical to our continued economic Vitality. In order to attract good judicial candidates and retain experienced judges, we must compensate our judges adequately. Texas judges have received only two pay increases in the past 18 years. The salaries paid to the members of the state’s two highest courts rank 29th in the nation. Our district court judges are 31st in compensation among the 50 states. Three bills have been filed this session—SB 387 (Huffman), HB 847 and 1222 (Wray)—to increase the compensation of Texas judges.
Construction Lawsuits. As discussed in the previous article, one of the biggest abuses of the civil justice system today is driven by lawyers who recruit governmental entities (often school districts) to sue general contractors for alleged construction defects. Texas has a 10-year period during which a lawsuit alleging defective construction can be filed. Often, these lawsuits are filed late in the 10-year period and without notice to the general contractor.
General contractors groups, supported by engineers and architects, are pursuing multiple solutions to this litigation abuse. HB 1999 (Leach) requires notice to the contractor and the opportunity to cure the alleged defects before a lawsuit can be filed, while HB 728 and 1734 (Holland) require school districts to spend any money received in one of these lawsuits to make the repairs they have alleged to be needed, and allows enforcement by the attorney general.
Auto Recalls. Airbags manufactured by Takata have been installed in millions of cars sold in the U.S. If the airbag’s inflator ruptures in a crash, metal shards can be sprayed throughout the passenger cabin, causing serious injuries. Cars with Takata airbags have been recalled by the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration.
Unfortunately, many owners of cars equipped with Takata airbags have not returned their vehicles to dealerships for repairs. SB 711 (Hinojosa) allows the Texas Department of Motor Vehicles to adopt rules providing that the report provided during a vehicle’s annual safety inspection will state any open recalls on the vehicle- whether it is based on a potentially defective airbag or some other defect. This common-sense legislation could prevent catastrophic injuries and the lawsuits that follow.
Apartment Late Fees. Texas law currently provides that an apartment owner may not charge a late fee unless it is a reasonable estimate of uncertain damages to the landlord that result from late payment of rent. A landlord who violates this law is liable to the tenant for $100 plus three times the amount of the late fee charged in Violation of the law, and is required to pay the tenant’s attorney’s fees.
Because the current law is vague, multiple class action lawsuits have been filed against Texas apartment owners seeking recovery of these statutory damages and attorney’s fees based on the allegation that unreasonable late fees were charged. HB 1519 (Phelan) seeks to clarify
the law so both landlords and tenants know with greater certainty whether a late fee is considered reasonable under Texas law.
Roofing Contractor Regulation. TLR spent much of the 2015 and 2017 legislative sessions working to end abusive lawsuits following weather-related events. Some of the lawsuits were driven by roofers, who solicit business for themselves and storm-chasing lawyers following natural disasters. In addition to helping storm-chasing lawyers, a number of these roofers are fly-by-night operators who take Texans’ money but never provide services. HB 2101, 2102 and 2103 (Capriglione) will protect Texans from unscrupulous roofing contractors. HB 2101 provides for the licensing and regulation of roofing contractors. HB 2102 expands and clarifies Texas’ current prohibition on roofing contractors offering to pay a property owner’s insurance deductible. HB 2103 amends an existing law to make clear that contractors of any kind (not just roofing contractors) cannot act as a public adjuster.
Recovering Attorney’s Fees. Texas law has long provided for recovery of attorney’s fees in a short list of cases that includes lawsuits to recover rendered services, for performed labor and on oral contracts. The current statute allows recovery of fees from “an individual or corporation.” Courts have interpreted this phrase to mean fees cannot be recovered from a limited liability company, limited partnership or other similar entities that are neither individuals nor corporations. Three bills introduced this session seek to cure this anomaly- SB 471 (Hughes), HB 370 (Cain) and HB 790 (S. Davis). The statute is also one way, meaning a defendant who loses is forced to pay the plaintiff’s attorney’s fees, but a defendant who wins cannot recover her attorney’s fees from the plaintiff. HB 2437 (Murr) makes the statute reciprocal.
Immunity for Volunteer Healthcare Providers. SB 752 (Huffman) and HB 1353 (Oliverson) provide that a volunteer healthcare provider is immune from civil liability for an act or omission that occurs in giving care, assistance or advice in relation to an incident that is a man-made or natural disaster, unless the healthcare provider acts recklessly or engages in intentional, willful or wanton misconduct.
Court Clerk Immunity. For more than a decade, the Texas Supreme Court has supervised the transition from paper filings in court cases to electronic filings. The next step is to provide public access via the internet to electronic court records. County and district clerks in Texas are the official custodians of these records. HB 685 (Clardy) provides liability protection to clerks if confidential information is inadvertently disclosed to the public through electronic access to the court records system.
Court Fees. The filing fees charged by civil courts in Texas vary from county to county due to the ad hoc nature of the legislative process and local needs. SB 39 (Zaffirini) will standardize civil filing fees in Texas, a long-overdue reform.
Protection of a Judge’s Information. Ensuring the safety of Texas judges remains a focus of the Texas Legislature. SB 489 (Zaffirini) provides that the home address of a judge or judge’s spouse will be removed from reports provided to the public by the Texas Ethics Commission.
Judicial Qualifications. Today, a person can serve on any of Texas’ appellate courts after practicing law for 10 years and can serve on a district court after practicing law for only four years. SJR 35 (Zaffirini) moves the years-of-practice requirement from 10 to 12 for appellate court judges and from four to eight for district judges.
The 2019 State of the Judiciary
In February, Texas Supreme Court Chief Justice Nathan L. Hecht delivered an outstanding State of the Judiciary address to the governor, lieutenant governor, members of the Legislature and invited guests. The chief justice’s speech, which is delivered every other year during the legislative session, addressed several areas of accomplishment for the Texas judiciary, several areas where challenges remain and several goals for the next biennium.
Chief Justice Hecht’s remarks were compelling, telling the story of dedicated public servants who went above and beyond the call of duty during Hurricane Harvey to serve their courts and their communities.
He also discussed at length the future of the Texas judiciary, the need to ensure Texas can attract the best and brightest jurists by providing competitive compensation, and the need to reform Texas’ system of judicial selection.
TLR has long supported the Texas Supreme Court’s efforts to make civil litigation more efficient, less expensive and more accessible to all Texans, including initiatives to modernize and rationalize our court system. TLR fully supports the chief justice’s recommendations for judicial pay and qualifications. We are also committed to working with interested parties to find a bipartisan approach to selecting judges that assures a consistently competent and impartial judiciary in Texas.
The following are a few excerpts from Chief Justice Hecht’s 2019 State of the Judiciary speech. The full remarks can be read or watched on the Texas Supreme Court’s website.
Judicial Selection
Of the 80 intermediate appellate justices, 28-35 percent- are new. A third of the 254 constitutional county judges are new. A fourth of trial judges- district, county and justices of the peace- are new. In all, I am told, 443 Texas judges are new to their jobs. On the appellate and district courts alone, the Texas judiciary in the last election lost seven centuries of
judicial experience at a single stroke.
No method of judicial selection is perfect. Federal judicial confirmation hearings are regarded as a national disgrace by senators themselves. States have tried every imaginable alternative. Still, partisan election is among the very worst methods of judicial selection. Voters understandably want accountability, and they should have it, but knowing almost nothing about judicial candidates, they end up throwing out very good judges who happen to be on the wrong side of races higher on the ballot. Merit selection followed by nonpartisan retention elections would be better. At a minimum, judicial qualifications should be raised, as the Judicial Council recommends. I urge you: at least, pass Senate Bill 561 and Joint Resolution 35.
Partisan sweeps- they have gone both ways over the years, and whichever way they went, I protested- partisan sweeps are demoralizing to judges, disruptive to the legal system and degrading to the administration of justice. Even worse, when partisan politics is the driving force, and the political climate is as harsh as ours has become, judicial elections make judges more political, and judicial independence is the casualty. Make no mistake: a judicial selection system that continues to sow the political wind will reap the whirlwind.
Judicial Compensation
Judicial service- public service- is just that: service. Judges know that going in. It involves personal sacrifice. But public service should not be public servitude… Adjusting for inflation, Texas judges are paid less than they were in 1991, 28 years ago. Experienced judges are just not encouraged to stay.
The Judicial Compensation Commission has recommended that judicial pay be increased 15 percent. House Bill 1 includes a 10 percent increase, which would be very helpful. But Sen. Joan Huffman’s Senate Bill 387 proposes a different approach that encourages retention of judges. Its essential feature is that judges’ compensation will increase every four years they serve, up to 12 years- basically two terms for appellate judges and three for trial judges. The plan thus rewards experience and recognizes the value of continued service. Like most private-sector employees, judges who work hard and do well would make more over time. And raising beginning salaries remains an option. Senate Bill 387 is the best solution I have seen to the problems associated with increasing judicial compensation.
The Supreme Court and the legal profession are deeply committed to ensuring access to justice… but 5.5 million of our poorest Texans qualify for legal aid. For a decade now, the Legislature has provided critical funding for basic civil legal services. Last year, providers helped 150,000 families, and every year lawyers donate millions of dollars plus two million hours in free legal services. Yet with all that effort, estimates are that only 10 percent of the need is met.
The Texas Legal Aid for Survivors of Sexual Assault legal aid program—LASSA—is financed by the Legislature’s dedicated Sexual Assault Program Fund. In two years, it cleared some 11,000 cases. I urge you to restore last session’s four percent across the board cut of that funding.
Last session, the legislature continued funding civil legal services for veterans, appropriating $3 million. Nearly 800 veterans’ clinics served some 15,000 veterans in a little over two years. The person most responsible for that funding is Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick. Gov. Patrick, on behalf of 15,000 Texas veterans, thank you. Both the House and Senate budget bills continue the $3 million appropriation, but Gov. Abbott’s Front of the Line Veterans Policy calls for an additional $3 million. I urge you: respond to that call.
Modernizing the Judiciary Using Technology-Data Collection
The judiciary’s single most important need is better technology. Texas has 3,210 judges- more than any other state- plus associate judges and senior judges. They are very busy. Though Supreme Court filings are increasing, the court still decides all argued cases by the end of June each year. The Court of Criminal Appeals is the busiest appellate court in the nation. In the 2018 fiscal year district judges resolved, on average, roughly 1,900 cases per judge; statutory county judges nearly 2,100 per judge; justices of the peace over 2,800 cases per judge; and municipal judges over 3,600 cases per judge. In all, Texas judges handled 8.6 million cases last year. To put that figure in perspective, it’s 23 times the number of cases handled by all the federal courts in the country.
Sprawling across 254 counties, some bigger than states, a few very urban, most very rural, Texas courts desperately need better data on cases and dockets to operate efficiently and plan for the future. Case types shift over time. Civil cases are increasing- 11 percent in justice of the peace courts. Debt claims are up 141 percent over five years. Motor vehicle accident cases are up 44 percent. Family cases four percent. Felony cases have remained steady, but misdemeanors have fallen to the lowest level since 1993. Forty percent of new criminal cases involve drugs or alcohol.
Knowing how courts are operating requires better case management systems in all 254 counties… I urge you to fully fund the Office of Court Administration’s technology requests for the judiciary.
Analyzing the Texas Citizens’ Participation Act
The TLR Foundation recently published The Texas Anti-SLAPP Statute: An Effective Statute,
But is it too Broad? It analyzes the Texas Citizens’ Participation Act (TCPA), a 2011 law that protects the free speech rights of citizens.
The TCPA was passed to prevent powerful interests from filing lawsuits against people who were exercising speech and association to impact public policy. The TCPA provides a way to end those lawsuits early and shift legal costs to the persons trying to suppress constitutional rights.
Despite the Legislature’s intent, the TCPA is unexpectedly being used to end lawsuits that have nothing to do with safeguarding basic constitutional rights, including blackmail and theft of trade secrets.
The TLR Foundation paper initiates a discussion about whether, given its use, the statute should be amended to focus its provisions on its intended purpose. Visit www.tlrfoundation.com to read the paper.
Forum Considerations Should Lead Companies to Texas
By Richard J. Trabulsi, TLR Chairman
TLR has worked for more than 25 years to help the Texas Legislature craft balanced, common-sense laws governing civil litigation. These efforts have helped Texas create an economy that allows innovation, growth and success.
The Texas Economic Miracle, fueled in part by our fair and predictable civil justice system, is the envy of the nation. Texas created thousands of jobs during the Great Recession, while job creation in other states was stagnant or nonexistent. Each year, more corporations decide to relocate to our state, helping Texas maintain one of the lowest unemployment rates in the nation.
A recent decision from the U.S. Supreme Court makes it even more important for Texas to maintain its leadership role on civil justice issues.
To hear and decide a case, a court must have jurisdiction over the parties to the case. While a plaintiff who files a lawsuit in a particular court has submitted to that court’s jurisdiction, a defendant has not submitted to a court’s jurisdiction merely by being sued in that court. The fact that a defendant is not automatically subject to a court’s jurisdiction is particularly important in multi-state litigation.
Over the years, the U.S. Supreme Court created intricate rules for determining whether a defendant can be dragged into court in a state in which it is not incorporated. The court has held that a defendant can be forced to fight a lawsuit outside its home state only when it does not offend “traditional notions of fair play and substantial justice.” In other words, a company that is incorporated under Delaware law and headquartered in California can be sued in Texas only if it would be fair and just to that company to force it to litigate in Texas.
Under the U.S. Supreme Court’s opinions, it is considered fair to sue a defendant in a state where the defendant is neither incorporated nor headquartered if the defendant was present and caused an injury in that state. For example, if a person employed by a Delaware corporation is driving a company truck through Texas, runs a traffic light and injures someone, the company can be forced to come to Texas to defend a lawsuit against the truck driver. In that circumstance, the Texas court is exercising case-specific jurisdiction.
There is also a form of personal jurisdiction that is not related to a specific event, but instead, is related to a company’s regular engagement in the state in which the lawsuit is filed.
For example, a person who had an adverse reaction to a medication might wish to sue the manufacturer in his home state, even though the manufacturer was not incorporated and did not have employees working in that state. The injured person would allege that the drug manufacturer derived profits from selling products in the injured person’s home state, and so it was fair to sue the manufacturer there.
Under this view of jurisdiction, a national company can be forced to litigate in any state where it conducts business or sells products. Class action litigation against national corporations is often filed in friendly forums based on this “all-purpose” personal jurisdiction.
In 2017, in BNSF Railway Co. 71. Tyrrell, the U.S. Supreme Court made clear, however, that if a defendant is neither incorporated nor has its principal place of business in a state in which it is sued, all-purpose personal jurisdiction is available only in exceptional cases. For this to apply, the defendant must have contacts with the forum state that are “so substantial and of such a nature” that the defendant is effectively “at home” in that state.
Texas reined in class action litigation in 2003, effectively preventing the abusive coupon settlements in which the lawyers get rich and the class members get coupons to buy the defendant’s product. Many other states have refused to follow Texas’ lead. Consequently, the other states continue to provide a friendly forum for abusive nationwide class actions, while Texas does not.
Under the BNSF decision, a corporation selling products throughout the country should seriously consider moving its headquarters to Texas and reincorporating under Texas law. A corporation that elects to headquarter and incorporate in Texas will obtain the benefit of Texas’ class action rules and all other aspects of Texas’ stable litigation environment- an environment that was built through hard work and perseverance over the past 25 years.
Honoring Mary Tipps
2019 is a big year for TLR. Not only does it find us busy with the legislative session, but it also marks the 25th anniversary of our founding. As we’ve been hard at work planning ways to mark that occasion (stay tuned for more), we couldn’t pass up the opportunity to carry out our first celebratory event- a reception and dinner honoring TLR Executive Director Mary Tipps, who has been an essential leader and teammate for 16 years. The reception brought together lawmakers, Capitol staff, industry and association leaders, and family and friends to celebrate Mary’s work on behalf of TLR. In recognizing Mary, TLR Chairman Dick Trabulsi said:
“Mary started with TLR 16 years ago in our epic session of 2003, when we passed HB 4, the most comprehensive tort reform ever passed by an American legislature. She was an hourly employee then, but immediately added value to everything we did, and do. She rose through the ranks to be not only our executive director but an indispensable teammate.
“Mary is authentic- there is no pose or pretense in her. She is always herself- kind, empathetic, caring. Not only is Mary peaceful and unruffled, she is invariably serene, even at the height of the legislative session or in the heat of campaign season. In seas of tumult and tension, she is our safe harbor of calm and perspective. Her good humor and unbridled positive attitude certainly keep me going when I am tired or discouraged. I will sum up how I think of Mary by quoting John Steinbeck, ‘Laughter lived on her doorstep.’ When I think of Mary, I smile.”
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Spain Genealogists
Our Spain genealogists research on location. They will find and analyze the best records available to further your family history research. They can perform research in all Spanish archives.
Archivo General de Indias
80 million pages of documents (1492-1830s) on political, social. religious, and economic history from Tierra de Fuego to the South of the United States as well as the Spanish Far East, and the Philippines. Includes relations between Christopher Columbus and the Catholic Monarchs, Juan Sebastián Elcano’s will and testament, writings of explorers, extraordinary map collection, and the Treaty of Tordesillas Archives of Capital Provinces
Archivo General de Simancas
Over 75,000 files from the Catholic Monarchs to the first third of the 19th century
Archivo Histórico Nacional in Madrid
Over 4,000 documents by public and private institutions throughout the History of Spain from 1400s to 2000s. Includes Spanish ecclesiastical records, 200,000 medieval parchments, 16,361 maps, 48 private collections. Includes records for the Inquisition, Consejos (territories of the crown of Castile in the Old Regime), and Hacienda (personal dossiers of public employees)
Archivo General de la Administración in Alcalá de Henares (Madrid)
A National Archive similar to the Archivo Histórico Nacional, but with contemporary documents (XIX-XXth centuries), such as Hacienda (personal dossiers of public employees)
Centro Documental de la Memoria Histórica
Extensive newspaper collection, 60,000 monographs, 4,000 periodicals. Majority of military literature (1936-1939). Images of Civil War and Exile. Documentation on Freemasonry, theosophical, and Rotarian associations.
Centro de Información Documental de Archivos (CIDA)
Census-Guide to Spanish and Latin American Archives, information from 49,000 archives with 35,000 related to Spain and 14,000 to Latin America, 12,246 monographs, 4,860 pamphlets, 707 journals, 170,544 bibliographies
Contains more than 26 million items, including 15 million books and other printed materials, 30,000 manuscripts, 143,000 newspapers and serials, 4.5 million graphic materials, 510,000 music scores, 500,000 maps, 600,000 sound recording, 90,000 audiovisuals, 90,000 electronic documents, and more than 500,000 microforms
Sección Nobleza del Archivo Histórico Nacional
Includes canonization process of Saint Francis Borgia (4th Duke of Gandía), Treaty of Granada, and records of the ambassador in the Treaty of Münster
Regional Archives
Archivo de la Corona de Aragón Documents relating to Royal Heritage, government and justice. Includes Registers of the Royal Chancellor Office, heirs to the notarial practices developed at the University of Bologna since the end of the 12th Century, original documents issued by the crown that provide firsthand information on society and life in the Middle Ages
Archivo de la Real Chancillería de Valladolid
Almost 14 lineal kilometers of records that provide a magnificent picture of the judicial, social and economic history of the northern half of the crown of Castile in the Old Regime (North of the Tajo River). Includes Regional Court of Political Responsibilities of Valladolid (1939-1942) and the Social Courts of Valladolid (1938-1988).
Archivo de la Real Chancillería de Granada
Similar to the Archive of Valladolid, but contains the southern half of the crown of Castile (South of the Tajo River)
Archives of Capital Provinces
Our researchers can research in all provincial capitals, including Sevilla, León, Santander, and Logroño. There are three types of archives in each Spanish province:
Municipal records of the city/town: census, military, etc.
Archivo Histórico Provincial
Centralized notarial records for the towns of each province; one archive in each province capital for a total of 50 Archivos Históricos Provinciales in Spain
Church record archives
Biblioteca del Marqués de la Encomienda in Almendralejo, Badajoz, and Extremadura
Church records of the three Extremadura dioceses
Archivo General de Arzobispado de Sevilla
Marriage dossiers from 1500s to 1900s from the provinces of Sevilla, Huelva, and the most important towns of Cádiz such as Jerez de la Frontera, Puerto de Santa María, and Sanlúcar de Barrameda
Archivo de la Corona de Aragón
Documents relating to Royal Heritage, government and justice. Includes Registers of the Royal Chancellor Office, heirs to the notarial practices developed at the University of Bologna since the end of the 12th Century, original documents issued by the crown that provide firsthand information on society and life in the Middle Ages
Archivo Histórico Provincial de Alava
Archivo Histórico Provincial de Guipúzcoa
Archivo Histórico Provincial de Sevilla
Notarial records from Seville and a lot of towns in this province
Archivo Histórico Provincial de Vizcaya
Archivo Municipal (municipality of Seville)
Local census, tax, military draft records
Archivo de la Real Chancillería de Granada (Granada, Spain)
The Archivo de la Real Chancillería de Granada has many genealogical records, and contains all records for the southern half of the crown of Castile (south of the Tajo river).
Archivo de La Corona de Aragon (Barcelona, Spain)
This archive contains:
Documents relating to royal heritage, government, and justice
Registers of the Royal Chancellors Office
Heirs to the notarial practices developed at the University of Bologna since the end of the 12th century
Original documents provided by the crown that provide firsthand information on society and life in the Middle Ages
Archivo de la Real Chancillería de Valladolid (Valladolid, Spain)
14 linear kilometers of records that provide a magnificant picture of judicial, social, and economic history of the northern half of the crown of Castile in the Old Regime (north of the Tajo river)
Regional Court of Political Responsibilities of Valladolid (1939-1942)
Social Courts of Valladolid (1938-1988)
Archivo de Simancas (Valladolid, Spain)
The Archivo de Simancas has many genealogical records, including more than 75,000 files from the Catholic Monarchs to the first third of the 19th Century.
Archivo General de Arzobispado de Sevilla (Sevilla, Spain)
Marriage dossiers from the 1500s to the 1900s from the provinces of Sevilla, Huelva, and the most important towns of Cádiz, such as Jerez de la Frontera, Puerto de Santa María, and sanlúcar de Barrameda.
Archivo General de Indias (Seville, Spain)
This archive contains 80 million pages of documents (1492-1830s) on politcal, social, religious, and economic history from Tierra De Fuego to the south of the U.S., as well as the Spanish Far East and the Phillipines. Other collections include the following:
Communications between Christopher Columbus and the Catholic Monarchs
Juan Sebastián Elcano’s will and testament
Writings of explorers
Extraordinary map collection
Treaty of Tordesillas Archives of Capital Provinces
Archivo General de la Administración (Alcalá de Henares in Madrid, Spain)
The Archivo General de la Administración in Alcalá de Henares has many genealogical records, and has a focus on contemporary documents, such as personal dossiers of public employees (19th and 20th centuries).
Archivo Historico Nacional (Madrid, Spain)
4,000 documents from public and private institutions throughout the history of Spain from the 1400s to 2000s
Spanish ecclesiastical records
200,000 medieval parchments
16,361 maps
48 private collections (includes records of the Inquisition, territories of the crown of Castile in the Old Regime, and personal dossiers of public employees)
Archivo Histórico Provincial de Alava (Alava, Spain)
The Archivo Histórico Provincial de Alava has many genealogical records.
Archivo Histórico Provincial de Guipúzcoa (Oñati, Guipúzcoa, Spain)
The Archivo Histórico Provincial de Guipúzcoa has many genealogical records.
Archivo Histórico Provincial de Sevilla (Sevilla, Spain)
The Archivo Histórico Provincial de Sevilla has many genealogical records, including notarial records from Seville and a lot of towns in the province.
Archivo Histórico Provincial de Vizcaya (Biscay, Spain)
The Archivo Histórico Provincial de Vizcaya has many genealogical records.
Centro de Información Documental de Archivos (CIDA) (Madrid, Spain)
Census-Guide to spanish and Latin American Archives
Information from 49,000 archives relating to Spain (35,000) and Latin America (14,000)
Over 12,000 monographs
4,860 pamphlets
Over 170,000 biographies
Sección Nobleza del Archivo Histórico Nacional (Toledo, Spain)
Canonization process of Saint Francis Borgia (4th Duke of Gandía)
Treaty of Granada
Records of the ambassador in the Treaty of Münster
Centro Documental de la Memoria Histórica (Salamanca, Spain)
Extensive newspaper collection
60,000 monographs
4,000 periodicals
Military literature (1936-1939)
Images of Civil War and Exile
Domumentation of Freemasonry, theosophical, and Rotarian associations
National Library (Madrid, Spain)
15 million books and other printed material
30,000 manuscripts
143,000 newspapers and serials
4.5 million graphic materials
510,000 music scores
500,000 maps
600,000 sound recordings
90,000 audiovisuals
90,000 electronic documents
More than 500,000 microforms
Our professional researchers can do research projects of many sizes and for many budgets. We customize the amount of research provided according to your needs.
Some of the major records sources that can be used for genealogy research in Spain include:
Birth, marriage, and death records were kept by some towns
Birth, marriage, and death records have been recorded by the government
Probate records were kept by the local courts
Naturalization and citizenship records
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Texas Genealogists
Our Texas genealogists are available to research on location. They will find and analyze the best records available to further your family history research. They can search the archives and libraries in Texas, as well as help you with other special requests.
Texas State Archives and Libraries
Our researchers are available to visit local archives and libraries to access unique record collections to help with your research. Below is a list of a few of the archives our Texas researchers have access to.
Texas State Archives (Austin, Texas)
The Texas State Archives are located in Austin. Their collections include published histories and vital record indexes. They also hold census and military records. Their newspaper collection includes issues dating back to 1864. The archive also contains voter registration lists.
Dallas Public Central Library (Dallas, Texas)
The Dallas Public Central Library is one of the largest genealogical repositories in the south. It contains 112,000 volumes, 65,000 microfilms, 90,000 microfiche and over 700 maps. The library’s holdings also include state and county marriages, probates, deeds and tax abstracts.
Center for American History at the University of Texas (Austin, Texas)
The Center for American History at the University of Texas includes a large collections repository for historical documents and photographs.
Stephen F Austin State University (Nacogdoches, Texas)
The Texas legislature chartered the Stephen F Austin State University in the early 1900s. The university held classes for the first time in 1923. The historical and genealogical records at the university include photographs, maps, and historic books. The university also maintains materials from the East Texas geographical region.
National Archives at Fort Worth (Fort Worth, Texas)
The National Archives at Fort Worth is a center for both historical and genealogical resources. The center holds archival and microfilm records, including census records for all 50 states. The archives have military service records, passenger arrival records, and bounty and land warrant applications. Our Texas genealogists can also find Dawes census cards and enrollment for the Five Tribes of Oklahoma at this archive.
Daughters of the Republic of Texas Library (San Antonio, Texas)
The Daughters of the Lone Star Republic was organized in the 1890s. The organization later became known as the Daughters of the Republic of Texas (DRT). The Daughters of the Republic of Texas Library contains historical documents of the Alamo and Texas. The library also holds records regarding people who experienced life in the Republic of Texas between 1836-1846.
Baylor University Archives (Waco, Texas)
The Baylor University Archives include the Texas Collection. The Texas Collection is the university’s oldest special collections library. It contains medieval manuscripts, early American tune books and manuscripts of contemporary composers. A sheet music collection from the 19th and 20th centuries is also held here. Additionally, the university’s archives include papers of modern educators and artist book collections.
Baylor University, 1892
Texas State Genealogical Society (Tyler, Texas)
The Texas State Genealogical Society (TSGS) was founded in 1960.The society researches, records, maintains, and distributes genealogical and historical records in Texas to promote family and Texas history. The society publishes a quarterly journal, Stirpes, which provides helpful research materials to genealogists. These include case studies, research methodologies, DNA testing articles, and more. Our Texas genealogists must be members of the society to access this information.
Rosenberg Library Archives (Galveston, Texas)
The Rosenberg Library Archives includes tax, birth, school, marriage and death records. The library also contains funeral home and cemetery records, passenger lists, and naturalization records. Galveston city directories from 1859 to 1881 can be found here. The library also has church records and newspapers.
Houston, Texas Genealogists
Our Houston, Texas genealogists are available to visit the local archives and libraries in the city to further your research. Some of the repositories they are able to visit in Houston are listed below.
African American Library at the Gregory School (Houston, Texas)
Researchers can find the African American Library at the Gregory School in the Edgar M. Gregory School. The school was the first public school for African American students in Houston. The library is a special collections library within the Houston Public Library system. The resources include rare books, materials and oral histories.
Houston Oral History Project (Houston, Texas)
The Houston Oral History Project preserves the dynamic history of Houston through the stories and experiences of its residences. It is a collaboration between the Mayor’s Office, the Houston Public Library and the University of Houston.
Houston Public Library
Houston Public Library (Houston, Texas)
The Houston Public Library contains the oldest and largest collection of government publications in the Houston area. They also have 19th century newspaper archives, and biography and genealogy indexes.
Houston Metropolitan Research Center (Houston, Texas)
The Houston Metropolitan Research Center is an archival branch of the Houston Public LIbrary, focusing on the history of the city. It contains approximately 4 million photographs and 150,000 drawings. Their holdings also include 15,000 rare books, dating back to 1520. The rare map collection includes 300 maps of Houston and the southwest. The research center is also home to an oral history collection.
Clayton Library Center for Genealogical Research (Houston, Texas)
The Clayton Library Center for Genealogical Research is located in Houston’s Museum District. Their collections contain materials for all 50 states and foreign countries. The library contains 100,000 books and 3,000 periodicals. They also have 70,000 reels of microfilm. Local Houston area collections include the Boulevard and Fogle West Funeral Home Records and the City of Houston Death Records. The library also has census records, passenger and immigration sources, military records and family histories.
Our Texas genealogists specialize in researching several types of documentation and are not limited to the list above. For more information or specific inquiries about our genealogists, please feel free to contact us.
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Night of fun ends in tragedy: Driver pleads guilty over fatal car crash
Asean+
Friday, 15 Mar 2019
Jasmine Lim, 23, was seated in the back of her friend's car when it collided with an SMRT bus at a Bukit Timah traffic junction in the early hours of April 22 last year. She was taken to the National University Hospital, where she died of a head injury.PHOTOS: INSTAGRAM, POON CHIAN HUI.
SINGAPORE (The Straits Times/Asia News Network): A night of merrymaking for three friends ended tragically when one of them died after their car collided with a bus.
Yesterday, Honami Lam Qixin, 25, pleaded guilty to causing the death of her friend Jasmine Lim Jia Yan, 23, by negligent driving.
Lim died in hospital on April 22 last year.
The court heard that Lam, a project manager, and her boyfriend, Jake Lau Zhi Wei, 26, had gone to Pine Grove near Ulu Pandan Road on April 21 to celebrate the birthday of Lim's boyfriend.
After the party, which ended past midnight, Lam offered to give Ms Lim a ride home. The younger woman, who was an assistant brand manager for SK-II, sat in the back while Lam's boyfriend took the front passenger seat.
At the junction of Jalan Anak Bukit and Jalan Jurong Kechil, Lam stopped her car in the second lane of the three-lane road.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Wu Yu Jie said Lam's intention was to turn right towards the Pan-Island Expressway (PIE) heading to Changi.
However, when the traffic lights turned green for vehicles travelling straight, she started moving before the right-turn green arrow appeared, DPP Wu said.
She also did not stop the car in the turning pocket but immediately made the right turn towards the PIE.
DPP Wu told District Judge Kessler Soh: "She did so negligently, failing to keep a proper lookout and to give way to oncoming traffic while making a right turn when the traffic light in her direction was only showing green, without the green right-turn arrow."
Thanjavour Rajarm Prabhuram, 43, was driving an SMRT bus in the opposite direction of Jalan Anak Bukit towards Clementi Road at a speed of about 59kmh when he saw Lam's car turning into his path. The bus hit the left side of the car.
Lam called the police and an ambulance soon arrived to take Lim to the National University Hospital, where she died of a head injury.
Lam and Lau were taken to Ng Teng Fong General Hospital.
Stressing that Lam's negligence was "not insubstantial", DPP Wu urged the court to sentence her to four weeks' jail and disqualify her from driving all classes of vehicles for five years.
Defence lawyer David Nayar pleaded for his client to be jailed for a week and be disqualified from driving all classes of vehicles for two years. He added that she had a clean driving record before the incident.
Lam, who is out on bail of $10,000 (RM30, 178), will be sentenced on March 29. – The Straits Times/Asia News Network
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3 Services Stocks Pushing Sector Growth
TheStreet highlights 3 stocks pushing the services sector higher today.
Editor's Note: Any reference to TheStreet Ratings and its underlying recommendation does not reflect the opinion of TheStreet, Inc. or any of its contributors including Jim Cramer.
All three major indices are trading up today with the Dow Jones Industrial Average ( ^DJI) trading up 4 points (0.0%) at 17,970 as of Thursday, June 25, 2015, 12:55 PM ET. The NYSE advances/declines ratio sits at 1,139 issues advancing vs. 1,826 declining with 188 unchanged.
The Services sector currently sits down 0.1% versus the S&P 500, which is up 0.1%. Top gainers within the sector include Team Health Holdings ( TMH), up 5.3%, AMC Networks ( AMCX), up 3.1%, Restaurant Brands International ( QSR), up 2.2%, Luxottica Group SpA ( LUX), up 1.6% and Carnival ( CCL), up 1.4%. On the negative front, top decliners within the sector include Avis Budget Group ( CAR), down 4.6%, Golar LNG ( GLNG), down 3.5%, Trinity Industries ( TRN), down 3.4%, Hertz Global Holdings ( HTZ), down 2.8% and Bed Bath & Beyond ( BBBY), down 1.6%.
TheStreet would like to highlight 3 stocks pushing the sector higher today:
3. Time Warner ( TWX) is one of the companies pushing the Services sector higher today. As of noon trading, Time Warner is up $1.32 (1.5%) to $88.42 on average volume. Thus far, 1.4 million shares of Time Warner exchanged hands as compared to its average daily volume of 3.4 million shares. The stock has ranged in price between $87.15-$88.43 after having opened the day at $87.58 as compared to the previous trading day's close of $87.10.
EXCLUSIVE OFFER: See inside Jim Cramer's multi-million dollar charitable trust portfolio to see the stocks he thinks could be potential winners. Click here to see his holdings for 14-days FREE.
Time Warner Inc. operates as a media and entertainment company in the United States and internationally. It operates through three segments: Turner, Home Box Office, and Warner Bros. Time Warner has a market cap of $72.3 billion and is part of the media industry. Shares are up 2.7% year-to-date as of the close of trading on Wednesday. Currently there are 20 analysts who rate Time Warner a buy, no analysts rate it a sell, and 4 rate it a hold.
TheStreet Ratings rates Time Warner as a buy. The company's strengths can be seen in multiple areas, such as its revenue growth, largely solid financial position with reasonable debt levels by most measures, notable return on equity, solid stock price performance and expanding profit margins. We feel its strengths outweigh the fact that the company has had sub par growth in net income. Get the full Time Warner Ratings Report now.
2. As of noon trading, Starbucks ( SBUX) is up $0.48 (0.9%) to $54.19 on light volume. Thus far, 2.8 million shares of Starbucks exchanged hands as compared to its average daily volume of 7.4 million shares. The stock has ranged in price between $54.04-$54.45 after having opened the day at $54.09 as compared to the previous trading day's close of $53.71.
Starbucks Corporation operates as a roaster, marketer, and retailer of specialty coffee worldwide. The company operates in four segments: Americas; Europe, Middle East, and Africa; China/Asia Pacific; and Channel Development. Starbucks has a market cap of $81.2 billion and is part of the leisure industry. Shares are up 31.9% year-to-date as of the close of trading on Wednesday. Currently there are 21 analysts who rate Starbucks a buy, no analysts rate it a sell, and 4 rate it a hold.
TheStreet Ratings rates Starbucks as a buy. The company's strengths can be seen in multiple areas, such as its revenue growth, solid stock price performance, impressive record of earnings per share growth, compelling growth in net income and notable return on equity. We feel its strengths outweigh the fact that the company shows low profit margins. Get the full Starbucks Ratings Report now.
1. As of noon trading, Time Warner Cable ( TWC) is up $1.21 (0.7%) to $177.56 on light volume. Thus far, 730,169 shares of Time Warner Cable exchanged hands as compared to its average daily volume of 4.3 million shares. The stock has ranged in price between $176.78-$177.95 after having opened the day at $176.80 as compared to the previous trading day's close of $176.35.
Time Warner Cable Inc., together with its subsidiaries, provides video, high-speed data, and voice services in the United States. It operates in three segments: Residential Services, Business Services, and Other Operations. Time Warner Cable has a market cap of $50.4 billion and is part of the media industry. Shares are up 17.4% year-to-date as of the close of trading on Wednesday. Currently there are 7 analysts who rate Time Warner Cable a buy, 1 analyst rates it a sell, and 10 rate it a hold.
TheStreet Ratings rates Time Warner Cable as a buy. The company's strengths can be seen in multiple areas, such as its revenue growth, good cash flow from operations, solid stock price performance and notable return on equity. We feel its strengths outweigh the fact that the company has had generally high debt management risk by most measures that we evaluated. Get the full Time Warner Cable Ratings Report now.
If you are interested in one of these 3 stocks, ETFs may be of interest. Investors who are bullish on the services sector could consider iShares Dow Jones US Cons Services ( IYC) while those bearish on the services sector could consider ProShares Ultra Short Consumer Sers ( SCC).
MarketsStocksMidday Bell
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Bedding in at Pod
Hotel plans for former nightclub
Barry Hartigan
November 23 2014, 12:01am, The Sunday Times
John Reynolds, the pub and club tycoon behind the Electric Picnic festival, is seeking permission to demolish the Pod, an iconic Dublin nightclub and bar, and develop a 50-bedroom hotel.
The venue opened in 1993 and has hosted acts including Siouxsie and the Banshees, but closed in 2012. A planning notice posted at the Pod last week in Reynolds’s name seeks permission for “the removal of the modern 20th-century structures” which house three floors of nightclub and performance space. The hotel plan includes a lobby, bar and restaurant on the ground floor, offices on a mezzanine level, and 50 bedrooms on the first and second floors. There would be a bar and rooftop terrace overlooking Hatch Street, according to the plans.
Reynolds could not be…
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Cable calls for inquiry into Labour’s rip off RAF deal
Business secretary Vince Cable demands inquiry as £10.5 billion military aircraft deal is criticised for being poor value for money
Michael Smith and Jonathan Oliver
July 11 2010, 1:01am, The Sunday Times
Vince Cable says he is seriously concerned about the contract for an RAF tanker jet (Jack Hill)
Vince Cable, the business secretary, has demanded an inquiry into a £10.5 billion military aircraft deal that critics claim is costing more than double the going rate.
Cable told The Sunday Times he was seriously concerned about the contract for an RAF tanker jet, which he claimed was part of the Labour government’s “poisoned legacy”. He said a “very well-informed source” had given him “detailed information on massively expensive and unnecessary commitments”.
The Future Strategic Tanker Aircraft (FSTA) is a 27-year private finance initiative deal with a consortium led by EADS, the European aerospace giant, to provide air-to-air refuelling and air transport for British forces.
The National Audit Office (NAO) and General Sir Richard Dannatt, the former chief of general staff, both criticised it on…
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Poundland celebrates thrift as profits swell
Andrew Clark
£1 presents are not stingy, says Jim McCarthyBryan Meade/The Times
Christmas cards and wrapping paper are flying off the shelves at Poundland as the discount store gears up for a seasonal stampede of shoppers looking for a bargain.
Poundland’s shares rose 2 per cent to 316¼p yesterday on the back of a 12 per cent increase in half-year profits to £9.33 million. The chain joined the London Stock Exchange in March, with the stock priced at 300p.
Jim McCarthy, chief executive, said he had high hopes that people would buy Christmas presents at his single-price stores. “It’s all about stocking fillers — it’s treats, cards, wrapping, toys.”
Asked whether it might be considered miserly to spend only a pound on a present, he said: “I don’t think it’s stingy. It’s all about the perceived value…
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Mambo 5 Singer Lou Bega Worth
"Didn’t know this commercial was for napkins? Well, it was." Tracy Morgan debuted a trailer for a fake biopic about "Mambo No. 5" singer Lou Bega on Monday’s Jimmy Kimmel Live!. Set in 1993, Bega.
TITLE – ARTIST – WEEK OF THE FIRST APPEARANCE IN THE TOP-10 A A Big Hunk O’ Love – Elvis Presley – 29 / 1959 A Blossom Fell – Nat ‘King’ Cole – 20 / 1955
Lisa Loeb – Stay (I Missed You) (1995) The singer/songwriter got her big break when neighbour. his bandmates wouldn’t get sick of playing tracks about his kids. 5. Lou Bega – Mambo No 5 (1999) Bega.
Lou. singer made his musical debut singing Cuban-style mambo in English. Well, maybe it doesn’t make sense, except that cultural criss-crossing has been one of the few constants in Bega’s eclectic.
It turns out rumours of Lou Bega’s death have been greatly exaggerated. New Musical Express reports that the German recording artist, best known for his bouncy 1999 hit Mambo No. 5, has steadily been.
Seabirds like albatross, petrels and penguins face a growing threat from plastic waste in parts of the Pacific, Atlantic, Indian and Southern Oceans, according to a new study published on Monday.
This list of performances on Top of the Pops is a chronological account of popular songs performed by recording artists and musical ensembles on Top of the Pops, a weekly BBC One television programme that featured artists from the UK singles chart. The BBC transmitted new installments of the programme weekly from January 1964 through July 2006, and later converted it into a radio programme.
Mar 30, 2019 · DJing Discussion 90’s and early 2000 club hits and General Hits!!!
3 biography Founded in Woodstock, New York, USA in 1993 The band was founded as a three piece: Joey Eppard on Guitar and Lead Vocals, Josh Eppard on Drums and Chris Bittner on Bass.
This is supposed to mean that, despite worldwide differences in culture, geography, and history, the sounds of venerable classics like Lou Bega’s “Mambo No. 5,” James Blunt. The whole video is.
Again, Louise gave a performance applauded by the judges and the singer was handed a spot in the next round. Six Chair Challenge song: Lou Bega – Mambo No. 5 Olatunji Yearwood flew. The stunt.
ADAM MANNING. Educator/Independent. Adam Manning is an experienced educator, published performer and passionate composer. He performs regularly with prominent Australian artists, writes articles, records for major record labels, and has directed award winning ensembles.
The Cuban singer and bandleader. “People know mambo, but some people don’t know that mambo is a Cuban rhythm," Arocena says. "It’s a Cuban creation. And people used to dance a lot with Lou Bega,
3. Lou Bega. In 1999, Lou Bega soared to the No. 3 spot on the charts with his song “Mambo No. 5 (A Little Bit Of…).” His album “A Little Bit of Mambo” sold 3 million copies by the end of that same year.
Bars Live Music Near Oak Forest Ill What Is The Average Depth Of The Mississippi River Near Memphis Tenn. Earthquake experts. The New Madrid Fault System The greatest earthquake risk east of. OAK FOREST, IL — You’ve probably seen warnings on your social media. TV shows, websites, books, and music. It also offers guidelines for parents on how to choose online programming
At a festival in Budapest, Hungary, back in May, ’90s one-hit wonder Lou Bega was performing “Mambo No. 5” when a pyro launcher shot a. In Very Racy Clip And Twitter Can’t Handle It The singer.
Live Music Pentwater Mi Music starts at 8:30 p.m. $5 cover. Unclear if there’s an age restriction. (Peter) A Michigan indie-folk group. It’s fun, and their live clips indicate they have a sense of humor. Opened in 2017, 20 Monroe Live is Grand Rapids’ new home for live music, entertainment and special events. Inspired by the beautiful art deco
EBBSFLEET UNITED have handed the number five shirt to star Yado Mambo in reference to the song "Mambo No5" by one-hit wonder Lou Bega. The defender usually wears. the club would make an exclusive.
Lou Bega net worth: Lou Bega is a German mambo musician who has a net worth of $1 million. Lou Bega was born in Munich, Bavaria, West Germany in April 1975. He is best known for his single "Mambo.
The 1997 single was released from a Norwegian pop group. The song has the female singer deeming herself a “Barbie Girl” and pretty much flirting with Ken throughout the track.
Live Music Venues Danville Va The Rick Steves Athens & the Heart of Greece tour is an odyssey of time-travel thrills, from Athens’ majestic Acropolis to the must-see ancient sites of Delphi, Olympia, Epidavros, and Mycenae. BEDFORD Co., Va. (WDBJ7) — A three-way race for the Bedford County Board. towards things that can assist out retirees something like a community
This story originally ran on Friday, Nov. 5.] Down-on-his-luck songwriter Lou Bega knew he had a hit on his hands when he wrote new lyrics for an old Cuban song called "Mambo No. 5." 200 albums chart.
A spokesperson for the R&B crooner has now told Pitchfork that Kelly did appear onstage and did not send a "stunt double", reiterating that the singer was billed to ‘appear’ at the concert, not.
Thank you. And thanks for the laughs, Robin. A similar thing happened when people flooded ‘Mambo No.5’ singer Lou Bega with tributes after the death of Lou Reed.
The vocals were distorted using a device called a vocoder. Cher used a similar technique on her hit "Believe," although her sound was created using an Auto-Tune device.
His project, the Cuban Swing Express, is made up of 10 musicians with no singer. Instead, the piano and the guitar. "Satisfaction," José Martí’s "Guantanamera" and Lou Bega’s "Mambo No. 5." Songs.
This article originally appeared on GOBankingRates.com: Where Are They Now: How Much These One-Hit Wonders Are Worth One-hit. In 1999, Lou Bega soared to the No. 3 spot on the charts with his song.
Sing Along Pop Music Jan 24, 2019. It's a classic rock and pop sing-a-long repertoire from the 1950s to today, Levicky, a veteran Pittsburgh musician and music teacher who also. Playing in 300 theaters across the country, the sing-along version displays the songs’ lyrics on the screen. "This Is Me," performed in the film by Settle with a pop
Jango is about making online music social, fun and simple. Free personal radio that learns from your taste and connects you to others who like what you like.
"Mambo No. 5" made serious waves in 1999 when German musician Lou Bega made the track his own. This earworm of a song features Belgian-Australian singer-songwriter Gotye and New Zealand vocalist.
Jan 08, 2019 · Revisit and listen to the best one-hit wonders of the 1990s and 2000s. Revisit your favorite one-hit wonders with our playlist and photos.
“Where I Find My Heaven” is a song written and performed by the rock band Gigolo Aunts. It was released as a 1993 single by Fire Records in support of the 1993 record Flippin Out.The single was later re-released as an April 1995 single to highlight its inclusion on the soundtrack to cult comedy film hit, Dumb and Dumber.The April 1995 single entered the UK charts on May 13 th, 1995 at no.
In Search Of. is a new series on Pigeons & Planes. We talk to yesterday’s stars about their past, present, and future. "Mambo No. 5" is one of those songs you couldn’t escape when it came out, the.
after a journalist confused the Velvet Underground icon was confused by a journalist with ‘Mambo No.5’ singer Lou Bega – causing him to be flooded with messages of sympathy and condolence by fans who.
A page for describing WMG: Todd in the Shadows. Year-End Predictions Todd is Brad the pianist.He never shows his face so that people don’t recognize him.
Songs including ‘Mambo No. 5’ by Lou Bega, ‘Iris’ by The Goo-Goo Dolls, and ‘No Scrubs’ by TLC will be performed by the MIM singer/ dancers, backed by fabulous instrumentalists, Commotion! Music in.
Last month, singer Lou Bega introduced a little bit of Monica, Erica, Rita and a cast of conquests into radio listeners’ lives. His "Mambo No. 5," currently No. 5 on Billboard’s singles chart, hit.
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Everything's coming up blue
PUBLISHED: 13:15 28 June 2006 | UPDATED: 09:29 24 May 2010
GREENFINGERED gardeners in Portishead are feeling a bit blue - over the colours in the town's floral hanging baskets. The Portishead in Bloom committee was horrified to discover the 64 hanging baskets on the carousels through the High Street were planted
GREENFINGERED gardeners in Portishead are feeling a bit blue - over the colours in the town's floral hanging baskets.The Portishead in Bloom committee was horrified to discover the 64 hanging baskets on the carousels through the High Street were planted with lots of blue flowers - despite the agreed colour scheme being orange, red and lime green.The committee has spent hours over the past few weeks planting tubs and planters using red, yellow and orange plants.But when they saw the hanging baskets through the High Street they noticed they were being overtaken by blue blooms.One of the main criteria for the South West in Bloom competition is that the floral displays are colour co-ordinated.Portishead in Bloom chairman Gordon Randall said despite the hiccup, the committee was still aiming to secure a gold at this year's awards.Mr Randall said: "The baskets are not quite the colours that we anticipated."We had asked for hot colours such as red, yellow and orange, but when we looked at the baskets there is a lot of blue in them."We were aiming for hot, bright colours rather than cool ones."Unfortunately at this stage there is nothing we can do and if we ask them to change the baskets they are unlikely to be ready in time for the judging visit on July 21."Hopefully the other coloured plants will become more prominent."Admittedly, this mistake could affect our chances in the competition as the displays are supposed to be colour co-ordinated."But the rest of the town looks so fantastic, that we are still confident of securing a gold."North Somerset Council supplies and funds the town's hanging baskets.A council spokesman said: "A scheme was agreed last year which would have orange, blue and lime green colours in it."The blue flowers are the more rigorous growing of the plants, but as the season progresses, the other plants will get larger and become more prominent and it will be a gorgeous display.
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International Paper - Get News & Ratings Daily
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Wade G W & Inc. Increases Position in International Paper Co (IP)
Posted by Stephan Byrd on May 27th, 2019
Wade G W & Inc. lifted its position in shares of International Paper Co (NYSE:IP) by 24.1% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 225,443 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after buying an additional 43,817 shares during the period. Wade G W & Inc.’s holdings in International Paper were worth $10,431,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.
Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. 10 15 Associates Inc. increased its stake in International Paper by 1.7% in the 4th quarter. 10 15 Associates Inc. now owns 13,290 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $536,000 after purchasing an additional 220 shares during the period. CIBC Asset Management Inc increased its stake in International Paper by 0.6% in the 1st quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 38,044 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,760,000 after purchasing an additional 231 shares during the period. Foster & Motley Inc. increased its stake in International Paper by 1.0% in the 4th quarter. Foster & Motley Inc. now owns 24,959 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,007,000 after purchasing an additional 248 shares during the period. Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. increased its stake in International Paper by 1.8% in the 4th quarter. Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 13,879 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $560,000 after purchasing an additional 248 shares during the period. Finally, Fluent Financial LLC increased its stake in International Paper by 0.8% in the 1st quarter. Fluent Financial LLC now owns 35,015 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,620,000 after purchasing an additional 273 shares during the period. 81.37% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.
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Shares of IP traded down $0.10 during mid-day trading on Monday, hitting $42.77. 2,743,126 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,807,627. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.37, a quick ratio of 0.96 and a current ratio of 1.43. International Paper Co has a 1 year low of $37.55 and a 1 year high of $59.57. The stock has a market capitalization of $16.99 billion, a PE ratio of 8.04, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.66 and a beta of 1.55.
International Paper (NYSE:IP) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The basic materials company reported $1.11 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the Thomson Reuters’ consensus estimate of $0.91 by $0.20. International Paper had a return on equity of 31.35% and a net margin of 7.32%. The firm had revenue of $5.64 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.73 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.94 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up .4% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts forecast that International Paper Co will post 5.15 EPS for the current fiscal year.
The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 14th. Investors of record on Tuesday, May 28th will be given a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 24th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.68%. International Paper’s dividend payout ratio is presently 37.59%.
In related news, SVP Thomas J. Plath sold 1,000 shares of International Paper stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $45.17, for a total transaction of $45,170.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 30,671 shares in the company, valued at $1,385,409.07. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, SVP W. Michael Jr. Amick sold 9,093 shares of International Paper stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $47.65, for a total value of $433,281.45. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 27,760 shares of company stock worth $1,294,877 over the last 90 days. 0.33% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.
A number of brokerages have commented on IP. Bank of America cut International Paper from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 16th. UBS Group reduced their target price on International Paper from $55.00 to $54.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. Citigroup boosted their target price on International Paper from $53.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, April 5th. Royal Bank of Canada cut International Paper from an “outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and reduced their target price for the company from $54.00 to $47.00 in a research note on Friday, April 5th. Finally, Barclays reduced their target price on International Paper from $40.00 to $39.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 1st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. International Paper has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $53.00.
ILLEGAL ACTIVITY WARNING: This article was first posted by Ticker Report and is the sole property of of Ticker Report. If you are reading this article on another domain, it was stolen and reposted in violation of US and international copyright & trademark law. The legal version of this article can be read at https://www.tickerreport.com/banking-finance/4354305/wade-g-w-inc-increases-position-in-international-paper-co-ip.html.
International Paper Company Profile
International Paper Co engages in the manufacture of paper and packaging products. It operates through the following segments: Industrial Packaging, Global Cellulose Fibers, and Printing Papers. The Industrial Packaging segment involves in the manufacturing of containerboards, which include linerboard, medium, whitetop, recycled linerboard, recycled medium, and saturating kraft.
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Linx (LINX) Price Reaches $0.0129 on Exchanges
Timken Co (TKR) Expected to Post Earnings of $1.45 Per Share
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Although of English and Canadian origins, Richie Hawtin is closely connected with the Detroit techno scene associated with figures such as Kenny Larkin, Stacey Pullen, Eddie Fowlkes, and Derrick May.
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Although of English and Canadian origins, Richie Hawtin is closely connected with the Detroit techno scene associated with figures such as Kenny Larkin, Stacey Pullen, Eddie Fowlkes, and Derrick May. His Plus 8 label co-owned and operated with John Acquaviva is one of the most influential experimental dance music imprints, and Hawtin's own tracks recorded as Plastikman and F.U.S.E. are highly regarded as faithful, intelligent, forward-stepping updates of the Detroit sound. He is best known for his work under the alias Plastikman and for his ENTER. events in Ibiza and around the world.
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Longmont’s nSpire Health files for Chapter 11…
Longmont’s nSpire Health files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy
By Pratik Joshi | pjoshi@dailycamera.com | Boulder Daily Camera
PUBLISHED: April 23, 2019 at 10:19 pm | UPDATED: April 24, 2019 at 9:46 am
Longmont-based nSpire Health, Inc. filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection Monday.
The voluntary petition was filed with U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Denver to seek protection from creditors. Chapter 11 allows debtors to re-organize or liquidate according to a plan.
The company, located at 1830 Lefthand Circle in Longmont, describes itself as” a global respiratory information systems software developer and medical device manufacturing company,” according to the company’s Linkedin account.
According to a company overview on Bloomberg.com, “nSpire Health, Inc. develops and manufactures respiratory diagnostic devices and provides clinical trial services for healthcare providers and patients worldwide.” The company was founded in 1990, according to the information on Bloomberg.
The company’s estimated assets and liabilities are above $1 million but below $10 million, and the estimated number of creditors range from 100 to 199, according to court documents.
The petition was signed by Joseph Fryberger, nSpire Health’s vice president of finance. A phone call to his office was not returned. The outgoing message on his phone indicated he was out of the office and would not be checking his messages.
The filing was authorized by John C. Head, sole director, who serves as the board of directors for the company.
Steven E. Abelman, nSpire Health’s attorney, could not be reached for comment. He is with Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck, LLP in Denver.
The largest 20 unsecured claims against nSpire range from $319,189.28 to $10,073.97. All of them are described in court documents as trade debt with the exception of one, which is listed as wages ($14,083) owed to Fryberger.
Pratik Joshi
Pratik Joshi covers business for the Daily Camera.
Follow Pratik Joshi @pratikmjoshi
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Discoveries & Technology
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Canadian Miners Discover A New Species Of Dinosaur
by Moshita Prajapati | August 11, 2017, 2:02 PM IST
The remains of the dinosaur were so well preserved that miners thought it was a statue carved from stone
In March 2011, construction worker Shawn Funk discovered a stone that looked different from the other stones found in the Millennium Mine, a huge oil sand quarry in northern Alberta, Canada. He had accidentally stumbled upon the greatest dinosaur discovery of all times. Funk had unearthed a 110-million-year-old dinosaur that came to be named the Borealopelta markmitchelli.
The fossilised remains of this creature were sent to the Royal Tyrell Museum, where technician Mark Mitchell spent the next five and a half years uncovering the dinosaur encased in a 15,000 pound lump of earth, which is why the dinosaur is also named after him.
The Borealopelta belongs to the ankylosaurs, a species of heavy-set dinosaurs. Think modern-day rhinoceros but much bigger. It didn’t have the tail club like the one its relatives wielded to defend themselves against enemies, but it was covered in heavy, armoured scales, and had a pair of 20-inch-long spikes jutting from its shoulders. It weighed 1.5 tons and measured 20 feet from head to tail.
The creature used to roam what is now called western Canada and was probably swept away in a flood to the open sea. Floating to the bottom of the ocean bed, its body was covered by a fine layer of sediment, preserving its body in near-intact condition.
Nobody was ready for the specimen to be so magnificent and ground breaking. Scientists often have to resort only to fossilised bones to visualise a dinosaur. This makes it harder for them to re-construct the creature. But, in the case of the Borealopelta, the animal looked like what it had looked like – a creature with scaly skin. In the image, you can make out the structure of its face and its body, though the colour of its skin is still a mystery. The remains are tar black with ochre spots. But the fossilised remains in the bony patches of its scaly skin will contain clues to its original hues.
Jakob Vinther from the University of Bristol studies melanosomes, tiny pigmented structures found in fossilised dinosaur feathers. Melanosomes are found in either spherical form that are reddish-brown in colour, or sausage-shaped forms that are black or grey. Vinther could determine the colour of a dinosaur’s body by determining the spread of melanosomes on a dinosaur’s body.
While there were no melanosomes found on Borealopelta, he did find traces of chemicals called benzothiazoles, which are part of reddish-brown pigments. Based on this, it has been deduced that the ankylosaur had a rust-coloured head and back, and a light-coloured belly.
The team at the Royal Tyrell Museum is now trying to analyse the creature’s digestive system to find out what its last meal was, and, of course, work out the structure of its skeleton. But the bones are hidden or rather obscured by skin. The team is waiting for future technology that will allow them to see underneath the scaly skin and rock.
Images: Royal Tyrell Museum
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Tags - Dinosaur|Archaeology|Natural
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NFL Players Have Fewer Rights Than Their Counterparts
July 21st, 2011 | David Weisenfeld
Blue-collar workers toiling on assembly lines and elsewhere have little in common with National Football League players. So it’s no surprise that few tears have been shed over the labor strife which engulfed the NFL for the last several months. Most of the angst understandably has been over the concern that games could be missed on Sundays this fall. Many viewed this dispute as one between overpaid millionaires (the players) and greedy billionaires (the team owners).
But now that a new collective bargaining agreement appears ready to be ratified, it is worth noting that while football long ago eclipsed baseball as the nation’s most popular sport, its players enjoy the least employment rights of those in the four major professional team sports.
A baseball or basketball player who signs a six-year contract and then suffers a career-threatening knee injury during a game will receive every cent of that deal whether he ultimately returns or not. If a player in those sports loses his effectiveness and no longer competes at the all-star level for which he is compensated, the money will still pour into his bank account for the remainder of his contract.
In contrast, NFL players stand alone in professional sports with one-way contracts that are not guaranteed. A five-year, $50-million contract is certainly nothing to sneeze at. But it binds only the player, not the team. For instance, if the player is injured or brings less star power than advertised in year one, the team is free to release him and owes him no compensation beyond that first season.
Oftentimes, teams will come to players and ask them to renegotiate their already-signed contracts significantly downward. If they agree, their jobs will continue. If not, the team will wash its hands of the player.
Now the more sophisticated football fans are surely thinking about the lucrative signing bonuses NFL players receive. Agents insist that player X receive say $10-to-$12 million up front to guard against the possibility of a premature termination of the contract. It’s certainly not bad money if you can get it. Those bonuses, however, tend to go to the players at the top of the sport. So Peyton Manning or Tom Brady can easily command them, but reserve offensive and defensive tackles will not.
The NFL also stands alone with the generally poor care of its retired players from the past. A disproportionate number, like the recently-deceased Baltimore Colts tight-end John Mackey, have suffered or still suffer from dementia. Others are afflicted with life-long disabilities and impairments stemming from the violent nature of a game which involves high-speed collisions on every play.
And the average career of an NFL player lasts only four years. That’s significant because the rookie wage-scale along with the amount of guaranteed money they can receive in the new collective bargaining agreement will be going down. At the same time, players must wait at least four years to gain their free agency and a pay day which statistics show the majority of them will never reach.
Make no mistake: many red-blooded American workers would do anything to have the ability to play in the NFL and have those problems. After all, it’s not to be confused with wondering if your company will be in business at the end of the week or how the mortgage will be met.
Still, for the nation’s most popular and profitable sport, where most teams sell out all of their home games, it is notable that the players fall well behind their baseball counterparts when it comes to the security of their contracts and longterm benefits. And that’s something which will not be altered by the new labor agreement.
About the Author: David Weisenfeld served as U.S. Supreme Court correspondent for LAWCAST from 1998 through June 2011. During that time, he covered every employment law case heard by the Court, and also wrote and co-anchored the company’s employment law newscasts. In addition, his work has appeared in the American Bar Association’s Supreme Court Preview magazine.
Tags: worker's rights
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Diversity on Large Boards: Cognizant, Hilton, FleetCor & Others Appoint Female Directors Featured
Written by Dora Vell
Cognizant Goes Through Board Changes
Cognizant announced that Betsy S. Atkins has been elected to its Board as new independent directors. Atkins has been the CEO of venture capital firm Baja and was previously Chairman and CEO of Clear Standards.
Zurich Insurance Group Appoints BofA Technology Leader to Board
Zurich Insurance Group announced that its board has elected Bank of America's Chief Operations and Technology Officer Cathy Bessant as a director. In her role at Bank of America, Bessant oversees about 95,000 employees and contractors in 35 countries in the bank's global technology and operations group. Bessant previously chaired the Charlotte Chamber and the Foundation For The Carolinas.
Hilton Appoints Former GE CIO as Newest Director
Hilton announced that Charlene T. Begley, former SVP and CIO at GE and CEO of GE’s Home and Business Solutions segment, has been appointed to its board of directors. Begley held various executive management positions at GE from 1988 through 2013. She was president and CEO of GE Enterprise Solutions, president and CEO of GE Plastics and GE Transportation, and CFO for GE Transportation and GE Plastics Europe and India. Begley currently serves as a director of Red Hat and WPP plc.
Paychex Director Pamela A. Joseph Resigns
Pamela A. Joseph, 57, notified Paychex of her resignation from the Company's Board of Directors. Joseph has been a member of the Board since 2005. Joseph has been the President and COO of Total System Services since May 2016.
Expedia Elects Chelsea Clinton as Director
Expedia expanded the size of the Board from thirteen to fourteen members and elected Chelsea Clinton to fill the newly-created directorship. Clinton currently serves as Vice Chair of the Clinton Foundation where her work emphasizes improving global and domestic health, creating service opportunities and empowering the next generation of leaders. She has previously worked as an associate at McKinsey and as an Assistant Vice Provost at New York University, where she focused on interfaith initiatives and the university’s Global Expansion Program.
FleetCor Technologies Appoints Accomplished Operating Executive and Non-Profit CEO Hala Moddelmog to Board
FleetCor Technologies announced that Hala Moddelmog has been appointed to its Board of Directors. Moddelmog has served in President and CEO roles for more than 20 years. Moddelmog served as President of Arby’s Restaurant Group, held the CEO position with Susan G. Komen for the Cure, and is currently the first female CEO of the metro Atlanta Chamber.
Amy Chang to Step Down from Splunk Board
Amy Chang, founder/CEO of Accompany, will not stand for re-election to the Board of Directors of Splunk. She was appointed to the Splunk board in March 2015.
The Sage Group Appoints Cath Keers as Non-Executive Director
The Sage Group plc appointed Cath Keers to its board as a non-executive director. She was a non-executive director of Home Retail Group from September 2011 to September 2016. Keers is a non-executive director of the Royal Mail group, TalkTalk Telecom Group and Liverpool Victoria Friendly Society and is the Chairman of Ustwo. Cath Keers served as a Customer Director of 02 PLC, UK since March 2004 and served as its Marketing Director. She was also GM at BT.
Oracle Financial Services Software Appoints Oracle Assistant General Counsel as Director
Oracle Financial Services Software named Kimberly Woolley as a Non-Executive, Non-Independent Director of the company. Woolley is Assistant General Counsel and Assistant Secretary at Oracle.
InterDigital Announces Board Changes
InterDigital, the company that designs and develops technologies for wireless communications, appointed Joan Gillman to the company's Board of Directors. Gillman was EVP of Time Warner Cable and President and COO of Time Warner Cable Media from 2006 until shortly after Time Warner’s acquisition by Charter Communications in May 2016.
Verint Systems Appoints FirstRain’s Chair and Former CEO to Board
Verint Systems appointed Penelope Herscher to the Board. Herscher has over 15 years of experience as a high-tech CEO and over 10 years serving on public company boards. She currently sits on the boards of Lumentum Operations and Rambus Corporation. She is executive chairman at FirstRain and was formerly President & CEO until 2015.
Q2 Holdings Appoints Spredfast CFO as Board Member
Q2 Holdings added Lynn Atchison, CFO of Spredfast, to its board of directors. Atchison joined Spredfast in February 2017. Prior to Spredfast, Atchison served as the CFO of HomeAway shortly after it was acquired by Expedia. Atchison serves on the Austin Technology Council board of directors.
Alteryx Names Former Medidata HR EVP to its Board
Alteryx appointed Eileen Schloss to its Board of Directors. Eileen is a veteran executive who has worked as a HR professional to help mentor and guide HR strategy and operations for more than 20 years. Eileen has held executive HR roles at organizations from global brands in the Fortune 500 such as Apple and Charles Schwab, to high-growth businesses needing to scale. Most recently she was EVP of HR and Real Estate for Medidata Solutions.
Co-Founder Cinta Putra Intends to Retire from the Board of Everbridge
Cinta Putra, co-founder and member of the Board of Directors of Everbridge informed the Board of her intention to retire from the Board. Putra Co-Founded Everbridge in 2002 and served as its CFO and SVP of Business Operations since September 2011 until November 2014. She served as the CEO at Everbridge since November 2002 until September 2011.
Carbonite Announces Board Changes
Carbonite, cloud and hybrid backup service provider, announced the election of Marina Levinson, with more than 25 years of corporate leadership experience, as new member of its Board of Directors. Levinson will hold office until 2020, succeeding Jeff Flowers, who co-founded Carbonite in 2005 and retired from the Board after 12 years of service. After serving as the CIO of NetApp and Palm, Levinson founded and is the CEO of CIO Advisory Group.
Date Range: March 24th - May 12th
Read 1428 times Last modified on Monday, 19 March 2018 21:41
Sage Group
Oracle Financial Services Software
InterDigital
Q2 Holdings
Dora Vell
Dora Vell is the Managing Partner of Vell Executive Search, a boutique executive search firm in Boston focused on recruiting technology executives and board members. Vell has successfully completed numerous board member and C-level executive searches, including CEOs, COOs, CIOs, and Vice Presidents - at both public and private companies.
Prior to founding the firm in 2005, Vell was a Partner at Heidrick & Struggles' Technology practice for seven years. Before her career in executive search, she worked at IBM for 11 years, managing software engineering organizations of 100 people and software sales organizations with revenues of $150 million. She has also served as an executive assistant to the CEO of IBM Canada for one year.
Vell holds seven worldwide software patents. She has published several Business of Leadership reports on governance and leadership and has been quoted in numerous articles including The Wall Street Journal, Forbes, Business Week, Fortune, Agenda Week, MSNBC, Mass High Tech, the OPUS for the World Economic Forum, Boston Business Journal, The Globe & Mail, CIO Magazine, and IEEE. She also has been a featured speaker on leadership at numerous conferences and at Columbia University's MBA program.
Vell is a member of the National Association of Corporate Directors (NACD), the Boston CEO Roundtable. She has served on the boards of Framingham State, Entrepreneur's Organization, Goodwill, Mary Centre for developmentally handicapped adults, garage.ca, and RBC Capital Partners.
She has received an MBA from the University of Toronto, a Master in Computer Science from the University of Waterloo, and a Bachelor in Computer Science from Carleton. She has also completed the MIT Entrepreneurial Master’s program.
www.vell.com/
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Technology Board Changes: Microsoft, Vodafone, NCR, Blackbaud and Others
Broadcom, Expedia & Others name Women to their Board of Directors
Alphabet, Cisco, Match, AthenaHealth & others Tech & Board Updates in Tech Giants 4Q2017
Gender Diversity on Technology Boards - Recent Moves at Accenture, PayPal, Intuit & Many Others
Uber Selects Expedia Chief Dara Khosrowshahi for CEO Role, Replacing Travis Kalanick
More in this category: « Women on Technology Boards: Expedia, InterDigital & More Tech Boards Increasingly Embracing Diversity: FleetCor, Amaya and Few More Welcome Female Directors »
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Development Retail
Taking OKC to the Big Apple
By Marcus Elwell / Development / December 28, 2018
Earlier this month, a delegation from the Greater Oklahoma City Chamber went to New York City to spread the good word about Oklahoma City retail at the ICSC New York Deal Making conference.
Tammy Fate, manager of retail development and recruitment for the Greater Oklahoma City Chamber, spends a lot her time on the road at similar conferences because it is a key part of the Chamber’s strategy to recruit destination retail to the city.
“Building long term relationships with prospects and developers is crucial to our retail success,” Fate said. “Conventions and shows are a really efficient way to meet with several companies in a short amount of time. While deals aren’t necessarily made at shows, a lot of times that is where the initial conversations start. A good majority of the major retail announcements we’ve had over the years started out with a simple conversation at a retail show.”
While Fate crisscrosses the country to attend these shows, she says New York is just a little different than the rest.
“We’ve done a great job of building awareness about our community across the country,” Fate said. “At most of the shows people know our market. However, in NYC there is still a decent knowledge gap about what is going in our city.”
Fate said that changes up how she and her team approaches their time in NYC.
“At most shows it is becoming less and less about brand awareness and more about meetings with individual developers and retails,” Fate said. “Less and less people have to be sold on what OKC has to offer and we can get more into the actual nuts and bolts of a deal. In NYC, we have some meetings but it is mainly about building awareness about Oklahoma City because they don’t know our market like other parts of the country do.”
One thing that has helped build the city’s brand is the Oklahoma City Thunder, which just celebrated 10 years of playing in Oklahoma City.
“It is definitely a way we’ve been able to start wedging our foot in the door a little,” Fate said. “They all know the Thunder and it immediately puts us on a certain playing field as a big league city.”
While at the show, Fate got the opportunity to be part of a panel discussion on opportunity zones.
“It was exciting to be asked to talk about opportunity zones in front of such a large and important audience,” Fate said. “The opportunity zones in Oklahoma City have such big potential when it comes to development, getting to talk about our community in front of that audience was priceless. We actually already generated several leads from participating.”
While some might question why Oklahoma City would be in NYC, Fate thinks that very question is why it is important to show up.
“There aren’t that many cities who exhibit in NYC and even fewer west of the Mississippi,” Fate said. “I think we stand out and that is a good thing. I think the uniqueness of us being there sticks in the minds of developers and retailers. They see we are a community who is serious about its retail environment and maybe they need to see what we are all about.”
Total Votes: 175 Avg Vote: 1
/ Development
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Choose Team
All POS
Top Player Salary
Gary Gaetti - 3B
1 (1989) / $2,400,000
Salary: $2,400,000
AVG Annual: $2,400,000
Player Salaries (3B)
Avg Annual
MIN 3B $2,400,000 1 (1989) $2,400,000 $2,400,000
BOS 3B $1,700,000 1 (1989) $1,700,000 $1,700,000
MIL 3B $1,400,000 1 (1989) $1,400,000 $1,400,000
Carney Lansford
OAK 3B $1,275,000 1 (1989) $1,275,000 $1,275,000
Brook Jacoby
CLE 3B $962,500 1 (1989) $962,500 $962,500
WSH 3B $950,000 1 (1989) $950,000 $950,000
NYM 3B $772,500 1 (1989) $772,500 $772,500
Bobby Bonilla
PIT 3B $730,000 1 (1989) $730,000 $730,000
Ken Oberkfell
STL 3B $675,000 1 (1989) $675,000 $675,000
Rance Mulliniks
TOR 3B $650,000 1 (1989) $650,000 $650,000
Denny Walling
Jim Presley
SEA 3B $595,000 1 (1989) $595,000 $595,000
Mike Pagliarulo
NYY 3B $575,000 1 (1989) $575,000 $575,000
Buddy Bell
TEX 3B $530,000 1 (1989) $530,000 $530,000
PHI 3B $500,000 1 (1989) $500,000 $500,000
Ernest Riles
SF 3B $470,000 1 (1989) $470,000 $470,000
LAA 3B $465,000 1 (1989) $465,000 $465,000
Kelly Gruber
Tom Brookens
Steve Buechele
Tim Flannery
SD 3B $400,000 1 (1989) $400,000 $400,000
Vance Law
CHC 3B $375,000 1 (1989) $375,000 $375,000
Randy Ready
Kevin Seitzer
KC 3B $340,000 1 (1989) $340,000 $340,000
DET 3B $277,500 1 (1989) $277,500 $277,500
Tom Lawless
Rick Schu
BAL 3B $170,000 1 (1989) $170,000 $170,000
Chris Sabo
CIN 3B $155,000 1 (1989) $155,000 $155,000
Jeff Hamilton
LAD 3B $150,000 1 (1989) $150,000 $150,000
Ron Gant
ATL 3B $125,000 1 (1989) $125,000 $125,000
Matt D. Williams
SF 3B $95,000 1 (1989) $95,000 $95,000
Rene Gonzales
BAL 3B $95,000 1 (1989) $95,000 $95,000
Tracy Woodson
LAD 3B $90,000 1 (1989) $90,000 $90,000
Bill Pecota
KC 3B $85,000 1 (1989) $85,000 $85,000
Ken Caminiti
HOU 3B $83,000 1 (1989) $83,000 $83,000
Eddie Williams
CWS 3B $72,000 1 (1989) $72,000 $72,000
Rich Renteria
SEA 3B $71,000 1 (1989) $71,000 $71,000
Lenny Harris
CIN 3B $71,000 1 (1989) $71,000 $71,000
Craig Worthington
About MLB Salaries
USA TODAY's baseball salaries database contains year-by-year listings of salaries for Major League Baseball players on opening day rosters and disabled lists, 1988 through the current season. Figures, compiled by USA TODAY, are based on documents obtained from the MLB Players Association, club officials and filed with Major League Baseball's central office. Deferred payments and incentive clauses are not included. Team payrolls do not include money paid or received in trades or for players who have been released. Average and median salaries reported by USA TODAY may differ from numbers that are reported elsewhere.
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FCC Filing Reveals Tidbits About Google Pixel 2 From HTC
August 16, 2017 at 11:56 am by Aman Jain
Google Pixel 2 phones have long been rumored to be in the works, but so far nothing about the handset has been officially announced–until now. Thanks to a recent FCC filing, we now know which company is making the handset (or at least one version of it) for Google, and also some of its specs.
Image Source: Google Store (screenshot)
HTC to make at least one variant
It was not clear until now which company would get the opportunity to build the device, with two names being heard of the most: LG and HTC. Now it seems that Taiwan-based HTC will be manufacturing the Google Pixel 2 phones, based on its recent filing with the FCC. However, since Google is expected to launch two variants of the handset, the filing does not tell us whether HTC will manufacture both variants or only one of them. The other variant may go to some other company, like it did with the Nexus 5X/6P.
The FCC filing details a test device that is running Android 8.0.1 with an August security patch. In the filing, mention of a new feature called Active Edge attracts all the attention. The feature may be similar in function to the HTC U11’s squeezable frame feature. It’s believed that the feature will launch Google Assistant when a user squeezes the frame, notes Ubergizmo.
Further, leaked screenshots allegedly showing the Google Pixel 2 phones indicate that the device will come with Android 8.0.1 pre-installed. It also hints that the FCC could use an electric version of the labeling system on the phone. The screenshots also feature navigation buttons exclusive to the Pixel handsets.
One of the screenshots showed that 50GB of native storage remained available while 21% of the total native storage is used. This could mean that unlike last time, the Google Pixel 2 phones will be available in a 64GB base model (unlike 32GB last time). The handset will reportedly employ the Snapdragon 835 chipset.
What to expect from the Google Pixel 2 phones
The Google Pixel 2, reportedly code-named “Walleye,” was previously revealed in an image that Evan Blass posted on Twitter. The Pixel 2 was shown to have thick bezels on the top and bottom, but no setup for the dual rear-lens camera was seen.
“Google’s 2017 Pixel forgoes increasingly-common flagship features,” Blass tweeted then.
LG, Huawei and Apple all embraced this trend last year.
A separate image of the Pixel XL 2 posted by Android Police previously suggested that the smartphone would sport a massive 6-inch AMOLED display from LG with an aspect ratio of 2:1. The handset is expected to come with a much improved camera, though the improvements will likely be more about extra features than megapixel count.
Rumors claim that the device will have BoomSound-style stereo speakers, and that, like Apple and Lenovo, Google is also ditching the headphone jack in its Pixel line. Similar to its predecessor, the Pixel 2 could also have a two-tone metal and glass back. Further, the handset is expected to come with a waterproof design, and according to 9to5Google, the phone will be able to survive being submerged in water.
Google will reportedly release its new flagship devices in October. We also expect the Google Pixel 2 phones to come with a high price, and we don’t expect them to be any cheaper than the original Pixel. The 32GB Pixel launched last year was priced at $649, while the 128GB model was $749. The XL variant retailed for $769 (32GB) and $869 (128GB).
Many believe that Google will have to lower its prices to make its smartphones more competitive. Reportedly, 1 million units of the Pixel series devices have been sold so far. This may sound like a big number, but compared to others, it looks insignificant. For instance, after just 26 days of availability, 5 million units of the Galaxy S8 and S8 Plus were sold, while Huawei is planning to sell 10 million P10 and P10 Plus phones.
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Home Politics America Kane County IL May be Raising The Legal Tobacco Purchasing Age to...
Kane County IL May be Raising The Legal Tobacco Purchasing Age to 21
Kane County, may become the 20th locale in the state of Illinois to require residents to be 21 or above, in order to be able to purchase and possess tobacco products including e-cigarettes and other safer alternatives.
Earlier this month and after months of research by local city staff, the City Council of another locale in Illinois, Aurora, also voted unanimously to raise the age limit to purchase tobacco and vaping products to 21. In fact, up until now a total of eighteen other municipalities in Illinois, including Chicago, Evanston, Naperville and Bolingbrook, have already implemented such an age limit.
A study published earlier this month, indicated that contrary to recent media reports, vaping is commonly prevalent only amongst smoking teens, in which case it is serving as a harm reduction tool.
The debate in Kane County was renewed last Wednesday following a county health ranking which indicated that 14% of the county’s adult population smokes. Additionally, an online survey created by the Kane County Public Health Department, received over 600 responses which support the increase in legal age.
Executive director of the health department, Barb Jeffers, who was also present when the legal age was raised in Aurora, told the county board members that it is time it’s time such a motion is implemented. “The compelling argument there was a resource officer from one of the schools came in with three, gallon-sized bags of vaping products. They are having problems with these all throughout the high schools. The students are using them all the time,” she said.
Putting things in the right perspective
Placing e-cigs on the same shelf as regular cigarettes and regulating them in the same way, could prove detrimental to public health.
On a different note, despite agreeing that young adults should not have access to deadly cigarettes, public health experts have long been pointing out that placing e-cigarettes on the same shelf as regular cigarettes and regulating them in the same way, could prove detrimental to public health.
It is a well known fact, that most smokers have their first cigarettes in their early teens, and e-cigarettes are proven to be the most effective smoking cessation tools available to date. Therefore it would make sense to have the devices available as smoking cessation aids for adolescents who are already struggling with a tobacco addiction.
Infact, a study published on the American Journal of Preventive Medicine earlier this month, indicated that contrary to recent media reports, vaping is commonly prevalent only amongst smoking teens, in which case it is serving as a harm reduction tool.
Read Further: Daily Herald
Previous articleUS Study: Smokeless Tobacco Warnings That Are Purposely Misleading
Next articleFDA Publishes Revised Ingredient Listing Guidance for Tobacco Products
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Apex Theatre: A Midsummer Night's Dream
Tuesday and Wednesday, July 16 and 17, 2019 | 8:00 p.m. at St. Augustine Amphitheatre
Enjoy the romp of "A Midsummer Night's Dream" with this production by Apex Theatre Studio, complete with magic, puppetry, live music, and more.
Past the Lighthouse going south, on the left.
1340a A1A South, St. Augustine, FL, 32080
The Amp St. Augustine presents a high-energy production of A Midsummer Night's Dream by the students and faculty of Apex Theatre Studio on Tuesday and Wednesday, July 16 and 17, 2019. This "Bard Bus" roving Shakespeare production will feature Northeast Florida bands Bad Dog Mama and Folk Is People.
The performance is eighty minutes of "romantic rave," filled with magic, puppetry, clowning, and music. Pre-show activities include improv games, food trucks, and opening sets by Bad Dog Mama on July 16 and Folk Is People on July 17.
Apex Theatre Studio is a nonprofit theater education center where students ages 14 to 21 can hone their craft. For more information about Apex Theatre, please visit here.
For more information about this "Bard Bus" roving Shakespeare production of A Midsummer Night's Dream and to purchase tickets, please visit here.
Admission: General Admission tickets are $15.00, and $10.00 for students and senior citizens. Last year's Bard Bus production played to capacity, so guests are advised to come early.
When: Tuesday and Wednesday, July 16 and 17, 2019, at 8:00 p.m. Gates open at 7:00 p.m.
Where: St. Augustine Amphitheatre is located at 1340 A1A South in St. Augustine, FL 32080.
Parking Information: The St. Augustine Amphitheatre is located on Anastasia Island next to Anastasia State Park. Limited paid parking is available in the St. Augustine Amphitheatre Main Lot, but only with advance purchase of a Premium Parking ticket. Free satellite parking areas are located within one mile of the Amphitheatre, at R.B. Hunt Elementary and at Anastasia State Park (see map below).
Shuttle Information: The St. Augustine Amphitheatre shuttle system begins its run 45 minutes prior to show time. The shuttle will pick up event patrons at four designated shuttle stops: the R.B. Hunt Elementary School Soccer Field, the west entrance of the Anastasia State Park Main Parking Lot, the Loop at the Anastasia State Park, and the entrance of the St. Augustine Amphitheatre. To see the full shuttle route, please see the map below.
Shuttles will run continuously until approximately 45 minutes after the scheduled start time of a concert. For anyone wanting to leave prior to the end of a show, shuttles will begin taking people back to the satellite parking areas one hour before the event is over. The driver will not depart the Amphitheatre until the shuttle is more than 50% full.
Apex Theatre Studio: A Midsummer Night's Dream
Admission | Ticket Prices
General Admission $15.00
Students and Senior Citizens $10.00
Featured Events Live Entertainment Concerts Local Things to Do
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National Geographic and Heart of the Continent Partnership Introduce Heart of the Continent Geotourism MapGuide and Website
Geotourism: Tourism that sustains or enhances the geographical character of a place — its environment, culture, aesthetics, heritage and well-being of its residents Travelers seeking unspoiled places and culturally authentic experiences now have a valuable new resource in a comprehensive “Geotourism MapGuide” and website for the Heart of the Continent region. The landmark project has taken two years to plan and execute and is a historically significant asset for everyone who visits or lives in the region.
The Geotourism MapGuide, with its Heart of the Continent Mobile App, highlights the enchanted landscapes and enduring people of northeastern Minnesota and northwestern Ontario. It is designed to showcase to local, national and international audiences the natural, cultural and historic attractions that define the region.
Roll-out events are planned for the Heart of the Continent Geotourism Mapguide and website:
March 19, 10:00 AM at Glensheen Mansion in Duluth, Minnesota
March 19, 4:00 PM at Grand Portage National Monument in Grand Portage, Minnesota
March 20, 10:00 AM at Fort William Historical Park in Thunder Bay, Ontario
All sites and attractions that have been nominated and now reside on the website are invited to attend and receive their certificate of participation from National Geographic Society. The keynote speaker is James Dion, Director of Tourism Programs, Maps Division for National Geographic Society.
National Geographic’s acclaimed mapmaking and sustainable tourism expertise helped produce the Geotourism website along with the U.S. Forest Service, Ontario Parks, Voyageurs National Park, Fort William Historical Park, Tourism Northern Ontario, Iron Range Resources & Rehabilitation Board, Thunder Bay Tourism, St. Louis County, City of Duluth, Arrowhead Regional Development Corporation, Atikokan Economic Development Corporation and many others.
The Heart of the Continent area designated for the map stretches from the outer boundaries of Duluth, Minnesota northeast along the North Shore of Lake Superior to Thunder Bay and Sleeping Giant Provincial Park, then west to International Falls/Fort Frances and south along St. Louis County’s western border, including communities and private and public lands. Since the project was launched in February 2014, locals have nominated for inclusion more than 400 of their favorite points of interest; historic, cultural and natural landmarks; events; artisans; and attractions that capture the region’s unique character and beauty. The website may be viewed at www.traveltheheart.org. Residents and visitors may continue to nominate new sites, events and special places for the website, which will be dynamic and constantly changing.
"The Heart of the Continent Geotourism MapGuide and website showcase what makes the region so culturally and geographically significant,” said James Dion, Director of Tourism Programs, Maps Division for National Geographic Society. “More than ever, this project underscores the importance of connecting the local trans-border communities, smartly sharing the region’s tremendous scenic, historic and cultural assets, and helping them thrive together for future generations."
The Heart of the Continent Geotourism MapGuide:
Is one of only 22 Geotourism programs worldwide
Showcases many of the 400-plus sites nominated by local residents
Is a resource designed to improve local, rural economic development
Provides access to a niche national market of “geo-tourists”
Will grow with the addition of hundreds of more sites and events
Highlights the resources of the region encompassing a major portion of northeastern Minnesota and northwestern Ontario, including communities and over five million acres of public land
Provides a long-term resource for promoting the Heart of the Continent to the nation and the world.
"Heart of the Continent Geotourism partners see this project as a great opportunity to work closely with other groups to promote the region and its assets," said Paul Pepe, Tourism Manager for the City of Thunder Bay.
“The Geotourism strategy for the Heart of the Continent will strengthen the case for responsible, meaningful tourism by embracing all tourism assets uniquely distinctive to the locale. Effective stewardship of these economic assets will produce benefits in a way that encourages the type of investment needed to preserve our unique heritage. We’re thrilled to see the partnership that has developed with National Geographic and local organizations in this regard,” said Frank Jewell, St. Louis County Commissioner.
The National Geographic Society has worked with community-based alliances to develop similar Geotourism MapGuides and websites in other regions around the world. Geotourism MapGuide projects have been completed or are ongoing including in the Central Cascades (Oregon, Washington), Four Corners (Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, Utah), Greater Yellowstone (Idaho, Montana, Wyoming), Lakes to Locks Passage (New York, Quebec), Newfoundland, Portugal’s Douro Valley, Redwood Coast (California), Sierra Nevada (California, Nevada), and the Western Balkans (Albania, Bosnia-Herzagovina, Macedonia, Montenegro, Kosovo and Serbia.)
Founded in 1915 as the Map Department of the National Geographic Society, National Geographic Maps is responsible for illustrating the world around us through the art and science of mapmaking. Today, National Geographic Maps continues this mission by creating the world’s best wall maps, outdoor recreation maps, travel maps, atlases and globes that inspire people to care about and explore their world. For more information, visit natgeomaps.com.
Chris Stromberg
HOCP Coordinator
HOCP@heartofthecontinent.org RESOURCES
http://www.HeartoftheContinent.org
Tagged: Duluth, geotourism, guide, heart of the continent, HOCP, information, Lake Superior, map, map guide, mapguide, National Park, northeastern Minnesota, northern Minnesota, partnership, promotion, region, Thunder Bay, tourism, visitor, visitor guide, visitor information, Voyageurs, Voyageurs National Park, website
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Olympics' expert predicts best year yet for Australia at Winter Games
Australia is best known for its prowess in summer sports, but an Olympic studies expert predicts the 2010 Games in Vancouver Canada could offer its best chance ever for winter medal success.
Dr Richard Baka of Victoria University's School of Sport and Exercise Science – one of the country's few Olympic Games' academics and historians – says Australia's 37-person Winter Olympics team could win up to four medals in Vancouver – its best Winter Games result ever.
Australia has earned only six medals since it started participating in the Winter Games in 1936 (compared to more than 450 during the Summer Games). Its best performance was in Salt Lake City in 2002 when it won two golds – in aerial skiing and speed skating.
"Vancouver is on track to definitely add to our small, but growing medal tally at the Winter Games," he said.
Dr Baka predicted Australia's best chances are with:
Dale Begg-Smith in the men's moguls who took home gold from the 2006 Olympics in Torino, Italy;
Lydia Lassila in aerial freestyle skiing with her recent World Cup wins and record point total;
Torah Bright in the snowboard half-pipe, due to her high level of success since Torino in 2006;
Longer-shot athletes, but still contenders: the seasoned Olympian Jacqui Cooper and Liz Gardner in aerial freestyle skiing, and Holly Crawford in the snowboard half-pipe.
"Vancouver is like a second home to many of our athletes and there will be a large contingent of Aussie supporters who either are there on working holidays or making the trip to see the Games. All this will work in our favour. However, injuries or a bad day can obviously determine podium finishes so realistically a one to four medal tally for our Australian team is what I expect."
Dr Baka, an Australian-Canadian citizen, has more than 35 years experience in all aspects of the Olympic Games, including presenting papers at international conferences, guest lecturing at universities around the world, and regularly contributing comments to the media.
Prior to and during the Vancouver Games, he will be giving a series of live Skype-style lectures to university professors and students studying Olympic subjects in Germany, Canada and Australia.
The Vancouver Games will be his sixth Olympics. Dr Baka also attended the Games in Montreal in 1976, Los Angeles in 1984, Calgary in 1988, Sydney in 2000, and Beijing in 2008. He has also been to several Commonwealth and University Games.
Dr Baka is available for interview. He leaves for Canada on 8 February, but can be contacted by email after that
Dr Richard Baka, Senior Lecturer, School of Sport and Exercise Science, Victoria University
Ph: (03) 9919 4358 (work); (03) 9397 2939 (after hours); or 0403 031 295 (mobile). Email: richard.baka@vu.edu.au
Ann Marie Angebrandt, Media Officer, Marketing and Communications Department, Victoria University, Ph: (03) 9919 5487
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Zimbabwe Without Robert Mugabe
Anna Waters, Jerome McDonnell
AP Photo/Tsvangirayi Mukwazhi
Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe addresses people at an event before the closure of his party's 16th Annual Peoples Conference in Masvingo, about 300 kilometres south of the capital Harare, Saturday, December, 17, 2016.
AP Photo/Ben Curtis
Zimbabwe's President Emmerson Mnangagwa, center, gestures to the cheering crowd as he leaves after the presidential inauguration ceremony in the capital Harare, Zimbabwe Friday, Nov. 24, 2017. Mnangagwa was sworn in as Zimbabwe's president after Robert Mugabe resigned on Tuesday, ending his 37-year rule.
Robert Mugabe ruled Zimbabwe from the 1980s to late last year, when the Zimbabwean military seized power in a coup d’état. Mugabe ranks among the longest-ruling heads of state in the last century. His decades in public life included leading a revolution against British colonialism, entrenching a culture of corruption in the Zimbabwean government, eliminating human rights, and allegedly perpetrating crimes against humanity.
Joining us to discuss Mugabe’s legacy and the future of Zimbabwe is Dr. Michael Bratton, professor of political science and African studies at Michigan State University. He is the author of Power Politics in Zimbabwe, and is currently conducting more research in the country.
#Zimbabwe
#Robert Mugabe
#Emmerson Mnangagwa
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Local judges exposed for releasing habitual violent offenders on low bail
Posted: 11:32 PM, Feb 01, 2017
By: Simon Shaykhet
Violent criminals are committing crimes in Detroit, only to be released back out onto the streets.
Police says its happening far too often, considering there are more than 10,000 felony cases a year in Wayne County.
Surveillance video in one instance, shows someone filling up at a Detroit gas station, and being robbed at gunpoint. Police say less than 48 hours later, the gunman was released back on the streets.
"When you look at some of the bails, for some felons in possession. I'll just put it this way. It's horrifying. Ex-con, he's a habitual offender. Got a gun. Gets out of jail for $200" says police chief James Craig.
Craig tells us the end result is, "There's no incentive for that person not to commit a crime."
Craig describes the problem as alarming, and says it also puts officers lives at risk having to catch the same violent criminals over and over.
While he says overall crime in Detroit has trended downward the past 3 years, police still can't do the job alone.
Craig says, "But, let's talk about the courts. The low bails.You look at 36th District, it's amazing the ridiculously low bails and, yes, it has an affect on us continuing to drive crime down. Oakland and Macomb counties seem to get it right. I mean, that's our neighbors."
In December, records show Judge Dalton Roberson Sr. released a suspected armed robber on $1,000 personal bond despite prior gun offenses.
In response, Craig says, "We ended the year last year with the lowest number of non-fatal shootings in well over 10 years. It was less than 1,000. But that's still too many."
In another case, on May 14th, 2016, a felon caught carrying a gun got out for $2,000. After his release, he allegedly set fire to his girlfriend's house.
Not to mention, countless other habitual offenders getting out and threatening victim's family members and intimidating witnesses.
Presiding criminal judge Timothy Kenny oversees cases mentioned by Craig, in Wayne County's 3rd Circuit Court. He supervises 24 judges, plus 9 visiting judges or magistrates on the bench for weekend arraignments at a rented facility in Romulus.
He admits, the system is flawed.
"I tell you what I think would improve things significantly would be a defense attorney there to represent the defendant and prosecutor there to argue on behalf of the prosecution," says Kenny.
He says often times, judges are alone in the courtroom during video arraignments and sometimes forced to go on limited information.
"These are judgment calls that judges have to make. The reality is judges are going to set a bond, based on info made available to them" says Kenny.
He adds "There's no judge that wants to put a dangerous person out on the street. Magistrates are dealing with limited information. They have pretrial services information they get, much of which is self reported from the defendant."
In response, Craig says "But still, there's a file and it shows this is a person with a substantial history. Now, Detroit Police have arrested him with a weapon and the response if $200?"
Craig says he's doing his part making officers more available on the weekends, but ultimately fighting crime requires a partnership between police, prosecutors and judges.
Craig says, "If you don't want it here, you have to set the appropriate tone. How about the rights of our victims, and people who live, work and play in this city?"
We also reached out to the Prosecutor's office for comment. So far, they've declined to talk about the issue.
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With “Go,” Amazon Identifies Another Job It Can Do Better
Bio Roundup: Roche-Spark Drags On, GSK Taps CRISPR, Diabetes News & More
Your Tech Startup Is Probably Not Ready to Raise Money
With $29M in New Cash, Echodyne Advances “Radar Vision” for Machines
Gregory T. Huang
@gthuang
[Updated, 5/23/17, 5:50am. See below] One of the Northwest’s most intriguing startups has a new wad of cash. Bellevue, WA-based Echodyne said it has raised $29 million in Series B funding led by New Enterprise Associates. The company’s previous investors also participated in the round; they include Bill Gates, Paul Allen’s Vulcan Capital, Madrona Venture Group, Lux Capital, and The Kresge Foundation.
Echodyne is using metamaterials technology to develop a new kind of lightweight radar that could be used as a vision system in drones, self-driving vehicles, and other machines. The company was spun out of Intellectual Ventures, the patent licensing and invention firm led by Nathan Myhrvold. It raised a $15 million Series A round in late 2014.
Echodyne says its metamaterials—engineered structures that can manipulate radio waves—use printed circuit board technology, off-the-shelf electronics, and software to control the radar system’s antenna elements.
Greg Papadopoulos, the former CTO of Sun Microsystems, is a venture partner with NEA (Echodyne’s new investor). He said in a prepared statement: “We’ve seen a lot of sensing technologies, but radar is especially well-suited to autonomous vehicles because they need to operate in all kinds of environmental conditions.” Papadopoulos touted Echodyne’s technology as “incredibly compelling in the way it combines the fundamental all-weather benefits of radar with the high-resolution imaging capabilities more often attributed to LiDAR or computer vision.”
That last bit will garner some attention. Autonomous vehicles tend to rely on laser-based and optical systems that can fail in bad weather, like snow or rain. Meanwhile, existing commercial radar systems are bulky and don’t have high enough resolution. Echodyne has been making progress testing its “radar vision” system, and the company and its investors hope to capitalize on the emerging market for autonomous vehicles. (As of late, there seems to be more commercial interest in self-driving cars and trucks than in drones.)
[This paragraph was updated with info on Pivotal—Eds.] Echodyne is one of at least four metamaterials-based spinouts from Intellectual Ventures. Redmond, WA-based Kymeta is working on satellite communications for vehicles. Waltham, MA-based Evolv is testing advanced imaging systems for security applications. And Bellevue-based Pivotal Commware is developing antenna technology for data connectivity on ships, planes, and other vehicles.
Gregory T. Huang is Xconomy's Editor in chief. E-mail him at gthuang [at] xconomy.com. Follow @gthuang
Amazon, Uber, and Bill Gates’s Robot Tax: An Automation Snapshot
Bill Gates Backs Fourth Metamaterials Spinout, Pivotal Commware
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CI FINANCIAL DONATES $500,000 TO WILFRID LAURIER UNIVERSITY
Waterloo – CI Financial has announced that it is donating $500,000 to the Lazaridis School of Business and Economics at Wilfrid Laurier University. CI Financial’s investment will support the finance program in the Lazaridis School and establish the CI Financial Finance Lab.
“The Lazaridis School of Business and Economics offers an outstanding education in finance for its students,” said Neal Kerr, president of CI Institutional Asset Management and executive vice-president of CI Investments Inc. “CI has been fortunate to recruit a substantial number of very qualified graduates over the past two decades. We are pleased to partner with Laurier on its exciting vision for preparing Canada’s next generation of financial managers."
The company’s donation will fund the construction and operation of the CI Financial Finance Lab, which will provide Laurier students with hands-on experience in securities analysis. Also included in the gift is the software required for a new course on market microstructure.
“This investment from CI Financial will further advance our university’s ability to provide premiere education in finance and make important contributions to its field of research,” said Micheál J. Kelly, dean of the Lazaridis School of Business and Economics. “With this support, we will continue to attract and retain the top finance students and faculty in the country.”
Since its inception in 1965, CI Financial has grown to become one of Canada’s largest investment companies, offering global asset management and wealth management advisory services to more than two million Canadians.
The donation is part of Laurier’s Building Canada’s Best Business School fundraising campaign. The campaign is raising funds to support student scholarships, help retain and recruit top faculty, complete the new $103-million Lazaridis Hall, and strengthen the Lazaridis School’s unique, pioneering programming.
About CI Financial
CI Financial is an independent Canadian company offering global asset management and wealth management advisory services. Since 1965, CI has been driven by a commitment to provide investors and institutions with the highest-quality investments and advice. Today, CI manages more than $180 billion on behalf of its clients. CI Financial’s primary operating companies are CI Investments Inc., Sentry Investments Inc., Assante Wealth Management (Canada) Ltd., Stonegate Private Counsel, Grant Samuel Funds Management Pty Ltd. of Australia, First Asset Investment Management Inc., and BBS Securities Inc. Based in Toronto, CI became a public company in June 1994, and is listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange under the symbol CIX.
About the Lazaridis School of Business and Economics
The Lazaridis School of Business and Economics is one of Canada’s leading business schools, with more than 6,000 students enrolled in undergraduate, graduate and diploma programs throughout the university’s campuses in Waterloo, Brantford and Toronto. It is home to Canada’s largest business degree co-op program. LazaridisSchool.ca
Kate Tippin, Director of Marketing and Communications
Lazaridis School of Business and Economics
E: ktippin@wlu.ca
Communications and Public Affairs, Wilfrid Laurier University
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Home > News and Speeches > News and Speeches for Department of Cultural Affairs & Sport > 2015 > January
Bartolomeu Dias Museum turns 26!
the_life_size_replica_of_the_bartolomeu_dias_ship_on_display_at_the_museum.jpg
The life-size replica of the Bartolomeu Dias ship on display at the museum
Bartolomeu Dias Museum was established on 3 February 1989 as a culmination of the 1988 Dias Festival. On the occasion of its 26th anniversary, the museum has become one of the most popular tourist destinations in the Southern Cape. It boasts a rich and diverse offering, including a life-size replica of the ship in which Dias landed at Mossel Bay in 1488 and an exhibition on the history of slavery.
Many visitors, both foreign and local, have enjoyed the exhibitions as well as the institution’s online presence. Regular celebrations of local, national and international commemorative days over the years have continued to build visitor numbers.
The museum also designs and presents education and outreach programmes to learners from local schools. The content is aligned with the educational curriculum. This creates an opportunity for school-goers to enrich their learning outside the classroom.
The Department of Cultural Affairs and Sport (DCAS) is assisting the museums of the Western Cape to stay relevant and interesting in the Internet age. Charlene Houston, Deputy Director: Museum Services, says that DCAS is supporting museums to use technology in ways which encourage visitors to interact with displays rather than just looking at them. “This is a year of change. Bartolomeu Dias Museum’s displays will be upgraded this year to appeal to a techno-savvy, youthful audience and also to reflect the local history of the people of Mossel Bay”, she said. Houston encouraged members of the public to share their suggestions for the upgrade with museum staff.
Bartolomeu Dias Museum has issued an open invitation to members of the public to celebrate its 26th birthday on Sunday, 1 February 2015 at 10:30. A giant decorated cake will be shared with everyone in attendance. The museum will be open the whole day and entry is free.
We are inviting community members to support local museums in the Western Cape to learn more about their community’s history. Let us preserve our history BETTER TOGETHER.
Annerie Pruis-Le Roux
E-mail: annerie.pruis-leroux@westerncape.gov.za
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Graph shows why women are screwed
According to new research from the Australian Institute of Family Studies, the work lives of women continue to be “dramatically” changed by parenthood, whereas the work lives of men are not.
by Kerri Sackville
28th May 2019 4:58 PM
I REMEMBER those hazy weeks and months after the birth of my first child. I stayed at home with him for nearly 10 months, slightly demented from sleep deprivation, as my then husband went out to work. Neither of us seriously considered an alternative.
But that was 20 years ago. These days, things are very different.
Except they're not different at all.
According to new research from the Australian Institute of Family Studies, the work lives of women continue to be "dramatically" changed by parenthood, whereas the work lives of men are not. Women work few hours outside the home when their babies are young, and average only part-time hours as their kids get older.
Most men, on the other hand, remain in full-time work over the course of their children's lives. Though opportunities to work part-time are increasingly available, they are rarely taking them up.
This graph sums up the dilemma. When a child arrives, dads spend about the same number of hours at work, while a mum's time is dramatically altered.
Picture: Australian Institute of Family Studies
As a result, women continue to be disadvantaged long term. When women work part-time hours, they receive a part-time income, so they have fewer independent resources within the family unit. Frequently, this also translates to less financial autonomy, as many primary breadwinners believe they have the right to control the family income, despite the dependent spouse working as many or more hours in the home.
In fact, women are more than twice as likely as men to suffer from economic abuse, in which one person controls their partner's access to bank accounts, cash, income statements and property in order to create financial dependence.
Even in marriages without economic abuse, the reduced income of mothers creates vulnerability. When marriages break down, which nearly a third of first marriages do, women are seriously disadvantaged by their decreased earning potential.
This is not just bad for individual women; it's bad for our society. When women take breaks from their careers to raise children, they slow or halt their career progression. Fewer women end up in senior positions, and the balance of power in business and in the public service continues to be held by men.
Men’s lives are not nearly as altered by having a kid as women’s.
But the solution isn't simply one of increased access to parental leave. According to the Workplace Gender Equality Agency, when leave is available, it is almost always taken up by women. Our culture still maintains gendered attitudes to work and child care, and men are still largely regarded as the default breadwinners, and women as the default homemakers.
It's so hard to change these entrenched ideas. We women carry the babies, so we can't share the load of pregnancy. And then we give birth, and need to take time off work to recover, so we're at home with the baby then anyway, right?
And, of course, we're breastfeeding, so we may as well do the night feeds, because there's no point two people waking up in the middle of the night. And then we're exhausted from all the night waking, so we're too fuzzy to go out to work anyway, so it's good we have this time to be at home.
And then one day, the baby starts sleeping through the night, and we are less exhausted, but by then we've already been home with the baby for four or six months. There's no point our husband leaving paid work now, because we need his income, and besides, we'd just have to teach him how to do everything. So we go back to work part-time, and continue on until the next baby comes, when we take more time off, and do it all again.
At least, that's how it was for me 20 years ago.
Having a baby can seriously weaken women’s careers and earning potential.
But imagine if it hadn't been like that 20 years ago? Imagine if it was the norm back then for at least half of new fathers to stay home with the baby from day one? Chances are, by now, there would be equal numbers of women and men in full-time work.
Chances are, by now, there would be equal numbers of women and men in senior positions. Chances are, by now, women would be less economically disadvantaged, and hold an equal balance of power in society.
It's the change we desperately need, but it must start now. We need to get more men at home, and more women in the workforce. Gender equality is such a hard road. It will take at least another 20 years.
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News Article, First Team News
Weston-super-Mare A.F.C are pleased to announce that our preseason clash with Frome Town has been relocated to the club’s very own new 3G facility.
The match was originally scheduled to take place at Badgers Hill, however due to their pitch currently being unplayable the two clubs have decided to have this game played on the 3G facility at the Woodspring Stadium.
This provides WsM A.F.C with a brilliant chance to reward the wonderfully loyal Weston faithful with an opportunity the club wouldn’t usually be able to offer; they’ll be able to watch Weston-super-Mare A.F.C vs Frome Town totally free of charge.
The Seagulls are very grateful to have such a committed fanbase and see this fixture as a great way to reward them with a first-team match free of charge. Managing Director Oil Bliss said “We have taken the opportunity to showcase our 3G facility by moving the Frome friendly and making it a free entry match. I hope the fans take advantage of this offer.”
The match will be played on Friday 20th July and kick off will be 7:45pm on the 3G pitch behind the Woodspring Stadium; we look forward to seeing you there.
FROME TOWN TRAVEL TO THE WOODSPRING
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MCA Denver Will Give Francesca Woodman Her First Major Colorado Exhibit
Ten Medal-Worthy Colorado Museums to Visit This Summer
From the Archives: Experimental filmmaker Stan Brakhage rants about bad art
Shaughnessy Speirs
Shaughnessy Speirs | September 4, 2012 | 6:59am
The late Stan Brakhage, a Denver-born experimental filmmaker, was a pioneer in avant-garde cinema and a notable successor to Maya Deren and the film artists of the 1940s. A professor at the University of Colorado, he's remembered with an annual symposium and weekly film series -- and at least in part, we can thank Brakhage for the cultural gift of South Park and The Book of Mormon. Creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone were students of Brakhage's at CU, and the animation of South Park resembles the collage style that Brakhage often used in his experimental films.
See also: - From the Archives: Letter from Alice Toklas on the Death of Gertrude Stein - From the Archives: Hand-bound Eisenstein art homage by Larry Jordan - From the Archives: Degrees of Separation from Thomas Hornsby Ferril's Autograph
Though Brakhage had a positive influence on the cultural community here in Colorado and the film community around the world, he also had strong ideas on Denver's art scene and the state of arts in general. In letters to CU professor Donald Sutherland, Brakhage vehemently dismissed what he called Sutherland's "defense of...art apathy," calling it "galling." The letters are housed in the Auraria Library's Special Collections Department.
Brakhage didn't mince words about the local arts scene. As he wrote in a January 1969 letter: "I'm not 'flip'ing when I say 'There is no audience in Denver': I'm taking a STANCE against the...deaf who supported a puppet -- absolutely attached to a metronome -- as conductor of the Denver Symphony for years, who set up 'the blind leading the blind' with Otto Bach as head of the Denver Art Museum, etcetera...those who set up Art as a Church of Lip Service and thereby blight the natural growth of sensibility in the whole area.... While it is true I'm 'better known' in 'Brussels than home in Denver,' it is more to the point that I'm better known in Salt Lake City than in the whole state of Colorado -- and that has nothing what-so-ever to do with the peculiarities of geography here shaping special sense-abilities: it is the result of an active force against any continuity of good sense..." He went on to lament a society that gave any serious consideration to pop culture: "I think a good deal of whatever rancor in my reaction to your article is due to the coincidence that, shortly after reading it, Forest Williams -- with some Univ. of Colo. funds to spend on films -- called and actually consulted me seriously as to whether he should purchase 'Frankenstein', 'The Bride of Frankenstein' or 'Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man'.... I see I've got to become...some tough and raging old bastard...if my very sanity is to survive 'madhouse' encounters such as I'm having these days; or I could take the wit tack, call Forest back, and discuss 'seriously' with him the philosophy of Will Rogers."
Somehow art survived, though, and while there's an audience for pulpy pop flicks like Atom the Amazing Zombie Killer, the sort of film that Brakhage called the "Holy Drift Wood of penny-dreadfulism," today there's also an audience for the films of Stan Brakhage.
Below is Brakhage's 1963 film Mothlight. Many more are available to view on YouTube -- though Brakhage would argue that there's something lost in the translation from film to digital media.
Follow @WestwordCulture
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قانون مذهب
کتاب: انسان خردمند / فصل 12
انسان خردمند
1. حیوانی بدون هیچ مفهوم
2. شاخه علمی
3. روزگاری از زندگی با حضرت آدم و حوا
4. سیل بزرگ
5. بزرگترین تقلب تاریخ
6. ساختن اهرام
7. حافظه اضافی
8. هیچ عدالتی در تاریخ نیست
9. تیر تاریخ
10. رایحه پول
11. دیدگاه های امپریالیستی
12. قانون مذهب
13. راز موفقیت
14. کشف جهالت
15. پیوند علم و امپراطوری
16. عقیده کپتالیست
17. چرخ های صنعت
18. انقلاب ابدی
19. و آنها برای همیشه با هم خوشحال زندگی کردند
20. پایان هومو سیفینس
21. کلام آخر
12 - The Law of Religion
IN THE MEDIEVAL MARKET IN SAMARKAND, a city built on a Central Asian oasis, Syrian merchants ran their hands over fine Chinese silks, fierce tribesmen from the steppes displayed the latest batch of straw-haired slaves from the far west, and shopkeepers pocketed shiny gold coins imprinted with exotic scripts and the profiles of unfamiliar kings. Here, at one of that era’s major crossroads between east and west, north and south, the unification of humankind was an everyday fact. The same process could be observed at work when Kublai Khan’s army mustered to invade Japan in 1281. Mongol cavalrymen in skins and furs rubbed shoulders with Chinese foot soldiers in bamboo hats, drunken Korean auxiliaries picked fights with tattooed sailors from the South China Sea, engineers from Central Asia listened with dropping jaws to the tall tales of European adventurers, and all obeyed the command of a single emperor.
Meanwhile, around the holy Ka’aba in Mecca, human unification was proceeding by other means. Had you been a pilgrim to Mecca, circling Islam’s holiest shrine in the year 1300, you might have found yourself in the company of a party from Mesopotamia, their robes floating in the wind, their eyes blazing with ecstasy, and their mouths repeating one after the other the ninety-nine names of God. Just ahead you might have seen a weather-beaten Turkish patriarch from the Asian steppes, hobbling on a stick and stroking his beard thoughtfully. To one side, gold jewellery shining against jet-black skin, might have been a group of Muslims from the African kingdom of Mali. The aroma of clove, turmeric, cardamom and sea salt would have signalled the presence of brothers from India, or perhaps from the mysterious spice islands further east.
Today religion is often considered a source of discrimination, disagreement and disunion. Yet, in fact, religion has been the third great unifier of humankind, alongside money and empires. Since all social orders and hierarchies are imagined, they are all fragile, and the larger the society, the more fragile it is. The crucial historical role of religion has been to give superhuman legitimacy to these fragile structures. Religions assert that our laws are not the result of human caprice, but are ordained by an absolute and supreme authority. This helps place at least some fundamental laws beyond challenge, thereby ensuring social stability.
Religion can thus be defined as a system of human norms and values that is founded on a belief in a superhuman order. This involves two distinct criteria:
Religions hold that there is a superhuman order, which is not the product of human whims or agreements. Professional football is not a religion, because despite its many laws, rites and often bizarre rituals, everyone knows that human beings invented football themselves, and FIFA may at any moment enlarge the size of the goal or cancel the offside rule. Based on this superhuman order, religion establishes norms and values that it considers binding. Many Westerners today believe in ghosts, fairies and reincarnation, but these beliefs are not a source of moral and behavioural standards. As such, they do not constitute a religion.
Despite their ability to legitimise widespread social and political orders, not all religions have actuated this potential. In order to unite under its aegis a large expanse of territory inhabited by disparate groups of human beings, a religion must possess two further qualities. First, it must espouse a universal superhuman order that is true always and everywhere. Second, it must insist on spreading this belief to everyone. In other words, it must be universal and missionary.
The best-known religions of history, such as Islam and Buddhism, are universal and missionary. Consequently people tend to believe that all religions are like them. In fact, the majority of ancient religions were local and exclusive. Their followers believed in local deities and spirits, and had no interest in converting the entire human race. As far as we know, universal and missionary religions began to appear only in the first millennium BC. Their emergence was one of the most important revolutions in history, and made a vital contribution to the unification of humankind, much like the emergence of universal empires and universal money.
Silencing the Lambs
When animism was the dominant belief system, human norms and values had to take into consideration the outlook and interests of a multitude of other beings, such as animals, plants, fairies and ghosts. For example, a forager band in the Ganges Valley may have established a rule forbidding people to cut down a particularly large fig tree, lest the fig-tree spirit become angry and take revenge. Another forager band living in the Indus Valley may have forbidden people from hunting white-tailed foxes, because a white-tailed fox once revealed to a wise old woman where the band might find precious obsidian.
Such religions tended to be very local in outlook, and to emphasise the unique features of specific locations, climates and phenomena. Most foragers spent their entire lives within an area of no more than a thousand square kilometres. In order to survive, the inhabitants of a particular valley needed to understand the super-human order that regulated their valley, and to adjust their behaviour accordingly. It was pointless to try to convince the inhabitants of some distant valley to follow the same rules. The people of the Indus did not bother to send missionaries to the Ganges to convince locals not to hunt white-tailed foxes.
The Agricultural Revolution seems to have been accompanied by a religious revolution. Hunter-gatherers picked and pursued wild plants and animals, which could be seen as equal in status to Homo sapiens. The fact that man hunted sheep did not make sheep inferior to man, just as the fact that tigers hunted man did not make man inferior to tigers. Beings communicated with one another directly and negotiated the rules governing their shared habitat. In contrast, farmers owned and manipulated plants and animals, and could hardly degrade themselves by negotiating with their possessions. Hence the first religious effect of the Agricultural Revolution was to turn plants and animals from equal members of a spiritual round table into property.
This, however, created a big problem. Farmers may have desired absolute control of their sheep, but they knew perfectly well that their control was limited. They could lock the sheep in pens, castrate rams and selectively breed ewes, yet they could not ensure that the ewes conceived and gave birth to healthy lambs, nor could they prevent the eruption of deadly epidemics. How then to safeguard the fecundity of the flocks?
A leading theory about the origin of the gods argues that gods gained importance because they offered a solution to this problem. Gods such as the fertility goddess, the sky god and the god of medicine took centre stage when plants and animals lost their ability to speak, and the gods’ main role was to mediate between humans and the mute plants and animals. Much of ancient mythology is in fact a legal contract in which humans promise everlasting devotion to the gods in exchange for mastery over plants and animals – the first chapters of the book of Genesis are a prime example. For thousands of years after the Agricultural Revolution, religious liturgy consisted mainly of humans sacrificing lambs, wine and cakes to divine powers, who in exchange promised abundant harvests and fecund flocks.
The Agricultural Revolution initially had a far smaller impact on the status of other members of the animist system, such as rocks, springs, ghosts and demons. However, these too gradually lost status in favour of the new gods. As long as people lived their entire lives within limited territories of a few hundred square kilometres, most of their needs could be met by local spirits. But once kingdoms and trade networks expanded, people needed to contact entities whose power and authority encompassed a whole kingdom or an entire trade basin.
The attempt to answer these needs led to the appearance of polytheistic religions (from the Greek: poly = many, theos = god). These religions understood the world to be controlled by a group of powerful gods, such as the fertility goddess, the rain god and the war god. Humans could appeal to these gods and the gods might, if they received devotions and sacrifices, deign to bring rain, victory and health.
Animism did not entirely disappear at the advent of polytheism. Demons, fairies, ghosts, holy rocks, holy springs and holy trees remained an integral part of almost all polytheist religions. These spirits were far less important than the great gods, but for the mundane needs of many ordinary people, they were good enough. While the king in his capital city sacrificed dozens of fat rams to the great war god, praying for victory over the barbarians, the peasant in his hut lit a candle to the fig-tree fairy, praying that she help cure his sick son.
Yet the greatest impact of the rise of great gods was not on sheep or demons, but upon the status of Homo sapiens. Animists thought that humans were just one of many creatures inhabiting the world. Polytheists, on the other hand, increasingly saw the world as a reflection of the relationship between gods and humans. Our prayers, our sacrifices, our sins and our good deeds determined the fate of the entire ecosystem. A terrible flood might wipe out billions of ants, grasshoppers, turtles, antelopes, giraffes and elephants, just because a few stupid Sapiens made the gods angry. Polytheism thereby exalted not only the status of the gods, but also that of humankind. Less fortunate members of the old animist system lost their stature and became either extras or silent decor in the great drama of man’s relationship with the gods.
The Benefits of Idolatry
Two thousand years of monotheistic brainwashing have caused most Westerners to see polytheism as ignorant and childish idolatry. This is an unjust stereotype. In order to understand the inner logic of polytheism, it is necessary to grasp the central idea buttressing the belief in many gods.
Polytheism does not necessarily dispute the existence of a single power or law governing the entire universe. In fact, most polytheist and even animist religions recognised such a supreme power that stands behind all the different gods, demons and holy rocks. In classical Greek polytheism, Zeus, Hera, Apollo and their colleagues were subject to an omnipotent and all-encompassing power – Fate (Moira, Ananke). Nordic gods, too, were in thrall to fate, which doomed them to perish in the cataclysm of Ragnarök (the Twilight of the Gods). In the polytheistic religion of the Yoruba of West Africa, all gods were born of the supreme god Olodumare, and remained subject to him. In Hindu polytheism, a single principle, Atman, controls the myriad gods and spirits, humankind, and the biological and physical world. Atman is the eternal essence or soul of the entire universe, as well as of every individual and every phenomenon.
The fundamental insight of polytheism, which distinguishes it from monotheism, is that the supreme power governing the world is devoid of interests and biases, and therefore it is unconcerned with the mundane desires, cares and worries of humans. It’s pointless to ask this power for victory in war, for health or for rain, because from its all-encompassing vantage point, it makes no difference whether a particular kingdom wins or loses, whether a particular city prospers or withers, whether a particular person recuperates or dies. The Greeks did not waste any sacrifices on Fate, and Hindus built no temples to Atman.
The only reason to approach the supreme power of the universe would be to renounce all desires and embrace the bad along with the good – to embrace even defeat, poverty, sickness and death. Thus some Hindus, known as Sadhus or Sannyasis, devote their lives to uniting with Atman, thereby achieving enlightenment. They strive to see the world from the viewpoint of this fundamental principle, to realise that from its eternal perspective all mundane desires and fears are meaningless and ephemeral phenomena.
Most Hindus, however, are not Sadhus. They are sunk deep in the morass of mundane concerns, where Atman is not much help. For assistance in such matters, Hindus approach the gods with their partial powers. Precisely because their powers are partial rather than all-encompassing, gods such as Ganesha, Lakshmi and Saraswati have interests and biases. Humans can therefore make deals with these partial powers and rely on their help in order to win wars and recuperate from illness. There are necessarily many of these smaller powers, since once you start dividing up the all-encompassing power of a supreme principle, you’ll inevitably end up with more than one deity. Hence the plurality of gods.
The insight of polytheism is conducive to far-reaching religious tolerance. Since polytheists believe, on the one hand, in one supreme and completely disinterested power, and on the other hand in many partial and biased powers, there is no difficulty for the devotees of one god to accept the existence and efficacy of other gods. Polytheism is inherently open-minded, and rarely persecutes ‘heretics’ and ‘infidels’.
Even when polytheists conquered huge empires, they did not try to convert their subjects. The Egyptians, the Romans and the Aztecs did not send missionaries to foreign lands to spread the worship of Osiris, Jupiter or Huitzilopochtli (the chief Aztec god), and they certainly didn’t dispatch armies for that purpose. Subject peoples throughout the empire were expected to respect the empire’s gods and rituals, since these gods and rituals protected and legitimised the empire. Yet they were not required to give up their local gods and rituals. In the Aztec Empire, subject peoples were obliged to build temples for Huitzilopochtli, but these temples were built alongside those of local gods, rather than in their stead. In many cases the imperial elite itself adopted the gods and rituals of subject people. The Romans happily added the Asian goddess Cybele and the Egyptian goddess Isis to their pantheon.
The only god that the Romans long refused to tolerate was the monotheistic and evangelising god of the Christians. The Roman Empire did not require the Christians to give up their beliefs and rituals, but it did expect them to pay respect to the empire’s protector gods and to the divinity of the emperor. This was seen as a declaration of political loyalty. When the Christians vehemently refused to do so, and went on to reject all attempts at compromise, the Romans reacted by persecuting what they understood to be a politically subversive faction. And even this was done half-heartedly. In the 300 years from the crucifixion of Christ to the conversion of Emperor Constantine, polytheistic Roman emperors initiated no more than four general persecutions of Christians. Local administrators and governors incited some anti-Christian violence of their own. Still, if we combine all the victims of all these persecutions, it turns out that in these three centuries, the polytheistic Romans killed no more than a few thousand Christians.1 In contrast, over the course of the next 1,500 years, Christians slaughtered Christians by the millions to defend slightly different interpretations of the religion of love and compassion.
The religious wars between Catholics and Protestants that swept Europe in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries are particularly notorious. All those involved accepted Christ’s divinity and His gospel of compassion and love. However, they disagreed about the nature of this love. Protestants believed that the divine love is so great that God was incarnated in flesh and allowed Himself to be tortured and crucified, thereby redeeming the original sin and opening the gates of heaven to all those who professed faith in Him. Catholics maintained that faith, while essential, was not enough. To enter heaven, believers had to participate in church rituals and do good deeds. Protestants refused to accept this, arguing that this quid pro quo belittles God’s greatness and love. Whoever thinks that entry to heaven depends upon his or her own good deeds magnifies his own importance, and implies that Christ’s suffering on the cross and God’s love for humankind are not enough.
These theological disputes turned so violent that during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, Catholics and Protestants killed each other by the hundreds of thousands. On 23 August 1572, French Catholics who stressed the importance of good deeds attacked communities of French Protestants who highlighted God’s love for humankind. In this attack, the St Bartholomew’s Day Massacre, between 5,000 and 10,000 Protestants were slaughtered in less than twenty-four hours. When the pope in Rome heard the news from France, he was so overcome by joy that he organised festive prayers to celebrate the occasion and commissioned Giorgio Vasari to decorate one of the Vatican’s rooms with a fresco of the massacre (the room is currently off-limits to visitors).2 More Christians were killed by fellow Christians in those twenty-four hours than by the polytheistic Roman Empire throughout its entire existence.
God is One
With time some followers of polytheist gods became so fond of their particular patron that they drifted away from the basic polytheist insight. They began to believe that their god was the only god, and that He was in fact the supreme power of the universe. Yet at the same time they continued to view Him as possessing interests and biases, and believed that they could strike deals with Him. Thus were born monotheist religions, whose followers beseech the supreme power of the universe to help them recover from illness, win the lottery and gain victory in war.
The first monotheist religion known to us appeared in Egypt, c.350 BC, when Pharaoh Akhenaten declared that one of the minor deities of the Egyptian pantheon, the god Aten, was, in fact, the supreme power ruling the universe. Akhenaten institutionalised the worship of Aten as the state religion and tried to check the worship of all other gods. His religious revolution, however, was unsuccessful. After his death, the worship of Aten was abandoned in favour of the old pantheon.
Polytheism continued to give birth here and there to other monotheist religions, but they remained marginal, not least because they failed to digest their own universal message. Judaism, for example, argued that the supreme power of the universe has interests and biases, yet His chief interest is in the tiny Jewish nation and in the obscure land of Israel. Judaism had little to offer other nations, and throughout most of its existence it has not been a missionary religion. This stage can be called the stage of ‘local monotheism’.
The big breakthrough came with Christianity. This faith began as an esoteric Jewish sect that sought to convince Jews that Jesus of Nazareth was their long-awaited messiah. However, one of the sect’s first leaders, Paul of Tarsus, reasoned that if the supreme power of the universe has interests and biases, and if He had bothered to incarnate Himself in the flesh and to die on the cross for the salvation of humankind, then this is something everyone should hear about, not just Jews. It was thus necessary to spread the good word – the gospel – about Jesus throughout the world.
Paul’s arguments fell on fertile ground. Christians began organising widespread missionary activities aimed at all humans. In one of history’s strangest twists, this esoteric Jewish sect took over the mighty Roman Empire.
Christian success served as a model for another monotheist religion that appeared in the Arabian peninsula in the seventh century – Islam. Like Christianity, Islam, too, began as a small sect in a remote corner of the world, but in an even stranger and swifter historical surprise it managed to break out of the deserts of Arabia and conquer an immense empire stretching from the Atlantic Ocean to India. Henceforth, the monotheist idea played a central role in world history.
Monotheists have tended to be far more fanatical and missionary than polytheists. A religion that recognises the legitimacy of other faiths implies either that its god is not the supreme power of the universe, or that it received from God just part of the universal truth. Since monotheists have usually believed that they are in possession of the entire message of the one and only God, they have been compelled to discredit all other religions. Over the last two millennia, monotheists repeatedly tried to strengthen their hand by violently exterminating all competition.
It worked. At the beginning of the first century AD, there were hardly any monotheists in the world. Around AD 500, one of the world’s largest empires – the Roman Empire – was a Christian polity, and missionaries were busy spreading Christianity to other parts of Europe, Asia and Africa. By the end of the first millennium AD, most people in Europe, West Asia and North Africa were monotheists, and empires from the Atlantic Ocean to the Himalayas claimed to be ordained by the single great God. By the early sixteenth century, monotheism dominated most of Afro-Asia, with the exception of East Asia and the southern parts of Africa, and it began extending long tentacles towards South Africa, America and Oceania. Today most people outside East Asia adhere to one monotheist religion or another, and the global political order is built on monotheistic foundations.
Yet just as animism continued to survive within polytheism, so polytheism continued to survive within monotheism. In theory, once a person believes that the supreme power of the universe has interests and biases, what’s the point in worshipping partial powers? Who would want to approach a lowly bureaucrat when the president’s office is open to you? Indeed, monotheist theology tends to deny the existence of all gods except the supreme God, and to pour hellfire and brimstone over anyone who dares worship them.
Yet there has always been a chasm between theological theories and historical realities. Most people have found it difficult to digest the monotheist idea fully. They have continued to divide the world into ‘we’ and ‘they’, and to see the supreme power of the universe as too distant and alien for their mundane needs. The monotheist religions expelled the gods through the front door with a lot of fanfare, only to take them back in through the side window. Christianity, for example, developed its own pantheon of saints, whose cults differed little from those of the polytheistic gods.
Just as the god Jupiter defended Rome and Huitzilopochtli protected the Aztec Empire, so every Christian kingdom had its own patron saint who helped it overcome difficulties and win wars. England was protected by St George, Scotland by St Andrew, Hungary by St Stephen, and France had St Martin. Cities and towns, professions, and even diseases – each had their own saint. The city of Milan had St Ambrose, while St Mark watched over Venice. St Florian protected chimney cleaners, whereas St Mathew lent a hand to tax collectors in distress. If you suffered from headaches you had to pray to St Agathius, but if from toothaches, then St Apollonia was a much better audience.
The Christian saints did not merely resemble the old polytheistic gods. Often they were these very same gods in disguise. For example, the chief goddess of Celtic Ireland prior to the coming of Christianity was Brigid. When Ireland was Christianised, Brigid too was baptised. She became St Brigit, who to this day is the most revered saint in Catholic Ireland.
The Battle of Good and Evil
Polytheism gave birth not merely to monotheist religions, but also to dualistic ones. Dualistic religions espouse the existence of two opposing powers: good and evil. Unlike monotheism, dualism believes that evil is an independent power, neither created by the good God, nor subordinate to it. Dualism explains that the entire universe is a battleground between these two forces, and that everything that happens in the world is part of the struggle.
Dualism is a very attractive world view because it has a short and simple answer to the famous Problem of Evil, one of the fundamental concerns of human thought. ‘Why is there evil in the world? Why is there suffering? Why do bad things happen to good people?’ Monotheists have to practise intellectual gymnastics to explain how an all-knowing, all-powerful and perfectly good God allows so much suffering in the world. One well-known explanation is that this is God’s way of allowing for human free will. Were there no evil, humans could not choose between good and evil, and hence there would be no free will. This, however, is a non-intuitive answer that immediately raises a host of new questions. Freedom of will allows humans to choose evil. Many indeed choose evil and, according to the standard monotheist account, this choice must bring divine punishment in its wake. If God knew in advance that a particular person would use her free will to choose evil, and that as a result she would be punished for this by eternal tortures in hell, why did God create her? Theologians have written countless books to answer such questions. Some find the answers convincing. Some don’t. What’s undeniable is that monotheists have a hard time dealing with the Problem of Evil.
For dualists, it’s easy to explain evil. Bad things happen even to good people because the world is not governed single-handedly by a good God. There is an independent evil power loose in the world. The evil power does bad things.
Dualism has its own drawbacks. While solving the Problem of Evil, it is unnerved by the Problem of Order. If the world was created by a single God, it’s clear why it is such an orderly place, where everything obeys the same laws. But if Good and Evil battle for control of the world, who enforces the laws governing this cosmic war? Two rival states can fight one another because both obey the same laws of physics. A missile launched from Pakistan can hit targets in India because gravity works the same way in both countries. When Good and Evil fight, what common laws do they obey, and who decreed these laws?
So, monotheism explains order, but is mystified by evil. Dualism explains evil, but is puzzled by order. There is one logical way of solving the riddle: to argue that there is a single omnipotent God who created the entire universe – and He’s evil. But nobody in history has had the stomach for such a belief.
Dualistic religions flourished for more than a thousand years. Sometime between 1500 BC and 1000 BC a prophet named Zoroaster (Zarathustra) was active somewhere in Central Asia. His creed passed from generation to generation until it became the most important of dualistic religions – Zoroastrianism. Zoroastrians saw the world as a cosmic battle between the good god Ahura Mazda and the evil god Angra Mainyu. Humans had to help the good god in this battle. Zoroastrianism was an important religion during the Achaemenid Persian Empire (550–330 BC) and later became the official religion of the Sassanid Persian Empire (AD 224–651). It exerted a major influence on almost all subsequent Middle Eastern and Central Asian religions, and it inspired a number of other dualist religions, such as Gnosticism and Manichaeanism.
During the third and fourth centuries AD, the Manichaean creed spread from China to North Africa, and for a moment it appeared that it would beat Christianity to achieve dominance in the Roman Empire. Yet the Manichaeans lost the soul of Rome to the Christians, the Zoroastrian Sassanid Empire was overrun by the monotheistic Muslims, and the dualist wave subsided. Today only a handful of dualist communities survive in India and the Middle East.
Nevertheless, the rising tide of monotheism did not really wipe out dualism. Jewish, Christian and Muslim monotheism absorbed numerous dualist beliefs and practices, and some of the most basic ideas of what we call ‘monotheism’ are, in fact, dualist in origin and spirit. Countless Christians, Muslims and Jews believe in a powerful evil force – like the one Christians call the Devil or Satan – who can act independently, fight against the good God, and wreak havoc without God’s permission.
How can a monotheist adhere to such a dualistic belief (which, by the way, is nowhere to be found in the Old Testament)? Logically, it is impossible. Either you believe in a single omnipotent God or you believe in two opposing powers, neither of which is omnipotent. Still, humans have a wonderful capacity to believe in contradictions. So it should not come as a surprise that millions of pious Christians, Muslims and Jews manage to believe at one and the same time in an omnipotent God and an independent Devil. Countless Christians, Muslims and Jews have gone so far as to imagine that the good God even needs our help in its struggle against the Devil, which inspired among other things the call for jihads and crusades.
Another key dualistic concept, particularly in Gnosticism and Manichaeanism, was the sharp distinction between body and soul, between matter and spirit. Gnostics and Manichaeans argued that the good god created the spirit and the soul, whereas matter and bodies are the creation of the evil god. Man, according to this view, serves as a battleground between the good soul and the evil body. From a monotheistic perspective, this is nonsense – why distinguish so sharply between body and soul, or matter and spirit? And why argue that body and matter are evil? After all, everything was created by the same good God. But monotheists could not help but be captivated by dualist dichotomies, precisely because they helped them address the problem of evil. So such oppositions eventually became cornerstones of Christian and Muslim thought. Belief in heaven (the realm of the good god) and hell (the realm of the evil god) was also dualist in origin. There is no trace of this belief in the Old Testament, which also never claims that the souls of people continue to live after the death of the body.
In fact, monotheism, as it has played out in history, is a kaleidoscope of monotheist, dualist, polytheist and animist legacies, jumbling together under a single divine umbrella. The average Christian believes in the monotheist God, but also in the dualist Devil, in polytheist saints, and in animist ghosts. Scholars of religion have a name for this simultaneous avowal of different and even contradictory ideas and the combination of rituals and practices taken from different sources. It’s called syncretism. Syncretism might, in fact, be the single great world religion.
The Law of Nature
All the religions we have discussed so far share one important characteristic: they all focus on a belief in gods and other supernatural entities. This seems obvious to Westerners, who are familiar mainly with monotheistic and polytheist creeds. In fact, however, the religious history of the world does not boil down to the history of gods. During the first millennium BC, religions of an altogether new kind began to spread through Afro-Asia. The newcomers, such as Jainism and Buddhism in India, Daoism and Confucianism in China, and Stoicism, Cynicism and Epicureanism in the Mediterranean basin, were characterised by their disregard of gods.
These creeds maintained that the superhuman order governing the world is the product of natural laws rather than of divine wills and whims. Some of these natural-law religions continued to espouse the existence of gods, but their gods were subject to the laws of nature no less than humans, animals and plants were. Gods had their niche in the ecosystem, just as elephants and porcupines had theirs, but could no more change the laws of nature than elephants can. A prime example is Buddhism, the most important of the ancient natural law religions, which remains one of the major faiths.
The central figure of Buddhism is not a god but a human being, Siddhartha Gautama. According to Buddhist tradition, Gautama was heir to a small Himalayan kingdom, sometime around 500 BC. The young prince was deeply affected by the suffering evident all around him. He saw that men and women, children and old people, all suffer not just from occasional calamities such as war and plague, but also from anxiety, frustration and discontent, all of which seem to be an inseparable part of the human condition. People pursue wealth and power, acquire knowledge and possessions, beget sons and daughters, and build houses and palaces. Yet no matter what they achieve, they are never content. Those who live in poverty dream of riches. Those who have a million want two million. Those who have two million want 10 million. Even the rich and famous are rarely satisfied. They too are haunted by ceaseless cares and worries, until sickness, old age and death put a bitter end to them. Everything that one has accumulated vanishes like smoke. Life is a pointless rat race. But how to escape it?
At the age of twenty-nine Gautama slipped away from his palace in the middle of the night, leaving behind his family and possessions. He travelled as a homeless vagabond throughout northern India, searching for a way out of suffering. He visited ashrams and sat at the feet of gurus but nothing liberated him entirely – some dissatisfaction always remained. He did not despair. He resolved to investigate suffering on his own until he found a method for complete liberation. He spent six years meditating on the essence, causes and cures for human anguish. In the end he came to the realisation that suffering is not caused by ill fortune, by social injustice, or by divine whims. Rather, suffering is caused by the behaviour patterns of one’s own mind.
Gautama’s insight was that no matter what the mind experiences, it usually reacts with craving, and craving always involves dissatisfaction. When the mind experiences something distasteful it craves to be rid of the irritation. When the mind experiences something pleasant, it craves that the pleasure will remain and will intensify. Therefore, the mind is always dissatisfied and restless. This is very clear when we experience unpleasant things, such as pain. As long as the pain continues, we are dissatisfied and do all we can to avoid it. Yet even when we experience pleasant things we are never content. We either fear that the pleasure might disappear, or we hope that it will intensify. People dream for years about finding love but are rarely satisfied when they find it. Some become anxious that their partner will leave; others feel that they have settled cheaply, and could have found someone better. And we all know people who manage to do both.
Great gods can send us rain, social institutions can provide justice and good health care, and lucky coincidences can turn us into millionaires, but none of them can change our basic mental patterns. Hence even the greatest kings are doomed to live in angst, constantly fleeing grief and anguish, forever chasing after greater pleasures.
Gautama found that there was a way to exit this vicious circle. If, when the mind experiences something pleasant or unpleasant, it simply understands things as they are, then there is no suffering. If you experience sadness without craving that the sadness go away, you continue to feel sadness but you do not suffer from it. There can actually be richness in the sadness. If you experience joy without craving that the joy linger and intensify, you continue to feel joy without losing your peace of mind.
But how do you get the mind to accept things as they are, without craving? To accept sadness as sadness, joy as joy, pain as pain? Gautama developed a set of meditation techniques that train the mind to experience reality as it is, without craving. These practices train the mind to focus all its attention on the question, ‘What am I experiencing now?’ rather than on ‘What would I rather be experiencing?’ It is difficult to achieve this state of mind, but not impossible.
Gautama grounded these meditation techniques in a set of ethical rules meant to make it easier for people to focus on actual experience and to avoid falling into cravings and fantasies. He instructed his followers to avoid killing, promiscuous s@x and theft, since such acts necessarily stoke the fire of craving (for power, for sensual pleasure, or for wealth). When the flames are completely extinguished, craving is replaced by a state of perfect contentment and serenity, known as nirvana (the literal meaning of which is ‘extinguishing the fire’). Those who have attained nirvana are fully liberated from all suffering. They experience reality with the utmost clarity, free of fantasies and delusions. While they will most likely still encounter unpleasantness and pain, such experiences cause them no misery. A person who does not crave cannot suffer.
According to Buddhist tradition, Gautama himself attained nirvana and was fully liberated from suffering. Henceforth he was known as ‘Buddha’, which means ‘The Enlightened One’. Buddha spent the rest of his life explaining his discoveries to others so that everyone could be freed from suffering. He encapsulated his teachings in a single law: suffering arises from craving; the only way to be fully liberated from suffering is to be fully liberated from craving; and the only way to be liberated from craving is to train the mind to experience reality as it is.
This law, known as dharma or dhamma, is seen by Buddhists as a universal law of nature. That ‘suffering arises from craving’ is always and everywhere true, just as in modern physics E always equals mc2. Buddhists are people who believe in this law and make it the fulcrum of all their activities. Belief in gods, on the other hand, is of minor importance to them. The first principle of monotheist religions is ‘God exists. What does He want from me?’ The first principle of Buddhism is ‘Suffering exists. How do I escape it?’ Buddhism does not deny the existence of gods – they are described as powerful beings who can bring rains and victories – but they have no influence on the law that suffering arises from craving. If the mind of a person is free of all craving, no god can make him miserable. Conversely, once craving arises in a person’s mind, all the gods in the universe cannot save him from suffering.
Yet much like the monotheist religions, premodern natural-law religions such as Buddhism never really rid themselves of the worship of gods. Buddhism told people that they should aim for the ultimate goal of complete liberation from suffering, rather than for stops along the way such as economic prosperity and political power. However, 99 per cent of Buddhists did not attain nirvana, and even if they hoped to do so in some future lifetime, they devoted most of their present lives to the pursuit of mundane achievements. So they continued to worship various gods, such as the Hindu gods in India, the Bon gods in Tibet, and the Shinto gods in Japan.
Moreover, as time went by several Buddhist sects developed pantheons of Buddhas and bodhisattvas. These are human and non-human beings with the capacity to achieve full liberation from suffering but who forego this liberation out of compassion, in order to help the countless beings still trapped in the cycle of misery. Instead of worshipping gods, many Buddhists began worshipping these enlightened beings, asking them for help not only in attaining nirvana, but also in dealing with mundane problems. Thus we find many Buddhas and bodhisattvas throughout East Asia who spend their time bringing rain, stopping plagues, and even winning bloody wars – in exchange for prayers, colourful flowers, fragrant incense and gifts of rice and candy.
The Worship of Man
The last 300 years are often depicted as an age of growing secularism, in which religions have increasingly lost their importance. If we are talking about theist religions, this is largely correct. But if we take into consideration natural-law religions, then modernity turns out to be an age of intense religious fervour, unparalleled missionary efforts, and the bloodiest wars of religion in history. The modern age has witnessed the rise of a number of new natural-law religions, such as liberalism, Communism, capitalism, nationalism and Nazism. These creeds do not like to be called religions, and refer to themselves as ideologies. But this is just a semantic exercise. If a religion is a system of human norms and values that is founded on belief in a superhuman order, then Soviet Communism was no less a religion than Islam.
Islam is of course different from Communism, because Islam sees the superhuman order governing the world as the edict of an omnipotent creator god, whereas Soviet Communism did not believe in gods. But Buddhism too gives short shrift to gods, and yet we commonly classify it as a religion. Like Buddhists, Communists believed in a superhuman order of natural and immutable laws that should guide human actions. Whereas Buddhists believe that the law of nature was discovered by Siddhartha Gautama, Communists believed that the law of nature was discovered by Karl Marx, Friedrich Engels and Vladimir Ilyich Lenin. The similarity does not end there. Like other religions, Communism too has its holy scripts and prophetic books, such as Marx’s Das Kapital, which foretold that history would soon end with the inevitable victory of the proletariat. Communism had its holidays and festivals, such as the First of May and the anniversary of the October Revolution. It had theologians adept at Marxist dialectics, and every unit in the Soviet army had a chaplain, called a commissar, who monitored the piety of soldiers and officers. Communism had martyrs, holy wars and heresies, such as Trotskyism. Soviet Communism was a fanatical and missionary religion. A devout Communist could not be a Christian or a Buddhist, and was expected to spread the gospel of Marx and Lenin even at the price of his or her life.
Some readers may feel very uncomfortable with this line of reasoning. If it makes you feel better, you are free to go on calling Communism an ideology rather than a religion. It makes no difference. We can divide creeds into god-centred religions and godless ideologies that claim to be based on natural laws. But then, to be consistent, we would need to catalogue at least some Buddhist, Daoist and Stoic sects as ideologies rather than religions. Conversely, we should note that belief in gods persists within many modern ideologies, and that some of them, most notably liberalism, make little sense without this belief.
It would be impossible to survey here the history of all the new modern creeds, especially because there are no clear boundaries between them. They are no less syncretic than monotheism and popular Buddhism. Just as a Buddhist could worship Hindu deities, and just as a monotheist could believe in the existence of Satan, so the typical American nowadays is simultaneously a nationalist (she believes in the existence of an American nation with a special role to play in history), a free-market capitalist (she believes that open competition and the pursuit of self-interest are the best ways to create a prosperous society), and a liberal humanist (she believes that humans have been endowed by their creator with certain inalienable rights). Nationalism will be discussed in Chapter 18. Capitalism – the most successful of the modern religions – gets a whole chapter, Chapter 16, which expounds its principal beliefs and rituals. In the remaining pages of this chapter I will address the humanist religions.
Theist religions focus on the worship of gods. Humanist religions worship humanity, or more correctly, Homo sapiens. Humanism is a belief that Homo sapiens has a unique and sacred nature, which is fundamentally different from the nature of all other animals and of all other phenomena. Humanists believe that the unique nature of Homo sapiens is the most important thing in the world, and it determines the meaning of everything that happens in the universe. The supreme good is the good of Homo sapiens. The rest of the world and all other beings exist solely for the benefit of this species.
All humanists worship humanity, but they do not agree on its definition. Humanism has split into three rival sects that fight over the exact definition of ‘humanity’, just as rival Christian sects fought over the exact definition of God. Today, the most important humanist sect is liberal humanism, which believes that ‘humanity’ is a quality of individual humans, and that the liberty of individuals is therefore sacrosanct. According to liberals, the sacred nature of humanity resides within each and every individual Homo sapiens. The inner core of individual humans gives meaning to the world, and is the source for all ethical and political authority. If we encounter an ethical or political dilemma, we should look inside and listen to our inner voice – the voice of humanity. The chief commandments of liberal humanism are meant to protect the liberty of this inner voice against intrusion or harm. These commandments are collectively known as ‘human rights’.
This, for example, is why liberals object to torture and the death penalty. In early modern Europe, murderers were thought to violate and destabilise the cosmic order. To bring the cosmos back to balance, it was necessary to torture and publicly execute the criminal, so that everyone could see the order re-established. Attending gruesome executions was a favourite pastime for Londoners and Parisians in the era of Shakespeare and Molière. In today’s Europe, murder is seen as a violation of the sacred nature of humanity. In order to restore order, present-day Europeans do not torture and execute criminals. Instead, they punish a murderer in what they see as the most ‘humane’ way possible, thus safeguarding and even rebuilding his human sanctity. By honouring the human nature of the murderer, everyone is reminded of the sanctity of humanity, and order is restored. By defending the murderer, we right what the murderer has wronged.
Even though liberal humanism sanctifies humans, it does not deny the existence of God, and is, in fact, founded on monotheist beliefs. The liberal belief in the free and sacred nature of each individual is a direct legacy of the traditional Christian belief in free and eternal individual souls. Without recourse to eternal souls and a Creator God, it becomes embarrassingly difficult for liberals to explain what is so special about individual Sapiens.
Another important sect is socialist humanism. Socialists believe that ‘humanity’ is collective rather than individualistic. They hold as sacred not the inner voice of each individual, but the species Homo sapiens as a whole. Whereas liberal humanism seeks as much freedom as possible for individual humans, socialist humanism seeks equality between all humans. According to socialists, inequality is the worst blasphemy against the sanctity of humanity, because it privileges peripheral qualities of humans over their universal essence. For example, when the rich are privileged over the poor, it means that we value money more than the universal essence of all humans, which is the same for rich and poor alike.
Like liberal humanism, socialist humanism is built on monotheist foundations. The idea that all humans are equal is a revamped version of the monotheist conviction that all souls are equal before God. The only humanist sect that has actually broken loose from traditional monotheism is evolutionary humanism, whose most famous representatives are the Nazis. What distinguished the Nazis from other humanist sects was a different definition of ‘humanity’, one deeply influenced by the theory of evolution. In contrast to other humanists, the Nazis believed that humankind is not something universal and eternal, but rather a mutable species that can evolve or degenerate. Man can evolve into superman, or degenerate into a subhuman.
The main ambition of the Nazis was to protect humankind from degeneration and encourage its progressive evolution. This is why the Nazis said that the Aryan race, the most advanced form of humanity, had to be protected and fostered, while degenerate kinds of Homo sapiens like Jews, Roma, homos@xuals and the mentally ill had to be quarantined and even exterminated. The Nazis explained that Homo sapiens itself appeared when one ‘superior’ population of ancient humans evolved, whereas ‘inferior’ populations such as the Neanderthals became extinct. These different populations were at first no more than different races, but developed independently along their own evolutionary paths. This might well happen again. According to the Nazis, Homo sapiens had already divided into several distinct races, each with its own unique qualities. One of these races, the Aryan race, had the finest qualities – rationalism, beauty, integrity, diligence. The Aryan race therefore had the potential to turn man into superman. Other races, such as Jews and blacks, were today’s Neanderthals, possessing inferior qualities. If allowed to breed, and in particular to intermarry with Aryans, they would adulterate all human populations and doom Homo sapiens to extinction.
Biologists have since debunked Nazi racial theory. In particular, genetic research conducted after 1945 has demonstrated that the differences between the various human lineages are far smaller than the Nazis postulated. But these conclusions are relatively new. Given the state of scientific knowledge in 1933, Nazi beliefs were hardly outside the pale. The existence of different human races, the superiority of the white race, and the need to protect and cultivate this superior race were widely held beliefs among most Western elites. Scholars in the most prestigious Western universities, using the orthodox scientific methods of the day, published studies that allegedly proved that members of the white race were more intelligent, more ethical and more skilled than Africans or Indians. Politicians in Washington, London and Canberra took it for granted that it was their job to prevent the adulteration and degeneration of the white race, by, for example, restricting immigration from China or even Italy to ‘Aryan’ countries such as the USA and Australia.
Humanist Religions – Religions that Worship Humanity
These positions did not change simply because new scientific research was published. Sociological and political developments were far more powerful engines of change. In this sense, Hitler dug not just his own grave but that of racism in general. When he launched World War Two, he compelled his enemies to make clear distinctions between ‘us’ and ‘them’. Afterwards, precisely because Nazi ideology was so racist, racism became discredited in the West. But the change took time. White supremacy remained a mainstream ideology in American politics at least until the 1960s. The White Australia policy which restricted immigration of non-white people to Australia remained in force until 1973. Aboriginal Australians did not receive equal political rights until the 1960s, and most were prevented from voting in elections because they were deemed unfit to function as citizens.
The Nazis did not loathe humanity. They fought liberal humanism, human rights and Communism precisely because they admired humanity and believed in the great potential of the human species. But following the logic of Darwinian evolution, they argued that natural selection must be allowed to weed out unfit individuals and leave only the fittest to survive and reproduce. By succouring the weak, liberalism and Communism not only allowed unfit individuals to survive, they actually gave them the opportunity to reproduce, thereby undermining natural selection. In such a world, the fittest humans would inevitably drown in a sea of unfit degenerates. Humankind would become less and less fit with each passing generation – which could lead to its extinction.
A 1942 German biology textbook explains in the chapter ‘The Laws of Nature and Mankind’ that the supreme law of nature is that all beings are locked in a remorseless struggle for survival. After describing how plants struggle for territory, how beetles struggle to find mates and so forth, the textbook concludes that:
The battle for existence is hard and unforgiving, but is the only way to maintain life. This struggle eliminates everything that is unfit for life, and selects everything that is able to survive … These natural laws are incontrovertible; living creatures demonstrate them by their very survival. They are unforgiving. Those who resist them will be wiped out. Biology not only tells us about animals and plants, but also shows us the laws we must follow in our lives, and steels our wills to live and fight according to these laws. The meaning of life is struggle. Woe to him who sins against these laws.
Then follows a quotation from Mein Kampf: ‘The person who attempts to fight the iron logic of nature thereby fights the principles he must thank for his life as a human being. To fight against nature is to bring about one’s own destruction.’3
At the dawn of the third millennium, the future of evolutionary humanism is unclear. For sixty years after the end of the war against Hitler it was taboo to link humanism with evolution and to advocate using biological methods to upgrade’ Homo sapiens. But today such projects are back in vogue. No one speaks about exterminating lower races or inferior people, but many contemplate using our increasing knowledge of human biology to create superhumans.
At the same time, a huge gulf is opening between the tenets of liberal humanism and the latest findings of the life sciences, a gulf we cannot ignore much longer. Our liberal political and judicial systems are founded on the belief that every individual has a sacred inner nature, indivisible and immutable, which gives meaning to the world, and which is the source of all ethical and political authority. This is a reincarnation of the traditional Christian belief in a free and eternal soul that resides within each individual. Yet over the last 200 years, the life sciences have thoroughly undermined this belief. Scientists studying the inner workings of the human organism have found no soul there. They increasingly argue that human behaviour is determined by hormones, genes and synapses, rather than by free will – the same forces that determine the behaviour of chimpanzees, wolves, and ants. Our judicial and political systems largely try to sweep such inconvenient discoveries under the carpet. But in all frankness, how long can we maintain the wall separating the department of biology from the departments of law and political science?
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Tag Archives: “I Do It”
by Don Bleek | June 14, 2011 · 5:03 pm
Official Video: Big Sean “I Do It”
Kanye West’s protegé Big Sean official video to “I Do It” was recently released. On the song, the Detroit native pays homage to the cartoon series Family Guy. This is the second single off Sean’s debut album Finally Famous: The Album; scheduled to hit stores and online June 28. The album has collaborations with Kanye West, Chris Brown, Rick Ross, Lupe Fiasco, Pharrell, Wiz Khalifa, The Dream, John Legend and more; with productions from No I.D., The Neptunes, Boi-1da and more. Peep the video below:
Big Sean is a dope rapper and has a lot of talents. I respect his artistry. In my opinion, “he’s the most important rapper of our generation.”
Comments Off on Official Video: Big Sean “I Do It”
Filed under New Video
Tagged as "I Do It", big sean, Finally Famous: The Album
by Don Bleek | May 9, 2011 · 1:02 pm
Dope Or Nope? Big Sean “I Do It”
Kanye West’s protegé Big Sean recently released a new track titled “I Do It.” The track is off his debut album Finally Famous: The Album, dropping June 21. The album features collaborations with Kanye West, Pharrell Williams, No I.D. and Mike Posner. On the track, the Detroit natives pays homage to the cartoon series “Family Guy.” Listen to the track below:
Listen Now: Big Sean “I Do It”
I think the track is dope. Big Sean has a lot of talents and I will like to see him at the top. Also, Big Sean has one of the nicest attitudes in this business. When I met him at his XXL magazine cover shoot, he was so polite and respectful.
Dope or Nope, are you guys feeling this track?
Filed under Dope Or Nope, New Music
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Issue 332 7 March 2018
India plans to transition away from Global Fund support over the next nine years
India is preparing to transition away from Global Fund support –– gradually, over a nine-year period. Some transition measures have already been adopted. India’s transition plans were described at some length in grant documents related to the country’s 2017 funding requests for TB, HIV and malaria. We provide a summary.
Follow-up audit of Global Fund grants to Nigeria shows significant improvements, OIG says
Since the last audit in 2015, there have been significant improvements, the Office of the Inspector General says in a follow-up audit recently concluded. But there are still many problems that need to be resolved, and some of the mitigation measures already implemented need more time to become effective. The follow-up audit covered the period from July 2016 to September 2017.
Global Fund Board approves an HIV grant for Guinea with the Ministry of Public Health as a new PR
Global Fund grants to Guinea, which are managed under the Additional Safeguard Policy, face numerous challenges. The Global Fund Board has approved an HIV grant with a new principal recipient, the Ministry of Health. The grant complements a TB/HIV grant approved in December 2017.
Tanzania's TB/HIV funding request to the Global Fund yields three grants
The Global Fund Board recently approved three TB and HIV grants for Tanzania, two of which have a government principal recipient (the Ministry of Finance and Planning). The third PR is AMREF Health Africa. The Technical Review Panel cited numerous strengths in the funding request, including the fact that the request identified key populations for TB: i.e. HIV-positive adults and children, mining communities, elderly persons, prisoners, people with diabetes, people who inject drugs, health workers and people living in urban slums.
5. PROFILE
Kenya Red Cross Society has been a successful Global Fund PR
Since the Kenya Red Cross Society became a principal recipient for an HIV grant in 2011, the grant has been consistently rated A1 or A2. This article describes the reasons for the society’s success.
Evaluation describes France's 5% Initiative for Global Fund grant recipients as "creative" and "relevant"
An evaluation of France’s 5% Initiative says that it “is relevant in the context of specific difficulties linked to the implementation of Global Fund grants in the French-speaking region.” The evaluation also refers to the initiative as “a creative mechanism combining a bilateral approach within a multilateral framework.” At the same time, evaluators called for some improvements in the operations and oversight of the initiative.
As Global Fund multi-country grants enter a new phase, we map all ongoing and planned regional and multi-country grants
There will be 16–19 multi-country grants from catalytic funding for 2017–2019, fewer than the 24 regional grants from 2014–2016 that are still active. We provide a mapping.
A Global Fund multi-country program in Southeast Asia helps countries SHIFT towards sustainable HIV financing
SHIFT is a two-year regional advocacy program in Southeast Asia that aims to empower civil society organizations and key population communities to advocate for sustainable HIV financing. The four countries are Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines and Thailand, all of which have started to plan for transition away from Global Fund support.
9. OF INTEREST
Malaria in Nigeria; the Global Fund and "big alcohol"; and Gender-transformative programming
In this “OF INTEREST” article, we draw attention to an interview on the financial gap for tackling malaria in Nigeria; another article about the Global Fund’s partnership with Heineken; and a guide on gender-transformative programming developed by the International HIV/AIDS Alliance.
Charlie Baran
There will be 16-19 multi-country grants from 2017-2019 catalytic funding; and there are 24 active regional grants from 2014-2016
As one of the core streams of its catalytic investments (see GFO article), the Global Fund has allocated $260 million for multi-country approaches for the 2017–2019 funding cycle. According to a Guidance Note prepared by the Fund, “the objective of multi-country approaches is to target a limited number of key, strategic multi-country priorities deemed critical to meet the aims of the Strategy and not able to be addressed through country allocations.”
The Global Fund Secretariat spent the first half of 2017 reviewing and holding consultations on where and how best to spend the budget for multi-country approaches. Operationalization of the program was approved in July 2017. Explanatory materials available on the Global Fund website include the Guidance Note and Frequently Asked Questions.
Note on terminology
In this article, we refer to grants covering several countries in the same region, approved in the 2014–2016 funding cycle, as “regional grants”–– which is what they were called at the time –– and to similar grants being approved in the 2017–2019 funding cycle as “multi-country grants,” which is the terminology currently being used by the Global Fund. Note that we have excluded from this round-up the multi-country grants that encompass small island states like the Caribbean and the Western Pacific, or otherwise use pooled country allocation funding for operational purposes, such as the Middle East Response grant.
There are two types of multi-country grants: those that are pre-identified (pre-ID) –– i.e. with pre-identified objectives and principal recipients (PR); and those that emerge from a competitive application process. An example of a pre-identified multi-country grant is the initiative to eliminate multi-drug-resistant malaria in the Greater Mekong region of Southeast Asia. The grant has a pre-defined objective and eligible countries (Myanmar, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam), as well as a pre-identified PR: UNOPS. Competitive multi-country grants are those that target a priority and a specific region, but where the specific countries included, and the implementation arrangements, are not pre-defined by the Fund. Examples of these include most of the regional key population–focused programs and most of the TB multi-country grants.
One important note regarding the transition from the 2014–2016 funding cycle to 2017–2019 is that regional grants will not typically be renewed. The only instances in which regional grants will be renewed are where they that have a theme which has been selected for the new cycle and where the applicant is pre-identified by the Fund. An example of this is the TB in mining multi-country grant in Southern Africa (see GFO article for details).
Aidspan has become aware that there is some confusion regarding multi-country programs. This isn’t hard to understand, given the flux over the years in the Fund’s approach to regional programs and the sheer number and variety of initiatives. To help readers understand the full picture, Aidspan has prepared the following mapping of existing and expected multi-country grants and ongoing regional grants.
Overview of multi-country grants for 2017–2019
The Global Fund’s multi-country approaches are aligned with three strategic priorities: one each for malaria, TB, and HIV, each with designated funding (See Table 1).
Table 1: Multi-country strategic priorities for 2017–2019
Component Priority Funding ($ million)
Malaria Malaria elimination in low burden countries 145 m
TB Finding the missed people with TB 65 m
HIV Sustainability of services for key populations 50 m
TOTAL 260 m
Source: Guidance Note: Multicountry Approach in the Global Fund’s 2017–2019 Funding Cycle
In an earlier vision for multi-country grants, $12 million was included for resilient and sustainable systems for health, but this has been reprogrammed to the strategic initiatives stream within catalytic investments.
Within each disease priority, there are several sub-priority areas (a total of 14 across the three diseases). (“Sub-priority” is a term adopted by Aidspan for this article, to avoid confusion. In its materials, the Fund refers to priorities at both levels simply as “priorities.”)
The sub-priorities form the basis for grants; most sub-priorities will have one grant each. The total number of planned multi-country grants (16–19) is considerably less than the number of regional grants from the previous cycle. The Fund has intentionally reduced the number, so as “to focus on those that are essential to the delivery of the Strategy,” according to a spokesperson for the Fund. Table 2 provides information on all planned multi-country grants for the 2017–2019 funding cycle. Applications for about half of the pre-ID grants have already been submitted, while requests for proposals (RFPs) for all of the competitive grants have either been issued or are expected to be issued sometime during the balance of 2018. Links to RFPs that have been issued are included in the table.
Table 2: 2017–2019 Multi-country grants information
Disease Sub-priority
Application approach
(# of grants)
Expected submission timing Sub-priority funding ceiling
($ million)
1. Elimination of malaria in Mesoamerica and Hispaniola Pre-ID (1) Complete 6.0 m
2. Elimination of malaria in South Africa Pre-ID (1-2) Apr 2018 or later 20.0 m
3. Elimination of malaria multi-drug resistance in Greater Mekong (RAI) Pre-ID (1) Complete; being impl. 119.0 m
TB 4. TB in mining, Southern Africa Pre-ID (1) Complete; being impl. 22.5 m
5. Supranational labs in Eastern and Southern Africa Pre-ID (1) Apr or Aug 2018 4.5 m
6. Improving quality of care and prevention for MDR-TB in Eastern Europe (See RFP) RFP (1) Apr 2018 5.0 m
7. Support LAC countries transitioning from Global Fund TB funding RFP (1) Aug 2018 4.5 m
8. Interventions among refugees in East Africa (See RFP) RFP (1) Apr 2018 7.5 M
9. Supranational lab in Western and Central Africa (See RFP) RFP (1) Apr 2018 6.0 M
10. TB/MDR-TB interventions mobile pop. in Asia; Afghan (See RFP) and Greater Mekong (See RFP) 2 RFPs (2) Apr 2018 5.0 m Afghan;
10.0 m Mekong
HIV 11. Sustainability of service for KPs in LAC region 2 RFPs (2-3) Aug 2018 10.5 m LAC;
6.5 m Carib.
12. Sustainability of service for KPs in EECA region (See RFP) RFP (1-2) Apr 2018 13.0 m
13. Sustainability of service for KPs in Southeast Asia region Pre-ID (1) Aug 2018 12.5 m
14. Sustainability of service for KPs in MENA region (See RFP) RFP (1) Apr 2018 7.5 m
For details on each sub-priority, please see the Global Fund’s Guidance Note.
Ongoing regional grants
There are 24 active regional grants funded through the previous 2014–2016 cycle. Their implementation stages range from first to final years. In addition to the regional grants, there are a number of multi-country grants which were not classified by the Fund as “regional,” which are excluded from the tally below. See the Note on terminology above for details.
One major difference between the 2017–2019 funding cycle and 2014–2016 is that there are no multi-country HIV grants available for sub-Saharan Africa in the current cycle, whereas about half of all regional HIV grants were in sub-Saharan Africa previously; see GFO article for more details on that decision. Tables 3–6 list all of the regional grants that are ongoing at this time.
Table 3. Sub-Saharan Africa regional grants
Disease Grant title
Principal recipient
End date Countries included
MOSASWA Cross-border initiative Lubombo Spatial Dev. Initiative 2 Dec 2019 Mozambique, South Africa, Swaziland
Malaria Malaria Elimination in Southern Africa (Elimination 8) Non-Profit Association "Southern Africa Malaria Elimination Eight Initiative Sect." Sep 2018 Botswana, Swaziland, Namibia, South Africa, Angola, Mozambique, Zambia, Zimbabwe
TB/HIV Contribute to reduction of new HIV infections, TB incidence & HIV/TB related morbidity & mortality among cross border and mobile population in IGAD member countries Intergovernmental Authority on Development Mar 2019 Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, Sudan, South Sudan and Uganda
TB/HIV Improving HIV/TB/Hepatitis harm reduction services and promotion of human rights of People who Inject Drugs in 5 West African countries RO Alliance Nationale Contre le Sida (ANCS) Dec 2019 Sénégal, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, Côte d’Ivoire and Guinea Bissau
TB Supporting Uganda SRL and other Countries to Improve TB diagnosis in the ECSA Region East, Central and Southern Africa Health Community Oct 2019 Botswana, Burundi, Eritrea, Kenya, Lesotho, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Rwanda, Seychelles, Somalia, S. Sudan, Swaziland, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe
HIV Creating community treatment observatories in 11 West African countries International Treatment Preparedness Coalition Dec 2019 Benin, C.I., Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-B., Liberia, Mali, Sénégal, Sierra Leone, Togo
HIV VIH et Handicap en Afrique de l’Ouest Handicap International Federation Dec 2019 B. Faso, Cape Verde, Guinea-Bissau, Niger, Mali, Sénégal
HIV ANECCA Regional Project for Catalysing Improvement of Care, Tr. and Support for Children and Adolescents Living with HIV in Africa African Network for the Care of Children Affected by HIV/AIDS Oct 2018 Burundi, Ethiopia, Malawi, Nigeria, South Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda
HIV KP Reach Humanist Institute for Co-op. with Developing Countries (HIVOS) Dec 2018 Botswana, C.I., Kenya, Malawi, Nigeria, Sénégal, Seychelles, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia
HIV Africa Regional Grant - Removing Legal Barriers UNDP Dec 2018 Botswana, C.I., Kenya, Malawi, Nigeria, Sénégal, Seychelles, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia
HIV HIV and Harm Reduction in Eastern Africa Kenya AIDS NGOs Consortium Sep 2018 Burundi, Ethiopia, Kenya, Mauritius, Seychelles, Tanzania (including Zanzibar), Uganda
HIV ALCO HIV/AIDS prevention project targeting keys & vulnerable pop. along the Abidjan-Lagos Corridor Abidjan-Lagos Corridor Organization Dec 2018 Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, Togo, Benin, Nigeria
Table 4: Latin America and the Caribbean regional grants
TB Strengthening of the TB laboratory Network in the Americas Organismo Andino de Salud - Convenio Hipólito Unanue Dec 2019 Argentina, Belize, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, C.R., Cuba, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Guyana, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Dom. Rep., Uruguay, Venezuela
HIV Removing Barriers to accessing HIV and sexual and reproductive health services for key populations in the Caribbean
Caribbean Community Secretariat (CARICOM)
Sep 2019 Antigua & Barbuda, Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Dominica, Dom. Rep., Grenada, Guyana, Haiti, Jamaica, Montserrat, St. Kitts & Nevis, Saint Lucia, St. Vincent & G., Suriname, Trinidad & Tobago
HIV Challenging stigma and discr. to improve access to and quality of HIV services in the Caribbean UNDP
Belize, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Guyana, Haiti, Jamaica, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago
HIV Secretaria de la Integracion Social Centroamericana Secretaria de la Integracion Social Centroamericana Jun 2019 Belize, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama
HIV Trans women without borders against transphobia and HIV/AIDS International Organization for Migration Mar 2019 Argentina, Belize, Bolivia, Chile, Costa Rica, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Panama, Paraguay, Uruguay
HIV Acelerando la accion reg. a favor de los Der. Humanos, Sexuales y Reproductivos y la No Violencia hacia las Mujeres con VIH Humanist Institute for Co-operation with Developing Countries (HIVOS) Dec 2018 Bolivia, Honduras, Nicaragua, El Salvador, Guatemala, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Panama, Peru, Dominican Republic
Table 5: Eastern Europe and Central Asia regional grants
TB Decreasing the burden of tuberculosis disease and halting the spread of drug resistance in eleven EECA countries through increasing political commitment and translating evidence into implementation of patient-centered TB models of care Center for Health Policies and Studies Dec 2018 Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Ukraine
HIV Right to Health: Community Actions to Increase Access of MSM and Transgender People to HIV Services in C. and E. Europe and C. Asia Eurasian Coalition on Male Health Dec 2019 Armenia, Belarus, Georgia, Kyrgyzstan, Macedonia
HIV Enhancing effectiveness, accessibility, sustainability and scale up of HIV treatment programs in the EECA region with special emphasis on key populations ICO East Europe and Central Asia Union of People Living with HIV Oct 2018 Moldova, Georgia, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Russian Fed., Ukraine, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Belarus, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, Poland
Table 6: Asia and the Pacific regional grants
HIV Evidence based advocacy on community based testing and monitoring of quality services for key populations in seven countries Save the Children Federation, Inc. Dec 2020
Bangladesh, Cambodia, Indonesia, Nepal, Thailand, Myanmar, Vietnam
HIV To increase access to essential HIV and harm reduction services for people who inject drugs in Asia through removing legal barriers, community systems strengthening and increasing the evidence base India HIV/AIDS Alliance Dec 2019 Cambodia, Indonesia, India, Nepal, Philippines, Thailand, Viet Nam
HIV Sustainable HIV Financing in Transition (SHIFT) Australian Federation of AIDS Organisations Dec 2018 Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Thailand
multi-country grants
regional grants
multi-country approaches
catalytic investments
Read this article in French. Lire l'article en français.
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AirForceMag.comCurrently selected
USAFA Superintendent Details Academy Efforts to Combat Sexual Assault, Harassment
EntryByline
—Jennifer-Leigh Oprihory
USAFA Superintendent Lt. Gen. Jay Silveria, shown here at an August 2018 Superintendent's All Call at the Academy, testified before the House Appropriations Committee's Defense subcommittee and the House Armed Services Committee's Military Personnel subcommittee on Feb. 13, 2019. Air Force photo by Darcie Ibidapo.
Air Force Academy Superintendent Lt. Gen. Jay Silveria detailed past, present, and planned initiatives to tackle sexual assault, sexual harassment, and culture- and climate-related issues at the school—including increased on-campus video surveillance and making more students who were expelled over sexual misbehavior repay the Air Force for the cost of their education—in testimony submitted to House legislators on Wednesday.
His Capitol Hill appearance followed the recent publication of a Defense Department report that found that almost half of USAFA’s female cadets were sexually harassed in the 2017-18 academic year, and that 15.1 percent of the same population experienced unwanted sexual contact in the same period. The report also called attention to “concerning climate-related trends” observed at USAFA.
In written testimony submitted to the House Armed Services Committee’s Military Personnel subcommittee on Wednesday and shared with Air Force Magazine, Silveria said “leadership is the solution” to the report’s findings concerning its climate, as well as the incidence of sexual assault and harassment experienced by its cadets, since “these are people, not statistics.”
“Sexual violence is about more than sex—it is about exploiting and manipulating disparities in power, and it is about control, and this behavior violates even the most minimal definition of respectful and dignified conduct,” Silveria wrote. “The bottom line is that if a person cannot adhere to our standards, they have no place at our Academy. They have no place in our Air Force.”
Silveria said steps being taken to address problems with the Academy’s “overall culture and climate” and to promote “good order and discipline,” beyond what was enumerated in the DOD report, include:
Installing “several thousand” additional closed-circuit television cameras throughout the campus. Silveria said this ongoing initiative is meant to increase student “safety and security,” deter illegal behavior, and make footage available for investigators in case incidents do happen. These cameras aren’t located in “rooms or areas that would violate the privacy” of students, he said.
A 2018 change to the Academy’s recoupment policy that allows the Air Force to charge students who get kicked out of the school over sexual misconduct “approximately $50,000 per year that the cadet attended the Academy,” regardless of their class year.
On top of USAF-wide disciplinary tools and courts-martial, the Academy has its own “cadet discipline system,” under which he is authorized to expel cadets over misconduct, Silveria said. This system also includes “boards of inquiry typically used for officer discharges,” he said. These boards simultaneously give victimized cadets who don’t want to make public testimony the chance to still have “a voice in a non-public setting,” while ensuring that accused individuals are still afforded “their due process rights,” he said.
In spring 2018, the school “replaced all personnel in the Sexual Assault Prevention and Response office, including the Sexual Assault Response Coordinator and all full-time victim advocates,” in addition to creating multiple new positions within the office, he said. The school also appointed the third-party firm College Sports Associates “to conduct an independent review of the culture and climate, risk management, and commitment to regulatory compliance within” USAFA’s athletics department in summer 2018 to give the school “an impartial, objective and exhaustive examination” of its athletics program, he said.
The resulting report praised USAFA’s standards for personal conduct and athletic performance, as well as leadership-development protocols, but also identified areas of potential improvement. In response to the report’s findings, he said, USAFA intends to:
Hire and train an ombudsperson to act “as a resource for all staff and cadet-athletes” in the department.
Put a campus-wide anonymous reporting option in place “as early as this summer” to allow cadets to blow the whistle on misconduct.
Augment and expand coach and staff training.
Work the school’s athlete code of conduct into a student-athlete handbook.
In a recent interview with Air Force Magazine, Air Force Secretary Heather Wilson highlighted the need for “more current data,” and to speed up its analysis to give service secretaries “a much better real-time picture” of where each service academy stands with respect to sexual harassment and assault.
She and Chief of Staff David Goldfein asked Silveria to review the DOD report’s findings and data, and to revisit existing programs—including those implemented “after these data were taken,” she said. In response to the report’s findings on cadet faith in cadet leadership, Wilson directed Silveria to have these peer leaders review the report’s data and self-reflect on the role they play in shaping their units’ culture.
“These are going to be lieutenants dealing with operational units, some of them within months or a few years,” Wilson said. “They, as young leaders, need to look carefully at the culture within their unit, as the cadet wing, and tell us what they think they can do to impact that culture.”
Wilson also said the nation’s service secretaries agree that the academies “need to lead on this issue,” for reasons including the wealth of relevant data they have access to and their track records of implementing programs to combat worrisome trends. This was the impetus behind the decision to have “the Naval Academy… host the first national summit on sexual assault prevention and response at” American higher-education institutions, with support from the Air Force, Army, and Navy, she said.
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The Great Hypersonic Race
John A. Tirpak
The race is on to be the first great power to field hypersonic weapons. The US has already fallen behind.
The X-51A WaveRider. Photo: Mike Cassidy/USAF
China, the US, and Russia are each striving to be the first nation to develop hypersonic systems: aircraft and missiles that can cruise and maneuver at five times the speed of sound (Mach 5) or faster. The winner of this technology contest will have daunting military advantages. Such weapons promise the ability to hit targets from very long ranges, yet with such speed and surprise that defending against them is extremely difficult.
Hypersonic weapons could give those that possess them tactical capabilities with potentially strategic effects. Its potential disruptive effect on military operations—the ability to fly at a mile a second at Mach 5—is most often compared to that of stealth and precision weapons when those technologies appeared in the 1980s.
The consensus view is that China, so far, is winning the hypersonics race, largely through financial brute force. USAF Gen. Paul J. Selva, vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said in January that China has made hypersonics research “a national program”—a kind of Manhattan Project—and it is “willing to spend … up to hundreds of billions to solve the problems of hypersonic flight, hypersonic target designation and then, ultimately, engagement.”
Chinese state media announced in March, for example, that China is building a 265-meter long wind tunnel to simulate the environment from Mach 10 to Mach 25, which is to be complete by 2020. It already has tunnels capable of simulating conditions between Mach 5 to 9. Though the US has hypersonic tunnels, most are quite small, for tests lasting less than a few seconds.
Russia, meanwhile, announced in March that it is testing the “Kinzhal” missile, which president Vladimir Putin boasted can fly at Mach 10, has a range beyond 2,000 kilometers, can carry conventional or nuclear warheads, and can defeat any existing “or prospective” air defense system. Although many leading US technologists scoffed at the claim, US Strategic Command chief Gen. John E. Hyten confirmed to reporters at a Colorado space conference in April that both China and Russia are flight-testing hypersonic concepts, saying “you should believe Vladimir Putin about everything he said he’s working on.”
While Hyten said it’s a “different issue” as to whether those systems are deployed, “we … listen to what they say very closely, and none of what he did … [or] said surprised me.”
Russian air-launched Kinzhal hypersonic missile being carried on a MiG-31. Photo: Russian Ministry of Defense
TORTOISE AND THE HARE
The US is believed to have had a commanding lead toward fielding hypersonic systems until about five years ago. In 2013, the X-51 program, building on several previous projects, achieved more than 200 seconds of air-breathing Mach 5 flight, proving it could be done. The program then concluded and wasn’t immediately followed up. A number of US successor programs were either terminated for budgetary reasons or cancelled for experiencing failures, even though the technology is in many ways still in its infancy. Pentagon and congressional leaders in the last two years have decried the risk-averse defense acquisition culture that favors only “sure things” instead of gambling on chancy but potentially high-payoff research.
Most hypersonic research follows one of two main avenues. One leads to a “boost-glide” vehicle in which an aerodynamic shape is mounted on a rocket and accelerated to hypersonic speed. The vehicle then detaches and coasts to its target, able to maneuver but gradually bleeding off its energy as it flies.
The other main approach aims for an air-breathing vehicle also propelled to hypersonic speed by a rocket, but then an internal supersonic combustion ramjet—or scramjet—takes over. The vehicle separates from the rocket and propels itself through the atmosphere, taking in air to mix with and burn internal fuel and creating thrust, but without the rotors and compressors of a turbine engine. Complex shaping of the inlet, exhaust and combustion chamber, along with highly precise holes, ducts, and bypasses is necessary to make this approach work.
Underlying technologies for hypersonics include advanced computers that can calculate shapes and airflow, additive or 3-D manufacturing that can make the exotic shapes necessary for the inlets and ducting, and materials—metals and ceramics—that can withstand the extreme temperatures and pressures of hypersonic flight. There will also need to be guidance mechanisms that can function under those same stresses without being crushed or melted.
Leading US technologists believe either the boost-glide or air-breathing approaches will yield operational missile systems in under five years, and more test flights akin to the X-51—possibly secret—are forecast to take place this year.
A more advanced concept, generally considered 10 years away or more, would make use of a “combined cycle engine” approach. The objective vehicle would take off from a runway, accelerate through Mach 1, achieve hypersonic speed, carry out a mission—spying, show of force, or delivering weapons—and return to base for reuse. This goal is challenging because the qualities that make for an efficient engine in the subsonic and transonic regimes simply won’t work in the hypersonic regime, because of the different way that air behaves at those speeds.
Meanwhile, China is plowing ahead. The Pentagon’s new research and engineering czar, Michael D. Griffin, said in March that China has made 20 times as many hypersonic technology tests as the US has in the last five years.
Speaking at a McAleese/Credit Suisse defense conference just days after taking the top Pentagon R&E job, Griffin, the former head of NASA, said the US must demonstrate its resolve to lead in hypersonics. If the Chinese are unchallenged in this area, they could “hold at risk our carrier battle groups … [and] our entire surface fleet,” Griffin warned. “They hold at risk our forward-deployed forces and land-based forces.”
Lacking either a defense or an ability to respond in-kind, the US faces poor choices. “Our only response is either to let them have their way, or go nuclear.” And that, he said, is “an unacceptable situation for the United States.”
Hypersonic technology, Griffin declared, is his “No. 1 priority.”
In a discussion at the Hudson Institute in April, Griffin said there are ways to defend against hypersonics, but there’s only a brief window for doing so. Such missiles “are relatively fragile during their long phase of cruise flight” and are “fairly easy to destabilize,” Griffin noted. They also glow brightly in the infrared, because of the heat they generate, and “yes, they can maneuver, but they can’t maneuver in their cruise phase as easily as an interceptor.”
Presumed test model of secretive Chinese WU-14 hypersonic glide vehicle. Photo: CCTV
However, “if you let [hypersonic weapons] get into terminal phase, where we’ve observed that they can pull many G’s, then that becomes a hard target,” Griffin allowed. “If you allow an attacking vehicle to get close enough to begin its terminal dive …and [that] might be from 100,000 feet … you’re probably dead meat because that’s a very hard intercept problem... at that point.”
He noted that hypersonic weapons “overfly our air defense systems and underfly our missile defense systems. So China has, over the last decade, with great care, [become] capable of … holding our forward-based assets at risk.”
Those carriers and forward-based forces are strategic assets and the “means by which we project strategic power short of nuclear deterrence.” Without countering it, “we allow their tactical systems to leverage our ability to project strategic power.”
The US will have to develop means to defend against hypersonic missiles soon, Griffin said. The Missile Defense Agency (MDA) will have that responsiblity, not the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA).
By July, Griffin was expected to finish a new hypersonics roadmap that would rationalize and coordinate at least a half dozen projects within and between the Air Force, Army and Navy, DARPA, the Pentagon’s Strategic Capabilities Office, NASA, and defense contractors. Deputy Defense Secretary Patrick M. Shanahan told reporters in April that Griffin had just delivered “80 percent” of the plan and was working on the final version.
“The overlap of the technical challenges is pretty high,” Shanahan said of the various approaches being taken. The basic physics of getting to hypersonic speed and maintaining it, while preserving maneuvering capability, are common to the various approaches underway, he asserted. The Pentagon will look for synergy between the programs, seeking to consolidate them where practical, saving money but also sharing information. The services would integrate their own unique requirements as to whether their specific vehicles are air-, land- or sea-launched.
The roadmap, Shanahan said, will cross “10 technical domains” and determine the critical tests that must be conducted in the next five years “to achieve capability within the next decade.”
The document might just as well be called a “hypersonic prototype plan,” Shanahan said. The roadmap will also inform the Pentagon’s five-year spending plan.
Mark J. Lewis, director of IDA’s Science and Technology Policy Institute, a former chief scientist of the Air Force and a leading expert in hypersonics, said there are “a couple of characteristics I would want to see in a generic [hypersonics] roadmap.” Lewis is not involved in developing the plan, which is likely classified. He spoke to Air Force Magazine as a sidebar to an AFA technology podcast.
Concept for Lockheed Martin’s Reusable Hypersonic Vehicle. Illustration: Lockheed Martin
DON'T RULE ANYTHING OUT
First, Lewis said the plan should “build directly on past successes. Meaning, stop reinventing the wheel.” At least one successor program to the X-51, he said, largely repeats what that project already achieved, with some minor additions.
Second, he said, the roadmap “shouldn’t zero-in to a single technology solution. It shouldn’t be just air-breathing or just boost-glide. They have different strengths [and] weaknesses and different applications.” Necking down to a single, quick-and-dirty approach “to me, would be a wrong answer.”
He also advised that while hypersonics as a conventional strategic weapon may very well be what China is looking for, it doesn’t have to be that and, for the US, “the winning applications are not the strategic applications.”
The US could develop hypersonic air-to-air missiles, for example, that could destroy enemy aircraft at great distances, before they could pose a threat. There is also the potential for air-to-ground missiles covering 100 miles in as many seconds, offering opportunities to destroy enemy air defenses from standoff range. Given the extreme destructive force of an impacting vehicle traveling at Mach 6, a warhead might not even be necessary.
Such applications “are the ones most likely to be useful to the United States, frankly,” Lewis asserted.
Air Force Research Laboratory chief Maj. Gen. William T. Cooley, in a February interview, took issue with the characterization of some post-X-51 efforts as a virtual repeat of that program.
“I would say that’s not true and largely because of the people,” Cooley averred. “The same scientists and engineers who had been working on the X-51 are continuing to advance our hypersonics portfolio, and so they are well aware … of the data that was collected” on that program. “We’re advancing the ball forward,” he added, saying the X-51 was “a point design …to prove out our understanding and we’re building on that.”
The Pentagon is taking hypersonics much more seriously—budget-wise—than it did in the past. Boeing hypersonics expert Kevin G. Bowcutt, whose experience stretches back to the National Aerospace Plane project of the early 1980s, said in an interview that Pentagon funding for hypersonics after NASP “has had an oscillatory funding profile,” going up and down between $50 and $100 million a year. In Fiscal 2017, the Defense Department funded hypersonics to the tune of just $85.5 million, and that rose to $108.6 million in Fiscal 2018, but exploded to $256.7 million in the 2019 budget request. Congress has indicated its willingness to support that figure, and even add to it.
“This may be a ‘Sputnik moment,’ ” Bowcutt said of the sudden turnaround in both interest and financial support of hypersonics, driven by the prospect of being behind China and maybe Russia.
Boeing illustration showing first-generation conceptual design of a reusable hypersonic aircraft. Illustration: Boeing
ACRONYM MENAGERIE
The Air Force has been working with DARPA for several years on two hypersonic projects. One is the Hypersonic Air-breathing Weapon Concept, or HAWC, and the other is the Tactical Boost-Glide program, or TBG. The Air Force chose Lockheed Martin and Raytheon to develop its HAWC concept, while Lockheed is the prime contractor for TBG.
Additionally, the Air Force is launching two new prototyping efforts in the Fiscal 2019 budget, with $260 million: the Air-Launched Rapid Response Weapon, or ARRW, and the Hypersonic Conventional Strike Weapon, HCSW, which USAF pronounces as “Hacksaw.” The service awarded Lockheed Martin the HCSW contract in late April; it has an ultimate value of $928 million.
Steven H. Walker, head of DARPA, told reporters in March the renaissance in hypersonics funding has been gelling for several years. He said he pitched former Deputy Defense Secretary Robert O. Work a “National Hypersonics Initiative,” which Work largely supported.
“We did receive a budget increase at DARPA and in some of the services to do more in hypersonics,” Walker said. “I don’t think we got everything” the agency asked for, “but it’s a good first step.”
The funding will underwrite studying “what we want to do with these systems, how effective they can be, how affordable we can make them, and how feasible is the propulsion system, and the maneuverability and the materials that we bring to the table.”
Walker said protoypes will “start flying in 2019.” DARPA is also beginning a new program with the Army, called “Operational Fires,” aimed at increasing the range of some of the Army’s ground-launched missiles.
He said the Air Force’s time line for an operational prototype of a boost-glide system is “in the ’22-’23 time period, so it’s close.”
Walker also noted that DARPA is working with NASA on a program called the Advanced Full Range Engine (AFRE), which “is basically developing the combined-cycle propulsion system you would need for a reusable platform. And we’re making good progress.” The AFRE was originally planned to power a project called “Blackswift;” one of those projects that was terminated over the last half-decade.
The AFRE program is only planned for ground tests in the NASA Glenn “10 X 10” wind tunnel in Ohio, Walker said. It will, however, take an “off-the-shelf turbine engine, combining it with a scramjet” and get it up to a speed representative of Mach 2. The scramjet would then take over, and “having that overlap … you can actually take off like an airplane, fly up to Mach 6, do your mission, then come back down, and do it again.” DARPA awarded Orbital ATK (now part of Northrop Grumman) an AFRE contract in January.
FLIGHT TESTS NEEDED
Air Force Materiel Command chief Gen. Ellen M. Pawlikowski told reporters in May that investments are being made in new wind tunnels at Arnold Engineering and Development Center in Tennessee “to bolster our hypersonics capability.” NASA has been involved in this work as well, she said, as has the Test Range Management Center, so it’s “a whole community involvement in this.”
The work done is “revitalization of some facilities that we haven’t used in a while, bringing them up to speed,” and this is “critical to being able to reduce the demand on flight tests” which are far more expensive than ground tests, Pawlikowski said. It’s also “much harder to control the environment” in a flight test, so the ground facilities investment will help the US “build better models” and “enable us to get to ground truth data … faster.”
Flight testing, though, is essential. Friction and airflow separation are tricky problems to solve, and in the real world, computer simulation code “tends to break down. They become more guesses than actual reality,” Walker said, so in hypersonics, “you’ve really got to fly.”
Air-launching prototypes from test aircraft such as the B-52 allows quicker and cheaper testing than putting the test vehicles on “big ballistic rockets” launched from the ground, he said.
As to whether the US will develop a large, reusable hypersonic platform capable of serving as an ISR craft or an attack vehicle, Walker said, “If I have anything to do with it, we will have a program.”
Lockheed Martin made news in 2013 when it announced it was working on such a platform, which it dubbed the “SR-72,” touting it as an unmanned successor to the SR-71 spyplane that could be more responsive to pop-up ISR needs than a satellite. Earlier this year, Lockheed Vice President of Strategy and Customer Requirements Jack O’Banion made news when, at an American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) forum, he showed a picture of the SR-72, and said that without recent digital modeling capabilities, “the aircraft you see there could not have been made.” Asked for clarification—whether Lockheed has really built, past tense, an SR-72—the company would only say the concept is a “far term solution that will be made possible by the pathfinding work we are doing today.”
Boeing, which built the X-51 with Rocketdyne, lost out to Lockheed and Raytheon on the HAWC, but made news in January, showing its own futuristic ISR platform at an AIAA event. Bowcutt, in an interview, said the concept would be about the same size as the SR-71, but a scaled-down version about the size of an F-16 could prove out the concept.
Bowcutt described it as “the smallest, lightest reusable hypersonic vehicle we could design,” because there was no evidence the Pentagon was prepared to spend “a couple of billion dollars” on a full-up reusable hypersonic platform. It has been financed so far with some government seed money and Boeing’s own independent research and development funds.
He explained that the vehicle can be scaled up, because hypersonic combustion “is actually easier at large scale.” The secret lies in managing the “the amount of time the flow is resident in the engine or flameholder. And as you scale up, the time is higher; the speed of the air is the same, but it’s larger, so [air and fuel] is inside the engine and engine components for a longer period of time.”
The concept Boeing showed was notional. Its true inlet configuration was concealed for secrecy, Bowcutt said. It was inspired by the inlet configuration of the XB-70 Valkyrie, a supersonic bomber concept of the 1960s built by Rockwell, now part of Boeing. The platform as of late May had not been given an official name, but Bowcutt said that with proper funding, the combined cycle project could yield an ISR platform “in 10 years; call it the 2030 time frame.”
NOT NECESSARILY EXPENSIVE
Lewis said it’s probably a misnomer that hypersonic systems are necessarily very expensive. “If I’ve got a weapon that costs me twice as much, but it’s five times more effective, then I’m ahead of the game,” he said. However, even without that calculus, the idea that hypersonics equals high cost is “flawed.”
Yes, he said, “the materials are exotic. Yes, there’s an up-front [cost] that has to be amortized. But there are fewer moving parts in a hypersonic system; even in an air-breathing engine” because “it doesn’t have rotating turbomachinery onboard.” A hypersonic engine is mostly a carefully contrived space in which shockwaves and fuel injection do the work that, at lower speeds, must be done with fan blades and rotors. Hypersonics should be an affordable technology once producibility has been worked out and the “legwork” done, Lewis insisted.
Asked to place the international competitors in order of progress, Lewis said China is unquestionably in the lead in hypersonics.
“I think it’s an absolutely true statement that in terms of practical, fieldable systems, we are behind … by every metric I can construct,” Lewis said. This is true whether it’s in test facilities, projects, or even published papers (although the US is classifying many of the papers written in the US).
As for Russia, “it’s a little more complicated,” Lewis said. Russia and China “seem to have different emphases.” The Russians, he said, “keep talking about defeating our missile defense system,” but “our missile defense system isn’t aimed at them.”
TAILOR-MADE FOR CHINA
China’s interests, though, “are more tangible and practical. If I were looking to defend my territory—what I think of as my territory, my sphere of influence—hypersonic systems make a lot of sense.” Lewis added that hypersonics “factors very nicely” into China’s island-building campaign and expanding its outer defense line.
While China is probably not afraid “of the US Army, it probably does fear the US Air Force and Navy,” Lewis asserted. “If I wanted to hold the Air Force … and the Navy at risk, I’d have a hard time coming up with a better solution than hypersonic weapons.”
Lewis offered “a glimmer of hope” that the US can still come from behind and win the hypersonics arms race, however.
“I have yet to see a single concept or breakthrough from either Russia or China that I would consider to be seminal in any way. We still own the intellectual leadership in this area,” Lewis said. “Now, I don’t know how much longer we will, but if you look at all the creative ideas—everything from fundamental understanding of the field to the development of the field … the real intellectual heavy lifting …that’s all us, that’s all US.”
Other countries have simply “taken the ball and run with it,” he added.
However, he said countries pursuing new technologies are a lot like college students. As undergraduates, “they mostly parrot back information,” but as graduate students, “we expect them to think on their own. I tend to think countries follow a similar model. The first thing they do is copy what we’ve done, and then they start coming up with their own creative ideas.”
In his February speech, Griffin said he’s not interested in regaining “parity” with America’s hypersonics competitors. “I want to ‘see and raise’ them,” he said, achieving deterrence by restoring America’s ability to surprise and take the initiative. Acknowledging that there are still some who question whether hypersonics is indeed important or the Pentagon’s top priority, he said, “anyone who doesn’t see it that way, … I have no time for you.” He added that Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis and Shanahan agree with him, and, “I don’t care about people who can’t overrule me.”
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Bay Area Sees Patchwork Recovery from Housing Crash
The Bay Area’s recovery from the housing crash is proceeding ZIP code by ZIP code, with only a few upscale communities nearing the values they saw before the bubble popped five years ago.
It may take another three to five years for the entire region to return to a healthy housing market, one that sees prices go up every year in most areas, and has far fewer foreclosures.
According to an analysis by this newspaper of home values by ZIP code, with higher priced homes, such as the core of Silicon Valley and parts of San Francisco, have recovered much of the home equity lost in the crash. The data is for all types of homes: single-family, condos and townhouses. But neighborhoods with low-cost homes, especially those in parts of Alameda and Contra Costa counties, are still far below peak values, hurt by the waves of foreclosures that struck those areas.
The analysis of ZIP code data supplied by the online real estate site Zillow used April 2006 as the approximate peak in Bay Area home values, although different communities reached their highest levels a bit before or after that. After that, values gradually declined until crashing in late 2007.
“In the Bay Area, it’s incredibly sensitive to where you are,” said Richard K. Green, director of the Lusk Center for Real Estate at the University of Southern California. “Places like Atherton and Palo Alto are just crazy. San Francisco is not all the way back, but it’s getting there. Oakland is still dead.”
Of the 204 Bay Area ZIP codes analyzed, the median loss in value from the peak stands at 30 percent. The top 10 best performing ZIP codes were in Silicon Valley. The bottom 10 were in Alameda and Contra Costa counties.
“It comes down to whether these are areas with a lot of unemployment or a lot of jobs,” said Svenja Gudell, senior economist at Zillow. “Is there a lot of negative equity and an oversupply of homes? That will put downward pressure on prices.”
The good news is that real estate agents say those low prices are beginning to attract buyers.
Cheryl and Ken Mensing bought their first house this month after 28 years in a mobile home. There were nine bids on the 4-bedroom, 2-bath foreclosure in the Santa Teresa area of San Jose listed at $429,000. The couple won with a bid of $442,000.
Mensing said she and her husband saw prices edging up and decided that the stars were aligned for “a leap of faith” into the housing market.
“The prices finally came into where we could actually afford them and get into the market,” she said. “The interest rates were so low, so we thought this is the time — now or never. We just closed our eyes and jumped.”
Their agent, Eric Sjoberg of Century 21 in San Jose, said he thinks the South Bay is “past the tipping point. I’m starting to see increasing values incrementally in many, many of our markets.”
But while one neighborhood may be on the road to recovery, others in the same city may still be struggling. The variation between neighborhoods is evident in San Jose, where one ZIP code (95116) bordering the city’s east side had home values in February that were still 52 percent below the Bay Area’s peak in April 2006, while another (95129) in West San Jose was only 11 percent under.
To the north, in the upscale areas from Mountain View to Menlo Park, two Los Altos ZIP codes (94022 and 94024) are 5.6 and 3.7 percent below their highest point. One ZIP (94306) in Palo Alto is back at its peak. Parts of San Francisco are within 15 percent or less of their highest values before the bubble burst.
“There are two things going on,” said Jed Kolko, economist with Trulia, an online real estate company. “There has been stronger job growth in San Francisco and in some of the areas with a lot of high-tech jobs. But more importantly, these are areas that didn’t see the overbuilding during the boom.”
The East Bay is more challenged, especially eastern Contra Costa County. One Antioch ZIP code (94531), for example, is 64 percent below its high point. But Lafayette (94549) has regained all but 23 percent of the value it lost in the housing crash.
Mary Chatton Brown, an agent with Prudential California Realty in Orinda, said she has one client doing a short sale and another facing foreclosure. She recently sold a home that fetched a price below its appraisal.
“I have been in business quite a number of years, and I have been through a lot, but never like this,” she said. “This is very unique. That’s why everybody’s walking around thinking, what’s going to happen? When are we going to get through it?”
Not for a few more years, according to Home Value Forecast, which provides analysis and forecasts of the housing market.
“In general, the Bay Area’s held up better than other hard-hit markets around the country,” said Michael Sklarz, president of Collateral Analytics and contributing author of Home Value Forecast.
“We think the market’s hit bottom and we’re in the midst of a gradual recovery which will start accelerating over the next three to five years,” Sklarz said. “What people don’t understand about real estate markets is they are very long drawn-out cycles.”
Homebuilders are seeing signs of a modest recovery in some parts of the Bay Area, and are launching new single-family and condo developments. The San Jose metro area is back to its typical level of home building, according to Trulia.
“We think the recovery’s going to be ZIP code by ZIP code,” said Michael Maples, co-founder of Trumark Homes in Danville. Trumark is starting one single-family home development in San Jose this summer, and two in Sunnyvale later in the year, for a total of nearly 250 single-family homes and townhouses.
In anticipation of the recovery, Toll Brothers’ Northern California Division has been acquiring single-family lots over the past year — 24 east of Walnut Creek, 71 in Brisbane, and 51 in Sunnyvale.
“We do feel a little bit better about the market,” said Gary Mayo, Northern California group president of the national homebuilder. “There are people sitting on the fence not wanting to make that major investment until they can see some positive signs in the economy. We see those signs all over the Bay Area.”
Also investing in the housing market is San Francisco-based 643 Capital Management, which owns 600 foreclosed houses in the Bay Area and plans to buy more. Gregor Watson, the fund’s co-founder and managing partner, said he expects “modest appreciation for four or five years. There’s light at the end of the tunnel, but that may be a long tunnel,” he said.
At least some builders are counting on tech workers to help spur the housing recovery.
“My hope is the tech boom that’s creating all these jobs will spill over into the rest of the nine-county Bay Area,” said Doug Bauer of TRI Pointe, which plans to open a luxury home development in the San Jose foothills this month. “As prices of homes become too expensive for somebody making $80,000 a year, they’re going to have to head back into Contra Costa County. It’s like we repeat ourselves every 10 years.”
Contact Pete Carey at 408-920-5419.
Reposted from MercuryNews.com.
GTIS Partners and 643 Capital Management Announce Launch of StreetLane Homes; Emerges as Top-10 Vertically-Integrated Provider of Single-Family Rentals to Millennial Marketplace
Look Who’s Driving the U.S. Housing Market
This Startup Is Changing The Way People Invest In Single Family Homes
Oakland startup raises $20 million to trade houses like stock
Copyright ©2012 643 Capital Management. All Rights Reserved.
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Position ID: Duke University Medical Center-HIV & Addictions Research Program-POSTDOC1 [#13232]
Position Title: Postdoctoral Associate
Position Type: Postdoctoral
Position Location: Durham, North Carolina 27707, United States
Subject Area: Psychology / Cognitive Neuroscience
Appl Deadline: (posted 2019/02/04, listed until 2019/08/04)
Occupational Summary The HIV and Addictions Research Program (HARP), directed by Dr. Christina Meade, is seeking a full-time postdoctoral fellow with a strong background in cognitive neuroscience and MRI data analysis. Our team seeks to understand how drug addiction and HIV infection together impact the brain, and in turn affect neurocognitive functioning. With a recently funded R01 to conduct multi-modal data fusion analyses on an existing MRI dataset (resting state fMRI, diffusion tensor imaging, and high-resolution structural scanning), we are seeking a postdoctoral fellow to make significant contributions to data analysis and manuscript writing. The postdoctoral fellow will also be responsible for assisting with data collection and management of two ongoing clinical studies that include multi-modal MRI. This position is ideal for individuals interested in pursuing an independent research career in an academic setting, and the fellow will be supported in the pursuit of independent funding (e.g., NRSA fellowship, K Award).
Work Performed Responsibilities will include: processing and analysis of multi-modal MRI data; MRI data management for studies in active data collection; manuscript writing; and some administrative tasks, such as assistant preparing NIH progress reports. The position entails planning, executing, and troubleshooting analyses with minimal supervision on a daily basis. The opportunity for first-author manuscripts exists, and publication will be encouraged.
Education & Experience Doctoral degree with training in neuroimaging (data acquisition, management, and analysis) is required. Interest in HIV and/or drug addiction is ideal. Experience with patient-oriented research is preferred.
Key Skills Successful applicants must be motivated, reliable, and mature, able to multi-task and learn new tasks quickly, and have strong interpersonal, organizational, and communication skills (both verbal and written). The fellow is expected to conduct MRI data processing and analyses independently, including the programming and implementation of automated scripts. Strong programming skills are required. Experience with MRI experimental design and data acquisition is desirable. Ideal software knowledge includes FSL, MATLAB, linus, and statistical packages such as SPSS. The fellow is expected to work both independently and as part of our active research team.
The proposed start date is spring or summer 2019. Review of applications will begin immediately and will continue until the position is filled. The initial appointment will be for 1 year, with additional funding conditional upon satisfactory performance. Salary is commensurate with NIH guidelines and applicant experience.
To apply, please send a CV, statement of interest, relevant manuscripts, and names of three references to christina.meade@duke.edu.
Duke is committed to encouraging and sustaining work and learning environments that are free from harassment and prohibited discrimination. Duke prohibits discrimination and harassment in the administration of both its employment and educational policies. Duke University is an Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity Employer committed to providing employment opportunity without regard to an individual's age, color, disability, genetic information, gender, gender expression, gender identity, national origin, race, religion, sex, sexual orientation, or veteran status. Duke also makes good faith efforts to recruit, hire, and promote qualified women, minorities, individuals with disabilities, and veterans.
This employer is not accepting applications for this position through AcademicJobsOnline.Org. Please see the job description above on how to apply.
Postal Mail:
905 W. Main St., Suite 24-E
Web Page: https://sites.duke.edu/harp/
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The Best Work I Saw at Photolucida: Part 2
Jonathan Blaustein - July 12, 2019 - Photography Festival, Portfolio Review
I started reading photo blogs in 2008.
The curator Charlotte Cotton told me about a website she’d created at LACMA, called Words without Pictures.
She’d invited photo-world-types to participate, and as I perused their bios, I learned about some of the people who were blogging already.
Andy Adams’ Flak Photo was listed, and Jörg Colberg’s Conscientious came up as well.
So I started there, and through Jörg’s then-coveted blogroll, I began to follow certain other people, learning about their lives and art.
Blake Andrews had a blog back then, as did our Rob Haggart, and Bryan Formhals. (Brian Ulrich too.) It wasn’t just men, though, as I remember blogs by Elizabeth Fleming and Liz Kuball, among others.
I joined the club in 2009, with a little collaborative blog based in New Mexico called Flash Flood. (We had to change the name when a weirdo in Boston threatened to sue us.)
Regardless, it was a world of ideas and opinions, in a much longer form than the social media that would soon replace it. But blogs were cool enough that big players, like Time Magazine and the New York Times, felt compelled to get in on the game, and both of their offerings have since gone away.
We’re still here, though.
(And we have long memories.)
I mention this, because while I was standing in the middle of the open portfolio walk at Photolucida a few months ago, in the Portland Art Museum, I happened to see Andy Adams, of Flak Photo, talking to a guy who I soon realized was Blake Andrews.
As I approached and said Hello, (Andy and I go way back,) we formed a triangle of old-school, white-guy-photo-bloggers that had historical weight.
Immediately, I challenged Blake, (whom I’d never met,) for some of the difficult, troll-ish comments he used to leave here in the column, in the years when such ball-busting and strife were common.
He was surprised that I remembered, and even more surprised and offended that it was the first thing I brought up when we met.
I was mostly teasing, and laughing about it too, but at the same time, it was nostalgic. Ten years starts to feel like a long time, and the internet and the way we communicate are so different from the way they were.
The festivals have stuck around, in much the same format, though, and it’s because they work so well.
Photolucida, which might benefit from being biennial, really does take over part of the city, and has massive participation from locals and the out-of-towners who fly in. Between their association with the Portland Art Museum, and the legendary Blue Sky Gallery, having parties at such places makes the official events feel more special.
(And remember, I go to a lot of these.)
I think I ruffled Blake’s feathers, for reminding him of the all times he gave me grief back in the day, but I really was just joking around, and after reminding him of that, I excused myself.
As it happened, I saw a colleague who’d staked out a good spot to chill, and after we talked for an hour or so, he invited me to join him and another colleague at a Death Metal concert the next night.
A big part of my job lately has been to live through cool things so I can write about them, (like a proper travel writer,) so I immediately said yes, and was excited for a new opportunity.
Then I went home, went to bed, reviewed 12 portfolios the next day, went to a fun reviewer party at a local brew-pub, and then it was time to go.
The bar was called Dante’s, and yes, it was reminiscent of Hell. (But in a good way?) From the second we got within 100 feet of the place, I knew I was in for something new.
It was just so fucking loud.
My companions offered me ear plugs, which were beyond necessary, and I put them in with gusto.
Inside Dante’s.
Honestly, this entire sub-culture seemed to revolve around ear plugs, and not being able to hear shit, because I watched the ease with which the bouncers used hand signals, instead of talking.
I’m still not entirely sure if this was Death Metal or Hardcore, because a music-nerd friend insisted it was the latter.
I get that, as I could see a lot of California punk in the band’s movements. (Like the Red Hot Chili Peppers on meth.)
We were there to see “Integrity,” which came out of the Baltimore-DC 90’s hardcore scene, I was told, and the lead singer may now live in Belgium, and he may be a Satan Worshipper.
I’m not clear on the latter, (as I heard it both ways,) and the truth is, I spent a bunch of time on the patio, smoking weed, talking to people, and soaking up the difference.
Were there a lot of scary-looking, big, white-supremacist-type people?
You bet there were.
And then, all of a sudden, the crowd parted like one of Moses’ tricks, and I saw the shaved-headed, scary-looking-white-guy-bouncers taking out a bunch of fighting, skin-head-looking dudes.
I turned to my colleague and said, “How much you want to bet those guys were white supremacists?”
“They were totally white supremacists,” he replied.
So a few minutes later, once things had calmed down, I asked one of the bouncers.
“No, they weren’t white supremacists,” he said. “They’re the guys that fight the white supremacists. This was two different gangs that fight white supremacists, and they don’t like each other.”
“Like Antifa?” I asked?
“No,” he said. “Not at all. Antifa is a whole different crowd.”
“Fair enough,” I said, and walked back to my companions.
At the end of the night, I bought a drink for the Integrity guitarist, and after that last shot, I started chatting up the security again.
One guy looked genuinely menacing, and ready to blow.
He was so fired up.
“I can’t believe those assholes came into my house and fucked with my guys. I can’t believe it! They should know better. I’ve got enough guns downstairs for each of my guys to have two a piece. I’m going to go out and find those fuckers. I know where they hang out. And I’m gonna fuck them up.”
At that point, I realized it might be a good time for me to leave.
I promised you guys that weird shit happened in Portland, and now I hope you believe me.
But my main reason for being there was to view portfolios and share them with you here.
So let’s get to it.
The artists, as usual, are in no particular order, but these portfolios represent some of the Best Work I saw at Photolucida.
I’m going to start with Caren Winnall, because in my mind, she represents the best case scenario from what can come from the portfolio review process.
We first met at Filter in Chicago a few years ago, as she was beginning on her fine art photography adventure. Her work was fairly rudimentary, but she told me she’d had success in her first career in finance, and was dealing with grief from heavy loss.
I chose to focus on the few things that were working well in her images, (her use of the color red in particular,) and offered her as much positive reenforcement and empathy as I could.
From there, Caren did workshops, and studied with good people in the photo community, and built the equivalent of a graduate school education, a bit a time. (I believe we met one more time, as her work evolved, but my brain is too fried to be sure.)
Fast forward to April, and the same woman came to my table, showing me nakedly raw, honest, heartfelt self-portraits, made with a sharp lens, a high resolution camera, and significantly improved skills.
These images were so striking, for me, and her improvement so remarkable, that I’m pretty sure I teared up a bit. (I did, right Caren?) I’m certain you’ll love them.
To break that tension, next, we’ll look at Ira Wagner’s images, as he too was a late-in-life career shift artist. Ira went back to school and got his MFA at Hartford, so now he’s teaching in my old stomping grounds at Monmouth University in Long Branch, at the Jersey Shore.
(Ira, did you eat at Rockafellers yet?)
These photographs were made of twin houses in the greater Philly area, and represent a little sociological look into the human condition.
These double-row houses force people to share space, and the way they choose to utilize it differently is obviously visually engaging, but also allows us to think about our own personal taste and foibles.
Heather Binns had one of the most interesting personal narratives I heard, with respect to the origin of her project. Apparently, she moved to the Portland area a while back, and only then found that her Great-Grandmother had lived and died there.
She discovered that her ancestor was buried in a massive mausoleum, and went for a visit. Only then did she learn about the massive facility, in which so many people’s corpses were laid to rest, above ground. (It’s 8 floors, with 7 miles of corridors, and contains 70-75,000 dead people.)
So she began spending time there, photographing the oddity. Maybe we should have saved this one for a Halloween article, but of course the images are lovely, rather than creepy.
Now that I think about it, perhaps Sam Scoggins had the wildest story. Sam’s an Englishman, from Bristol, who was trained as a filmmaker, but now lives in Upstate New York.
A few years ago, he got turned on to a weirdo-bar scene in his local area, and thought it was interesting. When I asked him about how his work fit, in a world where insider visions are so heavily favored over outsider stories, he had quite the answer.
Apparently, a recent medical condition had changed his sexuality. His preferences were different, his self-identification was different, and he shared that this community had completely embraced him as one of their own, even if he didn’t look the same as they do.
Cecilia Borgenstam was one of the photographers I alluded to, in earlier pieces, as she showed me these images shot in Golden Gate Park in San Francisco.
Cecilia is Swedish, originally, is art school trained, and runs with the Richard Misrach crew. So when I first saw them, I kind of assumed that they were sculptural-type images, in which she’d manipulated the scene.
With the sad, almost Nordic light, I slowly began to wonder if they weren’t artful documents, which in fact they are. Given the homeless problem in the city, (of which I’ve written many times before,) these images reflect relics of people sleeping out, unexposed, living in this micro-version of nature in a now unaffordable city.
She admitted she’d gotten a hard time, as some folks believe you can’t photograph such things unless you’re homeless yourself. (But can still afford a camera?) I felt that the tragic tone of the pictures spoke volumes, and were more likely to create empathy in others. (And Cecilia stressed that whenever she sells work, a portion of the proceeds are donated to the Larkin Street Youth Services.)
We’ll end with Philip Sager, if for no other reason than it keeps the San Francisco connection alive. (And I’ll be there in a couple of weeks, so it’s on my mind at the moment.)
With all these insane personal narratives, perhaps Philip’s trumps them all, as like Caren and Ira, he too had a successful first career, (and still does,) as a cardiologist. Why is that so interesting, you may ask?
Because one night in the event, I heard and saw an ambulance come screaming up the Benson Hotel. I looked down from my window, and then thought, “It’s a huge hotel. What are the odds it’s someone I know?”
And then I went to bed.
Turns out, Ann Jastrab, a friend and colleague, had an allergic reaction, and almost died. Then, the hospital sent her home prematurely, she almost died again, and was only saved by Dr. Philip’s brave and timely intervention. (He’s one of Ann’s students.)
As to the photographs, Philip also has built up his education, step by step, and showed me work of reflection images in SF. While it’s normally a trope I’d recommend avoiding, in a Post-Lee-Friedlander world, these are so lovely.
The way they capture the architecture and vibe of SF, (beautiful but with visible grit,) reminded me that it’s possible to breathe new life into almost any trope.
It’s just really hard to do.
Jonathan Blaustein
Homepage » Photography Festival » The Best Work I Saw at Photolucida: Part 2
There Are 2 Comments On This Article.
Stan B.
on July 12, 2019 12:23:43
A lotta good stuff here- but those twin houses are classic Dynamite! Hope there’s a book…
Orestes G
Awesome entry today!
Keep ‘em coming
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RICK WARREN, ISLAM, AND JIM HINCH
By Ken Silva pastor-teacher on Feb 27, 2012 in AM Missives, Current Issues, Features, Rick Warren, Southern Baptist Convention
Apprising Ministries has long been a leading critic of the semi-pelagian (at best) doctrine of Southern Baptist megachurch pastor Rick Warren.
In articles like Rick Warren And Teachings Of Demons I’ve also clearly documented his sinful ecumenicism as well.
Of course that’s merely one of the fruits within apostatizing evangelicalism because of its foolish fascination with corrupt Contemplative Spirituality/Mysticism.
Now I point you to a developing story followed by some contributors of the Christian Research Network concerning Rick Warren and a report by free lance writer jim Hinch in the Orange County Register .
CRN contributor Christine Pack tells us in Controversy Over An Article About Rick Warren’s Efforts to Bring Muslims, Christians Together:
According to our article posted just a few hours ago, Rick Warren, megachurch pastor of Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, CA, is currently working to build a “bridge” (through a document called “King’s Way”) between Christians and Muslims by claiming that the two faiths worship the same God.The “King’s Way” document, which is the foundation for these bridge building efforts, is not yet publicly available, but a December 2011 meeting at Saddleback Church has been documented here. From the article by Jim Hinch of the Orange County Register:
“The Rev. Rick Warren, pastor of Saddleback Church in Lake Forest and one of America’s most influential Christian leaders, has embarked on an effort to heal divisions between evangelical Christians and Muslims by partnering with Southern California mosques and proposing a set of theological principles that includes acknowledging that Christians and Muslims worship the same God.” (online source)
Warren then appears in the comments section of Hinch’s report with a rather nebulous comment about apparent misinformation allegedly put out by Hinch:
Hinch would later respond assuring us his story is factual:
Then CRN contributor Erin Benziger pointed out in “Historic Interfaith Document” was “One Year in the Making” that:
As stated in yesterday’s post, Rick Warren Builds Bridge to Muslims, while Islam may bow to one god, and Christianity serves one God, these two are not the same God. As was also mentioned yesterday on this blog, the idea of “love God, love your neighbor” is not the Gospel, it is the Law. Indeed, as emphasized above, this recent step taken by Saddleback Church does reveal “the new theological position of Saddleback.” Yet, can it really be said that this is a new position? After all, did not Rick Warren stand before a room of Muslims in 2009 and declare:
You know that obviously as an evangelical pastor, my deepest faith is in Jesus Christ. But you also need to know that I am committed not just what I call the “Good News,” but I am committed to the common good. And as the Scripture says “Love your neighbor as yourself.” I am commanded to love and I am commanded to respect everybody. Everybody. Now I was asked to speak to you about how Muslims and Christians can work closer together for the greater good, in our world. And I will tell you that I am not interested in interfaith dialogue, I am interested in interfaith projects. There is a big difference. Talk is very cheap. And you can talk and talk and talk and not get anything done. Love is something you do. It is something that we do together. Love is a verb. Now as the two largest faiths on this planet, Muslims and Christians, we must lead in this. We must lead. With over one billion Muslims, and over 2 billion Christians, together, as half the world, we have to do something, about modeling what it means to live in peace, to live in harmony. (Online Source)
Sadly, Rick Warren is not only deceiving millions, but he appears to be deceiving himself as well. (Online source)
Stay tuned as there sure seems to be more to the story and we’re still investigating it. In closing this, for now, I got off the phone with Jim Hinch just before this writing and he told me that Warren’s comment has been taken down. At this time we don’t know how it disappeared.
Keep in mind here that Jim Hinch is a veteran journalist and I found him to be quite friendly and forthright. I saw no reason to doubt him when he reiterated he had talked with Saddleback associate senior pastor Tom Holladay and thoroughly checked his facts.
Jim also added the following as well clarifying his Rick Warren builds bridge to Muslims:
I do have a copy of the [King’s Way] document but it was given to me by a source who asked that it not be published. The five-page document lays out three areas of agreement, including shared aspects of Christian and Muslim belief and a commitment to work together on community service projects.
The part about shared areas of belief states “we believe in one God” and enumerates several characteristics of God common to both faiths, including that God created the world, is good, etc. The document does not address beliefs about Jesus, which is a major difference between Islam and Christianity.
I talked to sources both at Saddleback and in the Muslim community and all of them described the mutual outreach efforts and the attempt to find points of theological common ground. While reporting the story I asked to speak to Rick Warren but was told he was too busy for an interview.
I have no reason to think Warren hasn’t seen the King’s Way document. I’ve discussed the document with his head of communications, with one of his top senior pastors and (briefly by e-mail) with the pastor in charge of interfaith outreach, who co-authored the document.
The story makes clear that no one involved in this outreach effort, either at Saddleback or in the Muslim community, is proposing a merger of the two faiths or agreeing to disregard areas where the faiths diverge. Both sides acknowledge that differences remain between them.
But they have agreed not to focus on those differences for the purpose of reducing hostility between the two faiths and finding ways to work together on projects that benefit the community. No one at Saddleback used the words “same God” in an interview.
A Saddleback representative contacted me to ask for a clarification to the story. Rather than “Christians and Muslims worship the same God” they would like the story to read “Christians and Muslims believe God is one.” I’m not sure I see the difference but I think editors are prepared to make the clarification.
The bottom line now is that Rick Warren needs to publicly make clear what his stance is concerning this issue. Does he believe Christians and Muslims believe in the same God? That is a common position among many missionaries within the Church Growth Movement.
However, Rick Warren vaguely implying Jim Hinch is in error and not telling us where specifically is only fanning the flames around this issue. I’m grateful that Hinch covered this story and for his willingness to dialogue with me on the phone today to further clarify his report.
We also remember Rick Warren signed A Christian Response to ‘A Common Word Between Us and You’ , which appeared to me to imply that Christianity and Islam believe in the same God:
(Online source)
Being that Rick Warren was trained by Peter Drucker and Leadership Network he is versed in leadership double speak. This is why I find myself in agreement with Tony Miano about Warren being an
Evangelocham:
I’ve watched interviews of and read works and comments by Rick Warren for two decades. And what I’ve discovered over that course of time is that Rick Warren is a chameleon. And I believe he is one of the most dangerous men in Christendom, today.
Plastic pastors transparent enough to see through, like Joel Osteen, are not as dangerous as Rick Warren. Modalistic moguls of the painfully-obvious-money-hungry prosperity movement, like T.D. Jakes, are not as dangerous as Rick Warren. Self-serving sorcerers of the false signs and wonders movement, like Todd Bentley, are not as dangerous as Rick Warren.
No. None of the before-mentioned personalities or groups are all that dangerous because what you see is what you get. They all lack the ability to change their appearance to accommodate a change in environment. They lack the chameleon-like ability, the self-serving ability, to say what needs to be said in order to keep people in every camp liking them.
Rick Warren is a chameleon. Over the years he has shown, time and time again, his uncanny ability to say what will please his audience at the moment–secular news anchors and pundits, the masses at the request of a president who knows neither the Christ nor His Word, the leaders of false religions around the world, and sadly, even well-respected leaders of the real Christian community. (Online source)
JOHN PIPER, RICK WARREN & FOSTER-WILLARDISM
MARK DRISCOLL, ACTS 29 NETWORK, AND RICK WARREN
JAMES ROBISON AND RICK WARREN WORKING TO REVERSE THE PROTESTANT REFORMATION
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» babble » current events » national news » Canada, U.S. agree to use each other's troops in civil emergencies
Author Topic: Canada, U.S. agree to use each other's troops in civil emergencies
bigcitygal
Every time I think the Harper government can't surprise me I hear about something like this.
Canada and the U.S. have signed an agreement that paves the way for the militaries from either nation to send troops across each other's borders during an emergency, but some are questioning why the Harper government has kept silent on the deal.
Neither the Canadian government nor the Canadian Forces announced the new agreement, which was signed Feb. 14 in Texas.
The U.S. military's Northern Command, however, publicized the agreement with a statement outlining how its top officer, Gen. Gene Renuart, and Canadian Lt.-Gen. Marc Dumais, head of Canada Command, signed the plan, which allows the military from one nation to support the armed forces of the other nation during a civil emergency.
The new agreement has been greeted with suspicion by the left wing in Canada and the right wing in the U.S.
The left-leaning Council of Canadians, which is campaigning against what it calls the increasing integration of the U.S. and Canadian militaries, is raising concerns about the deal.
"It's kind of a trend when it comes to issues of Canada-U.S. relations and contentious issues like military integration. We see that this government is reluctant to disclose information to Canadians that is readily available on American and Mexican websites," said Stuart Trew, a researcher with the Council of Canadians.
Trew said there is potential for the agreement to militarize civilian responses to emergency incidents. He noted that work is also underway for the two nations to put in place a joint plan to protect common infrastructure such as roadways and oil pipelines.
"Are we going to see (U.S.) troops on our soil for minor potential threats to a pipeline or a road?" he asked.
Trew also noted the U.S. military does not allow its soldiers to operate under foreign command so there are questions about who controls American forces if they are requested for service in Canada. "We don't know the answers because the government doesn't want to even announce the plan," he said.
But Canada Command spokesman Commander David Scanlon said it will be up to civilian authorities in both countries on whether military assistance is requested or even used.
He said the agreement is "benign" and simply sets the stage for military-to-military co-operation if the governments approve.
I feel safer already.
Full story here at canada.com
From: It's difficult to work in a group when you're omnipotent - Q | Registered: Apr 2005 | IP: Logged
Lard Tunderin' Jeezus
I believe this is the fifth thread on the topic.
And I believe this was the first.
From: ... | Registered: Aug 2001 | IP: Logged
Damn it! Thanks LTJ.
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American Football Club
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There are three teams of Florida for National Football League (NFL) they are Miami Dolphins, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and Jacksonville Jaguars. In 1966, Florida gained its first permanent major league professional sports team when the American Football League added the Miami Dolphins. Then in 1970, Miami Dolphins Joined the National Football League when the AFL and NFL merger occurred. Their first Super Bowl appearance in Super Bowl VI but they lost to the Dallas Cowboys.
And by 1976 when the NFL made an expansion The Tampa Bay Buccaneers began to joined. At first, they struggled for losing their first 26 games in a row to set a league record for futility. The third team of Florida that joined NFL is Jacksonville Jaguars in the 1995 season, they play their home games at EverBank Field. The Jacksonville hosted the Super Bowl XXXIX in 2005.
The Miami Dolphins team found by attorney-politician Joe Robbie and actor-comedian Danny Thomas. They the oldest professional sports team of Florida in NFL. In history, the Dolphins were coached by Don Shula, the most successful head coach in professional football history in terms of total games won. The Dolphins is the only team in the division of AFC Eastern team that was not a charter member of the American Football League. The team completed the NFL’s only perfect season culminating in a Super Bowl win, winning all 14 of their regular season games. In the year 1972, the Miami Dolphins accomplish their perfect regular season and were the third team in NFL. They are the first team to appear in three consecutive Super Bowls, and the second team to win back-to-back championships. They also appear in Super Bowl XVII and Super Bowl XIX, losing both games. Head coach Adam Gase.
The franchise team based in Tampa Florida as a member team of National Football Conference South Division. Their first played the season in American Football Conference West division in 1976 as part of the expansion plan. The Bucs switched conference with the Seahawks and became member team of the NFC Central Division. In 2002 during the league realignment, the team joined three former NFC West team to form the NFC South. They are the first team post-merger expansion team to win a division title, win a playoff game, and to host and play in conference championship games. All these three accomplishments occurred during the 1979 season. Also, the first team since the merger to complete a winning season when starting 10 or more rookies in the 2010 season. Head coach Dirk Koetter.
Since they joined NFL, the Jaguars have won division championships in 1998 and 1999 as members of the now-defunct AFC Central. And another division championship 2017 as a member of the AFC South. They have qualified for the playoffs seven times, most recently in 2017 after a ten seasons playoff drought. Since their inception up to 2011, the Jacksonville Jaguars majority owner was Wayne Weaver. Businessman Pakistani born Shahid Kahn purchased the team for an estimated $770 million. The team value estimated by Forbes in 2015 worth $1.48 billion. Head coach Doug Marrone.
ECO-Friendly: Recycled Glass Countertops
Men, it’s time to Trim the Trees (before the game)
How many NFL teams are there in Florida
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Between maintenance and repairs, it would greatly help and keep your cost down if you can do some of the work yourself: Being able to safely tilt the turbine tower up or down will save you money. Understanding how the turbine works, how to stop it safely, how to trouble-shoot at least the minor issues can keep you in the black. We understand that installing a wind turbine is not for everyone. In fact, towers are dangerous, and for a good installation the devil is in the details. An experienced installer can make a real difference in putting up a turbine that will work better, and be more reliable over time. We really encourage you to have a professional installer to do the initial installation. However, throwing up your hands and calling your installer for routine maintenance, or every time there is a minor issue, will likely make you an unhappy wind turbine owner (even if it is your installer’s dream).
As competition in the wind market increases, companies are seeking ways to draw greater efficiency from their designs. One of the predominant ways wind turbines have gained performance is by increasing rotor diameters, and thus blade length. Retrofitting current turbines with larger blades mitigates the need and risks associated with a system-level redesign. As the size of the blade increases, its tendency to deflect also increases. Thus, from a materials perspective, the stiffness-to-weight is of major importance. As the blades need to function over a 100 million load cycles over a period of 20–25 years, the fatigue life of the blade materials is also of utmost importance. By incorporating carbon fiber into parts of existing blade systems, manufacturers may increase the length of the blades without increasing their overall weight. For instance, the spar cap, a structural element of a turbine blade, commonly experiences high tensile loading, making it an ideal candidate to utilize the enhanced tensile properties of carbon fiber in comparison to glass fiber.[47] Higher stiffness and lower density translates to thinner, lighter blades offering equivalent performance. In a 10 (MW) turbine—which will become more common in offshore systems by 2021—blades may reach over 100 m in length and weigh up to 50 metric tons when fabricated out of glass fiber. A switch to carbon fiber in the structural spar of the blade yields weight savings of 20 to 30 percent, or approximately 15 metric tons.[48]
The blades for the wind generator are repurposed from a vehicle fan clutch. To attach the blades to the alternator, you can weld the fan clutch hub directly to the alternator hub — just make certain the fan is perfectly in line with the alternator shaft. Also, make sure the alternator’s built-in wire plug-ins are located on what will be the bottom of the generator. If you don’t have access to a welder, you can connect the fan clutch to the alternator using the following materials:
Solar power panels that use nanotechnology, which can create circuits out of individual silicon molecules, may cost half as much as traditional photovoltaic cells, according to executives and investors involved in developing the products. Nanosolar has secured more than $100 million from investors to build a factory for nanotechnology thin-film solar panels. The company's plant has a planned production capacity of 430 megawatts peak power of solar cells per year. Commercial production started and first panels have been shipped[50] to customers in late 2007.[51]
The conversion of sunlight into electricity is made possible with the special properties of semi-conducting materials. It can be harnessed through a range of ever-evolving technologies like solar heating, photovoltaics, solar thermal energy, solar architecture, molten salt power plants, and artificial photosynthesis. Learn more about solar solutions from IGS Solar.
Home wind turbines are electric generators that convert wind energy into clean, emission-free power. Although most large wind farms exist to power certain towns and communities, there are also smaller wind turbines for homes and homeowners. These smaller turbines can be installed on any part of your property to cover some or even all of your monthly energy needs.
“University of Texas Study Highlights Wind’s Low Cost” • Wind, solar and natural gas have the lowest levelized cost of electricity in the majority of counties across the United States, according to a new report from The University of Texas at Austin’s Energy Institute, part of a series of white papers on the Full Cost of Electricity. [Into the Wind]
The Desert Sunlight Solar Farm is a 550 MW power plant in Riverside County, California, that uses thin-film CdTe-modules made by First Solar.[41] As of November 2014, the 550 megawatt Topaz Solar Farm was the largest photovoltaic power plant in the world. This was surpassed by the 579 MW Solar Star complex. The current largest photovoltaic power station in the world is Longyangxia Dam Solar Park, in Gonghe County, Qinghai, China.
Most current solar power plants are made from an array of similar units where each unit is continuously adjusted, e.g., with some step motors, so that the light converter stays in focus of the sun light. The cost of focusing light on converters such as high-power solar panels, Stirling engine, etc. can be dramatically decreased with a simple and efficient rope mechanics.[55] In this technique many units are connected with a network of ropes so that pulling two or three ropes is sufficient to keep all light converters simultaneously in focus as the direction of the sun changes.
Green Pricing is an optional utility service for customers who want to help expand the production and distribution of renewable energy technologies. With green pricing, you do not have to change your electricity provider. Instead, customers choose to pay a premium on their electricity bill to cover the extra cost of purchasing clean, sustainable energy. As of March 2006, more than 600 utilities, electricity providers in 36 states offer a green pricing option.
A typical home uses approximately 10,932 kilowatt-hours (kWh) of electricity per year (about 911 kWh per month).[1] Depending on the average wind speed in the area, a wind turbine rated in the range of 5 to 15 kW would be required to make a significant contribution to this demand. A 1.5-kW wind turbine will meet the needs of a home requiring 300 kWh per month in a location with a 14 MPH (6.26 meters per second) annual average wind speed.[2] The manufacturer, dealer, or installer can provide you with the expected annual energy output of the turbine as a function of annual average wind speed. The manufacturer will also provide information about any maximum wind speeds at which the turbine is designed to operate safely. Most turbines have automatic overspeed-governing systems to keep the rotor from spinning out of control in extremely high winds.
The use of a gearbox allows for better matching of the generator speed to that of the turbine but the disadvantage of using a gearbox is that as a mechanical component it is subjected to wear and tear reducing the efficiency of the system. Direct drive however may be more simple and efficient, but the generators rotor shaft and bearings are subjected to the full weight and rotational force of the rotor blades.
According to a 2011 projection by the International Energy Agency, solar power generators may produce most of the world's electricity within 50 years, reducing the emissions of greenhouse gases that harm the environment. Cedric Philibert, senior analyst in the renewable energy division at the IEA said: "Photovoltaic and solar-thermal plants may meet most of the world's demand for electricity by 2060 – and half of all energy needs – with wind, hydropower and biomass plants supplying much of the remaining generation". "Photovoltaic and concentrated solar power together can become the major source of electricity", Philibert said.[25]
It all started in Vermont in 1997. Our passion for protecting the environment led us to our mission: to use the power of consumer choice to change the way power is made. Today, as the longest-serving renewable energy retailer, we remain committed to sustainability every step of the way. By offering only products with an environmental benefit and operating with a zero-carbon footprint, we’re living our promise to the planet, inside and out.
You have read this far, and still want to install a wind turbine? Then it is time for a reality check: Most (some would say all) installed small wind turbines do abysmally poor in comparison with their energy production numbers as calculated above. That is the message from a number of studies, usually on behalf of governments that subsidize wind turbines. Do not just take our word for this, read it for yourself:
In 2016, the city bought its way out of a contract providing energy derived from fossil fuels and arranged to get its power from a 97-unit windfarm in Adrian, Texas, about 500 miles away in the Texas Panhandle. Georgetown doesn’t own the farm, but its agreement allowed the owners to get the financing to build it. This spring, Georgetown is adding power from a 154-megawatt solar farm being built by NRG Energy in Fort Stockton, 340 miles to the west of the city.
A solar power tower uses an array of tracking reflectors (heliostats) to concentrate light on a central receiver atop a tower. Power towers can achieve higher (thermal-to-electricity conversion) efficiency than linear tracking CSP schemes and better energy storage capability than dish stirling technologies.[14] The PS10 Solar Power Plant and PS20 solar power plant are examples of this technology.
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The Style Councillors
Fri18Jan
Date 18/01/2019 Venue Dover, The Booking Hall
THE STYLE COUNCILLORS “THE SINGULAR ADVENTURES OF…” TOUR 2019 The Style Councillors will perform the Singles of The Style Council to celebrate the 30th anniversary of their 1989 Greatest Hits Album. The Style Councillors are the world’s one and only tribute to The Style Council. Formed in 2013 by Darren Fletcher (Paul Weller) and Steve Hayes (Mick Talbot), The Style Councillors have quickly built a loyal fanbase for the group which was Paul Weller‘s home for the majority of the 1980’s and where he wrote some of his finest songs. Dani Clay (Dee C. Lee) and Craig Read (Steve White) are joined by the Bad Manners Horn Section and a stellar line up of musicians hell-bent on recreating the sound of The Style Council. In 2019 it will be 30 years since The Style Council split up and released their Greatest Hits collection “The Singular Adventures of The Style Council: Greatest Hits Vol. 1“. The album reached number 3 in the UK Album Chart and featured some of the best loved songs by the band including “You’re The Best Thing”, “Walls Come Tumbling Down”, “My Ever Changing Moods”, “Shout To The Top”, “The Lodgers”, “Speak Like A Child”, “Have You Ever Had It Blue?”, “How She Threw It All Away”, “Long Hot Summer”, “A Solid Bond In Your Heart” and many more. The Style Councillors will be performing the Greatest Hits Album in full + more classics from The Style Council.
MARTIN STEPHENSON & THE DAINTEES
Jah Wobble and the Invaders of the Heart
Bill Frisell Harmony
AGMP
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Jul8. | 9:38
News of the Athens Biennale Organisation
Xenia Kalpaktsoglou, one of the Athens Biennale’s three founding members and co-director, is to step down the organisation after 10 years and with her consent Poka-Yio (Polydoros Karyofyllis) takes the position as its director. The collaborations with institutions and organisations will continue and further develop. All the organisational and structural changes, as well as the new organisational chart of the Athens Biennale, will be announced soon.
As member of the XYZ curatorial team, Xenia Kalpaktsoglou curated the 1st Athens Biennale, Destroy Athens (2007), the annual curatorial project XYZ Outlet (2010-11) and together with Nicolas Bourriaud and Poka-Yio, the 3rd Athens Biennale, MONODROME, of 2011. As co-director of the Biennale, she was in charge of the production department, at the same time being active in the institution’s networking in Greece and abroad through various curatorial initiatives, congresses, lectures, publications and synergies. Her withdrawal closes a decade of fruitful and creative collaboration.
Xenia Kalpaktsoglou wishes to express her heartfelt thanks to the Biennale’s team, volunteers, artists, curators, the organisations, cultural institutions and embassies, the companies, the City of Athens, the Ministry of Culture, the Friends of the organisation and the individual supporters for their warm, hands-on contribution and active involvement that shaped the way the Athens Biennale evolved over the last decade.
Massimiliano Mollona, programme director of the 5th Athens Biennale OMONOIA, resigned from his position. Within the framework of OMONOIA Massimiliano Mollona has organised and directed Synapse 1 and Synapse 2, which consisted of a large number of events and talks. The academic weight and physical presence of Massimiliano Mollona in Athens, during a critical historical time, characterised the programme of OMONOIA.
OMONOIA will resume its programme focused on the artistic interventions, which are already in progress, as well as in producing new works and actions in and around Omonoia Square. The programme of the upcoming activities will be announced soon.
July 8, 2016 | News of the Athens Biennale Organisation
Recent changes in the structure of the organisation and the 5th Athens Biennale OMONOIA.
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A PRISON CHRISTMAS TALE
There is no nativity scene in prison. No manger, no Mary and Joseph, No baby Jesus, and I'll give you my last Ramen noodle soup if you can find me one wise man in this joint, let alone three. The closest thing we've got to a wise man is This Fucking Guy. That's the name that I've given to a particular individual back here because he seems to know something about everything. Just ask him. Every time I see him he's up to something outrageous and I'll say to whoever I'm with, Will you look at This Fucking Guy? But even though there's no nativity scene back here, amazingly, some pieces of the authentic manger found their way behind the wall to USP Lewisburg this year via my friend Don Corleone. Here's how it happened.
Jesus Christ was born in Bethlehem in a manger around 2000 years ago. This is pretty well documented, established, and accepted as fact. Some of us white folk have turned Jesus into a little blonde-haired, blue-eyed cherub and have the manger looking like a room at Motel 6, but the Caucasians' interpretation of pigmentation and domestication doesn't change the basic fact of the coming of Salvation. (That was my Christmas gift to you Jesse Jackson.) And it goes without saying that the predominant religion in the United States is Christianity. But America is a melting pot of religions and beliefs and federal prison reflects this. Back here behind the wall there's Christians and Muslims; Moorish Science Temple; Jehovah's Witnesses; Santeria, and even Voo Doo that all use the same chapel to worship in. And the Native Americans have dug a pit out back that they burn coals in and have put a tee pee over and use as a sweat lodge. But even though there's all kinds of religions back here, and that all of these religions may not necessarily believe in Jesus, everybody back here celebrates Christmas in one way or another.
I was sitting cross-legged on my bunk writing my girl Veronikah, wearing a pair of gray sweats and a long-sleeved crisp white tee shirt, a gray skully, and I was listening to Bruce Springsteen sing, "Santa Claus is Coming To Town" on my MP3 when Wadoo Scary appeared like a mist in front of my bars. I've christened him with this name because he's been down over 25 years and anything out of the norm freaks him out. He has surly white hair that shoots off of his head like fireworks, an unruly white beard, and he wears dark glasses all the time. He looks like a cross between Ray Charles and Moses. When I looked up and saw him holding onto my bars and staring into my cell I jumped. He looked back and forth down the tier like he was getting ready to tell me who shot JFK, then he dropped his voice to a conspiratorial whisper and asked, "Did you hear? They're not serving ice cream for Christmas this year." Then he shook his head and added, "And ever since Obama made all of those promises and got reelected, they haven't been serving ice cream like they did during his first term" I stared at him trying to connect his dots and trying to figure out what to say. In the end I did what I do to most people that I want to get the hell away from me...I told him what he wanted to hear." In a disgusted voice I said, "Those lying-ass Democrats." Obviously pleased at having his insanity validated he nodded and said, "Yep" and disappeared like a wisp of smoke. I hopped off my bunk and went straight to my bars and slid them to the slide and poked my head out and looked up and down the tier, but he was nowhere to be seen. I shook my head and wondered, How's he do that? I had to go to the laundry to pay my tailor for a couple of things I'd had sewn, so I got dressed and got ready to swing by The Don's house to take him along. In prison we tend to travel like girls in a nightclub do as they go to the bathroom-with a friend or in packs.
I came out of my house and slid my bars shut as I left and as I made my way down the tier I passed my white supremacist neighbor's cell, White Wally, and he yelled, "Hey Bank Robber! May all your Christmases be White!!!" and started laughing and stomping his foot. As I came to the end of the tier I heard "Christmas In Hollis" by Run DMC blaring from the shower so I poked my head in to see what was going on in there. In the common area in front of the showers, Ghetto Boy was on his knees in the corner shaking a pair of dice above his head and getting ready to toss them against the wall as a crowd of guys stood around him placing bets with each other on his upcoming throw. I backed out and kept on going. When I hit the stairwell Workie Workie was posted up against the wall on the stoop between the second and third floor wearing a humongous gray sweatshirt and busting a sag in a pair of Hunter Green pants as he sang along to Feliz Navidad and tapped an over-sized shoe to the beat.
As I came down Don Corleone's tier he was sitting in his plastic Wal-Mart lawn chair in front of his house reading a book. As I walked up he yelled, "FUCKING SCUMBAG!!!" and I saw that he was reading the book I'd gotten him on The Witness Protection Program. I said, "C'mon, take a ride to the laundry with me." He threw the book on the tier and as we walked off he started carrying on about how "That cocksucker Vinny who told on Petie's cousin Jimmy Brown Eyes' best friend's brother in law Carlo is in one of those fucking Cheese Factories." Blah, blah, blazio. The Don goes on every day about somebody who got ratted out like it's something new and he's surprised by it. People have been ratting since Judas Iscariot snitched out Jesus.
As we came out of the cell block and cleared the metal detector and cruised down the main corridor that runs through the middle of the prison we saw Chief Smith & Wesson talking to another Indian. They were both wearing blue and white head bands that held their long black hair off of their face. The kid that the Chief was talking to is a young buck that The Don calls "Two Fingers Digging" because every time we see him he's picking his nose. Sometimes we'll see him and bet each other on how long it will be before he goes rooting around in his snout. The Don is a degenerate gambler and will bet on anything. When I told him that one time he replied, "I'll bet you I'm not." Before we got too close to them The Don grabbed my arm and pulled me against the stone wall and said, "I got five packs a tuna fish that says Two Fingers takes a trip to the booger factory within the next three minutes." Figuring that it was at least a possibility that The Don had things fixed and that the kid was going to get two packs of tuna fish to go digging in his nose in about a minute and a half I said, "I don't have time for this. Let's go." As we walked by them The Kid buried the index finger of his right hand so far up his nose that I thought his eyeball was going to pop out.
The laundry is down a tunnel that's two stories underground. It's lit by dim light bulbs in cages that hang down from the ceiling every 25 feet or so. The tunnel is about 10 feet wide and the ceiling has steam pipes running the length of it. There are other tunnels that cut off of this tunnel but entrance to these tunnels is prevented by barred gates. These tunnels are not lit. As we came down the steps, This Fucking Guy was standing in front of the gate to one of these tunnels talking to a group of about five people whose eyes were fixed on him in rapt attention. They reminded me of a group of Chihuahuas perched up on their hind legs waiting on a treat. Always up for a good show, The Don and I stopped and listened.
As he held onto one of the bars of the gate, This Fucking Guy looked down into the dark tunnel and said, "Most people think that Jesus was born in a manger inside of a barn...but that's not exactly true." I groaned and said, "Now he's This Fucking Theologist!" The Don brushed against me and said, "Shhh, let's listen to him. He's got em eating out of the palm of his hand." With the authority of a cardiologist discussing a heart transplant, he continued to explain that, "Jesus was actually born in a cave," and then he paused for effect and pointed down the tunnel and softly said, "Much like this." His circle of sycophants swayed like a Baptist choir and leaned forward in unison peeking down the tunnel hoping to get a glimpse of the Christ Child. Hell, I even looked. The Don whispered, "This Fucking Guy is good." Like a clove of garlic simmering in olive oil, I could smell his brain cooking up a scheme. One of the clueless coterie reverently asked, "How do you know these things, sir?" This Fucking Guy paused and then dropped his voice and octave and said, "I've led several trips to the Holy Land, and I don't like to tell a lot of people this, but my great great grandfather Moshe Rosenbloom was a world-famous rabbi." When I heard this I threw my hands up and said, "Oi Vay!!! Can you believe This Fucking Guy?" The Don said, "It looks like you might have to start calling him This Fucking Jew." Disgusted, I said, "Let's go. I have to drop these fish off to my tailor." As I said this I patted my pocket where the fish were and felt that they were gone. I yelled, "Hey!!! Where's my fish?" I looked down and saw them in The Don's hand and grabbed them back. He said, "While you were trying to find Jesus you got clipped. You gotta tighten up, you're getting slow." As we headed down the tunnel to the laundry the last thing we heard This Fucking Guy say to his brain-dead audience was, "When I need answers I often consult the Dead Sea Scrolls."
Hours later I was sitting in my green plastic lawn chair in front of my house reading LONELY NO MORE by Seymour Shubin and I decided to go down to The Don's cell. As I walked in he had "Jingle Bell Rock" by Frank Sinatra flowing through the speakers of his radio, and he had a broom handle that he'd broken into little pieces and he was dipping them one at a time into a cup full of soy sauce to give them a darker color. Then he would tape the dried piece of wood to a little pre-cut piece of white cardboard that he'd drawn a little cross on. I asked, "What the hell are you doing?" He replied, "I'll not have blasphemy in this house. I'm on a holy mission." I looked down at his production line and asked him, "What kind of racket you got going here, Don Corleone?" As he dipped another wood chip into the cup of soy sauce he said, "We're gonna sell these as authentic pieces of the manger that were imported from Bethlehem." I asked, "Why?" He blew on the newly-minted relic in his hand to dry it and then taped it to a square of cardboard and said, "I'm making a hundred pieces and we're gonna sell them for a dollar a piece. Then we're gonna take the money and put it on Alabama in the BCS Championship game." I knew there was a reason that The Don wanted to stop and listen to This Fucking Guy...besides so he could brush against me and pick my pocket. A thought occurred to me and I said, "Isn't Alabama playing Notre Dame?" He said, "Yeah. Why?" I replied, "So let me get this straight. You're going to sell fake pieces of the manger that Jesus was born in and use the profits to bet against the predominant, and I might add undefeated, Catholic college football team in the country? And you're Catholic?" He proudly replied, "You got it." I shook my head and said, "You're going to hell." He gathered up some of the finished pieces and shoved them into my hands and said, "Well at least I'll know somebody because you're gonna help me sell these. Now go find those five sheep that That Fucking Guy was talking to and shear them.
I may just be some dummy that society doesn't want hanging around their banks, and someone whose light at the end of his tunnel is most likely a train, but even I have limits. There was no way I was going to walk around a prison at Christmas time and sell fake pieces of the manger that Jesus was supposedly born in.
So I contracted the job out to Workie Workie. It took him an hour to sell out and he doesn't even speak a lick of English.
I passed him in the stairwell and he had packs of tuna fish scattered at his feet and he was was holding up a piece of The Blessed Broomstick in one hand and pointing to it with the other and he was saying, "Si, senor. Uno tuna for uno baby Jesus." What a sales pitch. Only in Prison. The championship game between Alabama and Notre Dame isn't until till January and I didn't tell The Don, but took my portion of the Manger Money and put it on Notre Dame. It's Christmas time so decided to go with Providence. I like to hedge my bets...both spiritually and financially.
I'll let you know what happens. Merry Christmas.
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Ed Martin’s Grit Overwhelms Establishment’s Power
January 05, 2013 by William Hennessy in Missouri
In a blow to the old guard establishment, the Missouri Republican State Committee elected Ed Martin Jr. as its new party chairman.
Roy Blunt and all six Republican members of Congress from Missouri lobbied the new state committee over the past few weeks to block Ed and retain the establishment’s choice, David Cole. Jo Mannies of the St. Louis Beacon wrote:
Cole’s loss appears to be a setback for Missouri’s GOP establishment. U.S. Sen. Roy Blunt and all six Missouri Republicans in the U.S. House had signed a letter backing Cole’s re-election.
Martin’s win was seen as a victory for the Missouri GOP’s more conservative factions, including some tea party groups – notably the St. Louis Tea Party, whose founder Bill Hennessy had endorsed Martin.
The victory demonstrates the power of grit—one of Ed Martin’s most valuable qualities. Ed narrowly lost his bid to unseat former Congressman Russ Carnahan in 2010. In that race, Ed came closer than any Republican in recent memory to taking Missouri’s old 3rd District away from Democrats. Ed’s gritty campaign solidified his standing with grassroots tea partiers.
Grit is the most important factor in success according to human behavioral scientists. As Jonah Lehrer explains:
After analyzing the data, Duckworth discovered the importance of a psychological trait known as grit. In previous papers, Duckworth has demonstrated that grit can be reliably measured with a short survey that measures consistency of passions (e.g., ‘‘I have been obsessed with a certain idea or project for a short time but later lost interest’’) and consistency of effort (e.g., ‘‘Setbacks don’t discourage me’’) over time using a 5-point scale. Not surprisingly, those with grit are more single-minded about their goals – they tend to get obsessed with certain activities – and also more likely to persist in the face of struggle and failure. Woody Allen famously declared that “Eighty percent of success is showing up”. Grit is what allows you show up again and again.
Ed put in the 10,000 hours of practice. His dogged campaigns in 2010 and 2012 gave him the courage and earned him the privilege to show up.
After losing his bid to unseat Attorney General Chris Koster last November, a lot people wanted Ed to give up politics. But Ed’s no quitter. Instead, he rallied his considerable charm and tenacity to take on a role that is well suited to Ed Martin’s skill and experience.
Missouri’s Democrats and even some conservatives mockingly said “Ed finally won an election.” The Democrats should be very worried that a talent as gritty and popular as Ed Martin now chairs the Missouri GOP. Conservative might want to review Abraham Lincoln’s electoral history before mocking the resilience of a man who never gives up.
Congratulations, also, to Trish Vincent, Auditor Tom Schweich’s chief of staff, elected Chairwoman, or co-chair in today’s PC-speak. And a special congratulations and thanks to Frieda Keogh of Missouri Precinct Project and a new member of the Republican State Committee. Frieda’s efforts to advance grassroots causes and candidates is a gift to Missouri and America.
January 05, 2013 /William Hennessy
Chairman, Chairman Ed, Ed Martin Jr, establishment, grassroots, Missouri Republican State Committee, Republican Establishment, St- Louis Tea Party Coalition
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April , 2019
‘Mission IL&FS’ still a puzzle
Shivanand Pandit
Submitted by Shivanand Pandit on Mon, 2019-04-29 15:41
Autumn marks the changeover from summer to winter and the temperature drops considerably, making the Indian climate pleasant. Unfortunately the autumn of 2018 did not bring any pleasant moments in the life of Infrastructure Leasing and Financial Services (IL&FS), an Indian infrastructure development and finance company. And even after six months, the situation remains an unanswered paradox.
Autumn 2018 was a brainstorming time for money market experts in India. They sat together in boardrooms to decide the destiny of distressed financier IL&FS and the revival planning began. The challenge was as threatening as the Lehman Brothers crisis when the US Treasury stepped in to rescue America’s mortgage lending market in the autumn of 2008.
Although the government did not assure any bailout measure, it replaced the management of IL&FS with a new board in October 2018 and The Mumbai bench of National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) upheld government’s decision to banish the existing board and to appoint the managing director of Kotak Mahindra Bank, Uday Kotak as the non-executive chairman of the troubled infrastructure development and finance company.
IL&FS has an aggregate debt pile of around Rs. 94,300 crore; out of which the company owes approximately Rs. 57,000 crore to banks only, most of which are public sector banks. On the other hand, out of the Rs. 18,800 crore loans advanced by IL&FS, 90% have become non-performing asset and the management was successful in recovering only 10% of the doubtful exposure. Now, even six months later, the IL&FS dispute remains an unresolved puzzle and due to an unhealthy match of asset-liability, the consolidated debt-equity ratio has become 10:1. Notwithstanding IL&FS reporting a loss of Rs. 1,887 crore in FY18 from a profit of Rs. 142 crore in FY 17, the salary of then chairman Ravi Parthasarathy was raised from Rs. 10.8 crore to Rs. 20.5 crore, boosting him to the 47th rank on Fortune India’s list of 50 highest paid executives. This highlights the deep incompetence of the previous management.
Dry days for banks
Banks have reported an exposure of nearly Rs. 20,000 crore to debt-ridden IL&FS in their quarterly results. State Bank of India, Bank of India and Bank of Baroda announced the highest exposure in their third-quarter results. As per the results, the State bank of India and Bank of India have an exposure of Rs. 3100 crore and Rs. 3400 crore respectively. Private sector lenders, HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank and Kotak Mahindra Bank have negligible exposure, but Axis Bank and Yes Bank have exposures around Rs. 800 crore and Rs. 2530 crore respectively.
However, not all loans have been branded as ‘non-performing assets’, despite the fact the majority of banks will experience grief in the fourth quarter results. This will definitely force them to seek one more relaxation from the Reserve Bank of India to postpone the provisioning obligations. Much will depend on the resolution plan and high credit cost will definitely put pressure on profitability if the plan drags on.
Where were the chowkidaars?
While the mystifying debacle of series of defaults by IL&FS on commercial papers, short-term deposits, inter-corporate deposits were unearthed in August last year, many experts were flooding their heads with queries like ‘how was the worsening condition of the group remained as secret for so long’ and ‘how did it get way from the attention of chowkidaars such as external and internal auditors, audit committees, credit rating agencies and members of the Board comprising of Life Insurance Corporation, State Bank of India, Abu Dhabi Investment Company and Japan’s ORIX Corporation.’
Many experts are of the opinion that the complicated configuration of the entity with many holding and co-holding corporations, subsidiaries, joint ventures, associate subsidiaries helped the IL&FS to stay below the radar of authorities. They have also pointed that there was an influential group of people at its helm, who enjoyed a lot of privileges and pleasures that went unchecked.
An unidentified whistleblower, who claims to be part of the ‘senior management team at Deloitte, Haskins and Sells LLP (Deloitte)’ has raised the flag about how the audit firm helped IL&FS to fudge its accounts year after year. Soon after, a complaint has been lodged with the Serious Fraud Investigation Office (SFIO) and the probe agency has initiated investigations and decided to summon its top officials to know whether several irregularities have been intentionally ignored by the group auditor. The complaint letter has also been sent to the Reserve Bank of India, Securities and Exchange Board of India, Ministry of Corporate Affairs and Grant Thornton who are conducting a special audit of group of the IL&FS. The whistleblower alleged that Deloitte has audited the group over a period of 10 years and senior leadership of the firm was aware of the fiscal malpractice and offensiveness of the IL&FS group.
Immediately after rejection of his petition by the Supreme Court, the SFIO arrested the CEO of IL&FS Ramesh Bawa in a case related to enormous loan defaults. Section 447 of the Companies Act enables SFIO to arrest a person for committing fraud and Ramesh Bawa was arrested on that ground. Earlier, former Managing Director and Vice-Chairman of IL&FS, Hari Sankaranwas arrested by the SIFO in connection with on-going interrogations. The agency indicated Sankaran of advancing loans to entities that were not credit-worthy and thereby triggering gigantic losses to the company and its creditors.
A decade ago, when a mega fraud in the software company, namely Satyam Computer Services was detected, the government had decided to make the entity’s all former top executives and board members, including the independent directors, company secretary and Price Waterhouse auditors answerable and accountable for the fraud. The government also greeted the CBI probe into the crisis. PwC audit firm dismissed S. Goplakrishnan and SrinivasTalluri, who were the statuary auditors of Satyam and they were detained by the police department of Andhra Pradesh. Tech Mahindra’s acquisition of Satyam Computer ended the story.
Rescue plan on
According to the sources, the initial stage of solving the IL&FS mess will happen in next few months. Already 50% of the injured group’s assets had been put on the block and the group companies will be labeled as high or medium risk corporations on the basis of risk-based classification. This indicates the progression being made. The Apex Court has also rectified grey areas pertaining to defaulting promoters or their relatives bidding for assets with reference to the provisions of Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code.
To conclude, ten years from now, it is doubtful that the general public will remember Infrastructure Leasing & Financial Services (IL&FS) and the puzzle. But India should, by then, have the resistance power to fight with similar tremors that not only terrorize the nation’s financial markets and its economy, but compel the taxpayer to pay for someone else’s blunders.
The author is a financial adviser, public speaker and author.
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NSA Employee Sentenced to 66 Months for Taking Hacking Tool Home
Best Lawyer Firms News September 26, 2018 0 Comments
How far would you go to get a good performance review? Would you breach national security to study codes off the clock in the comfort of your own home?
Evidently that was the idea Nghia Hoang Pho had in mind, but it sure backfired. Instead of getting a promotion and increased pay grade, Pho was fired, sentenced to five and a half years in jail, and three years probation after pleading guilty to willful retention of classified national defense information.
Though U.S. District Judge George L. Russell III struggled in handing down the stiff sentence because there was no proof that Pho had any malicious intent when bringing the software and documents home, in the end, there was no denying Pho did the act. “We wouldn’t be here if he’d just left the materials in the office,” Russell said.
Work From Home Not OK With Top Secret Material
Pho, a 68-year-old former National Security Agency (NSA) employee residing in Maryland, worked as a Tailored Access Operations (TAO) developer. Pho was set to retire in a few years, and wanted to do so at a higher pay grade to increase pension payments. No one can fault Pho for that.
In order to secure a better performance review, however, Pho removed and kept at home classified hacking software tools and documents. Pho, a naturalized U.S. citizen from Vietnam, felt that his grasp of the English language and limited social skills prevented him from being able to properly learn about the hacking tools which were part of his job. He felt more comfortable and confident learning this part of his work at home. Pho had been bringing home this top secret information from 2010 to 2015. Doing so led to a high cost, for both Pho, the NSA, and potentially a host of others if tied to the Shadow Brokers leaks.
NSA Forced to Dump Years of Work
Former NSA Director Admiral Mike Rogers sent a letter to the court stating that the materials Pho removed from the NSA “had significant negative impacts on the NSA mission, the NSA workforce, and the Intelligence Community as a whole.” The removal, and thereby breach of National Security, caused years of signals collection work to have to be abandoned, since none of the tools and techniques Pho removed from the NSA could ever be used again. According to Rogers, the NSA “was left with no choice but to abandon certain important initiatives, at great economic and operational costs.”
Is There a Tie to the Shadow Brokers Leaks?
It’s possible that the reason Rogers, and the judge, came down so hard on Pho was because of the Shadow Brokers leaks, though the NSA and Department of Justice have not specifically spelled out this tie.
A group of hackers, dubbed the Shadow Brokers, stole copious amounts of NSA data and secrets, releasing them online, bit by bit. Not only has this been a huge embarrassment to the NSA, but it has also put at risk intelligence-gathering operations and capabilities, and made it easier to create cyberweapons. It also exposed vulnerabilities in some of America’s top tech companies, including Cisco, Microsoft, and Linux. The leaked material was also used by the authors of WannaCry ransomware, which infected hundreds of thousands of computers worldwide in 2017.
At issue here is that the materials Pho removed from the NSA, as well as the timing and the geographic location of the stolen code, are all virtually identical.
Espionage Charges Leveled at Former NSA Contractor for Stealing Hacking Tools (FindLaw Technologist)
The Cyberwars Have Just Begun, or Have They? (FindLaw Technologist)
NSA to Stop Sifting Americans’ Email (FindLaw Technologist)
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What Day: The 18th of September, 2009, fell on a Friday.
9 years, 9 months and 29 days have passed since the 18th of September, 2009.
Zodiac Sign (Astrology): Anyone born on this date will have the star sign Virgo.
Chinese Zodiac Animal: In the Chinese Zodiac, 2009 was the year of the Ox (Yin Wood).
Native American Zodiac: The 18th of September, 2009 falls under the Bear.
Birthstone: Anyone born during the month of September will have the birthstone Sapphire.
Age: Anyone born on the 18th of September, 2009, will be 9 years of age.
Unix Timestamp: The Unix Timestamp for this date is 1253228400.
Songs that were on top of the music singles charts in the USA and the United Kingdom on the 18th of September, 2009:
United States: I Gotta Feeling - Black Eyed Peas
United Kingdom: Break Your Heart - Taio Cruz
The movie "I Can Do Bad All By Myself" was at the top of the box office on this date.
Trending news stories and fads that were prevalent throughout this time period. These are news stories and events that would have been in the media on the 18th of September, 2009.
Throughout 2009, a dance music genre called Dubstep began to soar in popularity.
English singer Cheryl Cole is named as FHM's sexiest woman in 2009 and 2010.
Former Chairman of the Federal Reserve Ben Bernanke is named as the Time Person of the Year 2009.
Popular music artists in 2009 included Kelly Clarkson, T.I., Lady Gaga, Flo Rida, Jamie Foxx, The Black Eyed Peas, Beyoncé, Pitbull, Sean Kingston, Drake, Kings of Leon, Jay Sean, Miley Cyrus, Jason Derulo, Britney Spears, Owl City and Taylor Swift.
Throughout much of 2009, there was public concern as heavy media coverage focused on the spread of a Swine Flu pandemic.
Weather information for the 18th of September, 2009:
Dublin, Ireland: It was 14.9 degrees Celsius. It was a dry day. It was a cloudy day.
New York, USA: Temperature: 59.3 degrees Fahrenheit. 15.17 degrees Celsius. Precipitation: 0cm.
London, England: Temperature: 15.44 degrees Celsius.
Barack Obama was the President of the United States on the 18th of September, 2009.
A baby that was born on the 18th of September, 2009 was probably conceived around the 9th of December, 2008. (Rough Estimate).
The due date for a baby that was conceived on the 18th of September, 2009 is the 28th of June, 2010. (Rough Estimate).
21st of August, 2009: The movie Inglourious Basterds (2009) is released in cinemas.
25th of August, 2009: The game "Batman: Arkham Asylum" is released.
28th of August, 2009: British rock band Oasis split up.
14th of September, 2009: Actor Patrick Swayze dies.
22nd of September, 2009: The game "Halo 3: ODST" is released.
2nd of October, 2009: Zombieland (2009) is released.
Historical events that have occurred on the 18th of September:
18th of September, 1881: US President James A. Garfield dies after being assassinated
18th of September, 1970: Guitar legend Jimi Hendrix is found dead after an overdose on barbiturates.
18th of September, 1975: Patty Hearst is captured in San Francisco.
18th of September, 2001: The 2001 anthrax attacks begin in America.
18th of September, 1987: Fatal Attraction (1987) is released.
18th of September, 1998: The movie Rush Hour (1998) is released in cinemas.
18th of September, 2000: The song Last Resort is released by nu-metal rock band Papa Roach.
18th of September, 2015: The 2015 Rugby World Cup begins in England.
Breaking Bad - Series about a high school chemistry teacher who becomes a drug dealer after he is diagnosed with lung cancer.
How I Met Your Mother - Sictom starring Neil Patrick Harris.
The Office - The US version of The Office, starring Steve Carell as Michael Scott.
House - Medical drama starring Hugh Laurie.
Desperate Housewives - TV show about housewives living in suburban America.
CSI: NY - New York City version spin-off of the CSI franchise.
Lost - Mystery drama series about a group of plane crash survivors that are stranded on a strange island.
Extreme Makeover: Home Edition - Reality TV show in which houses are renovated during a one-week period.
One Tree Hill - Set in the fictional town of Tree Hill in North Carolina.
Two and a Half Men - Starring Charlie Sheen.
Batman: Arkham Asylum - Action game set in the Batman universe.
Minecraft - The alpha version of Minecraft is released on the PC.
Resident Evil 5 - The fifth installment in the series.
Left 4 Dead - First-person shooter game involving zombies. Developed by Valve Corporation.
Call of Duty: World at War - Developed by Treyarch. First game in the series to include Nazi Zombies.
Mirror's Edge - Adventure platform game.
Fallout 3 - Open-world role-playing game.
Dead Space - Sci-fi horror survival game.
Saints Row 2 - The second game in the series.
Celebrities and historical figures that were born on the 18th of September:
18th of September, 1971: Jada Pinkett Smith: Actress.
18th of September, 1974: Xzibit: Rapper / Television host.
18th of September, 1976: Ronaldo: Brazilian soccer player.
Enter your date of birth below to find out how old you were on the 18th of September, 2009.
Looking for some nostalgia? Here are some Youtube videos relating to the 18th of September, 2009. Please note that videos are automatically selected by Youtube and that results may vary! Click on the "Load Next Video" button to view the next video in the search playlist. In many cases, you'll find episodes of old TV shows, documentaries, music videos and soap dramas.
Visualize the days that have passed since the 18th of September, 2009. Each day that has passed will be represented as a calendar icon.
Here are some fun statistics about the 18th of September, 2009.
310,089,600 seconds have passed since the 18th of September, 2009.
Since the 18th of September, 2009, earth has travelled approximately 160,006,233,600 miles through space.
If you were born on this day, your eyes have blinked approximately 51,681,600 times.
What does the 18th of September, 2009 mean to you? Were you born on this date? Did you finish school? A loved one passed away?
3rd of July, 1978
22nd of July, 1975
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Buttala named next executive director of Seed Savers Exchange
May 22, 2017 / Sara Friedl-Putnam
Lee Buttala will JOIN the staff of Seed savers Exchange as Executive Director July 10.
The Seed Savers Exchange Board of Directors is pleased to announce the appointment of Lee Buttala as its new executive director, effective July 10, 2017. Buttala succeeds John Torgrimson, who announced in July 2016 he would step down from the position after seven years of leadership.
The Seed Savers Exchange board of directors engaged Ballinger Leafblad of St. Paul, Minn., to conduct a nationwide search. Buttala was selected from 160 potential prospects.
“After an extensive interview process, the search committee unanimously selected Lee,” said Rowan White, board chair. “His vast experience in media and horticulture, deep passion for Seed Savers Exchange, immediate connection with staff, and clear vision for the organization’s future made him the ideal choice to lead us to the next level, and we are thrilled to have him at the helm.”
A Midwest native, Buttala is currently overseeing a strategic plan for Bedrock Garden in Lee, N.H., after a stint as director of marketing communications for the Berkshire Botanical Garden in Stockbridge, Mass. He also writes a regular column, “The Self-Taught Gardener,” for the Berkshire Edge. Buttala served as co-editor of the award-winning book The Seed Garden: The Art and Practice of Seed Saving, published by Seed Savers Exchange in 2015, and preservation program manager for the Garden Conservancy in Cold Spring, N.Y., from 2010–12.
His media work includes serving as executive producer and director of PBS’s Cultivating Life, broadcast producer of From Martha’s Garden/From Martha’s Kitchen, producer for Martha Stewart Living (for which he won an Emmy Award in 2003), garden editor of Martha Stewart Living magazine, and as an associate editor at Alfred A. Knopf Publications. Having majored in economics and English at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, he has done additional study in landscape design at the Chelsea Physic Garden in London and the New York Botanical Garden and in Japanese garden design and history at Kyoto University of Art and Design.
“I am looking forward to working with the Seed Savers Exchange staff and board, who are so clearly passionate about what they do,” said Buttala. “Seed Savers Exchange has done so much over the past 40 years to preserve heirloom seeds and communicate the importance of saving and sharing seeds. I believe the next step is engaging and connecting people with our mission even further—sharing what we have and what we know—and I am excited to be a part of that important work.”
May 22, 2017 / Sara Friedl-Putnam/ Comment
2017 Conference & Campout Workshops
Saving ‘Grandma George’—the Bean, ...
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Economists/Staff
Senior Research Fellows
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Haiti Aid Reform Bill “Will Be a Step in the Right Direction,” CEPR Co-Director Says
Contact: Dan Beeton, 202-239-1460
Congress Passes “Assessing Progress in Haiti Act” to Enact Greater Oversight of USAID in Haiti
Washington, D.C.- New legislation passed by Congress to provide increased oversight of USAID activities in Haiti will be “a significant step in the right direction,” Center for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR) Co-Director Mark Weisbrot said today. The Assessing Progress in Haiti Act, introduced by Rep. Barbara Lee (D-CA), passed the House by unanimous consent today. A first version of the bill was approved by the House in December 2013 and the Senate approved a modified version, introduced by Senator Bill Nelson (D-FL), that was passed by voice vote on July 10 of this year. The bill will require that USAID and other agencies regularly report to Congress regarding the benchmarks, strategies and contracting for post-earthquake aid activities in Haiti, including efforts aimed at treating and eradicating the cholera epidemic that has killed over 8,550 people and sickened over 700,000.
“This bill could go a long way toward correcting some of the problems with government transparency and effectiveness in the Haiti relief effort that we documented in our report ‘Breaking Open the Black Box,’” Weisbrot said. “It is a step in the right direction if U.S. taxpayer dollars are to be used in a way that will benefit the people of Haiti instead of merely lining contractors’ pockets.
“66.2 percent of USAID contracts has gone to Beltway-based firms, while just 1.5 percent has gone to Haitian companies,” Weisbrot added. “There is something terribly wrong with this picture.”
The bill requires that Congress receive annual progress reports “on the status of post-earthquake recovery and development efforts in Haiti, including efforts to prevent the spread of cholera and treat persons infected with the disease.” The bill mandates that agencies detail how the Haitian government and target constituencies, including internally displaced persons (IDPs) and farmers, are involved in the coordination of the aid process and how they are being impacted.
Importantly, the bill will also require more reporting regarding sub-grants. CEPR’s 2013 report, “Breaking Open the Black Box: Increasing Aid Transparency and Accountability in Haiti” by Jake Johnston and Alexander Main detailed how funds designated for Haiti end up going to sub-contractors who are often not identified, and who are not held accountable for what they do with the money. The Assessing Progress in Haiti Act will require the State Department to provide data on U.S. Haiti assistance funds disbursed at both the prime and subprime levels in line with one of the CEPR report’s main recommendations.
Much of the U.S. government aid earmarked for Haiti following the quake has gone to foreign contractors, providing little benefit to Haitian businesses, organizations or workers. The Haitian government has also largely been bypassed as aid funds have gone to foreign contractors, international agencies and the many groups that populate what is known as the “republic of NGOs.” Of the $6.43 billion disbursed by bilateral and multilateral donors to Haiti from 2010-2012, just 9 percent went through the Haitian government.
Alexander Main, co-author of “Breaking Open the Black Box” said, “For years Haitian citizens, U.S. members of Congress and concerned U.S. citizens have noted the lack of progress in international relief and reconstruction efforts in Haiti and asked ‘where has the money gone?’ This legislation should help provide us with a much more detailed picture of how U.S. taxpayer money is being used in Haiti by USAID and the big private contractors that implement assistance programs.”
1611 Connecticut Ave., NW
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Artistic Workshops The aim of the Workshop is to offer the chance to young and older people to obtain knowledge that will help... Tuesday, 6 June, 2017 - 20:25
Municipal 'Alekos Kontopoulos' Gallery The Municipal 'Alekos Kontopoulos' Gallery, was founded in 1984 and is hosted in the building located in 6-8... Tuesday, 6 June, 2017 - 20:29
Main Railway Station The main railway station of Lamia is located in the southern part of th city. It is serving passengers moving... Tuesday, 6 June, 2017 - 20:24
Byzantine Museum It is housed in the building of the so-called 'Kapodistrian Barracks', that was built in 1836 to meet the... Tuesday, 6 June, 2017 - 20:25
The building of Prefecture of Sterea Ellada It has been claimed a preserved monument since 1991 from the Ministry of Culture. It housed the services of... Tuesday, 6 June, 2017 - 20:25
Church of Saint Sofia The Church of Saint Sofia was built in the place of an older church, which most probably dates back to the... Tuesday, 6 June, 2017 - 20:29
The Byzantine Castle of Ypati Ypati was first entrenched during the Hellenistic period. Parts of this fortification have been found in many... Tuesday, 6 June, 2017 - 20:27
The tomb of the unidentified soldier The tomb of the unidentified soldier externalizes the meaning of patriotism, has all the elements of a high... Tuesday, 6 June, 2017 - 20:23
Victims-executed's memorial The Iroon (The Memorial) that is in the centre of the city and in the homonymous square is in the memory of... Tuesday, 6 June, 2017 - 20:26
Cave of Arsali (Saint Jerusalem) In the higher grounds of the fir-covered Oiti Mountain, stands an enormous cave that looks like a Cyclops's... Tuesday, 6 June, 2017 - 20:29
Traditional watermill of Gorgopotamos Just beside Gorgopotamos River and just below the Historic Bridge lies Papanagnou's traditional watermill and... Tuesday, 6 June, 2017 - 20:27
Monument of Battle of Pavliani The monument is dedicated to the dead fighters of the battle in Pavliani that took place on June, 3 1943... Tuesday, 6 June, 2017 - 20:29
Bridge of Gorgopotamos On this bridge one of the most glorious pages of contemporary history was written. The night of 25th November... Tuesday, 6 June, 2017 - 20:27
Resistance Memorial The Resistance Memorial shows Aris Velouchiotis against the conqueror with other figures of rebels. Tuesday, 6 June, 2017 - 20:23
Municipal Regional Theatre of Roumeli The Municipal Regional Theatre of Roumeli is developed in 3 stages, the Central Stage, the Experimental Stage... Tuesday, 6 June, 2017 - 20:25
Memorial of Alamana battle Along the National Highway we find Diakos Memorial built in honor of the Alamana Battle. Tuesday, 6 June, 2017 - 20:27
Stone Primary School of Kompotades The Primary School was built in 1903 from the National Benefactor Andreas Syggros and operated as one-seater... Tuesday, 6 June, 2017 - 20:26
Damasta Monastery The Damasta Monastery, is dedicated to the Birth of the Virgin Mary, it is located in the municipal... Tuesday, 6 June, 2017 - 20:29
Archaeological Museum The Archaeological Museum of Lamia is housed on the 1st floor of the Barrack that is located in the... Tuesday, 6 June, 2017 - 20:23
Statue of Athanasios Diakos The statue of Athanasios Diakos is of great historical importance and it has been placed in Diakou Square in... Tuesday, 6 June, 2017 - 20:23
Castle of Lamia
http://culture-wgis.lamia.gr/webgis/gis_3d/156 http://culture-wgis.lamia.gr/webgis/gis_3d/159
The Castle of Lamia stands on the top of a rocky hill while it dominates and controls the Sperchios Valley up to Maliakos Bay as well as the passageway that leads to Thessaly through Orthris. The centre of its main plateau is occupied by the Othonian barrack where the Archaeological Museum of Lamia is hosted. Recent excavation within the walls of the acropolis have shown that the place was inhabited since the Bronze Age (2800-1100 B.C.) and more particular during the Mycenaean Era. The acropolis was the centre of the defense system of Lamia during the Classical/Hellenistic Era and was connected to the walls of the city below. The ancient wall is still preserved in its whole in a very good condition due to its constant use and the continuous repair works. The preserved surrounding wall has a triangular ground plan and a 600-metre perimeter while its height varies reaching 13 metres in its Northwest corner. The thickness of the walls is 1.35m on average and comes to crenellations. The castle has two Gates, one on the Southeast called 'iron gate' through which it was connected to the lower part of the city and one on the Northeast that led to Orthris Mountain. Corroborative towers are near the gates, in the corners of the wall and in every weak defensive spots. Inside the space is divided into two transverse walls into three parts. The north part (donjon) is higher and was used as the ultimate shelter of those fighting for the Castle. The most ancient part of the surroundings was built according to the polygonic system and dates back to the end of the 5th till the beginning of the 4th century B.C. when Lamia became the capital of the state of Malieon and significantly prospered from 413 B.C. At the base of the North West tower we see an equally built trapezoidal construction system that can be dated be to the end of the 5th up to the beginning of the 4th century B.C. Equally constructed rectangle system can be found in many more spots in the base of the wall. It is still dubious is there has been any kind of restoration of the wall in the Justinian Era, The parts of the mortared marble with an intermediate use of synthetic mortar and tiles are probably part of repairs in the byzantine Years as well as of the Franks and the Catalans. The plateau of the Southwest corner was used in the Middle Ages as a bastion and had a reservoir. New amendments and repairs were made during the Turkish Occupation.
The city of Lamia after the mid of the 4th century was conquered by Philip II. In 302 BC it was liberated by Dimitrios the Besieger when it remained under the influence of the Thessalians and the Aitolis until it was occupied by the Romans. During the War of Lamia (323/22 BC) Leosthenis who was the General of the Athenians was killed in front of Lamia’s walls while he was besieging the Macedonians who were defending Lamia. In 190AD Manios Akilios Glabrion occupied and severely plundered the city. In the 13th and 14 century it fell in the hands of the foreign conquerors of the Middle Ages, the Franks and the Catalans and was named ‘the Castle’. In 1446 it was finally occupied by the Turks until the liberation of the city in 1833. In the Othonian Era the central plateau was built as a barrack to meet the needs of the frontier forces. From 1884 till World War II the Castle had been used as a barrack. In 1973 the place was given from the Ministry of Defenmce to the Ministry for Culture and in 1984 the Municipality of Lamia has undertaken its recreation and repair of the barrack in order to house the Archaeological Museum of the city.
Classical era, Hellenistic era, Submycenaean season, Mycenaean, Byzantine era, Newer modern Greece
Municipality of Lamia - Municipal Section of Lamia, Local Community of Lamia
It is located in Melina Merkouri street eastwards.
Bus to the city center and then by car or TAXI
Parking nearby Castle's entrance
Daily: 08:00 to 15:00
XIV Prehistoric and Classical Antiquities
XIV Prehistoric and Classical Antiquities, Castle of Lamia, Zip Code 35100, Lamia (District of Fthiotida) Phone: +30 22310 29992 Fax: +30 22310 46106 Email: idepka@culture.gr
Archaeological site
http://culture-wgis.lamia.gr/webgis/en/poi_info/15
http://www.lamia.gr/content/kastro-lamias-0 http://odysseus.culture.gr/h/2/gh251.jsp?obj_id=1444
Integrated geographical information system highlighting the points of interest of the area with the possibility of obtaining information and exploring via map.
Main Railway Station
The main railway station of Lamia is located in the southern part of th city. It is serving passengers moving to/from...
Church of Panagia Archodiki
Just below the Castle of Lamia the Church of Panagia Archodiki was built. It is the second (after the Castle)...
Traditional watermill of Gorgopotamos
Just beside Gorgopotamos River and just below the Historic Bridge lies Papanagnou's traditional watermill and operated...
Byzantine Museum
It is housed in the building of the so-called 'Kapodistrian Barracks', that was built in 1836 to meet the needs of the...
The Castle of Lamia stands on the top of a rocky hill while it dominates and controls the Sperchios Valley up to...
Three-aisled basilica church of Varka
In the 'Varka' location of the Baths of Ypati there have been periodically spotted and excavated from 1968 to 1973 the...
Captains' memorial in Kompotades
Under the planes of the Square, the meeting of the Captains Diakos, Panourgias and Diovouniotis took place on how to...
Municipal Conservatory
It is a two-storey, stone building which was built in 1860 so as to be used as a residence. Nowadays it is housing the...
Popular points
The statue of Leonidas in Ther...
Thermopylae's Innovative...
Athanasios Diakos Cenotaph
Bridge of Gorgopotamos
Statue of Aris Velouchiotis
Agathonos Monastery
Cave of Arsali (Saint Jerusale...
Damasta Monastery
Kolonus hill in Thermopylae
The tomb of the unidentified s...
The Byzantine Castle of Ypati
Busts, Statues
6th Junior High School (Gymnas...
Municipal 'Alekos Kontopo...
Co-financed by Greece and the European Union.
Muncipality of Lamia
Flemig & Erithroy Stavroy, Lamia 35100, Greece
Points on the map
Integrated geographical information system highlighting the points of interest in the possibility of obtaining information and exploration.
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This is the archive of articles selected from the print version of Cinema Scope magazine. You can help us to continue to provide this valuable resource and read many more articles by subscribing.
Sightsurf and Brainwave: Blake Williams’ PROTOTYPE
By Michael Sicinski In CS73, From The Magazine, Interviews
By Michael Sicinski
Blake Williams is a multi-dimensional character. A writer whose work has frequently graced the pages of this magazine, he is also an academic and a film artist. And, as a filmmaker, he has no time for flatness. No filmmaker since Ken Jacobs has been so consistently committed to exploring the aesthetic potentials of 3D technology. From earlier works such as Coorow-Latham Road (2011), which played with the gentle space-warping effects of Google Maps’ 360-degree cameras, to his suite of anaglyph films—Many a Swan (2012), Baby Blue (2013), Red Capriccio (2014), and Something Horizontal (2015)—the instability of screen space, and the points at which it encroaches into our own, has been one of Williams’s driving concerns.
Leaving anaglyph behind in favour of polarized 3D technology, Williams has embarked on his first feature film. PROTOTYPE is a work of speculative fiction that takes its starting point from the 1900 hurricane that destroyed the town of Galveston, Texas. Galveston, a thriving port city at that time, never entirely recovered from the storm, and while it remains a popular resort location, one senses that it might have been a major US city—on par with New Orleans, and instead of Houston—had the hurricane taken a different path. From here, Williams explores the contemporaneous birth of cinema, counterfactually juxtaposing it with television, whose early arrival almost seems like the work of alien intervention.
PROTOTYPE begins with stereoscopic images from turn-of-the-century Galveston, including pictures taken in the wake of the hurricane. These introductory shots, with their shallow depth, soon give way to far richer, more abstract polarized imagery. In one key segment, a curling ocean wave seems to slowly emerge from the screen, although on close inspection it is actually concave, bent inward like a parchment scroll. One major motif of PROTOTYPE is a recurring image of television screens suspended in space, some broadcasting faint pictures from the 20th century, others simply emitting a cold blue-grey light. Eventually, Williams’ film breaks apart into indistinct geometrical shapes in a kind of Russian Suprematist after-hours sign-off, until finally ending with an epilogue that re-establishes our most (stereo)typical ideas about the joys of sand and surf.
Wesley Morris has said that movies choose their moments, but that’s not always the case. I first saw PROTOTYPE in a preview screening Williams held in late June. Later that summer, the film had its world premiere in Locarno. Alas, between then and its North American premiere at TIFF as part of the Wavelengths slate (where it met with universal praise), Hurricane Harvey devastated the Gulf Coast, submerging much of the greater Houston area. I live in Houston, and Blake, who now makes his home in Toronto, grew up here as well. Many streets, particularly in the poorer neighbourhoods, are still littered with debris from homes that have been mucked out, in what are assuredly total-loss situations. So although we don’t discuss PROTOTYPE’s unanticipated new subtext at great length, it’s something of which we are both acutely aware.
Cinema Scope: Why did you initially become interested in the material related to the Galveston hurricane?
Blake Williams: I always start my film projects by acquiring footage, based on certain possible projects that I have in mind. And I became aware of the fact that the house that my mother grew up in, in Fairchilds, Texas, was on the verge of collapse. It had been flooded several times, no one had been inside for months, the furniture was moulding, and it was all on the verge of folding in on itself. So I decided to go and film the house with a dual GoPro [3D parallax] set-up I’d made. I spent a day there filming in and around the house and parts of the village, and afterward I did a bit of Wiki-research into the community there, which is about an hour outside of Houston, towards Fort Bend County. So I was learning about the foundations of this village, the man who established it as a town, and the Mennonites who populated it until it was practically wiped clean by the hurricane that hit Galveston in 1900.
At the time, Galveston was the considered “the queen city of the Gulf” and had the largest population in Texas, so it was also very devastating for the entire region and state. I was reading about the storm, its history, looking at images, and thinking what else was happening around that time, in 1900. Not only culturally or geographically, but also socially, technologically, and so on. You had the transition into modernism, the development of cinema, the rise of the auto industry, and broader industrialization and globalization. So the storm itself became a kind of central foundation, an event that could be happening while the film was playing through.
Scope: So in a sense, the storm wipes the slate clean to prepare for modernity and these other changes?
Williams: I don’t know if it’s a matter of wiping the slate clean, but it represents the last of a certain way of life. Radio and wireless telegraphy were still in their infancy when that hurricane hit, which essentially is why a third of the city was killed. If it happened two years later, thousands of people would have been saved. So the storm itself is this matter of fact, something that couldn’t have been prevented or stopped, but the technicity of that time was dependent on so many factors leading up it, and became this kind of failure to provide security and protection. Same thing with lighthouses, a few of which appear at a couple of different moments in PROTOTYPE. They can be thought of as proto-cinematic light projectors, but their purpose is to protect people and guide them to safety. And I became interested in this benevolence of technology.
Then I was also considering the art world, and the developments of modernism that were also already playing out. There are a number of shots in the film at the Musée Rodin in Paris, with Rodin of course being a key figure for the transition into modernist sculpture, and what would eventually happen with Dada and Surrealism and Futurism in the early 1900s. His work feels like some sort of calm before the storm of modernism, looking back at it now. But I guess these storms, literal and figural, are kinds of monoliths, or tentpoles that mark a time period and became ways of thinking about a time period within the context of an event or a person or movement. In some ways this is what’s already happened for Texas and Harvey, which is this new monolith that stands over the summer of 2017. We start to think about other cultural events that were happening at that time as somehow related or in response to that.
Scope: So given 1900 and the storm as a “tentpole,” how do you see television entering that orbit?
Williams: I wanted to have a way of depicting early cinema in a way that was at least, from our perspective, obviously factually incorrect—something that would look unfamiliar to us but also somewhat familiar. And I wanted to create this disjunction between where we’re told the film is set in time and space, and break away from that in a very obvious way. Because I was thinking about early cinema, to have this device that would show motion pictures technologically in a way that was not historically accurate was a way to think in two places at once. The device is a virtual televisual object I created out of a 1959 Philco Predicta television. The shape of that object really embodies the aesthetics of the Atomic Era of industrial design, when people were really into the Space Age, the actual space race, and living in fear that earth was not such a safe place. Space became a place for possible escape in some way, from the threats of the Cold War. But also I quite like the shape, because it’s an egglike object from which images almost “hatch” or are born.
Scope: And the images hover.
Williams: Yeah, they don’t have a base, and they sit in front of one another without any sort of grounding. For us to look at these antique Philcos now, there’s already something fantastical and retro about them, but also something futuristic. And they just become even more alien when they are depicting impossible images, these 3D video clips playing on CRT monitors, which never existed in our technological history, and objects seeming to come out from them and go into them in a three-dimensional way. They’re displaying these images in an aesthetic that may evoke both nostalgia and confusion, because they appear to us in a way that we know is not a part of technological history. It sits just outside of what we sense and know to be technologically possible, and so it may feel uncanny.
Scope: You’ve spoken about PROTOTYPE as tracing an alternate technological history, as if other devices had appeared at different times, or become dominant.
Williams: It’s a way of acknowledging this process of looking back at a time period, and projecting onto it a sensibility that’s specific to where you are, and what is going on for you in your own era. This is part of what a lot of historians have been critiquing over the past few decades, this way of tracing a line from the event that you look at to yourself in a very determined and teleological way. Whereas now you have historians developing new ways of looking at the past, adopting Foucault’s archaeology metaphor, following alternative paths that could have happened, but just happened to not happen. They follow whatever threads those questions might lead down. It’s always conjecture.
But at the same time it’s rooted in certain facts of what did happen. It might just be dealing with certain technologies that were experimented with but didn’t take off, or certain films or shows that weren’t popular, so they didn’t become part of the canon that would influence other films. But if you can grab onto those objects that are buried by less careful historians, then you can imagine how the present might have been shaped by it. So, yes, having this televisual object is in a way kind of leading that moment in 1900 in a different direction. Inconclusively, but, still, somewhere else.
Scope: Your discussion about technologies that have been picked up and dropped at various points in history seems like a natural segue into talking about 3D. Could you maybe say a bit about how PROTOTYPE relates to your previous experiments in 3D, and how you perhaps see PROTOTYPE as relating to the history of 3D in film more generally?
Williams: Part of the appeal of 3D for me is that it’s a kind of perpetual infant. It’s always young and beginning, because it keeps repeating a similar cycle: it becomes popular, and almost as soon as it becomes popular it’s fading out again—unlike sound, unlike colour, unlike CinemaScope, which all had their so-called “immature” modes where they’re demonstrating their effects much more than being incorporated into a film’s narrative. But with 3D, it seems that it always has to demonstrate itself to us in a very…I wouldn’t say “immature” way, but in a very childlike way.
Scope: It’s always a gimmick.
Williams: Or at least it’s always an attraction, in the Tom Gunning sense. It’s always easy to say it’s not necessary, whereas that attitude goes away for other formats that are also usually not necessary. If you go to a colour film today, I don’t think you’d ever come out of it saying, “that didn’t need to be in colour,” even if it’s not doing anything particularly interesting with colour. It’s just kind of understood that it’s in colour.
But 3D never became an institutional standard. So any time it comes it has to defend itself, justify its presence. “Did it need to be in 3D?” “Did the 3D enhance what was going on?” It’s always new, so it’s always subjected to medium-specific demands: “Do what a 2D movie can’t do or go away.” But I like to think that when you’re working with a format that’s in this young mode, it just gives you more freedom to play, and discover things that haven’t been done yet. If it had become popularized, and more people were working with the format, playing around with it, and developing it, there’d be less mystery surrounding what it can do and how our bodies respond to it.
Scope: 3D doesn’t quite have a vernacular yet.
Williams: Right. It seems like every new 3D film that comes out—or at least every artist’s 3D film—does something totally unique and unexpected with the format. It was only three years ago that Godard’s Adieu au langage (2014) had the cameras move away from each other and split the screen apart. That was totally radical and unheard of, but also an incredibly simple thing. Why did it take 70 years of 3D filmmaking for someone to finally do that? Moving the viewer’s eyes around should have been one of first things we played with.
Scope: But most commercial films stick to the basics. Like how Despicable Me 2 (2013) uses the end credits to have the Minions construct various 3D jokes, such as balancing a ladder and sending it out over the audience. It’s not that far removed from SCTV’s “3D House of Beef.” As you say, it’s an attraction, and audiences paid extra for the ticket.
Williams: I think it’s just because that’s what people think they want from a 3D movie, until they’re given that and then they complain about the format just being a gimmick. There have been studies of audience reactions, like targeted CinemaScores of 3D films, and positive scores are dependent on how much negative-parallax there is in a 3D film. So if the film has a lot of objects coming out at the screen and into the theatre space, the audience will have found value in that experience. But if it’s a milder demonstration of it, or most of it is positive-parallax, folding into the screen, then audiences tend to be more critical and dissatisfied.
There were actually some early shorts that were shown at the beginning of the 1920s up through the ’50s that they would play in conventions, these mini 3D demonstrations. There would be someone onscreen talking to the audience about how to properly put on their glasses, meanwhile poking various objects out at them. There were people firing guns, playing ping-pong and paddleball, baseball—a wild pitch that goes through the screen. It’s that momentary sense of danger you feel that was very unusual and exciting. Your body sees something flying at it and feels threatened, while your mind works to put that part of you at ease, reminding you that it’s an illusion that can never actually reach you.
Scope: PROTOTYPE is your fifth film in 3D. Do you see it as a kind of culmination of the work you’ve been doing, or the start of a different kind of project?
Williams: It’s hard for me to think of it as a culmination, even though I’m sure it is. I’m sure it reflects certain things that I learned while making the other shorts. It’s also the first film that I made that’s not in anaglyph. The short films were all made with the red and cyan filters of the anaglyph, so with each successive film I would film and edit in a way that was increasingly conscious of that format. Eventually it became part of the thematic material of the films.
But with every new film that I make I find myself actively avoiding repeating myself. Many artists and filmmakers, including many of my favourites, work in series, developing sometimes dozens of short films around a similar theme or subject. I have trouble imagining myself doing that, if only because I tend to exhaust certain visual ideas or themes within a single particular film to the point where I don’t really feel like I have anything else to add. The films are crammed with every variation or tangent I could find.
PROTOTYPE is maybe the first of the 3D films I’ve made that didn’t originate as a project that was self-reflexive about the film’s 3D-ness. I was thinking less about the image than I was about time and historical narratives. Which isn’t to say I didn’t always intend for it to be in 3D. I would say that I do seek out ideas and projects with the idea in mind that they will be in 3D, but I never really force the 3D-ness onto the idea once it finally comes. They always arrive kind of naturally as stereo projects. So far, anyway.
Scope: Right. Many a Swan is very much about the screen folding in and out. Red Capriccio is about the red and blue of anaglyph. Baby Blue seems to be in part about anaglyph’s ghosting problem…I’m not so sure how I would characterize Something Horizontal within this framework.
Williams: Something Horizontal is a bit of a transitional film—I even made it in both anaglyph and polarized versions. With that one, I was getting away from the specificity of the anaglyph format. The main thing was trying to think about 3D images that were flashing across the screen for such a brief amount of time that our eyes wouldn’t have enough time to bring the two images together into one. So as the images flicker by, your eyes are kind of dancing with it and never quite creating a stable 3D image for many parts of that movie.
That was the central phenomenon that I was thinking about when I was developing it, as well as also questioning narrative forms and the temporality of the narrative film experience. So there are these title cards, which I carried over into PROTOTYPE, that kind of suggest a temporal line of thinking, before and after, things moving on from one to the next, even though the actual subject matter is not really building in any sort of cumulative, temporal way.
Scope: Were the title cards (“Earlier,” “And Then…,” “Some weeks later”) an homage to Un chien andalou (1929)?
Williams: When I did it in Something Horizontal, it wasn’t a conscious homage to Buñuel, although I’d seen the film many times. But once someone mentioned that film to me, I was like, “Oh yeah, of course that’s where I got it from!” In PROTOTYPE, though, the title cards are a conscious homage, but to Something Horizontal.
Scope: If you’re going to steal, steal from the best! But what you say about Something Horizontal is interesting. One of the things that I hadn’t really thought about with respect to 3D is that the combination of the two images, in the eye and the mind, is a temporal experience. So you can slow that process down. You can pull that time apart.
Williams: It’s funny, but that’s precisely what James Cameron believes he was being very mindful of when he was making Avatar (2009)—slowing down the editing during certain action sequences. He didn’t want this frustration of being presented with a 3D image and not being able to look at it long enough for it to become pleasurable to you as a 3D image, with depth that you could luxuriate in.
But at the same time, he’s making a contemporary action film that’s dependent on intensified continuity. And so he had to negotiate between having lower interaxial distances in his 3D when he was doing a more rapidly edited sequence versus the leisurely narrative pacing where he’s a bit more indulgent with the depth perception that he’s creating. Cameron talks a lot about not wanting to have the 3D onscreen for such a short time that our eyes couldn’t put it together. So you could also think of Something Horizontal as a kind of reaction against that—an intentional breaking of that rule.
Scope: So when people like Cameron, Christopher Nolan, and the Wachowskis claim to be making big-budget experimental films, you’re not buying it.
Williams: I don’t have a negative reaction to them saying that. Within a certain blockbuster vernacular, they’re probably doing some relatively radical or experimental things, and it’s great that they’re able to do some of the things they do for such large audiences. Nolan, for example, is playing with time in a way that’s not so far off from how I think about time in my films—like with what he’s done in Dunkirk and Inception (2010), creating narrative structures that bend and curlicue through timelines, or create a Russian doll effect. But there are obviously distinctions between what they do and what the avant-garde does, with regards to cause-and-effect tension, empathy, and the legibility of their images. I still need to see Speed Racer (2008) though, which I hear is just pure plastic imagery.
Scope: Oh, it’s something. Now, I wanted to loop back to your discussion of research and how it fed into PROTOTYPE. You’re a critic and a scholar as well as an artist, and I was wondering if you saw the film as related to your pursuits as a writer and researcher.
Williams: I’m writing my dissertation on contemporary experimental stereo films, so I’ve been thinking about what other practitioners are doing with the medium recently. I’m looking at the differences between how industry filmmakers are using it and how experimental filmmakers are working with the format. So that of course includes Ken Jacobs, but also Jodie Mack’s prismatic film, certain Chromadepth films, and trying to figure out a way to find a commonality among them.
One thing that I think is unique to these filmmakers who are working with 3D, myself included, is a kind of reaction against the ostensible hapticity of 3D imagery. I’m interested in and also suspicious of the idea of haptic visuality, the kind that builds off, for example, what Laura Marks was talking about in her discussion of “intercultural cinema,” that’s situated by close-ups and the video image—how you aren’t just gazing at the film but you’re grazing it with your eyes. So it’s the difference between looking at something from a distance and seeing the form, versus being put into some form of contact with the texture of that form, and actually feeling like you’re touching while seeing. It’s talking about a certain kind of embodiment with films, creating this bodily experience where you feel yourself in your body. You get this with Gravity (2013), and even with Avatar, a film that’s narratively structured around someone having their consciousness placed in another, alien body.
But the stereo experimental films I’m studying are doing something different. A lot of these films, including PROTOTYPE, are removing the sensation of even having a body at all. They form a direct link from the film’s consciousness to the viewer’s. I don’t have a sense of embodiment when I experience these films. Looking and my experience of time become a kind of matter that is able to scatter and be a bit more free-floating and uncontained. This sensation, though maybe that’s the wrong word to use, comes up in the relatively abstract second half of PROTOTYPE. You have this experience of losing your sense of the objects and forms that you’re looking at from a distance, and you become not so much immersed in a space or time, not just a mode of vision, but in this arena of matter that is coming into you and folding around you. And the sense is that there is no distinction in this moment between here and there, inside and outside.
I think you get this with a lot of contemporary 3D because the effect is not so much on the screen. A lot of it is in the glasses, or in your own head. So like with Ken Jacobs and Eternalism or with his “Cross-Eyed Views,” there’s no actual 3D effect on the screen. Your brain pulls the illusion out of itself. And this is also my fascination with the “split” shot from Adieu au langage. Our binocular vision of the world is disrupted in this moment, and our mind has to begin processing the world in a way that’s outside of an able-bodied person’s view of the world. How we see in that moment and how our bodies are built to see are incompatible, and so they separate. So I feel like it’s a lot more about having the film experience not be a kind of shape or object that is before you in a sculptural way, but actually something that kind of moves into your system and places you outside of yourself. It’s a way of no longer having a sense of where your skin ends and the rest of the world begins.
Giving Credibility to the Universe: Hélène Cattet & Bruno Forzani on Laissez bronzer les cadavres CS73 Editor’s Note
Audrey II: Sofia Bohdanowicz and Deragh Campbell’s MS Slavic 7
To Thine Own Self Be True: Angela Schanelec on I Was at Home, But…
Ghost Operas: Music from the Films of Bertrand Bonello
Soft and Hard: Claire Denis on High Life
Encore: Dora García’s Segunda vez
Truth and Method: The Films of Thomas Heise
Thinking in Images: Scott Walker and Cinema
The Exorcist: Barbara Loden and Wanda
Global Discoveries on DVD: Extras and Streaming, Now, Then, and There
Film/Art | Curses and Blessings: Moving Images at the 58th Venice Biennale
Film/Art | Manhattan Style: Andy Warhol’s Empire
Festivals Spotlight
Parasite (Bong Joon Ho, South Korea)
Our Time (Carlos Reygadas, Mexico/France/Germany/Denmark/Sweden)
A Land Imagined (Yeo Siew Hua, Singapore/France/Netherlands)
Nervous Translation (Shireen Seno, Philippines)
Cinema Scope Issue 79 with Features including .. Truth and Method: The Films of Thomas Heise by Michael Sicinski, Thinking in Images: Scott Walker and Cinema by Christoph Huber, 58th Venice Biennale, Cannes and DVD Reviews. More →
Excuse me if I come across as discombobulated, it’s not because of any movie I’ve watched recently. No, I’m talking about far more important things than cinema: this issue is in the process of being closed while deep in the throes of Raptors mania, to be precise, the incredible goings-on of Game 4. More →
By Robert Kotyk In the first scene of Julia Reichert’s first film, Growing Up Female (co-directed with Jim Klein, 1971), a woman takes the hand of More →
I’ve exited the last several Bruno Dumont films wondering—only somewhat in jest—whether or not their maker had gone completely insane. Until 2014, Dumont was notorious for his straight-faced, neo-Bressonian, severely severe dramas that interrogated the intersection of spiritualism and material form. More →
Undersung filmmaker Ken Kobland’s strange, sumptuous slice of classically minded surrealism, Flaubert Dreams of Travel But the Illness of His Mother Prevents It, created in 1986 in collaboration with The Wooster Group (America’s experimental-theatre ensemble extraordinaire) is, too, a creature born from Flaubert’s polymorphous bestiary. More →
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Caminos of Peaceful Warrior
I hope to be able to share with everyone I meet love peace and harmony. This blog is designed to herald the greatness of the people whom I meet on my many journeys, who share with me the happiness of 'the journey.' Random acts of kindness are what we can all do, so I hope that you see and feel that from my accounts. P.W. x
Day 35 begins
I knew that there would be cyclists and even twitcher's this morning so got up and packed away relatively early. The day was warm and the sun was about to break cover of the clouds. I would be in Durham by evening I concluded, so set off to find a breakfast and tea. I had been going for only about 30 minutes when I met a group of youths and leaders coming along the path towards me. I spoke briefly with Paul a leader and Carl a young man, about where I was going and what I was doing. Paul a keen walker for charity causes too was amazed and said as much to the young man with him. I think that they were working at building confidence in people to get them back into work environments. Paul said that it was a council based training plan for locals. I hope that I explained this well. He had to go to keep up with the main group but he took my details to hopefully check out Imagine.
Now I arrived to Station Town and was soon out the other side into another village Wingate, that was joined to it. I asked a few locals for a cafe but none knew of one open. I went into a shop to buy a few pieces of fruit and asked for a cafe. They told me it was next door in the side street and was actually the same business as the fruit/butchers/whatever shop. Robinson's cafe was lovely and they didn't mind me plugging in and writing some of my blog. I had paid for a small breakfast and tea, but what came was a massive pile of food, and it was delicious, though I had to pack some of it away as I couldn't eat it all.
Before long a lot of people kept filling the place and I kept checking that I wasn't occupying seats that could house other paying customers. I love to be in these busy environments but I try not to do the owners out of customers who would like to sit and eat.
I got into conversation with Hy, who's car had broken down. She was out for the day with her daughter Fran and granddaughter India. They were waiting for the AA and she told me that this had happened before, last time they went to a cafe. I said you need to stop going to cafes then... It was a joke obviously and I diagnosed that it was a faulty battery that had stranded them. Hy offered me a lift to Durham as she said it was a bit of a bore to walk all that way without much to see. I took her word for it and gratefully accepted, more for the intuitive side of it than the walking. I also got into conversation with the lady who ran the cafe Margaret, her husband Trevor, and one of their customers, Annabelle. They were interested what had possessed me to walk all the way around Britain. I couldn't really put my finger on it, more than to say that I was trying to remove my ignorance of what it is to be a British citizen and know my own countries. I hope that they follow my blog as they were about to offer me something I am sure,, maybe a bed for the night but I was due to be leaving when the AA man had fixed the car of Hy and her possy.
On the way to Durham I discovered that Fran and India actually live presently in Singapore, a place where I have not been for a long time. They were amazed that I had been born there, they knew the place much better than I do, as I was a babe in arms when my parents returned to the United Kingdom. I was glad to have taken the ride with them as it meant that I arrived here with time to look for the accommodation that had been heralded to me by several people now. I gave my friends the customary farewell and Fran a hug for being such a great insightful person, no dead wood here....(private joke)
The cathedral loomed on the top of the hill as I crossed a river and climbed steps to the south side. I met Harry Potter on his (her) broomstick. A group of people a family from Germany were on the lawn in front of the Cathedral a girl was wearing Harry Potters gown and Quiddich outfit and trying to fly the broomstick. I helped out by taking a picture where her feet were off the ground as she sat astride the broom. She went on to tell me all about the college and the castle and that fact that it was indeed open as a bed and breakfast during the summer months when students were away. Apparently over 100 students live within the castle walls during term times, only the state rooms are free. I sadly didn't get miss Potters name, but went off in search of a room with a view.
The Castle do indeed do bed and breakfast. I asked for the chance to stay here and the man on duty said that he would ask his superior, a lady called Wendy, if she could do me a deal as I was also walking to raise funds for 5 charities. Wendy came down to speak with me and I told her all about my project and the fund raising angle and they did indeed do me a very reasonable offer. I wanted this unique opportunity to spend a night in an actual working castle where the seat of education had ruled for many centuries. Durham is the third firmly established University in Great Britain, behind only the two famous biggies, Oxford and Cambridge. It boasts many unique avenues of learning too, and what with this spectacular accommodation it must be one of the best places in the entire country to have been schooled. (Ask Jeremy Vine, B.B.C Radio and television show host)
I nearly fainted when she said that I was also included in the breakfast arrangements for the morning in the great hall. I walked to my room on a cloud even if it was in the dungeons and below the views over the river. I dropped my things had a shower and set out to explore the town and the grounds to the castle. The great hall was like something from Harry Potter. It was very reminiscent of the great hall at Hogwarts though smaller. And I was sure Dumbledore came up the steps behind me. It was beyond awesome, it was a treat on so many levels and I felt incredibly humbled to be here, in a building used and inhabited for over 800 years continually.
The Cathedral was also open and surprisingly again it was free to enter. I had the great luck to be able to attend the evensong, (vespers) and was inspired to write several poems whilst in the Cathedral. I was struggling to take it all in, and later on the walk around the grounds and Cloisters saw that in fact it had featured in the Potter movies for part of the filming on location.
At 6.30 I had arranged to meet Duncan the night watchman he was going to let me use the washing facilities for the students during term time. It was in my kind of budget too....Thank you Duncan. Thank you Durham Castle.
Out in the town I saw a lot of people, and briefly met a few that I had seen at the Cathedral earlier. Santosh and Mini were a from Newcastle and they were here visiting as Mini's brother was over from Dubai with another friend. They like me had been swept away by the wealth of history and character of this inland Cleveland town. The town was very small really, at least the heart of it.
I found my way around easily and even though there was much to see, I compacted it all in to walk around discovering the sights. I ended the night in the pub called the Swan and Three Signets, which was above the river by the main old bridge into town. The walk back to the Castle was sweet even if it was all uphill. The mood of the town/city was very warm and friendly and I marveled at my good fortune to be staying here in this old historical landmark. Duncan the night porter who had earlier shown me to the washing facilities of the students was still on duty and we chatted easily for a while before I said my farewells and went to rest my very weary head. I had noticed from various photographs that I had seen in the Pub that some of the features of the town and castle were altered. The galloping horseman in the town center for example was facing downhill now. I was told that it had been altered about 2 years ago, though not given a real reason why. Also the castle had a doorway now in the courtyard that had not been there several hundred years ago. (I would learn more tomorrow about this and other things on the castle tour.)
I settled in to my very comfortable room and let the castle walls protect me as I slept soundly, not a real prisoner but down in the depths of the castle keep.
Day 35 came to a most spectacular end. Thank you Durham Castle and staff for your kindnesses.
Posted by Peaceful Warrior at 05:55 1 comment:
When I woke it was to the sun peeking out from behind clouds but the day was already quite warm. I lazily packed everything away and surveyed the route to go. I wasn't entirely sure now that I was actually on marked footpath as there was not much evidence of people having walked here recently except for one faint trail which could have been made by animals to be fair. I had faithfully followed the signs from the village and taken to only logical next path at the opening to the previous field. I was wondering just to what extent the farmers here seem to 'lose' the signs across their land.....
Still I set off following the trampled grass and saw it dip into a deep cavernous hole where a river passed below. I came out looking like the bog monster as so much undergrowth and brambles were hanging off me, but I had at least survived the climb down and up the muddy banks the other side. A field of cows to my right, luckily were not close enough to me to get access to this field and I set off across the short grass around the edges of this one. The only exit was under a barbed wire fence, and over a wide dyke. I used the poles to help me vault the expanse and landed at the wire so to speak. Millimeters from lacerating myself but at least on the top of the bank. I had to take off the bag and pass it under the fence before I could get through, but the field (the one with the cows in it) was covered in sh....something that rhymes with hit.....so had to hold the bag from falling into said product whilst I eased under the fence at the same time. If you could have videod this you surely would have gotten the £250 quid from Jeremy Beadle/Lisa Tarbuck. What a pulaver...I tell you...
Still I was still sh.. free and walking away.... as the cows came to have a looky look. The next hurdle was likewise a test of my skill, I felt like I was on the Krypton factor.... Up a tree stump and over the fence without catching my trousers on the barbed wire, wahey... Several more barbed wire fences later I was on the side of the A19 dual carriage way and traffic was heavy now. Trucks whistled past and blew me all over the place as I tried to follow the road north. Soon enough I came to the foot path, the one I probably should have exited on if I had found the proper signage.
Something odd was afoot here as I looked for the other half, the paring of this footpath the other side of the highway. It was nowhere to be seen. Strange. If you can imagine, the main road having been built let's say about 50 years ago, then the footpath would have preceded it by several hundreds of years, but it had now vanished from view. I spied one or two options across the road, but found no real evidence of a pathway. It surely couldn't have vanished and there was access across the carriageway by openings in the Armco fencing, that suggested a footpath ahead. I followed the road North until I found an old lay-by, that now served as a restricted access to a farmers land. I walked up the drive expecting to see a style or other evidence of a path, but all I saw were warning signs about prosecution for trespassing. Some people should read the law and not be scared off by such obtuse warnings. I am not suggesting that anyone should ignore signs, no not at all, but at least know your rights out here in the countryside.
A large posh and shiny Range Rover casually rode alongside and the occupant looked at me with the window down, as if to inquire as to my trespassing on the apron of the land. I'll give her her due she was very cordial and polite and waited for me to explain my investigations in full. She happily explained that the footpath was not actually here but to the north some way along the carriageway. But I sensed her almost inform me that I could pass as there was a route at the back of her land. In the end I took the hint not to get savaged by roaming dogs, as a clue as to my decision henceforth.
I took the road north and found the track alongside the next field opposite another path the other side of the dual carriageway which was its twin, and so not the partner of the previous path some ¼ mile south of here. I was alongside a petrol station service area and used the services and got a cup of tea at the cafe.
When I set out along the path half an hour later it was about to rain, but I had no intention of putting my bag off again to get my coat. I figured I would reach the tree line before that and so made speed across the deep grass following the proper pathway. The day was full of omen and yet I couldn't tell what it was saying except, straying of the path could be hazardous to my health. At the corner of the field the sign was deeply buried beneath tall grass, as it had been 'nudged' almost flat by a passing large object. (Lets say it could be only one of a few possible choices as the field is closed to public vehicular usage, and the wind is not likely to have pushed over a post this short......
(What do you say Holmes? Elementary my dear Watson, elementary...)
Something about the choice here seemed to say I wanted to go right, but the sign pointed the other way, and back to the tree line at the back of the Range Rover driver's property. To the right a house with lovely views over the fields, to the left, muddy paths. I went left but all the while hated the choice. I heard a few voices as I neared the bottom of the field and a huge dog came bounding along the track towards me. He was very happy to see me and made no attempt to bark or bother me. A couple out walking were at the gate as I arrived, holding a second dog by the collar. We greeted one another and began chatting. I told them I was looking to get towards Durham and they said that I needed to go via a route that would indeed have led me almost to the back of the woodland property above. They also confirmed what I had noticed about the signs here, that they miraculously disappeared on occasion and were often lost in the trees and brambles.
I said that they could let the other dog go as I wasn't scared of dogs, and got on with most dogs without any trouble. They explained it was a dog recently patriated here and was a bit of a naughty boy this past few days and had need of a bit more control from them. I shrugged my shoulders, he seemed a harmless creature but they said he was not keen on eye contact, so I looked away as if that were true then my card was already marked. As they came through the gate they had found a piece of bale twine to hold him on. We introduced ourselves, as they approached. Nicola and Andrew who lived at the house behind me, the one I had felt drawn towards, said that I could follow another route across their garden and out onto open fields alongside, to rejoin the best paths to Durham.
I moved to shake hands with Andrew and as I turned the dog he was holding lurched towards me and snapped at the back of my leg. I didn't feel anything, or notice it happening, but as Andrew pulled the lead the dog had torn a hole in the back of my North Face walking trousers and narrowly avoided biting my skin by millimeteres.
Andrew was full of apology, even though they had given a warning of the dogs behaviour, and asked what I wanted him to do. I mean what can you say to someone who's dog has just ripped a hole in a very expensive and practical pair of trousers? I wasn't about to make a big deal out of it, life happens and you have to deal with things in context. I said that I could repair them later, and not to worry at all. He said we must be able to do something, so I suggested they offer me a cup of tea at their house which they very graciously did. They put William, the problematic dog away and invited me into their home. James the better behaved of the two was allowed to stay without problem. They made tea and offered me cakes and before I left they gave me a bag of supplies, fruit and other goodies. This was a very kind thing to do and it restored my faith in the universe to provide just when all my other resources were depleted.
Out in the garden again we said our farewells and they showed me where I was to head for, across the fields to reach the footpath and guided me towards a few things of note along the route. It was heavy going as the fields that weren't sown with crops were long wet grass that was heavy to wade through. I came out eventually onto the proper path, but it had not been walked in so long the grass was deep and tiring me out after only a few minutes. I guess the ramblers haven't been here for a long time, and the farmer wasn't bothering to keep any of the gates, styles or pathways marked or clear. It took me about an hour to do a short mile or so. I came to a style out on the face of a hill that had several new houses built upon and rested my knees and back. I had also been reminded to play some of Richard Ashcroft's music, since hearing Rocky play one of the songs yesterday. I had been carried away in the solace many times by this rousing and thoughtfully spiritual man's music. And walking these tough grassed paths had needed some spirit building accompaniment.
At the top of a small hill I met a man called Dave Peacock. He was about 70 years of age and incredibly fit and agile, and was a keen walker and treasure hunter. He told me all about how he had found many noteworthy things in his time using a very inexpensive metal detector, and how he had gotten a lot of the local peoples trust to use their land to search for things. I also learned that even four hundred years ago and possibly for longer than that, forgery had been a very lucrative way to make a living. He had found a coin once that was too shiny to be pure silver, and he found out that it was a copy from the other side of the waters, possibly Holland. It was subsequently worth more as an artifact because they were rarer than the silver originals. He walked with me for a while and we chatted about many things. I liked listening to this man talk about how history had shaped things, and how many unknown facts were possibly the cause of much ignorance in our culture. He was keen to share much and before we knew it we were at a bridge over the main road. He asked me where I was headed and it appeared that we had gone in the complete opposite direction. I said I knew that, but was enjoying his company far too much to worry about such things as walking back the other way along the same pathway. We were talking about ghosts and spirits and old pathways that had disappeared over time, along with much history. He was a mind of information and happily shared a great deal with me for free. Again we said our farewells and I began the trek back towards where Andrew and Nicola had suggested I go. I half expected Dave to have vanished as I turned to see him go, he was an unusual friendly and charming man, like a character from a film I had seen, who was in fact a ghost. I couldn't see Dave either, but was sure that he had been real.
The walk towards Station Town was a pleasant but long hike, what with the added mileage I had walked with Dave the treasure hunter. I think he was a treasure himself. I found a place to sit for a while overlooking the fields back towards Middlesborough. I was messing about with my camera and made a comedy video I hope that you enjoy when I get a chance to upload it. It helped to relax the mood and the strangeness of the afternoon. Omens indeed.
Along the path I bumped into a lady, out walking a small dog and made sure to keep my distance, even though the Yorkshire Terrier looked as harmful as candy floss. Molly Anderson was herself a mature lady and began chatting all about how life here was much different to where she had come from in Hartlepool just a few short miles away. She lived on the banks of the reservoir I was looking to find, and was a keen walker, though Fergus did a lot of sitting around in the middle of the path instead of the usual foraying in the undergrowth like most other dogs would. He was an island for all the cyclists who came along, he just sat staring cutely at them. Molly asked if she could walk with me to the bench where her husband had sat this morning and seen a Peregrine Falcon over the water near to the benches.
It was a beautiful spot, and I envied them a little being so close to this much nature. We talked about the ways things had changed over the years, more so for her than for me, and she made me laugh when she told me about the Craft and Chat club that she went to in the village here. She had to be told it was not CHAT and Craft, but the other way round. And when someone from an outside agency came to talk to them about bullying in their small group they had fell about laughing. Someone had also come along to talk to them about goal orientation and task focus, but again, most of them had been alive well over 70 years and one even well into her 90's, so again they fond this, amusing. The person telling them this was young enough to have been a grand daughter of most of the women. I was glad to have seen this ladies way of explaining the past, it gave me a whole new perspective on many levels. She went on to explain that work situations in a place like Hartlepool were endemic of bigger cultural flaws not being dealt with effectively. Apparently up to 4 generations of people in that place had been unemployed and didn't know how to work or see themselves as ever being gainfully employed. Molly had worked in social care and seen many things first hand. One girl, a pregnant single mother said that she wanted a big house and all the mod cons, as her grandfather had once worked and paid his social payments. Make of this what you will, like myself I am baffled as to what we have been showing this community to have these ideas fixed in this way. It could just be an isolated case, but from what I hear thus far it is much deeper ingrained than that.
I thanked Molly for her time and great stories and made my way along the banks of the reservoir. She had to get back to her dinner and I had to find a place to camp out. I hadn't gone far when I found the ideal spot, overlooking the Hurworth Burn Reservoir. I set up where I could watch the fisherman on the banks of the field opposite and catch the evening sun shine across the west side of the waters. Many Canada geese were sitting on the waters and plenty of other types of birds kept whizzing by me as I sat contemplating life at one of the many picnic tables.
A lot of cyclist had gone by during the past hour or so, but few were passing now. The tent sat low and was not seen until you were almost upon it, so I didn't think it would bother anyone, and I was going to be the only one to be here enjoying the setting sun.
A man on a bike stopped to chat with me. Andrew from a village some 8 miles away, High Hesseldon was keen to know all about my project and the results of my research so far. We chatted for a long time before he suddenly realised he had to ride back. He said that he was also working in Durham, and gave me a lot of tips about what to see and how to get there.
Then a man from the next village stopped to chat with me. Don from Station town was out having an evening stroll. I apologized for having my tent up here, but he said it wasn't a problem, as long as I didn't bother the wild life, which of course I never do.
I was tired now and when Don left to walk home I ate my small reserves and thanked the universe for so many lovely experiences today.
As the sun set on the waters, shimmering in golden light, I slept as a lucky man.
Day 34 came to a splendid end.
Posted by Peaceful Warrior at 05:54 No comments:
I was up at about 7.15 as I didn't want to be in the way when the children woke up and needed feeding and whatever their routine was. I used the bathroom and showered and shaved and made myself a cup of tea to wait for the family getting up. I imagined that it being a Monday there would be a lot going on. After an hour or so Ian, Joan's friend got up and I made him a cup of tea too. Ian has lost the sight in both eyes due to Macular degenerative disease. He was happy to tell me all I ever needed to know about life here in South Bank, its proud community histories and even some of the tales of the misdemeanors of his youth. Ian was a Scotsman who had lived here and worked in the drinks industry most of his life, as there was a big need for his services then. In the days when people drank to be sociable and to relax from the hard days work in the foundry or the coal mines or other associated industries, and not from desperation of no prospects and a society built on tearing down old industry without replacing it with anything else. I liked Ian too and he was very cordial and gave me very clear and concise answers to my inquiry. I mean to judge no-one of course, but did want to know what was behind the drinking culture here and possibly in all areas of the United Kingdom. After a further hour of waiting, I realised that Alan was really shattered and catching up on a long overdue sleep, and neither of the children had stirred either. Joan was sleeping in but Ian had a nurse calling to give him some medications and so the reason for his being up now. I made myself ready to leave, I had wanted to say my farewells but wasn't going to wake anyone to do so. I would send Alan a message later and thank them all very much for their kindness.
The walk back to Middlesborough was different now as I chose a new route on the south side of the town. I had a cup of tea at a cafe near to the Albert park and got chatting to several people briefly who gave me ideas as to where to go and what to see next. I was going to be heading in the general direction of Durham today. Several people recommended Durham Cathedral and the Castle. I admitted my ignorance and knew had nothing of either, Durham has a Cathedral? I thought you had to be a city to get a Cathedral?
On my way through town today I met a young guy called Rocky, playing guitar on a bench in the center. We had a chat between songs as I listened to him play some of my favourite's, including the legendry Richard Ashcroft. I called in at the offices of Radio Tees to see if anyone there would be interested in helping to promote my walk and help raise money for the 5 charities I am supporting. Kate was very helpful, and said that she would pass on my details to one of the D.J's. (As of yet a week later no-one has called or emailed me. The Olympics I guess are too important and my walk is not going to be at the top of the list of priorities)(That reminds me, has anyone heard me on B.R.Y.L. Radio yet?)
I made my way out to the Transporter Bridge as it should be running today and oddly enough I was still here since Saturday. Sure enough I got to see it working and ride on it across the Tees river. It is something like 200 years old and still working well. It carries only up to 9 cars at a time but that seems to be enough to make it pay. It is an impressive structure and a rare treat that I was able to find it running when I arrived today. I also helped me cross to the north side of the river where I was heading towards Durham, hopefully across country on the network of footpaths.
I was soon in a village called Cowpen Bewley and later crossed the main road to leading to the north at a village called Newton Bewley. The pub here was still closed it was a small village and only opened its doors evenings for meals etc, by the look of it. I worked out that I had some supplies to eat so could manage until tomorrow if I found a nice sunny little spot to set my tent down this evening.
Walking in the sun was sapping my strengths a little, and when I arrived at a corner in the track between two fields I sat leaning against my bag to have a rest which quickly turned into a nap. I woke some hours later and now felt as though this spot was the very place I had been looking for so set to work erecting my shelter. The sun was still very warm on my skin and the evening seemed to last a very long time. I wasn't able to write as the computer battery was nearly dead but I found some very interesting views to record and the grass here was also very communicative. Sometimes we miss what nature is telling us, by not having time or the inclination to listen, but tell me she did, and I relished the late evening warmth and knew that I would sleep well tonight.
Tent flaps closed and the light fading helped relax me into dream academy.
Day 33 came to an end.
I woke at a reasonable hour for a change, but it was because of having a nightmare. I couldn't make head nor tail of the dream only knew I had woken in a sweat. A girl in a green jacket I had wanted to speak with and a woman in a blue dress with a blue cloth hanging down over her face that I hadn't.
It was around 7.30 am and as I got out of the tent I surveyed the area I had slept in. I couldn't believe my eyes for a moment, I was on a field behind the Cleveland Police station, head quarters. No wonder I had heard so many sirens throughout the night....
Well fortunately they hadn't seemed to have noticed me either so that was a good thing. Better out here than in there.
I packed up quickly and set off into the town to discover what it had to offer me. I hadn't traveled far when I found the other bar Carl had told me about, the Isaac Wilson. It was open for breakfasts, handy for me and it was also a Wetherspoons, so free internet. I was getting behind with my blog so decided this would have to be my days task, at least before I caught up somewhat. I spoke briefly with Nathan who was one of the managers and he didn't mind me sitting quietly to use their facilities in the corner of the room. (As you read this I am currently a week behind. (29/7/12) Sorry guys...I am rubbish at typing and have not met any secretarial volunteers yet...x)
I had a small cooked breakfast which was 'uber' cheap and lots of tea to keep me going. I got a text from the gang from South bank after a while and rang and spoke with Alan who was now back from Staithes with his friends and sister. He invited me over to meet his mum and some of his family, and I couldn't refuse the offer of more kindness now could I?
I caught a bus this time and they met me at the stop. It was a nice huggy reunion and they were glad to see I had survived the past few days safely in Middlesborough. I told them about where I had slept last night and it appeared that one of the boys had also been sleeping there, though not out on the green. Something to do with Daz's missing Ipod and the Police, had brought him here by Police taxi.
I was warmly welcomed by many friends keen to ask all about my walk and catch up with Alan and Joanne and Becky and all about their brief holiday to Staithes. Joan, Alan's mum was happy to make me tea and fuss over me and I felt like a very welcomed guest. Later I joined in for a while with the cider and beer drinking, but explained that I was not a huge fan of alcohol, or drinking through the day time, but I went to the shops later to help provide something towards my hospitality, that was happily received by the group.
I met two of Alan's children, and many friends of his from all around the area. I was flagging a bit by the time the party slowed down and was glad that I had been offered the sofa to spend the night on. Joan gave me all I needed for the couch and said I was to help myself and make myself at home if I wanted anything.
I wasn't entirely comfortable with being given so much freedom but it did tell me one thing. They trusted me and felt comfortable with me in their home. I am not used to being treated so well by complete strangers, but over the past month I had been treated like this on many occasions, by the Goslings in their home in Lincoln, by Ang and the owners of the George Inn, Barton upon Humber, Mac from Hornsea, and by Matt from Scarborough. And now Joan, and Alan from South Bank, and of course all the other lovely people who have been mentioned in the blog so far.
Alan had apologised that he had been partying hard for several days and now he was ready to hit the sack and thanked me for coming over to see him again. I liked Alan, despite any cultural differences between us. He was a real character and had lots of positive energy to share, I just hope that he could find a job and restore some of his personal pride, lost surely by so long on the dole queues at the job centers. He and many here in Teeside alike may have little to keep them hopeful of any changes in the near future. Alan wanted to work and said that he would do practically anything offered if it meant getting a better future for his kids.
I'm no great judge of these things, all I see is that desire has waned in many people because they feel deserted by the system that they believed was there to help them.
I had a bit of a chat with Joan before she retired for the night, and settled down in the luxury of the sofa and was out like the lights.
Day 32 came to a pleasant end.
Day 31 begins.
I was awoken by the sound of dog walkers shouting commands to their respective 'best friends'. I smiled at the humourous retorts they followed each comment up with. Here boy, --- Do you want a smack, ----you'll get no dinner...
The day was cloudy but warm and I packed up quickly but needed to wait a while for the tent to aire and dry off the condensation as the ground here had been a tad wetter than I would have liked, it was flat and no high spots. I was somewhere I guessed on the grounds of an old estate, the gate house in the middle of field had once been a grand entrance to the drive up to a proud mans house. I passed the Mausoleum again and followed the road towards what I imagined would be Middlesborough, and soon came by a set of rather plush and gaily decorated Alms houses.
William Turner again had been the man responsible for them and apparently left money in trust for their continued maintenance and use. The people who lived here were living in the lap of luxury, it was a great little complex of 21 houses. The wrought iron fences and turreted castle like end walls set it off nicely as a regal place.
I crossed the road and began following the road edge and almost immediately saw a grand looking building to my right hand side. It looked almost disused from the road here, like the stable type block I had passed last evening, but I wandered up to take a look and found that from the other side it was a museum come gallery of arts. This was the Kirkleatham Museum Redcar, part of the William Turner estate and a very nice way to spend the next few hours.
I learned all about a Saxon princess buried in her bed close to this site and also a lot about the local area. Luckily there was also a display by a local Calligraphic group who had reworked some lovely poetic verse in wonderfully rich artistic styles. I was suitably impressed by their work and hope that they might respond to the letter I left in their comments box.
I sat for a few hours writing poetry myself as the exhibit had inspired me to write and that is always the best time to write I find. I chatted to a few people randomly in the pavilion cafe and watched children enjoying the chance to have the sun out and share company with their friends. Loads of people had taken advantage of the better weather, and the cafe was rammed to the seams.
Later when the heat had dropped a tad, I set off to walk into the city. I came into blah de blah, and sat at the memorial stone in the center to have lunch, then through Normanby and the fabled South Bank. (Not sure what it was fabled for exactly, but it was a pretty rundown part of civilization) There were streets that only had houses one side and some that had been flattened altogether. There were many boarded up and burned out shops and pub like buildings.
I walked towards the river Tees and was just about to walk on a new path I had found, called the Teesdale Way when I met a very nice man called Carl, from South Bank, who began to tell me all about his beloved hometown. He was a man who had worked his whole life in the steel industry and was very happy go lucky, despite the state of things at present. He said that because he had worked hard and made his way up the ladder he was now able to have a decent standard of living and it was all down to dedication in his case. Others he had known had not stuck with a job and gone off to do other things only to find that they were now unemployed with no further prospects. He obviously liked talking to strangers and he loved the chance no doubt to show me the features to look out for here in this part of the country. He said I must see the Transporter Bridge, which had featured in Auf Wiedersehen, Pet the series about the Teeside and Tyne industries and people.
He showed me where to see the football stadium and also one or two pubs. We covered many topics including the local gypsy populations which he believed was ruining the area to some degree with their lifestyle and their dislike for the authorities. I noticed that there were lots of cameras on poles, with cages surrounding them down here near the dock road too. He said that children had been shooting at them with air-rifles.
He had been out for the afternoon to meet friends and had to get home, so we said our parting comments and I set off to avoid the gypsies and find the Navigation Inn along the banks of the rail line close to the Riverside stadium. Shortly I did find the pub and had a chance to see another aspect of the area. It was a large pub and in good condition, but it seemed to be in the middle of nowhere, again huge tracts of land lay desolate, an odd huge building here and there. The man behind the counter said that it was mainly frequented at lunchtimes, because it was in a quiet location and also on match days as it was close enough to walk to the stadium. I asked how much the rolls were as I needed to think about my evening meal. He kindly gave me a couple for free, and I feel daft for not having asked his name though I did thank him all the same. Sometimes it is difficult to get all the details and I find that some people may not want to allow me to share some of those either. But maybe I should have remembered to ask.
It was late in the evening now, about 9pm when I got to the Transporter Bridge.
I had passed the Stadium and the old docks where a new building for the Tees college was situated.
A large piece of modern art bedecked the key side too. The bridge was closed now, it only runs through the day and not on Sundays. I thought it a pity as it looked like a ride worth taking. I had some phone calls to make so I sat and caught up with some friends, whilst being watched by constant police patrols driving by. I couldn't see anything here that would need this much protecting, especially from one guy with a heavy bag and walking poles.
I moved away from the bridge and went towards the town and came into a field on the north side. All around here was more dilapidated buildings and burned out pubs and houses with metal shuttered window, obviously awaiting demolition. There were some gypsy horses at the top of the field and I began to see that one or two of the abandoned houses were actually being lived in, whether legally or by squatters I couldn't tell, but cars were parked nearby.
I decided to choose a spot that had three grassy banked sides as my evening home, that way I would be out of sight and out of mind. The streets here were blocked from driving through by the grassy banks and huge rocks across the Tarmaccadam.
The shield of the banks meant there was little draft or winds and I slept the instant my head touched down.
Day 31 came to the end.
Day 9 begins
F.F.S. Get a grip...
Slip thy tongue.
Cloud Cuckoo Land
The end of civilization.
What will your verse be ?
Love is a drug for me...!
Imagine | Walk with a stranger, make a new friend
Peaceful Warrior Book By Dan Millman
Antony Gormley Art
Artsy's Mission
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john job (75)
hayes, rick (50)
halpert, h. (38)
jarvis, dale (33)
james ryan limited (bonavista) proprietor and staff (27)
sansome, otto (27)
dollimount, j. (25)
catherwood, kristin (20)
fudge, jesse (19)
white, linda, 1950- (16)
[ca. 1905] (29)
image/tiff application/pdf (17293)
image/jpeg (461)
application/pdf (120)
image/jpeg application/pdf (82)
text/xml (73)
audio/mp3 (47)
2 photographs : colour, 10 x 15 cm (22)
canadian newspapers -- newfoundland and labrador -- st. john's -- 20th century (9416)
canadian newspapers -- newfoundland and labrador -- corner brook (1617)
canadian newspapers -- newfoundland and labrador -- corner brook -- 20th century (1130)
migration/settlement (123)
wooden objects (72)
trinty south (71)
All fields: South
The Daily News (St. John's, N.L.), 1955-03-22
Canadian newspapers--Newfoundland and Labrador--St. John's--20th century
Newfoundland Bulletin, vol. 04, no. 10 (October 1971)
Telephone directory, 1969: Eastern Newfoundland
Newfoundland and Labrador, Eastern--Telephone directories--20th century
The telephone directory for Eastern Newfoundland.
Newfoundland Bulletin, vol. 04, no. 06 (June 1971)
The Muse, vol. 35, no. 12 (January 25 1985)
St. John's Daily Star, 1918-08-13
The St. John's Daily Star was published daily except Sunday between 17 April 1915 - 23 July 1921. -- Not published: 30 May - 09 June 1918, 11-12 July 1919. In process: September-December 1919, July 1921.
Lovell's Province of Newfoundland directory, 1871
Newfoundland and Labrador--19th century--Directories; Newfoundland and Labrador--Commerce--19th century--Directories; St. John's (N.L.)--19th century--Directories
Lovell's directory of Newfoundland lists the names of male inhabitants of the island's various communities with occupation. It includes general social, economic and governmental information about Newfoundland, as well as historical and business...
The Muse, vol. 34, no. 19 (16 March 1984)
The St. John's Daily Star was published daily except Sunday between 17 April 1915 - 23 July 1921. -- Not published: 30 May - 09 June 1918, 11-12 July 1919. In process: January-March 1918, September-December 1919, July 1921.
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Master’s SkyDive for Treloar’s
On 19th September The Master, Tony Ward, will jump from an aircraft at 13,000 feet to mark the culmination of his personal challenge to raise £39,000 for Lord Mayor Treloar’s College in his adopted county of Hampshire. Needless to say, this will take not only a great deal of courage (or perhaps blind faith), but also the help of the “Red Devils”, the Parachute Regiment’s Sky Diving Team, one of whom will be diving in tandem with him. Tony says that spectators will be welcome, so if you can make it to Old Sarum Airfield (near Salisbury) on 19th September please let Tony know and you will be able to see the Master “with no strings attached”, well hopefully not!
Tony’s aim is to raise £1,000 for each of the 39 strings that are attached to his parachute, so he has dubbed his appeal “NO STRINGS ATTACHED”. Everything above £33,000 will be donated to the WCC Charitable Trust capital account.
He has already raised some £26,000 of sponsorship, much of it through former business associates and the Masters of other Livery Companies, so he has £13,000 to go and, as he has pointed out, if each member of the Company gave a minimum of £10 each, that would raise a further £3,000. Donations can be made through Tony’s “Just Giving” page.
Lord Mayor Treloar’s College was founded in 1908 by the then Lord Mayor of London, and it endures today, 110 years on, providing education and support for disabled children and young adults who suffer from Cerebral Palsy and Muscular Dystrophy.
The “Jaco” Robotic Arm
In conjunction with Lord Mayor Treloar’s College, Tony’s aim is to provide funds for them to buy a revolutionary bionic arm called a “jaco” which will bring life changing abilities to many of the youngsters, giving them greater independence and self-esteem. After trialling this amazing piece of technology, the College will be able to prove its benefit to the Funding Local Authorities and thereby provide the jaco robotic arm on a wide scale. A review of the Arm is available on “U Tube” at this link, and Tony is sure that seeing its capabilities will make you realise just how worthy his cause is. He would welcome your support as it is a great cause which has been recognised and shared by many of his fellow Livery Company Masters. He would like to make this a “bumper Charitable year for the Constructors’, and for it to be recognised as such throughout the City.
These youngsters are typical of the students at Lord Mayor Treloar’s College who would benefit from the Robotic Arm.
Tony was aiming to do his sky-dive on 19 September, but, unfortunately, there were high winds at the airfield and the sky-dive had to be postponed. It has now been re-arranged for 9 October and will be a most fitting end of Tony’s year as Master.
Sir Ian Dixon Awards 2017
The Sir Ian Dixon Scholarship Presentations took place on 17 January 2018 by courtesy of…
The Master goes to Buckingham Palace
On a glorious May day the Master and Mistress were invited by the Queen to…
Common Hall 25 June 2018
The City of London Common Hall meeting ("The Hustings") was held on 25 June in the…
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Salieri – The School of Jealousy (La scuola de’ gelosi)
Posted on September 6, 2017 September 15, 2017 By EMR2015 Posted in Concert-Live performanceTagged Classical, Opera
Bampton Classical Opera Salieri The School of Jealousy Act 2 Quintet, l to r Rhiannon Llewellyn (Countess), Alessandro Fisher (Count), Thomas Herford (Lieutenant), Nathalie Chalkley (Ernestina), Matthew Sprange (Blasio)
Bampton Classical Opera, Westonbirt School (Gloucs), 28 August
[dropcap]O[/dropcap]ver the past quarter of a century Bampton Classical Opera (BCO) has established an unrivalled record for the revival of later 18th century operas, including a number of UK first performances. Among these is Salieri’s Falstaff, today recognised as one the composer’s finest operas. For its 2017 production, given at Bampton, Westonbirt School and St John’s Smith Square, BCO turned to an earlier Salieri opera, La scuola de’ gelosi, first performed at the Teatro San Moise in Venice in 1778 and revived with some new music five years later at the Burgtheater in Vienna to inaugurate the new Italian opera company. Thereafter it became one of Salieri’s most popular operas, with performances not only throughout Italy, but also in Germany, London and St Petersburg.
A dramma giocoso in two acts, La scuola has a libretto by Caterino Mazzolà (later to achieve lasting fame as the adaptor of Metastasio’s La clemenza di Tito for Mozart’s final opera) owing much to the comedies of Goldoni. Like many of them, it introduces three distinct social classes: a Count and Countess – the latter a mezzo carattere role that includes a superb seria accompaganato and aria ‘Or ei con Ernestina’ … ‘Ah sia già de miei sospiri’ – a merchant and his wife, and a male and female servant. The cast is completed by the Lieutenant, the Don Alfonso-like manipulator of the goings-on that form a storyline revolving around the efforts of the Count, a small-time predator like Figaro’s Almaviva rather than a Don Giovanni, to seduce the merchant Blasio’s wife, Ernestina, thus invoking the jealousy of the Countess and Blasio. The Lieutenant advises them to turn the tables and make their spouses jealous. After a series of farcical events the ploy works, the lessons learned in the ‘school of jealousy’ bring reunion and happiness to all. The richly varied score is remarkable perhaps above all for its ensembles, in particular the act 1 trio for the Countess, Count and Lieutenant, and the act 2 quintet that broke new ground in 1778 by being the largest ensemble piece to be introduced into the middle of an act.
As is customary with BCO, the opera was given in an English translation that amused the Westonbirt audience with its introduction of such topical terms as ‘fake news’. The set design, costumes and production (by Jeremy Gray) itself were unexceptionably traditional, with folding panels that could with ease change the rooms from the rich blue of the Count’s salon to the more bourgeois surroundings of Blasio’s house. The costumes were slightly post-dated to Biedermeier (Blasio resembled an older Schubert).
The performance in the Orangery Terrace at Westonbirt School on 28 August was my first experience of BCO. For a company that specialises in later 18th opera there were several surprising elements. The first was the use of modern instruments rather than period instruments, which I understand are used because BCO’s main performances at their home in Bampton are open air, always a problem for period strings. It did not work at Westonbirt, being not only too loud for the space but played with a lack of finesse only enhanced by the rigid four-square rhythms of Anthony Kraus’ direction. Matthew Sprange’s Blasio dominated the cast, his richly rounded and well-focussed baritone a source of pleasure throughout the evening. None of the rest of the cast came up to this level, although Nathalie Chalkley brought a lively personality if at times shrill voice to the role of Ernestina. I derived little pleasure from Rhiannon Llewellyn’s singing of the Countess, finding her tone too insecure in the upper range, though I suspect the acoustic was not very kind to her voice. The tenor parts of the Count (Alessandro Fisher) and Lieutenant (Thomas Herford) were decently sung, though the weak lower range of the latter resulted in him being frequently overpowered by the orchestra. The other major surprise, again bearing in mind this is a company specialising in this repertoire, was the lack of appoggiaturas and absence of cadential flourishes and ornamentation. It all served to give the performance a curiously old-fashioned feel. But I don’t want to end on a negative note. Although greater attention to style would make its achievements even more significant, Bampton Classical Opera is doing a sterling job in a still undervalued repertoire
Brian Robins
D James Ross at the Edinburgh International Festival 2017
Lonati: Sonate da camera (1701)
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Home » Activism in Daily Life: Casting Votes that Count
Activism in Daily Life: Casting Votes that Count
Sean Gabb
The more raddled and droopy my face grows, the more inclined I am to agree with a proposition put to me by various friends since before I needed to shave. This is that political activism is a waste of time. Oh, writing about politics – analysis, denunciation, a general flying of the ideological flag – that is probably time well-spent. I have always enjoyed it, and may have done no harm to the causes thereby supported. The waste of time is electoral politics and involvement in campaign groups. The first means joining political parties over which we have no control, and that are led by people whose behaviour – and increasingly whose speech – reveals them as our sworn enemies. The second means giving money to people who, with a few percentage wobbles either side, operate on the “Eighty-Twenty Principle.” 80p of every pound you hand over will be spent on whores and cocaine. Whatever remains that is not merely wasted will be spent on getting someone cheap to do the promised work.
This is not to say that we should withdraw from activism of any kind, or just look after the content and outreach of our blogs. The present order of things is rotten. It will eventually collapse under the weight of its own absurdity and moral corruption. If, in the meantime, it controls what Louis Althusser called the ideological state apparatus and the repressive state apparatus, and if it remains committed to using these to ward off anything approaching a frontal assault, there is much we can do both to bring on that final collapse and to ensure that we are well-placed to benefit from it. My proposal – and this is not at all original to me, and not even said by me for the first time – is that we should become activists in our daily life. Here is a brief listing of the things we can do that need cost us nothing financially and that cannot, unless pushed too far, get us into any sort of trouble
1. Give Preference to Our Own
One of the main benefits of self-employment is independence. When it comes to speaking your mind and living as you please, there is no exclusive buyer who can tell you what to do and what not to do. The disadvantage for many libertarians and conservatives is that we often find ourselves operating as atomised individuals in a market with high communication costs. Other groups – Jews, Moslems, Sikhs, some homosexuals, and so forth – reduce these costs by giving a settled preference to their own. I have been doing this for many years. If I need a builder or an accountant, for example, I do business with men who can do the job, and who share at least some of my opinions. I will not do business with anyone who says he believes in censorship or our extended managerial state.
This is not a principle that can be made universal. I have no choice but to buy diesel from some of the nastiest organisations on the planet. The Gabb Family buys much of its food from Sainsbury. I make these involvements as unprofitable as I can. I take advantage of every price reduction and every special offer. If I must provide information in exchange, I make sure the information is worthless in itself or contradictory at random. Where convenient, I give business to suppliers who share some of my opinions.
However, without being made universal, the principle is one that could be used to create networks of financial support to supplement any networks of ideological agreement. When my late friend Chris R. Tame lost his job at FOREST in 1995, he spent his last eleven years running down his assets. Had he lived, he would now be an embittered old man stuck in a bedsitting room. When Anjem Choudary comes out of prison, he will be immediately employed in some nice job within the Islamic Community. That is a contrast we could examine to our advantage.
2. Punish Hostile Businesses
Two years ago, I went to a small coffee shop in Deal. I found a leaflet on the table that this would be hosting a recital of “poetry” by someone I regarded as a nauseous Anglophobe and a parasite on the local taxpayers. I wrote a paragraph of denunciation on the back of the leaflet, and gave this to the waitress, telling her I was minded never to go there again. To my knowledge, the “poet” has not been invited back.
Some small businesses are run by cultural leftists – the days when leftism meant opposition to private business ended some time in the 1980s. Most are run by people who just want to make a living, and think a lack of overt opposition means that sucking up to the left is good for business. The former should be identified and avoided. The latter should be shown that leftism is not so good for business.
Many Jews have taken this approach about as far as it can go. The music critic Norman Lebrecht dislikes Herbert von Karajan. He dislikes him partly for artistic reasons, but mainly, it seems, because Karajan did nicely out of the Third Reich, and got off after the War without so much as a slapped wrist. There is nothing substantial he can do about the nine hundred recordings or the $500 million estate. But he does what he can. One day, he was in a bookshop where a Karajan recording was being played. A quiet word at the cash till, and the disk was changed. This may suggest that Jews are less powerful than they or their enemies like to think: thirty years after his death, Karajan remains a nice earner. But it does show that petty complaints can work at the point of delivery. Enough of them, all directed to similar ends, can help bring about subtle and meaningful changes in the climate of what is acceptable.
3. Do not Buy Newspapers
With no exceptions, the national newspapers in Britain are weapons of psychological warfare. Most of their content is triviality and fake news. Reading them with a critical eye is essential if we want to know what is happening – or just what is claimed about what is happening. Buying them is an act of trading with the enemy. Deal is full of old people. Every morning, I see armies of them walking home with their daily newspapers. Most of them see themselves as at least moderately conservative. So far as they fund the salaries of the newspaper writers, they are buying the rope with which they are being hanged.
Here, though, I am pushing at an open door. Have a look at this wonderful chart:
UK daily newspaper circulation, 1950 to 2015
With the exception of those given out free on public transport, most newspapers have been in free fall since about 1995. Jobs are going. Salaries are being cut. Thousands of scummy journalism graduates are scrabbling for work. The smallest of the broadsheet newspapers, The Independent, has had to give up on paper and go entirely on-line. Every so often, we are told that readers have transferred their attention to the newspaper websites. More likely, they are just not bothering.
I am not saying that we should ignore the newspapers. They have their uses. But I do say we should stop giving their owners any money. You can find what you want by looking on their websites, or at repostings on Facebook, or by joining Robert Henderson’s e-mail distribution list. Just make sure not to click on any of the advertisements that finance the news websites.
Where social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter are concerned, again use them, but avoid adding to their profits. Do not buy anything advertised there. Give misleading personal information and change this at random.
4. Do not Pay for Intellectual Property
There are objections to the principle of intellectual property. These are presently irrelevant. What is relevant is that the companies that grow rich from intellectual property are part of The Enemy. When Nelson struck in Aboukir Bay, he was not striking at the principle of sailing ships, but denying control of the sea to the French. I buy most books and DVDs and CDs second-hand. If I must take my women to the cinema, I do so when there is a special offer. I know people who spend much of their lives downloading pirated soft copies. I would never advocate breaking the law. Even so, I can see their point. In general, some intellectual property is worth having. Its main beneficiaries should be kept from making a profit from its sale.
I could continue. I could, for example, discuss complaint letter strategies that raise costs for big companies, and that may dishearten their employees. I could discuss never paying taxes or utility bills until just before penalties are to be applied. But I have said enough for the moment. All I will add is that public behaviour of the sort discussed above should usually be avoided. This can be effective. In 2017, the supermarket chain Lidl removed the cross from its Eridanous range of Greek produce. It did this apparently in the hope that it might sell more humous to Moslems. After much outrage for the churches and threats of a boycott, the company apologised and promised to restore the cross. But this was a special case involving religion. If you take public exception to the storyline of a washing powder advertisement, you may get a visit from the police. Better to make a private choice the next time you go shopping.
Yes, the idea is to change our spending habits within reason, so that they reward our friends and punish our enemies. Done consistently, and on a large scale, this may enable change. It will probably do more than joining the Jacob Rees Mogg fan club.
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Egypt's Coptic Orthodox Church condemns attacks on North Sinai Christians
Ahram Online , Friday 24 Feb 2017
Egypt's Coptic Orthodox Cathedral (Photo: Ahram)
Egypt's Coptic Orthodox Church issued a statement on Friday condemning "the repeated terrorist attacks targeting Egyptian Christians in North Sinai," which the Church says are aimed at harming national unity and the united front against terrorism.
On Thursday, Ahram Arabic news website reported the killing of a Christian Egyptian by unknown gunmen on the roof of his house in North Sinai's El-Arish, the eighth report attack on Copts in two weeks.
The Church has expressed its condolences over the attacks, stressing that it is in continuous contact with local officials as well as the bishop of North Sinai in order to provide support and contain the consequences of the attacks.
In the past few days, churches in Ismailia city have received Coptic families who escaped El-Arish for fear of being targeted.
On Monday the Islamic State (IS) militant group released a video vowing to carry out attacks against the Christian community in Egypt, where the group vowed to "liberate Cairo," even though over the past few years its activity has been centered in North Sinai.
The 20-minute video titled "Fight All Idolaters'' also purpotedly shows the last statements made by the suicide bomber who blew himself up in Cairo's St. Peter and St. Paul’s Church on 11 December 2016, killing 29 Coptic Christian worshippers, mostly women and children.
No group has yet claimed responsibility for the latest attacks against Christians.
The Egyptian army, which has been waging a war against the North Sinai Islamist insurgency -- led mostly by Islamic State affiliate Ansar Beit Al-Maqdis -- has killed hundreds of militants in intensified comprehensive military campaigns in the governorate.
In July 2016, Father Rafael Moussa of the Mar Girgis Church in El-Arish was gunned down by Islamic State militants.
The group has also killed civilians in North Sinai for allegedly cooperating with security forces.
Pope Tawadros II
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Archive of 2013 July
The President of The Supreme Court of Baden-Württemberg of Germany Dr. Franz Stein and the representatives paid an official study visit to The Council of State on September 24, 2013 with a view to examining and obtaining information upon the Turkish administrative jurisprudence.
Zerrin Güngör is the new President of the Council of State
President Hüseyin Karakullukcu of the Council of State retired. He has been replaced by Zerrin Güngör. Click here to read resume of zerrin GÜNGÖR.
Mr Mustafa Faress, the President of the Court of Cassation of Morocco, the General Prosecutor Mr Mustafa Maddah and the accompanying representatives paid a study visit to the Council of State on July 1, 2013.
Council of State
Relevant Acts
Announcement Archive
Rule of Law and Council of State
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Test number
1 mtDNA mtFull Sequence Family Tree DNA Living
10. Living
23. Dorothy Jean Peck, b. 27 Nov 1924, Terra Haute, Vigo County, Indiana, U.S.A. , d. 19 Dec 1925, Arizona, USA
24. Margaret Edna Peck, b. 10 May 1923, Terra Haute, Vigo County, Indiana, U.S.A. , d. 1 Jan 1997, Terra Haute, Vigo County, Indiana, U.S.A.
2 Y-DNA See Tests in Notes Family Tree DNA Living
6. Bernard Howard/Horwitz, b. 16 Sep 1924, Mt. Sinai Hospital, Chicago, Illinois , d. 12 Jun 1983, Hacienda Heights, Los Angeles County, California
7. Harry Henry Howard/Horwitz, b. 22 May 1919, Chicago, Cook County, Illinois, USA , d. 13 Jul 1974, Kahuku, Oahu, Hawaii
8. Milton Horwitz, b. 2 Oct 1914, Chicago, Cook County, Illinois, USA , d. 9 Jul 1974, Whittier, Los Angeles, Californioa, U.S.A.
9. Morris Horwitz, b. 25 Aug 1891, Horwitz Family Residence, Rezekne, Latgale, Latvia , d. Abt 1945, Chicago, Cook County, Illinois, USA
10. Aizik Horwitz/Gurevitch/Gurvich, b. 1887, Rezekne, Latgale, Latvia , d. 28 Aug 1888, Rezekne, Latgale, Lavia
11. Simon Horwitz, b. 26 Oct 1886, Horwitz Family Residence, Rezekne, Latgale, Latvia , d. 14 Jan 1940, Chicago, Cook County, Illinois, USA
12. Getzel Leizer Horwitz, b. Abt 1885, Horwitz Family Residence, Rezekne, Latgale, Latvia , d. 14 Aug 1888, Horwitz Family Residence, Rezekne, Latgale, Latvia
13. Reuben Horwitz, b. 5 July 1882, Horwitz Family Residence, Rezekne, Latgale, Latvia , d. Abt 1948, Chicago, Cook County, Illinois, USA
14. Nathan/Nottie/Notta/Natha Gurevitch/Horwitz, b. 18 Jan 1880, Horwitz Family Residence, Rezekne, Latgale, Latvia , d. 8 Dec 1941, Rumbula, Riga, Latvia
15. Abe Rafael Horwitz/Gurevich/Gurvich, b. 18 Jan 1880, Horwitz Family Residence, Rezekne, Latgale, Latvia , d. 21 Oct 1946, Chicago, Cook County, Illinois, USA
16. Max Hurwitz, b. 22 Apr 1875, Horwitz Family Residence, Rezekne, Latgale, Latvia , d. 15 July 1944, Chicago, Cook County, Illinois, USA
17. Hirsch Horwitz, b. Jan 1872, Horwitz Family Residence, Rezekne, Latgale, Latvia , d. 1 May 1872, Horwitz Family Residence, Rezekne, Latgale, Latvia
18. Iser Jankel Horwitz, b. Abt 1872, Horwitz Family Residence, Rezekne, Latgale, Latvia , d. Abt 1935, Chicago, Cook County, Illinois, USA
19. Zalman Ber Horwitz, b. 1864, Horwitz Family Residence, Rezekne, Latgale, Latvia , d. Abt 1938, Chicago, Cook County, Illinois, USA
20. Eliah Horwitz, b. 1859, Horwitz Family Residence, Rezekne, Latgale, Latvia , d. 5 Jan 1906, Horwitz Family Residence, Rezekne, Latgale, Latvia
21. Henoch Hirsch Horwitz/Gurevitch/Gurvich, b. 1838, Horwitz Family Residence, Rezekne, Latgale, Latvia , d. 18 May 1909, Horwitz Family Residence, Rezekne, Latgale, Latvia
22. Getzel Leiser Horwitz/Gurewitsch, b. Abt 1814, Horwitz Family Residence, Rezekne, Latgale, Latvia , d. aftr 1896, Rezekne, Latgale, Latvie
23. Leiba Horwitz, b. Abt 1801, Horwitz Family Residence, Rezekne, Latgale, Latvia
24. Shevel Horwitz, b. Abt 1771, Horwitz Family Residence, Rezekne, Latgale, Latvia
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Justin Bieber starts acting on Zoolander 2
Justin Bieber starts work on Zoolander 2
Justin arrived in Rome, Italy several days ago where he’ll be starring in a cameo appearance in the Zoolander 2 movie sequel.
We don’t know yet who Justin is playing in the movie, but he’ll be working group of actors who’ve all been teased on Ben Stiller’s Instagram account including Penélope Cruz, Fred Armisen, Billy Zane, Kristen Wiig, and Saturday Night Live cast members Kyle Mooney and Beck Bennett.
Ben Stiller is of course reprising his role as the marvelous male model Derek Zoolander as well as directing the movie. He’s also joined by returning stars Owen Wilson, as Derek’s rival Hansel, and Will Ferrell as the villainous fashion mogul Mugatu.
Of course where ever Justin goes there is bound to be some controversy, so true with his arrival in Rome where he was visited be the police there.
Rumors started that it was in connection the arrest warrant issued in Argentina, but that was NOT true and Justin laughed at the whole thing on his twitter.
What happened was in fact the Rome police were talking to Justin about his security detail while he’s in town.
Posted in Singers and tagged Ben Stiller, Billy Zane, Fred Armisen, Justin Bieber in Zoolander 2, Kristen Wiig, Owen Wilson, Penélope Cruz, Will Ferrell by cnkguy with no comments yet.
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He Broke Him: One Of Trump’s Biggest Haters, Ramos, Flees America For Mexico
March 30, 2018 BAISH, FEATURED
Kirsters Baish| We have just caught wind of some pretty interesting news. Univision host and outspoken Trump basher Jorge Ramos may be returning to his homeland of Mexico. He recently broke the news to Latin Signal.
It was reported by Newsbusters that as Univision anchor Jorge Ramos’ media tour for his most recent book wraps up, he is planning to return to Mexico. The Trump critic has claimed that he has been experiencing the “worst time” in all of his 35 years in the United States since Trump’s inauguration.
Spanish television personality Jaime Bayly sat down for an exclusive interview with 60-year-old Ramos. During the interview, Ramos did explain that he would like to live in Mexico again, even if it was just “for a while.” He stated, “I would like to return to the country I left.” He called his longing to return to Mexico “a pending assignment.”
The Gateway Pundit reported:
Bayly also singularly succeeded in both confronting – and getting the Univision anchor to admit – that the type of journalism Ramos practices includes activism, specifically when it comes to U.S. immigration policy.
In the same interview, Ramos denied he was an activist, despite spewing many of the same talking points on immigration made by the Democrat Party. In fact, Ramos’ daughter is a known Democrat operative, as covered in great detail by The Gateway Pundit’s Jim Hoft.
Univision’s Jorge Ramos boasts that he and Univision provide “guidance…on a lot of issues” to Latinos, serving as “activists” and “social leaders“, even claiming the mantle as a Hispanic MLK.
Ramos is as far left as they come. He is all for open borders and allowing illegals full access to our welfare system. Jorge feels that Republican candidates for the White House “have to talk to” him and Univision, because of their “power”.
But Ramos “tried for months to score an interview with Donald Trump.” He failed miserably, so he felt it was best to disrupt Trump’s press conference to yell things over other people talking. He went on to lie about what happened. This guy calls himself a journalist? He is however, a great poster boy for the entitlement complexes held by many on the modern political left.
Ramos made his way to Los Angeles, California in 1983 after his journalism was censored in Mexico. His daughter, Paola Ramos, was born five years later.
Ramos announced that his daughter, Paola, joined Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign just three days after Donald Trump announced that he would be running. Jorge failed in the past to disclose his daughter’s prior political career as well as the family ties to the Clintons.
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Events Home / Gene Watson
Gene Watson
Apr 27, 2019 – 7:00 PM
The Concho Palace
2581 Sunset Drive
One of the most masterful voices in Country Music today, GENE WATSON still sings in the same key as 30 years ago and continues to prove why he is rightly referred to as "The Singer's Singer". His powerful voice and multi-octave range allows him to sing some of the most challenging songs with an ease that comes from pure, natural talent as well as from his many years performing onstage.
On his most recent album release, Real.Country.Music., the 72 year- old Watson once again proves he's the master of classic country music. He remains defiantly country in the face of today's more pop oriented offerings and is proud his legions of fans rely on him to keep traditional country music alive and well. With that in mind, Gene delved back into history to pull out some overlooked gems in other artist's catalogs as well as a few of his own songs that are fan favorites but are no longer available. As Gene noted, "Today's songwriters are not really writing the kind of songs fans of serious classic country are wanting. Traditional country is about life, heartaches, loves and family. I've got to relate to the words as something that either happened to me or happened to someone I know. It's hard for me to wrap my mind around a song that's simply about riding a tractor or just drinking beer with friends. I want more out of a song. So I went back to some classic songwriters like Kris Kristofferson, Larry Gatlin, Bill Anderson, Keith Whitley, Dean Dillon, Hank Cochran and Dave Kirby - just to name a few of the greats."
Watson talks about his song choices here track by track:
"ENOUGH FOR YOU" (Kris Kristofferson) "This song was written by Kris Kristofferson and recorded by him but it was an album cut by Billie Jo Spears when I first heard it and I've wanted to record for years," says Watson. "I used to have this song on a Billie Jo Spears 8 track tape. At a crucial point in the lyrics, the 8 track would change over and I never could quite get the words down. By the time I reached out to Billie Jo, even she couldn't recall the words to the song. So it has taken me awhile to find the lyrics but now seemed like just the right time to record it and it came off so well we made it the first single from the album."
"WHEN A MAN CAN'T GET A WOMAN OFF HIS MIND" - (Bill Anderson and Sharon Vaughn)
"This is a song I loved and recorded for Compendia Records and unfortunately, the company shut down its country division before I could release it. I then sang it on a TV tribute show for Bill Anderson and the fans have been asking me how they could buy it for years now. This seemed like the perfect time to record it for my fans."
"HELP ME" ( Larry Gatlin) "This was written and released by the great Larry Gatlin, then a little known singer named Elvis recorded it and the rest is history," says Watson. "I've always loved the words and the melody and knew I would eventually record it. I took it back more to the original version but put my own spin to it and I hope my fans love it as much as I do. I wanted to make it so that the true message of the words would shine through and I hope I captured that. We all have a time in our life when we need to be inspired by words of faith. While I was recording, it was such a special moment when Larry Gatlin surprised us all by stopping by, literally, as I was just about to sing. I guess it was his presence that made me sing it the way I did at that moment because we didn't change a single thing to it. What you hear is what I sang with Larry listening in the studio. No pressure there!"
"COULDN'T LOVE HAVE PICKED A BETTER PLACE TO DIE" - (Bucky Jones/Curly Putman) "I had this song out in 1997 on Step One Records. It was a song the fans loved but once again, when Step One Records folded, it was impossible to get this song so I re-cut it due to the demand of my fans. It's a terrific song by Buck Jones and Curly Putman - two great songwriters back in the day."
"A GIRL I USED TO KNOW" - (David Ball) "Normally well before I get to the studio I know what songs I'd like to do and I've got the lyrics and the music in my mind. But on this song, all that went out the window. This David Ball song was actually pitched to me by a great A&R man, the fantastic singer, T. Graham Brown. On the recording day, I had people tracking down David Ball for the lyrics and T's wife, Shelia, actually personally delivered a copy of the song to the studio. I loved the song but I wasn't 100% sure it was a song that fit what I typically do but after I had a good listen and ran through it, I knew it was a song I could do and I really, really like how it turned out."
"BITTER THEY ARE, HARDER THEY FALL" - (Larry Gatlin) "Back when I was on Capitol Records many years ago, I was asked to pick a song to record that I considered one of my favorites and I immediately chose this song written and released by Larry Gatlin. It's one of my favorites of all time - just an amazing song by a master singer /songwriter. Fast forward many years later and I was at a TV taping for a Country's Family Reunion show with Larry Gatlin. Larry had often teased that he wanted me to sing this song for him at his birthday party so, lo and behold, unplanned and unrehearsed, Larry called me up to sing this song as a duet with him, rather than do the song he had prepared for himself. I hadn't sung the song in ten years but fortunately, the words all came back to me as we sang it together while the cameras rolled. What you see now on YouTube and those Country Family Reunion shows is the one take wonder! So from that, fans were constantly asking me for a copy of this song and I thought this was the perfect time to record it again for them. A great song never goes out of style."
"RAMBLING ROSE" - (Joe Sherman/Noel Sherman) "This came about in a most interesting way. I was booked to do the Larry's Country Diner TV show and the night before I was at the Grand Ole Opry with Jimmy Capps, who provides the acoustic guitar work for that show. We were just talking about great old songs backstage at the Opry and I sang that with him picking. Everyone around us loved it so much it was decided I should do that song on the TV show. As it always happens, the fans then wanted to buy a copy of it. So once again, this song was recorded by the request of my fans."
"A BRIDGE THAT JUST WON'T BURN" - (Jim McBride, Roger Murrah) "Many people know that Conway Twitty was something of a mentor to me in the music business and I loved his version of this song but I hadn't really thought about covering it until the songwriter, Jim McBride, suggested it. I love the lyrics and truly enjoyed recording this one. I was and always will be a fan of Conway, both personally and professionally, so I hope the fans will feel I've done this song justice in honor of the man they used to say was "the best friend a song ever had" - Mr. Conway Twitty."
"ASHES TO ASHES" - (Joe Chambers, Larry Jenkins, Mark Sherrill) "This is another song the fans have requested over the years. It's one I've always loved and so I was happy to re-record just as a personal favor to the best fans in the world."
"OLD LOVES NEVER DIE" - (Dave Kirby, Warren Robb) "This is just a great little country song. I never had the chance to release it as a single but it could have done well I think. It's one that like so many others is out of circulation and deserves to be back in the spotlight."
"SHE NEVER GOT ME OVER YOU" - (Hank Cochran, Dean Dillon, Keith Whitley) "This song was a single for one of the true country greats, Mark Chesnutt. When it was pitched to me, I didn't know if I was the right person to sing it or not but I knew it was a tremendous song and wanted to try it. This one is actually much harder to sing than you'd think but I think we got it and I'm proud of it."
"ALL MY TOMORROWS" - (Nat Stuckey) "I always loved this song, written by the great Nat Stuckey. It was one I was working on for Step One Records but when that label went out of business, the song was never finished. It irked me when a company bought the masters from Step One and released this track with no backing vocals, not mixed or anything. I wanted to finish this one as it was meant to be done so I recorded it and it's still one of my favorites - just finally done right."
"I'LL FIND IT WHERE I CAN" - (Michael Clark, Zack Van Arsdale) "This is a great up-tempo song that I heard recorded by Jerry Lee Lewis. I've had it in the back of my mind that I wanted to record it for years and years but this was finally the right time for it."
Gene Watson, has endured the ups and downs of the music business to become a country music legend himself. After releasing his very first single in 1962, Watson is still touring constantly in the USA and abroad and remains proud to be known as an icon for "real country".
Reflecting back on his early life, singing with his seven siblings and parents in Paris, Texas, Watson noted, "I can remember singing as far back as I can remember talking. Singing was something that was not out of the ordinary for me. It wasn't unique. My whole family sang."
Even in a musical genre noted for its hard-luck stories, Gene Watson's stands out. The family drifted from job to job as his itinerant father took logging and crop-picking jobs. "Home" eventually became a converted school bus which his father retrofitted himself and he made the stove that was strapped to the outside of the bus. Gene recalls his first real home was one they moved into when he was around 10 - one that his Dad purchased for $900 and spent many years paying off - but Gene also recalls they had to first remove the hay stored in the home before they moved in. As difficult as this may seem to some, Gene is quick to point out that while they didn't have money for Christmas gifts and extravagant birthday presents, he never felt poor because no one around him had anything more. He said his childhood was extremely happy and for that he's grateful to his loving parents and close-knit siblings.
Gene's love for all things about cars and trucks developed early on as did his love for music. He said "I dreamed more about cars than music. I used to draw pictures of cars when I was at school. When I was about 11 or 12, I got a job picking up scrap metal at a car junkyard and I just thought it was wonderful. I'd get off the school bus at this place and work til late, finding hubcaps and car bumpers. I always thought my life's work would revolve around cars somehow. Then along about my early teen years, my brother and I were asked to perform for a local show. We got paid some minimum amount but we got a standing ovation and I was hooked on the notion I could get paid for doing a little singing to help pay for a car."
As a young adult, Gene settled in Houston, TX and began performing in the big Houston nightclubs while working as a paint and body man during the day. He developed a strong local following with his stage act and it was in Houston where he released his debut single on Sun Valley Records. That single, titled "If It Was That Easy" didn't make any charts but as Gene states "it was just exciting to see my name on a record release and to believe that I was really in the business". In 1964, the Grand Ole Opry duo, The Wilburn Brothers, took Gene on the road briefly. It was The Wilburn Brothers who brought Gene to Nashville for the very first time and allowed him to sing on the stage of the Grand Ole Opry. Gene notes "I sang the Hank Williams song ‘I Can't Help It if I'm Still in Love With You' and got a standing ovation so not knowing what to follow with I just went out and did a gospel standard ‘It Is No Secret What God Can Do'. After that, they carried me down to the Ernest Tubb Record Shop and I got on stage and broadcast on The Midnight Jamboree."
Then it was back to the Texas honky-tonks and a string of local singles throughout the ‘60s.
In 1974, one of Gene Watson's small-label singles caught the ear of Capitol Records. He was an auto-body repairman and the featured performer at Houston's Dynasty nightclub when the label picked up the steamy, sexual waltz "Love in the Hot Afternoon" for national distribution. It became the first of Gene Watson's two-dozen top-10 hits in early 1975.
"Seems like my career just kind of happened accidentally," says Gene. "It was purely unintentional. Music was just a sideline. I was going to be playing and singing no matter what line of work I was going to do. I never did really have any high expectations out of the music business. Even today, I never know what to expect from one day to the next.
"But there is one thing: As far as I know, I do have an honest reputation in the music business, and I wouldn't take nothing for that. If anything in the world means ‘success' to me, that right there does."
Gene took no songwriting credit when he re-wrote the lyrics of 1979's "Pick the Wildwood Flower" to make it an autobiographical song. Songwriter Lawton Williams was so grateful for Gene's bravura performance of "Farewell Party" that he gave the singer his 1980 BMI Award for it.
Gene Watson quit drinking in 1980 and quit smoking not long after that. He underwent surgery and survived colon cancer in 2000-01. Through it all, he continued to record one critically applauded collection after another. He was inducted into the Texas Music Hall of Fame in 2002 and into the inaugural class of the Houston, Texas Music Hall of Fame in 2013.
Asked why he is still in such high demand after all these years, Watson reflected "I think a lot of it is because there's not too much of what I do around anymore. I think there is still a hunger out there for traditional country music. So I'd like to stay out there as long as I'm able to do the job and do it well.
"Every time I step out on that stage and see that audience, it's a new beginning. Even though I've sung these songs millions of times, I look at each one like it's brand new to me. Every night, I try to deliver that song the best that I can.
"Being called a ‘Singer's Singer' humbles me. It's flattering, but what I do is just what I do. The good Lord just gave me the voice."
Buy Tickets at stubwire.com!
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BAG Nine
BAG9 – it sounds like a jazz club in New York City. "Thelonious Monk, recorded live from the BAG9." Actually, it is my greenhouse that contains many species of deciduous trees and shrubs. I walked through it this morning, and noted about one hundred different species and cultivars. Everything is 100 percent dormant and all of the leaves have been cleaned up. It really looks like an unimpressive collection of sticks, but let's use our imagination to recall how wonderful it was last spring, summer and fall. No! Better yet, let's look at the digital record – that offers a more vivid recall than vague memories. Every scene truly existed, at least for a moment, and I'm lucky to have been there for all of them.
The BAGS sit atop the bottom of the pond, so to speak. The entire area was bottom ground, next to the creek. The pond was excavated and the soil was spread to its east, raising the ground level. That humus was not good for planting trees, so it was rocked and became our Box Area, a place for our larger trees in pots and boxes. After some severe winters in the early years, with temperatures of 0 degrees F with 40 MPH winds, I began construction of Box Area Greenhouses, or "BAGS," you see. There were once eleven BAGS, starting with BAG0, but numbers 3, 4 and 10 collapsed in snow and ice five or six years ago, and have not been rebuilt.
Magnolia x 'Genie'
Magnolia 'Black Beauty'
BAG6 consists entirely of conifers, and all the others contain maples, except for...BAG9. I used to propagate a large collection of Magnolias, but I have reduced it down to just a handful that I particularly like. The problem was that many cultivars would already be finished with flowering before eastern customers were ready for their orders. Also, most grow so fast, especially in our fields, that they were larger than our customers cared to handle. Magnolia 'Black Beauty' does not grow as tall as many, but it will develop a broad crown at maturity. Blossoms are purple-black with white centers, and appear from April to May. Magnolia x 'Genie' is more dwarf, and it blooms precociously (before leaves appear), even on young trees. Blossoms occur from spring to summer, and you will even see a few flowers at the end of August, at least in Oregon. x 'Genie' is hardy to -20 degrees F, even though it was bred in New Zealand. It was a seedling selection from Magnolia x 'Sweet Valentine' crossed with Magnolia soulangeana 'Sweet Simplicity', and that hybrid crossed with Magnolia liliiflora. It's tough to follow all of the breeding lines, but the result is a compact tree with rich-green foliage, and flowers that are pleasantly fragrant.
Magnolia soulangeana 'Kiki's Broom'
Another Magnolia that I am partial to is soulangeana 'Kiki's Broom', which originated as a witch's broom mutation, presumably on a Magnolia soulangeana. The wood was harvested in winter, and I'm not sure if anyone knows positively that it is a soulangeana. The scions were collected by Kate Brook Nursery about fifteen years ago, and to my knowledge it was never given a name. Years later I called it 'Kiki's Broom', after a popular animated Japanese girl named "Kiki," who flew through the air on a broom. Then it came to my attention a year ago that it is already in Europe (besides from me) where it goes by some KBN-type of name. It is yet another example where my presumptions are possibly not correct, and that I should never have named it in the first place. As you can see from the photo above, 'Kiki's Broom' maintains a dense low-spreading form, and it can bloom heavily.
Magnolia x 'Vulcan'
We also keep our Magnolia x 'Vulcan' in BAG9, mainly as protection against a hard spring frost which can damage the flower buds. My largest twenty-year-old specimen in the garden is fickle, or rather, Nature is fickle, and in a five-year period I'll have one year with a no-bloom spring, three years will be good and one will be fantastic. I run at about the same historic average myself. 'Vulcan' was also bred in New Zealand, its parentage being the tender Magnolia campbellii mollicomata 'Lanarth' crossed with a Magnolia liliiflora hybrid. Many consider it the best of the Felix Jury introductions, and, where hardy (USDA zone 7) it is a must. Our dear Flora really delivers a wonderful treat to us with x 'Vulcan'.
Cornus kousa 'Ohkan' has been photographed by me so many times – especially in the fall – that my main-man Seth despairs every time I'm down in BAG9 taking photos. The kousas are hardy to -20 degrees F, or USDA zone 5, but we can lose them exposed outside in winter when they are in pots. Just six mm. of poly is all it takes to protect them from the frigid elements. The cultivar start was given to me by the "Japanese Godfather of Horticulture," Mr. Akira Shibamichi, my favorite of all Japanese horticulturalists, one whose surname I covet the most – shi ba mi chi, and who needs a first name when you are blessed with the later (! not ?) !
Cornus alternifolia 'Odd Leaf'
A strange mutant dogwood is also in BAG9, a Cornus alternifolia called 'Odd Leaf'. It vies for the most ugly tree at the nursery, and a few visitors have remarked, "Ooo, what happened to that?" We're propagating it now, and when I list a few eventually I have no doubt that they will sell. It was received from the same Kate Brook Nursery that gave me a start of the Magnolia witch's broom.
Osmanthus heterophyllus 'Sasaba'
BAG9 contains our stock plants of Osmanthus heterophyllus 'Sasaba', and they have been fragrantly in flower for the past two months. The leathery pointed leaves are unique; but, give 'Sasaba' wide berth or it will scratch you. It was introduced into the United States from Japan by Brookside Gardens in Maryland. In Japanese Sasaba means "bamboo leaf," but that's the last thing I think of when I see the plant.
Vitex agnus-castus 'Abbeville Blue'
Vitex agnus-castus 'Abbeville Blue' is a shrub or small tree, and is hardy to USDA zone 5. Leaves are silvery-blue with white undersides, and sky-blue fragrant flower spikes open in spring, and the blooms have the courtesy to rise above the foliage. Sometimes Vitex agnus-castus is confused for Buddleia, as the flowers are similar and both attract bees and butterflies. One seldom sees Vitex in garden centers, but for no good reason, as it is a low-maintenance plant which can be used as a hedge or as a single specimen. The agnus-castus species is native to southern Europe and western Asia, and is known as the "Chaste Tree." Agnus is a female given name, derived from the Greek hagnē, meaning "pure" or "holy." As a drug agnus-castus is used for treating acne, irregular and painful menstruation, and more. It also had an ancient reputation as an aphrodisiac for men, but unfortunately that is not supported by modern science, or I'd be growing a lot more of it. Vitex is derived from Latin vieo which means to "weave" or "tie up," as the stems were used in basketry.
Fagus sylvatica 'Aurea Pendula'
Fagus sylvatica 'Albovariegata'
Some European beech, Fagus sylvatica, are in BAG9, not for winter protection, but because 'Aurea Pendula' and 'Albovariegata' grow much faster and do not burn when under the white poly. They would grow well outside under a shade structure, but they eventually don't fit, but that is a good time to sell them anyway. In the garden (see photo above) I have sited 'Aurea Pendula' with morning sun and afternoon shade, and it is one of the most admired specimens in our original Display Garden. 'Aurea Pendula' is never in oversupply, even though it was selected in Holland by Van der Bom in 1900, and it is the Fagus sylvatica cultivar we propagate in the largest number. I received my start in the early 1980's from Howard Hughes – plantsman Hughes, not the rich guy. Howard Hughes was from western Washington state, and he also grew maples and was a contributor to the Vertrees collection and subsequent book.
Calycanthus 'Venus' is a hybrid developed by Dr. Tom Ranney of the North Carolina Horticultural Station, and resulted from the mixture of Calycanthus floridus (the "Carolina Allspice"), Calycanthus occidentalis ("California Sweetshrub") and Calycanthus chinensis (the "Chinese Wax Shrub" that used to be known as Sinocalycanthus chinensis). The hybrid grows perfectly in Oregon and I assume also in western North Carolina, but it is reported as "a dog, not worth a damn" by a more easternly Raleigh nurseryman, due to mildew problems. I found 'Venus' to be easy to propagate, and they sold well for a year or two, but I soon discovered that it was patented and have since ceased and desisted. I keep one because I enjoy the flowers and they smell like the "fruity aroma of strawberries and melons," according to the patent documents.
A venerable old specimen of Enkianthus perulatus in the Gossler garden
Enkianthus perulatus
We have a number of species and cultivars of Enkianthus in BAG9. Enkianthus perulatus is the most dwarf for us, and the twiggy plant usually grows as wide as tall. If I recall correctly, at the Gossler Farms garden, a fifty-year-old was about six feet tall and wide. Flowers are white, in May, and the foliage in fall ranges from oranges, reds to purples. I'm not aware of any common name in the west for the species, but in Japan it is known as dodan tutuji, a sweet name meaning "bells" of the "tutuji," or Rhododendron plant. Indeed both genera prefer the same soil type and growing conditions. The specific name is due to the buds being covered in scales.
Enkianthus campanulatus 'Princeton Red'
Enkianthus campanulatus 'Showy Lantern'
Enkianthus campanulatus 'Sikokianus'
Enkianthus campanulatus 'Variegata'
The Enkianthus campanulatus species is also from Japan, but it is more erect and not so wide-growing as perulatus. Its specific name – from its flower – is derived from the Latin campanula for "little bell." We only grow named cultivars of campanulatus – the gardening public has been spoiled with deep red-flowering selections, and I doubt that there would now be any market for the straight species. 'Princeton Red' was selected for its pinkish-red flowers, so the common name of Enkianthus campanulatus – "red-vein" – does not apply when the flower is entirely red. Ditto with 'Showy Lantern', which is probably my favorite, along with 'Sikokianus', and the weakling 'Variegata'.
Enkianthus serrulatus
Enkianthus serrulatus is a large shrub or small tree from China, and it can be identified with leaves that are slightly serrated and white flowers that are larger than the perulatus species. Out of the three species mentioned thus far, campanulatus contains most or all of the cultivars, and is by far the species most encountered in the nursery trade. The genus Enkianthus was taxonomically defined in 1790 by the Portuguese Jesuit physician and botanist João de Loureiro who resided in Cochinchina (now Vietnam). The name is derived from the appearance of the flowers, from the Greek enkyos for "pregnant" and anthos for "flowers." The Jesuit published a work entitled Flora Cochinchinensis in 1790, and a good thing he finished it for he died the following year.
Rubus spectabilis 'Golden Ruby'
Five years ago I couldn't have dreamed that I would be growing an ornamental "Salmonberry," Rubus spectabilis 'Golden Ruby'. Salmonberry grows along stream beds in the shade, and in my youth I fought through them on my way to the fishing hole. The common name is due to the orange-pink edible (but vapid) fruit that resembles the color of salmon flesh. 'Golden Ruby' is very attractive for its soft golden foliage, and it prefers afternoon shade in my experience, but too much shade will cause it to go green. The "Ruby" part of the cultivar name is due to the pinkish-purple flower which is pretty, but small. The generic name Rubus was coined by Linnaeus in 1753 for ruber is "red," which most of the berries are in the genus. It was once called Rubacer, the "acer" part is due to the maple-like appearance of the leaves of some species. It's remarkable to me that there is a market for weeds, so to speak, if they are different somehow, like being yellow instead of green. If there was a variegated dandelion, for instance, would there be a market for it?
Pieris japonica 'Bonsai'
Perseus with Medusa's head
Picea engelmannii 'Snake'
Pieris japonica 'Bonsai' is a cute miniature – it sells well – but it's so slow that very little profit can be made. For our QT (cutie pot) program we offer 'Bonsai' where hardy, and the "Andromeda" will grow to only 2' tall by 1' wide in 10 years. It received its common name due to its pendulous "chains" of white flowers. In Greek myth a princess of Ethiopia – Andromeda – was chained to a sea wall and was being threatened by a sea monster. The hero Perseus saved Andromeda by breaking the chains and freeing her, and later they would marry. They now exist in the sky as constellations. Perseus also had the good fortune to be assisted by the Nymphs of the North. They gave him the Cap of Darkness which rendered him invisible. He put on his dark hat, flew down and cut the head off the evil female monster, Medusa. By Roman times, according to the poet Ovid, Medusa was an exceedingly beautiful maiden, but she was caught fornicating with Poseidon (God of the Sea) in Athena's temple. Of course that outraged Athena, and she transformed Medusa's hair to serpents and made her so ugly that the sight of her face would turn onlookers to stone. I used to own a Picea engelmannii 'Snake' that certainly resembled Medusa's head, but I sold it to a high bidder before I was turned to stone. Forgive the wandering mythological digressions, but you'll have a lot to think about the next time you see an Andromeda.
There really is an astonishing floral display in BAG9, and we only took a few steps into it. About a year ago, after a heavy autumn wind, I was inside looking up at the poly that was littered with Alnus leaves and old Pseudotsuga needles. I became fascinated with the debris; it was more interesting than a lot of modern art I have seen. Well, I guess it's true that "beauty is in the eye of the beholder." But not for my brother-in-law, who is convinced that "beauty is in the eye of the beerholder." He would also say, "We all need something to believe in. I believe I'll have another beer."
Camellia December 20, 2013 at 3:50 PM
Here in NC, Kikis Broom is 6 feet tall in less than 10 years. Climate makes a big difference in how plants grow.
A Buchholz Beauty Pageant
Frigidus
Shedding Light on the Obscure
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Are you making the most of your public health budget.............? There's a tool for that
Over the last few months researchers from Fuse based at Newcastle and Northumbria universities have been undertaking an independent evaluation of one of Public Health England’s published resources, the Prioritisation Framework. In the guest blog below Brian Ferguson and David Gardiner, both of whom were closely involved in the development of the Framework, comment on the evaluation’s findings.
How PHE’s Prioritisation Framework was developed
Public Health England is committed to supporting local systems to make the best possible investment decisions. With this in mind, in March 2018 we published the Prioritisation Framework, a product aimed at helping local authorities to make the most of their public health budgets. The project to develop the Prioritisation Framework traces its roots back to Shifting the Gravity of Spending? (2015), an academic report detailing how more systematic decision making could be made across public health. From there, the idea was picked up and developed through joint working between Directors of Public Health in the North East of England and their local PHE Centre. After successful prioritisation exercises had taken place in South Tyneside and Gateshead, the foundations of what would be the Prioritisation Framework were taken on by PHE’s Health Economics team to be developed at a national level.
Throughout the development of the Prioritisation Framework there has always been a strong emphasis on user engagement, evaluation of progress and continuous learning. This led to several rounds of user testing throughout the development of the Framework, and we see this latest evaluation by the NIHR School of Public Health Research as another step in helping to shape further work in this area.
How PHE sees the Prioritisation Framework
While the Prioritisation Framework has been developed to be as simple and supportive as possible, it is still easily misunderstood. As you read through the full evaluation report, we encourage you to consider why the Framework was developed, and how it can be used flexibly to reflect local context and needs.
Overview of prioritisation process
One misunderstanding that we often come across is the assumption that the Prioritisation Framework is a ‘health economics’ tool. This is not the way we typically describe it, as the consideration of economic concepts such as cost-effectiveness is only a small part of the information brought together to make prioritisation decisions. Instead, the Prioritisation Framework provides structure and guidance for local decision makers to agree the outcomes they see as important, in a transparent process, that can be tailored and controlled by the users themselves. Any criteria that can be defined and agreed upon by stakeholders, such as equity and political acceptability, can be included and considered. Furthermore, through appropriate facilitation there is the opportunity for effective stakeholder engagement, developing consensus and building influence. In this sense it is much more of a strategic tool, recognising that consideration of the evidence (on both effectiveness and cost-effectiveness) will only be one part of the overall decision making process.
In addition, there is a risk of over-emphasis on the act of assigning numerical scores to the evidence. While this is an important step, it is only a means to an end. More important than the scores themselves are the conversations that run alongside them, where people have a chance to air their views, challenge the assumptions of others and agree on the best course of action through consensus. Capturing these discussions means that the process is transparent, informed and robust.
Users therefore have a significant degree of control when using the Prioritisation Framework. The Framework guides users on how to approach each step, but all the key decisions remain in their hands. This flexibility is critical as ultimately local areas need to have ownership of the process. This also means that each time the Prioritisation Framework is undertaken, the outcomes will be completely unique to the area and the individuals taking part.
The results of the evaluation
The evaluation report yields valuable insights into how the Prioritisation Framework has been and could be used at a local level. Overall, the results are very encouraging and supportive of this type of systematic process. The feedback helps to validate the effort that has been dedicated to developing and implementing the Prioritisation Framework. This effort has extended well beyond the core project team, to the PHE Centres and Local Knowledge & Intelligence teams who have provided support to the early adoption sites, and of course the staff within the sites themselves. We hope that the Prioritisation Framework will continue to be used in these local authorities, and that they continue to provide feedback on their experiences over the longer term.
In addition to thanking the test sites for their kind words, we also want to acknowledge the areas for development identified by the evaluation participants. One issue identified was the time commitment needed. While it is true that the process can be resource-intensive in terms of people’s time, it is robust and evidence-based and is designed to ensure buy-in from key decision makers to help them to make the best use of their public health resources locally. To that extent the work involved can be seen as an investment that should pay off in terms of being clear (for example) about the outcomes that matter to the organisation. This will be particularly true where there is engagement and ownership from senior leaders within the organisation, as acknowledged in the report. There will always be a trade off between rigour and speed, and a balance clearly needs to be struck here. In order to help streamline the process as much as possible and reduce local workloads, the Prioritisation Framework is already heavily supported through guidance and signposting to useful resources.
Some of the other development issues identified have already been taken on board. The thoughts and comments of the early adopters have been instrumental in helping us understand how to better support prioritisation processes. As such, we feel that both the Prioritisation Framework itself, and the associated support from PHE Centres, are in a much stronger position now than when the test sites first took on the challenge. In particular, the guidance and communication on what the Framework can and cannot do are much clearer.
Here, several users and developers of the framework discuss how it has supported decision-making in local authorities
Looking to the future, we will continue to make the changes that have been highlighted in the feedback to date in order to further improve the Prioritisation Framework and the support offer. This will include an exploration of how the Framework could be used more widely within local organisations to inform resource allocation decisions broader than the public health budget. We therefore see the Prioritisation Framework as a developing product that will evolve and change over time to keep pace with the needs of local systems. Central to this is understanding over time what impact there has been on outcomes: has using a tool like this actually delivered more value from the limited budgets that are available to improve population health and reduce health inequalities?
Brian Ferguson, Chief Economist, Public Health England
David Gardiner, Health and Wellbeing Programme Lead, Public Health England’s North East Centre
Labels: 2019, BFerguson, budget, decision making, DGardiner, evaluation, local authorities, Newcastle University, NIHR SPHR, NorthumbriaUniversity, PHE, policy, Prioritisation Framework, priority-setting, public health
Have you haddock enough?
Posted by Louis Goffe, Research Associate, Newcastle University
That smell. That distinctive saline scent. Your subconscious has your saliva glands brimming before you’re cognisant of what you desire.
Fish & chips is arguably our most iconic contribution to the culinary arts. This most harmonious pairing of Jewish-style fried fish with chipped potatoes, first engaged in the 1860s and have been besotted with each other ever since. At their peak during the inter-war years, there was an estimated 35,000 shops around the country, while in today’s diverse and competitive fast-food market, there remains around 10,500 chippies.
Fish & chips Edwardian style
The interrelating factors that derive our weight are as unique as our fingerprint and untangling and finding solutions is a global challenge. There is no single determinant and competition for a slice of the obesity research funding pie, is as cutthroat as the local high street takeaway shop cluster.
Takeaways are not the prime suspect in unlocking the door to good health, but it’s clear that they do play a role. As such, we need to scope what aspects can change to help provide customers and communities with healthier options.
When it comes to food, there is no universally accepted metric for ‘health’. The term is open to interpretation and keenly fought over, see the fat Vs carbs debate. However, such considerations are rendered obsolete when considering the nutritional profile of independent takeaway food, where meals were found to be “excessive for portion size, energy, macronutrients and salt”. It is the sheer volume of food provided that is the intimidating/wondrous [delete as personally appropriate] factor.
Pizzas are the chart toppers when it comes to portion size, delivering a medium value over 1,800 calories, though fish & chips are not far behind on an excess of 1,600 calories. This is a hefty dollop of energy, given that an adult women is advised to consume 2,000 calories per day. Of course, just because a portion contains this amount of food, it doesn’t mean that one will consume it all. But the evidence is clear “people consistently consume more food and drink when offered larger-sized portions, packages or tableware than when offered smaller-sized versions”.
It was not our assertion that any particular cuisine type is to blame, but to find potential solutions to what has likely been an arms race by traders in response to their most vocal customers to provide the most calorific-kick per quid, as highlighted in this quote from a Scottish fast-food trader.
“They just want chips… they'll have a look and then go along have a look at their deals and then come back and they'll order… they like the value for money. The competition here is unbelievable.”
In our NIHR School of Public Health Research funded study based at Fuse in collaboration with The Centre for Diet and Activity Research at the University of Cambridge, we wanted to challenge the notion that quantity rules above all, to see if traders and their customers were accepting of promotion of smaller meals.
Louis throwing himself into the research
Fish & chips offered the ideal starting template. Their taste is as beholden to us, as espresso is to the Italians, therefore reformulation has limited potential. Despite their volume, they’re presented as a one-person meal, with smaller sizes mainly limited to children, pensioners or as lunchtime specials.
Engaging with traders is a huge challenge. Therefore, we asked Henry Colbeck Limited, an independent specialist fish & chip shops wholesaler, to give the project that foot-in-the-door via a trusted voice. We co-designed the intervention, but crucially, they led on delivery and we retained our independence as a research team for analysis and interpretation of the evaluation data.
We were operating in an intervention landscape reliant on traders’ voluntary participation. This meant an emphasis on the potential financial rewards of provision of smaller meals to traders’ businesses, through articulating the power of customers’ awareness and demand for healthier options.
Henry Colbeck were key to creating a meaningful dialog with and between traders and getting them on-board with the trial. We found both owners and their customers were broadly accepting of the prominent promotion of the lighter meals, with a reported increase in the proportion of smaller meals sales, however our sample size was too small to derive statistical inference.
Lite-BITE box developed by Henry Colbeck Ltd
Interestingly, during interviews with traders, one big question remained, ‘what constitutes a smaller meal?’ During the trial, it was left to traders to define and package accordingly. Concurrent to our independent evaluation, Henry Colbeck sensed an opportunity and developed a new product specific packaging, the ‘Lite-BITE’. They have subsequently sold, along with their partner suppliers across the UK, 12 million boxes in 2018, highlighting that there is the customer demand for a more modest and manageable portion.
Despite this success of raising the profile of smaller meals, how much of them we consume is still unknown and more work is required to better understand the health implications. Also, like the traders in our study, we the consumer, would also benefit from clearer, potentially standardised, portion sizes that could help support nutritionally informed choices.
Our study was formative in nature, but the Lite-BITE box sales show an appetite for smaller takeaway meals and the access to traders that Henry Colbeck provided far out numbers those we could have obtained through door-stepping as academic researchers. We should put all potential tools on the dinner table that could help create healthier environments, including harnessing customer power. So next time you’re in your favourite fish fryer, if it’s not on the menu, ask for a smaller meal and hopefully the owner will soon start to sniff out that saline scent of profit to be made from healthier options.
Louis stars in our video about the research
Image: 'Beamish offers Edwardian-style fish and chips' from BBC Wear 2011: http://news.bbc.co.uk/local/wear/hi/front_page/newsid_9386000/9386156.stm
Labels: business, calories, customers, diet, evaluation, fish & chips, food environment, food industry, intervention, interviews, LGOffe, Newcastle University, nutrition, obesity, portion size, research, takeaways, traders
Igniting my future career with a SPARC
Guest post by Naoimh McMahon, Postgraduate student, University of Central Lancashire
Naoimh recently passed her viva and won Research Student of the Year at the North West Coast Research and Innovation Awards 2019.
Around about now the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) will be letting early career researchers know if their applications to Round 5 of the Short Placement Awards for Research Collaboration (SPARC) scheme have been successful.
These awards provide funding to allow trainees within the NIHR infrastructure to spend time in other parts of the NIHR to network, acquire new skills and expertise, and establish collaborations with experts in their field. To be eligible for this round of the SPARC scheme, applicants have to be undertaking a formal research training programme, such as a PhD, and be funded by an NIHR award. Additionally, applicants needed to be based in part of the NIHR infrastructure that has a specific remit to build research capacity, such as the NIHR Collaborations for Leadership in Applied Health Research and Care (CLAHRCs). In 2017 I applied for Round 4 and while I met both of these criteria, I was also facing the final year of my PhD with a lot of writing still left to do! However, this would be my last chance to apply for the SPARC award and so it seemed like too good an opportunity to pass up.
For my PhD, I was based at the University of Central Lancashire in Preston, and my research was funded through an NIHR CLAHRC North West Coast doctoral studentship. This work was looking at how people negotiate different discourses within the field of health inequalities and how such discourses work to shape thinking and action. With this interest, and a new-found penchant for the North of England, I knew exactly where I wanted to spend my time during a SPARC placement – it had to be in the North East with Fuse! And so towards the end of October, I emailed Professor Clare Bambra (@ProfBambra) to make my case and see if she might be happy to act as my host and supervisor for a placement. After what I can only assume was a glowing reference from one of my PhD supervisors, Clare was on board and we booked in a call to discuss plans for the SPARC proposal.
The requirements for a SPARC award are that you provide a training programme for the placement and you justify the proposed benefit of the programme for your own research and the potential impact for your future career development. After talking through different ideas and options, and considering the short time frame of the placement, Clare and I settled on a training programme oriented around evidence synthesis on the topic of gambling and health inequalities. At the time, gambling was becoming increasingly topical but there was little written about the effects of interventions on social and health inequalities. This focus for the placement was seen as a good fit as Clare had a strong interest in this topic and it would allow me to apply insights from my PhD research to a new body of literature. A co-authored peer-reviewed publication was to be the main output from the placement and we stressed the opportunities provided by the wider Fuse infrastructure for networking during the placement. In March 2018, I found out that my application had been successful and in April I started my six-week stint at Newcastle University.
True to our word, we did exactly what we promised in the proposal! During our scoping searches of the gambling literature we identified a number of recent systematic reviews which synthesised evidence on different types of interventions for reducing gambling behaviour and gambling related harm, and so we felt it would be of value to collate the findings from across these reviews into a single umbrella review. The resulting paper has now been published in Addictive Behaviours. Reflective of the wider health inequalities literature this review has highlighted the lack of consideration of equity effects of intervention strategies in both primary research and evidence syntheses in the field of gambling. Additionally, it has illustrated that there is likely to exist an ‘inverse evidence law’ in this field where there is the least amount of research and evidence for interventions that are most likely to be effective. A big thank you to Katie Thomson (@katiehthomson) and Eileen Kaner (@EileenKaner) for all of their help and input with this review.
Along with completing this work during my SPARC placement I had the chance to meet people from the Fuse health inequalities programme; get to know some lovely new office mates; attend Fuse’s 10th birthday event and meet people working in local authorities and third sector organisations; meet Fuse Director Ashley Adamson; and attend a Quarterly Research Meeting on eating and drinking patterns in young adults. Last, but certainly not least, I attended and presented my PhD research at the 4th International Fuse Conference which was held in Vancouver in May of last year (see here for a related post on the conference).
In October 2019, the NIHR will launch Round 6 of the scheme and for anybody who may be thinking of applying, here are some things to keep in mind when preparing an application:
Be ambitious about where you want to spend your time – if you don’t ask you don’t get!
Develop a training programme that works for both you and your host supervisor
Try and co-ordinate dates to fit in training or conferences at your host institution
Detail specific outputs in your application and allow yourself time to get these finished after the placement has finished.
Taking on this type of placement was going to be demanding at any point during a PhD but from my experience it is definitely worth the time and energy. Thank you especially to Clare and Katie, and to everyone at Fuse that made the placement such a positive and worthwhile experience.
Image by Pexels on Pixabay
Jeff Kubina from the milky way galaxy [CC BY-SA 2.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)]
Labels: 2019, application, awards, behaviour, career, CLAHRC, conference, ECR, funding, FuseKEC18, FuseQRM, gambling, inequalities, networking, Newcastle University, NIHR SPARC, NMcMahon, PhD, training, UCLAN
Is public health ready for complexity?
Guest post by Brian Castellani, Professor of Sociology at Durham University
Public health, presently, is at a difficult crossroads. Its massive success in making the world a healthier place has led to a global embrace of its incredible insights; but still, the challenges currently faced have not given in so easily, as they are deeply entrenched complex problems - or, alternatively, what are more generally referred to as wicked problems! The global spread of infectious disease; an exponentially growing (or, alternatively, greying) population throughout many parts of the world; the negative impact ecological upset is having on climate and health; urbanisation and the development of mega cities and metropolitan regions; the increasing costs of health and healthcare; air pollution; the opioid epidemic; and so forth.
Still, despite this increasing complexity, public health has been rather resistant to making the shift, falling back on tried-and-true ways of thinking about and modelling public health issues. This is particularly true when it comes to the harsh realities of getting funded or published! This needs to change! The challenge, however, is how?
Here are, in my mind, six things that public health researchers and practitioners can do to make more effective use of the complexity sciences and advance the use of these ideas across the field:
Six ways to advance the study of complexity in public health
1. Public health is in a difficult position: it realises its work is more complex, but it is struggling to embrace the tools and concepts of complexity science and computational modelling, as it means doing things differently.
This is particularly problematic in terms of funding streams and publishing in journals.
The only way forward, then, is to get on with it and actually start funding and publishing such work. High risk can lead to high reward!
2. Related, the best way forward is for public health to employ a mixed-methods approach, as most public health issues require more than one method, including computational modelling.
This includes embracing the old and the new, particularly in terms of complex networks, machine intelligence, participatory systems mapping, qualitative comparative analysis (QCA), and agent-based modelling.
3. Public health needs to adopt a critical approach to complexity, as not all methods or theories are equally useful. In other words, the advance of complexity thinking in public health has to be more than the simple application of hard science methods.
For example, while complex network analysis is powerful, it has significant limits.
4. Public health also needs to develop its theoretical and conceptual understanding of public health topics as complex. This is also true in terms of policy evaluation.
Not all topics, for example, need to be modelled as overly complex. And there are different ways of modelling complexity. For an excellent examples, visit the Centre for the Evaluation of Complexity Across the Nexus (CECAN).
5. Public health needs to recognise the important role it plays - both in terms of theory and practical experience - in the development of the complexity sciences, as most of these scholars are trained in other fields. Practitioner expertise, combined with the latest advances in computational methods, will go a long way to improving health. It cannot, however, just be one or the other.
6. Finally, public health needs to adopt a case-based approach to modelling its various complex topics, as health (be it an individual or population) is about cases.
In turn, it needs to move away from the strict study of variables and variable-based statistics.
Statistics remains very important for complexity modelling; but variables need to be attached to context and cases and their various path-dependent trajectories.
Related, the field needs to shift to modelling multiple case-based trajectories, rather than designing a single model.
I want to thank Fuse for the opportunity to present a brief overview of the value of the complexity sciences for public health (and, in turn the value of public health for complexity science!) on 14 February 2019 at Newcastle University. For those interested, here is a link to the presentation.
Labels: BCastellani, climate change, complexity, disease, drugs, Durham University, ecology, evaluation, funding, methods, modelling, policy, pollution, practice, public health, publishing, statistics, theory, urbanisation
Are you making the most of your public health budg...
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Author: - March 12, 2018 0 Tomb Raider Movie: Everything You Need To Know
Basically the remasters will use the original games' install packages, and that is why the remasters will only be available on Steam , too. These remasters will be based on the mobile versions, support OpenVR, feature a new 3D engine, and be free to all owners of these games.
Author: - March 12, 2018 0 Inside Khloe Kardashian's lavish pink baby shower
Apart from Khloe , her younger sister Kylie Jenner recently added a member to Kardashian family in form of Stormi Webster whereas Kim Kardashian also welcomed her baby girl Chicago West into the world through surrogacy. Kris Jenner says Khloe Kardashian is her "favourite" child. "The shower was very over-the-top, but absolutely stunning". The blonde beauty announced that she and Tristan Thompson - who began dating at the end of 2016 - were expecting their first child back in ...
Author: - March 12, 2018 0 Comedian and actor Ken Dodd dead at 90
Comedy legend Sir Ken Dodd has died aged 90, just two days after getting married, his publicist has announced. Dodd, from Liverpool in northwest England, won millions of fans with his epic stand-up shows filled with non-stop jokes, in which he brandished his trademark colourful "tickling sticks".
Author: - March 12, 2018 0 Scott Baio's wife diagnosed with microvascular brain disease
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Author: - March 12, 2018 0 Scientology Ready to Launch Its Own TV Network
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Author: - March 12, 2018 0 Varun Dhawan Unveils October's Second Poster And He Looks Lost In Love
October trailer shows the character Dan played by Varun Dhawan and his love interest Shiuli played Banita Sandhu's journey of love and desire. "She doesn't have a manager so Shoojit dada and I just want to make sure she gets the best and is comfortable cause meeting the massive media and paparazzi can be very overwhelming", Varun said in a statement.
Author: - March 12, 2018 0 Robert Downey Jr says The Avengers are like a family
According to Josh Brolin , the actor taking on the role of the so-called Mad Titan in Joe and Anthony Russo's superhero epic Avengers: Infinity War , there's still some love left in the baddie's heart - especially when it comes to his adoptive daughters/child soldiers.
Author: - March 12, 2018 0 Camila Cabello Hits the iHeartRadio Awards Carpet Ahead of Performance!
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Author: - March 12, 2018 0 Jeff Flake Drafting Bill To Kneecap Trump On Trade Policy
House Speaker Paul Ryan , who is also from Wisconsin, issued a rare statement publicly breaking with the president. Trump signed two proclamations Thursday to impose a 25 percent tariff on steel imports and a 10 percent tariff on aluminum from other countries.
Author: - March 12, 2018 0 March Madness 2018: Breaking down four regions, upset picks, region favorites
The four No. 1 seeds were no surprise, with Villanova the overall top seed, Villanova, Kansas and Xavier rounding out the favorites. While this may be a wide-open tournament, it may be quite hard for anyone to get the best of head coach Tony Bennett's team.
Author: - March 12, 2018 0 Taylor Swift Debuts 'Delicate' Music Video-and There's No Shortage of Dancing
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Author: - March 12, 2018 0 Katy Perry: 'Idol' Judges Have A New Attitude
After watching so many soft "really sorry but you're just not there yet" dismissals, viewers might feel the same about the show. "It was never a moment's thought for me, because I get inspired", said Bryan. Richie would be my favorite judge on the panel, but he makes a tactical error in the premiere, a kindness that is also a revealing lameness. They are all musicians whose careers are in different genres .
Author: - March 12, 2018 0 Nick Gordon reportedly arrested on domestic violence charges once again
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Author: - March 12, 2018 0 AM Links: Trump, Tariffs, Stormy Daniels
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Author: - March 11, 2018 0 Trump's freewheeling Pittsburgh rally in quotes
Todd, who was singled out by the president during the rally, said he has told his children to respect the office of the presidency and asked Mnuchin repeatedly about the president's comments. Todd was incredulous: "So you're saying that's acceptable behavior for the rest of the administration too, or it's just unique to him?" "So, should we stop covering the campaign rallies?" Speaking at a rally outside Pittsburg, Trump continued his assault on the American media, attacking coverage of ...
Author: - March 11, 2018 0 NRA files lawsuit after Florida passes gun reform bill
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Author: - March 11, 2018 0 Khloé Kardashian's All-Pink Baby Shower Was an Instagrammer's Dream
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Author: - March 11, 2018 0 Cops check on Tori Spelling at doctor's office
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Author: - March 11, 2018 0 Turning the clocks forward past WWE Fastlane
The victor of the match will face Royal Rumble victor Shinsuke Nakamura in a one-on-one match. " Undertaker will return to challenge Carmella for her briefcase". But with an appearance later in the night a la her close shave against Charlotte Flair after the Riot Squad attacked her. Furthermore, if The Usos win, it leaves the tag division in an interesting position going into 'Mania.
Author: - March 11, 2018 0 Special Counsel Robert Mueller Is 'The Bachelor' In New SNL Cold Open
President Donald Trump for colluding with Russian Federation. And while this was a particularly dramatic and ridiculous one, it's a safe bet that more Americans are probably interested in the real-world drama behind Robert Mueller's investigation of Russian meddling in the 2016 election.
Author: - March 11, 2018 0 Archie to get live-action Bollywood remake
Mumbai: Archie Comics is getting a Bollywood treatment as the beloved characters from Riverdale High will soon be seen in a live-action, theatrical film. Graphic India leader Sharad Devarajan says Archie comics have always been embraced by Indians and "now it's time to take them fully into Bollywood in an exciting new twist of a story".
Author: - March 11, 2018 0 Marvell Technology Group (MRVL) PT Raised to $21.00
Marvell Technology Group (NASDAQ: MRVL ) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, March 8th. It has outperformed by 47.84% the S&P500. About 483,079 shares traded. Therefore 89% are positive. Stocks traded higher on Thursday amid hopes that the US will exempt Canada and Mexico from projected tariffs on steel and aluminum imports.
Author: - March 11, 2018 0 Man United plan summer move to sign FC Barcelona star
Sport say that United are ready to meet Umtiti's €60m (£53.3m, $73.8m) release clause at Barcelona and will offer the centre-back a stunning deal worth €9m (£8m, $11.1m) per year after taxes - equivalent to £154,000-a-week. The report claims a United scout has been at the Nou Camp two out of every three matches to watch Umtiti's development - with Ed Woodward present for Atletico Madrid's visit on Sunday .
Author: - March 11, 2018 0 Thanos' MCU Origin And Backstory Are Different Than The Comics
His homeworld is destroyed, something to do with the excesses of its people, and Thanos grows up to develop a terrifically stupid plan: the only way to balance the universe is to acquire the absolute power provided by the Infinity Stones and use them to wipe out half the life in the universe.
Author: - March 11, 2018 0 Kareena Kapoor shows off her moves to 'Mauja Hi Mauja'
Turns out, Taimur's name was nearly going to be changed to Faiz! " Kareena Kapoor Khan tells me." reads his tweet as per reports on The Quint. Their mother Babita and actor Ranbir Kapoor's mother Neetu's career took a back seat from films after they entered the Kapoor family.
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Elon MBB ’s Rally Comes Up Short in Loss at Delaware
Posted by Press Release on January 6, 2019 at 9:46 am under College | Comments are off for this article
NEWARK, Del. – Although Elon University men’s basketball was able to cut a 16-point second-half deficit to eight with 2:55 remaining, its comeback fell short and Delaware earned a 77-65 victory on Saturday night, Jan. 5, at the Bob Carpenter Center.
Steven Santa Ana led all of Elon’s (5-11, 1-3 CAA) scorers with 18 points, as well as adding five rebounds to his stat line. Also among Elon’s four players scoring in double figures were Tyler Seibring with 17 points, Sheldon Eberhardt with 11 off the bench and Nathan Priddy with 10 points. Eberhardt also finished with team-bests of six rebounds and four assists for the Phoenix.
Delaware (11-6, 3-1 CAA) also had four players score in double figures. The Blue Hens were led by Ryan Allen’s game-high 19 points, as well as Eric Carter’s double-double of 12 points and 12 rebounds. Additionally, Kevin Anderson and Darian Bryant tallied 11 points each for Delaware. After shooting 42.9 percent in the first half, the Blue Hens got hot and shot a blistering 57.9 percent from the floor in the second half.
Elon led by as much as seven points in the game before Delaware’s run at the end of the first half gave the Blue Hens a 40-32 lead at the break. The Blue Hens then used the momentum to build as much as a 16-point lead in the second half. Although the Phoenix fought back and cut the deficit to 68-60 with 2:55 remaining, the comeback would fall short and Delaware sealed the 77-65 win.
After Delaware started the game off with an 8-2 run, the Phoenix answered with 10 unanswered points to take a 12-8 advantage after Seibring’s three-pointer at the 16:01 mark.
Following another Blue Hens’ spurt, which gave the hosts a 18-14 lead, Elon’s 10-1 surge gave the Phoenix its largest lead of the half at 26-19 with 8:06 on the clock. Eberhardt led the charge with five points during the run, which was capped off by his first three-pointer of the contest.
The Blue Hens took the lead back, 27-26, with a 10-0 run over then next two minutes, but a turnaround jumper by Santa Ana and a layup by Eberhardt put the Phoenix back in front 30-27 with 4:51 remaining in the half. What initially started as a 9-0 run by Delaware extended to a 13-2 spurt over the final minutes, putting the Blue Hens up 40-32 at the break.
The second half started off similar as the first with a run by Delaware. Following Priddy’s triple to open the half, the Blue Hens used a 10-3 run and took a 52-37 lead after Carter’s dunk at the 15:45 mark.
Even though five quick points from the Phoenix cut Delaware’s lead to eight, the Blue Hens would then outscore Elon 10-2 over the next five minutes to build up to a 16-point lead. Delaware would maintain that lead over the next two minutes, with its final lead of 16 coming at 66-50 with 5:48 remaining.
Elon continued to fight and a 9-2 run would slice the deficit to eight at 68-60 with 2:55 left in the game. However, Delaware didn’t allow the Phoenix to get closer than nine points in the final minutes to earn the victory.
The Phoenix returns to Schar Center next week to host two teams predicted to finish in the top-three of CAA play this season. Elon will first host CAA preseason favorite Northeastern on Thursday, Jan. 10 at 7 p.m., followed by Hofstra on Saturday, Jan. 12, at 7 p.m.
Tags: Mens Basketball
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The Stern Facts
Washington Press
Verified Politics
Only in Miami Radio Show
Dworkin Report
Jacobs vs. Goliath on 880
Miami Podcast Studios
Grant Stern
Columnist | Radio Host | Mortgage Broker
Grant is an author and radio broadcaster who writes two national news columns, one at the Washington Press by Occupy Democrats, and the focused on original investigatory reporting at The Stern Facts. He is also a contributing investigatory reporter for DCReport.org. In the past he wrote for Huffington Post and the occasional Miami Herald op-ed. His first series of books "Meet the Candidates 2020" is being distributed by Simon and Schuster with Skyhorse Publishing in New York, New York.
Grant hosts a weekly local radio broadcast on Jolt Radio called the "Only In Miami Show" which airs every Monday from 6-7pm EST, which he launched on 880 the Biz for its first five years. He is also the executive producer of the "Dworkin Report," a top political podcast and "Jacobs Vs. Goliath," a radio program on Miami’s Bloomberg Network affiliate 880 the Biz. He has also been a speaker at numerous conferences about social media, activism and modern journalism.
Grant founded Morningside Mortgage Corporation in 2005 and still serves as its principal broker. As an experienced professional mortgage broker, his unique insight into the real estate market, has been sought as a source for stories after by local and national news outlets on Bloomberg TV, The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, CNBC and the Washington Post. He has been an expert witness in real estate matters.
Grant is a native of Miami, Florida and graduate of the prestigious New World School of the Arts for vocal music. He's an alumnus of Florida State University and Miami-Dade College and has extensive knowledge in regards to politics, activism, and the real estate market. He is married with one child.
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A SpaceX Falcon heavy rocket lifts off from pad 39A at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla., early Tuesday, June 25, 2019. The Falcon rocket has a payload military and scientific research satellites. (AP Photo/John Raoux)
SpaceX launches heaviest rocket yet, carrying 24 satellites
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — SpaceX launched its heftiest rocket with 24 research satellites Tuesday, a middle-of-the-night rideshare featuring a deep space atomic clock, solar sail, a clean and green rocket fuel testbed, and even human ashes.
It was the third flight of a Falcon Heavy rocket, but the first ordered by the military.
The Defence Department mission, dubbed STP-2 for Space Test Program, is expected to provide data to certify the Falcon Heavy – and reused boosters – for future national security launches. It marked the military’s first ride on a recycled rocket.
Both side boosters landed back at Cape Canaveral several minutes after liftoff, just as they did after launching in April. But the new core booster missed an ocean platform, not unexpected for this especially difficult mission, SpaceX noted.
NASA signed up for a spot on the rocket, along with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the Air Force Research Laboratory, the Planetary Society and Celestis Inc., which offers memorial flights into space.
An astronaut who flew on NASA’s first space station back in the 1970s, Skylab’s Bill Pogue, had a bit of his ashes on board, along with more than 150 other deceased people. Pogue died in 2014.
SpaceX said the mission was one of its most challenging launches. The satellites needed to be placed in three different orbits, requiring multiple upper-stage engine firings. It was going to take several hours to release them all.
The Deep Space Atomic Clock by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory is a technology demo aimed at self-flying spacecraft. Barely the size of a toaster oven, the clock is meant to help spacecraft navigate by themselves when far from Earth. NASA also was testing a clean and green alternative to toxic rocket and satellite fuel.
The Planetary Society’s LightSail crowd-funded spacecraft will attempt to become the first orbiting spacecraft to be propelled solely by sunlight. It’s the society’s third crack at solar sailing: The first was lost in a Russian rocket failure in 2005, while the second had a successful test flight in 2015.
“Hey ↕elonmusk et al, thanks for the ride!,” tweeted Bill Nye, the society’s chief executive officer.
The Air Force Research Laboratory had space weather experiments aboard, while NOAA had six small atmospheric experimental satellites for weather forecasting.
The Falcon Heavy is the most powerful rocket in use today. Each first-stage booster has nine engines, for a total of 27 firing simultaneously at liftoff from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center.
The first Falcon Heavy launch was in February 2018. That test flight put SpaceX founder Musk’s red Tesla convertible into an orbit stretching past Mars.
Marcia Dunn, The Associated Press
Canada's Doneil Henry (15) and Cuba's Luis Paradela (23) chase the ball during the first half of a CONCACAF Golf Cup soccer match in Charlotte, N.C., Sunday, June 23, 2019. (AP Photo/Chuck Burton)
African News Sports World
Cavallini, David scores 3 goals, Canada defeats Cuba 7-0
CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Coach John Herdman couldn’t be happier about the state of Canadian soccer. “Our Canadian football system is starting to produce players,” Herdman said. “That’s exciting, seeing those youngsters coming through.” Canada got three goals each from 19-year-old Jonathan David and Lucas Cavallini, and breezed to a 7-0 win over Cuba on Sunday […]
How bad is China’s economic slump? It’s impossible to tell
Companies and executives around the world are desperately trying to gauge the severity of China’s economic slowdown. But getting a clear picture is very difficult.Growth in the world’s second-biggest economy cooled last year to its lowest level in almost three decades, according to government data. Top global brands including Apple (AAPL) and Caterpillar (CAT) have blamed weakness in China for their disappointing earnings.The […]
International News Top Story World
UN chief deplores lack of civilian protection in armed conflict
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Thursday deplored the lack of civilian protection in armed conflict and the erosion of respect for international humanitarian law. “While the normative framework (for civilian protection) has been strengthened, compliance has deteriorated,” he told a Security Council open debate on the protection of civilians in armed conflict. Grave human suffering is still being caused […]
Farsight Security COO Alexa Raad: ‘Be Your Own Champion’
West and Central Africa: Young women more affected than young men
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History Happened Here
In History's Footsteps
George Washington Tours
Prince William County Tours
Civil War and Other Tours
Prince William County History Tours
Colonial Prince William County (1650-1775)
This tour covers many aspects of the earliest areas in Prince William and Virginia History from contact with Native Americans by Europeans through to the Revolution. This tour geographically stays in mostly the eastern side of the county while using historic private and public sites and locations to focus on tobacco, commerce, and industry in Prince William as well as covering the most important persons of the time. This tour also sets the stage for those involved in the French and Indian War and include some of the events and persons that helped called for liberty as we neared closer to the Revolutionary War.
Revolutionary Prince William County
This tour focuses on the important decisions and actions by Prince William County residents who were in the middle of that struggle leading to the road of Revolution. We will visit many of the historic sites of those that took action to resolve the grievances with England. Learn about the leading actions by local Prince William County residents as we moved closer to Revolution and Independence. Throughout the tour you will hear about the many Prince William men that served with Washington and about some of those that gave their lives so that we could be free from British control.
Antebellum Prince William County (1789-1861)
This tour covers the most important historic sites, Industrial, Agricultural, and Political along with telling the narrative of some of Prince William’s most important personalities in that time period. This tour geographically cover mostly the central and western landscapes of Prince William County. This tour will take you back to that time period by visiting the historic town of Buckland, Haymarket, along with the Brentsville Courthouse District to get you back into the antebellum mindset. The narrative will include the changing world locals faced concerning agriculture, slavery, and railroads which helped to transform the county as we moved closer to the Civil War.
African-American History in Prince William County
We will discuss the roles African-Americans contributed to the building of Prince William County from the late seventeenth century. We will continue to visit sites which help to tell their story through slavery, civil war, and freedom which includes developing their own communities in the late nineteenth and the early twentieth century. We will examine historic sites that help to explain the important contributions made by African Americans while living in Prince William County, often under very difficult conditions.
Prince William’s Civil War sites
This tour will serve as an overview tour to introduce you to the Prince William’s many Civil War sites. We will also examine the political climate in Prince William County at the onset of the Civil War. This overview tour takes us to the important sites of First Manassas, Potomac River defenses, Occoquan, and Second Manassas as between 1861 and 1862 Prince William County was on the front line of the deadliest war in American history. The role played by Prince William County citizens and Prince Williams geography will be examined also as we continue to look at the important Civil War sites of Bristoe Station and Buckland Mills in 1863.
Dumfries: The Oldest Incorporated Town in Virginia (Five Hour Tour)
We will visit the sites where once stood the docks overlooking the Dumfries Harbor onto Quantico Bay. Here we will examine the importance of tobacco, tobacco transportation, and the importance of Dumfries and Quantico Bay as one of the leading American tobacco ports in the Eighteenth Century.
Occoquan: John Ballendine’s Vision and Nathaniel Ellicott’s Reality (Five Hour Tour)
We will do a walking tour of Occoquan which will include information about life here with the Dogue Indians when John Smith’s 1608 voyage came to the Occoquan River. While in Occoquan we will talk about Occoquan as an important iron, mill, and transportation site and the location of some of Prince William’s oldest surviving buildings.
historyhappenedheretours@yahoo.com
541 Tara Ct
Copyright © 2019 History Happened Here — Escapade WordPress theme by GoDaddy
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Home Courses Rise of the Novel
Rise of the Novel
HUL 235
NLN 100
To introduce the history, contexts and development of the Novel, an important literary genre, which emerged in Europe from the late 17th century and travelled to other parts of the world.
The socio-politcal contexts which lead to the rise of the novel in Europe – the emergence of print, the expansion of literacy, and the establishment of capitalism. Through a close reading of selected texts accompanying concepts like the rise of the modern individual, varied narrative techniques and national consciousness. The emerging sub-genres of the novel – the comic, the picaresque, the historical novel and the realist novel. The linkage of the novel to the colonial project and its influence on world literature.
Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra. The ingenious Hidalgo Don Quixote de la Mancha (1605-1615; Penguin, 2001).
Aphra Behn. ed. Lore Metzger. Oroonoko or, the Royal Slave: A True History (1688; New York and London: W.W. Norton, 1973).
Daniel Defoe. The Life and Adventures of Robinson Crusoe of York, Mariner (1719; Wordsworth Editions, 1993).
Jonathan Swift. Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World, in Four Parts. By Lemuel Gulliver (1726; Wordsworth Editions, 1992)
Laurence Stern. The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman (1759-1767; New York: Garland Publishing, 1975)
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My sodding goodreads replacement (maybe)
What it says on the tin.
The Spell of the Sensuous: Perception and Language in a More-Than-Human World
David Abram
Pantheism: A Non-Theistic Concept of Deity
Michael P. Levine
Wicked Enchantments: The Pendle Witches and Their Magic
Joyce Froome
10:00 am 7 July 2013
What a sad little story. Not the tear-jerking kind of sad, but that uncomfortable, needling kind of sad that I can sense is going to cast a kind of melancholic gloom over the rest of my day.I was intrigued by the premise of the story - two Grey Gardens-like women hit a man with their car and hide the body in a well on their secluded property, but the man is not as dead as they thought, and drives a wedge between the women. Of course, it is much more than this. As I got further into the story I was constantly reminded of an episode of Winnie the Pooh that managed to traumatise me as a kid. In the episode, Rabbit cares for a young bird, they grow close, and then when the bird wants to leave and have its own life, Rabbit cannot accept this and tries to stop it. In my childish mind, it was tragic that the bird didn't want to stay with Rabbit, especially after all that Rabbit had done for it.Hester, of course, is the Rabbit figure. Man, she was such a sad character. Her actions were really quite terrible, but I couldn't help but sympathise with her throughout. I mean, now that I'm older I get why it's outright cruel, and in the case of The Well, even abusive to try keep people close at the cost of their own will, but at the same time there is still that childish perception in me that wanted Katherine, like the little bird, to just be grateful and not spoil the (seemingly) happy life Hester had created for them. It was impressive how the book managed to make me revert to that childish feeling. Katherine can be a grating character, sure, but she doesn't deserve to be chained to Hester's side.That's why the ending left me with such an ominous feeling.I can see now what people mean when they talk about the odd kind of stories Elizabeth Jolley wrote. I'm looking forward to reading Milk and Honey, when I can finally get around it.
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'I am not a wrongdoer' ... Squash maintains his innocence
Following his release from detention, dancehall entertainer Squash is maintaining that he has not been involved in criminal activities.
"I am at a loss regarding the reason for my detention. I am not a wrongdoer and do not in any way support lawbreaking. I look forward to using the unfortunate experience in a positive way to propel me to do more positive music," the artiste said in a press release.
Squash, who was detained in August under the State of Public Emergency in St James, was released on Wednesday. He was never charged.
"I am grateful for the assistance of Queen's Counsel (Tom) Tavares Finson in securing my release, and thank my family and supporters for their unyielding words of encouragement," the fast-rising dancehall artiste said.
Squash, whose given name is Andre Whittaker, is known for songs such as Lavish, Ova Come, Trending and Money Fever.
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People Residing In Areas Adjoining IB Thank Centre For Approving Reservation Bill
Jammu: People residing near the International Border (IB) in Jammu and Kashmir's Samba district have thanked the central government for approving a bill to provide for job reservation to them on the lines of the concession enjoyed by those living along the Line of Control. The Union Cabinet under the chairmanship of Prime Minister Narendra Modi has earlier this week cleared the decks for approval of The Jammu and Kashmir Reservation (Amendment) Bill, 2019, which will now be introduced in Parliament in the forthcoming session. Hailing the government's decision, a local resident said, 'Every time firing is done from the other side of the border, we are forced to leave this place. Our children's studies are affected badly due to this, our crops get damaged and our business comes to a halt. Government does provide us help but still we have to suffer a lot. We thank the central government for helping us out. If people here will get reservation in jobs then it will help us a lot as it is difficult for children here to compete with those living in other cities.' Another person said, 'This decision should have been taken long time back, but still we are happy that finally somebody has thought about us. It's a good decision taken by the government. We thank the government for this. We hope that the government will think more about the people staying in such tough conditions. We will support that government, which will think for us.' Yet another local resident has further requested government to provide financial aid. He said, 'We further request the government to provide us more bunkers. Also, the government should provide us financial assistance for the loss of property during firing from the Pakistan side.' The Bill will replace 'The Jammu and Kashmir Reservation (Amendment) Ordinance,2019' by amendments in the Jammu and Kashmir Reservation Act, 2004 and bringing persons residing in the areas adjoining International Border within the ambit of reservation at par with persons living in areas adjoining Actual Line of Control (ALoC). The people living in Jammu and Kashmir areas adjoining International Border were not included in the ambit of the Jammu and Kashmir Reservation Act, 2004 and Rules, 2005. It provides for reservation in direct recruitment, promotions and admission in different professional courses to various categories including residents of Areas adjoining Actual Line of Control. Therefore, they were not getting these benefits for a long time. Hence, the Union Cabinet 'felt justifiable to extend the reservation benefits to persons residing in the areas adjoining International Border on the similar lines of the persons living in areas adjoining Actual Line of Control (ALoC),' a statement read.
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Nocturnal Pleasures
Following the great success of the Bat Out Of Hell - The Musical workshop in New York earlier this year, this casting call was recently held. Fans worldwide are greeting the news with ecstatic reaction.
Click images for January 2016 show dates and ticket info!
Paradise Found - The Lost Songs Of Jim Steinman
DREAMS DO COME TRUE, MY DARLING!
http://54below.com/artist/whistle-down-the-wind-in-concert-the-nyc-premiere/
Jeremy Jordan, Ellen Foley & More Star In TOTAL ECLIPSE: THE MUSIC OF JIM STEINMAN At 54 Below, 5/5
A total eclipse on Broadway!
Legendary Grammy Award-winning songwriter and performer, internationally recognized theatrical rock pioneer Jim Steinman, will be celebrated in a new 54 Below show honoring his multiple #1 songs and albums at 54 Below next month, titled TOTAL ECLIPSE: THE MUSIC OF JIM STEINMAN, with the starry cast of the evening announced earlier today.
The cast of TOTAL ECLIPSE: THE MUSIC OF JIM STEINMAN at 54 Below includes stage and screen superstar Jeremy Jordan and iconic original BAT OUT OF HELL vocalist Ellen Foley, plus several other popular performers including Constantine Maroulis, Josh Young, Justin Sargent, Kate Rockwell, Ariana DeBose, Jessica Hendy, Tyce Green and newcomer Christopher Lee Viljoen.
The official description of TOTAL ECLIPSE: THE MUSIC OF JIM STEINMAN is as follows: "'If you don't go over the top, you can't see what's on the other side.' Grammy Award-winning composer Jim Steinman is the only artist in history to write and produce the simultaneous #1 and #2 song on the 'Billboard' charts, as well as possess writing and producing credits on three of the best-selling albums ever made. Now, rock's most theatrical personality is celebrated by Broadway's biggest voices, bringing his iconic songs to the 54 Below stage. The evening will feature performances by: Tony nominee Jeremy Jordan ('The Last 5 Years,' Newsies, 'Smash'), Kate Rockwell (Rock of Ages, Bring It On: The Musical), Justin Matthew Sargent (Rock of Ages, Spider-Man: Turn Off The Dark), Ariana DeBose (Hamilton, Pippin, Motown), Tony nominee Josh Young (Jesus Christ Superstar), Tony nominee Constantine Maroulis (Rock of Ages, 'American Idol'), Jessica Hendy (Radio City Spring Spectacular), Tyce Green (LMNOP), Christopher Lee Viljoen (54 Sings 'Chess') and Ellen Foley (Meat Loaf's duet partner on "Paradise by the Dashboard Light"). Featuring international smash hits such as "Total Eclipse Of The Heart," "It's All Coming Back To Me Now," "I'd Do Anything For Love (But I Won't Do That)", with special costume and design elements created by international celebrated haute couture designer Asher Levine, plus jaw-dropping new arrangements especially created for this one night only event, this is the epic rock theatrical event of the year. With a setlist crafted by the composer himself, the evening has been conceived by Jim Steinman and Pat Cerasaro, who will serve as director, and will be produced and music directed by Benjamin Rauhala."
Follow the link below for ticket information.
TOTAL ECLIPSE: THE MUSIC OF JIM STEINMAN will occur on May 5 at 7 and 9:30 PM. Ticket information is available here.
SOURCE: http://www.broadwayworld.com/article/Jeremy-Jordan-Ellen-Foley-More-Star-In-TOTAL-ECLIPSE-THE-MUSIC-OF-JIM-STEINMAN-At-54-Below-55-20150406
I like to think that my job, and any artist's job, is to turn the profane into the sacred. That said, it is my communion with all of you that makes the process complete.
I wish you the very best in 2015 and always. Thank you!!! Love, Jim
Le Bal Des Vampires
Tanz der Vampire, Roman Polanski's hugely successful musical (featuring epic music by Jim Steinman) opens October 16th as Le Bal Des Vampires Le Musical at the Theatre Mogador in Paris, France.
Visit their website for news, ticket information and a look at this spectacular production. Join me in wishing the entire cast and crew all the best for a long and wonderful run in the City of Love & Vampires!
http://www.lebaldesvampires.fr/
"I have a medical" - Jim Steinman you haven't changed a BIT!
Visit - http://baldesvampires.fr
Doctor Jim Steinman at Amherst College
Steve Popovich Foundation Teams with Tri-C to Endow Scholarship Fund
This throne is inspired by Jim Steinman and designed especially for Jim Steinman.
This throne becomes a perfect unit with the owner by fusing with the steel wings, it comes with black leather upholstery, all work done by myself, like every other steelwork, cutting the iron, welding, forming, polishing, finishing.
Absolutely unikat single-item.
Duration of work 1-2month.
Best, Rob.
For all of you wondering where the sculpture in the "Christmas photo" came from...the sculpture was by Rob from Bayreuth......custom made and he's made a new piece--a "throne" as he calls it. ALL the works of art in that room came from geniuses in Bayreuth, Germany.
Attached is the throne, just finished and ready soon to travel here.
PS - The sculpture is based on a set Karl Lagerfeld did for Chanel (that was based on Superman’s Fortress of Solitude - Clark Kent's secret hideaway in the Arctic).
(click image for larger photo)
Looking forward to seeing you all in 2013. Thanks for your constant support, loyalty, friendship & inspiration.
THANK YOU for ALL you've done & felt for me!
THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Great love respect & gratitude,
Songwriters Hall Of Fame 43rd Annual Induction Ceremony
Jim Steinman's night in words and pictures
And All The Hiding Places Are Hiding
From the 1969 Amherst Student - a deep look into the Master's mind! Read more…
Tribute To An Inductee
Congratulations Jim Steinman -
2012 Inductee into the Songwriters Hall of Fame.
Read the Press Announcement here.
Doctor Steinman
Jim to receive honorary degree from alma mater, (and birthplace of The Dream Engine '69), Amherst College!
AMHERST, Mass.—CNN journalist Christiane Amanpour, former UMass professor and Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation Chair Sheila Bair, playwright and gay-rights activist Martin Duberman, Iran hostage crisis negotiator Ulric Haynes Jr. ’52, chemist David K. Lewis ’64, New York Public Library President and former Amherst College President Anthony W. Marx, acclaimed narrative nonfiction writer John McPhee and hit songwriter Jim Steinman ’69 will all receive honorary degrees from Amherst College during its 191st Commencement exercises on Sunday, May 20, at 10 a.m. on the school’s main quad.
Jim's Bio from Amherst's Website:
Since his days as a young opera fan and a creator of daring theatrical works at Amherst College and with Joe Papp at the New York Shakespeare Festival, Jim Steinman ’69 has sold more than 190 million records as a composer and lyricist behind such hit songs as “Total Eclipse of the Heart,” ”Making Love Out of Nothing at All,” “Dead Ringer for Love,” “It’s All Coming Back to Me Now,” “Two Out of Three Ain’t Bad,” “Paradise By the Dashboard Light,” “Holding Out For A Hero” and “I’d Do Anything for Love (But I Won’t Do That).” He is probably best known for writing the songs on the album Bat Out of Hell, which has sold more than 48 million copies, and Bat Out of Hell II: Back Into Hell. Steinman also wrote the lyrics for the Andrew Lloyd Webber musical Whistle Down the Wind; composed the score for the musical Tanz der Vampire, which has run for 16 consecutive years in Europe; and contributed to the soundtrack of Footloose, among other movies. His works-in-progress include a stage musical version of Bat Out of Hell and a heavy-metal version of Tchaikovsky’s The Nutcracker. In June 2012, Steinman will be inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame.
See the link below for scheduled events and further information:
https://www.amherst.edu/aboutamherst/news/news_releases/2012/04/node/389163
View older articles >>
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In Bylines
Norman Seabrooks clutched his diploma in one hand; the other was balled in a fist. He accepted his degree from The Citadel in honor of Charlie Foster and Joe Shine, who came before him; Red Parker and Keith Roden, who struggled beside him; Herb Cunningham and Flossie Gordon, who sheltered him; the anonymous faces who stuffed his pockets with extra desserts and milk after late-night practices; the maintenance staff that publicly embraced him like a son and privately prayed for Norm’s strength and safety. But this, he thought as he left the stage with degree in hand, was for William Thomas Seabrooks.
“I chose The Citadel to please my dad,” said Seabrooks, more than three decades after his graduation.”That was the only reason. Out of loyalty and the need to really appease him, I said yes.”
Seabrooks’ father dropped out of school when he was in fourth grade, and never returned. He was drafted into the Army as a teenager and after spent 47 years working to support his family. It was easy to see why his father was excited about the idea of his son getting a college degree from a military school. Norman would be the first person in the family to earn a college degree. His higher education would represent a demarcation of the family’s past and future.
Norm could have spent all day praising his supporters, but that would require spending more time in Charleston, South Carolina at The Citadel – and that was not going to happen. Instead, he collected his college diploma, packed his bags and left the South in the dust, seemingly abandoning four years of inner turmoil.
If only it were that easy, neatly stuffing emotional parcels into our luggage, conveniently zipping them in to pockets; little bundles of baggage inside baggage like a Russian Babushka doll. Sounds simple, but it’s complicated – and messy.
“You’re the first person to ask what I felt; I felt uncomfortable,” said Seabrooks during a phone interview. “I felt like an outsider. I felt like they didn’t understand me.”
Pahokee, Florida is 528 miles south of Charleston, South Carolina, far enough that 16-year old Norm Seabrooks had never heard of The Citadel. In fact, he’d never ventured outside his home state of Florida — until the summer of 1968. That’s when Bulldogs head football coach Red Parker first laid eyes on Seabrooks from behind a grainy, black-and-white eight millimeter projector. He was hard to miss: a six-foot-one, 245 pound, African-American teenage monster. At first glance he reminded Parker of the country boys he grew up with in Fordyce, Arkansas.
Seabrooks high school education traveled up one side of segregation and down the other side of the Civil Rights Act, where his two hometown Florida high schools merged and, for the first time, African-Americans were attending all-white schools.
He was part of the second phase of the school’s integration plan. After a three-day series of tests Seabrooks was the only African-American placed in the advanced section of the school, a decision that would isolate him throughout high school.
So, when Parker contacted Seabrooks about visiting the campus, the teenager was excited. For a 16-year old boy the invitation to visit Charleston seemed more like an adventure than a prospective change of address.
“When I got to The Citadel and looked around, I think there were only three African-Americans on the campus,” said Seabrooks. “A bit naïve, it never dawned on me what I was getting into.”
Besides, Seabrooks still had his sights set on the National Football League. The plan was scripted on his mental chalkboard and evolved like one of those magical X and O diagrams Vince Lombardi had been seen teaching his great Packer teams. Seabrooks believed, despite his father’s wishes, he would get his education 90 miles from home at the University of Miami then begin his NFL career.
“My father had the belief that if I had gone to school 90 miles from home I’d be home every weekend. I would not be as dedicated to getting the education,” remembers Seabrooks. “I saw The Citadel as an interruption of my goal of being an NFL player.”
But a recruiting “visit” didn’t necessarily mean a commitment, Seabrooks believed. So, in the summer of 1968, he boarded a plane to Charleston to see the campus for himself.
“At the time I was there I had no idea I was the first African-American they had offered a scholarship too, or at least tried to recruit,” said Seabrooks. “I think my thought process would have been different if I knew that but it just never occurred to me.”
The visit was short and, in hindsight, a foreign experience for both Seabrooks and the Citadel cadets. The upperclassmen, who were assigned by the football staff to escort visiting recruits, had no experience with African Americans. Most of the cadets had never met, let alone socialized, with a black kid. In context, the Civil Rights Act was in its infancy and most schools in the South were still segregated.
“I was a new experience for them,” said Seabrooks. “These kids who were taking me around were probably seeing an African American for the very first time.”
Seabrooks was as green as he was black, and his true colors were about to show.
A song and a dance
“I wouldn’t give those who wanted me gone the pleasure of seeing me walk out.” – Norman Seabrooks
One year later, in the fall of 1969, a decade dominated by race riots and the Civil Rights Act, Norman Seabrooks stepped back on The Citadel campus, this time as a freshman cadet and the first African-American scholarship athlete to attend the academy.
Three years earlier, in 1966, Charles Foster made history when he entered Padgett-Thomas barracks and reported to his G Company First Sergeant. Foster was the first-ever African American to attend The Citadel. In 1967, Joseph Shine followed Foster.
By design or ignorance, Seabrooks’ arrival in 1969 came and went without fanfare.
“We were aware of the historical significance, but I don’t think the community was as cognizant of the significance the way we are today,” said family friend Herb Cunningham.
The transition appeared peaceful until the moment Seabrooks heard the first spirited note of Dixie performed by the cadets kicked off the football season. His ears perked, his blood boiled as Seabrooks witnessed the soundtrack of slavery and racism right before his eyes.
Oh no, thought Seabrooks as he watched crowds celebrate from Charleston to Mississippi, Alabama and Arkansas.
“When I heard Dixie it was always a code to me for racism,” said Seabrooks. “To me, the South was a place I couldn’t wait to get out of because of the racism. I felt so uncomfortable in my own skin in the South. When I heard Dixie, that’s what I was feeling – uncomfortable. When Southern whites here that song, it’s pride. It’s about the Civil War. It’s about all the things they grew up hearing and feeling proud of a part of their country. To an African American it was totally different. It was about slavery. It was about racism.”
Seabrooks informed coach Red Parker, as team captain, he would not lead his team onto the field prior to games. The Bulldogs first African American scholarship athlete needed to make a statement. According to media reports, he would sit or walk away when Dixie was played. Prior to games, Seabrooks intentionally took the field early, before the band started playing the song.
The song rocked Seabrooks’ world. Norm tried to quite The Citadel – twice. The first attempt failed.
“I can’t stay here, I’m quitting,” Norm told his father by phone.
Norm’s father balked at his son’s attempt. It wasn’t the act of quitting that pricked his father, but the principle his son would set that would follow him long after he left The Citadel or anywhere else. It was a concept Norm, the teenager, could not understand. It was a decision that had to be made for him, not by him.
“You’re going to have a lot of tough times in your life, but quitting becomes comfortable when you do it the first time,” his father said. “Once you start quitting it never stops,”
Norm backed off.
The hurdles grew bigger and tension grew. The Citadel policy kept Seabrooks separated from upperclassmen. His interaction with Joe Shine (then a junior) and Charlie Foster (senior) was infrequent.
“I don’t think I had more than three or four conversations with Charlie (Foster) my entire freshman year,” remembers Seabrooks. “I was confined to the Fourth Battalion and he didn’t have much exposure to me … being exposed to people and being accepted was such a major part of who I was, I really thought, I’ve got to get out of this place because I’ve lost who I am.”
Later, during his freshman year Seabrooks agreed to attend a dance being held on the campus of South Carolina State, hoping the experience would change the way he was feeling.
“I walked into a dance at South Carolina State University in 1969 and I felt so uncomfortable,” he said. “I was a fish out of water. I was in a room full of black people and I feel uncomfortable. I realized that I’d been isolated for so long in my own mind from this kind of environment that I was no longer fitting in anywhere. That was a real awakening to me.”
Not long after, Norm picked up the public phone from the Trailways bus station and called home. When his father got on the line, Norm cut to the chase. This time he was leaving; he was quitting.
“Dad I need money to leave,” Norm asked.
“OK, stay right there I will wire you the money,” his father said.
“Dad I’ll be home tomorrow,” said Norm.
“No you won’t,” said Norm’s father. “If you quit, don’t come home. If you quit, go somewhere and I’ll see you in four years with a degree. If you’re going to quit, finish out the year, come home and then transfer, but do not walk away mid-year.”
Norm returned to The Citadel.
He remembered the long conversations he’d had with his father during the summer riding in his truck and they began to make sense.
“Norm, I can’t tell you how much this means to me,” his father said.
His most memorable days as a child and student was the first day of school when everyone received their new books. “My father couldn’t wait to start reading those books,” said Norm. “He was a voracious reader. He would always tell me how much he resented not having a formal education.”
But William Seabrooks education did not stop him. He missed five days of work during his 47-year career. The last 30 years of his life he never cashed his own paycheck — he gave it to his wife. He got a $25 allowance to go play poker with his buddies from the first day of his marriage until the day he died said his son. He worked long and hard providing for his family.
“What you expect and what you get is an education,” he told Norm before he left for college. “You have a responsibility to people who recruited you, but you also have a responsibility to people who are looking up to you. Don’t let people drive you away because they don’t accept you. Change their minds. Play football. Get a good education, but make sure they know who you are.”
“It became personal to me to stick it out,” said Seabrooks. “The ladies who cooked in the mess hall, the people who maintained the campus, the people who did the laundry, they would come over and tell me how very proud they were. They made me aware of how important it was for me to be a part of that football team … (it) meant so much to those people who worked there. Given the fact that I was the first African American athlete, if I quit, what kind of message does that send to everybody involved in my being there? I felt an obligation.”
Cunningham, who hosted Let’s Talk Sports on WPAL, a daily sports-talk show in Charleston, visited The Citadel in the fall of 1969 to interview Seabrooks, and later invited him to dinner with his family.
“It didn’t deal with football, it was helping him build some character while being away from his family, giving him a place that he knew he could feel comfortable with,” said Cunningham.
As clichéd as it sounds, Norm walked into a home away from home. The Cunningham’s had three children, all daughters, of their own at the time.
“He was very close to his family, but just being there for those four years, you’d like to think you had a footprint for that success,” said Cunningham. “You put some stability in there to give him a chance to succeed. Norman knew he always had a place to come when things got bad.”
After dinner that night, as Norm thanked the family and readied to leave he was handed a house key. “You are now part of our family,” the family told him. “You now have a place to come home to when you leave the campus.”
For the first time since he arrived in Charleston, Seabrooks had a sense of comfort and peace.
With the approval of administration and Coach Parker, Seabrooks was allowed to spend weekends off campus with the Cunningham family.
“We just opened the door to him and my mother-in-law (Flossie Gordon) really took to him and he took to her,” said Cunningham. “On Fridays, he would move into my youngest daughter’s room and on Sunday he’d go back to the school.”
Norm finally convinced himself get through the first six months, then transfer elsewhere. “Toward the end of my freshman year I began to understand that I could deal with the environment,” said Seabrooks. “I could deal with the stress, but I was never comfortable.”
Experience is not only what happens to you but what you do with what happens to you. The freshman experience was being claimed, partitioned and snatched away from Seabrooks in small parcels. It would be 21 more years before Norman Seabrooks would break his silence.
Norman Seabrooks was elected to The Citadel athletic Hall of Fame in 1994. When the announcement was made and the formal invitation arrived at his home in Seattle, Washington, Seabrooks told his wife Susan he wouldn’t wasn’t going back to accept the award.
“That’s ridiculous!” she told him.
“Susan, I have not been comfortable there for a number of years,” said Norm.
“Have you told anybody what you were thinking, what you were going through?” she asked.
“No,” Norm said.
“You really need to go back,” Susan told her husband. “Not being there for your Hall of Fame induction would be graceless.”
Norm had said no before, to friends, college representatives, even his former college roommate Keith Roden, who kept asking the question, “Why aren’t you coming back?”
Seabrooks avoided answering his former college roommate, a person he trusted and built a long-term friendship with, never knew about the isolation and resentment that had been percolating for decades.
“I avoided telling him that there were some people I became very close to this day are good friends but, by and large, I was isolated,” said Seabrooks. “There was no social interaction after class. There were cadets who resented me being there. There were a number of people that couldn’t understand why I hated hearing ‘Dixie.’ Why that song was not something I was enthused about running out to play a game.”
When The Citadel called about getting involved with recruiting prospective cadets, Norm’s feelings emerged. “I am a little concerned about recommending the institution to another African American student until I know that things have changed,” he told the official. “How could I, as an African American who benefited from a similar situation, say to someone, ‘You can’t do that.’ I could not imagine anyone saying to my daughter, ‘You don’t belong here because of your gender.’ I couldn’t imagine supporting any institution that has that type of narrow view.”
To no surprise, the discussion didn’t help mend fences and Seabrooks kept his emotions bottled up and his distance from the college.
But Roden persisted.
“One day he called and I just unloaded what I’d been feeling and the fact that being allowed to go there was a lot different than being accepted,” remembers Seabrooks.
When Norm finished, his friend and former roommate was silent on the other end of the phone. Finally, he asked, “Why didn’t you tell me?”
“I realized at that point I was as guilty as everybody else I had condemned because if I didn’t have the good sense to talk about my feelings to people who cared about me then why should they feel or know that I was uncomfortable, not feeling accepted,” admitted Seabrooks. “As I discussed my feelings I could see the genuine pain in their eyes when, those people who I was very close with over the years said, ‘I had no idea.’”
Suddenly, the baggage seemed lighter, the load a little easier to carry. Soon after, Seabrooks finally agreed to return to the campus in 1994, the place where he left so much anger, resentment and pain.
“I noticed something different,” he said. “I noticed the school was starting to make progress. You are seeing a generation of kids who are growing up whom, unlike my generation, were exposed to African Americans and others in high school and grade school.
“I was amazed at the comfort level of the African American students on that campus. I realized, these kids grew up in a world so different from my grade school years that, it’s a new place. To paraphrase Dr. King, people are now being judged on their character, not their skin color.”
While he sees the difference on campus today, Seabrooks deflects credit for the change in culture. “The credit for what has happened at that school really goes to Charlie Foster,” he said. “I couldn’t imagine being the only African American at that place and what he went through. I couldn’t imagine that.”
It took generations to cleanse that thought process. A meaningful change in societal habits does not change overnight while we snuggle in bed, nor does it come from a single person’s change of heart. Racism is a learned behavior. The Civil Right Act of 1965 changed the law, but did not change people’s hearts and minds.
“I was looking at The Citadel through a 20-year prism,” admitted Seabrooks. “I was looking at this school through my experiences and my biases.”
Without prompting he just blurted out his own question: “Would I do it over again?”
The answer was cut-and-dry: No.
He was the first person in his family to earn a college. Seabrooks was elected to The Citadel’s athletic Hall of Fame. He made a laundry list of friends during his four years in Charleston. The answer is – still – an emphatic no.
“It took me 20 years to get rid of,” said Seabrooks today. “I was not a very trusting soul. I was always guarded. I was never very comfortable in my own skin. I spent the first 20 years of my life saying what people wanted to hear because that’s what I did at The Citadel. It was only after talking to my wife and others later in life that I began to reach out to people and tell them who I was and what I thought.”
Seabrooks returned to The Citadel for Homecoming recently. As he sat on a bench in front of Bond Hall watching the parade pass by a woman sat down next to him. She proudly told Seabrooks about her son, and now grandson, who graduated from the academy. The woman looked down at Seabrooks hand and saw his class ring.
“What a wonderful institution,” she said. “You must be so proud of having gone here?”
Seabrooks smiled and nodded.
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RACISM ‘A LEARNED BEHAVIOR’
NO END IN SIGHT
BOLDIN PAHOKEE’S 12TH MAN
COMFORTABLE IN HIS OWN SKIN
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THE KEG ROYALTIES INCOME FUND ANNOUNCES INCREASE TO ROYALTY POOL
February 2nd 2016
Vancouver, BC – February 2, 2016 – The Keg Royalties Income Fund (the "Fund") (TSX:KEG.UN) and Keg Restaurants Ltd. ("KRL") are pleased to announce that as of January 1, 2016, an estimated $1.9 million in annual net sales were added to the Royalty Pool. Three new restaurants that opened during the period from October 3, 2014 through October 2, 2015, with estimated gross sales of $21.0 million annually, were added to the Royalty Pool. Five permanently closed Keg restaurants with annual sales of $19.1 million were removed from the Royalty Pool. The total number of restaurants in the Royalty Pool decreased to 100.
“The sales performance of the new Kegs which will be added to the Fund's Royalty Pool has once again exceeded expectations,” David Aisenstat, The Keg's President and CEO. “We view this as a continued endorsement of the strength of The Keg brand”. The Fund indirectly owns certain trademarks, and other related intellectual property used by KRL in both the operation and franchising of its Keg restaurants in Canada and the United States. The trademarks are licensed to KRL for 99 years and in return KRL pays the Fund a top-line royalty of 4% of gross sales of Keg restaurants included in the Royalty Pool.
Annually on January 1st, the Fund’s Royalty Pool is adjusted to include the gross sales from new Keg restaurants that have opened on or before October 2nd of the prior year, after deducting the gross sales from any Keg restaurants that were permanently closed during the preceding calendar year. In return for adding these net sales to the Royalty Pool, KRL receives the right to indirectly acquire additional Fund units (the "Additional Entitlement"). This Additional Entitlement is determined based on 92.5% of the royalty revenue added to the Royalty Pool, divided by the annual yield of the Fund units, divided by the weighted average unit price of the Fund units. KRL receives 80% of the estimated Additional Entitlement initially, with the balance determined and awarded when the actual full-year performance of the new restaurants is known with certainty retroactive to January 1st of that year.
As a result of the January 1, 2016 contribution of the additional net sales to the Royalty Pool, and assuming receipt of 100% of the Additional Entitlement, KRL's Additional Entitlement will be the equivalent of 52,357 Fund units. This will represent 0.35% of the issued and outstanding Fund units on a fully diluted basis. These Fund units were calculated using a weighted average unit price of $18.01, which resulted in a pre-tax yield of 7.37%. The yield has been adjusted to reflect the SIFT tax payable by the Fund.
On January 1, 2016, KRL received 80% of this entitlement, representing the equivalent of 41,886 Fund units, being 0.28% of the Fund units on a fully diluted basis. KRL will also receive a proportionate increase in monthly distributions. Including the initial portion of the Additional Entitlement described above, KRL will have the right to exchange its units in the capital of the Partnership for 3,500,510 Fund units, representing 23.57% of the Fund units on a fully diluted basis.
On December 31, 2015, KRL’s Additional Entitlement for 2015 was finalized. The actual sales generated by the four new restaurants added to the Royalty Pool on January 1, 2015, were confirmed to be $23.8 million, approximately $0.8 million or 3.4% more than originally estimated. Therefore as a result of the contribution of $6,430,000 in annual net sales on January 1, 2015, KRL received a total of 183,399 Partnership units, increasing its effective ownership of the Fund to 23.35% on a fully diluted basis. Combined with the January 1, 2016 Additional Entitlement, and assuming receipt of 100% of that Additional Entitlement, KRL will be entitled to the equivalent of 3,510,981 Fund units, representing 23.62% of the Fund units on a fully diluted basis.
Management of KRL has advised the Trustees of the Fund that it expects to open four restaurants prior to October 2, 2016, consisting of two corporate and two franchised restaurants in Canada. Management of KRL has further advised the Trustees that the scheduled opening of these new restaurants is conditional upon the timely receipt of required municipal approvals and construction permits.
Vancouver-based Keg Restaurants Ltd. is the leading operator and franchisor of steakhouse restaurants in Canada and has a substantial presence in select regional markets in the United States. KRL continues to operate The Keg restaurant system and expand that system through the addition of both corporate and franchised Keg steakhouses. KRL has been named one of the “50 Best Employers in Canada” by Aon Hewitt for the past fourteen years.
This press release may contain certain "forward looking" statements reflecting The Keg Royalties Income Fund's current expectations in the casual dining segment of the restaurant food industry. Investors are cautioned that all forward looking statements involve risks and uncertainties, including those relating to the Keg’s ability to continue to realize historical same store sales growth, changes in market and existing competition, new competitive developments, and potential downturns in economic conditions generally. Additional information on these and other potential factors that could affect the Fund's financial results are detailed in documents filed from time to time with the provincial securities commissions in Canada.
This press release shall not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy, which may be made only by means of the prospectus, nor shall there be any sale of the Fund units in any state, province or other jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful prior to registration or qualification under the securities laws of any state, province or jurisdiction. The Keg Royalties Income Fund units have not been, and will not be registered under the U.S. Securities Act of 1933, as amended and may not be offered or sold in the United States absent registration or an application for exemption from the registration requirement under U.S. securities laws. The Trustees of the Fund have approved the contents of this press release.
Ryan Bullock, Vice President, Marketing
ryan.bullock@kegrestaurants.com www.kegincomefund.com
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Gillard: Is it Easy to Divorce in Belgium? What About Alimony?
Q: Is it easy to divorce in Belgium? What shall I receive/pay for alimony?
Do Belgian courts have jurisdiction over my divorce? Which law will they apply?
A: As you may have heard in the media, a law known as the Law of 27 April 2007 modified the divorce procedure in Belgium.
The main consequence of this modification is that there is now only one cause for divorce, the désunion irremediable, which we could translate as irreparable division. (This is similar to the concept of “irreconcilable differences” applied in some American courts.) There is therefore only one thing that must be demonstrated to obtain a divorce under Belgium law: that there is an irreparable division between the spouses.
There is a legal presumption of irreparable division when the spouses have been living separately during more than one year. In this case the divorce will be granted immediately.
If a year’s separation has not taken place, but both spouses agree to the divorce, then the court will order six months of separation before the couple is legally divorced.
A separation of six or 12 months is not always required; the irreparable division can also be proven by all legal means. For example, if a spouse can prove adultery, violence between the spouses, violence against the children or anything that could demonstrate that the marriage has reached an irreparable division, the divorce can be obtained in a shorter period of time.
The procedure for the divorce itself has been simplified by the new law but – as is often the case – the main difficulties come when couples need to make decisions concerning the patrimony (the division of assets and possible child support payments in addition to alimony) and custody of the children.
Indeed, the other key modification made by the new law concerns alimony after divorce, and the calculation of it. Alimony is now ruled by article 301 of the Belgian Civil code. This article explains that an ex-spouse who meets the definition of being “in need” can ask the other ex-spouse for alimony.
The concept of “need” has been discussed by authors and courts for a long time. But in fact, a divorced person need not be “out on the streets” to be entitled to alimony. The judge will consider the facts of the situation to decide whether the ex-spouse is really in need of an alimony or if – even by returning to work – he or she could earn enough to support him/herself.
The calculation of the alimony is quite complicated and can vary depending on which judge hears the case, but primarily it varies in consideration of the facts of the matter. However, the two main principles are that: 1. Alimony can not exceed one-third of the income of the paying ex-spouse; and 2. The period during which alimony will be granted cannot exceed the duration of the marriage.
The calculation in itself will depend on how significantly the economic situation of the person demanding alimony will be degraded by the divorce. To appreciate the level of degradation, the judge will consider the duration of the marriage, the age of the spouses, the organization of the family during the marriage, the burden of the children during common life, etc. The judge can also order alimony payments that decrease over time.
A person getting a divorce who applies to the court for alimony will be asked to explain the marital situation clearly to the judge, describing how the couple – and any children – has lived during the marriage. Has one of the spouses stopped working to take care of the children, or because relocation to another country made finding a job impossible for him/her?
The judge will make a decision on the basis of all of these elements.
The other main question following a divorce is the custody of the children. We will examine this in an upcoming column.
Arnaud Gillard is an attorney at BDCG and is a member of the Brussels bar.
The contents of this column are not intended to serve as legal advice related to any individual situation. This material is made available for informational purposes only.
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Gillard: How is Child Support Calculated in Belgium?
Gillard: How is Child Custody Decided in Belgium?
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It was a dawn-light crusty-snow Fairbanks-mid-October Monday morning. We were, as usual, running just a tiny bit late. As we hurried up the driveway to the school bus stop, one of my eight-year-olds asked me what time it was.
“Eight o’clock,” I replied, automatically, after a quick glance at my wrist. Then I paused. “Right this minute,” I added, “gay couples in Alaska are lining up to apply for marriage licenses.”
I didn’t have to do much explaining. My third-graders knew what I was taking about. However, it was a different story when the same topic came up over dinner, perhaps half a year ago.
“Wait --gay people aren’t allowed to be married?” Lizzy furrowed her small eyebrows.
As usual, the kids had been ignoring most of the grownup chit-chat at the other end of the table, because booooring. But this particular conversational thread had drawn their attention. My then-second-graders -- perched there at the table, forking up tortellini and scattering bits of Parmesan on every available surface -- were visibly confused.
I stumbled to answer. “Well… no. Not everywhere. Not here in Alaska.”
“But… why not?” Molly wanted to know.
The fact that my kids were entirely unaware of – and indeed couldn’t even fathom – a heterocentric bias in our society was so ridiculously naïve that I didn’t know whether to be charmed or appalled. Shouldn’t they be more clued-in? Given that I am, for all practical purposes (and perhaps barring post-apocalyptic dystopian scenarios), straight, I feel unqualified to explain the breadth, depth, and pain of the gay rights movement. And yet – had I already let my children down, by not explaining?
“Aren’t Fiona’s moms married?” persisted Molly. [Fiona is not the real name of the twins’ friend]
“Well, yes, but not in a way that’s actually legal…” I took a deep breath. “It’s kind of a big fight that’s going on right now, all over the country. It’s been going on for a long time…”
A long time.
When I was seven or eight, I had no idea what “gay” meant – other than as used by my British grandmother, who liked to have a gay old time. It was 1980. The word “aides” connoted nothing more to me – or to anyone -- than the adult helpers who blew whistles whenever I tried to do anything dangerously fun on the playground. I had no idea that two men or two women might want to get romantic. Then again, I thought any variety of grownup-type kissing was kinda gross.
It was at about that time that my parents started attempting to sell our small house (which I swore I’d love forever), so that we could move into a larger one with a bigger back yard (which I swore I’d hate, no matter what, because little kids are innately rabid conservatives). One interested individual was a coworker of my dad’s. He looked to be a bit younger than my parents. He seemed friendly. I wanted to follow around on the tour (because a small grubby child who has no desire to sell her home makes a super-awesome real estate agent), but as usual, my parents shooed me away. They took the guest upstairs. Soon after, they came back down again, and bid him a polite farewell.
“He doesn’t want to buy it?” I asked, cheerfully. Ha! We don’t need to move!
The moment the door closed, both my parents burst into gales of laughter. “There wouldn’t be room for my armoire!” my dad hooted, imitating his coworker’s soft voice, and drawing the last word out extra-long. Armoooooire.” They laughed some more.
Anything this funny, I definitely wanted in on. But although my parents did define the word “armoire” for me, I couldn’t quite get the joke. I puzzled and puzzled. What was so hilarious about this quiet young man and his preference for large, fancy furniture? And in what way was this furniture-related knee-slapper somehow, mysteriously, taboo?
In my parents’ defense, they were, for straight people raised in the 1950s, pretty darned liberal, kind, and accepting in their views on homosexuality. My father was clearly on casually amicable terms with his “perpetual bachelor” coworker, and would certainly never have been cruel to him. Mom and Dad bore no malice, and had no moral or religious objections. But in the world they’d grown up in, being “that way” was something one joked about in private, perhaps with a mixture of humor, disgust, pity, and perplexity. Anyone who was “that way”, it was thought, should have the decency not to make it too obvious, lest they discomfit normal folks. In polite company, one simply Didn’t Talk About It.
Impolite society, however, was a different story. Somewhere around fifth grade, I picked up the word “gay” on the playground. It was, unequivocally, a vicious insult. It was also, I noted, used only against boys. I was a bit fuzzy in what it meant, but I knew it had something to do with boys being no good at sports, or too good at schoolwork, or too girly, or too fond of one another. That’s so gay! He’s so gay! Some kids used that word a lot.
I used it exactly once.
Brian and Justin were best friends. I mean, they were, like, REALLY best friends. They did absolutely everything together. I’m pretty sure they even had the same haircuts – or maybe, back in 1982, all the little boys looked as if someone had upturned pudding-bowls on their heads. They were both nice kids, generally, but one day we had the sort of big playground argument that 10-year-olds have. It had to do with kickball.
The game was already underway, and Brian and Justin wanted to join. Sure, I told them. We can add one of you to each team. (This begs the question, why the hell was I in charge of this kickball game? I suck at kickball just as much as I suck at all other team sports. I have no idea how this peculiar episode of kickball leadership occurred, but since it’s not pertinent, I’ll move on.) Yeah, everyone else agreed. We don’t usually add in people after we’ve started, but we like you guys, so okay. Each of you jump onto a team.
But Brian and Justin insisted that they had to be on the same team. The rest of us pointed out the obvious fact that this was unfair (particularly because both boys were good players). It wouldn’t work. The Best Friends were adamant. We have to be on the same team!
Pissed off beyond reason, I snapped, “What are you two, gay?”
Brian and Justin both stormed away. There was nothing so odd about that, really. But the part that struck me, the part that I still recall in Technicolor, is the fact that they didn’t storm away together. The Best Friends marched away in opposite directions, as if I’d hammered a rift between them with my spite.
Instantly, I felt terrible. Instantly, I realized that calling someone “gay” was not the same as calling someone a jerk, a loser, a meanie, or even a piece-of-shit asshole. “Gay” was in a different category. “Gay” was a word that not only had the power to hurt and stigmatize the two boys as individuals, but to hurt and stigmatize their friendship -- a friendship that was everything to them.
I won’t claim that I understood, in that fifth-grade moment, the enormity and tragedy of homophobia. I was not that complex, empathetic, or intelligent a child. I doubt, alas, that I am that complex, empathetic, or intelligent an adult. But perhaps the fact that I recall this moment in such grim and vivid detail suggests that at that moment, I gained my first inkling of the problem.
I apologized to each of those two boys, separately, privately. They accepted my apologies. We never spoke of it again. I have no idea where either of those 42-year-old men is now. I have no idea if either of them is gay. Most likely they aren’t. But I’ll apologize again now, to all the Justins and Brians who are: I’m sorry, guys.
By the time I was in high school, the world had changed – and so had I. I knew what being gay actually meant. I knew that my (female) Latin teacher was rumored to be sleeping with my (female) gym teacher. I knew about AIDS. I also knew that my (male) boss at the public library was rumored to have a (male) lover who was dying of AIDS.
I also knew that, inevitably, some of my classmates were gay. I remember looking around a classroom and wondering which ones? Which ones? During those years, I was already agonized enough over my own dreary heterosexuality; I lusted after boys, but I was neither pretty enough or cool enough to ever get a date. But I overflowed with pity at the thought of those kids – whichever they might be – who were harboring a terrifying secret that they couldn’t even whisper to anyone.
It was the idea of the fear and the loneliness that got me. What would it be like not just to have a secret, but to be a secret -- forever? What would it be like to find love, perhaps, but to have to keep a desperate and choking distance apart, forever -- not sharing a home, a bed, a night, a touch, a glance -- lest anyone suspect?
It’s easy enough to feel frightened and unloved as a teenager. It’s easy enough to feel like a misfit. How much worse would it be as a gay teenager, I wondered? I unearthed E. M. Forster’s novel Maurice – written in 1913, but published only posthumously in 1971 -- on my parents’ over-stuffed bookshelves, and read it. Twice. I wasn’t given to crying, but the story made tears run down my cheeks. "Someone to last your whole life and you his. I suppose such a thing can't really happen..."
I set off for college in 1990. The world had changed since 1913, although that change had come too slowly for the Maurices who had lived and died before 1971 – before I was born. Nineteen-ninety was the first year in which National Coming Out Day (October 11th ) was observed in all 50 states. On that day, my brand-new Best Friend Forever and I walked by a huge poster-board, staffed by friendly students with a rainbow collection of Sharpies. They asked us to sign our names if we would support a gay friend. Steve and I both happily signed.
Late that night, he told me.
I won’t go into any details as to what that meant, or how it played out. That’s his story, not mine. My role was Supportive Straight Friend. I’m pretty sure I sometimes played it badly. I’m pretty sure I sometimes Just Didn’t Get It. But I tried.
I listened. I talked. We hypothesized about potential crushes, and commiserated about failed crushes, exactly as teenaged BFFs are supposed to do. I agreed – or disagreed – about which guys were hot. We resolutely spun tales of a future in which Steve and I still got together to play nerdy word games -- but with our handsome, charming, brilliant husbands in tow.
I went to rallies. I signed petitions. I wore pink triangles. I reasoned with my Midwestern roommate (who interned that summer for Dan Quayle – I shit you not), arguing that if she thought the idea of gay sex was “totally gross” it was only because she didn’t feel an urge to participate in it, not because it was really any more or less gross than straight sex, which (just ask an eight-year-old) is also a totally bizarre and icky idea. “He's mine in a way that shocks you, but why don't you stop being shocked, and attend to your own happiness?" – Maurice.
I stayed up until awful-o’clock-in-the-morning talking Steve through how he was going to deal with telling his extremely loving but very Catholic family. I went home for winter break and earnestly lectured my own patient, liberal parents about homophobia and gay rights. I was undoubtedly pompous and irritating, but I tried.
Along the way, I was frequently mistaken for a lesbian – by friends, by acquaintances, by men I might have maybe (please please please?) wanted to date, by my own worried parents (who explained, quite correctly, that being gay would make life very difficult), and by a few fabulous women whom I did not, alas, want to date. I don’t think this mass confusion stemmed from my activism so much as from the fact that I am a ludicrously butch straight woman. That’s a topic for separate discussion, but it all turned out just fine; men raised in Alaska, it seems, are cool with that. I got married. I had kids – kids who ask lots of questions.
But, for all their rabid curiosity, there was at least one question the twins never asked. Can gay people get married?
About once a year – usually on the way east to visit my family – we spend a couple of days in Seattle. This is a very popular activity. Mom, when are we going to see Steve and Manish again? At Steve’s and Manish’s house, there is a playground right across the street, real bamboo in the back yard, and the same Set card game that we have at home. Manish cooks up incredible Indian feasts, and he and Jay each unabashedly root for the person who is not their spouse when Steve and I play nerdy word games. Lizzy has a cherished stuffed animal that closely resembles Steve and Manish’s miniature dachshund. The toy and the dog are both named Billy.
Last winter, we wandered the streets of Seattle, stopping in far too many coffee shops, lured in by deliciousness. We stopped at playgrounds. We stopped to let Billy say hello to dogs fifteen times his size, and ambitiously attempt to mark fire hydrants as his personal property. We chatted about subjects of interest to second graders and middle-aged people, and everything in between. Steve mentioned something about his work. “What do you do?” Molly wanted to know.
“I’m a professor -- just like your mom. I work at the University of Washington. Maybe, some day, you might even come to college here.”
I grinned. “And once in a while, on a weekend, you could get away from your dorm and go fill up on some of Manish’s cooking.”
Both kids considered this, and looked at Steve. “But why couldn’t we just live with you?” said Molly, with the perfect sincerity of a seven-year-old.
Lizzy nodded. “Yeah. You have a spare room.”
“Sure!” said Steve. He and I caught each other’s gaze, laughing in that way that grownups do, sometimes.
How much do my kids understand? Not much – and yet, maybe just the right amount.
In the early stages of any civil rights movement, participation requires enormous bravery, and carries appalling risks. In contrast, the final stage happens quietly, with very little fanfare. It’s easy to miss it, really. It begins when a whole generation of pasta-smeared little kids looks up in confusion and says, “Wait -- gay people aren’t allowed to get married? But… why not?”
It begins when the United States Supreme Court says, in essence, the same thing.
It was 8 a.m. on October 13, 2014. While my kids and I skipped and ambled our way to the bus stop, another piece of history was being patched and mended. Marriages were happening. Not “gay marriages”. My kids, years from now, won’t think in those terms, so I won’t either. Not gay marriages, just… marriages.
The twins already had the gist of what was going on, but I couldn’t stop myself from lecturing. “Sometimes,” I explained, “laws are not good laws. Sometimes they don’t make sense. Sometimes they need to be changed. Our government is definitely not perfect. But one of the good things about it is that when we decide that something is wrong and needs to be fixed, we can all work together to fix it. So, we’re working on it. And now, gay couples in Alaska can get married.”
“Finally,” said Molly.
Labels: Alaska, gay rights, marriage, weddings
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- Julho 17, 2019
In the clip, Ovie tells Harley "I'm a little bit nervous. But I think he should've been honest with her when she opened up her feelings to him when they went to that night out". She said: "I think Ovie is absolutely lovely , he is stunning so he is basically my ideal man". He added: "She's very naturally amusing and she's gorgeous as well so you never know".
As fans remember, their romance started with just one tweet but ever since then, they've proven time and time again that it was true love. Sarah posted a snap of her man proposing to her with the caption: 'That can not eat, can not sleep, reach for the stars, over the fence, world series kind of stuff ✨❤️ @wellsadams'.
One of the reasons that have helped FaceApp become popular is the accuracy with which it edits selfies and make people look older or younger. Download FaceApp from the Play Store. Some of which are limited to premium in-app subscription purchases. The pictures are the product of an app called FaceApp , and they're taking the internet by storm.
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Kategória: Rok 2012
Uverejnené: piatok, 30. november 2012, 13:08
OBSAH / CONTENTS
Štúdie, články / Studies, Articles
Tomáš KLOKNER: Byrokratický aparát štátneho alimentačného fondu od nástupu cisára Hadriana / The Bureaucratic Apparatus of the State Alimentary Programme from the Accession of Emperor Hadrian (pp. 6-24)
Dzura HARDI: Nová aristokracia na dvore Karola Róberta. Budovanie osobných a politických väzieb palatína Filipa Drugetha / The New Aristocracy at the Court of Charles Robert. Building Personal and Political Ties of Palatine Philip Drugeth (pp. 25-35)
Norbert C. TÓTH: Problematika vzťahu medzi župami a hodnovernými miestami v Uhorsku v 14. a 15. storočí / The Relations between Counties and Places of Authentication in Hungary in the 14th and 15th Centuries (pp. 36-51)
Tünde KATONA: Zabeler spricht über Xylander und Thurzó. Zwei Leichenpredigten aus der Zips / Zabeler’s (Funeral) Orations over Xylander and Thurzó. Two Funeral Sermons from the Spiš Region (pp. 52-59)
Martin MACKO: Prvé pastoračné angažmán redemptoristov medzi slovenským obyvateľstvom v roku 1874 a kauza podpory spolku striezlivosti / The First Pastoral Engagement of the Redemptorists among the Slovak Population in 1874 and the Case of the Support of the Abstinence Society (pp. 60-75)
Diskusie, polemiky / Discussions, Polemics
Helena VELIČKOVÁ: Autentická tvář Alžběty Báthoryové. Co prozrazuje písmo Alžběty Báthoryové o tajemství čachtické paní / Elisabeth Bathory’s Authentic Face. What the Handwriting of Elisabeth Bathory Reveals about the Secret of the Bloody Lady of Čachtice (pp. 76-90)
Pramene, preklady / Sources, Translations
Charles Marie Yrumberry de Salaberry : Cesta do Istanbulu, do Talianska a na ostrovy Archipel cez Nemecko a Uhorsko / Charles Marie Yrumberry de Salaberry : Journey to Istanbul, Italy, and the Islands of Archipel through Germany and Hungary (pp. 91-97)
Rozhovory / Interviews
Fons – skepsis – lex. Rozhovor s profesorom Ferencom Makkom (Szegedi Tudományegyetem, Szeged) / Fons – skepsis – lex. Interview with Professor Ferenc Makk (pp. 98-102)
Recenzie / Reviews (pp. 103-123)
Anotácie, nové knihy /Annotations, New books (pp. 124-151)
Správy, referáty / Brief notices (pp. 152-163)
Internetové odkazy / Web links (pp. 164-168)
Kultúrne dejiny / Cultural History, Volume 3, Issue 1, pp. 6-24 © Verbum 2012
TOMÁŠ KLOKNER: Byrokratický aparát štátneho alimentačného fondu od nástupu cisára Hadriana / The Bureaucratic Apparatus of the State Alimentary Programme from the Accession of Emperor Hadrian
KEYWORDS: Ancient Social History, Roman Empire, Alimentary Programme, Roman Children
ABSTRACT: Focused on the Roman ancient history, the paper deals with the administrative bodies which were supposed to ensure the operation of the state alimentary programme from the reign of Emperor Hadrian (117 – 138 AD). In the introduction, several basic questions concerning the existence of the programme are being answered (establishment, role, geographic scope etc.). In the following part, the author zeroes in on the bureaucratic apparatus of the programme. He introduces different types of officials from the lowest (municipal) to the highest (imperial). He pays attention to their official denomination, place and length of tenure, duties, and competences. The article is primarily based on the study of official careers (cursus honorum) of Roman officials preserved on epigraphic monuments. Its aim is to contribute to a more comprehensive understanding of the alimentary programme structure as well as its functioning as a whole.
The project of the state alimentary programme as one of the most significant measures taken within the domestic policy of the so-called “adoptive” emperors (98 – 180 AD) was primarily aimed at the improvement of the unfavourable demographic situation on the Apennine Peninsula and related insufficient numbers of Italics in the Roman army. The programme was based on the distribution of regular financial contributions to the selected children of Roman citizens. The funds for the programme were raised by providing inexpensive collateral loans to the Italic landowners.
As the fund-raising and the follow-up distribution of the financial contributions among beneficiaries placed high demands on administrative work, the issue of the administration of the programme had to be solved shortly after it had been established. In the first years of the existence of the programme, a preparatory phase of the project based on the distribution of capital to particular Italic towns and villages was under way. The related tasks were initially assigned to special officials from among the senior senators. Since the end of the reign of Emperor Trajan (98 – 117 AD), the provisional administration became permanent and it can be characterized as a threelevel administration. These three levels were: local administration, central administration and the emperor.
At the lowest level, the operation of the programme was ensured by towns and villages via their own officials, mostly named quaestor alimentorum. Their primary duties comprised the distribution of alimentary contributions to beneficiaries, monitoring of interest payments, and keeping files on persons who were provided state loans as well as recipients of financial assistance. They were aided by support staff (e.g. actor alimentorum).
The central administration was represented by officials coming from the senatorial (praefectus alimentorum) and equestrian (procurator alimentorum) ranks. In general, they were tasked with the control of local officials. They played important role in the initial propagation of credits among landowners. They were supposed to oversee the financial records of the programme, paying interests on the loans, and they probably had a certain jurisdiction, too. As representatives of emperor and his treasury (fiscus), they oversaw the distribution of contributions among beneficiaries, which was performed by local officials. The question is, if they took part in the distribution personally.
In the hierarchy of the bureaucratic apparatus of the state alimentary programme, Roman emperor was superior to central officials (praefectus, procurator). They were appointed by emperor and he also had a right to dismiss them. Discussions are being held about the influence of the senate over the election of the central alimentary officials, especially prefects who were chosen from among senators. Considering the interconnection of the functions of curator viae and praefectus alimentorum, it is possible that the staffing of prefects was the same as the staffing of road administrators, i.e. they were nominated by the senate and approved by emperor. The central officials worked as “the prolonged hand of emperor” and performed a control function in individual towns and villages, which acted as autonomous units usually addressing their own issues independently. However, alimentory prefects and prosecutors were not permanently installed in a certain town or village, but they always administrated a certain district, which comprised several dozens of towns and villages participating in the alimentary programme. For this reason, the control might not have been as efficient as one would have wished. Since the 2nd century AD, emperors tried to consolidate the finances of towns and villages by the appointment of special imperial commissioners called curatores rei publicae (local curators). They were assigned to a certain town or village. Although their duties included the control of the financial management of a town or village, it is possible that they also looked closely at the use of funds of the state alimentary programme.
Kultúrne dejiny / Cultural History, Volume 3, Issue 1, pp. 25-35 © Verbum 2012
Dzura HARDI: Nová aristokracia na dvore Karola Róberta. Budovanie osobných a politických väzieb palatína Filipa Drugetha / The New Aristocracy at the Court of Charles Robert. Building Personal and Political Ties of Palatine Philip Drugeth
KEYWORDS: Philip Drugeth, Hungary, 14th century, Charles Robert, New Anjou Aristocracy, Royal Court
ABSTRACT: The study explores personal ties of the Hungarian Magnate and Palatine Philip Drugeth (1323 – 1327) with representatives of the new Anjou elite during the reign of the Hungarian King Charles Robert. Philip Drugeth was the only friend and co-operator of Charles Robert from their common homeland, the Kingdom of Naples. In Hungary he made a dizzying career. The study deals with the specific position of Philip Drugeth within the new aristocracy created by Charles Robert. It also reveals life and culture at the Hungarian royal court in the first half of the 14th century.
In the study the author explores personal ties of the Hungarian Palatine Philip Drugeth (1323 – 1327) with representatives of the new Anjou elite during the reign of the Hungarian King Charles Robert (1301 – 1342). The basis of his exceptional status among the Hungarian aristocracy was in his close personal relationship to the monarch, arising from the fact that Philip, as the only person at the court, was the king’s familiar in their common homeland, the Kingdom of Naples.
It is noteworthy that the information on Philip’s personal ties and prestige at the court is confined just to diplomatic sources. After victories in wars against the rebellious Hungarian oligarchy, the monarch made him a palatine. Thus Philip became the most powerful oligarch (baron) in the kingdom and a leader of new aristocracy. He enjoyed the authority, which did not stem only from his close ties to the monarch. It also resulted from his personal and family ties with part of Hungarian barons. Among close Philip Drugeth’s friends were the head of the Hungarian Church, the Archbishop of Esztergom, Thomas, as well as the royal magister tavernicorum and scholar Demeter Nékcsei, the author of Charles’ financial reform. The archbishop titled Philip as his most valuable friend, and vice versa Philip symbolically regarded him as father. One of the highest officials at the court, the secretary of Charles Robert and the bishop of Eger Csanád was his godfather, just like the county head (comes) of the Zala county and future Slavonian and Croatian ban Hahold. With the exception of the latter, all Philip’s closest “friends” were eminently educated and most of them studied at one of Italian universities in the late 13th century. The very fact that they were all in close personal relationship to Philip Drugeth indicates something of his personality and the monarch as well. We can say that at the royal court it was them that were carriers of the new spirit of knighthood and courtly culture, which reminded Charles Robert of his native Naples. Philip Drugeth had the closest family ties with his devoted fellow from the times of the wars against Hungarian magnates, the Slavonian ban Mikcs Ákos. According to available testimonies, their houses in the royal residential city of Visegrád, where the courtly life took place, stood close to each other. He gave his only child, daughter Klára, to Mikcs’ son.
Norbert C. TÓTH: Problematika vzťahu medzi župami a hodnovernými miestami v Uhorsku v 14. a 15. storočí / The Relations between Counties and Places of Authentication in Hungary in the 14th and 15th Centuries
KEYWORDS: History of Law, Middle Ages, Hungary, County (comitatus), Places of Authentication (loca credibilia), Administration, Deeds
ABSTRACT: The author in his study deals with two regional institutions in medieval Hungary and observes their mutual relations in the 14th and 15th centuries. Together they addressed many legal cases. Their relationship, however, went through several developmental stages, from mutually useful cooperation to mutual rivalries and competition. The author of the study primarily bases his conclusions on rich archival material. For his research, he largely used historical documents from seven Hungarian counties. In particular, he observes, in what cases the counties and places of authentication (loca credibilia) cooperated, and what were their competencies. In the late 15th century their cooperation de facto ceased to exist.
The study deals with the relations between two legal institutions in medieval Hungary. These relations were determined by several laws (5/1291, 21/1231, etc.). The question is, however, in which counties was the law respected? Was the law respected in other counties? If not, what was the reason? Finally, is it possible to delimit this phenomenon in time?
The first task was to find those counties, which had approached one of the places of authentication (loca credibilia). According to our current knowledge they were seven: Baranya county, Győr county, Pozsony county, Somogy county, Sopron county, Vas county, and Zala county.
If we put all deeds together, we find out, that the oldest deed comes from the period before April 3rd, 1322 and the youngest deed is from August 5th, 1462. That is to say, that within the time span of 140 years, 105 mandates had been preserved in the seven counties. It would be hard to fail to notice that these dates are tied to two important events. The first event was the consolidation of power of King Charles I, the second one was the session of the Diet, at which various laws were discussed (it ended on May 28th, 1462) and the power of Matthias Corvinus was strengthened.
Before we search for the reason of this, let us have a look at why these mandates had appeared. Their most common objective was to investigate acts of violence. However, there were other reasons too: prohibition, delivery of wedding gifts or dowry, summons, real estate metation, and, what is really surprising, property disputes, and granting someone permanent ownership. In the deeds one can also find an answer to a very important question: where the sessions of the tribunal (sedes iudicaria) took place? Obviously, they gathered in the curia of the deputy county head (vicecomes) to resolve the issues. In this context the question arises, why in the case of other counties, where the seat of the county coincided with the place of authentication, i.e. notary office), was the procedure not the same?
We must look for the part of the answer in places of authentication. If we look at the network of the places of authentication throughout the country, we can see the following image (from the east to the west of Hungary): the number of places of authentication increases and thus exponentially decreases their territorial jurisdiction. So while the Leles convent covered eleven counties, the Csorna convent operated just in a very limited area. Presumably, the number of officials in a place of authentication was determined by this fact.
Based on these data, we believe – but it, unfortunately, cannot be confirmed by any available source – that the role of a scribe at the tribunal, which was held every two weeks, was performed by one of the clerics of the place of authentication. This was also possible in the case of counties, where the distance between the place, where the tribunal was held, and the place of authentication was not more than a few hours. At first glance this claim can seem daring, but it becomes more plausible when we take into consideration the fact, that only a small group of people mastered the art of writing, and it was not until the 15th century when the data on the first county notaries became available.
So in the early 13th century the courts of lower status also used the services of later places of authentication. A tribunal had the right to request a place of authentication for help. This was also acknowledged by the law from 1291. In our opinion the reason lay in the geographical distribution of the places of authentication. Mongol devastation in Hungarian Lowlands caused collapse of many monasteries, which in some time could become places of authentication. On the territory of Transdanubia, where the devastation was not so vast, almost every religious institution developed in a place of authentication. For this reason, although the population density was higher than in other parts of the country, in this region there was a plethora of places of authentication. In such a situation places of authentication happened to be inveigled into certain dishonest tasks. And for the strong relationship between work and incomes, the places of authentication often granted such a request. This was primarily a problem of smaller places of authentication. In the 1450’s, the problem became so serious that it had to be regulated by law.
After 1435, one may notice spread of practice, which was not even provided for by the great code (the code had been also developed before the public congregations). Henceforth the central courts, when they had to take a certain thing into account, did not only send a man from the king (palatine, provincial judge, duke), but they also often ordered a county to act in such cases. We often learn about the parallel investigations of certain matters, too: in the investigation of the same case two neighbouring places of authentication as well as a county were active. Counties and places of authentication became competitors. With such innovation they did not need the old form of cumbersome negotiations. By 1485, in serious matters public congregations were held, in simple cases a county was authorized to act without a representative from a place of authentication. Not surprisingly, the cooperation between the seven counties and places of authentication lapsed after less than twenty years.
Tünde KATONA: Zabeler spricht über Xylander und Thurzó. Zwei Leichenpredigten aus der Zips / Zabeler’s (Funeral) Orations over Xylander and Thurzó. Two Funeral Sermons from the Spiš Region
KEYWORDS: Hungary, Slovakia, Spiš Region, Early Modern Age, German Reformation, Funeral Sermons
ABSTRACT: The paper considers two German funeral sermons from the 17th century, connected to the city of Lőcse. One of the two texts (both known from copies from the 1620s) remembers a clerical figure of civic origins (Stephanus Xylander), and a member of a powerful aristocrat family (Stanislaus Thurzó). Besides the personal and family-related facets of mourning, in the period of Lutheran confessionalisation both cases represent an important social event, with the funeral speeches having particular relevance. The author seeks and finds occasion to reinforce faith, to offer consolation for the individual and for the community as well, and to perform acts of self-fashioning, too. Furthermore, since in the long run funeral sermons tended to become frequently consulted reading material, he is also able to fulfil his ambition to influence the reading habits and thus the literary tastes of his time (and not only among his fellow preachers).
The 1970s witnessed an upsurge in the socio-historically and rhetorically informed research on funeral sermons, which represent a unique segment of occasional poetry. The results of German scholarship had a lasting effect on the study of Hungarian funeral sermons, whether they were originally written in Hungarian, Latin, German, or Slovakian. Nonetheless, up to now, comprehensive findings have only become available concerning sermons in Hungarian. The prevailing demand for interdisciplinary approaches emerging in the early 2000s directed philological attention towards the genre, which was traditionally investigated by historians, and, obviously, theologians. It is by now generally accepted that the latest problems encountered in mediaeval and early modern studies cannot be answered without the assistance of sources like the funeral sermon, which, although by nature called for oral performance, were preserved in print. Besides the more obvious questions triggered by the text type (like innovation versus tradition in the sermon’s structure, the set of rhetorical devices applied in it, the biographical data about the departed and the remaining ones etc.), an exploration into the unique medial and communicative ideas motivating the author and/or the commissioning party also seems to be promising.
The two German sermons forming the corpus of the paper were selected on the following basis: 1) they are from the same author, and they are within a time span of half a decade (around the 1620s); 2) because the author, Peter Zabeler (or Zabler) takes leave from one of the representative figures of his own Lutheran confession, Stephanus Xylander (Holtzmann), and from the aristocrat Stanislaus Thurzó; 3) both are closely connected to Levoča (Leutschau, Löcse), which was a city of great contemporary political, economical and cultural importance.
Martin MACKO: Prvé pastoračné angažmán redemptoristov medzi slovenským obyvateľstvom v roku 1874 a kauza podpory spolku striezlivosti / The First Pastoral Engagement of the Redemptorists among the Slovak Population in 1874 and the Case of the Support of the Abstinence Society
KEYWORDS: Redemptorists, Abstinence Society, Brotherhood of the Rosary, Popular Missions, Diocese of Nitra
ABSTRACT: The author deals with the issue of the missions of the Redemptorists among the Slovak population in the context of the struggle against alcoholism in the 2nd half of the 19th century. In 1749, Pope Benedict XIV canonically confirmed the work of the priest Alphonsus Maria de Liguori of Naples under the name Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer. The initial activities of the Redemptorists among the Slovak population in Upper Hungary are connected with their initial activities in the Nitra diocese. They had been invited to come to the diocese for the then religious and social situation. As a principal enemy of the rural Slovak people was identified rampant alcoholism, especially in the mountainous areas of the Slovak territory. As early as in 1872, Augustinus Roskoványi, bishop of Nitra, officially supported the fusion of the abstinence society and the brotherhood of the rosary.
The year 1874 represents a significant milestone in the Slovak emancipation efforts in Hungary. In that year, all three Slovak secondary grammar schools in Revúca, Turčiansky Svätý Martin and Kláštor pod Znievom were closed, and a state investigation against Matica slovenská was launched. In addition, the so called abstinence societies that had played an important role in the raising of the public awareness among the rural people of Upper Hungary since the 1840’s, were also forbidden. However, as these societies were led by nationally conscious Slovaks, they were also suspected of promoting panslavism by the Magyar state administration.
There are several monographs and studies dealing with the above stated movement or its promoters. In general, they claim that a contribution of religious orders to the proliferation of the abstinence societies was quite small as compared to that of diocesan Catholic clergy, Lutheran clergy and intellectuals, and thus this topic is not so frequent. In principle, one can agree with such an argument. Nevertheless, it is this point of view that the author of the paper had decided to deal with the issue from. He did so on the basis of the first pastoral engagement of the Redemptorists (officially the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer) among the Slovak population which took place right in the “fatal” year 1874.
In order to avoid a possible abolishment by the state apparatus, the abstinence societies largely began to integrate into brotherhoods of the rosary from the early 1870’s. As they transformed themselves from “political” associations into church societies under the aegis of a local diocesan bishop who was in this respect independent of the state authorities, they gained certain exemption. The clergy of the Nitra diocese, where such a fused society with the permission of the bishop Augustinus Roskoványi came into existence as early as in 1872, decided to support it through the popular missions in 1874. After the fall of Josephinism in 1848, these missions began to be spread on a mass scale throughout the monarchy again. To carry out this missionary tour in several parishes in the Kysuce region and in the environs of the town of Rajec, the Redemptorists of Bohemia were eventually called up. At that time, the Czech Redemptorists did not have any monastery in Hungary. Their engagement provoked an unexpectedly sharp conflict with the state authorities. On the basis of the direct intervention of the Minister of Education and Public Worship Augustine Trefort, even the bishop Roskoványi had to cancel the missions.
The author traces back the course of the conflict, its reasons, the justifiability of the brought charges, the attitudes of the involved (episcopate, diocesan clergy, representatives of local governments, common people) as well as he tries to correct some clichés that have been incorrectly transferred to the present.
Helena VELIČKOVÁ: Autentická tvář Alžběty Báthoryové. Co prozrazuje písmo Alžběty Báthoryové o tajemství čachtické paní / Elisabeth Bathory’s Authentic Face. What the Handwriting of Elisabeth Bathory Reveals about the Secret of the Bloody Lady of Čachtice
KEYWORDS: Graphology, Elisabeth Bathory, George Thurzó, Sadism, Serial Killer, Schizophrenia, 17th Century
ABSTRACT: Graphology is a psychodiagnostic method. Its special merit is independence of time and space. An analysed person need not be present at time and in person. Both old manuscripts and those of the 20th century can be analysed, although the methods have to be slightly different. One has to be familiar with symbolism and use psychoanalysis. Elizabeth Bathory’s manuscripts, which are analysed in this paper, come from the years 1606 and 1607. Her intelligence was superior to other people’s capabilities, she was even genius, but she was retarded as a human being. Signs of atavism as well as anti-social behaviour are evident. Using drugs led her to schizophrenia. Manuscripts of her antagonist George Thurzo are analysed, too. The contrast between the two persons is given in a detailed description. However, both of them were partly victims of their time characterized by permanent war, cruelty, and low level of humanity in European civilization of the 17th century.
Mariana GORDIAKOVÁ: Charles Marie Yrumberry de Salaberry : Cesta do Istanbulu, do Talianska a na ostrovy Archipel cez Nemecko a Uhorsko / Charles Marie Yrumberry de Salaberry : Journey to Istanbul, Italy, and the Islands of Archipel through Germany and Hungary
KEYWORDS: Travelogue, Hungary, Bratislava, Charles Marie Yrumberry de Salaberry, Coronation of Leopold II.
ABSTRACT: Charles Marie Yrumberry duke de Salaberry was a French traveler at the turn of the 18th and 19th Century. In 1799 he published in Paris travelogue thesis entitled Voyage a Constantinpole, en Italie et aux Iles de l´Archipel par l´Alemagne et la Hongrie where he describes his journey across Europe to Constantinople. One section of his work is devoted to Hungary, its administration, traditions, culture and country. The present text is an example of his comments about the coronation the new the Hungarian king Leopold II in 1792 in Bratislava.
Kultúrne dejiny / Cultural History, Volume 3, Issue 1, pp. 98-102 © Verbum 2012
Fons – skepsis – lex. Rozhovor s profesorom Ferencom Makkom (Szegedi Tudományegyetem, Szeged) / Fons – skepsis – lex. Interview with Professor Ferenc Makk
ABSTRACT: Professor Ferenc Makk is professor emeritus at the University of Szeged, where he operates from his beginnings. He is a recognized expert in Byzantine studies, classical philology and auxiliary sciences of history. He was a founder and longtime head of the Department of Auxiliary sciences of history at the University of Szeged. Priority is given to research the history of medieval Hungary, focusing on Hungaro-Byzantine relations and foreign policy of the Hungarian kingdom. He has received several awards and is an author of hundreds scientific studies and monographs, many of which were published abroad. The most famous mention at least The Árpáds and the Comneni. Political relations between Hungary and Byzantium in the 12th century; Die ersten Könige Ungarns. Die Herrscher der Arpadendynastie; or Ungarische Aussenpolitik (896 – 1196).
Kultúrne dejiny / Cultural History, Volume 3, Issue 1, pp. 103-123 © Verbum 2012
Recenzie / Reviews
LISOVÝ, Igor - VELLAS, Georgis. Starovek. Revolúcia. Osud. Ostrava; Athény : vlastným nákladom, 2012, 158 s. ISBN 978-80-260-1415-7. (Tomáš Klokner)
VANDERBERG, Philipp. Zapomenutá Hellas. Znovuobjevování starověkého Řecka. Z německého originálu (Das versunkene Hellas) přel. Vítězslav Čížek. Praha : Knižní klub, 2011, 287 s. ISBN 978-80-242-2854-9. (Igor Lisový)
BARTOŇKOVÁ, Dagmar - RADOVÁ, Irena. Antické písemné prameny k dějinám střední Evropy. Praha : Koniasch Latin Press, 2010, 160 s. ISBN 978-80-86791-65-4. (Tomáš Klokner)
IVANIČ, Peter. Stredoveká cestná sieť na Pohroní a Poiplí. Nitra : Univerzita Konštantína Filozofa v Nitre, Filozofická fakulta, 2011, 108 s. ISBN 978-80-8294-882-5. (Miroslav Huťka)
Sambucus Supplementum II. Sondy do Belových Vedomostí o súvekom Uhorsku. Eds. Erika Juríková - Daniel Škoviera. Trnava : Filozofická fakulta TU, 2010, 260 s. ISBN 978-80-8082-421-1. (Pavol Miklovič)
Kresťanská kultúra a jej miesto v dejinách východného Slovenska. Ed. Marcela Domenová. Prešov : Štátna vedecká knižnica v Prešove, 2011, 204 s. ISBN 978-80-85734-90-4. (Mariana Kosmačová)
Anotácie, nové knihy / Annotations, New books
Správy, referáty / Brief notices
Internetové odkazy / Web links
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America's subprime mortgage crisis 80 realized that if their economic capacity is not enough, even with the house may eventually become difficult to get rid of the burden. So many American college graduates after 80 is not soon to struggle Target fixed on home ownership, but on a walk from the "ant" to "dwelling" of the curve Wo Road, which is to rent and buy homes. Magazine correspondent Joe Lei (from the bottom of Los Angeles) Americans looked at the housing situation in the recent series of numbers, which aroused my interest in the young generation, especially in the United States has 80 residential situation. After the Chinese say is the age of 80 to 30 years old 20 years old who , That is, from 1980 to 1990 to be born. United States did not call after 80, but after about 80 some talking, and often, Y generation, or as Miliennials Generation Next, that is, 1980 People born between 2000. Americans are the people who were born 20 years as a generation, so in a broad sense, which is now the United States after 80 years of age 10 to 30 years of age, but after about 80 academic research, the majority of school Often is to focus on 18 to 30 year olds. 80 homeownership rate is not Daosi Cheng The proportion of Americans own a home crowd divided by age is very different from 25 years of age, homeownership rate was 23.8%. People aged 25 to 29 years of age, homeownership rate was 38.0%. People aged 30 to 34 years, housing has Rate was 52.0%. People aged 35 to 39 years, homeownership rate was 63.8%. People aged 40 to 44 years, homeownership rate was 69.1%. People aged 45 to 49 years, homeownership rate was 72.2%. People aged 50 to 54 years, housing has Was 76.8%. People aged 55 to 59 years, homeownership rate was 80.4%. People aged 65 to 69 years, homeownership rate was 81.5%. People aged 70 to 74 years, homeownership rate was 82.4%. People over 75 years, homeownership rates 79.8%. Can see that home ownership rate of U.S. residents age people have a direct link, the older, has a higher proportion of housing. This shows that the increase in length of service with the people, the income will be more and more, buy a house based Foundation is also strong. This increase in the number of very interesting, 29 years of age, home ownership rate from two percent over the Jinsi Cheng. 30 years old to people 40 years of age, from five into the homeownership rate to Liu Cheng. 40 to 50 years of age Group, home ownership rate about Qi Cheng. People over age 50, homeownership rates reached 8 percent and down. Therefore, a society should have some sort of working-class conditions to have their own housing, house size or sizes, prices or the difference between high and low, but can not say some people, especially after you're 80 No Information Cells have a house. U.S. population aged 25 to 29 years old, that is, the 80 are really, their homeownership rate was 38.0%, indicating that after 80 there is a certain economic capacity to have their own homes. U.S. 80 owned almost You Sicheng Have their own housing, it should be said to be very cattle. Young people buy a house because the United States, not the parents for money to pay for a house down payment, primarily to bank loans. Bank loans is to look at the most basic principles of the borrower's income and repayment Capacity. And 30 years old to 34 years age groups, with occupancy rates surged to 52%, which shows the economic strength of young people is not too high in the case of housing, the housing dream can be achieved. Lease-purchase of the curve before the road goes back Americans often say that there is "American Dream", and 80 after the United States for many, the "American dream" has now become more realistic. According to the survey, the eyes of the U.S. 80 most wanted after the "American dream" is to have in life Their own "nest." Americans are very realistic, 80 is no exception, so a lot of U.S. 80 after graduating from college is not immediately fixed on their goal of home ownership, but on a walk from the "ant" to "snail Living "the way the curve has nest, that is, to rent and buy homes. Rick college graduates to work in the city bought her a condominium, there is room to be a family, this is the dream of his parents, but also the American dream, many immigrants to the United States is to be able to get rid of the next generation Poverty and live a good life, and own their own home has become a natural part of the good life. Rick has room for the family to become proud, but soon she found the parents or the parents of her dream life Not necessarily expect their dreams. Rick calculated that if the money spent on the purchase of housing, she has the ability to separate difficult to pay the cost of graduate school, and if the later years of the purchase to improve their academic standards not only to achieve the dream, and to After a better chance of entering higher income. Rick are only, so the housing will be sold, shared with others in the local a house, began to seek a higher dream. 80 can be called "rent generation" In 2010, the United States aged 18 to 29 the number of nearly 50 million after 80, they face the United States is not their parents, grandparents even when a clerk in retail stores can afford to buy housing era. U.S. economy sluggish Unemployment rate highest in more than 10% reduction of corporate hiring new ones, all this made the United States after 80 career development in the life and face enormous challenges. Meanwhile, the U.S. is the United States after 80 generations the proportion of higher education Maximum generation, but they left most of college is also saddled with a heavy debt burden of university education loans. 2008 U.S. 4-year college graduates have student loans owed 80%, some people can take years or even ten years After repayment of these loans. Undeniably, the United States after graduating from college after 80 some people will be able to buy homes, but there is still a large part of the 80 need to wait, maybe after a few years they have better economic strength to achieve their own lives Dream house. American scholars, 80 will be longer than their parents at the time by renting to life. America's subprime mortgage crisis 80 realized that if their economic capacity is not enough, even with the house last May become difficult to get rid of the burden of millions of Americans now carry the mortgage debt even more than the value of their own homes even higher. After the U.S. and its parents have a 80 very different, they are more eager to live in cities, while rural life is not interested. But the city's cost of living and housing costs are high, after 80 in the city to have self- Own home is a challenge. U.S. housing market forecast that after 80 is now in a transitional period, they build their own economic base, after 80 people in the short term will be rent-based, but After a few years they will have more stable jobs and income, then they will become the main force of the purchase. However, from the current situation, the United States after 80 in the housing can only be called a "rent generation" . 27, Dave University School of Law lawyer after graduation, he is currently in a big city with others sub-Bedroom apartment. Dave said that the young urban single life good, but if you want to get married and raise The child still lives in the suburbs even more appropriate. He believes that the United States after the 80 biggest difference between the previous generation, the parents were married earlier, which makes the purchase of housing and child-rearing as the main purpose of their lives. After the marriage of 80 Age significantly pushed back, many people want to get married after 30 years of age, so they have their own sense of urgency as the residential parent so strong. 80 after the U.S. Another difference is that their parents, their parents did not like Dead set on working in a company for life, but will continue looking for high salaries and their own favorite work, in which case they do not want to live too early to shelter their hands and feet bound. 80 eyes of what is most important in life The United States after the studies are focused on 80 of 18 to 29 year olds body. Undeniably, the United States the proportion of education after 80 is much higher than their parents, grandparents, but the living conditions they face more than their parents Add difficult. Although after 80 consider themselves more liberal and trendy generation, but their ideology than their parents also value the value of family. 80 According to the U.S. media made after a large-scale survey of attitudes toward life after 80 and very conservative values, family values in their eyes is the most important, the least value of fame. Interests in the material U.S. 80 is still very eager to have housing and higher income occupations. All the people in the United States, 50% thought to be a good parent is the most important thing in life, 44% of the respondents considered to be a good parent is Very important matter, and only 5% of the respondents considered to be a good parent is not important. 80 United States only one-third of people who have children, but it is up to 52% of people think that being a good parent is the most of their lives Important thing, more than 30 years of age much higher than 2% of the population. Among the 80 women pay more attention than men to be a good parent, women will be a good mother as the most important things in life compared with 56% males 48%. 30% of U.S. 80 will have a successful and happy marriage as the most important thing in life, and more than 30 people, 35% of the successful and happy marriage as the most important thing in life. After this point the proportion of 80 To less than 30 years of age crowd. After the 80 different ethnic groups, the white 80 more than the value after 80 other ethnic groups have a successful and happy marriage. One-third of white after 80 successful and happy marriage as a man The most important thing students, while the proportion of other ethnic groups was 25%. 18 to 29 in the United States after 80 years of age, 23% of the population who are married, but their marriage rate is clearly lower than the previous two generations of people a lot. Generation X crowd in their 18 Years to 29 years age, the proportion of married was 59%. The population of baby boomers in their 18 to 29 years age, the proportion of married was 64%. In addition to marriage and family in the United States after 80 and 21% of people think that helping others is the most important thing in life, slightly higher than 20% of people over 30 years of age the proportion. The same house also has its own independent after a dream 80 , 20% of U.S. 80 will have housing as the most important things in life, people over 30 years of age this as the most important thing in life the proportion was 21%. In the above two issues, the U.S. 80 and the generation after Ideas were similar. Value most highly paid career after 80 After the United States, of which 15% of the 80 people that can have a paid job that they most important thing in life, 47% of people think it is very important in life, but people over the age of 30 will have a paid career As the most important things in life the proportion of only 7%. Have more free time to enjoy life or do things they like, not the Americans the most valued things in life. After the United States, only 9% of 80 people thought to have more free time to enjoy life or to do self- Favorite things in life have been the most important people over the age of 30 the number of people hold this view compared to 10%. Although the age of 80 after a high-tech darling of the Internet age is also famous for the Shuzi provides the most convenient way. But in the U.S. only 1% after 80 people were to become celebrities in their life that the most important thing. 3% United States 80 That become a celebrity in their life a very important matter, and up to 86% of the 80 that became famous in his life is not an important thing. If the X generation with 18 to 29 years old view of life, compared with the X after 80 generations in the same age group the most similar views on life, the places where they value family, but also the recognition of family values significantly higher than that Gold The money chase. On the other hand, today's 80 year post-X generation is more than the value to be a good parent. A 1997 survey, when 18 to 29-year-olds, 42% of people think that to be a good parent is The most important thing in life, and in 80 people aged 18 to 29 the number of people hold this view in the ratio of up to 52%.
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Yie Ar Kung-Fu 2: The Emperor Yie-Gah
DSK (24.3 kB)
ROM (23.74 kB)
Yie Ar Kung Fu II
MSX (MSX)
Moebius:
Moebius (2017-03-05) [hide]
Another martial arts tournament? Great. Only this is not a matter of free will and personal ambition. As a newly-made kung fu master Lee Young your noble quest is to free China from the grip of the evil martial artist Yie-Gah who happens to be the sole survivor of the villanous Chop Suey Gang formerly annihilated by your father and who has conceitedly declared himself a new emperor. As anticipated though, before you face Yie-Gah and depose his tyrannical regime you must defeat his best henchmen warriors trained in different martial art styles...
Yie Ar Kung-Fu 2: The Emperor Yie-Gah is an arcade 1x1 fighting and a sequel to legendary Yie Ar Kung Fu, game which curiously enough had two different incarnations with some stark differences in appearance. Indeed, only MSX and NES ports seemed to be identical, while other platforms hosted a very similar but, by and large, a different game product with protagonist named Oolong, though released about the same time by the same Konami. Certainly, it's not a single case in the history of game production, but I should say, this duology is particularly confusing in that it may provoke an idea that there are really three chapters instead of two.
Yie Ar Kung Fu II inherits the original gaming style and art of the MSX/NES prequel with little changes introduced other than insignificantly altered dynamics and facelifted visual attributes. The protagonist is now fully clothed, better drawn, takes new posture and looks a tiny bit more charismatic. Likewise, the new batch of opponents exercising even more whimsical fighting skills and weaponry, but aside from that looking like they've been simply reclothed and imported from the first chapter. Yes, they are still the same chubby, which is obviously a very kung fu thing to be.
Like in the first game you have to outscore your enemies with kicks and punches while dodging their blows and various flung, stretching and homing devices. Your own set of moves has hardly changed. The sprites have been somewhat revamped, but the notoriously two-frame choppy animation still remains, which is a hallmark of both MSX/NES ports of the original game and the alternative release(s). The continuous irritating background music all during the game is now slightly better sampled, only, unfortunately it doesn't make it less irritating.
From the really new stuff there are powerups to restore health, temporary invincibility, and three-screen stages in the beginning and further in-between "legit" bouts featuring flocks of little dudes attacking you with a flying kick from both left and right sides as well as moving at three different marks of altitude. Apparently, it's a remodelled reaction-based bonus stage from the original MSX/NES game, only this time it's not about bonus but saving up as much energy as possible before facing any real opponents. At this point it feels like a mini beat-em-up game with a boss stage to follow. And finally, unlike its predecessor this game allows for two players (hmm.. now that's cool), but you can only choose from four different characters which can never match (..not).
Final verdict. I can't say this game differs much from its MSX/NES predecessor. The overall gameplay foundation has been preserved, the difficulty likewise remains roughly the same, and the only thing that seems to stand out is improved visuals and enhanced detail as to characters and backgrounds. Is there anything else? Well, I guess the fact that it looked best on MSX only as compared to other 8-bit ports, some of which aren't just barely playable but, in fact, hardly watchable. The most strange thing, though, is that this game being superior to its precursor was never ported to NES at all. Guess what, MSX gets another star!
Yie Ar KUNG-FU (C64)
Karate Champ
The Way of the Exploding Fist
World Karate Championship
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GET THE LATEST LOBE LOG UPDATES
Iranian Jewish Parliamentarian Headed to New York?
September 19, 2013 Marsha B. Cohen 1 Comment
by Marsha Cohen
— You won’t succeed on Broadway if you haven’t any Jews.
–Song from Spamalot
The Associated Press and The Guardian and are reporting that Siamak Morsadegh, the Jewish representative in Iran’s Parliament (Majlis), will be one of two parliamentarians accompanying Hassan Rouhani to New York next week, when the new Iranian president addresses the United Nations and meets with heads of state from around the world. Word that Morsadegh (alternatively spelled Moreh Sadeq) would accompany Rouhani apparently originated in a tweet early this morning.
This would be the first time an Iranian president brought a Jewish lawmaker to the UN with him, according to the AP. In September 2000 (not “the 1990s”, as reported by the AP), Speaker of Parliament Mehdi Karroubi brought Morsadegh’s predecessor, Morris Motamed, with him to New York as part of an Iranian delegation to a conclave of 150 parliamentary speakers from around the world organized by the Inter-Parliamentary Union.
According to The New York Times, Motamed “had tried to reassure the Americans that the Jews in Iran — numbering 25,000 to 30,000, down from a high of 80,000 to 100,000 before the 1979 revolution, he said — were living as well as their Muslim neighbors.” Several Jewish members of Congress met with the five visiting Iranians, among them the late Sen. Arlen Spector, a Republican, and two Democratic members of the House from New York, Gary Ackerman and Eliot Engel. Engel, now the ranking Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, has been one of the most avid proponents of sanctions against Iran in Congress.
The second parliamentarian who, it was announced, would accompany Rouhani to New York, Ahmad Reza Dastgheyb, is a prominent reformist representing Shiraz and a member of the Majlis Committee on National Security and Foreign Policy.
Morsadegh, a 47-year-old physician from Shiraz who serves on the Majlis’ health committee, accompanied President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as part of a delegation to the European Parliament in 2008 (not 2012, as reported by AP), the same year he was elected to succeed Motamed. Like other Jewish Majlis representatives before him, Morsadegh has been critical of Israeli policies toward Palestinians and has been reluctant to criticize Iran’s top leadership.
“We are living in a religious country as a religious minority,” Morsadegh told the European Jewish Press in an interview during his visit to Brussels. “Of course we have some problems. I don’t want to say that everything is ok. But at this moment we don’t have major problems. Our day-to-day conditions are improving and our situation is now more stable and better than it was in the early years of the Iranian revolution when Jews and Muslims weren’t equal.”
Nevertheless, The Tehran Jewish Committee, the community’s central body, protested against a 2006 conference on the Holocaust attended by several prominent Holocaust deniers. Morsadegh said the conference did not represent the views of most Iranians, and that Ahmadinejad’s views on the Holocaust were personal, rather than that of Iran’s leaders. Iran’s new Foreign Minister, Javad Zarif, recently tweeted much the same.
Iran’s Jewish population in Iran declined to 25,000 from some 100,000 three decades ago, according to Reuters, although Israeli sources claim it is now closer to 10,000. Nonetheless, Iran remains the largest Jewish community in the Middle East except for Israel. Sixty percent of Iran’s Jews live in Teheran; the others in large cities such as Isfahan and Shiraz. According to Morsadegh, there are 40 synagogues in Iran, half of them in Teheran.
While in Brussels, Morsadegh opined that Iran’s nuclear research was for peaceful purposes, and that nuclear weapons could not be used in the Middle East, with so many small countries next to one another. He also said he did not believe Iran was seeking a military confrontation with Israel.
One possible glitch in Morsadegh’s travel plans could be a delay or denial of a visa to come to the U.S. During the 2000 visit by Karroubi and Motamed, two other members of the Iranian delegation could not travel because they had not received the necessary visas. No doubt, Morsadegh’s presence alongside Rouhani in New York would add to the remarkably positive mood music that the new government has been playing in advance of next week’s now much-anticipated visit.
Clarification: As of the 2011 Iranian census, there were 8,756 Jews in Iran nationwide.
Iran, Israel, Message, US Foreign Policy Iranian Jewish community, Morsadegh, Rouhani
Marsha B. Cohen
Marsha B. Cohen is an analyst specializing in Israeli-Iranian relations and US foreign policy towards Iran and Israel. Her articles have been published by PBS/Frontline's Tehran Bureau. IPS, Alternet, Payvand and Global Dialogue. She earned her PhD in International Relations from Florida International University, and her BA in Political Philosophy from Hebrew University in Jerusalem.
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Now why would Mr Morsadegh be denied or delayed in getting a visa from the U.S.? Who’s afraid to grant him that? As for the dates that AP prints, This whole exercise is a reminder of a Kindergarten sandbox, not of mature people trying to bring together fresh new ideas. Here again, new approaches that challenge the status quo, is fought by those same people who refuse to think beyond their own nose. Why is it that they have to be dragged kicking and screaming into the future? Is it because of “the old ways” that they cling to, come hell or high water, or is it that they are afraid that to do so will lesson their egotistical bent? It’s time for change, and the old ways need to go the way of the Dodo, for all they have achieved has been more suffering and wasted time, while preserving a way of life that only benefits the few, at the expense of the many.
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How much autonomy is too much when it comes to waging war?
Pat Griffiths
The use of autonomous weapons in war raises concerns on humanitarian consequences and the application of law.
Photo: Defence Images
Published 17 Dec 2018 13:00 0 Comments
It’s a perfect storm: the confluence of rapidly developing technologies and the search for new ways to wage war.
For humanitarian organisations working in war zones like the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), the emergence of new weapons is always pause for thought. New weapons require some reflection on their humanitarian consequences, as well as how existing law applies to them.
International humanitarian law (IHL) is the body of rules that applies in war to protect those who are not participating in hostilities, including civilians, detainees, and the wounded. Where these “laws of war” and new weapons intersect, a number of ethical and legal questions arise. A prime example is lethal autonomous weapon systems – sometimes “killer robots.”
As the ICRC sees it, autonomous weapons are those that can select and attack a target without human intervention. Loitering munitions, like the Harpy, are a case in point. A hybrid between a drone and a missile, once launched they can operate for hours, loitering in a defined geographic area without necessarily needing to communicate back to home base. Programmed to detect specific signals, they can lock on and attack all by themselves.
Context-dependent decision-making, mercy, and compassion are beyond the reach of machines. These are unique, complex judgements that can only be made by humans.
But if these attacks occur in an armed conflict, as with all weapons, the law of war applies. The attack must be proportionate, all possible precautions to avoid or minimise civilian harm must be taken and the weapon must not cause unnecessary suffering, superfluous injury, or be indiscriminate in targeting.
Can a machine do all that? No. It can carry out a set of programmed instructions and may even learn from its environment, but it is a human that must apply and ultimately comply with the law of war.
And that raises a key question. What is the minimum level of control a human needs to maintain over a weapon in order to comply with the rules of war?
It is far from the only question, but it is one that the ICRC is encouraging states to answer. Other legal questions seek to define the terms of the debate – autonomy, human control – as precisely as possible. On the ethical side, it needs to be asked whether a person’s moral agency can or should be delegated to a machine at all – particularly in decisions to kill or injure other humans.
Certainly, there are many things machines already do better than humans. A machine eye can “see” things imperceptible to a human eye, for instance. Some even argue that autonomous weapons could result in humanitarian benefits and better legal compliance – by removing the “fog of war” from decision-making, processing information faster, and increasing precision.
But context-dependent decision-making, mercy, and compassion are beyond the reach of machines. These are unique, complex judgements that can only be made by humans. Take the rule prohibiting attacks against combatants who are “out of the fight”, for example, because they have surrendered or are injured. A machine might be able to identify someone as a soldier, using sensors and image recognition technology. It might even be able to detect whether a combatant is wounded, looking at heat signatures or patterns of movement. But how does a machine identify whether the combatant is committing a hostile act?
It’s easy to get lost in the complexity of these questions. Yet for the ICRC, the equation is simple. New weapons technologies do not exist in a legal vacuum. Nor are they inherently good or bad, it depends on how they are used. But questions of legal compliance and ethical acceptability need to be addressed urgently, as technology threatens to outpace international discussions.
One practical means of addressing the questions posed by autonomous weapons already exists. Article 36 is barely five lines of text sitting in the first Additional Protocol to the Geneva Conventions. It is a pretty common-sense obligation, requiring states bound by the Protocol to determine whether new weapons or methods of warfare that they develop or acquire would violate international law.
Its intention is to ensure that states don’t develop or wield weapons that would violate their international obligations, particularly international humanitarian law. But out of 174 countries bound by this Protocol, fewer than 20 countries are known to conduct these kinds of legal reviews. In the Asia Pacific region, that includes Australia and New Zealand.
The reality remains that very little is known about how many states are complying with this obligation, and how. It’s an issue the ICRC actively pursues in its work around the world, seeking to build trust and confidence in legal reviews as a mechanism to match the explosion of new weapons rapidly becoming available.
Encouraging countries to talk to each other about weapons reviews in light of advancing technology is a foremost priority. But even national legal reviews cannot take the place of common international understandings about human control and the limits of autonomy in weapon systems.
Now is the moment for countries to agree upon strong, practical and future-proof limits on that autonomy.
* This article was updated following publication.
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PH-Sino games ruled out
Duterte changes tack to avoid provocations
posted October 20, 2016 at 12:01 am by John Paolo Bencito
BEIJING—President Rodrigo Duterte on Wednesday ruled out all joint military exercises with any superpower, be it the United States, China or Russia, to avoid further provocations in the South China Sea.
Speaking to Filipino journalists, Duterte maintained that there won’t be any deals on joint exploration or fishing rights in the South China Sea during his four-day state visit to China.
“There will be no military alliances brought in. I am just saying that we are not interested in adding fuel in what is already a volatile world,” Duterte said.
His latest statements seemed at odds with what he told Hong Kong-based Phoenix Television about being open to joint military exercises with China and Russia.
Asked if he would consider joint military exercises with the two countries, Duterte said: “Yes, I will. I have given enough time for the Americans to play with the Filipino soldiers.”
WELCOME MAT. President Rodrigo Duterte is greeted Wednesday in Beijing by Chinese Ambassador Zhao Jianhua as the Filipino leader, who is open to joint explorations in the West Philippine Sea, begins a four-day official visit during which he will meet with Chinese officials and businessmen to help boost Philippine economy. AFP
Duterte also repeated his vow to no longer participate in joint military exercises with the United States, the Philippines’ main defense ally and supplier of military hardware.
In the same interview, Duterte also denied newspaper reports that the Philippines is set to enter into a deal with China to jointly explore energy sources in the uncontested areas in the West Philippine Sea, working to find oil or natural gas in what is also known internationally as the South China Sea.
“No, I do not think it would be right,” Duterte said. “If you plan to give up and share what you have, then you cannot talk about it all along. At this time I am not in power to do that,” he said.
Foreign Affairs Secretary Perfecto Yasay Jr. also played down reports of joint exploration.
“We are not talking about joint exploration. This is not the right time to talk about joint exploration. We are just simply talking about how we can improve our ties with China without eroding or compromising our disputes, which is just a small portion of our relationship with China in regards with the South China Sea,” Yasay said.
On Sunday while on a state visit to Brunei, Duterte said he would raise the controversial arbitral ruling on the South China Sea with China’s leaders and vowed not to surrender any sovereignty or deviate from the July award by the tribunal in The Hague.
Duterte has not pressed Beijing over the tribunal’s ruling, apparently seeking to use that verdict as leverage with which to extract concessions from Beijing.
Instead of raising the issue, the President said that he would be asking Xi Jinping and the Chinese government for fishing rights of Filipino fishermen “in passing.”
“I will mention it in passing. Its very important because it’s livelihood. We will not look hard on who owns what because that is contested,” he added.
Duterte, who sought to cool off the icy relations with Beijing after an arbitral ruling in favor of the Philippines, maintained he will just focus on exploring economic cooperation with China instead.
The Chinese Foreign Ministry also emphasized the economic aspect of Duterte’s visit.
In another chance interview, Yasay said he had advised the President to “proceed with caution” in talking about the West Philippine Sea.
Yasay also emphasized that the President will focus on economic and trade deals.
“If you’re asking me about the trip to China, this is it. We are taking advantage of the opportunity of making sure that the other aspects of our relationship with our neighbor China will be pursued. This is the reason why we’re here. In the past, there has been a weakening of this relationship but now we see that there are opportunities that are being brought by our President’s call to make sure that we renew ties with our neighbors. And this is what we are doing,” Yasay said.
“We are not expecting alliances in terms of anything that others may have suggested, no. We are just treating our friends in an equal manner in carrying out our independent foreign policy,” he said.
A senior business official on Wednesday said the Philippines can tap into more than $3 billion in loan facilities offered by Bank of China to bankroll infrastructure and support for micro, small and medium enterprises once an agreement on China’s Silk Road Initiative has been reached.
“You see today we start talking about the Silk Road and its a very, very big name,” Philippine Silkroad International Chamber President Francis Chua said in an interview.
On Tuesday, President Rodrigo Duterte said that he wanted Manila to join Beijing’s proposed Belt and Road Initiative to make up for the country’s lack of funding for much-needed infrastructure.
Duterte likewise said that rapid development was hard to accomplish for any country without railways, and hoped China could offer soft loans to build them.
“There are so many things in my country which I would like to implement, but [cannot] for [the] lack of the capital stock,” Duterte said.
“If we can have the things you have given to other countries by the way of assistance, we’d also like to be a part of it and to be a part of the greater plans of China about the whole of Asia, particularly Southeast Asia.”
China’s most ambitious foreign policy initiative, the Belt and Road refers to the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road launched by the Chinese President Xi Jinping to promote economic cooperation among countries along the proposed Belt and Road routes.
The strategy underlines China’s push to take a bigger role in global affairs, and its need for cooperation in areas such as steel and manufacturing.
Duterte is scheduled to meet top leaders including President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Keqiang.
“Only China can help us,” he told the official Xinhua news agency Monday.
He was due to meet members of the Filipino community in Beijing later Wednesday.
The Philippines is hoping, among other things, that Beijing will repeal a ban on imports of its bananas -- an economic sanction intended to punish Manila for its South China Sea stance.
The Philippines is one of several coastal nations which dispute China’s claims to virtually all of the strategically vital waters. It has been a key player in the dispute, which is an issue of intense interest in both Washington and Beijing.
Tensions have risen between the US and China over Washington’s “pivot” to the Asia-Pacific, a move which Beijing says is intended to contain its rise.
Duterte has said his trip will focus on promoting economic ties. Foreign affairs spokesman Charles Jose has said: “There will be a lot, I mean a lot, of business contracts that will be signed.”
In an editorial Tuesday, China’s nationalistic Global Times newspaper called on the government to “reciprocate Duterte’s overture” by giving the Philippines access to fishing grounds near Scarborough Shoal -- a move which would imply that such rights were China’s to give.
“Filipino fishermen fish on a shoestring and are unlikely to jeopardize the ecosystem of China’s waters,” the paper said.
China took control of the shoal in 2012 after a standoff with the Philippine Navy. Manila has long claimed the feature for itself, maintaining that it controls the area’s fishing rights.
China itself has been accused of doing massive environmental damage to the South China Sea by building artificial islands, some with airstrips, capable of hosting military facilities.
In another editorial Wednesday, the Global Times said Washington had treated Manila “as a pawn” and Duterte was “redesigning Philippine foreign policy based on Philippine interests”.
Beijing has also enthusiastically endorsed Duterte’s war on drugs, which has seen more than 3,700 people killed and led the International Criminal Court to warn that those responsible could face charges.
China, which has frequently been criticised for its own approach to drug users, “is his best partner in the anti-drug fight”, the Global Times wrote. With AFP
Topics: President Rodrigo Duterte , China , Russia , United States , Joint military exercises , South China Sea
PH a sinking ship — FVR
Gina made a mess — Rody
US envoy snubs Du30, airs concerns
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MARGARETHE HUBAUER
I N T E R N A T I O N A L I L L U S T R A T I O N
On this page I wish to celebrate those exceptional artists who have accompanied us over the years. Here I take the opportunity to honour each of them for their unique and distinctive contribution to the world of illustration. I am forever grateful to them for their professionalism, integrity and amicable collaboration.
Yours, Margarethe Hubauer
Julian Allen
Julian Allen was born on September 2nd 1942 in Cambridge, England. He studied at the Cambridge College of Art and completed his post-graduate studies in Illustration and Print making at the Central College of Art in London. In 1973 his illustrations caught the attention of Clay Felker and Milton Glaser, then editor and art director of the newly created New York magazine. On their invitation Allen moved to New York to work as a contributing editor and resident artist. Julian’s illustrations have since appeared in nearly every major national and international magazine. He won numerous awards. In 1997 Julian Allen moved from his home in New York City’s TriBeCa district to Baltimore, Maryland, to fill the position of chair of the illustration department at The Maryland Institute College of Art, where his talents as chair, teacher and his charisma as an individual attracted enormous numbers of students. Julian’s life was cut short in 1998 when he succumbed to Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma. He is survived by his wife Victoria, a son, Rubin and daughter Holly both from previous marriages.
www.julianallen.com
Ary Bergen
Ary Bergen experimented already as a small boy with pencils and colours in his father’s studio, a well known Hamburg painter (1886-1950). 1940 he received an assistance to gifted students at the Hansischen Hochschule für Bildende Künste. After 1945 he lived and worked as an artist at the Bodensee, before he returned to Hamburg in 1949 where he worked with his father until his death.
From 1952 on Ary Bergen drew first title type for ‘Der Stern’, then as chief designer at the ‘Hamburger Morgenpost’ where he illustrated the daily novel, and later also for the ‘Hamburger Abendblatt’ before he got first commissions from ad agencies, like f.e. for Sprengel chocolates, one of the first illustrated campaigns. At the beginning of the 1980ies his cover illustrations for the magazine ‘Hoer Zu’ – fotorealistic genre-picutres with his typical little winks, that reminded of Norman Rockwell’s world – caught the attention of the public. Besides his works for advertising campaigns Ary Bergen illustrated close to twenty years series and novels for the magazine ‘Frau im Spiegel’.
David Grove
David Grove was an illustrator whose work was commissioned by a wide range of corporate, advertising, film, and publishing clients. Originally from Philadelphia, he began working as a free-lance illustrator in France and England and later moved to San Francisco. His work has won numerous awards and has been exhibited in San Francisco, Los Angeles, New York, Tokyo, and Paris.
In June 2007 David Grove was introduced into the Illustrators' Hall of Fame, New York. 'The Museum' of New York's Society of Illustrators presented David's works from June 5th to August 18th 2012.
David Grove's client list includes: American Airlines, Standard Oil, Time Warner, United States Navy, General Motors, Warner Bros., Universal Studios, Walt Disney, ARCO, Goodyear, Indianapolis 500, Pendelton Woolen Mills, Mercedes-Benz of North America, National Football League Properties Inc., Ballantine Books Inc., Bantam Books Inc., Penguin USA, Car & Driver, Road & Track, Automobile Magazines.
Book: 'David Grove An illustrated Life'
René Gruau
Rene Gruau was born in 1909 into an old Italian family as Count Renato Zavagli-Riciardelli delle Caminate. In the early 1930s, his mother moved to her native Paris where he took her family name, Gruau. Through his close friendship to Christian Dior, Gruau entered the world of advertising graphics and very soon he illustrated not only for Dior’s perfumes but for many famous luxury products. From the late 40s onward, the 'Gruau Style' blazed across the covers and pages of the world’s leading fashion magazines. Gruau’s designs, ads and illustrations characterize the graphic art of the forties and fifties as no other works have done. Retrospective exhibitions of his art have been held in Paris, Rome, Munich, Cologne, New York and Tokyo museums.
Galerie Bartsch & Chariau, München
When Antonio, born in Puerto Rico, was seven years old, the family migrated to New York where he upon graduation was accepted to the Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT). He worked for Fairchild Publications and the New York Times before he began a creative and business partnership with Juan Ramos, a friend from FIT. In the early 1960s, Antonio began to free-lance for fashion magazines such as Vogue, Harper’s Bazaar, Elle, and Andy Warhol’s Interview, where his portraits of models Jerry Hall, Jessica Lange, and Grace Jones enhanced their careers. In 1969, Lopez and Ramos moved to Paris, where they remained for seven years. They were central there with designer Karl Lagerfeld in a group of models and fashion personalities and helped introduce American Pop Art to Paris. Antonio’s career took him to Paris, Tokyo, Kyoto, Milan, Sidney, Melbourne, and other international locations. His work has been in shows in American and Japanese museums, at the Musee de la Mode in the Paris Louvre and at the London Royal College of Art.
Giorgio Mizzi
Giorgio Mizzi was born on April 13th in Milano, Italy.
Due to his artistic talent that showed already in his early childhood, he was accepted to the Scuola Superiore d'Arte im Castello Sforzesco in Milano at the age of 14. He experimented during the five years course with different media and found his favourite expression in working with aquarelles.
He gained his first professional experience in a Milanese studio, where large sized film posters were produced. Later Giorgio Mizzi worked for many international Advertising agencies and thus gave a special personal touch to numerous advertising campaigns.
In 1983 he moved with his family to Buxtehude in northern Germany, where he continued to work as freelance artist for the advertising industry. On the search for new forms of expression he produced paintings, often in large sizes, in order to give shape to his inner unrest that was always perceptible.
In January 2008 he died unexpectedly of heart failure.
At present some of his art work is shown in the travelling exhibition 'Pittori Italiani della Bassa Sassonia'.
Patrick Nagel
Patrick Nagel, born in Dayton, Ohio, was raised and spent most of his life in Los Angeles. After serving as a Ranger in Vietnam, Nagel attended the Chouinard Art Institute in Los Angeles in 1969, and in that same year he received his Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from California State University, Fullerton. In 1971, Nagel worked as a graphic designer for ABC Television. The following year, he began work as a freelance artist for major corporations and magazines. In 1976, Nagel began to regularly contribute images to Playboy magazine, which improved his exposure and the popularity of "the Nagel Woman" image to a huge audience. Nagel's 1982 painting for the album cover of rock group Duran Duran's hit album Rio would become one of his best known images. He also worked for many commercial clients. As his popularity grew he began offering limited edition prints of his work. In 1984, at the age of 38, the artist participated in a 15-minute celebrity 'Aerobathon' to raise funds for the American Heart Association. Afterwards, he was found dead in his car, and doctors determined by autopsy that he had suffered a heart attack.
Pham Van My
Pham van My, born in Hanoi, emigrated in 1954 with the family to Saigon. His school time was ruled by the war. In 1967 he came to France, took his Baccalauret and studied History of Art at the Sorbonne. After four years of studies at the Academie des Arts Appliqués he graduated with a diploma for Visuelle Communication. For a year he was 'accessoriste' with Ted Lapidus, meanwhile he worked on his portfolio hoping to move into illustration work before long. In 1977 'My' started as freelance illustrator, created fashion illustration and theater costumes. Soon his work for French Fashion and Women Magazines became well-known. Also advertising agencies quickly showed interest in his concise and colourful images.
'An influencial figure was A.M. Cassandre. Naturally I also admire the work of the greatest painters Picasso and Matisse, because above everything else I adore colour. At present I do a lot of collage work, but maybe in the future I will change. No one should stay doing the same thing for too long.'
On July 29th 2001 Pham van My was aggressed and beaten to death by a group of youngsters in Paris.
Sempé
*1932 in Bordeau, lives in Paris. Everyone knows the 'Little Nick', the 'Little Dancer' and 'Mr. Sommer' as well as Sempé's innumberable drawings, which have appeared not only in French media but also regularly in the' New Yorker' and in countless illustrated books. His drawings always tell affectionately observed everyday stories of ordinary people about whom he learns the most when he watches them, as he said. From an interview he is quoted with the phrase: "To be human requires an enormous amount of bravery"; and he draws, "because I do not understand myself and because I do not understand the world".
I think back with great pleasure and gratitude to my cooperation with Sempé - although he mostly refused my requests for advertising campaigns with the sentence: 'Oh non, je suis désolé, mais cela me renderait malheureux pendent des mois' ('Oh no, I'm sorry, but that would keep me unhappy for months'). I like to remember conversations full of friendly humour and his reliable way of working, e. g. for the print campaign of Crédit Suisse at the end of the 90s, which Sempé - thanks to the virtually tailor-made concept of the McCann Zurich creative team - put into practice with obvious pleasure.
Photo: Galerie Bartsch & Chariau, München
© Margarethe Hubauer International Illustration 2019
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Midfielder Borja Fernandez has become an Asteras Tripolis FC new player, team of the Greek Super League, for the next two seasons.
The Galician player comes from the Miedz Legnica, Polish team where he has played this last season. Borja has been one of the most outstanding players of the team, after having played a total of 35 matches (30 in League and 5 in the Cup).
After the announcement of this signing, Borja will complete his second adventure away from Spain, after this first instance in Poland. A short stage, but fruitful, because he can to grow a lot as a football player. Now, the 23-year-old hopes to continue making progress in the Hellenic country.
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Data show Hispanics more likely to relate to Democrats - Washington Times DEMS ARE THE PARTY of LA RAZA SUPREMACY -
Data show Hispanics more likely to relate to Democrats - Washington Times
http://mexicanoccupation.blogspot.com/2012/05/california-under-gringo-paid-la-raza.html
WHAT DO ILLEGALS AND OBAMA HAVE IN COMMON?
THEY ALL LOATHE AMERICANS, HAVE CONTEMPT FOR OUR LAWS, BORDERS AND PUSH AN AGENDA OF LA RAZA SUPREMACY.
IN CA ILLEGALS ARE ABOVE THE LAWS THEY BREAK DAILY. THE LA RAZA CONTROLLED STATE LEGISLATURE JUST PASSED A LAW MAKING IT ILLEGAL FOR EMPLOYERS TO USE E-VERIFY, DESPITE THE FACT THAT 90% OF ALL SERVICE AND CONSTRUCTION SECTOR JOBS ARE HELD BY ILLEGALS USING STOLEN SOCIAL SECURITY NUMBERS.
CA IS A STATE IN MELTDOWN! THE STATE HAS DEFICITS OF $16 BILLION AND STILL HANDS OUT $20 BILLION PER YEAR IN SOCIAL SERVICES TO ILLEGALS.
LOS ANGELES COUNTY ALONE PUTS OUT AN ADDITIONAL $600 MILLION PER YEAR IN WELFARE TO ANCHOR BABY BREEDERS.
ACCORDING TO CA ATTORNEY GEN, NEARLY HALF OF ALL MURDERS IN CA ARE BY MEX GANGS!
“The Obama administration will sue Arizona for trying to help Washington enforce federal immigration laws, but flatly rejects the notion of suing sanctuary cities that blatantly defy those same laws.”
FROM JUDICIAL WATCH - GET ON THEIR E-NEWS!
2 Illegal Aliens Protected By Sanctuary Policies Convicted Of Murder
In unrelated cases that illustrate the high price communities pay for sanctuary policies, two illegal immigrants—both with extensive criminal records—were convicted of first-degree murder this week in different parts of a border state that has longed protected the undocumented.
In San Francisco a jury found Edwin Ramos, a renowned gang banger, guilty of three first-degree murder counts for the 2008 killings of a 48-year-old man and his two sons. Ramos had a lengthy criminal record when he murdered the family, but San Francisco sanctuary laws shielded him from deportation.
Judicial Watch obtained public records that show police knew Ramos was an active member of the notoriously violent MS-13 street gang and that he had numerous run ins with the law, including arrests for weapons and gang-related charges. Furthermore, police knew Ramos was in the U.S. illegally yet released him after every encounter. In short, the records obtained by JW prove that don’t-ask-don’t tell sanctuary policies protect illegal alien gang bangers and put American citizens at risk.
Regardless, the famously liberal northern California city has long protected illegal immigrants and offered them costly public services that should be reserved for legal residents and citizens. In fact, illegal aliens are assured through costly, Spanish-language advertisement campaigns that they will never be reported to federal officials. In 2007 San Francisco became the nation’s first large municipality to offer illegal aliens official government identification cards.
A few hundred miles south in Los Angeles, another illegal immigrant gang banger (Pedro Espinoza) was also convicted of first-degree murder this week for gunning down a standout high school football player in 2008. Jurors deliberated for about four hours before reaching a verdict, according to a local news report, that says Espinoza proudly sports a tattoo with the initials “B.K,” which police says stands for “Blood Killer.”
Espinoza had just completed a jail sentence for a previous felony when he murdered the 17-year-old star running back, Jamiel Shaw, as he walked home. Like San Francisco Los Angeles has strict policies banning law enforcement officers from inquiring about suspects’ immigration status. In this case it allowed a violent gang banger to gun down a talented young athlete who was being recruited by top colleges.
JW has led a nationwide effort to eradicate don’t-ask-don’t-tell law enforcement policies like the ones that led to these horrific crimes. JW has filed lawsuits against police departments in Chicago, Los Angeles and Houston where officers are prohibited from inquiring about suspects’ immigration status.
The Cost of Sanctuary Policies
May 14, 2012 By Jack Martin 1 Comment
A recent criminal case in California highlights the human costs of looking the other way when illegal aliens are apprehended and then turned loose rather than being placed on deportation proceedings.
Marcos Lopez Garcia, an illegal alien, pled guilty to manslaughter in a hit-and-run case that killed a 4-year-old in Santa Rosa, California, in August 2011. He now faces a 5½ year sentence. Lopez had two prior arrests for driving without a license and without insurance, most recently in June 2010. At that time he was given a one-year conditional sentence. (See Sacramento Bee, May 14, 2012, and KSRO News, May 11, 2012)
The news accounts do not explain why Lopez was not reported to the immigration authorities, although the likely explanation is misguided sanctuary policies. But, even if he had been turned over to the authorities, under the current prioritization policy of the administration, Lopez would not have been a priority case, and likely would not have been taken into custody by ICE.
SANCTUARY CITY BALTIMORE – THE SPREAD OF MEX SUPREMACY
Illegal Aliens Want Sanctuary Policies In Writing
Last Updated: Fri, 08/27/2010 - 3:34pm
Lawmakers and police in a major U.S. city have reassured illegal immigrants that they’re protected under longtime sanctuary policies amid demands from open borders advocates that the measures be formalized in writing.
A group of Latino activists, clergy and civil rights leaders took to the street this week to command Baltimore officials to further solidify the city’s measures to shield illegal aliens from federal authorities. Like many law enforcement agencies across the nation, Baltimore Police bans its officers from inquiring about suspects’ immigration status.
Now emboldened illegal immigrants want the policy in writing to reduce crime and help bridge the gap between officers and immigrants after the recent murders of three Hispanic men in the area. The most recent victim, a Honduran, was clubbed and beaten with a wooden stake by a mentally disturbed teen who professed to hate “Mexicans.” Illegal immigrants are more prone to cooperate in these sorts of police investigations if the department has a written don’t-ask-don’t-tell immigration policy, their advocates say.
But Baltimore Police Chief Frederick Bealefeld asserts that a written policy is unnecessary because his officers never ask about immigration status as per the citywide sanctuary measures. In the three years he’s served as department head, Bealefeld says he hasn’t heard “one utterance on enforcement of immigration laws.” For their part, city officials assure residents that they should trust police to focus on fighting violent crime, not enforcing immigration laws.
This week a Maryland legislator threw a wrench in Baltimore’s sanctuary public relations campaign by announcing a proposed bill that will give citizens the power to sue public officials who violate federal immigration laws. If the measure passes, citizens can file complaints against public officials in circuit court and, if convicted, the official could be booted from office or face criminal charges.
http://mexicanoccupation.blogspot.com/2011/11/sanctuary-cities-la-raza-occupation.html
OBAMA’S PROMISE TO HIS LA RAZA PARTY BASE:
OPTION ONE
AMNESTY, AND EXPANDED LA RAZA SUPREMACY – There is a reason why his administration is infested with LA RAZA part members!
OPTION TWO
CONTINUED NON-ENFORCEMENT
NO PRESIDENT IN HISTORY HAS SABOTAGED OUR BORDERS MORE AS HE’S SQUANDERED TRILLIONS ON MUSLIM BORDERS.
THERE IS NOTHING BARACK OBAMA WILL NOT DO FOR THE ILLEGALS’ VOTES!
VIVA LA RAZA SUPREMACY? OBAMA IS FUNDING IT FROM YOUR WHITE HOUSE WITH YOUR TAX DOLLARS!
DEPT. of HOMELAND SECURITY = PATHWAY TO CITIZENSHIP, OUR JOBS AND LA RAZA SUPREMACY. IT HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH HOMELAND SECURITY. JUST ASK THE MEXICAN DRUG CARTELS NOW OPERATING OUT OF 2,500 AMERICAN CITIES! THEY ENDORSE OBAMA’S OPEN AND UNDEFENDED BORDER POLICIES!
Senators Tell DHS To Stop Ignoring Illegal Alien Sanctuaries
By Judicial Watch Blog
Created 4 Nov 2011 - 12:22pm
While the Justice Department focuses on taking action against state laws to combat illegal immigration, a group of U.S. Senators is asking the Obama Administration to stop ignoring local ordinances that undermine federal laws by offering undocumented aliens sanctuary.
In battling local immigration control measures nationwide, the DOJ has claimed that they conflict with federal immigration law [1]and undermine the government’s careful balance of immigration enforcement priorities and objectives. The Obama Administration has made this argument recently in cases against Arizona and Alabama.
But what is the administration doing about local governments that refuse to cooperate with federal immigration authorities and blatantly ignore the legal status of arrested individuals? A group of Senate Judiciary Committee members posed the question to Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano this week.
They specifically mentioned Cook County Illinois where local authorities openly flip the finger at the feds by refusing to report illegal immigrants who come in contact with police, even dangerous criminals. In fact, in 2007 Judicial Watch took legal action [2] against the Chicago Police Department—which has a don’t-ask-don’t-tell immigration policy—after learning of an illegal immigrant sanctuary resolution that was being considered by Cook County’s Board of Commissioners at the time.
In a letter [3] to Napolitano this week, the Judiciary Committee members—senators Chuck Grassley (Iowa), John Cornyn (Texas), Tom Coburn (Oklahoma) and Jeff Sessions (Alabama)—cite a recent meeting with a high-ranking Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) official who confirmed that Cook County creates a major problem for enforcement efforts. In fact, the ICE associate director of removal operations said Cook County’s egregious example of sanctuary city policies presents “an accident waiting to happen.”
So the senators ask Napolitano: “We would like to know what specific steps have been and will be taken by your Department to compel Cook County to reverse its policy of ignoring immigration detainers. In addition, we would request an overview of meetings held between federal officials and Cook County, including any emails or other documentation that exist, to understand how the federal government has been or is attempting to rectify the situation.”
Napolitano is urged to take a direct role in the matter by the lawmakers who remind the Homeland Security Secretary that Cook County’s ordinance creates a “serious threat to the public’s safety” that requires Napolitano’s “immediate and personal attention.” It’s a matter of national security, the veteran senators assert.
Americans shouldn’t hold their breath. The Obama Administration is too busy fighting local measures that are viewed as “discriminatory” and “anti-immigrant” by the open borders movement. In fact, the DOJ even created a secret group [4] within the bloated civil rights division to monitor laws passed by states and local municipalities to control illegal immigration.
Judicial Watch has been a frontrunner in the nationwide battle to combat illegal immigration and earlier this year filed a motion [5] on behalf of the Arizona State Legislature in the Obama Administration’s lawsuit challenging its tough law. JW has also sued police departments across the country for practicing don’t-ask-don’t-tell immigration policies and has led an effort to shut down taxpayer-funded day laborer centers. Read all about JW's work involving illegal immigration here [6].
Obama Administration Refuses to Sue Sanctuary Cities
Less than a week after suing Arizona to block its immigration law, SB 1070, critics are pressing the Obama administration to go after “sanctuary cities” that deliberately look the other way when it comes to illegal immigration. The Department of Justice last week responded that it will not sue these cities, which prohibit local law enforcement from inquiring about an individual’s legal status or alerting immigration authorities when they encounter illegal immigrants, because it believes passive refusal to follow the law is not as egregious as Arizona’s passage of a law that “actively interferes” with federal law. Justice Department spokeswoman for Attorney General Eric Holder inexplicably argued, “There is a big difference between a state or locality saying they are not going to use their resources to enforce a federal law, as so-called sanctuary cities have done, and a state passing its own immigration policy that actively interferes with federal law.” (The Washington Times, July 14, 2010).
Representative Lamar Smith (R-TX), who authored the 1996 federal law which requires states and localities to cooperate with federal authorities on immigration enforcement, criticized the Justice Department’s politically convenient stance on sanctuary cities. "For the Justice Department to suggest that they won't take action against those who passively violate the law …. is absurd," said Rep. Smith. "Will they ignore individuals who fail to pay taxes? Will they ignore banking laws that require disclosure of transactions over $10,000? Of course not." (The Washington Times, July 14, 2010).
Arizona Governor Jan Brewer has also noted the irony of the Obama administration’s refusal to sue localities to strike down their sanctuary policies, which she said could also be considered a “patchwork” of immigration laws across the country. (Brewer Statement, July 6, 2010). Senator David Vitter (R-LA) similarly noted, “This administration’s idea of immigration enforcement is to go after the states and local officials actually trying to enforce the laws on the books. They are demonizing those that look to protect our border and end illegal immigration while giving a wink and nod of approval to sanctuary cities that don't enforce our laws.” (Vitter Press Release, July 15, 2010).
8 New American Gateways For Immigrants
By Neema P. Roshania, Kiplinger.com
The economic recovery may be slow and uncertain. Immigration remains a hot button political issue. But there's one positive trend that will keep benefiting smaller cities in the years ahead: Their growing appeal to immigrant poppulations.
Though New York, Los Angeles, Miami, Chicago and other large U.S. cities remain hubs for immigrants, newcomers from abroad are increasingly settling in smaller communities across the U.S., lured by a lower cost of living, more job opportunities, and a support structure of fellow immigrants. In return, these communities get a rejuvenated work force and a consumer base.
Here are eight rapidly emerging gateway communities for immigrants. All are likely to remain popular with foreign newcomers, despite stepped-up enforcement of federal immigration laws. Some may surprise you.
Benton/Washington Counties, Ark.
Home to large employers such as Wal-Mart in Bentonville and Tyson Foods in nearby Springdale, these northwest Arkansas counties have seen enormous growth in their immigrant populations over the past decade.
Foreign born residents now make up more than 20% of Springdale's population. The area's chicken farms, construction industry, corporate headquarters, and low cost of housing remain a strong magnet.
With Hispanics accounting for most of the increase, the region is seeing more ethnic bakeries, restaurants, media outlets, and other businesses. The once nearly homogeneous local school districts have added English as a second language to their curricula in addition to special programs to help involve parents in their children's education.
Portland and Salem, Ore. (Marion/Multnomah counties)
The growth of the area's technology industry draws highly skilled immigrant workers to northwest Oregon, where they're joining earlier arrivals -- refugees from Southeast Asia, Africa, eastern Europe and Russia.
Fairfax County, Va.
In this large suburban county bordering Washington, D.C., immigrants make up almost 30% of the population. The recession hasn't been felt here as much as it has in other parts of the country and construction, and service jobs are still plentiful. Fairfax County is across the Potomac River from the nation's capital, which, along with other large cities, has long been a draw for immigrants.
There's also a strong immigrant presence among service workers, especially in health care, restaurants, and cleaning services. Nearly 40% of the region's immigrant population arrived within the past decade. Many own their own businesses. And they are encouraging more family members and friends from the old country to join them.
Shelbyville, Tenn. (Bedford County)
Though the foreign born population in Shelbyville hovers around the national average, the small city and its environs have become a mecca for refugees from Egypt, Myanmar (formerly known as Burma), and Somalia. There are jobs in Shelbyville's food processing plants and other factories.
Cape Coral, Fla. (Lee County)
Southwest Florida's Gulf Coast has strong agriculture and service sectors. In 2000, Cape Coral's foreign born population was 8.7%, relatively low compared with national average of 11.1%. In the past decade it has increased by about 250% -- putting it above the national average.
Boise, Id. (Ada County)
Attracted to the area by job opportunities in agriculture and an affordable cost of living, Boise's immigrant population has climbed by more than 50% over the past decade.
Gwinnett County, Ga.
The foreign born population in Gwinnett County has more than doubled since 2000, and now represents about 25% of the county's total population. Drawn to the area by an abundance of jobs in the service sector and the low cost of housing, the immigrants are mostly Hispanic. They are carving out a livelihood in a region where blacks have traditionally been the most visible minority. Gwinnett also has one of the highest rates of illegal immigration in the U.S. -- authorities estimate that half of all foreign born residents of the county are unauthorized.
Raleigh-Durham-Cary, N.C. (Wake/Durham/Chatham Cos.)
North Carolina's 394% immigrant growth rate in the 1990s was the fastest among Southern states, and the trend has continued in the 21st century. The Raleigh-Durham area has been hub to much of this growth.
The draw? Affordable housing and jobs at Research Triangle Park -- one of the country's largest technology development centers -- as well as in the construction and service sectors. The recession and stricter enforcement of immigration laws in the Tar Heel State are slowing immigration growth -- at least for now. But many experts think migration could pick up again as the economy recovers.
In Pictures: 8 New American Gateways for Immigrants
Sources: Census Bureau, University of Southern California, Moody's Economy.com
MEXICO BUILDS THE LA RAZA “THE RACE” WELFARE STATE IN OUR BORDERS
Lou Dobbs Tonight Monday, February 11, 2008
In California, League of United Latin American Citizens has adopted a resolution to declare "California Del Norte" a sanctuary zone for immigrants. The declaration urges the Mexican government to invoke its rights under the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo "to seek third-nation neutral arbitration of ....disputes concerning immigration laws and their enforcement." We’ll have the story. Last year, Prince William County, Virginia passed an initiative to allow local police to check the immigration status of anyone in police custody. The county recently held its first immigration training session for local police officers. We’ll have a look inside the training. Mexican President Felipe Calderon is in New York today on the first leg his five-day tour across America to meddle in immigration issues in the United States. This is his first visit to the U.S. since he became President in 2006, but he will not meet with President Bush or any of the presidential candidates, who he has accused of spewing anti-immigrant rhetoric (READ UP ON WHAT MEXICO DOES TO IMMIGRANTS AND ILLEGALS IN THEIR OWN COUNTRY. IT WOULD HAVE MADE THE NAZIS JEALOUS – NEVER UNDERESTIMATE MEXICO’S STAGGERING HYPOCRISY!) .
Tuesday, September 4, 2007 In his first state of the union speech since becoming president of Mexico, Felipe Calderon criticized the U.S. government and its efforts to shut down illegal immigration. During the speech Calderon proclaimed that “Mexico does not end at its borders” and that “where there is a Mexican, there is a Mexico.” Tune in for a full report on Calderon’s vigorous fight to protect Mexican interests in the United States—even when they’re built on illegal immigration. CALDERON, VIA HIS LA RAZA OCCUPATION HEADQUARTERS IN MORE THAN 50 MEXICAN CONSULATES, HAS SUE AMERICAN STATES TO KEEP THE BORDERS OPEN, DEMANDED EXPANDED HEALTHCARE, AND HAS SAID HELL NO!!! TO HAVING MEXICAN CRIMINALS EXPORTED BACK TO NARCOMEX SO THAT COUNTRY PAYS THEIR OWN PRISON COSTS!
SINCE THE BELOW WAS PUBLISHED, LA RAZA SUPREMACIST BARACK OBAMA WAS ELECTED WITH A PLATFORM OF OPEN BORDERS, NO E-VERIFY, NO LEGAL NEED APPLY, CATCH AND THEN RELEASE MEX CRIMINALS, OPEN BORDERS FOR MEX TRUCKERS HAULING DRUGS AND ILLEGALS, AND AMNESTY or at least CONTINUED NON-ENFORCEMENT.
WIKILEAKS HAS PUBLISHED OBAMA’S LA RAZA AGENDA OF OPEN BORDERS. IT’S ALL BOUT KEEPING WAGES DEPRESSED.
In his state of the union address to the Mexican nation, Calderon established his imperialistic imperatives: "I have said that Mexico does not stop at its border, that wherever there is a Mexican, there is Mexico. And, for this reason, the government action on behalf of our countrymen is guided by principles, for the defense and protection of their rights." ILLEGALS HAVE MORE “RIGHTS” OR LET’S CALL IT LA RAZA SUPREMACY IN OUR BORDERS THAN THEY DO IN THEIR OWN! THAT’S WHY MEXICO’S BIGGEST EXPORTS NEXT TO DRUGS, ARE CRIMINALS, THE POOR, AND PREGNANT WOMEN!
COLORADO IS NOW 20% ILLEGAL. NEVADA IS 35% ILLEGAL. MEXIFORNIA IS NOW55% ILLEGAL AND BREEDING LIKE BUNNIES!
DICK LAMM, GOVERNOR OF COLORADO on the LA RAZA AGENDA and the DEATH OF THE AMERICAN DREAM
We know Dick Lamm as the former Governor of Colorado. In that context his thoughts are particularly poignant. Last week there was an immigration overpopulation conference in Washington, DC, filled to capacity by many of America's finest minds and leaders. A brilliant college professor by the name of Victor Hansen Davis talked about his latest book, "Mexifornia," explaining how immigration - both legal and illegal was destroying the entire state of California. He said it would march across the country until it destroyed all vestiges of The American Dream.
Moments later, former Colorado Governor Richard D. Lamm stood up and gave a stunning speech on how to destroy America. The audience sat spellbound as he described eight methods for the destruction of the United States. He said, "If you believe that America is too smug, too self-satisfied, too rich, then let's destroy! America. It is not that hard to do. No nation in history has survived the ravages of time. Arnold Toynbee observed that all great civilizations rise and fall and that 'An autopsy of history would show that all great nations commit suicide.'"
"Here is how they do it," Lamm said: "First, to destroy America, turn America into a bilingual or multi-lingual and bicultural country." History shows that no nation can survive the tension, conflict, and antagonism of two or more competing languages and cultures. It is a blessing for an individual to be bilingual; however, it is a curse for a society to be bilingual. The historical scholar, Seymour Lipset, put it this way: "The histories of bilingual and bi-cultural societies that do not assimilate are histories of turmoil, tension, and
tragedy." Canada, Belgium, Malaysia, and Lebanon all face crises of national existence in which minorities press for autonomy, if not independence. Pakistan and Cyprus have divided. Nigeria suppressed an ethnic rebellion. France faces difficulties with Basques, Bretons, and Corsicans."
Lamm went on: Second, to destroy America, "Invent 'multiculturalism' and encourage immigrants to maintain their culture. I would make it an article of belief that all cultures are equal. That there are no cultural differences. I would make it an article of faith that the Black and Hispanic dropout rates are due solely to prejudice and
discrimination by the majority. Every other explanation is out of bounds.
Third, "We could make the United States an 'Hispanic Quebec' without much effort. The key is to celebrate diversity rather than unity. As Benjamin Schwarz said in the Atlantic Monthly recently: "The apparent success of our own multiethnic and multicultural experiment might have been achieved not by tolerance but by hegemony. Without the dominance that once dictated ethnocentricity and what it meant to be an American, we! are left with only tolerance and pluralism to hold us together." Lamm said, "I would encourage all immigrants to keep their own language and culture. I would replace the melting pot metaphor with the salad bowl metaphor. It is important to ensure that we have
various cultural subgroups living in America enforcing their differences rather than as Americans, emphasizing their similarities."
"Fourth, I would make our fastest growing demographic group the least educated. I would add a second underclass, unassimilated, undereducated, and antagonistic to our population. I would have this second underclass have a 50% dropout rate from high school."
"My fifth point for destroying America would be to get big foundations and business to give these efforts lots of money. I would invest in ethnic identity, and I would establish the cult of 'Victimology.' I would get all minorities to think that their lack of success was the fault of the majority. I would start a grievance industry blaming all
minority failure on the majority population."
"My sixth plan for America's downfall would include dual citizenship, and promote divided loyalties. I would celebrate diversity over unity. I would stress differences rather than similarities. Diverse people worldwide are mostly engaged in hating each other - that is, when they are not killing each other. A diverse, peaceful, or stable society is against most historical precedent. People undervalue the unity it takes to keep a nation together. Look at the ancient Greeks. The Greeks believed that they belonged to the same race; they possessed a common language and literature; and they worshipped the same gods. All Greece took part in the Olympic games. A common enemy, Persia, threatened their liberty. Yet all these bonds were not strong enough to overcome two factors: local patriotism and geographical conditions that nurtured political divisions. Greece fell. "E. Pluribus Unum" -- From many, one. In that historical reality, if we put the emphasis on the 'pluribus' instead of the 'Unum,' we will balkanize America as surely as Kosovo."
"Next to last, I would place all subjects off limits; make it taboo to talk about anything against the cult of 'diversity.' I would find a word similar to 'heretic' in the 16th century - that stopped discussion and paralyzed thinking. Words like 'racist' or 'xenophobe' halt discussion and debate. Having made America a bilingual/bicultural country, having established multi-culturism, having the large foundations fund the! doctrine of 'Victimology,' I would next make it impossible to enforce our immigration laws. I would develop a mantra: That because immigration has been good for America, it must always be good. I would make every individual immigrant symmetric and ignore the cumulative impact of millions of them."
In the last minute of his speech, Governor Lamm wiped his brow. Profound silence followed. Finally he said,. "Lastly, I would censor Victor Hanson Davis's book "Mexifornia." His book is dangerous. It exposes the plan to destroy America. If you feel America. deserves to be destroyed, don't read that book."
There was no applause. A chilling fear quietly rose like an ominous cloud above every attendee at the conference Every American in that room knew that everything Lamm enumerated was proceeding methodically, quietly, darkly, yet pervasively across the United States today.
Discussion is being suppressed. Over 100 languages are ripping the foundation of our educational system and national cohesiveness. Even barbaric cultures that practice female genital mutilation are growing as we celebrate 'diversity.' American jobs are vanishing into the Third World as corporations create a Third World in America - take note of California and other states - to date, ten million illegal aliens and growing fast. It is reminiscent of George Orwell's book "1984." In that story, three slogans are engraved in the Ministry of Truth building: "War is peace," "Freedom is slavery," and "Ignorance is strength."
Governor Lamm walked back to his seat. It dawned on everyone at the conference that our nation and the future of this great democracy is deeply in trouble and worsening fast. If we don't get this immigration monster stopped within three years, it will rage like a California wildfire and destroy everything in its path, especially The American Dream.
Hans A. von Spakovsky
Law-Enforcement-Free Sanctuaries
The Obama administration will sue Arizona for trying to help Washington enforce federal immigration laws, but flatly rejects the notion of suing sanctuary cities that blatantly defy those same laws. That announcement two weeks ago revealed the hypocrisy and utter contempt for the rule of law rampant in Eric Holder’s Justice Department.
It was the latest example of the Department letting partisan politics, rather than the interests of justice and the impartial enforcement of the law, drive its legal decisions. In this instance, it both threatens national security and undermines public confidence in our legal system.
The very weakness of the Department’s legal arguments in the Arizona suit betrays its political genesis. As the brief filed on behalf of Arizona by nine other states persuasively argues, Arizona is not interfering with federal authority: it has neither created new categories of aliens nor attempted to independently determine the immigration status of aliens. Arizona’s law simply requires local law enforcement officers to check the immigration status of individuals arrested for other reasons. This is exactly the regulatory scheme of concurrent enforcement envisioned by federal immigration law.
The Justice Department’s suit directly contradicts the 2005 Supreme Court decision in Muehler v. Mena. In that case, all nine justices upheld the right of local police officers to question a detained individual’s immigration status while a search warrant was being executed. The suit also flies in the face of Estrada v. Rhode Island, in which the First Circuit Court of Appeals this February upheld a state trooper’s questioning of immigration status during a traffic stop. This is the exact policy being implemented in Arizona.
Federal courts have long upheld the power of state law enforcement officers to arrest those who violate federal law, as long as it is also a violation of state law, includingimmigration laws. The inherent authority of local police to arrest immigration violators was outlined in 2002 in a legal memorandum issued by the Department of Justice’s Office of Legal Counsel. Yet Attorney General Holder has filed a lawsuit making claims completely at odds with an opinion issued by his own department.
Holder’s suit also conflicts directly with federal immigration law. The Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996 (8 U.S.C. §1373) specifically mandates that no federal, state, or local government can “prohibit, or in any way restrict, any government entity or official from sending to, or receiving from, the Immigration and Naturalization Service [now Immigration and Customs Enforcement or ICE], information regarding the citizenship or immigration status, lawful or unlawful, of any individual,” a provision upheld by the Second Circuit Court of Appeals in 1999. Congress wanted local governments to get information on immigration status from the federal government – and that is exactly what the Arizona law requires for anyone arrested in the state. Yet Holder is trying to prevent Arizona officials from checking “the citizenship or immigration status” of “any individual.”
Now we’re awaiting a ruling by a federal judge on the Justice Department’s request for a temporary injunction to stop the law from going into effect on Thursday. It’s clear, though, that the only way that judge could possibly rule in the Department’s favor is by ignoring the law and this precedent.
Justice Department spokesman Tracy Schmaler asserts that Arizona is “actively” interfering with federal law while sanctuary cities are just not using their resources to enforce federal law. This bogus claim displays fundamental ignorance of these federal legal requirements. Rep. Lamar Smith of Texas, the ranking Republican on the House Judiciary committee and the chief author of the 1996 immigration law, rightly calls it “absurd.” Cities like San Francisco not only do not enforce federal immigration laws, some violate it by protecting aliens from deportation and refusing to cooperate with or provide information to immigration officials.
As the nine states note in their brief, the Justice Department is trying to negate the “preexisting power of the States to verify a person’s immigration status and similarly seeks to reject the assistance that the States can lawfully provide to the Federal government.” Holder’s claim that Arizona is interfering with federal power to regulate immigration is near frivolous.
Arizona simply requires that law enforcement personnel (1) ascertain the immigration status of people they have lawfully detained for some other reason and (2) report to the federal government the presence of any detainee determined to be here illegally. If the Obama administration wants to ignore that information and reject that assistance, it has that option. The only possible “interference” with federal power is the risk that the feds might be publicly embarrassed by a policy of non-enforcement. Apparently the White House and DOJ consider embarrassment a federal offense.
Holder makes one further -- yet equally absurd -- claim: that by trying to deter the movement of illegal aliens into Arizona, the state is restricting interstate commerce and thus violates the Commerce Clause. How can deterring the entry of people who have no legal right to enter possibly violate interstate commerce? It is the same as saying that -- notwithstanding federal laws that bar importation of heroin -- a state that busts heroin traffickers is flouting the Commerce Clause.
Federal law stipulates that any person who “conceals, harbors, or shields from detection, or attempts to conceal, harbor, or shield from detection,” an illegal alien is committing a crime. It is also criminal just to “encourage” residence by illegal aliens. Yet sanctuary cities like San Francisco have enacted formal policies that embrace all these illegal acts. Such policies lead directly to further crimes, such as the vicious murder of a father and his two sons on a San Francisco street. The killer was an illegal alien with two prior felony convictions -- yet on neither occasion did San Francisco authorities notify the feds of his presence. Had they done so, he would not have been able to gun down Tony Bologna, 48, and his sons Michael, 20, and Matthew, 16, as they sat in their car on June 16, 2008.
Holder’s refusal to sue sanctuary cities is an abrogation of his responsibility as the nation’s chief federal law enforcement officer. Unlike Arizona, many of these cities have policies that violate federal law.
The Obama administration claims Arizona’s law will “disrupt federal immigration enforcement.” But the only thing it could possibly disrupt is federal non-enforcement. As the elections approach, Holder’s suit may help gin up enthusiasm among the president’s more radical political allies, such as La Raza. But using the law enforcement powers of the federal government to achieve political ends is a dangerous abuse of power.
FROM HIS LA RAZA SEC. OF LABOR, HILDA SOLIS, TO FORMER LA RAZA V.P. CECELIA MUNOZ, AND ON THE COURT LA RAZA SONIA SOTOMAYER, THE SELF-STYLED “WISE LATINA”… NO ADMINISTRATION HAS BEEN SO INFESTED WITH A FOREIGN POLITICAL PARTY AS OBAMA IS WITH THE MEXICAN FASCIST PARTY of LA RAZA!
TAX-PAYER FUNDING FOR LA RAZA HAS SOARED UNDER OBAMA!
FIFTEEN THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW ABOUT LA RAZA “THE RACE”
(get Malkin’s book on OBAMA NOTED below!)
Only in America could critics of a group called "The Race" be labeled racists. Such is the triumph of left-wing identity chauvinists, whose aggressive activists and supine abettors have succeeded in redefining all opposition as "hate."
Both Barack Obama and John McCain will speak this week in San Diego at the annual conference of the National Council of La Raza, the Latino organization whose name is Spanish for, yes, "The Race." Can you imagine Obama and McCain paying homage to a group of white people who called themselves that? No matter. The presidential candidates and the media have legitimized "The Race" as a mainstream ethnic lobbying group and marginalized its critics as intolerant bigots. The unvarnished truth is that the group is a radical ethnic nationalist outfit that abuses your tax dollars and milks PC politics to undermine our sovereignty.
Here are 15 things you should know about "The Race":
15. "The Race" supports driver's licenses for illegal aliens.
14."The Race" demands in-state tuition discounts for illegal alien students that are not available to law-abiding U.S. citizens and law-abiding legal immigrants.
13. "The Race" vehemently opposes cooperative immigration enforcement efforts between local, state and federal authorities.
12. "The Race" opposes a secure fence on the southern border.
11. "The Race" joined the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee in a failed lawsuit attempt to prevent the feds from entering immigration information into a key national crime database -- and to prevent local police officers from accessing the data.
10. "The Race" opposed the state of Oklahoma's tough immigration-enforcement-first laws, which cut off welfare to illegal aliens, put teeth in employer sanctions and strengthened local-federal cooperation and information sharing.
9. "The Race" joined other open-borders, anti-assimilationists and sued to prevent Proposition 227, California's bilingual education reform ballot initiative, from becoming law.
8. "The Race" bitterly protested common-sense voter ID provisions as an "absolute disgrace."
7. "The Race" has consistently opposed post-9/11 national security measures at every turn.
6. Former "Race" president Raul Yzaguirre, Hillary Clinton's Hispanic outreach adviser, said this: "U.S. English is to Hispanics as the Ku Klux Klan is to blacks." He was referring to U.S. English, the nation's oldest, largest citizens' action group dedicated to preserving the unifying role of the English language in the United States. "The Race" also pioneered Orwellian open-borders Newspeak and advised the Mexican government on how to lobby for illegal alien amnesty while avoiding the terms "illegal" and "amnesty."
5. "The Race" gives mainstream cover to a poisonous subset of ideological satellites, led by Movimiento Estudiantil Chicano de Aztlan, or Chicano Student Movement of Aztlan (MEChA). The late GOP Rep. Charlie Norwood rightly characterized the organization as "a radical racist group … one of the most anti-American groups in the country, which has permeated U.S. campuses since the 1960s, and continues its push to carve a racist nation out of the American West."
4. "The Race" is currently leading a smear campaign against staunch immigration enforcement leaders and has called for TV and cable news networks to keep immigration enforcement proponents off the airwaves -- in addition to pushing for Fairness Doctrine policies to shut up their foes. The New York Times reported that current "Race" president Janet Murguia believes "hate speech" should "not be tolerated, even if such censorship were a violation of First Amendment rights."
3. "The Race" sponsors militant ethnic nationalist charter schools subsidized by your public tax dollars (at least $8 million in federal education grants). The schools include Aztlan Academy in Tucson, Ariz., the Mexicayotl Academy in Nogales, Ariz., Academia Cesar Chavez Charter School in St. Paul, Minn., and La Academia Semillas del Pueblo in Los Angeles, whose principal inveighed: "We don't want to drink from a White water fountain, we have our own wells and our natural reservoirs and our way of collecting rain in our aqueducts. We don't need a White water fountain … ultimately the White way, the American way, the neo liberal, capitalist way of life will eventually lead to our own destruction."
2. "The Race" has perfected the art of the PC shakedown at taxpayer expense, pushing relentlessly to lower home loan standards for Hispanic borrowers, reaping millions in federal "mortgage counseling" grants, seeking special multimillion-dollar earmarks and partnering with banks that do business with illegal aliens.
1. "The Race" thrives on ethnic supremacy -- and the elite sheeple's unwillingness to call it what it is. As historian Victor Davis Hanson observes: "[The] organization's very nomenclature 'The National Council of La Raza' is hate speech to the core. Despite all the contortions of the group, Raza (as its Latin cognate suggests) reflects the meaning of 'race' in Spanish, not 'the people' -- and that's precisely why we don't hear of something like 'The National Council of the People,' which would not confer the buzz notion of ethnic, racial and tribal chauvinism."
The fringe is the center. The center is the fringe. Viva La Raza.
“Wherever there’s a Mexican, there is Mexico!”... President Calderone. As an American living under Spanish speaking Mexican occupation, I would add to this “Where there’s a Mexican, there’s a violent Mexican gang!”
While Obama pushes war over there, he is equally intent on leaving our borders with NARCOMEX undefended, open and ready for business with the Mexican drug cartels.
The Administration's Phantom Immigration Enforcement Policy
According to DHS’s own reports, very little of our nation’s borders (Southwestern or otherwise) are secure, and gaining control is not even a goal of the department.
By Ira Mehlman
The setting was not quite the flight deck of the U.S.S. Abraham Lincoln with a “Mission Accomplished” banner as the backdrop, but it was the next best thing. Speaking at the Center for American Progress (CAP) on Nov. 13, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano declared victory over illegal immigration and announced that the Obama administration is ready to move forward with a mass amnesty for the millions of illegal aliens already living in the United States.
Arguing the Obama administration’s case for amnesty, Napolitano laid out what she described as the “three-legged stool” for immigration reform. As the administration views it, immigration reform must include “a commitment to serious and effective enforcement, improved legal flows for families and workers, and a firm but fair way to deal with those who are already here.”
Acknowledging that a lack of confidence in the government’s ability and commitment to effectively enforce the immigration laws it passes proved to be the Waterloo of previous efforts to gain amnesty for illegal aliens, Napolitano was quick to reassure the American public that those concerns could be put to rest.
“For starters, the security of the Southwest border has been transformed from where it was in 2007,” stated the secretary. Not only is the border locked up tight, she continued, but the situation is well in-hand in the interior of the country as well. “We’ve also shown that the government is serious and strategic in its approach to enforcement by making changes in how we enforce the law in the interior of the country and at worksites…Furthermore, we’ve transformed worksite enforcement to truly address the demand side of illegal immigration.”
If Rep. Joe Wilson had been in attendance to hear Secretary Napolitano’s CAP speech he might well have had a few choice comments to offer. But since he wasn’t, we will have to rely on the Department of Homeland Security’s own data to assess the veracity of Napolitano’s claims.
According to DHS’s own reports, very little of our nation’s borders (Southwestern or otherwise) are secure, and gaining control is not even a goal of the department. DHS claims to have “effective control” over just 894 miles of border. That’s 894 out of 8,607 miles they are charged with protecting. As for the other 7,713 miles? DHS’s stated border security goal for FY 2010 is the same 894 miles.
The administration’s strategic approach to interior and worksite enforcement is just as chimerical as its strategy at the border, unless one considers shuffling paper to be a strategy. DHS data, released November 18, show that administrative arrests of immigration law violators fell by 68 percent between 2008 and 2009. The department also carried out 60 percent fewer arrests for criminal violations of immigration laws, 58 percent fewer criminal indictments, and won 63 percent fewer convictions.
While the official unemployment rate has climbed from 7.6 percent when President Obama took office in January to 10 percent today, the administration’s worksite enforcement strategy has amounted to a bureaucratic game of musical chairs. The administration has all but ended worksite enforcement actions and replaced them with paperwork audits. When the audits determine that illegal aliens are on the payroll, employers are given the opportunity to fire them with little or no adverse consequence to the company, while no action is taken to remove the illegal workers from the country. The illegal workers simply acquire a new set of fraudulent documents and move on to the next employer seeking workers willing to accept substandard wages.
In Janet Napolitano’s alternative reality a mere 10 percent of our borders under “effective control” and sharp declines in arrests and prosecutions of immigration lawbreakers may be construed as confidence builders, but it is hard to imagine that the American public is going to see it that way. If anything, the administration’s record has left the public less confident that promises of future immigration enforcement would be worth the government paper they’re printed on.
As Americans scrutinize the administration’s plans to overhaul immigration policy, they are likely to find little in the “three-legged stool” being offered that they like or trust. The first leg – enforcement – the administration has all but sawed off. The second – increased admissions of extended family members and workers – makes little sense with some 25 million Americans either unemployed or relegated to part-time work. And the third – amnesty for millions of illegal aliens – is anathema to their sense of justice and fair play.
As Americans well know, declaring “Mission Accomplished” and actually accomplishing a mission are two completely different things. When it comes to enforcing immigration laws, the only message the public is receiving from this administration is “Mission Aborted.”
Obama soft on illegals enforcement
Arrests of illegal immigrant workers have dropped precipitously under President Obama, according to figures released Wednesday. Criminal arrests, administrative arrests, indictments and convictions of illegal immigrants at work sites all fell by more than 50 percent from fiscal 2008 to fiscal 2009.
The figures show that Mr. Obama has made good on his pledge to shift enforcement away from going after illegal immigrant workers themselves - but at the expense of Americans' jobs, said Rep. Lamar Smith of Texas, the Republican who compiled the numbers from the Department of Homeland Security's U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency (ICE). Mr. Smith, the top Republican on the House Judiciary Committee, said a period of economic turmoil is the wrong time to be cutting enforcement and letting illegal immigrants take jobs that Americans otherwise would hold.
FAIRUS.org
FEDERATION FOR AMERICAN IMMIGRATION REFORM
FAIR CHARACTERIZES THE OBAMA, AND LA RAZA DEMS PLAN FOR AMNESTY AS FOLLOWS:
That's why, throughout 2009 FAIR has been tracking every move the administration and Congress has made to undermine our immigration laws, reward illegal aliens and burden taxpayers.
Foot-dragging on proven methods of immigration law enforcement including border structures and E-Verify.
Appointment of several illegal alien advocates to important administration posts.
Watering down of the 287(g) program to limit local law in their own jurisdictions.
Health care reform that mandates a “public option” for newly-arrived legal immigrants as well as illegal aliens.
Data show Hispanics more likely to relate to Democ...
MEXICAN GANGS in VILLARAIGOSA'S MEX-INFESTED GANGL...
MEXICAN JOE LUIS SAENZ - LA RAZA GANG ON FBI MOST ...
Obama and His Criminal Banksters - THEIR FISCIAL C...
The “fiscal cliff” fraud - CUTTING SOCIAL SECURITY...
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Promoting MR for presidency
Is GL off his head
By Sandun A Jayasekera
Agriculture Minister Mahinda Amaraweera yesterday asked whether Prof. G.L. Peiris was out of his head to believe he had drafted and passed a separate Constitution other than the one in use in the country to speculate that former president Mahinda Rajapaksa could contest a presidential election for a third time.
The UPFA General Secretary said Prof. Peiris must be suffering either from dementia or sheer desperation to grab power because the 19th Amendment to the Constitution very clearly states that no one is permitted to contest a presidential election if he or she had held the post of executive president on two earlier occasions.
The 19th Amendment which replaced Article 31 of the 1998 Constitution has been amended by the inclusion of a new paragraph that says, ‘No person who has been twice elected to the office of President by the People, shall be qualified thereafter to be elected to such an office by the People’. No one needs to be a professor to understand this paragraph which has clearly stated that former president Rajapaksa is not qualified to contest the presidential election or get elected,” the minister said.
He told those gathered at a meeting held to educate Agriculture Research Assistant officers on accelerated agriculture projects that the joint opposition had planned to launch a protest march against the government on September 5 but the end result of such a meaningless protest would be inconvenience to millions of people who would be stranded on roads and offices.
“I have a feeling that the people have had enough of the mischief and misbehavior of joint opposition members. The railway commuters gave a good reply to railway employees who launched a lightning strike deserting hundreds of thousand of commuters at railway stations. I believe the same treatment would be meted out to protesters who blatantly disrupt public life,” the minister said.
Commenting on the setback to the agricultural sector, the minister said the agriculture sector had 27%n of the GDP a few decades ago but had dropped to 7.7% of the GDP.
“My attempt is to bring the agricultural sector to at least 25% of the GDP by 2020. That is why this acceleration programme. I expect your full support to achieve its objectives,” he said.
AG says President Sirisena’s term of office is 6 years
MS can hold office only for 5 years under 19A transitional provisions: Counsel
We will defeat Maithri if contested again: JVP
Parliament fires up over new Constitution
MR violating polls Act: Akila
JO will intervene and make submissions in SC
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Nicholas of Cusa’s Didactic Sermons: A Selection (review)
R. Emmet McLaughlin
Volume 95, Number 3, July 2009
10.1353/cat.0.0445
Nicholas of Cusa’s Didactic Sermons: A Selection
Nicholas of Cusa’s Didactic Sermons: A Selection. Translated and introduced by Jasper Hopkins. (Loveland, CO: Arthur J. Banning Press. 2008. Pp. xxx, 474. $40.00. ISBN 978-0-938-06053-8.)
In an accomplishment spanning over three decades and ten volumes, Jasper Hopkins has made Cardinal Nicholas of Cusa (1401–64) available to an English-speaking readership. This volume concludes what Hopkins has called his “major scholarly activity.” (p. iv) Intended as a companion to Nicholas of Cusa’s Early Sermons: 1430–1441 (Loveland, CO, 2003), the sermons in the present volume range more widely in time, between 1431 and 1459, with most from the years 1455–57. Most of them, therefore, were preached in Brixen. The texts are in greatly disparate lengths, since they are in different forms: sermon sketches, complete sermons, and transcriptions by hearers. [End Page 609] Some were in fact small treatises that must have expanded the original sermon considerably. All were written in Latin, even though most would have delivered in German. There are few references to the localities in which they were delivered; so Cusa likely excised them when he revised or reviewed the sermons for wider circulation. Hopkins admits that his own principles of selection and arrangement were “purely subjective.” He chose “the sermons that most appealed” to him and arranged them according to his “degree of interest” (p. iii). As a result, the sermons are presented neither chronologically nor thematically. The latter would have been very difficult in any event, since there could be several themes within a single sermon.
Although Cusa’s sermons are not scholastic thematic ones in format, the content and argumentation would strain the abilities of all but the most educated. In fact, Hopkins warns modern scholars that they dare not ignore them. Didactic does not quite capture the style; as Hopkins concedes, all of Cusa’s sermons were, after all, didactic. Perhaps academic would be a good description; exegetical even better. The sermons are highly intellectual with little appeal to the emotions, so the fact that St. Thomas Aquinas was an important source comes as no surprise. But Cusa was quite capable of trimming his sails to his audience. The remarkable little treatise on “Fides autem Catholica” (pp. 95–114) places faith above or even against intellect, something one would not expect from Cusa. While Hopkins argues that if one thinks very carefully about what Cusa said, one could actually place intellect at the pinnacle. That may be, but the sermon is clearly written to suggest the opposite. Cusa affirms the faith taught by the Church as a reliable standard, especially for those who had neither the time nor the talent for intellectual pursuits. The bishop had trumped the scholar.
As always, Hopkins’s translations are clear and reliable. He has also provided a helpful list of corrigenda to the Latin texts in the Opera Omnia, currently being published by the Heidelberg Akademie der Wissenschaften.1 Hopkins also includes a useful bibliography, although the volume lacks an index. Given the variety of topics found in the sermons, the latter would have been greatly appreciated.
1. Nicolai de Cusa opera omnia (Hamburg, 1959–).
Copyright © 2009 The Catholic University of America Press
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Nor'easters Head Coach Tim Oswald Wins CaptainU Coach of the Year
At the rate he’s going, Rutgers University-Camden and Ocean City Nor'easters men’s soccer Head Coach Tim Oswald is going to need a moving van to haul away all of his Coach of the Year honors
Article courtesy of Rutgers-Camden Athletics.
At the rate he’s going, Rutgers University-Camden and Ocean City Nor'easters men’s soccer Head Coach Tim Oswald is going to need a moving van to haul away all of his Coach of the Year honors.
Oswald just added another national honor when San Francisco-based CaptainU named him its Division III Men’s Soccer Coach of the Year for 2013. CaptainU is a large youth and college sports network that serves over 750,000 high school athletes, youth sports events, youth coaches and college coaches.
Oswald’s latest honor comes after a season in which his Scarlet Raptors posted a 23-1-2 record, advanced to their first national championship game and finished ranked No. 2 nationally in both the NSCAA andD3soccer.com Top 25 polls.
CaptainU release
Oswald also earned Coach of the Year honors from The Philly Soccer Page on December 31 after sweeping both national Division III Coach of the Year honors from the NSCAA and D3soccer.com. He also was named the NSCAA South Atlantic Region Coach of the Year and earned his second New Jersey Athletic Conference Coach of the Year honor in three seasons.
Oswald completed his eighth season with the Scarlet Raptors owning a stellar 122-39-22 record. His season started with his 100th career victory (1-0 at Muhlenberg College, August 30) and ended in the national championship game, where the Raptors lost to defending champion Messiah College, 2-1, in the second overtime.
During his tenure at Rutgers-Camden, Oswald’s teams have produced the only four NCAA tournament berths in program history (2008, 2011, 2012 and 2013) and the only three NJAC championships (2011, 2012 and 2013). His Scarlet Raptors also have won three ECAC Metro championships (2006, 2007 and 2010).
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(Redirected from Call)
MarketsWiki Page
Commodity Options and Agricultural Swaps
Designated Contract Market Regulation
Off-Exchange Forex Regulation
European Swaps Regulation - White Paper - Guidance to Report Transactions on OTC Derivative Instruments - CESR - February, 2010
An option is a financial instrument that conveys the right, but not the obligation, to buy or sell another financial instrument or asset at a specific price within a specific period of time. Options are traded either in the over-the-counter market or in the exchange-traded market.
The instruments were first introduced to the exchange community in April 1973, when Chicago Board Options Exchange began offering options on just a handful of companies (only calls and no puts until four years later in 1977). Today options on more than 50 exchanges worldwide cover stocks, stock indexes, currencies, interest rates, commodities, metals, energy products and other categories.
2 History of Options
3 U.S. Options Growth Over Time
4 Options Exchanges
5 Option Trading Strategies
An option provides an explicit structure for the potential transaction, detailing the exact type and quantity of financial instrument to be bought or sold, the price for the transaction, and the length of time that the transaction right will be granted.
Options are almost always sold in contracts that cover 100 shares of the underlying instrument. There have been attempts to alter that, namely the 10-share "mini" options tried by Cboe and BOX's 1000-share "jumbo" option on the the SPDR S&P 500 ETF (SPY).
As a hypothetical example, a stock option could be an option to purchase (a "call" option) or sell (a "put" option) 100 shares of XYZ Corporation at $50 per share, with an expiration date of June 30, 2007.
An option has its own value that is determined by a number of factors, including the amount of time left to expiration, the current value of the security it represents, and the amount of volatility in the security's market. The option buyer pays the cost of the option (the "premium"), which is transferred to the seller minus the seller's transaction costs.
Until the end of the expiration day, the buyer of this option would have the right to exercise his option and either buy or sell the stock (depending on whether he bought a put or call option). In the above example, no matter at what price XYZ stock is trading, exercising a call option (an option to purchase) will result in the option owner buying 100 shares of XYZ at $50 per share. Once exercised, the option is removed from the owner's portfolio.
If the buyer of the option exercises it, the seller is given the opposing side of the exercise transaction. In the above simple example, if the option buyer exercises his call option and purchases 100 shares of XYZ at $50, the option seller will be made to sell 100 shares of XYZ at $50.
If the owner of the option does not exercise it, then at the end of the expiration day, the option is removed from the owner's portfolio and no action is taken. The seller of that option will no longer have the risk of being assigned the opposite side of that option's transaction.
Options may be bought and sold purely for the profit and loss of those transactions, where the buyers and sellers have no intention of exercising the options and entering into transactions in the underlying instrument. Options may also be bought and sold in specific combinations, either with each other or with the underlying security, to create different risk/reward profiles.
History of Options
It is not known when when the first option contract traded; however, similar contracts can be traced back as far as the Romans and the Phoenicians, who used them in shipping, and ancient Greece, where a mathematician and philosopher named Thales used them to secure a low price for olive presses in advance of the harvest. They were also used in the tulip trading craze in Holland in the 1600s.
Options appeared in America roughly the same time as stocks. At first they were not traded on an exchange; trades were done privately between buyers and sellers. Growth in options trading remained slow for the next few decades, mostly because trading by phone without being able to determine the real market for a contract made them illiquid and cumbersome to trade.
In the late 1960s, with commodities volumes low, the Chicago Board of Trade was examining other market opportunities and decided to go into options trading. Joseph W. Sullivan, who was then vice president of planning for the CBOT, proposed standardizing the contract terms. He also recommended the creation of an intermediary to issue contracts and guarantee settlement and performance. This intermediary eventually became the Options Clearing Corporation, established in 1975.
In 1973, the first U.S. options exchange, the Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE) was founded and call options on 16 securities started trading on April 26. A few years later, put options began trading. A decade later, index options appeared on the scene.
Average daily volume leapt from 911 contracts the first trading day to more than 20,000 the following year. After regulators enabled banks and insurance companies to include options in their portfolios, exchange membership doubled, and by the end of 1974, average daily volume was more than 200,000 contracts.
With the advent of CBOE, traders had access to published quoted options prices for the first time, and a market maker system to make sure that there was a secondary or resell market for options.[1]
Other exchanges began trading listed options, beginning in 1974, including the American Stock Exchange (AMEX), the Pacific Stock Exchange (PSE), and what is now known as the Philadelphia Stock Exchange (PHE). The most recent entrants to the game are the International Securities Exchange (ISE), Boston Options Exchange (BOX), NYSE Arca, and NASDAQ OMX'S NASDAQ Options Market.[2]
In 1975, the Securities and Exchange Commission approved the Options Clearing Corporation (OCC), which is still the clearing agent for all US-based options exchanges.[3]
The launch of the International Securities Exchange (ISE) on Dec. 31, 1999, ushered in a new electronic era in the options world. Up until that year, the open-outcry options exchanges had unofficially, by a "gentleman's agreement," made it a practice not to trade one another's products. The SEC ended this practice in 1999, and the exchanges were free to compete against each other. The (ISE) came online on May 26, 2000. Its growing success spurred the other exchanges to move forward into the electronic age.[4]
The increased competition among options exchanges and the advent of electronic trading platforms have led to huge growth in options volume. It has also led to narrower spreads, lower fees, and an influx of institutional participation.
U.S. Options Growth Over Time
Options Exchanges
In the United States alone, there are 15 options exchanges operated by five exchange franchises: NYSE, Nasdaq, Cboe Global Markets, MIAX and BOX.
The U.S. options markets are the most competitive financial markets in the world. Unlike the stock and futures markets where a particular product may trade on only one exchange, the competition between options exchanges is fierce because identical options contracts may trade on multiple exchanges. This multiple listing of products gives investors the ability to freely choose among exchanges to execute their orders. For each exchange, speed becomes a critical factor in determining who “wins” an order.
Option Trading Strategies
Bull Spread
Butterfly spread
Covered call
Protective put
↑ A Short History of Options. Tradingmarkets.
↑ A Brief History of Options. OptionsXpress.
↑ Back to Basics: A Brief History of Options. Optionetics.
↑ Options: A New Game in the Electronic Era. SFO Magazine.
Retrieved from "http://marketswiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Option&oldid=211630"
Sponsored Pages - NYSE
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Letter to the editor 07/03/2017
To the Editor-
I would like to express my disappointment with Lowell school committee member (and city council candidate) Robert Gignac's recent decision to abstain from voting on a location for a new high school in our city.
While there are differing opinions as to the legal role of the school committee in the siting process, I can think of few more important functions for a school committee member than to advocate for the future of education in our city.
By refusing to take a position on this critical issue, Mr. Gignac is purposefully avoiding an important responsibility given to him by the voters. He also is diluting the voice residents have in the process through and by virtue of his representation.
As a candidate for Lowell city council, I am running specifically to give residents throughout our neighborhoods a voice when important decisions like this one are made. I will take my responsibility as an elected official very seriously and I will have the courage to take a position on important issues when called upon.
Case in point: I personally believe that having a high school downtown is in the best interests of Lowell's residents and that keeping a downtown location would make the best financial sense. I also believe submitting the question to the voters by way of a referendum vote would be the best and most equitable way for our city to resolve this contentious decision.
Marty Hogan
Candidate for Lowell City Council
Marty Hogan's High School Vote Statement
My Fellow Neighbors,
I am very disappointed by the vote of the city Council Tuesday night to build a new high school at the Cawley Stadium site. Tuesday’s vote was too hasty, too political, and too costly.
Once again, we've witnessed first-hand how politics and the special interests of councilors hailing from the Belvidere neighborhood have led to a decision that isn't in the best interests of everyone in Lowell.I'm running for city council to change that and to give everyone in our city – everyone from all different neighborhoods – a seat at the table when important decisions like this one are made.
Had I been a member of the city council last night, I most likely would have voted to renovate the existing high school downtown. The information I have seen tends to indicate that a high school downtown is in the long-term best financial interest of our city, and that it also makes sense to have a central location to which students can walk.
However, more importantly, had I been a member of the city council last night I would have urged my colleagues to delay a vote on this important issue until the city had answers to more questions surrounding this plan, most notably the amount of state reimbursement we can expect to receive.
I also would have given more consideration to the citizens' petition to place this question before the voters. I believe a referendum is appropriate. Unlike our current city councilors, I trust the people of Lowell to make a decision that's best for them.
I urge the members of the city council to reconsider their vote and to postpone further action on this project until there is more solid information and until the question can be submitted to the voters.
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